Pursuing the Heart
We would like to show how people can discuss the Bible in a casual setting. Then every episode someone sharing a personal story of how God has changed their life...KYEOJ!!!
Pursuing the Heart
Galatians 4:6-11 & Juan's Story
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Scott Blewett, Tim Hunter, and Juan Juarez Ortega discuss Galatians. Then Juan shares his story. I hope you listen and enjoy...KYEOJ!!!
What's up? This is Pursuing the Heart. God pursued us, and now we pursue him. And tonight we got uh Tim Hunter on tonight. What's up, Tim?
SPEAKER_02Yo, what's good? You doing all right? I'm well. Yeah, I'm real well. I had to take a little time away to be with the family. We're getting ready to uh welcome our uh new little malachi into the world here soon. So the home is I'm needed at the home more than I I had been in the past few months.
SPEAKER_01So that's kid number four. So your your your quiver is gonna be full.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the Lord told me to go forth and multiply, so I decided to do so.
SPEAKER_01That's uh that's the perfect example. But guess what, Tim? We've got a special guest. Every guest is special, but this one, man, hit Juan? What's up, Juan? Hey guys. Um, thank you for inviting me.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Blessing to have you on, Juan.
SPEAKER_01Mr. Juan Ortega is in the house. So, Juan, um, tell us uh a little bit about yourself. Uh um, are you married?
SPEAKER_03Yes, I am. Uh I've been married for 21 years. I'm blessed to have a beautiful wife, um name Aaron. Um, then I also have uh five beautiful children that God bless me. And how many?
SPEAKER_01Five. Five. Oh I gotta have one. Wait, hold on, hold on. You beat you're beating Tim.
SPEAKER_02Um I gotta have one more, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you catch enough.
SPEAKER_02I catch enough. I'll let Jordan know.
SPEAKER_01So you got five children? Yes, no grandchildren yet, right?
SPEAKER_03Actually, I just got one less this year.
SPEAKER_01Now he's catching up with me. I got four grandkids, so I got four kids, four grandkids. Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that's uh abuelo, papa, grandpa, all of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, abuelo, yeah. So uh boy girl. I'm sorry, did you say that? Oh, the uh grandkid grandkid, yeah. It's a girl, okay. All right, what's her name?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's um man, got me on the spot right now. It's okay, it's fine. Uh no, it's Sophia. Sophia, yeah. We call him Chophy. That's when I wouldn't know what to say because her real name is Sophia. Oh, that's beautiful. Nobody call him Chopy.
SPEAKER_01All right, that's good. That's cool. That's cool. All right. Well, uh, Juan and I met through the great banquet. Same.
SPEAKER_02I met Juan too.
SPEAKER_01You met him through the great banquet.
SPEAKER_02Uh connection with the great banquet on this podcast.
SPEAKER_01There is a lot of great, uh, a lot of good connections that come through on this podcast through the banquet, which is great. Um, and uh God's using Juan, myself, and you through that then.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01What do you think about the banquet there, Juan?
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's very deep for me. It just brought me right back to um let's say the moment that I was free. Okay. Yeah. Um even just being here right now kind of shakes the foundation of um who cries has transformed because I don't see myself like even though I need this right now, being a deer. Um for many years I avoid to be a public speaker. Yeah, because uh shame that I carry over the years. And yeah, the great banquet for me was uh a way of God called me to be very intimate with him. And I pursued him over the noises, and uh I wanted to know more about him, but he wanted to whisper to me. Um just kind of brought me back to the story of Job, right? Um and when he whispered to me at the Great Bank was that he loved me, that I was love and I was accepted. Yes. Then everything that I carry before that um and hell that across. Amen. And I was able to leave it behind. And it was like breaking the chain that Satan has attached to my ankles, and I wasn't able to be free. So nice, yeah. You just you just asked me something too.
SPEAKER_01So that's just a little teaser for everybody. Uh hopefully you pay attention and you listen to the whole podcast till we get to Juan's story, because Juan's got a great story, and whatever he's gonna share is gonna be really incredible. And uh, he's a brother in Christ, like you're a brother in Christ, Tim, you and I, and now Juan's part of our brotherhood. And um, so uh thank you, Juan, for sharing that. So uh we have been off for a little bit, we're back on. Um, hopefully we won't be off anymore. And uh we will be picking up in Galatians, and uh thank you for uh Scott Sexton uh stepping in last uh time to share his story. And um we just uh I just like that dude so much, but uh but we're gonna uh jump in here and I'm gonna this is the first time that we're gonna ask our guest to say a prayer. Are you okay with that, Tim?
SPEAKER_02All for it. Spirit led. Spirit led. So let Juan lay down a prayer.
SPEAKER_01All right. Tim doesn't usually give up the prayer because that's everybody he's known for praying on our podcast. So hopefully the listeners are okay with this, but I think you will because I think Juan does a better prayer.
SPEAKER_02It's all the same, it's all the same spirit.
SPEAKER_01So, Juan, why don't you open up a prayer and then we'll jump in some scripture? Oh, Heavenly Father, just like always.
SPEAKER_03Thank you for giving me the freedom to approach ourselves tonight to be able to be a vessel to serve you. I empty myself and my brothers here, Lord. Let's just gather our scattered touch and whatever is distracting us right now. Let's just focus, Lord, and give us the strength, Father, to fully submit our spirits to you, Father, right now, Lord. And we desire that you whisper in our ears, Father, that you continue to awaken the desire and the hunger, Lord, to continue to be fed. So you can continue to give us the water that comes out of the well that never runs out. And you say we drink out of you, Father. That we will never be thirsty, Father. And tonight, Father, I pray for whoever is listening, Father. Either closer or far away, Father, you know that person, Lord, that we love so much, even though they don't get to see our faces. They get to see your face, Father, and I pray that whoever is following this prayer, Lord, that they can just close their eyes. They can just have the opportunity, Lord, that you gave the apostles, Lord, to see you in flesh. That there is no longer this login or that they try to imagine, Father, that you actually put your hand on their shoulders right now, Father. That you remind them that you they are love, that they don't have, Lord, to struggle alone, Father, that there is brothers, that they can actually reach out, Father. And right now with your hand and their shoulders, tell them then, Lord, that you love them, they are not forgiven. Lord, you say it is finished, Father, and we believe those words, Father. And because you say that, Father, and the proof that the bell is ripped and torn, Lord, from top to the bottom, and giving us, Lord, the privilege, Lord, to enter in your presence, Lord, through Jesus Christ, our Savior, Father. Lord, you say, Father, that you are the truth and the way. And nobody comes to the Father. If it's not through you, Father. And we believe that, Father. Father, thank you, Lord, for rescuing me, Lord, from the pit. Thank you for bringing me to this table, Lord, to be able to sit with my brothers, Lord, and to see, Lord, what you hence can do to the spirit, Lord, that is working on us, Father. Father, I'm just very humble here with my brothers, God and team, Father. And looking back, Lord, when we first got to meet, Father, and how Father, you bring us together, Father. And right now, Father, I want the same for the brother that is lonely, Lord, for the one that is desperate, for the one that feels that is no more. Father, you rescue me from all the darkness, Father. And I know that you can do the same for my brother and my sister that are listening right now, Father. Just whisper in their ears, Father. Just tell them how much you love them, Father. I remember your voice and I remember your face when you saved me, Father. And thank you for giving us, Lord, the privilege, Lord, that the apostles have. Because right now we can feel your presence, Lord. There is hope, Lord. There is tomorrow, Lord, there is salvation through your hands, Father. Where can we go, Father, if only you have eternal life? You promise that you will return, Father, and we see signs everywhere, Lord. Lord, I send this prayer out, Lord. And I trust it into the hands of the Holy Spirit, Lord, that He's gonna deliver this prayer, Lord, to the darkest places of this world, Father. And this prayer is gonna be delivered, Lord, to the one who needs this prayer the most, and the one who thinks that he needs the least, Father. Because deep inside, he also know, Father, that he needs you, Father. Thank you, Lord, for bringing me to the table. And I pray that one day, Lord, all these listeners, Father, we can see each other in your table, Father, and recognize our faces by the voices, Lord. Because you, Lord, are putting us together. And this is unbreakable. In Jesus' name, Father, your holy name I pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Amen.
SPEAKER_01All right. Thank you, Juan, for that amazing prayer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's a psalm, isn't it? That's the Psalm of One. That's the Psalm of One, yes. Come on, brother.
SPEAKER_01So we've been going through this uh wonderful book of Galatians, and um Paul's addressing some um people have come in behind him and speaking a different gospel. Uh he wants them to understand what the true gospel is. Uh, he also uh wants to know uh why he's chosen um to present this gospel to them. Uh he then um confronts uh Peter along the way and uh then he begins um to go through uh the the reason he says the spirit and he mentions the Holy Spirit several times moving forward, and then he does this awesome comparison that uh the law and the Mosaic law versus the uh Abrahamic covenant or the Abrahamic law, whatever it wasn't a law, but Abraham Abrahamic covenant versus the Mosaic covenant, and he does this great thing like which is greater and goes through this whole thing, and that Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith. It wasn't anything that he did that he got that declaration, and that is the new covenant now, and he's continuing down this path of faith versus law and then the spirit and then Jesus and then how all that works. And so we ended last time in verse eight, and you guys know that I have like a little pattern that I like to go back a couple of verses before, so we just don't jump right in on verse eight, so you can so we can have a good understanding when we're moving forward. But did I move did I leave anything out, Tim, on that?
SPEAKER_02No, that's good, good uh good summary of what we've covered and what kind of Paul's um letters are really about. About it's it's interest, it's interesting. Like every time he's writing a letter, it's because the Judaizers have waited till he left just to come in and flip things around. Right. And he's trying to make sure they understand like why would you go like the like the dog? Why would you go back to the vomit? Why would you go back to something that's right showing you what you already have?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, spot on, and he's been using um pillars of the Jewish culture, like Abraham, uh, for example, and using them as listen, like faith has always been the thing. Yeah, faith has always been what it's about, and we let's not lose sight of that.
SPEAKER_01Yep. So and uh it's Jesus plus nothing, not Jesus plus any of the law. Yeah, and that's what he's trying to share with them. That's what he shared with them originally, and then these people came back in behind him saying, Oh no, you gotta sprinkle a little law in there. Yeah, and it happens today, right? It might happen today. It definitely does, it does, Tim. I'm sure Juan has probably experienced that himself.
SPEAKER_02That's that those are those chains that one was talking about earlier.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the chains that I want to have some freedom, so set me free. So um, verse six uh of chapter four says, Because you are sons, God has sent you, sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father. When you hear Abba Father, where is what's that connection, Tim?
SPEAKER_02You know, when I hear that, that's intimacy to me. You've you come to a point, you know, in your in your walk, when you're in your walking. Well, I'll go out using this analogy, come to a point in your relationship with him, and you go back and you and you use the um the first John 2 piece when he's talking about little children and young men and fathers, it's a maturity thing. So, but you're crying ab a father, whether you're a a small child or you are you know a young man or a or again your father, you still have vulnerability with your father. And that's who you're crying out to, whether it be a joyful crying out, you know, like a like a painful one, like save me. In either way, I'm reaching out because I need you. And that's where your spirit's reaching out for the father that I desire to have a closeness with you. You talked about that a little bit ago, but the intimacy that you have now. Um, because this the spiritual maturity, as you've run towards the Lord, you've gotten so much deeper with him. And that's that's what I hear when I hear Abba Father.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, when I heard that original Abba Father, I made the connection and what Jesus said on the cross. I cry out, he's crying out, Abba Father. And that was one of the last things he said before he died on the cross. And I make that connection, and the awesome thing if you back up before that, Abba Father says God sent his sent forth the the spirit of his son into our hearts. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Amen, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Juan, does it what does that look like having the Holy Spirit inside you, Juan?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's um Um It is hard to put this together in words because we walk on the flesh in this world and um it's hard to slow down and realize who you truly are in Christ. And when he deposits his Holy Spirit in you, yeah, it is um a transformation like no one in this world can do. Um it changed your character, it changed your identity. Um having the Holy Spirit, it's like I would just put it for myself, like walking on clouds ever since um that he put his spirit on me. Um and when you look at the word of a father, it's like I can call him my daddy. Um this word that this for me is very deep. Um I don't want to get too deep on this, but I personally never knew my father. I have never seen his face, yeah, heard his voice, uh, my flesh father. But um having the Holy Spirit in me, it's um it gives me the joy and the confirmation and the assurance that I have a father that loves me. Yeah. So it's a joy that right now. I mean, a lot of people ask me like, why are you always so happy? Yeah. No matter where it comes to me. Right. Right. And and and it's a joy that the spirit provides you. Yes. Right. It's just yeah, yeah. That's I don't know if I went a little bit of no you're probably good at all.
SPEAKER_01You're good. You're good.
SPEAKER_02I I I could you could feel the passion and that small step that you just shared. Yeah. Especially those who uh in our flesh were walking without our fleshly father, um, whether it be for their whole life or a short period of time, they know what it's like to be that distant. And I pray, you know, just right now, I just pray over those who um don't fully understand the love of the Lord because of the damage that's been done here by the choices of an earthly father, whether the the the lack of presence or the lack of love that they've received, because that can um unfortunately have a um separation that you could have from your heavenly father who desires to love you more than anyone can in a lifetime. He loves you more than that one second. He's done so much for you. So that a little bit you shared, you could feel the pain that you have felt and you know how you as a father now have been completely different as a father now to your children, and man, they are bl they're they are blessed to have you because you resemble Christ for them. Yeah, I totally resonate with yours.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_01It's yeah, the bottom of my heart. That's what that's what happens, man. When you got that spirit inside you, everybody gets to see it, and yeah, they're attracted to what you might have, what you have inside you.
SPEAKER_02That aroma. Yeah, it's the aroma.
SPEAKER_01So verse seven says, Therefore, uh you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So people probably listening, and I would have said the same thing about what I'm about to say is I've never been a slave. Have you been a slave, Tim?
SPEAKER_00Not in this sense. In the physical? In the physical, no, but have you ever been a slave, Juan?
SPEAKER_03Uh yes. In a in uh in a sexually way. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. Um, it's different, but different, right? But not like yeah, not in the flesh, like holding host hostage. Right.
SPEAKER_01So I this is actually saying you're no longer a slave. What are you not longer a slave to? Slave to sin.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And then the reason is it's because you're a son, you're an heir, and it's through God. Did I miss something?
SPEAKER_02No, I wouldn't say miss anything. Um, you know, I this the the slave turn.
SPEAKER_01I saw that look. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's not it's not a correction, maybe it's just more a deeper understanding.
SPEAKER_01I get that look on Fridays from him sometimes. So I know that look. So sorry about that, Juan. When I was looking over there to him, he was giving me. He was giving me that eye. It was pretty scary. All right.
SPEAKER_02You know, I think I want to know that I know the term slave has such a like a harsh cut when you hear that in our society today. Um, but again, remember remember that these scriptures, these holy scriptures, were written in a different time, and the slave term here, it wasn't that it wasn't nothing to be um looked down upon even or to um have a separation of. Like it there were there were these individuals, these people who that was their, I guess better word, profession. They lived in the homes with these um with these Jewish people, and they were like tutors to them. But they were highly educated, they um had a place in the home. But this right here, what this is saying is like the slaves were not a part of the family. Family per se, like they didn't have an in my favorite word, inheritance. Right. They didn't have they weren't an heir. But we're we're seeing here is you know, you kind of pull back another verse from you you brought the last uh on the last podcast about adoption. You pulled back in here, you are a son, you are an heir to the kingdom. And I think the word that I get so jacked up about is adoption and inheritance because you know I wasn't born this way. I was born in I was born in the flesh, I was born apart from the from God, but because of what he did, now I have I'm I have an ability now to pull from the heritage because he chose me. Like he has a choice to be in his family now. Right. That's a whole different level of intimacy, in my opinion, because you know, like it's not just you just you you get it because you're part of it and you're born into it. No, like he made a decision to love me so much to bring me into the family.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so in the spiritually, yeah, spiritual.
SPEAKER_02As I said right now, I can pull from my inheritance in heaven and have rest and have intimacy and have like a deep lesson with the Lord now if I desire to.
SPEAKER_01And that's the reason the the awesome thing about the chapters before this said faith. You're declared righteous because you're faith. And because you have faith and you believe you are no longer a slave to sin, and now you are you're basically moved over to a son, an heir, and that's through God. Does that make you feel really good, Juan?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, definitely. Um like you said, like having the assurance of uh being able, like Tim was saying, being able to pull down the um wealth of the father anytime. It's there for you, just take it. Yeah, uh he desires to give it to you. Yes. Um, you know, and we know that he's saying not longer slave, like he's referring more in the spiritual, yeah. Right. Because they were back in those days, they were slave to their rituals and to the law that they were trying to to um accomplish, make you look good, you know, and that's what we see Paul looking back on his own personality because at the time he was persecuing the Christians, and when he's talking to them, he's reminded of himself, who he was, and he's trying to like tell them like he's basically kind of yelling at them like, Look, guys, I am free. And if you guys can experience their freedom because of the faith in Christ, you guys are gonna have an amazing life.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, right. He's trying to he's trying to bring him back to what he first taught them, and trying to do some correction of some bad teaching, and basically just getting back to the basics, right? Yeah, and he was one of the bigger ones.
SPEAKER_03I mean, he's trying to say, like, look at me. Right, right, and and and and look who I am now because of the transformation that yeah, I'm a son now. I'm a son. Yeah, and and he have the Holy Spirit in him, and Jesus had him up, set him apart for these times, and he's he's trying to let them know like you can become a child of God and not be slave of your traditions and everything that I teach you, and then the example that I give you, right? Um, really, he's not saying it here, but what I see, he's basically reminding him like, I'm sorry, I misled you.
SPEAKER_01So then verse 8 says, However, at that time when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods. So, fun little fact here, he's trying to make reference to like back in the old testament, if you look at some verses there, um, chronicles, Isaiah and Jeremiah, they were pointing out to that the Jewish people were worshiping gods who they didn't even know. They weren't even really gods, they weren't they were just made up, they were not even the little gs that other countries worship idols, made up idols, made up people made up little gs. There were little gs that other countries worship, but those can countries didn't even know what they were worshiping. The crazy thing is they were supposed to be worshiping the capital G-O-D. So this is in that to me, this is what that reference is saying is like when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. So you were making you a slave, you were making yourself a slave to that other made up thing, whatever that was that you were saying that was real, it wasn't real. He's saying they weren't even real. They were not even there were not there were no gods.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, definitely. Uh when you look back, um, and because he studied really deep, right? Um all the Moses, Lowe, and Abraham, and um he's looking back also when they go and get all the gold, they collect the gold because Moses is not coming down, and then they go take this gold, and they want to worship something, they're desperate to worship something, right? And when humans are not being led, they want to be led by something, even if it's in their emotional state or unstable state of desperation because they were in the wilderness or whatever, they're gonna get all this gold and they make this cough, and then they start worshiping this bull. I mean, that's what Moses got mad, that's why he broke the the laws, right? Um, because they were worshiping these non-real gods. I mean, they they literally made it, you know, so just take some gold and make it a god, and you worship and you spec in answer from something that you create. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You totally lost. Yeah, they're crazy, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it's this is this verse, it's a little different today. I was having a conversation with a good friend, uh actually just yesterday, and I think about what we do, uh what we do if we want to walk in our flesh, we want to let our flesh take over, or just anybody's walk, not walking with the Lord, it's you you make your own God. Like whether it's you want you idolize control, money, uh, family, even for that matter. Uh there's so many things that absolutely are things that we just know that aren't good for you, or things that look great, but they become a bigger thing for you. They they they they they take up all of your time and you put everything you have into that whatever that thing is. You know, when we run to um pharmacia, we run to therapists, we run to um I mean, I'll say this and it's on maybe it's a little out there, but even just your your spouse when you aren't spirit-led, like when you run to that source to be your savior, that's an idol in your life, and that could become a downfall for you uh in your life. Where you have the spirit within especially when you're when you're walking with the Lord, you have the spirit. Why are you not relying on the source, the one who figured it all out, the one who who told you just lay it all down at my feet, I'll take care of it.
SPEAKER_01Because it's easier to if I'm an image in my past, I'm looking at myself, not saying this is looking in the mirror, the law, right? So I'm looking at myself in the past, as an immature person, I would run to things because I never worked me personally, I was never really taught how to rely on the spirit and what that looked like. It takes faith, it would right, it takes faith, right? But it also takes some spiritual as you mature, but as you mature, right little children at first John. It's perfect because it's laid out in first John, little children, uh young men or in the older men, right? Yeah, um, so it's like at first I struggled with like, okay, I know I have the spirit, I don't even know what that is. That's kind of crazy to me, right? So I'm not supposed to pray to the spirit, he's supposed to help me, guide me. I don't know what that looks like. But here's the thing when I read the word, ooh, that's where I'm learning more about the spirit because this Bible here, I 100% believe is spirit inspired.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, amen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and if I'm reading, like Jesus said, the water that John that um uh Juan prayed about in his prayer, those water that he gives you, and you're not gonna be thirsty no more, that comes from the spirit, yeah. And the only way I'm gonna feed that spirit is by reading the word and praying. I'm sorry, that that's just me, okay. So as I've grown in my faith and I've actually processed some of this word, and I'm still processing it today, and the crazy thing is I might read something today, and then a year from now I read it again and I get something else. That's the crazy thing about the spirit, right? But here's the thing if I'm not opening my Bible, if I'm not reading the word that's spiritually inspired, and I'm not praying, then I probably am gonna struggle with the whole spirit that lives inside me, right? And I am gonna probably chase after different things. Wouldn't you say that's right about Juan? Or did I say anything wrong there? No, no, no, totally.
SPEAKER_03Um I follow you and I understand where you come from. Um, because it's our nature. Um we tend to follow things that have structure structure. Structure, yeah. Yeah, so it's like when the storm comes, you're not looking for hiding in the grass, you're hiding in the house, right? So um we as we read it in here, they were trying to go back to or they feel comfortable, go back into their gods, their traditions, right? Right. So yeah, I mean, um it is hard to be able to be obedient to the Holy Spirit because it's a whole different I can say like this, and I'm not transcending it weird, but it's a it's a whole different dimension. Yeah. When you realize that um I am a spirit dwelling in this flesh. You can cut my lace, it doesn't change who I am. You can cut my arms, it doesn't change you can cut my torso. Even if my head's still the only thing left I can tell you, my name is Juan, I'm still here, but it's really my my spirit speaking, and I know that I'm dwelling inside his body, but um I had to be able to understand and and who I was created, and when the Spirit of God comes in us, it transformed our identity and it reassures that the the only one true God that we can run back to is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I want to make sure something you said there, the identity piece perfect. You know, when you finally come to the Lord and you are led to repentance through his loving kindness, you're changed. You are your nature is no longer to walk to be your flesh, you have a new nature. So your new nature is not a sinful nature anymore. You are perfected because of him, and you are made, you're you can be no better or no worse than you are in that moment because you're completely redeemed one time, one time only. So, like the struggle we were talking about, yeah, all the things you you run back to because we said it you people in your flesh, you idolize control. You do you do those things because there's comfortability, um, because there's you don't want to be exposed and you want to have your life under control, but that's the idol right there. When you allow your flesh to be greater than your spirit, your new nature, um, because that old self is dead, completely gone. Your new self, if you walk with the Lord, walk spirit first, you don't have that. And like this eight, and we're gonna read nine in a second, I think about that little thing, a saying I saw today on a car, know Jesus, like NO Jesus, no peace. But if you know Jesus, like understand him, walk with him, you have the peace. And that's kind of, I think, really good summary of eight and nine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, nine uh is pretty cool. It says, but now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? So he's talking to the believer, a person who knows who knows God and God knows or God knows them. So if you know God or God knows you, then you're a believer. And then that person is turned back to following the old ways, the old desires or the ways that they he they lived life, he or she lived life, and it's using that, it's like why would it says it says worthless elemental things to which desire to be enslaved all over again. Why would you desire that? Because you have something more beautiful, you have the Holy Spirit that lives inside you, you got this new covenant with him, and he's wanting you just to have a relationship with him. But I'd rather have a little law tell me, okay, if I knock this list out today, I feel good about myself.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's that's that control right there. We were just talking about you know the law, and we've Paul done this, but you know, we we were we're talking through what his writings were. The law is is so it's weak because it's it's focused on your your um your behavior. It's just showing you you know, showing you that that that mirror comparison, like I'm gonna look in the mirror and see how dirty I am, see what's wrong with me. And the wall, the that law cannot clean you. Like when you live in that, like you're following the law, you're going through all the things that they did in the old testament, you're your own judge, your own king, and your own savior. And he's trying to explain to them like you have like a divine nature about you now, and you're denying the divine nature that lives inside of you, the same, the same nature, same spirit that lit lived and rose Christ in the grave, and you're wanting to return to give control to your flesh and live back under the slavery of the bondage of sin, like or law, slave of law, yeah. What do you want to say? Like, you're giving up back to the flesh. Yeah, like Paul's about to get really intimate with them because he's like imploring, just return back to the Lord, not to me. You may see me as a symbol of Christ, and I come, I come on behalf of Christ, but return to the Lord, like just like he's he's claiming, he's yelling out like the like God has yelled out in the old testament, return to me, return to me. Like through the prophets, he's he's he does he's imploring to them, like turn away from all this wickedness and come back to me. Like, yeah, I'm gonna have I may have wrath, but I'm still you're still my people, I'm still your father. Come back. And that's what he's trying to get them to do right here.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Rest in your divine nature.
SPEAKER_03Yo, explaining the way you explain things, you brought me right back to the uh book of Hosea.
SPEAKER_02Come on, dude, that's exactly where I was going with that. Come on.
SPEAKER_03You know, when look at the whole book of Hosea, and well, I want to apologize to you guys first of all, because I mean I was invited here, and you guys know I have an eventful day, and so I haven't really been able to like really break this down, and I've just been sitting here led by the spirit, okay? So that's exactly where it makes me excited.
SPEAKER_01This whole podcast is about spirit-led. I've been asked so many times, Juan, you should give your guest a bunch of questions that you're gonna ask about the scripture that you're gonna go through, and then questions you're gonna ask about them. I say I don't want to do that because I want it spirit-led, and I want the con the commute uh the conversation to be all about him and from him.
SPEAKER_03Well, with you saying that, and we're gonna go back to that Jose, but uh you saying that it makes me feel like I can come here and be my be my myself, right? Yeah, I don't have to be this other person that comes here all prepared, and I'm gonna sound like a preacher, or I just want to come here and people to know that this is this is me talking, and yeah, and this is just the temple of God and the Holy Spirit is speaking to through my flesh, right? But um I just want to be obedient to the Lord, but uh no, thank you. Um, I feel I can be genuine who I am. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, but going back to that where you were saying, uh where it hit you that you were connecting it back to Hosea.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think it's 14 out 12, but yeah, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, and and even the whole book, right? It's just it's just we're not gonna go back into that because we're right here, but it just brought me your words brought me right back to where God is crying out loud. Yes, yeah, he's pushing us over and over, paying the price and calling us back right to him, right? But we didn't have no identity.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Now in Isaiah's, that's where we get an identity. See, it totally changed in Isaiah. Um, but Hosea is like God just pursuing us.
SPEAKER_01And he was pursuing his people. So you got the physical going on, right? Hosea's um dating a or married to a prostitute, but in the spiritual, it's supposed to be like God yearning to have a relationship with someone that keeps on turning their back on him.
SPEAKER_02It's an adulterous nation that he's he's still staying there for.
SPEAKER_03Sorry, but and then uh we are here on verse 9, right? So I was reminded of hell because God is pursuing us so hard, and and we just keep going back into the world, our pleasures, right? He repurchased his wife over and over. Yep. And that's what God does. And the last price he had to pay was the highest price. He was his son, Jesus Christ. And uh, when you when you read it here and you kind of read it as slow, it's like Paul self-correct him, um, when he said, Um, but now that you know God, and then he said, Or God knows God.
SPEAKER_01Oh or God knows you, or God knows you, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right. So he's like kind of like correct himself that God knows you, and so like when God knows you, it's because you're his family, Jesus helps present you as like coin heritage.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, it goes back to that other verse, you're an heir now. Come on.
SPEAKER_03So now you have here again because the scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit, you hear the voice of God through the apostle Paul crying aloud to his children. Why do you want to go back?
SPEAKER_01Well, listen to this. In 10 and 11, go together. But look, 10 says, You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. He's like speaking from this heart that is just like, Why are you doing this? There's such a better way. And who's speaking through him?
SPEAKER_03The spirit. And who's the spirit? The spirit of who the Jesus Christ, basically Jesus Christ, like I just purchased you. Yeah. And you want to run back to it. It's not even been too long that Jesus has been crucified. And and they already want to run back to it. Yeah. And without the help of the Holy Spirit, like I was saying before, we we tend to run to worship something that will make us feel secure. And you said before, money, pleasures, yeah, anything that now in this world creates some sort of security. It can be cars, houses, possessions. Yeah. And you know, when God comes and he takes it all away, he said, Look, Ismail, Ismail, you need. Just come and fall, just come and fall in love with me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, yeah, that that little piece you mentioned there gets read over quickly, but you kind of called it out. And I I love this. Rather be known by God. Like you I don't understand how much power is in that small little phrase right there that the creator of the universe, the most High King, the one that always was, always will be, the Alpha Omega, would choose in all of his mighty and almighty to come sit here and have a meal with you, or to come sit here and look you in the eye and tell he loves you. Like, didn't that jack you up to know that he chooses you? I'm getting man goosebumps right now. I was thinking about that. The Lord would choose to sit with me. Like, come on, man. Yeah. That's exactly what he that's the intimacy that that I'm just blessed to have now. I I um I hope that my hope is for those listening, they can have that level of intimacy with the Lord because yes, he would choose to absolutely love you, sit with you, look you in the eye, hold you, and just let you cry in his arms. He wouldn't even cry with you. You have a high priest in the heavens who can sympathize with you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, in the old testament, he desired to have a relationship with these Jewish people who were knuckleheads, by the way. They were big knuckleheads, right? But but but at the right moment, the Messiah came so that everyone can have a relationship with him, and it's through him. The father sent him for us. And then Paul's like saying, Why do you want to do that? Why do you want to go back to that? This is so much greater, it's so much greater. The pursuit of Jesus and growing in him and following him and pursuing him is so much better than living that other life that you had.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and that's what he self-correct himself here, saying, like, you know, God is one thing because there is some kind of source of emotional empowering when a human knows someone that it's empowered like, oh man, I know Tim, he is a person of whatever, or he's his player, um, his status in my relationship kind of empower me a lot of me, so I feel like a little empower. But that's like in the human realm. But when you are known by God and you emphasize that in the heavens, come on, like the creator of the universe knows me. That just makes me really humble. Like, it's come almost like the president of the United States comes and say, Hey, um, I've been watching you and Facebook, and I just want to come and say, Like, no way, that's not gonna happen. But the king of kings, come on, choose to know me. Yeah, I mean, that's what it can stop my joy. I'm like the woman at the well, just keep on running. Yeah, can he be the messiah? I'm for sure he's the messiah, he changed my life, right? But right, that joy did she have that she just run and start like spreading the news.
SPEAKER_01It came from that faith that yeah, he was the Messiah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I can't stop spreading these good news because I am known by God, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we talked about quite a few things here, and you alluded to earlier, and we talked about having intimacy with God. We also talked about what was before that, and there was a life before that intimacy, and I know there's still stuff there. So, like for you, can you just walk us through, you know, what was what brought you to Christ and maybe what what was before? Maybe give some encouragement to listeners tonight.
SPEAKER_04Oh, this is um okay.
SPEAKER_03That is nothing to be hidden because the creator of the universe knows everything, right? He knows you. Yeah. So yeah, I'm not just gonna compact my story a little bit so I don't make it you know any long. But when I was a young kid, you know, something happened. Um, like I say, my dad went after another woman. So he forsake my mom, and I was adopted by um my grandma. So it kind of seems normal when I was a kid, like just having grandma and grandpa, you know, I've been growing up on that environment, and everything was provided to me. Eventually we were moved, and then I was growing up in environments that no kid is desired. Um, I didn't know that I was being raised by my stepdad, and things happened on there. Um, you know, I got really, really dark pretty quick at the age of five. And you don't realize what is happening to you, but something is breaking, shattering inside the no man, no institute or any human health can put back together. And so um, you know, just just growing up in that environment, it really break me. Uh, so I I don't know why, but I know now that God placed me in there to be able to see the darkness and now be able to see the light because even the environment that we had a on my right side we had a man that was practicing witchcraft on the left side there was a lady, on the other side was another lady, and we were surrounded by witchcraft, and not just that, but also my aunt brought us a book to start worshiping Satan. So she will make different um like clay, little uh what you call little idols, yeah, like a little mini-human or something.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah with the clay. And then um she'll repeat all these words, and her eyes would just twist and all that, and and you can see these things moving. But something inside of me won that because I got so much anger for my stepdad, and every day I would go and stab this bag of sin that I put with his name. And I say, when I have the power and the strain, I'm just gonna cut his head off. Because we were very harshly disciplined by my stepdad, and my sister and I um were treated different than my younger sisters because obviously we were not black, right? But growing in the environment, it just led me to uh such an anger inside that I didn't realize when things shifted inside of me until I find myself sacrificing animals at midnight, escaping through the window and going to the cemeteries because I know there was a lot of guys that hide over there and doing drugs and stuff. And so I will go in there and just to find someone to fight. I wanted to get this anger out of me. But at the same time, I knew that the demons exist, but I didn't really trust the name of Jesus because we always tend to blame his name for what happens to us because we say, Oh, if that is such a God of love, what am I going through this? At the same time, I'm not gonna go too deep in there, but I was being sexually abused by my aunt and eventually my uncle. And so, with everything that was going on, and then the witchcraft, actually, one day my mom was gonna make soup for us with a dog that I sacrificed, and I have the meat in the freezer, and it was sacrificed for the demons. And so my mom didn't know all this at the time, but all the pain, all the hurt um just turned me into a slave of sin, and then led me to pornography and other things that it got really deep. But everything that you know the power that Satan gets you in the darkness eventually just crash, and one day he was demanding my life, and so I had to commit suicide, and I hear these voices really loud, and that night um I was ready to go, and that's when um I fall into this really deep dream. Um I don't I don't I don't recall ever in my whole life having this kind of dream. And that's where God spoke to me. He uh um he showed up, he showed up that night, and then he told me, he showed me a window, and he showed me everyone outside that was going into this deep hole. And he carried me back inside the hole uh uh from the hole, he picked me up from the hole because I went and picked and take a pick, and then I was sliding down. And I remember my grandma saying, Juan, if you ever need help, I know you're very angry with God, but if you ever need help, just say, Jesus, I need you. Just say those words. And those words came at the right time because I was sinking into the hole, and I had this desperation, like my soul has no chance anymore. So then I screamed, Jesus, I need you. And I remember this hand reached down, and then he picked me up and take me inside and laid me in this very comfortable bed. And he said, In the morning, I'm gonna talk to you. It's unrest. And I was feeling very unworthy because he wanted to lay down on a wood bench. And I'm talking the you can preach me the gospel, but I don't want nothing with God. You can bring me anything, and I will reject and I will curse God right in your face, and I will prefer to worship the devil and proclaim the demons that they can come and dwell inside of me. Because the anger that I'm going through, there is no God that loves me. And all that led me to um this moment that now I'm facing, and I'm thinking that I'm already dead, everything that I'm seeing in this dream. But then in the morning he wakes me up, and then he said, Come stand next to the window, and then he showed me, he said, Look, I'm never gonna keep you here. It's your choice. You can go back to the old, or you can stay with me in the new, and you'll be with me forever. I find a Bible that it was given to me when I was a kid, and couldn't wait for the morning to come. I was waiting for the light of the new day to go and tell my mom what happened. And my mom knew that I was doing drugs, and um by the time she started noticing that I was practicing something dark. And we had a, like I say, my neighbor, he always does sacrifices at midnight with the animals, and he got the Satan star and the candles and the ritual. So I was kind of following his steps. And I was I was a kid, very interested in the darkness. So um, yeah, so I told my mom what happened, and she couldn't believe that she just told him that I'm going crazy. And I said, No, you don't have to tell me about Jesus, he showed up in my dream. And so I didn't commit suicide, and and I am here preaching the truth Jesus right now, and that's what brought me to God. Like, I got really, really far, really, really deep because of the pain. And that's what I'm saying. Whoever's listening to these, that is hope. And those words that my grandma tell me, if you ever need help, just say, I don't know you, but Jesus, I need you. Yeah, just give him a chance, just give him a chance. It's it's an amazing way that he interconnects people that it's gonna show into your life, it's gonna tell you the right words, it's gonna the light that you don't see right now in the darkness, it's gonna show up. And ever since I've just been on fire. Like I couldn't wait to go to church the next day, which is something that I that I hated before when my mom invited me, because I would prefer to go and um ride bulls. And my mom would just pass by the rodeo, and my friends would tell me, Hey, don't don't ride the bull because your mama's coming. Because she always will give me because she was afraid I was gonna get hurt, which I got hurt a couple times writing bulls, but um yeah, so you know, um I told my mom, we're gonna go to church. And we were passing by all these young men that I find in the cemeteries or in the streets. I will go and fight them because I want to go out and fight, you know, it's just getting my anger out. And every single one that I came across, I said, Hey, how can I talk to you? And they were like, Hey man, I don't want any trouble with you, you know, because they were fearful, because I was like possessed. Yeah, I didn't have a demon, I had a legion. And I wouldn't apologize to everyone that I come across. I broke a lot of ribs, and and I find these guys, and I approach them and I tell them, I mean, something changed inside of me, man. This is for real. I'm apologizing. You can you can hit me, you can punch me, you know, and and I won't hit back. You know, I uh Jesus is real and I'm gonna represent who he is because he told me I can stay inside or I can stay outside. But that's a shorter version of what brought me to Christ.
SPEAKER_01Oh tell us uh I'm kind of curious, how does the banquet tie in to your story here? Well, the banquet's um when you first when you went through.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, at the time um I was really good. Um, also still hiding my shame because that's Satan will always kind of make you like you are free, but he'll give you a little bit of slack, and then you can be this good Christian that you're reading the word of God, and you go to church, and yeah, you follow the law. Yeah, and you look good. But one day my wife was like, Hey, you need to go through the banquet. And I'm like, I I don't like to be around those, I don't like to tell them what I went through. I I don't want anybody to to know. So the great banquet for me was uh a place that I was able to find all these brothers that are I realized that I wasn't the only one broken, that Jesus was still restoring other men's life, and and there was hope for me, and I can be free from this. And the great banquet for me was like uh the moment uh all the darkness and everything that it was left um from my past, it was just washed away. So that's that's how the great banquet for me is uh you know, um I accept the invitation from my wife, and and I went through and it changed my life. And I I find and I find you guys, you know. Yeah, I find you guys, and I find brothers. Yeah, yeah. Eternal brothers. When I look at your faces, I'm always have these weird thoughts. Like every brother in Christ that I see, the first thing that I say, immediately I recognize him as my forever brother. You know, when I see your face, it's like we're gonna be in heaven eternally. You know, we're gonna be in the presence of the Lord. Yeah, entertainment. And then when every face that I come across, it's just it's just nothing but a joy. And and I'm just a free man. Uh the great banquet was um, like I said, a sacred place that the Holy Spirit brought me to say, hey Juan, just I just got a little time for you. Can you just surrender everything? Can you don't put your guards up anymore? And that was uh that was the best day for me.
SPEAKER_01If uh I know and Tim knows, and anyone that comes in contact with you that Jesus has radically changed your life. It's not a secret. You you show it, you you tell everybody. If there was one thing you could tell anybody listening to this podcast, one suggestion or uh whatever that encouragement, what would that be?
SPEAKER_04Um I would just say be quiet.
SPEAKER_03Be quiet and just just listen to him just listen to him right now Allow the reality of his presence just to come right now and and whisper because the noise of this world just don't allow us to to perceive his voice and the only one thing I can say is just give him a chance when you give him a chance you'll fall in love with him because that's all I'm gonna say, like just give him a chance. That's the one thing I'm gonna say, right? Yeah, because Peter had to give him a chance, because Paul has to give well, Paul didn't have to give him a chance, he was he had to be blind to give him a chance, right? So sometimes that's happened. Um God pursued you to the point that he's not gonna give up on you, no, never, because he already paid for you. I was the one running away from God, but he was always running behind me, but I was always a prodigal son, and even though my father put the rain back on me, I always ran back to the mud, you know. But um, I say give him a chance, give him a chance, and and you'll see how your life. I always say I used to think that the Bible's crazy because it talks about all these guys that did great things for God, and even they were so happy to be stoned like Stephen, and I just say don't don't count them, don't they don't know what they're doing. And Paul and Paul Paul was right there approving his death, and you know, um there's gonna be people that are proving you getting hurt, but when God changes your heart and these people's heart, you're gonna be free. Amen. And you're gonna feel so much different that you could not ever put in words together what the word of God is gonna do for you. After you give them a chance. After you give them a chance. Okay. It's all yeah.
SPEAKER_02We're blessed to have your vulnerability. Uh, I know that we have that because the spirit that's within you uh knows that the vulnerability is a weapon against evil, and you know, things you shared, they're they're not um things that are always well received because people don't want to admit that there's uh a dark side of the spiritual realm, but it's very, very real, very out there, and you obviously had firsthand experience with it. And I'm just and I'm grateful that in that darkness, the absence of light, that the light found you and pulled you out of there. Um, you know, you talked about a love, and there's people on the other side of you know this thing where the you mentioned already they they blame Jesus, they blame God for their uh despair or whatever, you know, whatever they're going through because you know they they like to default on how could a loving God do this? Where there's it's because he's loving, there are things that are uh in this world, but it's also because there's an absence of love in others that that evil exists. And there's you know, the love and light and and good is always uh there. It's just the when it's absent, there's a byproduct of that, and it's evil, it's darkness, um, and it's it's it's despair. It's all the things that are harsh in this world that was never intended for us. So man, it's it's a blessing that the Lord pulled you out of that and you hit it spot on. You know, he's he's worth it. Be still and let him speak to you. The whispers you talked about earlier, he is so worth it if you let him.
SPEAKER_03When you were um when you were saying that these it's not well received, um I can talk to you and I can talk to the audience. Um God knows. Um, and it's not in the I fear him, and it's not in that I'm gonna hide. And and I'm not ever gonna give uh Satan any credit because Satan always wants to uh create this fear in you. So a lot of people don't want to even hear Satan, like people just want to hear Jesus, love, and peace, kindness, all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, and and what I'm saying right now is that if you're not able to recognize your enemy, the problem in Christianity right now is that we live in a very blind world that especially myself, I I find living these experiences in this Christian life and this Christian churches very different than Mexico. And the reason I'm at Toyo is because um, like I said, I was in a town where a lot of people practice witchcraft, and then the reason that God allowed me to be a part of them it was because when he exposed me to the reality of Um to the point that even the demons you can see the shadows and and and the and the uh walls and and they were trying to manifest themselves to create these fears. And um people will bring my grandma, all these um possessed people, and she will pray for them in the name of Jesus. They will bring them with chains. And grandma said, take those chains, and they were like, Oh my god, he's this, he's this. No, no, no, no, no. You don't know who it's in me. And then they would take the chains. And I saw some crazy stuff happen, but no one of them ever touched grandma. Grandma was a powerful woman in the prayer. In prayer, yeah, always. And she also had the spirit of prophecy. Um, and around Mexico, uh, Guerrero, uh, Michoacán, and all the south with a lot of cartels where I remember she takes me driving her there, and God will give her a name, and we will go into the mountains and find the person that God gave her the name in the dream. So we are in the middle of the mountains trying to find a guy that God says that he's gonna be chosen, and then she will buy a land, property, and then help to support that town and eventually open a church. So she helps open like 28 churches. Wow. And we will go and remember there was uh conflicts between the police and the cartels, and in the morning we will see all the bodies just like the hands just flapping, dead bodies. And I was telling ground, like, you crazy, because one time we got stopped, and then they put the gun in her chest. I'm like, You're not gonna come in here. And then she just looked at him and she said, Get closer. And she rebuked him, but she wasn't rebuking the person, he was rebuking the demon that was trying to stop her. Yeah, and then the guy changed immediately, and then he escalled us to find this guy that grandma had the dream on. So when God allowed me to see all that, it's like now in my days, empowers me a lot more because people are afraid to know their enemy. They don't want to know that. And if you don't know your enemy, you don't know where you're born or when he's gonna attack you in there. So when you know, and the Bible is very clear when he says that the evil, um, your enemy is roaring around looking to devour you, and he's gonna try to devour you now in the most um way, he's gonna be very secret of how he's gonna attack you. And if you don't know your enemy, you live in the flesh, you're not living in the spirit. And that's what Paul here is bringing us right back to his crying out loud. Please return. Because even he's here, if you if you notice here, uh he was saying the forces, he's not talking about physical body, right? He's talking about the forces, and I was a witness for the forces, but then I realized everything that I did cannot compare to the power that Jesus had. Because now, even the demons that I used to call in, because they were very upset with me. And they're trying to torment me for many, many years. They would show up and do a lot of things. And um, I'm not gonna go into details because I'm not gonna give Satan the space and any glory. But as soon as I say in the name of Jesus, they run. And you're they must flee. Yes, they must. Yeah, you remember that what happened to the guy when he came to the cemetery and the demons recognize the power of Jesus. They even say, Can we please get into the pigs? Right? They say, Well, our name is Legion because we are too many. So, see, the power is that you have the Holy Spirit, and wherever you walk, you walk in power. Yeah, and wherever you go, you walk in power. And when you take authority, and then you know your identity, and then the Holy Spirit that is in you, no matter where you go, you walk in power. And that kind of power is you don't have to say, you don't have to it's like they recognize, but you have to be able to pull down from your father, right? And use that power because otherwise you just keep all this power of Jesus and a really beautiful uh devotional, and you just don't want to face anything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. The crazy thing, what you were just saying about the power. Um I listened to a lot of podcasts, uh, one here lately, and Tim knows this, uh, is Taylor Welch, the deep end. And in one of the podcasts, he was talking about how we have the Holy Spirit that lives inside us. And once we know that power that had that lives inside us is greater than any other power, greater than anything, how that power or that spirit that lives inside us can change the room. And and and it it can change the room that you're in because they know that you have the Holy Spirit. I'm like getting goosebumps talking about this, but everyone in that room knows there's something different about you, and possibly you have the Holy Spirit that lives inside you without you telling them that you are a believer, they just pick up on that and that power to change the room like that. I was just when you were talking about that, that's where I was going to. I was like, because I I think Tim and I had a conversation about that, and like how as we grow in our faith and as we discover the Holy Spirit, how we can affect or change a room and and change the podcast.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and Jesus wants that. Remember, he said you would do greater things. When he said that, I take it very seriously because he wants to empower you. You know one thing that the demons hate? They hate to see you when you're fasting because you are not pleasing the flesh, you are sacrificing the flesh to please the spirit. Spiritual feeding. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. And that's something where I find my strain constantly. Yeah, because I battle very strong bottles. And unfortunately, and fortunately, my wife, which was not a believer, everything that had happened to me before, right? And she was not even a believer because you know, my my mother-in-law is Korean, and so she was Buddhist, and um, you know, um, so my wife came to Christ later on her days, and I tell you what, I mean, I don't have to preach her. She's a woman after God, yeah, and God revealed Himself to her, and she is in power, she's teaching a lot of youth kids and young girls, and it's just an amazing what God has done in my wife, and God knew that I needed a strong spiritual wife.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So that's that's just amazing. Yeah, but you gotta draw the power.
SPEAKER_02You have to, and that's walking power. That's kind of I I'll kind of wrap wrap on this. We mentioned it before a couple times, uh 1 John 2 and 13. And it part of it says, I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. And it's not you, it's the spirit within you who's overcome. It's Christ, what a sacrifice was, who's whose blood poured down for us, who has the highest currency in the spiritual realm. For us, we have that now, we have that same spirit that can overcome anything in front of us, small or big, however that looks. And clearly you are his son, and you've overcome a lot because of him. Scott, the same way, myself the same way. Um, but that's what we're just imploring for each listener tonight is let him do his greatest work in you. Just rest in him. He's overcome, he's done it all. Rest.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like uh like Juan said, choose him. Right? Yeah, choose him. Yeah, choose him. And uh, we appreciate you coming on the podcast, Juan. Love your heart, and uh I can't wait to serve with you on the banquet. We uh that's uh so let everybody know Juan's gonna be the head spiritual on the next banquet, men's banquet, and then he asked me to be a part of the spiritual team. He asked Tim. Tim just couldn't participate. He's got a little kid on the way. Malachi. So um pursuing the heart. Uh follow us, like, share, and subscribe. And uh we do love comments. The best ones is the best, but you know, five-star comments, five star ratings are the best. So on any of the podcasts you listen to, so that gets people, other people to listen to that. Um, and uh just remember God pursued us, now we pursue him. And the one thing I can't really say, uh, when we close, we haven't done this in a while. What is it, Tim? K-Y-E-O-J. Oh, hey Juan, you know about K-Y-E-O-J, don't you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sounds familiar. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Sounds familiar.
SPEAKER_01I used to I wrote some cards one time, and uh, I put on the back of the card and Juan's cards. It always said K it was a verse on one side, and on the other side there was uh K Y E O J. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Hope you come back next week. Love you guys.