Young Evangelist Makana & Ava Parilla - Healing, Hope, And Hard Questions

What if the life you’re hungry for isn’t out there somewhere but right under your feet—built on Scripture, strengthened by forgiveness, and carried by a calling that actually fits? Tammy sits down with Makana and Ava Perilla, two newlyweds and traveling evangelists, to explore how young marriage and ministry can thrive when the Word is the blueprint, not a backdrop.

We trace their story from meeting at Bible school to tag‑teaming revival services, and pause where it matters most: authority that looks like love, submission that follows a worthy leader, and a daily choice to put God first. The conversation gets real about offense and bitterness—how they shrink your world and steal your peace—and offers practical ways to soften your heart, renew your mind, and walk out 1 Corinthians 13 when emotions run hot. Then we take on the hardest pastoral questions: why didn’t healing come, and does suffering rewrite theology? Makana and Ava bring clarity without cruelty—faith rests on what Jesus did and said, not on our worst day.

Ava speaks directly to women facing comparison and image pressure with a grounded plan from Philippians 4:8: curate your inputs, take every thought captive, and replace “not enough” with who God says you are. Both share how they discerned calling, making ministry less mystical and more obedient: watch for open doors, trust the inner witness, and let mentors confirm your path. You’ll also hear simple, repeatable steps for evangelism—how to start conversations, use a script without sounding robotic, and pray with people in ordinary places.

If you’re sorting through loss, longing for purpose, or just need courage to stand up and stand out, this conversation meets you with truth and warmth. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with the one question you want us to tackle next. Your story might start today.

To learn more about Makana & Ava Parilla go to:

https://www.eternalfireevangelistic.com/

Say goodbye to overwhelm and self-doubt, and hello to confidence and success. Join the Faith Filled Coaching family today and step into the abundant future you've always envisioned.
Visit FaithFilledCoach.com to schedule your free 30-minute consultation. Let's make your business dreams a reality, together.

Transcript

Tammy Hershberger 0:01

Welcome to the Light of Your Business Podcast, the show where we dive deep into the world of small businesses. I'm your host, Tammy Hershberger, and each episode we'll bring you inspiring stories, expert insights, and practical tips to help your small business thrive. Whether you're an entrepreneur just starting out or a seasoned business owner, this podcast is your go-to source for success in the small business world. Let's get started. Hi everyone, I want to welcome you back to Light It Your Business Podcast. I am Tammy Hershberger, and I have two very fun guests today. I have Makana Parilla and Ava Parilla. Welcome, guys.

Makana Parilla 0:34

Thank you for having us. Thank you so much.

Tammy Hershberger 0:37

They are newly married. They are evangelists out of Pennsylvania, right? That's where you still live.

Makana Parilla 0:41

Yes.

Tammy Hershberger 0:42

Technically he's from Hawaii. You guys have seen him on before, but now it's fun because I have a female perspective with me, which is fun. Because I just like I've been talking to people lately about the Word of God, and I, you know, I'm newly in Bible school. I'm not going to be what these guys are. And I struggle sometimes with like how to explain things. So I have some questions today. We're going to let them kind of flow in the spirit wherever it moves. So are you guys ready to go?

How Makana And Ava Met

Makana Parilla 1:03

We're ready.

Tammy Hershberger 1:04

Okay. So I guess let's start off the bat with like tell me about how you guys found each other.

Makana Parilla 1:09

Uh you want to go?

Ava Parilla 1:12

I mean, I just moved to Bible school and then he started doing soul winning on Wednesdays and everything, so he kind of caught my eye, but it wasn't, you know, an interest at the point because I was so locked in, and then after a year, I mean I don't know. You kind of told me you liked me and stuff like that, that I had to pry out of him. So and then he finally told me, and then it just moved from there.

Tammy Hershberger 1:38

That's funny because you are a talker. You were a little shy, huh?

Makana Parilla 1:41

Well, it wasn't because I was shy, it was because I was also really focused in school. So, you know, I didn't want to be one of those people that committed the cardinal sin of liking another person in Bible school. So my side of the thing is I didn't even know she existed for like six months because she but she knew I existed. Bless God. So as much as I joke about it, it was true because I was focused. So we were in school, and then um as I started doing um, well, I was over the soul winning department at uh the church in Pittsburgh. Um, I started doing more of that, and then soon as time went on, I began to realize who's this blonde girl always coming over and trying to make conversation with me. Um because the vibe the the old saying goes, right, you the the man does the finding, but you have to make yourself findable.

Tammy Hershberger 2:35

Yeah.

Young Marriage And Shared Calling

Makana Parilla 2:35

So she made herself findable to me. And then um, yeah, and then the rest is we just got married.

Tammy Hershberger 2:43

Yeah, so what is I mean, you guys are so young. I I got married at 25, but what is like what is it like to be so young and married? And how how did you know for each other that you guys were the ones?

Makana Parilla 2:53

Well, um, what is it like being young and married? I don't know, because I've only been young and married.

Tammy Hershberger 3:00

Um but it's a change of pace for you. I mean, do you not feel the weight of that of like how different having someone else to think about and manage manage is not the right word, but but do you know what I'm saying?

Makana Parilla 3:10

Like manage is the right word. You know what I mean? But no, it's great because um it's definitely a change of pace, but that's part of life. Yeah. Um, especially if you know what is God's will. I mean, we both felt in our spirit, as simple as that, we just felt led of the Lord. We're the one. I mean, I've never felt the way I felt about her, she never felt the way she felt about me. And then um, of course, us both being called into ministry, called into evangelistic ministry at that, um, was also a big help. We're both called to do the same thing, and then uh so we're gonna be on the same path the whole time. Yeah, and um it's just been great. Um, of course, reorganizing our lives um as a result of being married with each other, but I mean that's part of the package, it's a small price to pay.

Ministry Roles And Tag-Teaming Services

Tammy Hershberger 3:57

Yeah. So I have to ask this, and it's ignorance maybe, but because you guys are both evangelists, how do you kind of just tag team each service typically, or will he made the main guy? And because eventually someday you'll have children. Like, what does that look like?

Ava Parilla 4:09

I know that's a long future talk there, but well, do you wanna take it or do you want me to kind of Yeah?

Makana Parilla 4:16

Well, what's easy when it comes to like your mode of operation in ministry is that we've found um patterns in ministry to follow after. I mean, Pastor Jonathan and Pastor Adoles, they're the ones we went to Bible school to sit under. I mean, their pattern in ministry is great. I mean, Pastor Adolis is always there helping Pastor John, and sometimes helping him looks like running the staff meeting, sometimes helping him looks like doing every single prayer service for the month of January. You know, so it's a push and pull. But what the beautiful thing about a cer uh about a week like this here in Grand Junction is that we're both pretty much tag teaming majority of them a week. So, I mean, it's it's gonna be really good. But I'm looking forward to hearing Ava preach on uh Thursday and Friday, which is what she's gonna be ministering as well.

Tammy Hershberger 5:06

So I'm because I've watched uh Jonathan and Adolis, and I'm like, I didn't watch him since the beginning by any means, but it seems like she's stepping more into the forefront, you know, with her reign and the women's stuff, and then like you said, she's preaching all week or all month while he's gone. So I think it's cool how she's you know did what was needed at the beginning and now she's starting to shine a little. I mean, she's amazing. Yes. I listened, John sent me her thing on Sunday because I went to a church here locally. Unfortunately, it was kind of boring, but and then I got home and I watched her and I was like, this is way good. She's amazing. Yeah, absolutely. Very cool. Um, really quick, hit your meetings that you're having this week here. Tell me about those.

Ava Parilla 5:42

Our what? Our meetings this week. Oh, our meeting, it's been the best. I mean, again, this has been my first, not like really first, but my first ministry trip with Makana himself. So this week I've been able to catch a hold of how he flows, how he operates, how everything works, and stuff like that. But it's been the best because Grand Junction is a great place, and you guys are great people. So being uh Makana tells me like every time he leaves somewhere he falls in love with the place and he falls in love with the people, and it's like I got a glimpse of that even just yesterday, having you guys coming and stuff, and that random homeless guy just walk in and then just leave. Yeah, but it's been absolutely incredible. So if I hated it, I would have questioned my calling and everything that I've done up leading to this point. But other than that, it's just they've been the best. So yeah, I'm excited for the rest of the week.

Tammy Hershberger 6:32

And you're having them every night at 7 p.m.

Makana Parilla 6:34

Yes.

Meetings In Grand Junction And Schedule

Tammy Hershberger 6:34

And it's Happy Day Senior Center. Happy Day Senior Center.

Makana Parilla 6:38

Um, we're gonna be doing it every single night, uh, 7 o'clock. Um, we're starting off a little bit early. We set up around 6 30, so you know, feel free to come on in. Um, we'd love to have you. It's gonna be a really great time. And um, we're believing God for big things.

Tammy Hershberger 6:52

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 6:52

Last night was awesome. Last night was really, really good. I had a lot of fun.

Tammy Hershberger 6:55

Yeah, you are a good preacher, I tell you what. I like the energy because I listen to some people, and they're it's I feel like a lot of the sermons I go to, and I'm not ragging on churches because it's just what it is. But I'm like, I feel like I'm going somewhere like a seminar. Like read your Bible, be obedient, you know. And I'm like, I want some fire, I want some excitement. Like, give me like you really believe what you're saying.

Makana Parilla 7:13

Absolutely.

Tammy Hershberger 7:14

And I get that from you. So that's why I'm excited to hear you preach. Because I've heard these two boys go at it, but yeah. So tell me this. So going, I know you're newly married, so it's it's fresh, but what is that gonna look like for you guys? And again, it's new, but like to walk in obedience with God for your for your ministry, for your marriage. Can you give me any insight on that as new as it is?

Building Marriage On Scripture

Makana Parilla 7:33

Yeah, um, well, again, like what I said, we have a good pattern to follow after in that has been exemplified through um as an example to us, you know. Pastor Jonathan, Pastor Adolis, they've done it well. We have tons of great pastors that we look up to back at our church, which is why it's so important that you do find a good church. Yeah, it's not because um, well, I can have church anywhere I go. No, you should have a place that you plug into and you lock in. And um, not just for the sake of your relationship with God, but you get to meet people too that the Bible says edifies you and builds you up so that you can be a better Christian and you can serve God better. Any person who doesn't want to serve God better is not a real Christian to begin with, you know. But not just an example to follow in person, but the pattern that we patterned ourselves after in the Word of God. I mean, any marriage, not just marriage, but anything sh in your life should be built off of God's word. And what the Bible says, I mean, what we always go back to is uh just found in the book of, I believe it's Ephesians, um, where you say, where the Bible says that the man leaves, or Genesis actually tell God told Adam, the man leaves his father and mother and clean clings to his wife. And then the Bible says that the wife submits to the husband, but the husband ought to love the wife as Christ loves the church. You know, last time I was here in Grand Junction, I never shared this publicly, but um, you know how Pastor Jonathan always has his crazy airport airport stories. I have a crazy airport story because I was on the phone with one of my friends. It was just me and Dennis here in the Grand Junction Airport when we were flying out, and um I was on the phone with one of my friends, and I was joking, I was joking, and I said, you know, we're talking about the wedding, and my friend was like, What if Ava wants the wedding to look like this? And I said, jokingly, of course, I said, It won't matter because she has to submit to me because I'm the head of the house. And then this lady, this random lady who was sitting like two feet away from me, looks around and stares daggers at me and shakes her head and goes back to minding her business. And I was like, listen, as much as we joke that the wife should submit to the husband, and that's in the Bible, the that doesn't disregard the husband's role in the house as well. Yeah, you should sub the wife should submit to the husband, but the husband should be somebody worth submitting to. I mean, the Bible says that the husband should love the wife as Christ loves the church. And the reason why people view that verse and they have a problem with it, sometimes it's just pride, but some people it's because the husband does not love her. The husband is not a leader, the husband is not somebody that is worth submitting to. But if you just build your life off of the word of God, it's not because the wife is insignificant, it's not because one role is better than the other role, it's just a better way of doing it.

Tammy Hershberger 10:27

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 10:27

So that's the beautiful thing of it is that not just in our life but in ministry too, being able to base everything off of the word of God. Like Pastor Jonathan says, you should have everything that you do, you should be able to find exactly what you're doing in God's word somewhere, either through example, either through a story, or either through direct command from God, you should have that in your life. So that's the beautiful thing. I mean, as I'm no marriage expert.

Tammy Hershberger 10:55

No, I get it. I mean, I'm not either. I mean, I'm still 20-something years in, but I'm not either.

Makana Parilla 10:59

Yeah, but that's the beautiful thing of it, is that you know, you save yourself the hardship, you save yourself the pain, you save yourself everything. If you just are able to find it in the word, but people miss it because they're either lazy in prayer or they're laser lazy in their study or they're lazy in their devotional life, and then they don't know what the Bible says, so then they go off what so-and-so on Instagram said on a random reel, and then their marriage falls apart. Yeah, but we do it not just through God's word, but we do it through actually acting it out.

Tammy Hershberger 11:33

Yeah. So I want to get your perspective now, because I mean we know he's right, but like well, how do you feel about that? Because now you're the one that has to submit to this godly man.

Ava Parilla 11:40

So No, it feels great.

Makana Parilla 11:42

Thank God.

Submission, Love, And Leadership

Ava Parilla 11:42

No, it feels great. No, genuinely, it feels great. I remember Pastor Dallas during the one of the prayer, prayers and fasting nights, I think it was just last week, she was talking about Pastor Jonathan because he was in Nigeria, he was doing that conference, and it was incredible. And she literally said, The Bible says that I'm more than a conqueror, and part of the reason is because he's out there conquering and I'm just here, and then he comes home and brings me checks. Yeah. And I started laughing because it's it's true, it's like, I mean, we just got married, what, like three weeks ago and stuff like that, but the eight months before we got married, he already had his foot on the ground getting this thing started. Yeah, so it's like rather than just getting married and us doing it together and doing this thing together, it's like I mean, as of right now, we are, but he already made a path, and then next thing you know, I just hop on and and do it. So it's the best. And I remember we were talking, and it was like he follows God, and then I just follow Makana. Yes, I'm led by the speech, like the Holy Spirit, and all of those things that doesn't disregard that I don't hear from God or I don't have my own personal relationship with the Lord and stuff like that, but it becomes a lot easier to do what God told me to do when I get to directly follow somebody who's doing it.

Tammy Hershberger 12:59

Yeah. Well, like you said, you know you I mean you've dated for eight months, you know you experienced him. That's why I think it's important to have a little bit of a courtship because it's like you get to really know them. Because that on dates, in the beginning, you're just on your best behavior.

Ava Parilla 13:10

Absolutely.

Tammy Hershberger 13:10

The longer you're with someone, the more you start to see, like, okay, there's their temper, there's their frustration, there's whatever, right? And I was thinking when you were talking about uh in the Bible, I think I'm pretty sure it's in the Bible, it says, like, where you die to yourself, right? Like you need to put yourself under. And in marriage, it's so true because I mean, as long as I've been married, I am very stubborn. And John's more of like the forgiving, like kill bend. And in my younger self, I had to be careful because I could steamroll him pretty easy. Because he's such a soft, gentle guy. And then later in life, I'm like, I don't like that I'm doing that. Because especially the more I got with God, because I'm like, that's not right. And yeah, I mean, he is the head. I need he's a smart man, he knows, he listens, he knows the Bible. I mean, that's like impressive to me now that I'm learning it. Because I'm like, man, you actually do know what you're talking about. And so to me, that makes it more safe as females to be like, he's not a drinker, he's not a he doesn't beat people up, he doesn't do all these things, so I can feel safe following you or him, you know, or whatever. And so I feel like that gives you the security, like, yes, I have the Holy Spirit, and if I have a check, I'm gonna come to John and be like, I'm not sure about this. Can we just maybe pray together and then we'll kind of have a conversation? And like, do you still feel strong about that? Um, do you have anything to add to that?

Offense, Forgiveness, And Soft Hearts

Makana Parilla 14:14

Yeah, yeah, you're right. I mean, the Bible says you put your flesh under subjection, and um, I liked what I did, like um the pastor who did our wedding, Pastor Sam, uh, Pastor Samuel Dent in Pittsburgh. I he sent me like the the whole outline of what he was gonna be reading to us, the vows and everything like that. It's not because I didn't care, but I was so focused because 24 hours before the wedding, I was in Illinois doing two days of revival meetings and driving back to see to it that I got married. Um but I wanted to know the vows I was gonna be making to this woman. So I went through it, and one of the things that we made a vow to each other, not just me, but to each other, is that you put God first, first and foremost, that's the bottom line. God is first in your life. You will always put God first, above your spouse, above your personal feelings, above anything that you believe. God is first no matter what. And that's why um it's so important because like if you don't, then things get wonky, things start getting messed up. People stop going to church because they don't think God's worth it. They don't think God's worth their time. They think a little bit extra hours of sleep is gonna be worth not going to the house of God. First things first is we put God first, then each other. I put her second after God, and then myself last. Whatever I want is irrelevant. Doesn't matter what I want to do, doesn't matter if I feel tired and I don't think we should go to church today, we're going to church today. And I'm the I'm a preacher, I do this for a living. Um, but it doesn't matter how I feel, it doesn't matter if I don't want to take out the garbage, it doesn't matter if I don't want to meet her needs, whatever it may be, financially, um, emotionally, doesn't matter if your patience is running on a thread, you show patience anyways, because love is patient and love is kind, and love does not seek its personal wants above another person. Love always believes the best of somebody, so that's what it is. First Corinthians chapter 13 is really the crux of what every marriage should be, not just ours. Because love is love never fails. Love never fails.

Tammy Hershberger 16:44

So well, if you think about when you have an argument, I should have done this more when I was younger because I was pretty spitfire. I've calmed, but it's like when I'm mad about something, whether it's John or business or whatever, and I go into it, because that's you're talking about the scripture where it's like love is not envious, it's not boastful, it's not prideful, right? Right. And you go into that, and then if you like to that's your lens, and you look at my situation, then you look at that, and it's like, well, am I being prideful? Am I being, you know, all these things? And it's pretty easy to realize, like, okay, maybe it's not so bad. Maybe I need to chill out, you know? Yes. And just love, you know what I mean? And because I think the devil builds that stuff up in your head, especially in so it we talked about in Bible school today about um oh geez, I just forgot. The offense, not being an offense, yeah, and how the devil uses that tactic to get you in in bitterness, and then that's where like you lose the fruit of the spirit and you lose your fruit with God, and you start to your life starts to kind of tank a little, and how it's so important not to be offended. Do you have anything to add about that?

Makana Parilla 17:38

What do you have to add about that?

Tammy Hershberger 17:40

No, it's true because I think you've got some anger you could get out. You're not as cute as you look, you know. Facts. She's a girl, she's got it. I know she does.

Ava Parilla 17:48

No, it's just like with offense, if you at the end of the day, it's not hurting the other person, it's hurting yourself. Yeah. Because forgiveness doesn't affect the like unforgiveness doesn't affect the other person, it affects yourself. And it slowly kills yourself. And the Bible says that if we don't forgive, then our father in heaven won't forgive us, and that's you know, uh a tight scripture to to grab a hold of, but at the end of the day, it does really stem from pride. Yeah. Because it's like, oh, I'm right, the other person's wrong, you know, they need to come and say sorry to me. But at the end of the day, that's not what it is because if you look at the life of Jesus, if he did that, then we would all be screwed because he wouldn't have died on the cross for us. But he did it anyways, whether somebody apologized or not. Because the Bible says that he died for the entire world, but the whole world on as sucky as it is, not everybody's gonna make it to heaven. We want it to be like that, but it's not, but it's because people don't repent and people don't come to Christ. So at the end of the day, it's like if if something were to happen in a relationship and friendship and business and somebody does you dirty, if you hold it against them, then you're carrying bitterness, you're carrying offense, and your heart's gonna get hard.

Tammy Hershberger 19:06

Yeah.

Ava Parilla 19:07

And you don't want that to happen. So it's like you gotta forgive. And in our one class, in our discipleship class in school, our pastor, Pastor Sam Nat McConnell was talking about, he said that sometimes you have to forgive on a daily basis, the same person at the same time, again and again and again. But then as you do that, you'll you'll get forgiveness in your heart. And I was like, that's true, because some people gotta do that whether they want to or not, but that's what being a true Christian is like.

Tammy Hershberger 19:36

Yeah. So I mean that's really good because I mean, even myself, there's things that have happened in life, and it's pretty rough stuff. And I'm like, oh, I've forgiven. And then something, you know, either comes up or they say something smart about you, or whatever, and you hear about it, it's like, well, there it is again. Yeah. And so he talked about today, like offense is like a mousetrap, right? And like the cheese is like the offense, and then the slap or whatever that thing's called is gonna get you, right? Yeah. And he said the problem is once you have offense, you nurse it, you're like, oh my god. Little offense. I was hurt. And you know, you do all that. And then you go and you replay that movie in your head of like, oh yeah, they did this, and then they did that, and then they did this. And then as soon as that movie's over, it starts again. And and then then you're just like kind of putting too much energy into it. Yeah. And so it's like, why really as I'm getting older, it's like, why do I want to spend energy thinking about that stuff? It sucked it happened. I'm giving it to God. And I always look at the what's the script that um it's like that the um God will like take care of your enemies for you. There's yeah, vengeance is the Lord's. Vengeance is the Lord's. Yeah. See, this is why I have these guys here, because I'm like, where is it? I know it's in there somewhere.

Makana Parilla 20:33

And I just have chat GPT. So that that's my that's my mirror.

Tammy Hershberger 20:39

Okay, so can I ask you a couple hard questions now?

The Big Question: Healing, Faith, And Loss

Makana Parilla 20:42

Yeah.

Tammy Hershberger 20:42

Sure. Okay, so I'm gonna let whoever wants to go first on this. But so I was talking to someone recently, and so to give you a little background, this person they were like their parents died when they were very young, so that's that's a hard thing, right? And they were believers, and they from what I understand, they were believing to be healed. And then now, like in their church that they were going to, there's a lot of people that are like my you know, 50s, 55, 60, whatever, and like they are strong believers, but they're dying from sickness. And I guess the question, and he literally phrased it like this it says, if someone is believing for healing and doesn't get it, first off, what does that mean? Why? Why are they not getting it? Because they're standing in faith, right? And then his other kind of twist to that was, well, if someone doesn't have faith enough to get healed, how would they know that they have enough faith to get into heaven? That's like a two-part question. Yeah, so how let's address the first one healing. Like, what does that look like? Because my own mom was standing in faith and died.

Makana Parilla 21:31

Yeah. Well, let's just get this settled first and foremost. It's never God's fault. That's the bottom line. Because whenever people end up having a situation like that, and the last thing I want to be as a minister is to look somebody dead in the eye who has the most sincere heart in the world and tell them it happened because of you. It happened because of you, and it's your fault because you didn't have the faith, and you didn't have you it. And the reason why that's bad, people get hurt, people get turned off from church because of people like that. Because they always seem like the most stubborn, hard-hearted, rude people, completely not caring about anything that happened to you and your family. And whoever asked that question, let me tell you, this is not coming from someone who doesn't like you. This is not coming from someone who's saying that you're a bad person, saying that your family or whoever it was that died was a bad person. My grandma died of colon cancer. My grandma died of colon cancer, and I'm a faith preacher. She died when I was in sixth grade and it shook the family, and then I've witnessed the results of what a death in the family can do to my family. So it's not something that you're you laugh about, it's not something that you're proud of, it's not something you're happy about. I understand the feeling of losing somebody because my I was the only person of all of my cousins that was my age that had such a connection with my grandma and the entire family. All of them was just like, okay, this random lady in her family died. But for me, it was like losing somebody. She was my babysitter. My mom would drop me off at her house after school and she would watch me until my mom finished work. So I spent every day with her and then she died. But I so I understand that's not coming from like a I don't like you, you're bad. But one thing we gotta always do, just like what we were talking about before, is you gotta remember, just as we base our marriage off of the Bible, just as we base our relationship with God off of the Bible, just like how we base our life off of the Bible, we ought to base healing off of it too. It's never God's fault when something like that happens. Number one, it's not God's fault that every person got healed except your mom. It's not God's fault that every person seemingly got a testimony, but you never got a testimony. It's not God's fault. Number two, it's never you never base your faith off of what happened to you.

Ava Parilla 24:11

Yeah.

Why We Don’t Build Faith On Experience

Makana Parilla 24:12

You never base your faith off of what happened to my friend. You never base your faith off of what happened to my mom. Just as I don't base my faith off of what happened to my grandma. I don't base my faith off of that. Because the Bible doesn't fit the Bible doesn't say faith comes by hearing what happened to my dead grandma. The Bible doesn't say faith comes by hearing what happened to my Aunt Jerry, who just had no money her entire life but believed in the blessing of God. It's not that. You don't base your faith off of what happened to your family or what happened as a story, you base it off of God's word. And then that's the bottom line. I can't answer a question because every single thing is different. Because I don't know what could have been happening to you. I don't know your personal relationship with God. To those of you that are watching online, no matter how spiritual I may seem, and how much I would love to be the person that says, I see in the spirit a person with the name L. And there's nothing wrong with that. I've sat in meetings where legit people do that. It's legit. But the Lord, I'll be used in that way where the Lord sees fit. But I'm as spiritual as that may seem, I'm not God. I don't know everything happening in your personal life. I don't know who you are, I don't know your relationship with God, I don't know what areas in your life you need to align with God's word if there are any to begin with. So I don't know any of that. Bottom line is I don't know any of that. But one thing I do know, I don't know your background, I don't know what you believe, I don't know your relationship with God, I don't know any of these different things, and that's not accusations, it's facts. Because you don't know my relationship with God, you don't know my, you know, what the Lord's been speaking to me. You don't know any of that, just like how I don't know that about you. But what I do know is what the Bible says. And what the Bible says is faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The Bible says that my words are health to those are health. Let me find it. It's in the book of Proverbs, chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 20. The Bible says, My child, pay attention to what I say, listen carefully to my words. Not listen carefully to the story of your grandma or the story of your mom or your personal experience. It says, Listen carefully to my words, don't lose sight of them, let them penetrate deep into your heart. Why should you bother? Because verse 22, they bring life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. So I can't tell you why. But one thing I can tell you is that it's not something that is worth basing your faith on. Because you don't walk by, what does the Bible say? The just shall live by the story of their grandma, the just shall live by what happened to their mom. The just shall live by, oh, my aunt was always sick every single day, but she went to church. No. The Bible doesn't say the just live by the story of your family. The Bible says you live by faith. And faith comes by hearing. And I understand why some people can take that and think to themselves, oh, you're so rude. You don't care. But the end of the day, we don't live off of what anything else says. Just like how a Muslim, let me ask you this: will a Muslim that only believes half of the Quran still be considered a Muslim? I believe everything except half of this Quran. No, because if you don't believe the whole thing, you're not a part of that religion. So why is it that Christians believe everything about salvation but they don't believe healing? They believe everything about healing, but they don't believe what the Bible says about prosperity. They don't believe about this, they don't believe it like that, but all of a sudden, oh, all I need is just somebody in my family to do this, and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, then I guess the Bible isn't true. No. The Bible says, let every man be a liar, but God's word remains the same. The Bible says, let every man be a liar, but God be true. So it that's why in our relationship with God, it does take some grit to it, to where you don't take no for an answer. Is it bad that happened? Yes. The Bible says, grieve with those who grieve, mourn with those who mourn. People die. That's a part of life. It doesn't say that people are gonna live until they're a thousand years old. This isn't Genesis chapter 5. This is 2026. So at the end of the day, what you have to understand is that it's never God's fault. Because one thing the devil would love for you to do is have him slap you. Does the Bible say that God comes to steal your joy, kill you, and destroy your family? No, it says the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The Bible says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John chapter 3, verse 8. The devil uh Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. The Bible says Acts 10.38, Jesus, what about doing good, healing all who are oppressed to the devil? What does doing good look like? Does doing good look like making people sick? Does doing good making people sad? Does doing good look like making people depressed and have turmoil in their heart? No. Because Jesus, when do you ever find Jesus go around in the Bible and making people sick? Jesus went over to so-and-so, went to blind bar a man said, said, you know what, you gotta stay blind because I want to teach you discipline. Jesus went to the woman with the issue of blood who went to him in faith, pulled on the hem of his garment, and when she pulled on the hem of his garment, Jesus looked at her and said, I know you want to get healed right now, but you know, I actually want you to hold on to this for another 12 years because I want to teach you patience. If I want you to be taught patience, I'm not gonna make you sick, I'm gonna send you to the DMV. I'll make you patient by doing that, not by making you cancerous or by making you whatever. So that only leaves one other option. If it wasn't God, and let me ask you one more thing. Well, like in the words of Pastor Jonathan Walter, blood pressure's gone. If Jesus, if God's will, let me ask you this. Jesus said in the book of John that it's my that I am here, my purpose here on the earth is to do the will of the Father. That means you wouldn't it be safe to say then? Let me propose a thesis to you. If Jesus was here and his only reason for being here was to be a, was to show the will of the Father. I'm here to do the will of the Father, wouldn't it be safe to say that everything you read Jesus doing in the Gospels was a direct example of what God's will was? If Jesus was here to do the will of God, that everything he did was God's will. That's safe to say. Now, if Jesus, if it was God's will to make people sick, but Jesus never made anyone sick, then that means he spent his entire ministry out of his will.

Ava Parilla 31:31

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 31:32

Not doing God's will. Because Jesus didn't make people sick, he healed them. Now, that's why I don't know what it is, why certain things happen, but I do, but I don't need to know because I don't base my faith on it. I don't build my relationship with God on it. I don't build everything off of it. I build it off of what God's Word says. I don't know why that happened. I don't know why this happened. I don't know why a white and black cow eats green grass and makes yellow butter. I don't know why that happens, but it happens nonetheless. But guess what? I don't need to know why a black and white cow eats green grass and produces yellow butter and white milk. I don't need to know why that happens. Because all I need to know is what the Bible says. Now, you also don't be weird about it.

Ava Parilla 32:24

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 32:24

Because people like, you don't walk by what you see, but in the words of Brother Hagin, if you're driving on the interstate and you cross the yellow line and you see a big truck hauling at you at 70 miles an hour, then you better believe what you see. But when it comes to your relationship with God and spiritual matters, such as healing and such as salvation, then you go off of what the Bible says. You go off of what it says. Not what you feel like, not what you think should be done instead. Not because of anything. You just base it off of what the Bible says. And then the second half of the question, if the Bible, if you don't have faith for healing, how do you know you have faith for salvation? I'll tell you why, because of what the Bible says.

Tammy Hershberger 33:07

Yeah.

Is God Angry? Jesus Flips Tables Explained

Makana Parilla 33:08

You don't base it off of how you feel. You don't go off of I'm saved because I woke up this morning and I felt in my spirit I'm saved. No, you don't wake up in your morning feeling saved. I'll tell you how I felt waking up today. I didn't wake up feeling like I was gonna take grand junction for Jesus. I woke up feeling like I could sleep another three hours because I've done that. I don't feel like you know what? Sometimes I don't even feel like praying. Sometimes I don't even feel like reading the Bible. But what if I only talked to my wife whenever I felt like it?

Ava Parilla 33:42

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 33:42

Just like what Miss Tammy was saying. What if she only was kind to Brother John when she felt like it? Poor John. What if what if what if Ava was only kind to me when she felt like it? Then the marriage would last one week. Because you don't go off of how you feel. Okay, well, I guess I can't base it off of that then. Okay, well then that's not how I don't know what to tell you. Because that's not how it works. You don't go off of your salvation and your relationship with God by if you feel like you're saved. Or if you feel like you're still, well, I'm still feeling guilty about such and such. Okay, well then go back to what the Bible says.

Ava Parilla 34:21

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 34:21

Does the Bible say that you're still a sinner after you got saved? No. Backslidd preachers tell you that you're still a sinner if you got saved. You're not a sinner after you got saved. The Bible says you've been made the righteousness of God in Christ. The Bible says that as many as called on the name of the Lord, they are saved. The Bible says that if you believe in your heart, you confess at your mouth that Jesus is the Lord, then you will be saved. And then the Bible says that the yes, the wage of sin is death, but once any man who is in Christ is now a new creature, not a better version of themselves. They are a new creature, a new creation. You're not a refurbished version. You're not a better version. It's the one that used to sin is dead, and now you're not a sinner anymore. And then if you get off the path that God has for you, you make a decision, you make you sin, then you get back on the path. You repent, you make your peace with God, and then you just jump back on the path again. And that's how I answer that question. Because at the end of the day, if you well, I don't have faith for healing, so how could I have faith for salvation? Okay, well, let me ask you this. Does a family member dying in Does a family member dying discredit what the Bible says about healing? Does one person dying in your family mean everything in God's holy word is now fake?

Ava Parilla 35:45

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 35:46

And I'm gonna just throw it all away because of whatever. But some people do that. Because, well, why if that's true, then why did this happen? Why did that happen? I'll tell you what, it's not God's fault. It's not God's fault. It's not because God just doesn't like you. It's not God's fault that it didn't work. I like Pastor Jonathan because if something were to happen, in his own words, he'll say, look, I know it's not God's fault because I know what his word says, which means it has to be mine.

Tammy Hershberger 36:21

Well, think about that. So, like their child died, right? She miscarried. Yeah. And I mean that's a test. I mean, I've heard her testimony many times, and I'm like, he didn't turn from God. I mean, and that's a powerful thing I was thinking about earlier when we were talking, because if I remember correctly, while she was going through that, he ended up going and preaching somewhere, right?

Makana Parilla 36:36

Right.

Tammy Hershberger 36:37

Yes. And so it's like in my natural mind, I'm thinking, like, you weren't there for your wife, that's terrible. But then I thought, but he's doing what the he believes in the Lord so strongly, and I believe the Lord was taking care of her that he felt in his spirit or whatever that that's what he needs to do. Yeah. And I mean, in that moment, he could have been like some of these people, like, you know, I'm out, dude. You took my child, I'm out, you know. Right. And so it's it's kind of that reminder of like, don't look in the flesh, don't look in the natural. I mean, in marriage, me and John have had many arguments, but do I take those arguments and say, okay, none of this is true, my marriage isn't real, it's all gone, I'm throwing it away. No, you kind of dig in. In business, stuff happens, and you don't just give up instantly, you got to keep fighting for that. Yeah. And I think it's just kind of like, do you think the devil is just blinding them to like how true this word is? So he'll stay out of it, he'll he'll push away. Because I mean, he's been in church his whole life, but he's now kind of retracting because he's had a lot of losses, unfortunately.

God’s Love, The Prodigal, And Assurance

Makana Parilla 37:26

Yeah. Which is horrible. Nobody will likes loss, nobody likes losing a family member, no one likes losing a baby, no one likes waking up in the morning looking at the crib that they bought in faith, believing that their baby was gonna be born and then the baby miscarried. Nobody likes that feeling. But the Bible says having done everything to stand, you stand anyways, you keep going. Does the Bible say you give up? Does the Bible say that having done all to stand, but then one thing happened, so forget this, see you later. No. And even I like what you brought up about Pastor Jonathan because, yeah, in their natural minds, you would think, oh shoot, you weren't there for your wife. But in in his own words, he said, me laying in a bed next to her holding her hand is not gonna help. So I'm gonna do what God called me to do. Yeah. Because I'm just gonna be real. Maybe you guys can't relate, but Ava was not there for me when I got saved. Ava was not holding my hand when I came out of the womb.

Tammy Hershberger 38:26

That's shocking.

Makana Parilla 38:28

Shocking, right? Ava wasn't there when when I popped out my mom.

Ava Parilla 38:33

Oh my gosh.

Makana Parilla 38:34

She wasn't there watching it being like, I'm gonna marry this boy. No, you know why? Because she was two years old, because she's two years older than me, and she was already in, you know, she was already being raised by her parents. So completely different. She wasn't there for me, but does that change anything? No, because her being there for me was not God being there for me. Yeah, as much as I love Ava, I love God, I love Jesus. I'm not gonna forsake my wife because of anything, and I'm not gonna forsake God because of anything, especially if I truly understand that it wasn't God's fault my baby died. Yeah, and it wasn't God's fault that my grandma died, it wasn't God's fault that anything, and we could run through the list of like, oh, well, maybe it was this, maybe it was that, but I'm not gonna do that.

Tammy Hershberger 39:26

You know, can I interject, Terry? Yeah, and I want you to give your opinion on this too. But I'm like, I kind of get annoyed by that because I'm like, I think we always just want somebody to blame, right? Right. Yeah. And why do we never freaking blame the devil? It's like God takes the heat on everything. It's like that guy is the one, or whatever, that thing is the one that got him sick and killed them, unfortunately. Because sickness, it comes from the devil. But I'm like, it's never, oh, that darn devil. It's like, oh God, he let me down again, you know? Yeah. It's like that annoys me. Like, why do you always turn to him? I get you want to blame something, but blame the true person that did it.

Ava Parilla 39:57

Yeah.

Tammy Hershberger 39:57

Yeah.

Ava Parilla 39:58

Do you have anything to add? Because people don't people don't know. People don't know. And so again, everything that Mconnell was talking about, we don't base our situations or our life circumstances or why things happen off of what we see. We have everything in our life we have to base off of the word of God. Because without this, then everything's gonna fail. Because Christ is the cornerstone. And the Bible says in Revelation that when Jesus comes back, he will say that my name is the Word of God. So this as much as it doesn't look like a human being, this is Christ. Yeah. Because the Bible says in John 1 that Jesus came as the word of God made flesh. That's Christ. So if you don't know what the word of God says, if you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus, all of those things, then anything that happens to you, you're gonna either blame on God what Makana was talking about. You're gonna blame what happened to you on God, or you're just gonna be like, all right, I'm over this, and then move on. Because most people either don't blame the devil or and they don't want to blame themselves. Because it's like, oh, it's not my fault. It's not my fault that $1,000 went missing because I just spent it on gambling or I spent it on drugs or I spent it on alcohol or I spent it on coffee. They're like, oh, it's because God's word isn't true, because you know, I sold $10 and I didn't get the harvest back and all those things. But at the end of the day, it's you don't have a job.

Makana Parilla 41:29

Yeah, you don't have a job. It's like sho oh I wonder why I don't got money. God, what's wrong?

Ava Parilla 41:34

God, what's wrong?

Makana Parilla 41:35

How dare you not give me money? And you're like just sitting around eating burritos. Sorry.

Practical Help For Struggling Faith

Ava Parilla 41:40

No, it's funny. It's like I've been praying and fasting for 10 days straight and I I haven't seen anything come in. But I think not I think, but it's just people don't know. And again, John 10 10, the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. So it's as simple as that. It's like as long as that thing that happened to you falls into those three categories, then it's not God's fault, then it's the devil's fault. Again, is there a personal aspect of taking God's word and being obedient and doing your part? Absolutely. But if it's if something's being taken from your life, if somebody if something's being death, stolen, killed, and destroyed, if it falls into any of those categories, then it's the devil. And again, most people, I think I I talked about it at a noon prayer um recently. It's like if you don't know what's being stolen from your life, then you're not gonna catch it. So if you don't know that the devil is taking your joy, the devil's taking your finances, all of these things, then you're not gonna catch the thief. Because the Bible says that the light outshines the darkness. So if you have no light on God, if you have no light of God's word, then you're not gonna see what's being taken from you. Because again, this is God's.

Tammy Hershberger 43:01

Or even where to fight back or how to fight back or what I'm supposed to be standing in. Because I think that's kind of the issue, and without getting too detailed there, this conversation I've had with this person was like, well, I know you've been in church for a long time and you've listened to a pastor that was okay, you know. And I'm like, how about you get in the word of God for yourself and like read it? Because even myself, I'm guilty of that for most of my life. I just went off what pastor said. I it was sad to me, but it was like it was kind of boring, I didn't get it. Yeah, now that I'm in Bible school, it's like I'm so excited to read the Bible and I'm seeing stuff, and I'm like, man, that actually is in there, they're not just saying it. And things open up to you, and I'm like, Well, you should look at like why are you not wanting to get in the Bible? What is that? Is that the devil trying to keep you out of there? Because it's mind renewal, right? Yeah, like you said, if you don't know what's being stolen, if someone comes in your house and you don't even know what you own, it's like, well, I don't I don't know what to tell the cops, I don't know what was in here. I'd come to your house, I have like, I have no idea what was stolen. Yeah, right? But if it's my home and I know what God says about me, what God says I can have, then I can fight back.

Makana Parilla 43:55

Right.

Tammy Hershberger 43:56

Amen. Right? I know that's really good, Ava. I like that. I had a bunch of other thoughts while you were talking, and they're all out of my head now. So do you guys have anything else to add on that?

Makana Parilla 44:05

God's always for you.

Tammy Hershberger 44:06

Amen.

Makana Parilla 44:07

Bottom line, God's always for you, he's never against you.

Tammy Hershberger 44:10

Amen.

Makana Parilla 44:11

So why blame God on something that the devil did? Yeah, don't take that and like run and use that as fuel to I'm gonna make the devil pay.

Tammy Hershberger 44:20

Amen.

Makana Parilla 44:20

And I'm gonna take back what the devil stole from me.

Tammy Hershberger 44:22

I like that. See, I got that fiery spirit in me. I'm relentless. I'm like that boxer, you can knock me down 17 times. I don't care how much, I can barely see, I'm getting back up. You know what I mean? Like, because you made me mad and I'm coming now. Yes. And I think that's what we need is people to not be those people that are just laid out and died. Like you said, I'm just gonna, you know, bad stuff happened, I'm gonna, you know, mom died, or somebody died, and it's like, well, I give up on this. Well, what are you talking about? Why are you giving up on that? Why do you give up so easy?

Ava Parilla 44:46

Yeah, it's true.

Makana Parilla 44:47

Fight, fight the fight of faith, not the passivity of faith.

Ava Parilla 44:51

Amen.

Makana Parilla 44:51

Fight it, yeah, square your shoulders and fight. And that's why I like Pastor Russell Johnson. Yeah, yeah. It's because he we had the privilege of meeting him at New Year's Eve.

Tammy Hershberger 45:01

Oh, cool.

Makana Parilla 45:02

And we got to spend some time with Pastor Cody Jones a little bit, just to like back in the back room, just had dinner, spoke with him for like a minute or two, just hung out. It was great. But I like Pastor Russell because he doesn't look like Jason Mamore. He doesn't look like Dwayne Johnson, but he's got more of a fiery spirit than like I do, and I want what he carries.

Ava Parilla 45:25

Amen.

Makana Parilla 45:26

Because it's like, bro, look at and then I'm done. What look at the stuff that has happened with him? Death threats, moved around at his house three times. Family is like being moved around because of all the stuff going on, and then he's like, Okay, I'm gonna leave church. I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna just like lay low for a little bit and wait for it to blow over. No, yeah, I'm gonna keep moving, I'm gonna keep fighting. Somebody gets shot at my church, I'm gonna keep moving. That's what it is. You fight.

Tammy Hershberger 45:52

Amen.

Makana Parilla 45:53

You fight. You don't sit out. You fight the good fight of faith. You fight, you fight the good fight of fate.

Personal Testimonies And Calls To Ministry

Tammy Hershberger 45:57

Just like you fight for your marriage, you fight for your business, you fight for your children, right? You're if your friendship's important to you, fight for that as much as you can. Of course. Yeah, um, okay, so I'm gonna ask, this is gonna kind of play into that, and this is another conversation, but the same person kind of thinks that God is angry, and he always goes to the same scripture of like when he Jesus uh turned the tables over in the temple because they were selling goods or whatever. How do you tell someone? I mean, I've tried to like a get in the word and see what God, what you know, who God is, because you know, if there is some anger in the Old Testament, right? Then Jesus came, and I don't even know how to reconcile that because I don't know it as good as you guys, but what do you say about that? Like, God is angry, and this is who I'm serving, so why do I want to do that? Why why do I wanna like why would I want to come to a God or bow to a God that's angry and he's gonna hurt me?

Makana Parilla 46:44

Because you're not the one in the tables that Jesus was flipping.

Ava Parilla 46:49

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 46:49

That's why. Last time I checked, whoever's asking this question is not disregarding and blaspheming God and disrespecting the holy church of God and is using money for their personal gain from the temple. Last time I checked, you're not doing that. And last time I checked, God's not mad at you.

Tammy Hershberger 47:12

Yeah, yeah.

Makana Parilla 47:14

You know.

Tammy Hershberger 47:14

Because I think that's the heart of it. I think this person feels like God's mad at them for some reason. And I don't like you, I don't know their whole story. So I'm like, there's something there though that he's gotta dig into.

Makana Parilla 47:22

But yeah. And just by the way you're asking, to answer your question, last time I checked, look at look at all the people that God, the Bible says God was mad at. Was God mad at the people who like have a heart and is going to church and I care about God, and I actually care about you know what he has to say, and I want to live for him, and I love him, and if I need help, I'm gonna come to him with a humble heart. See, that's the main thing. Yeah, is like you ought to have something called humility.

Tammy Hershberger 47:53

Amen.

Makana Parilla 47:53

H-U-M-I-L-I-T-Y. Humility.

Tammy Hershberger 47:57

I spelled it right.

Makana Parilla 47:58

You ought to have humility because any, and I'm not saying this to be like accusing or whatever, but like look at it from the Bible. If somebody came to God, forget New Testament, Old Testament, if anybody came to God and said, Help me, I need your help, then God, what did he do? Flip them the bird and tell him, psych, I'm gonna flip your tables around too. No, he said, Alright, I'm gonna be there for you. In fact, if you go through the people that God did have a problem with, was it the people that were like absolutely wicked, or was it the people that actually cared about God? David, King David, a man after God's own heart, a man after God's own heart. So, what did God do? Cast boils on him and tell him you suck. Okay, well, what about Job? Well, I'll tell you what about Job. The Bible says that Job had this thing called fear because he said, That which I have feared has finally come upon me. And what the Bible says is out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, which means he had fear in his heart. What the Bible says is that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So bro is just sitting there meditating on trash, yeah, and then it happens, and then he goes, Oh my gosh, what I what I feared for so long has finally come on me. If you study it out, number one, he had fear, so fear let it come in. Number two, the things that happened to Job, according to Bible scholars, believe it only happened for 50 years. No, it happened for 18 months of his life. Yeah, no, it happened for 18 months. So he had, yeah, he had boils on his body, yeah, his fat whatever, but I'm not disregarding that. But he had fear, it happened for 18 months. Once the 18 months were done, he had to continue living that life. No. After the 18 months was done, what does the Bible say? God gave back how much? Double of what he had. So he had daughters, he had cows, he had farm, he had money, and then now he gets double of it back after 18 months. And then, number four, to wrap it all up with Job, who was the one that brought it on him? God?

Ava Parilla 50:16

No.

Makana Parilla 50:17

No, you read the beginning of Job. The Bible says the devil came into the courtroom of God and said, You God to God. God has put a hedge of protection over Job. So lift it so I can do it to him.

Tammy Hershberger 50:30

Can I ask something here? Because I always struggle with that. Because I'm like, why in the world would God be like, cool, you go torture my poor guy? You know, like, because he kind of lifted that protection, right? And that's when he because it wasn't God trying to prove like he is a worthy man or something like that, like he won't turn against me. Yeah. And then all this, is that why he did it? Because I'm like, why would you it's like you saying to your little child, yeah, I'm gonna let you you come and torture him for a little while, just to prove it? Just seems a little unloving to me.

Makana Parilla 50:56

Yeah, but that's the thing. God is not the reason why God did that is like what you said to give Job the ability to pretty much show it.

Ava Parilla 51:06

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 51:07

But to be fair with you, I could study out the book of Job a lot more.

Ava Parilla 51:11

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 51:11

I wish I had a better answer than that. Okay. I genuinely wish I did. And I'll be transparent because it's this thing called humility.

Ava Parilla 51:19

Amen.

Makana Parilla 51:20

And I'm not saying that because I'm saying I'm the most humble person, but I'm just genuinely saying it with a humble heart. I could study it out more. I I wish I had a better answer. I don't know.

Tammy Hershberger 51:28

Okay.

Makana Parilla 51:29

But one thing I can say is what the Bible says. I can't say that Job is the one one thing you can't do when you interpret the Bible is take one story and say that's gonna be the story for everything.

Ava Parilla 51:43

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 51:44

Because Job was one person out of a Bible of what 66,000 verses, and one guy had that happen to him.

Ava Parilla 51:54

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 51:54

So why is it that the devil would have you focus on this one tiny little thing when you have all these other verse? So you're gonna disregard the entire ministry of Jesus because of Job.

Ava Parilla 52:05

That's a good point.

Makana Parilla 52:05

You're gonna disregard the entire apostles' ministry of the book. Forget that. You're gonna disregard the entire New Testament and all the other books of the Old Testament except this one dude. Yeah, you're gonna forget that God healed three million Israelites out of Egypt, and the Bible says that their shoes never wore. Forget staying healed, forget never getting sick. Your shoes never got worn out. I'm gonna get rid of these shoes very soon that my wife got me for my birthday. Not because I don't like them, but because shoes wear out. They get dirty, they get worn out. But the Israelites never wore out their shoes. So you're gonna disregard three million Israelites because Job. Good lord. So that's why it ought to be. So, um, to answer that question, it's like, look, you ought to just have a heart and be able to be transparent and evaluate yourself and be honest. Because just by the way, and I'm not saying it to be rude, but there oughta be like something where you look at yourself and be like, look, the last thing I'm gonna do is blame God. Yeah, the last thing I'm gonna do is be like, you know what, God's a bad God. Because my wife wasn't there for me when I was born. God was there for me when I was born.

Ava Parilla 53:22

Amen.

Evangelism: Scripts, Boldness, And Stories

Makana Parilla 53:22

I will she wasn't there for me when I got saved. God was there when I got saved. Sorry, but uh, but all that to say, at the end of the day, you ought to have a humble heart to look at yourself. Because the people who typically say stuff like that, like, oh, how could God do that, or how could God let something like that happen? Do you think there's somebody that's willing to listen to what the Bible says, or they want to just prove their point that God's a bad God?

Ava Parilla 53:46

Yeah, yeah.

Makana Parilla 53:47

It's not because at the end of the day, you're not saying it with, I actually want to hear what the Bible says because I'm sure the problem's with me. Yeah, it's God's a bad God because I'm this perfect person and I'm this great guy.

Ava Parilla 54:01

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 54:02

I know it's God's fault that three million dollars didn't come into my hands by tomorrow. It's like, shoot. But that's why you gotta have a heart that says, you know what, every man's a liar, but let God's word be true. And I'm gonna love God anyways, and I'm gonna keep loving God, and I'm gonna keep loving the people around me because that's the bottom line.

Ava Parilla 54:21

Amen.

Makana Parilla 54:21

And I'm gonna believe God's word despite what the circumstances say, despite what may have happened in the past, despite anything, I'm gonna believe God's word because I love God and I know He loves me.

Tammy Hershberger 54:30

So it sounds like it's a really a hard issue to deal with. Because I I mean, I'm I struggle so much in these conversations, but I'm like, I always go to the natural stuff, and I'm like, but you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, right? Like I use cell phones and I send pictures and emails, and back in my day it was faxes, and I'm like, I don't get how the heck that works, but I still use it. Yeah, right? I'm not gonna be like, can't use it, I don't understand it. Yeah, no, I'm gonna stand on this because I know too many people who've had power from it. I've seen their life change, I've seen what it's done to my life, the changes that's made for me. So do you have anything to add to that? And then I'm gonna give the next question to you to say I'm just gonna open up straight to John 3.16 because I I can I'll be vulnerable, like low-key.

Ava Parilla 55:11

I used to think that if I messed up, or even after getting saved, it's like, oh, if I messed up, if I did this, if I did that, then God's mad at me. But it's not the case. And the Bible says in John 3.16, it's the scripture that our whole faith is built off of. It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his world into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And when I look at that scripture, I don't see a mad God. I see a God that so loved me that he sent his one and only son to die for me so that I could be in right standing and in relationship with him forever. And once it hit me, it's like God's not mad at me. The Bible says that the the Bible says that God disciplines those he loves. I'm not saying like whatever, oh, that you're going through this because again, sickness, disease, poverty, those things are not God. But at the end of the day, I have to understand that God genuinely loves me, that he's a good father. The Bible says that if he takes care of the sparrows, if he clothes the fields with lilies, then how much more will he care for us? A loving father is going to take care of me. A loving father, God, literally sent his son for me. And when I look at that, again, what Makano was talking about like earlier, he's not gonna leave me, he's never gonna forsake me. And again, when you look at the Bible and the story of the prodigal son, the father gave the son his inheritance, then he went, and the son spent it on whatever he wanted, which was the things of this world and all of these things. But then, what does the Bible say? When he came to his understanding, why the heck am I living like this? Why am I eating pig crap and pig food and living with the pigs? Because I'm telling you, if I had to live with the pigs, I'd be miserable. And then he said, My father has a home, my father has foods, my father has food, and he takes care of his servants better than I'm being taken care of. So, what did he do? He went home, and what did the father do? Did he look at his son coming home? Oh, you screwed up, you did what you shouldn't have done, so you can go back there. I'm not gonna care for you, I'm not gonna take care of you. No, the Bible says that he he ran out and met his son and welcomed him, and then he threw this whole massive party, and that's no different than what God does with us. What Makano was talking about, humility, depending on the situation or whatever. If you give yourself um a check, evangelist Tiff uh Shuttlesworth talks about like at the end of his night, he asks himself, did I get closer to God today or did I not? And so it's like you have to genuinely evaluate yourself. Did I get closer to the Lord today? Did I do this? Did I did do did I do whatever? But at the end of the day, it's like that's the same way that God handles his children. Is again if you take a step off the path, then all you have to do is take another step on the path, and God's not gonna turn his face away from you, God's gonna welcome you. And once I understood that, it's like, all right, God's not mad at me, God's not pissed at me, God's not this, God's not that, all of these things. But it's a beautiful thing understanding that God genuinely loves you more than we can understand.

Tammy Hershberger 58:40

Yeah, so I feel like a lot of that comes from internal stuff of like, and I'll use myself for an example. Like, so my father was very abusive, very mean, and then he left eventually. And then so I in my mind and deep in my heart, I have this issue of like, God's gonna be like that, because he's like these natural fathers, which is not true, but for years of therapy got me through that. But it was like I picture God's like you said, he's gonna be pissed and he's gonna leave. And he's like, You're a loser, get out, you know. And it's like, but that's just because my father did that doesn't mean that my heavenly father is gonna do that. And so you look at that stuff, and then you have to say, okay, internally, like you said, die to my oops, died myself. Like, am I gonna look and say, okay, I'm blaming God for all this, or is it maybe something inside of me that I need to check? Be like, is that my thoughts, or is that God's thoughts?

Makana Parilla 59:19

Yeah, yeah, right. Amen.

Tammy Hershberger 59:22

Okay. Uh, anything else on that subject?

Makana Parilla 59:25

That's good.

Tammy Hershberger 59:26

No, I know. Are we still okay, or do we need to take a quick break? Oh no, we're good.

Makana Parilla 59:30

We're doing great.

Tammy Hershberger 59:31

All right. Uh, I want to ask one thing and then we're gonna switch gears a little bit. So on this, so if you have someone that you know that's like struggling a little bit, like what would you say as evangelists? I mean, I know you're not pastors, but to like if you had a friend that was struggling a little bit, I mean, get in the word, obviously, do you recommend like just find a pastor you really like? Or what would you say to someone? Because you want them to, I think it's good to question for yourself so you can dig in.

Makana Parilla 59:52

Yeah.

Tammy Hershberger 59:53

But like, do you have any advice on that?

A Word To Young Men About Purpose

Makana Parilla 59:55

What do you think?

Ava Parilla 59:56

What can you re-explain?

Tammy Hershberger 59:58

So just kind of like if you had a best friend and They're struggling with God, and it's like, I mean, like I tell them, like, get in the Bible, but do you have anything else to tell them? So they don't like go too far away with it and cut God off completely. But they're questioning, they're unsure for themselves, they haven't had a witness, they haven't had a crazy testimony.

Ava Parilla 1:00:13

I mean, I would just tell them to get in the word and then pray. Okay. I guess. I mean, that's as simple as I would tell them. Again, at the end of the day, it varies upon situation. Yeah. Like, because the way that I would answer that question would differ differ between somebody who's questioning their relationship with God and questioning if they want to continue to follow God, or just like, hey, I have this quick question about this, I don't know what's going on. Yeah. The situation's happening in my family. I don't know what to do. What do you what do you suggest? I think it all varies on situation, but at the end of the day, it's like you you gotta go back to the word and come with an open heart, knowing that when you seek God, he's gonna meet you. Because the Bible says that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So he'll meet you. I don't know if Makana says, Yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:01:02

Well, I'll this is what I've what came to my mind. Because so it's good, like, yes, you should get in the word. Like, that's so true. I would say the same thing, but I think people need to understand the reason why we tell people that. We don't say read the Bible just for the sake of reading. Like, I'm gonna sit down, and I'm gonna turn to like Ecclesiastes, and I'm gonna just read, okay, I read the Bible. Alright, my marriage is fine, my big my finances are good, I'm gonna get a job. You know, it's not that. It's you use the Bible as a blueprint.

Ava Parilla 1:01:38

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:01:39

As a means of I'm gonna dig and I'm gonna find out what I need from this. It's not just okay, I'm gonna read it, and then I read it, and now my problems are gonna go away. It's I'm gonna find out, you know, what does the Bible Okay. Makana, how do I fix my money? Get in the Bible, and I'm gonna have you read it at all. Just read it, and then okay, after reading it a certain amount of times for a certain amount of days, if you check off enough boxes on your Bible reading plan, then all of a sudden the problem will go away. No. It's okay, you need help with your money. Guess what? The Bible has nothing to say about money. Just kidding. It has a lot to say about money. It says, I will bless your storehouses, I will bless you, I will bless your family, I will bless you and you're going in, bless you and you're going out. Granted that you are serving the Lord wholeheartedly. Are you serving the Lord wholeheartedly? Yes. Okay, it's not that. Do you have a job? Because the Bible says that if you don't work, you don't eat. No. Okay, then that's the problem. Oh, you do have a job, just kidding. Okay, the Bible says that whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap? And the Bible says that if you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. But if you sow bodify, you reap bonifly. Are you sowing seed? Yes. Okay, it's not that. The Bible says in the book of Malachi, chapter three, that if you tithe, then he will open the windows of heaven and bless you. It's stuff like that. You just run through the checklist in the word of God. Maybe it's not money. Makana, I need help with my marriage. Okay. Are you do are you loving your wife as Christ loved the church? To the wives, are you submitting to your husband? Are you walking in love? 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Are you being patient? Are you being kind? Are you being self-seeking or are you being selfless? Stuff like that. So if somebody were to be in a situation like that, um, at the end of the day, that's it really depends. Because you ought to go and find out what the Bible says for yourself and you start working the word yourself. But again, if you you should come to God with an open heart of even you know what an open heart means is as long as the problem is not me, I'm fine. No, that's not what an open heart is. As long as the problem is everything except me, then that's good. That's not what an open heart is. An open heart is I'm willing to hear what I need to hear. Even if the problem is with me, which it might not be. It genuinely might not be. But an open heart is just give me the answer.

Tammy Hershberger 1:04:19

Is it Mark 4 that talks about the parable where it's like the the heart, like the so in the field and the sun falls off and whatever? Yeah. And it's just a reminder of like um, like you said, your heart, or I think you said it, your heart hardens, and then it's like everything's just bouncing off like Teflon because you're afraid to look into it. And so I think that's the thing, like getting in that word consistently, mind renewal, because your mind slowly starts to see things differently. And then it starts to, I think, work in your heart, because you have to have it in your heart, right? Am I correct in that to really because our minds are gonna play games all the time. Of course, they're gonna say so much stuff, of course. And I think if you have it consistently, you know, plow that field, like we come from farming country. It's like you plow the fields, you don't just throw seed right on the hard soil, it's just gonna get eaten by the birds, you know.

Makana Parilla 1:05:02

Right.

Tammy Hershberger 1:05:02

And so you've got to plow that up and then you've got to give it some time, yeah, to kind of marinate.

Closing Salvation Prayer And Resources

Makana Parilla 1:05:07

Yeah. And you gotta work it, you gotta do grant you gotta do what the Bible says you gotta do.

Tammy Hershberger 1:05:12

Yeah. Okay, I want to ask you guys something. So, and you you go to wherever you want with this, but how did you guys find the Lord? I mean, did you grow up in a family? What's that? Did you grow up because I didn't, I mean, we didn't go to church.

Ava Parilla 1:05:24

Well, I I grew up in church my whole life and everything, which was great, but again, at the end of the day, there was no genuine personal relationship with the Lord. So when I got saved, I was 19, but at that point in my life, I hit rock bottom. Okay, 19 years old rock bottom, 2023 was in March. And at that time, I literally just told the Lord, basically, I I call it laying out or fleece. So it's like if you do this, then I'll do this. And it was God, if this certain thing doesn't happen, then I will give you my life, and to shorten it out, that thing did not happen, and I gave him my life, and that's what changed everything, is because when I look back at it now, I see God's hand over my life, and so for me, hitting rock bottom was God, I give you my life, and then from there, everything else has completely changed. Because I think it was nine months after I got saved, I was in Bible school.

Tammy Hershberger 1:06:23

Wow, so so it was very real, it was it was very real, and for people who are not spiritual, because I think you know you can't expect the natural world to understand spiritual things. What does that mean? If someone's watching is like, what does that mean? What's real like how is it real to you?

Event Details, Support, And Farewell

Ava Parilla 1:06:35

It's real to me because I personally experienced the love of God for myself, and again, when I was 17, 16 years old, I I thought what most people who are watching, if you're not saved or whatever, thought about God. Oh, I'm doing this, so God doesn't love me, or I'm too far gone, or I can't come because I did this, I did that, I did all of these things. So, how is it that a so-loving God can love a person like me? And it's I understand that because when I was so quote unquote so far gone from God, he came through and I personally experienced the love of God because when I accepted Jesus into my heart, it was not okay now, or before I accepted Jesus in my heart, it was not God saying, You have to do all of these things before you can come to me. It's like no, come to me, and then I will do all of these things for you. And so I experienced that, and so after I gave my life to Jesus, it was not life is gonna be so hard, this is gonna suck, I'm gonna have to fix all of these things that I just messed up for the past like five years of my life. It was no, God was there for me, he encountered me, and my life turned around because, as simple as it sounds, it is that simple because my depression turned into joy, my anxiety turned into peace. All of these things that I was dealing with in my life, God took and threw them away, and then because now I have Christ living in my heart. Yeah, Christ is the king of peace, he's the king of peace, he is joy himself. In the presence, there is fullness of joy. So I started to carry these things, and it was not me just pushing it away, pretending, oh, that must that must have been a coincidence because after I gave my life to Jesus, all of these things happened. No, it's the word of God became real in my life. The things that we read about in the Bible, the things that people testify about became real to me. And again, it's not this super ethereal thing that we can never reach, it's a personal relationship with Jesus, and because I wanted to be close to him, the Bible says, draw near to me and I will draw near to you. And again, it became real to me. And it became so personal my relationship with Jesus that anything outside of that, I it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what's happening in the world, it doesn't matter what's happening in my personal life. It's like I know that what the Word of God says about who Christ is and my relationship with Jesus will happen. And that's why when I say like it became real to me, it's because it's not a religion, it's not just some book we read, it's a genuine relationship with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and then we have the Holy Spirit. So it's like all of these things, it's a personal relationship, just as real as my relationship with Makana is that I can talk to him, that we can have fun together, it's the same thing with Jesus. But I just think that most people push it off to the side. It's what Makana was talking about earlier. When you put him first, everything else comes, but most people put him off second. As long as I have my finances in order, as long as I do this first, as a as long as I do all of these other things on my list, then then I'll have uh a conversation with the Lord or I'll I'll go and pray and I'll be in the word. But most people, and I I could testify because this was me too. It's like I would just put put it off to the side, and then a month and a half would go by and then I didn't do anything. But once I started to put him first and take time with the word of God, take time in prayer, and just spend time with with the Lord, then everything started to become real. Because again, relationship is built off of time.

Tammy Hershberger 1:10:32

Yeah. So yeah, any relationship is I want to come back to you, but I still have another question for you. I have to ask this because I have a female believer on here. Yeah. Um, and you're 22. 22? Yeah. Okay, so I and I know I'm throwing this at you, but like, because there is females that listen to this, yeah. And I mean, I don't know the age ranges, but I'm like, if there's someone that's watching that either they are your age or they have a daughter your age or granddaughter, whatever, what would you say to women? Because you know, we experience, and not that you don't, but like we experience the craziest stuff with like our image, weight, you know, the way we look, how we're supposed to act, what men want, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, like, how would you tell someone or what would you tell someone to encourage them and also remind them that like you're not what the world says you are? You don't have to meet these crazy standards, yeah. And and kind of wrap it with God's love, but however you'd say it.

Ava Parilla 1:11:16

I would just say, Oh, I gotta find the scripture, it's in full of tank time.

Makana Parilla 1:11:21

I'll find it for you. What is it?

Ava Parilla 1:11:22

Philippians 4.8. Look at this tamework.

Makana Parilla 1:11:25

Oh, yeah, Philippians 4.8?

Ava Parilla 1:11:26

Yeah. Yeah. I think I think that's what it is. I just need to.

Makana Parilla 1:11:29

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just.

Ava Parilla 1:11:31

Yes. Whatsoever things are pure. Every time I try looking for Philippians in the Bible, I get lost. Okay, but with your question, I'm gonna answer it with this. It says, meditate on these things. Finally, brethren, whatever things are just, wait, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. And then the Bible says, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. That's my answer, because what you think about, it's what Makana was talking about with Job. What Job feared happened to him. So a lot of women, especially, and again, I'm not an expert, I'm 22 years old. You're your generation. Oh my god. I am a woman. I can answer this maybe a little better than Makana. But all that being said, is the Bible says that you were fearfully and wonderfully made. If we're gonna go straight to image, and again, I'm a girl, I'm a woman, so I know what emotions get like. Because once you start feeling some type of way, then if you feed into it, then you're gonna feel that way for the next 14 hours. And it sucks because it you don't wanna you never wanna live in your emotions, and again, I can testify because I'm also what Makana was saying, humility. So I gotta also take these things into consideration and continuously live out. But at the end of the day, you don't live off of your emotions, you don't live off of what the world says because the Bible says that the things of this world are going to pass away. All everything that we see eventually is gonna be gone, but the word of God will stand forever, and that's as a as a woman or yeah, as a woman in Christianity, if we base ourselves, our image, our emotions, our identity, our personality off of the world, at the end of the day, every single night you go to sleep, you're gonna be miserable. And I'm not saying that out of you're a horrible person. I'm saying that out of love because I used to do that. I used to think, oh, if I'm not like this chick, then I'm not good enough. And I I'll be so vulnerable. I used to think about that with Makana because I looked up to Makana and I still look up to Makana. This handsome devil over here. I know I love him so much. But I used to think to myself, because again, I got saved in March of 2023. Oh. So I thought to myself, once I found out Makana liked me, I've been saved for a year and a half. So how does this man of God who's been preaching for the past five years like me? Because I used to think I'm not anointed enough, I'm not pretty enough. And those things that I thought became reality. And Pastor Dallas shares, she shares it publicly. For the first 10 years of her marriage, she created this false reality in her head that she lived in, that she wasn't good enough, that she, how could Pastor Jonathan marry a woman like her because she's a Puerto Rican, and I'm thinking to myself, I'm some how he and he's this Hawaiian guy, and all of these things, and I'm two years older, so apparently I'm a cougar and all of these things. It's robbed the cradle.

Makana Parilla 1:14:58

You robbed the cradle, I did.

Ava Parilla 1:15:01

I was two years old when I robbed him. But all of that being said, it's like it sucks. It sucks. Because when you compare yourself, it says when you compare yourself among others, you're a fool. And that's not me saying that. That's what the Bible says. But I can say when the Bible says that um he has anointed me, he has anointed me to preach the gospel, that he has overflowed my cup, that he has poured the oil of joy, like oil of joy. I'm screwing all of these up, but I know it's in the word of God.

Makana Parilla 1:15:34

No, it's true, it's in there.

Ava Parilla 1:15:36

His hand is over my life, that I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, that I'm the righteousness of God, that I am anointed, I have his power living on the inside of me, I have the joy of the Lord. When you start speaking the truth of God's word, and it's what Makana said, if you're missing something, find it in the word of God. If I'm missing joy, I'm not gonna read Ecclesiastes because I'm gonna leave more upset than I did coming in.

Makana Parilla 1:16:03

Depends on how you read it.

Ava Parilla 1:16:04

That's true, because it is because Ecclesiastes, but I'm not gonna get into that. But at the end of the day, it's like if I need joy, I'm gonna go to the word where it talks about in the presence of the Lord, there is fullness of joy, and that the joy of the Lord is my strength. And I'm gonna take these words and I'm gonna ingest it, and then I'm gonna meditate on these things because that's what Philippians 4, verse 8 through 9 is. Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure. You have the Bible says that take every thought captive and then take it into subjection to Christ. Because at the end of the day, again, the word is Jesus Christ, because Christ is the word made flesh. So I take every thought into subjection with the word of God. Is what I'm thinking aligning with Scripture? And if not, then you have to throw it away. And it's not this difficult thing, it can be starting out because again, if we're living by the flesh or living by our emotions, which especially on our week, it can be difficult. But all of these things is we have the authority over those things because if we live by our spirit, we have authority over the flesh. So, and I I will encourage you, it does get easier, it does get easier because if you think, well, I'm not I'm not good enough, you wake up, I'm not good enough. Take that thought captive because it's not true, it's the devil lying to you, and subject it into the word, and then find where the Bible says, you are more than a conqueror. I have created you, I love you, that I have plans for your life, plans to give you a hope and a future, all of these things, and then if you need to write them down and read it over yourself every single day. Because the Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. At first, you might hear it and it doesn't click, but if you continually speak it over your life, it's gonna get in your heart. And that's what I would say to the women watching, and again, all of those things because that's that's how you handle it.

Tammy Hershberger 1:18:19

Yeah, so I'm gonna throw something. We're gonna eventually get to you, Makana from this is good stuff.

Makana Parilla 1:18:24

It's good, it's really good.

Tammy Hershberger 1:18:25

Are you still here? Just kidding. Um, meditate because you're gonna meditate on something, right? Are you gonna meditate on what the devil's telling you, which is the lies, the media, you know, what other women are saying to each other, whatever. And so it's like I like that you said that. Um, and that's again getting in the word, as we talked about, because you get to see who you are, who does God made you, the power you have, the strength you have, how amazing you are, all these things. And I like that because I mean you're quite you're like half my age almost, but at the end of the day, I'm like, I didn't know that for years. I a lot of people, I'm I don't like the word cocky because that's what I mean. I'm very I am insecure with my looks sometimes as I'm getting older, especially now. But most of my life, you know, I was skinny and I grew up very poor and whatever. And my husband one time was like, I didn't know you were in so insecure. He learned that later as I did the podcast and conversations. And I was like, Yeah, I'm outside, I'm tough. I can put all mouth off to you as much as you will to me. And thankfully, God like gave me that push to just keep going, like that drive. When you tell me I can't do it, I'm stubborn enough. Like, I'm gonna prove you wrong, you know. But then I like that because I'm watching these women at your age, and I'm like, they're so determined to do what the world's telling them to do, you know, cut this off, suck that in, inject something here. And it's like sometimes I think they come out worse looking. I'm like, you were beautiful before, you know. You can't, and I like that there's women like you and like a doll is who just goes for it, man. Because I'm like, tell women that they're special and they don't, you know, you don't need a man for money. You marry him because he's your partner, he's your companion, you know, he's your partner in life to do things with. And I just see a lot of women that are struggling and they're trying to like live up to a standard they're never gonna live up to. It's the world's standard, it's not God's standard. Yeah, and so I like that you just did that. Thank you for that. Because I don't want She's want me blabbing on here about it. So do you have anything on that part? And then I'm going to ask you the question I asked her earlier.

Makana Parilla 1:20:05

It's great. That was awesome. I got nothing to say about that. That was really good.

Tammy Hershberger 1:20:10

She's a powerful one, this one.

Makana Parilla 1:20:12

Absolutely.

Tammy Hershberger 1:20:13

Okay, I want to ask you now, how did you come to the larks? I know a little bit of your story, but um, yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:20:18

Well, in a nutshell, all I all that happened was I saw Pastor Jonathan because he came to Hawaii.

Tammy Hershberger 1:20:24

That was so that's where you kind of got started was when he was there. I didn't know that. Okay.

Makana Parilla 1:20:27

I didn't get saved yet. Okay. So he pulls up to Hawaii and I see the power of God move, and I'm like, oh my gosh. So that got my attention. The old saying goes that miracles are the dinner bell for the gospel because it gets your attention to come see what's cooking. So then you go, so I start watching him on YouTube. Obviously, more Christian stuff comes up. Um, long story short, I start watching more videos. I start going to church more often. My mom tells me, she goes, so this is uh November of 2017, summer of 2018 comes around, and my mom goes, I'm gonna give you an option. You're either gonna go to summer school or you're gonna um go to church camp. Now, nobody in their right mind is going to summer school. So I went to church camp because she she offered church camp because she noticed I was going to church more often, and then that's when I got saved. Backslid about 11 months after I got saved, because I was around the wrong group of people, got into a relationship with a girl I was not supposed to be in a relationship with because I didn't know that God had a Holly girl waiting for me in Pittsburgh. But um, but I fell off, it was bad. Um, and I'll spare you the details, but I was felt lonely, I felt depressed, I hated life. So then um once I got saved, so I was just around this bad group of people for like um like a year and a half, and then December 28th, 2020, I got I recommitted my life to the Lord, and I was like, look, I'm sick of living like this. This is horrible. So then I was like, okay, I'm done. Broke up with this girl, pretty much cut off all of my friends. I didn't have any friends after that, but I knew God had called me to preach, and then I knew I was gonna just alright, it's just gonna be me and the Lord now, and I'm fine with that.

Tammy Hershberger 1:22:10

How did you know that you were called? Because I've heard people talk about this, and I've heard things anywhere from like you have a real revelation and it like this epiphany or something appears to you, or like it's how do you know how did you know that?

Makana Parilla 1:22:22

Um, I knew I was called because I got um I had been noticing. I'd you know, I was like, why like stuff would open up like hey Makana, preach for like five minutes, and I'm like, okay. So I would do it, but then what I noticed and I took notice of was uh every time I did, it felt good. And I was like, why do I like this so much? Like, I'm supposed to be like going to college, I'm supposed to like become a teacher or whatever, and be like a science teacher. Because my original plan was I wanted to be a science teacher, I wanted to be the science teacher that everybody liked at school because everybody had that one teacher that it's like you don't sigh when you walk in their class, you're like happy, I oh, I have so-and-so next block. So I was I wanted to be one of those teachers, but I was like, look, I'm getting to this age now. I was a sophomore in high school, I was like, okay, now is when I gotta start thinking about what college I'm going to, what I'm gonna do with my life. So I told the Lord one day, I was like, listen, all I need, now keep in mind, this is while I was still with this chick. And I was like, shoot. So, but I was still, I still love the Lord. So that's what I still wanted to be right with the Lord, but I hated life. But I still love God. So that's why it got to a point where I was like, okay, I gotta, I gotta shape up. So then I did. Um, but to answer that question, really, all it was was I'm like, okay, father, I'm getting to an age where I gotta know what I'm doing. Um, so all I want you to do is just very plainly tell me whether or not it's ministry. Because if I just told him, I was like, listen, all I want you to do is tell me what it is. If it's not ministry, then that's all I need to know. I'll go in, I'll know what college I'm going to, I'll start applying now, I'll start getting my resume or my application looking nice and all that stuff. Um but then I said this at the end. I said, now all you gotta do is tell me if it's not ministry, you know, I'll go to this college, I'll do this, I'll do that, I'll do this. But then I said, but if it is ministry, just for the record, if you do call me to do that, I promise you I'm gonna give you my all. And I think that's what screwed me over. Because that's what got me, I think that's what got me in this thing. Because I told him, and I love it. If I was a teacher, it would be fun, but I'm having more fun now. See, that's why, and I know I I mentioned it last night. That's why I don't understand why some people say that Christianity's bad and it's hard to do this thing, because it's not like I was living it up and then I got saved and oh, okay, now I got ministry. No, it was like my life was horrible. I hated life, and then I got saved, and then now it's better. And now I got Jesus living a heart, and now I'm doing what he called me. Now I get to spend the rest of my life doing stuff like this with great people, talking to great people with my wife who I love, and then doing this to see to it that everybody that's you know, to get other people who don't know God to experience what we experience, and that's why I love it. So that's how I got so I told that to the Lord. I got called because um I said just make it plain, show me what it is, and then long story short, this this guy, this preacher called me up out of the crowd, and he was like, You're gonna raise up a ministry center where people learn to hear the voice of God. And I was like, Alright, it's ministry, and that's all I needed.

Tammy Hershberger 1:25:52

And then I'm where did you decide it was evangelism versus like pastor?

Makana Parilla 1:25:56

I don't even know all the options there, but because evangelism was felt good, yeah, it just in here. I'm not talking like naturally felt good, yeah, not like I had too much pizza the night before and I feel really great, but then you're not gonna feel great when you wake up in the morning. But I felt so good about it. It just it never even occurred to me that I would be a pastor, um, or that maybe it is a pastor. It was never that. It was like, no, I'm I just know in my heart, deep down, it's that I'm called to be an evangelist. And I love it. I mean, I'm doing it, and I'm open to whatever the Lord would have for me to do if He feels fit to add stuff to it. But I as of right now, evangelism is what me and my wife feel called to do.

Tammy Hershberger 1:26:46

I didn't ask you, how did you because you said you went pretty quick after you got saved into Bible school? How did you know that's what you're supposed to do?

Ava Parilla 1:26:52

Um I was in Maine the summer of 2023, right after I got saved, and my aunt and my uncle were the ones who taught me about like the word of God, prosperity, prayer and fasting and all of these things. But I remember I I was on a walk, and I know that I'm getting specific, but this is where I was like, I can't I can't shake it. But I was on a walk with my Aunt Cass, and um as we were walking, I asked her about the anointing. I was like, Can you tell me about the anointing? Because I remember one time when I came up to speak at my old youth group, one of the pastors came up and they were like, You're anointed, and I just stood there and shook my head, thank you. And uh I had no clue what he meant. I didn't even know what that meant. And so I asked her about the anointing, and she's like, What happens if you come up to somebody that you don't know who has a broken leg and they get healed? What happens when you go up to somebody and you give them a word of knowledge that nobody else knows? And because of that, they get saved. That's the anointing. And I started crying. And I'm in the middle of nowhere on a walk and I'm crying because in my what Makana said, you feel good, but in my spirit, all I knew was I want to see what happened, what Jesus did with me, happen with other people. And that was not just, you know, make them feel good, praise God, all of these things. It was like, no, I want to see people get saved. And I didn't even know how the heck somebody got saved. I didn't know how to lead people to the Lord, I just knew I wanted to do it, and so that summer I asked the Lord, I was like, listen, I know I want to go to ministry school, I know I want to be in ministry, but I don't know where to go. And then the Lord spoke to me. I knew to go to Revival Today Bible Institute, and then I think it was within the first month of Bible school, we're in class, the Holy Ghost hit the room, and I knew in my spirit I'm called to be an evangelist. And called to America, obviously the Lord opens up other stuff, praise God, but called to America and then called to be an evangelist, and then from there it blew up. So, not blew up, but like, you know, you mature as a Christian. Yeah. So, and again, McConnell was the one who taught me how to win souls.

Makana Parilla 1:29:08

Praise the Lord.

Tammy Hershberger 1:29:09

Look at that. I mean, your little handiwork here is now, I mean, that's all gonna be accounted to you, from my understanding, right? And I mean, she gets it too, but yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:29:17

Right.

Tammy Hershberger 1:29:18

What was that like? Because I think it's that's the one thing I sh I mean, I the Lord tells me that go to this person. I'll I think that's so scary to just go out and I can't, it's not in me. I don't know. I mean, I'm not saying it's not because I'm sure it is, it's so scary. I don't know. Yeah, I went out one time handing out water, which was the lamest thing, but it was like hot, and the people were like, I do you have any food? And I was like, No, we have water. I don't know, I was so scared. I was like, Here's your water. Yeah, who's gonna talk to them? I don't know. How do you do that not scary?

Ava Parilla 1:29:46

It was in the beginning because I had no clue what I was doing, yeah. But again, Makana, again, like the Bible says that we're supposed to go out and preach, not just the evangelists or the pastors, but like all believers. But at the end of the day, like Makana, how he did it, he had a script and he would go through like different situations that could happen if you were talking to somebody and how to do it. And so he went through the script. I saved the script as my screen saver on my phone. Okay, and I remember I had a goal for how many people I wanted to see saved throughout the entire year. I wanted to see three people give their lives to Jesus. But I remember the first day we went, he took us out to a mall, and I'm freaking out on the inside because it's like I don't want to talk to random people because if I was unsaved and somebody did that to me, I'd want to punch them. So all I knew she was fiery.

Makana Parilla 1:30:44

Yeah. She definitely is.

Ava Parilla 1:30:48

But all that being said, is I was like, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna do it. So I walked up to somebody and I didn't know what I was doing. So I said, give me one second. And I just pulled my phone out and started reading them the script. And I asked the woman, I said, Do you know that God loves you and he has a plan for your life? And she shook her head, no. And I was like, I don't know what to do. So I just kept reading through the script, and by the end of it, she's crying, and she was a worker. She was crying and she gave her life to Jesus.

Tammy Hershberger 1:31:21

Wow.

Ava Parilla 1:31:21

But because of that one, that one moment, I was like, Oh, I gotta keep doing this. And then it got it got easier over time, and now it's like the more, it's like a muscle, the more you do it, the easier it gets. And I bet Makana has stories of when he first started. Yeah, how was your first time?

Makana Parilla 1:31:39

Well, when I first started, I was it helps when you're around people who do it. Yeah. Um, so I was around people um at that time of my life that would do it like crazy. I'm talking like jump on tables and cheesecake factory and rip it.

Tammy Hershberger 1:31:53

Wow.

Makana Parilla 1:31:54

I'm talking like crazy. Um now, I've never done that. I don't plan on ever doing that ever. Um, but you know, you do it, and the more you do it, the better it gets. I mean, when I first started, it was just, hey, I'm gonna pray for you. And everybody wants pray, especially with the crazy stuff going on in the world. So I'll pray for people and then hey, you know, before I go, the Bible says this, and if you want to receive a gift God has for you, to see to it that you know where you're going when you go to heaven, like when you go to bed, then let's pray. And then I'd pray with them, lead them in the salvation prayer. But then after um a while, like that's the thing, like, like what you were saying, like, yeah, it it goes to your account. That's why um we believe God, like that's that's why you believe God. Like, if I never go to um like Tibet, but then I know a preacher who is going to Tibet, I'm gonna bless them, I'm gonna send them money so that they go instead of me. Yeah, and then whatever they do for the Lord comes to my account. So there's stuff like that, but nonetheless, that doesn't disregard the fact that all of us, not just preachers, not just pastors, not just evangelists, are called to win souls. And as much as I may seem like I'm this like spiritual like guru, and every single individual that I ever come in contact with, but no, but there are moments, and I'll tell you one recent moment, it happened like a week or two ago. I went to Raising Cades in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I went to Raising Cades, and I'm hanging out with me and like three other dudes, four other guys. It's just me and the boys just hanging out, spending time with each other eating before the fast starts. And then once we went, it was like, all right, we're you know, it's just guys being guys, we're all messing around, we're joking around, we're having fun, and then everybody's about to leave. And then I notice this kid sitting down, and I'm like, I can't shake it. I gotta like talk to this guy. And I don't, you don't normally feel like that, but I was like, I feel I gotta talk to this guy like it, like to the point where it's like I'm gonna be disobeying God if I walk out of here and I don't talk to this guy. So I was like, walking out, and then one of my friends, Mako, he I'm like, I'll bear it, I'll bear it back, I'll bear it back. And he's like, What is what's going on? What's going on? And I was like, just bring the car out, I'll beat you in the car. So I walk in, and super casual, I'm like, what's up, man? My name's Makana. You know, like just what's up? I'm gonna see. Hey, look, I'm not, I know I'm like just some random dude, but I just want to let you know, you know, you know God loves you, you know he has a plan for your life, and you know, I'm I'm only doing this because, you know, I'm from Hawaii. I came all the way to Pittsburgh for school, but now I'm a minister and I preach the gospel, and I'm I'm just telling you this because God changed my life. And, you know, he set me free. I used to have a really junk life. I used to hate life, but then he changed my life. So I want to let you know he does love you. Before I go, I'd love to say a prayer with you before I go, especially with the crazy stuff in the world. So I pray with him. 2026 is gonna be a good, the best year you've ever had. I believe in God with you, you know, touch this man's family, touch his uh life. And he was young like me too, like college age. And then I just prayed with him, and then I led him in the self-fration prayer, jumped on the car and went home. And I felt great because and that's why I like doing it like like that because that's what that's not just the call of the evangelists, that's the call for every single person. And if the person says no, guess what? You'll probably never see them again for the rest of your life. But that's what it is, because we're it's it's great, and I love doing it. That's what got me in Ava's head. Bless God.

Tammy Hershberger 1:35:27

Yeah, I mean, I think that's well, I think that's part of why I struggle because our church that sent us that I didn't they didn't tell us anything to say. I was like, I've never done this, I don't know. Just here's water what to even say, yeah. Here in these baby water, and it's like 900 degrees here, you know, it's hot in the summer, and I'm like at the homeless camp, which is its own special place. Of course. I mean, I'm not trying to be like rude to them, but they're some of them are a little bit different, of course. Like terrifying, and it's like, uh, water. And they're like, Can we have a sandwich? And I was like, I'm sorry, I don't have any food for you. Yeah, I don't know. It was wild. So I guess I just need some maybe just have something to read so that way you get more comfortable with it.

Makana Parilla 1:36:03

Of course.

Tammy Hershberger 1:36:04

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:36:04

Of course.

Tammy Hershberger 1:36:05

Um, okay, so I was trying to think what else do I have for questions for you guys. Uh oh, I was gonna ask you as a young male, right? Because you're 19, correct?

Makana Parilla 1:36:12

I just heard 20.

Tammy Hershberger 1:36:13

Oh, you're already 20, okay. And Nick, I think, is 20, that works for me.

Makana Parilla 1:36:16

Awesome.

Tammy Hershberger 1:36:16

I look at you guys and I think, you know, when I was 20 and the guys that were around my life, they were not like you guys. So what would you say to young men that your age that are out partying or just not sure about the the Lord or you know, you know how young men are. Like, do you have anything to say to them to like help them?

Makana Parilla 1:36:33

Yeah. Be a man. Because the highest life is a life lived for Jesus Christ, not partying. You can ask Ava, I do everything in my life the exact opposite of the world, and I'm talking to the littlest things, like, alright, everybody likes that kind of hat. I'm gonna buy a different kind of hat because I just don't, because I just figured that if I ended up, if I do the exact opposite of what everybody else in the world does, then I'll end up in heaven. Because that's how it works. The Bible says that everyone has sinned and fallen short. So yeah, but so yeah, that's not it's not like anybody's perfect in the sense where nobody sinned ever. Everybody's blown it, everybody's sinned, but whether you keep sinning is your choice. And what you oughta do is just make a decision to do what God told you to do and live it out accordingly and to be wholehearted for God. There's enough trash in this world, there's enough people in the world where you know you you're not doing the right thing, but you're doing what the world says is the right thing. Because I'm not supposed to be preaching at 20. I'm supposed to be living it up in my youth because I'm only 20 for so long, and I'm gonna I'm gonna sow my wild oats, and I'm gonna preach, or not preach, but I'm gonna like party, I'm gonna drink, I'm gonna sleep around. And you're not supposed to get married when you're 20.

Tammy Hershberger 1:38:13

No, you're supposed to taste the flavors. You're supposed to taste the flavors. Oh man.

Makana Parilla 1:38:16

You're supposed to like you're supposed to do what the world says is cool. But the thing is, I have such a disdain. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But then 1 John says love not the world.

Ava Parilla 1:38:34

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:38:35

Neither the things that are in the world, which is not talking about the world as a whole. Your unsaved family members, you know, your prodigal son you're believing God for. It's not saying that. It's saying don't love the things of this world that have no ability to satisfy you now, will never have the ability to satisfy you, and will send you to hell when it's all said and done. Because that's what I never understood. Now I'm a very logical thing, and I don't know if it's I don't Ava's told me it's because I'm a man. But I'm a very logical thinker. I'm not gonna do something that feels like hell now, will never feel like heaven ever again, and will eventually send me to hell when it's all said and done. It feels the Bible doesn't deny that there's pleasure in sin for a season. It says there's pleasure in sin for a season, but it's temporary. Because once the season is done, it's hell. When you sleep around, the Bible says that's a sin that you commit against your own flesh. When you do drugs, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know your likelihood of living a longer life being a drug addict versus not being a drug act drug addict. The odds of you living a long life drop significantly when you start taking drugs. And that's just scientifically. I'm not saying this to like give you this lecture or whatever. I'm saying this because I'm a 20-year-old. There is zero like desire in my heart for the things of this world. Not because I'm better than this world, but I am better than this world. I am. Because not be out of pride. But if you have Jesus living in your heart, then you have something that the world can't give you and the world can't take away. You got joy in your heart. You're not gonna get joy in your heart when you're in bed with the fourth person this week. You're not gonna have joy in your heart when you're you when you need a certain amount of likes on your post. So I'm gonna show a little bit more skin. And I'm not talking, you know, modesty is not just for girls, it's for guys too. You know that. Modesty is for guys as well. You're not, you know, you're not gonna feel happy, but you need the dopamine hit when you see the numbers rack up on your post. So I'm gonna show a little bit more skin, so I'm gonna get my dopamine hit for the day, and then that's how I get my kicks. No. Because when at the end of the day, it's so unsatisfying. And every person, if they were to be true to themselves and they were to evaluate themselves properly, and you want to look at your life, you're not gonna feel satisfied doing what the bot what the world says you're supposed to be doing. I'm not gonna feel satisfied at 25 if I party it up now. Yeah, I'm not. I can comfortably say that. Because I know what it's like to go down the rabbit hole and feel like crap. I know what it's like to hang out with the wrong group of people that I'm supposed to be hanging out with. I got everything going for me. I got the right girl, I got the right guy, I got the right I'm out of money, I got the right this, I got the right that. But love not the world, not the things that are in the world, because and the Bible says why. Because the Bible says the world will one day pass away. Eventually, everything will pass away. But he that does the will of God abideth forever. And that's where I get my and it's not a long-term, like, okay, it sucks now, but it's gonna be great in the end, amen. No, it's great now, it'll always be great, and it's gonna be great all the way up until I get to heaven. Two, I'll I'll say two more things, just on that alone, because I like it. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs, chapter four, that when like I'm sure all of us here have watched the sun rise like one day. We've watched the sunrise. Does the sun start rising and it's beautiful? It crests over the horizon, and then after an hour it starts dropping back under the it doesn't do that, it gets brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter. And the Bible says that your relationship with God is the exact same way. When you got saved, it gets better and then better and better and better and better and better. And then the Bible says until the full light of day, and the full light of day is when you get to heaven. It's not some days it gets darker eventually, and one day it goes back down, it's the sun gets brighter and brighter and brighter. It gets better and better and better every single time. And it's a beautiful thing. Pastor Jonathan says, if you choose happy, if you choose holiness over happiness, you end up with both. But if you chose, but if you choose happiness over holiness, you end up with neither.

Ava Parilla 1:43:27

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:43:28

Because that's what it is. I never had to go to a party to understand that it's hell on earth. It smells like hell, the people look like hell, everything sounds like hell, the music sounds like hell, the lights look like hell. I don't need to know, I don't need to go to a party to know it's hell. Because I'm living in heaven right now.

Ava Parilla 1:43:46

Amen.

Makana Parilla 1:43:47

And that's what it is. So, the end of the day, to answer that question, what you gotta do is you gotta choose to not half-heartedly so serve God. You gotta make your decision. I'm through living this life, and I'm gonna stand up straight and I'm gonna be a man. You know, I think the reason why men get turned off to Christianity is because Christianity has been so, for lack of a better word, ephematized. Ephematized, or it's just bleeding with like what we were talking about earlier. Okay, stuff happened, so I'm just gonna like forget about it. You know, I can't believe this happened. You know, I guess God is a bad God, and you know, I'm just gonna forget Christianity because how dare this happen? It's like there's no drive in that. Yeah, a human being has the drive of I'm gonna fight, I'm gonna keep going. That's what true Christian. You know what the Bible says? The righteous are as bold as a lamb. No, no, it says the righteous are as bold as a lion. A lion is not some weakly, a lion is something that runs the show.

Ava Parilla 1:44:44

Amen.

Makana Parilla 1:44:44

And it's not just something that applies to men either, it's for women too. You lit you find a true Christian woman, a true woman of God, they got drive.

Tammy Hershberger 1:44:53

I have to throw this in because you said lions. So my window cleaning company that I had, our lion was the mascot, and I learned about lions, and the women the female uh lions are the hunters. Oh they go out and kill the prey and bring it back.

Makana Parilla 1:45:05

Wow.

Tammy Hershberger 1:45:06

And I mean, and that's not demasculating. I'm just like, that's what you're saying. Yeah, I like what you're saying. Exactly. Sorry, keep going.

Makana Parilla 1:45:10

No, no, no. That that's that's exactly right. I feel like Christianity has been so effematized that true bed don't like it. But real Christianity is not effeminate Christianity. That's American Christianity. Yeah. Where, ah, God, you know, you you dress like a wimp. You look bad. Not saying like, you know, I dress like I dress in hoodies too. I just did this because I'm a minister, so that's what I've got to do. But, you know, I dress in hoodies. I dress a certain kind of way. It's not like, you know, you gotta have this dress code and everything like that. That's legalism. At the end of the day, it's just look, you got something. You gotta live the way God called you to live. Yeah, be who God called you to be, and it's not some weak league. You know, Christianity is not for the fate of heart.

Tammy Hershberger 1:45:53

Well, that's why we're in the mess room because people get pushed a little pushback on, like, well, they're they don't like what you said. Well, I'm like, sorry, God actually said it, not me. But and then they like, oh, I'll back off, I'll let that sin happen, I'll let that thing happen, I'll change, I won't stand strong in that, and that's what you're talking about. Right. And that's why families are crumbling because the men are not in the homes anymore. And and then they've twisted the women's side. I had a conversation with Jimmy Klager about this, but like how they've made us have to be these roaring women, which we are. I'm not saying that, but like we don't need a man and we can do it ourselves. And I'm like, they twisted that too now. Right. And I'm like, it's not that I need a man, I want a husband. I want a man to protect me. I want a man, I don't want to have to be boss all the time. I want my husband to be boss at home. Like, you know what I'm saying? Because I'm I don't want to carry everything by myself. So I like what you're saying because it does apply both ways.

Makana Parilla 1:46:36

Yeah, and that you know what's crazy too is that ideology is only in America, yeah. And only in the western part of the world. You're not gonna go to Africa and find a lake, and this is not, I know it's different coming from a man, but we believe the Bible. You're not gonna go to Africa. I've been to Africa, I've been to Nigeria, I've been in the villages that you see on the National Geographic. I've seen it, I've been there, I've been in the backwoods towns, I've been in the the four-lane highway, and there's eight lanes on it because nobody cares about how many lanes are on the road. They just do whatever they want. You're not gonna find uh, I'm a strong person, you know, I don't need no man. It's like that's only in there's no transgender people in Africa. There's no um feminists in Africa.

Ava Parilla 1:47:25

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:47:25

It's only in the Western hemisphere. And there's and at the end of like I'm only saying this not because I'm trying to preach my opinion or I believe this is what it should be. It is no, I'm saying that you know where gender rules came from? The Bible.

Ava Parilla 1:47:40

Yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:47:41

It came from the woman submits to the husband, and the husband is the head of the house, and just as Christ is the head of the church. And it's not because you know why it's so easy to serve Jesus, it's because Jesus loves the church. So you know why some women have an issue with husbands? Is because the husband is some dead beat that is lazy as can be and has no drive and has no vision and doesn't want anything to do with anything, and they're not somebody worth submitting to. And that's why I'm doing, you know, when I started dating Ava, that was a wake-up call for me to start getting my stuff together. Because now it's not just gonna be Makata, the evangelist, doing whatever he wants. Now it's like, no, now it's gonna be Makata and Ava. So now it's no longer Makata can just run whatever he wants and he can do whatever he wants. It's like, no, you gotta think to yourself, you got more now.

Tammy Hershberger 1:48:32

So it's a natural switch that a man has then, because I'm not a guy, of like, now I'm married, and then eventually when the kids come, like I would think a protection mode would come in. Because I believe that's naturally in you. Of course. I mean, I'm protective, I think mama bears, I don't have children, so I protect everybody else around me. But yeah.

Makana Parilla 1:48:46

Of course.

Tammy Hershberger 1:48:47

So you have to naturally or whatever, mentally switch that of like it's not just about me, die to self, right? Yeah, like think about my wife now.

Makana Parilla 1:48:54

Yeah, and that's why so many people, you know, that's why I feel like some people, that's why dads leave the home and all that. It's because they're not thinking to themselves, is this best for my family? They're thinking to themselves, I'm this selfish dude, so I just want to make sure that I'm doing, you know, all of that stuff. And that's even like you want to be real, even like suicide, and you can ask Dennis who has a testimony of being set free from suicide, who's gonna hang himself from his family barn in their backyard, but then God saved him. Like, I like Dennis. I like hearing that that's his testimony stirs me up because he heard a voice louder than the devil's tell him, don't kill yourself, it'll be alright. And then he went home and it shook him so much that he just went to bed and never never went back to that barn. And he and then now we went to that same barn and preached three weeks of revival meetings in that barn, the same barn he was gonna kill himself in.

Tammy Hershberger 1:49:45

If you think about, and I I actually I kind of know the testament, I haven't heard it directly from him, but if you think about okay, so he grew up in a religion, right? Yeah, which I call a cult, but it is a cult. It's like they don't teach freedom, really. It's like bondage and like what they want to hammer you down, they don't want you reading your own Bible, whatever. Right. And it's like the fact that the Lord loved him so much that he still overcame all that and got that voice to him. Because I mean you would think religion doesn't always have that voice, you know, especially when that's like don't read the Bible on your own. You need to read the Bible we've created in our language that you don't fully understand, you know. Yeah, and so it's that to me is just a reminder of like God loves us so much.

Makana Parilla 1:50:24

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Tammy Hershberger 1:50:26

Okay, do you guys have anything else you want to share? I've kept you almost two hours.

Makana Parilla 1:50:30

I'm five for another two, bless God.

Tammy Hershberger 1:50:33

I mean, I always like to give someone an opportunity if there's anyone watching that wants to be like, Man, I want what you guys have.

Makana Parilla 1:50:38

Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what you could do. Again, to echo what we were talking about pretty much all broadcast. The highest life is the life lived for Jesus Christ. It's not living for the world, it's not living for your employer, it's not living for your parents, it's not living for human beings. The highest life is the life lived for him. And the best thing you can do when you get when you wake up in the morning is the best thing that can ever happen to you is waking up knowing that my sins have been forgiven, heaven is my home, and I have a God in heaven that is for me. And maybe you are watching this and you don't know that. And you don't know what that's like. The Bible says that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Everybody's blown it, everybody's made mistakes, and everybody has sinned. But the fact of the matter is Jesus has to be the Lord of your life because only then will you be able to experience what we have, which is this joy that surpasses all understanding, peace that surpasses all understanding. Having something called blessed assurance, an anchor in your soul that when you wake up in your m in the morning, you don't wake up sad. I used to wake up sad, but then I got saved. I used to wake up sad, but now I don't wake up sad. I wake up happy, I wake up rejoicing, I wake up knowing sins, my sins have been forgiven and heaven is my home, but maybe you don't know that. Maybe you don't know that for yourself, but today is a day where you can't. The Bible says everyone has sinned, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So maybe you're here and you've never done that before, you've never given your life to Jesus Christ. Or, number two, maybe you have, but if you were to be honest with yourself, like pretty much what we've been talking about all day, if you were to just evaluate your heart and be really honest with yourself, you know, God's not asking you to be the next Billy Graham. He's just asking, he might be, but he's not asking you to be this spiritual guru when you like come to him. He's just asking you to be honest. And if you some of you, if you were to be honest with yourself and you were to look at your heart and look at your life, you'd be saying, you know what? I do love God. I genuinely do love the Lord. But now, if I were to be honest with myself, you know, there's stuff in my life that the Bible calls sin. A soft spot in your heart for the things of the world. You know, the Bible doesn't just condemn Adolf Hitler and Stalin to hell. The Bible condemns people who have allowed the things of this world to grow in their heart. To now, church and the things of God is not first place, it's last. But today that can turn around for you. The Bible says if you just believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, then you will be saved. And if you call on him, then you will be saved. So, right where you are, wherever you're watching this, I want you to pray this prayer out loud with me. And God's gonna come right through that camera, and he's gonna encounter you, and he's gonna touch your life. So I want you online, just say, Jesus, to c uh come in my heart, forgive me of my sin, wash me and cleanse me, and make me brand new. I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and I confess that Jesus is my Lord and He is my Savior. I am saved and I'm on my way to heaven because Jesus lives in my heart. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you so much for watching. I mean, I'm not wrapping up, but I'm just letting you guys know I'm gonna do that. I'll do that. Um, no.

Tammy Hershberger 1:53:48

One last thing before we do wrap up is I want to you to tell everybody how do they, if they're like, man, this McConnell and Ava, they're pretty amazing. And I want to donate to them, I want to support them, I want to get on there and find their ministry, I want to come see them, whatever. How do they do that?

Makana Parilla 1:54:01

Well, you can just go on our website. It's uh EF, the letters, efevangelistic.com, and then right on there you'll be able to find everything. And then you can follow the both of us on social media. You just look up our names. Ava needs to change her Facebook um to her last name uh because now we're married. Bless God. Uh, but uh you just look us up, Ava and Makana Perilla. You'll find us on Facebook and uh you'll find us on Instagram as well. You'll find a lot of it on our website. Um, and then we'll keep in touch through there. We um you can fill out some of the forms we got on there and just to stay connected, and then um you'll follow all the stuff that God's been doing through us. It's been an amazing past year. I mean, we've been going for it, and we're believing God for greater this year, of course. Um, but yeah, and we love you guys. But one thing I will say, you should keep watching the Light Up Your Business podcast on all of your podcast and streaming platforms you can find with the one and only Tabby Hirschberger here at the Barnyard Sheds.

Tammy Hershberger 1:55:08

I don't even know why I need to close up, you just said it.

Makana Parilla 1:55:10

And we're the blessed we're blessed to be on. I mean, we we're so honored that I I I mean I said it before, I sound like a broken record, but like I just wanted to treat the week like I just get to see you guys again because I love you guys. I mean, um that's not brown dosing. Even if it is brown dosing, it's facts, so I don't care.

Tammy Hershberger 1:55:27

But you kind of got tan skin, so we won't notice. Hey God. Hawaii plus time. Uh thank you guys very much for coming on. I will be constantly praying for you, continue to support your ministry. I hope anyone that's still in town here, come see them this week every Thursday. No, not every Thursday, every week. Jeez.

Makana Parilla 1:55:45

Every day.

Tammy Hershberger 1:55:47

I think you just need to be here every day.

Makana Parilla 1:55:49

Praise God.

Tammy Hershberger 1:55:50

Every day this week, it ends Friday, right? Yes. And it's at 7 p.m. at the Happy Day Senior Center here in Grand Junction. Um, again, I will put all the links to their websites and all the stuff so that way you guys can find them. I always thank you guys for watching this. Uh smash that like button, subscribe, share to your friends, anyone that you know, you know, whether it's your daughter, your grandkids, your friend, like she said, her aunt and uncle helped her find the Lord, which is amazing. So we thank you guys for listening, and we will see you guys on the next one. And remember, in the world of business, every success story begins with a passionate dream and ends with a strategic billion-dollar handshake. Stay ambitious, stay innovative, and keep making those deals that reshape tomorrow. Thank you all for tuning in, and until next time, remember Proverbs 3.3 says, let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. That way you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. And remember, if you like what you heard today, click the follow button so you never miss an episode.