TRUTH Be Told Podcast - Faith

Truth Be Told is a conversational exploration of biblical truths,  with your hosts Reverend Michele Love and Reverend Steven Hofmeister from the Voice of Truth Center in Bel Air Maryland.   Let's join Reverend Love,  and Pastor Steve as they discuss this week's topic,  on Faith. 

Transcript

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 00:00
Alright, so here we are our first podcast Michelle. What do you think? Yeah, you excited?

Rev. Michele Love 00:05
I'm very excited. Not my first rodeo. No, not your first rodeo my first

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 00:10
My first rodeo doing it with somebody else

Rev. Michele Love 00:12
Yeah, this is exciting for me and I think it's fun because people can get two different perspectives of the same subject Right. So as we speak about faith, which is our subject today our subject Subject at that we can bounce back and forth. We have the word open and We have God's presence with us. Yes, so with that

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 00:36
Yes, that's definitely we're not doing it for us. So like we just got talking before we hit record, you know It's not about us. It's all about him. It's not about our end game about you God

Narrator 00:49
Thanks for joining us for this week's episode of Truth Be Told. Truth Be Told is a conversational exploration of Biblical truths with your hosts Rev. Michelle Love and Rev. Stephen Hoffmeister from The Voice of Truth Center in Bel Air, Maryland. Let's join Rev. Love and Pastor Steve as they discuss this week's topic on faith.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 01:12
So, as you said, we're talking about faith today. And faith is a really big topic, and we only have 30 minutes to hit this topic. So I wanted to give a scope on just how big in the Bible the topic of faith really is. So to say that in the New King James Version alone, there's 124 general scripture references to faith, 92 scripture references to the enjoining of faith, 192 references when faith being exemplified, and 112 of these scriptures reference the specifics to faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 01:57
So it gives you a really broad picture of how big faith really is when it comes to the grand spectrum of the Bible and God's design.

Rev. Michele Love 02:07
That's the number one thing, it's the first thing that you need in your life to be able to even A, understand the Bible, B, understand that you can have a deep relationship with God, and C, Jesus Christ. In order to understand all of those things, you have to have faith. It's the number one first ingredient for you to be saved, for you to be healed, for you to be redeemed, for you to be restored, for you to be whole, and I could go on and on and on and on and on.

Rev. Michele Love 02:47
But if you don't have faith in what God can do, in what God has done...

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 02:53
You won't get it. That's right. It's the cornerstone of it all.

Rev. Michele Love 02:58
You will not get it. It really is. You know, it's the first thing that, you know, when I meet people for the first time, you know, when I was doing the prison ministry and... The first thing I would ask everybody in the room is do you have faith that God is still in our lives today? And to listen to some of the answers was really wild because a lot of people didn't really

Rev. Michele Love 03:27
understand. A lot of people didn't really comprehend because of their current situation and their past. They figured God had written them off. God had already written them off because they're so bad.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 03:44
Didn't feel worthy, right.

Rev. Michele Love 03:46
Right. And you realize after speaking to people who are, I mean, if you ask me, a rock bottom place is prison to some. A rock bottom place is being homeless. A rock bottom place is being in a position where you literally are empty and you have nothing left. And the only thing you have left is a decision to have faith in God

Rev. Michele Love 04:18
That's a good place. 

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 04:22
It is indeed indeed.  I can relate and I can personally relate that you'd have to be at that point of Being in that spot where you've got to be able to say Lord. I surrender. Okay, it's I need you you have to surrender you have to surrender you're not going to find faith and Redemption until you hit that spot of saying I give up I need you and that's what God wants

Rev. Michele Love 04:43
That's exactly what God God wants a surrendered Mind body spirit. He wants everything in you to be Surrendered so that he can begin a new work a new creative, you know Whatever he does he wants a New beginning right we all No matter

Rev. Michele Love 05:08
Where we are no matter what age we are Have an opportunity for a new beginning. That's right. Does it matter? Your it doesn't matter what? Religion you succumb to, it doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter if you're man, woman, child, senior, doesn't matter what culture you came from, and it doesn't matter what your rap sheet looks like. That's right. It doesn't matter what your

Rev. Michele Love 05:41
past is, it doesn't matter to God. That's right. All that matters to God is that you have come to Him by faith. That's right, and it wipes the slate clean. Knowing that through Jesus Christ, we should say something about what we just said. We need to backtrack a little bit. Okay. The only way to get to the Father is through the Son. That's right. Who is Jesus Christ. You first have to have faith in Jesus Christ. Right, exactly. Once you have faith in Jesus Christ, you accept Him as your Savior, you are forgiven, you are made right with God

Rev. Michele Love 06:22
only because of Jesus. Right. There's no other way to the Father. I don't care what other religions say. There's no other way to the Father except through the Son. That's right. And that is word. That is in the Bible. That is scripturally sound. Yes, it is. So you have to have faith in Jesus Christ first. Right, and

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 06:47
that's truth, and that's why this podcast is called Truth Be Told because that's

Rev. Michele Love 06:51
all we're talking about is the biblical truth. Amen. And you know that faith that you have in Christ and you become saved opens up so many doors, so many blessings with God. I mean, you will become healed from everything you had been through. Like I said, it doesn't matter how old you are or how big your past is.

Rev. Michele Love 07:25
God says we are washed white as snow. We are a new creation in Christ. The old man has passed away. We have to understand by faith that all of this is a miracle. Yes. And a free gift.

Rev. Michele Love 07:47
Yeah. I say this all the time. Jesus Christ died on the cross and had no guarantee that people were going to accept him as their savior. He did it without even the full depth of who would receive him and who wouldn't. That's huge.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 08:19
It is. It's very huge.

Rev. Michele Love 08:21
Who does that?

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 08:23
It's such a broad thing to consider. Where are the edges on that?

Rev. Michele Love 08:30
Who can you compare Christ to?

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 08:32
Exactly. Nobody. Nothing. No one.

Rev. Michele Love 08:36
And he's still alive. Yes, he is. Sitting at the right hand of the Father. Yes, he is. Everything we're saying right now takes faith. That's right. You have to believe that.

Rev. Michele Love 08:48
someone paid the price for your sin.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 08:52
True. Jesus Christ.

Rev. Michele Love 08:55
You have to believe that God will heal all the wounds, all the scars, and all the baggage from your past. True and you have to ask Yes, you have to build a relationship You know what else takes faith

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 09:18
What's that?

Rev. Michele Love 09:19
And I hear God

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 09:21
And I hear God

Rev. Michele Love 09:24
Seriously. Yeah, people think I'm crazy But I don't care well God thinks I'm His and he knows he can do whatever he wants through a person

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 09:38
Through a thing. That's right. I mean you and I you and I came into working together here from two completely different Theological backgrounds. I mean, you know you you you came from kind of a Pentecostal background. I came from My early roots of a Southern Baptist background and as you can imagine I'm sure the listeners can imagine that's created some interesting Conversations. Yeah, you know, but she's right, you know, you have to be able to Hear God you have to and it happens and she you know, Michelle here's Reverend love I'm gonna call her Reverend love. It's just respectful Yeah, Reverend loves opened my eyes to a lot of things and the Lord has really been working through that

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 10:21
So yes, you have to be able to hear God and I've been able to open my ears to God

Rev. Michele Love 10:27
Yeah, as well and people have to understand that When you say yes to Christ and you come into the family you are The kingdom of God now you're living in it, but you represent and you are the kingdom of God A lot of people don't really nurture the relationship with God.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 10:53
Yeah, it's a big, we see a lot of that in the, we're going to say the global Christian scope of, there's not a lot of attention being given to that.

Rev. Michele Love 11:06
Nurturing the relationship with God is instrumental in growth, and in God using you, and in God showing you things you do not know. Great and mighty things you do not know. Yes, for sure. All God wants is a relationship with each one of his children. Yes, as a whole in the church, but more importantly, independently, that intimate one-on-one relationship.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 11:46
That is the important part.

Rev. Michele Love 11:48
And the Bible talks about that. It does. You're going into your quiet place, you and God. That's right. And who else did it? All the time.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 11:58
That's right. Jesus.

Rev. Michele Love 12:00
Jesus did it. He left the apostles all the time.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 12:04
Yeah, constantly, to their dismay in some cases.

Rev. Michele Love 12:06
And they didn't like it. Exactly. But he said, I need to go be with my father, or I won't know what to do. Because after he would be with his father, he would perform miracles, signs, wonders, called the Pharisees and Sadducees out, gave truth. But he also made it very clear in the gospels, all of them, I only do what the Father tells me to do.

Rev. Michele Love 12:37
I only say what the Father tells me to say. That's right. Which leads me into the Holy Spirit. And Jesus showed up at the river for John to baptize him. After he came up out of the water, spirit came down upon him and filled him up. Then, and only then, did he begin his ministry. That's right.

Rev. Michele Love 13:11
Because he needed the infilling of the Holy Spirit in order to hear God and do the signs, the wonders, the miracles, the healings, the deliverance of the demons, casting out the enemy, providing for people who needed things, and speaking and preaching and teaching the

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 13:36
Word. Right. Which is the core, that's the root of faith right there, is the whole aspect of preaching and teaching. Because how else are people going to know even what faith is in Jesus Christ without the Holy Spirit and those led by the Holy Spirit to preach and teach it to the people?

Rev. Michele Love 13:55
And I think, I don't think, I know, it takes faith in the Word. And Jesus said to the apostles, the promise I made for all of you is that the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the fire. The fire is what torques us up to do what God's called us to do. The Holy Spirit has to be in control. That is going to be another podcast for us because we do need to really explain in the Word the Holy Spirit because many are not operating in the Holy Spirit.

Rev. Michele Love 14:31
That's right. Many do not understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We're going to explain that in another podcast.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 14:39
We're definitely in agreement on that. Oh yeah, this is just the beginning of a much bigger project.

Rev. Michele Love 14:48
There is only a small amount of faith, the size of a mustard seed, that is needed to be able to walk and talk and breathe and do and say, well, talk and say are the same thing, what God wants us to do. The greatest faith moment in your life, after you're saved, is understanding that the old you is gone. You need to now die, not physically, spiritually, die to yourself, take up your cross, which is your mission, and your call, and your purpose, all rolled into one, that's your cross, and

Rev. Michele Love 15:36
follow Jesus. You said yes, and if you remember, when the apostles all said yes, they dropped everything. Everything. They did. They didn't even question. They did.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 15:55
I mean, the first ones he chose walked away from a fishing fleet. They walked away from the family business.

Rev. Michele Love 16:03
Because they trusted him, they knew who he was, and they were ready to receive the journey that they were about to go on, the call. At that moment, they died to self. At that moment, they said, Jesus, you are more important, and we need to learn, and we need to follow you, so yes. Which leads me into, do people really understand that their old life is gone? That's a good question.

Rev. Michele Love 16:45
I don't think people understand that.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 16:47
I think there's a lot of people out there that don't get that. They go through the motions, they jump on the, I guess you'd say the Christian bandwagon, but they're missing the core message of what it's really about.

Rev. Michele Love 17:01
You have a call on your life. Yes, you were saved and forgiven, and you're going to heaven, all the beautiful blessings of salvation. But you also gave up your life for Christ. Think about this for a minute. The Lord's putting this on my heart. When you get married, you know that the moment you say, I do, or yes, you give up, the woman

Rev. Michele Love 17:32
gives up her last name, they both give up their singlehood, they are now two becoming one under God in Christ. Right. They are giving up everything that was. And now they are too living together, making decisions together. Everything that happens as an individual when you're single, you now have and are responsible for and have to live with another person.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 18:08
Right. You've become that new creation.

Rev. Michele Love 18:11
You gave up your old life to join with this person in a new adventure, in a new life and a new journey together. Same thing happens when you receive Christ. You give up who you were, alone, by yourself, single if you want to go that route. You join forces, not only with Christ, but the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So you've got the whole Trinity. On your side, coming together, teaching you, guiding you, prompting you, and showing you

Rev. Michele Love 19:04
how to do life this new way. That's right. It's not any different.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 19:10
You're right. And that that's where the faith that's what builds the faith. That's where that that's what energizes that faith.

Rev. Michele Love 19:19
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Because when you find your mate, you have faith in this relationship. So much faith that the guy decides, I'm going to ask her to marry me. And if you follow etiquette, the guy has to have enough faith to go to her father. Yeah. Going somewhere with that.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 19:49
Yeah.

Rev. Michele Love 19:50
I see where you're going. And ask for her hand in marriage. The Bible says that He chooses us. We don't choose Him. Right. But the Father chooses us when our heart is ready, and the Son is the one who made the way.

Rev. Michele Love 20:15
I hope that makes sense It's intertwining The father has the final say that's right. The father's the one that says yes You can have her hand in marriage. The father is the one who says yes, their heart is ready great for my son Is that wild as well? I didn't come up with that as well. The Holy Spirit just gave us that

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 20:39
You know and she gets and she gets that a lot. You have to understand that's exactly what I'm talking about about first I'm sorry what she's been talking about about listening to God is We had these moments constantly throughout the week as we're working together We're just drops like that just happens that they've happened with her to happen with her a lot She's got that that prophetic calling on her life with that It's happened with me a couple times, but it just happens that's listening to God and let it happen and let it happen

Rev. Michele Love 21:07
That only happens When you're dead to self sure the Holy Spirit will not enter in and And come back with the flesh. That's right. Do not get along Spirit and the flesh do not get along You have to understand that when you give up your life, you have to have faith that God knows what's best for you.

Rev. Michele Love 21:44
That's right. And you have to give up a few things.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 21:47
That's right. You've got to have that surrender.

Rev. Michele Love 21:50
We all had to when we got saved. That's right. Heck, I was dating a married man. I don't regret it and I'm not ashamed of it because I was forgiven. I didn't know. I believed the lie, the lie that was being told to me.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 22:08
I get it. I mean, I totally get it. I mean, I started out as a teenager, baptized as a Christian as a teenager, lost my way, lost connection with the Holy Spirit for 21 years. Wow. 21 years, I had, you know, not to just break into a testimony, but for 21 years, I was so angry with God, I refused to listen. Yeah. I refused to listen.

Rev. Michele Love 22:32
And I think that's not an uncommon comment. It's not. The Lord wants me to say, though, that this married man thing was 27 years ago. Oh, exactly. People don't think it was yesterday.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 22:42
Right, right, right.

Rev. Michele Love 22:43
Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. No, no, no. It's good. It was a long time ago.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 22:48
And there's aspects. People have to see that history, that fragileness that brought us in to what we do. We're not trying to be above anybody. We're not trying to sit on a pedestal. We're just being real.

Rev. Michele Love 23:04
This is real. This is real life.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 23:07
Exactly.

Rev. Michele Love 23:08
That we have experienced. And prior to Christ, prior to being saved by the grace of God. Yeah. Prior to that, we were dirty. We were ugly. Our spirit was our insides were all right. We were living in darkness living in sin and

Rev. Michele Love 23:35
It by because of faith Knowing we needed To change we needed to get out of the darkness and walk into the light of God Which was provided by Christ. That's right. Same for everyone listening right now understanding That when the when you accept Christ the light of God enters into you and

Rev. Michele Love 24:04
It doesn't leave Unless you walk back into darkness. That's right, but you can come back. That's right. You just come back to God That's right. There is no condemnation in Christ. There's none. There's nothing, you know, it's like I've said and I've been you know

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 24:21
All over social media it's been heard from that of me before there is nothing you can do No, there is absolutely nothing you can do. That is so bad that you can't come back to God Nothing. Absolutely. Nothing

Rev. Michele Love 24:36
period

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 24:38
Nothing. I mean look I cursed God directly. I said, you know, how dare you take my father from me? You know, he took my dad from me, you know, I was only like 20 years old, I couldn't process that. Yeah. You know, I cursed God. I actually cursed God by name. But he took me back.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 24:56
Yes. He allowed me to surrender.

Rev. Michele Love 24:58
And your faith in what he could do for you. And I'm sure, Steve, that you got to a point in your life where the pain was so great. Yeah. The bitterness, because pain turns into bitterness. Oh, yeah. And the bitterness is a fruit that we do not want to expel out of our mouth. Because remember, what's in the heart comes out of the mouth.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 25:20
That's right.

Rev. Michele Love 25:21
That's right. And if bitter fruit is coming out of your mouth, and you are not saved, you need God to clean that up. That's right. To redeem you. That's right. The blood of Christ is for every single ailment, sickness, pain, suffering, everything that

Rev. Michele Love 25:44
needs to be healed in your heart and mind. Is on the cross. That's right, and people don't really get the they don't grasp

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 25:54
And they don't the cross that's not you that you've got to and I'm gonna be talking about this in the discipleship class We got coming up want to talk about the gifts of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit and whatnot. You have got to nurture that relationship you have got to Keep a maintenance on that relationship. You've got to work it You can't just expect it that you've got it and it's not going anywhere. You've got Nurture that you know, that takes faith. It takes faith and it takes a commitment

Rev. Michele Love 26:24
Right. Look Jesus committed to us on the cross. He did and he took up his cross Literally. Yes, and we're to do the same thing. That's right But you really have to understand the depths of the cross and I know another podcast is going to be all about forgiveness I'm sure because that's another thing that people need to understand. Yeah, there's so much in the Word of God The Word of God itself takes faith The Word of God, the Bible, is the Word of God. The inherent, God-breathed scriptures are for life. Therefore, living your life on this earth before Christ returns.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 27:08
That's right.

Rev. Michele Love 27:09
And people make the excuse. I don't understand it. Well, you're just not reading it, right? You're not reading it with the Holy Spirit helping you Exactly. If you sit down with the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to come and help you understand the word That's faith and he will help you and you have to believe that that's right. That's right

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 27:31
You've got to be you cannot open the Bible and have a closed heart You've got to open your heart when you open up Bible because if you don't it's just going to be words on a page You're not going to receive

Rev. Michele Love 27:43
What it's trying to say look you breathe the air and you don't see it Exactly, you know, it's there. That's right thing with the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 27:52
Exactly. You have faith when you breathe in that there's air there same thing with that when you talk to God you better believe he's there

Rev. Michele Love 28:00
Can't see the air and he will talk to you back in one way or another He will get a message to you. That's right. He will give you a sign a wonder we need to come at it self to understand and actually Physically see God and hear God and and understand the prompt things which we'll talk about next time with the Holy Spirit Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah This is good. It is good. Thank you father. Can I pray? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Thank you father

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 28:28
God, we forgot to open with the prayer like we did

Rev. Michele Love 28:31
Before we came live, but we did we're gonna pray now. So thank you father. God. You clearly are here right now Yes, you are filling this space This this word this video all has caught on that video audio. Yeah, it's all come from you Yes, you have made yourself known to us here today. And that is our faith all of our faith Believing and trusting in you. Yes Lord. Help us grow in our faith Help us grow in our commitment to converse with you every day all day long Help us get in the word and Holy Spirit help us understand what we're reading so we can apply it to our life

Rev. Michele Love 29:16
Thank you, God, for today. Thank you for the word. Thank you for your message. Thank you that we have faith right this second to know that when we come to you, you incline your ear and listen to every single person on this earth that believes that you hear us. We believe.

Rev. Michele Love 29:41
We have that faith to move mountains. We have that faith to walk by faith and not by sight. We have that faith to know you are omniscient, omnipresent, never leave us, never forsake us. And your hand is upon us. We have that faith because of Jesus Christ. Yes.

Rev. Michele Love 30:03
So thank you, Jesus. We love you. Thank you. We love you. Holy Spirit. We love you, God. Thank you, Lord.

Rev. Michele Love 30:10
Bless them, Lord. Bless everyone listening to this podcast. Bless them all. Increase their faith moment by moment as they seek your face. In Jesus' name, we come in agreement. And amen.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 30:23
Amen. And, you know, we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear any questions or comments you might have on this episode, and you can reach us at truthbetold at trinityproductions.media. That goes right to our Reverend Love in my email box. And one of us, most likely her, will be getting back to you as quickly as we can. We've got a lot going on, but we'll try to respond to every inquiry we get.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 30:53
Absolutely.

Rev. Michele Love 30:54
If you need prayer or agreement, if you want us to come in agreement with you, if you want to learn more about salvation and Jesus Christ, please reach out to us.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 31:03
That's right. Or come see us here at the Voice of Truth Center, 1220 East Churchville Road in Bellaire, Maryland. We'd love to see you, sit with you, talk to you, hear you out. We don't care who you are. You're sincerely seeking Christ. We'd love to sit down and talk to you.

Rev. Michele Love 31:19
Yes. If you have questions.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 31:21
That's right.

Rev. Michele Love 31:22
Questions. If you have questions, please reach out and we will definitely respond to you quickly, especially if you're in need and really want to understand faith and what the faith that it takes. to really have a relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 31:43
That's right. And this whole place is built entirely on faith. Yeah. But, you know, we can talk about that another time. We've kind of gone a couple minutes over our threshold here, but we hope you've been edified through this today. And it definitely at least perks your interest to learn, to know more. Yes.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 32:04
So we'll be back. Yep. So with that, Rev. Steve Huffmeister and with... Rev. Michelle Love. Rev. Michelle Love. And we thank you for listening. May God bless you. May God keep you and be with you and your family. Until we meet again. Until we meet again next week.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 32:21
Thank you. Lord willing, next week we'll be doing it again.

Rev. Michele Love 32:23
Oh, yes, indeed.

Pastor Steven Hofmeister 32:25
All right. So God bless you all.

Narrator 32:28
We hope today's program has helped grow your understanding and will help grow your closer relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Voice of Truth Center is a non-denominational Christian ministry. We believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We believe the Bible is the inherent Word of God for every aspect of our mind, body, and spirit. We believe in the power of prayer and miracles. Please visit our website at voiceoftruthusa.org to learn more about us.

Narrator 33:02
If you have been encouraged by this episode, we ask you to preferably consider supporting our ministry at donate.voiceoftruthusa.org. Truth Be Told is a podcast of Trinity Productions, the multimedia ministry of The Voice of Truth Center. We thank you for listening, and may God bless your journey.