Preparation of the Gospel Special Guest Steven Kelley

In this episode we discuss kind of behind the scenes of what goes into preparing for what God has for you when you go to preach, teach, and even praising His Name through song. Time is a precious gift from God! So when it comes to studying His word, when do you usually do it? Early Morning, Lunch Breaks, After the Kids are asleep? 

We hear from a Special Guest Bro. Steven Kelly with 7C's Chaplaincy! Bro. Steve shares with us his mindset and goal when it comes to an individuals last days here on Earth! Most importantly knowing where they will spend eternity! 

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15

Thanks for joining in for another week!

Bro. Lane, Bro. Zach, Bro. Philip, Bro. Ryan, Bro. David and Special Guest Bro. Steven Kelley 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:10

Welcome to the Pick It Up Podcast, the podcast where we'll discuss what it means to pick up your cross and follow Christ. Living a life for Christ takes commitment, sacrifice, and ultimately being obedient to his word. Not only on Sundays, but every day. God's word says it, that settles it. So pray about it, practice it, and proclaim it. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_04 0:38

Good morning. What's up? Morning, boys. I'm Phillip. That was Zach. I'm Zach.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

Yeah, people can't tell y'all's voices apart for some reason.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Well, I'm Ryan. Yeah, what is this?

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Boy, was that Ryan? I'm Ryan. You're Ryan. I'm Preacher. They call me Preacher. Well, we got we got a special guest at the end of the table. What's your name, sir? Either Mike E or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Stephen Kelly from Promised Land, Arkansas.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Stephen Kelly, better known as Cookie.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Let's tell that story real quick, Preacher. What are we calling Cookie?

SPEAKER_02 1:16

It just come about.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Just come about.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

One thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

All right, then. There's a storyline.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

There it is. We can't, we can't. They just don't want to bring it up. Yeah. That's a secret sticker. Back in 1966, pick em up sticks.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Yep. Those us. Digging money out from underneath the bridge.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

We old. Oh, you done heard that story? Yeah. It was a cigar box full of money.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Yeah. They kept it too. Ain't that? $1 Bill.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

We turned it in.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Turned it in. Got a reward. Wasn't near about what was in that box. Five dollars. Oh we know.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Bought you a coke. Two dozen cokes. A couple pieces of gum. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

Five cent gum.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Snicker bar.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

All right, preacher. Before we get going too far, I got to ask because I didn't get to see you talk to you Sunday much about this. Do I need to be worried?

SPEAKER_00 2:17

You told me referencing the music a lot.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

I know. I know you was picking on me. I told Ryan at the church and said, I know he was picking on me. I said, but I got to thinking there for a minute. I said, man, maybe there's something I don't know about. He referenced the music every five minutes.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Y'all know what the point was. I try to make the point that it's not about you. Yeah, that's right. Everybody in the church, well, they have the acting about you when you're looking for a new judge.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

I even told him I said, Well, I said, that is that is one of the easiest points to make because it is perhaps one of the most controversial things discussed amongst churches. That is a carpet. And people ask me all the time, I said, you know, how how do you do it? How do you balance it? You know, how do you I said you you don't, you let the Lord lead. There you go. You pick them and let them go. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

I tell you what, you know, you know it when that's the case, too. That's right. I mean, it's just the spirit just rolls, fills the place. It's awesome. Yeah, I'm gonna have to go turn it. But it was just uh I knew everybody could relate to that.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

I just had to, I had I told Ryan, I said, we got to talk about this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

I had in my mind to bring up 7-Eleven, you know, and uh all that kind of thing about the music, but I didn't.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

That's okay. You keep picking on me, I'm all right with it.

SPEAKER_05 3:36

Better you than up. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 3:38

That's right. That's right. 7-Eleven, what's 7-Eleven? Seven words. Yeah, he's talking about the bridge over and over and over and over and over again. Yeah. Well, a lot of people, I will say this, and Lang and Philip Bo can attest to this, but some of these songs, they have the bridges eight, nine times, and we'll cut five of them off of that. A lot of times, and sometimes that will add two or three extra. I may skip a whole course. You never can't tell.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

He said we're not doing this course twice. We're not. We get on the service, we do it twice.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

Spirit got a whole took. Mama told me one time, she said, You sing a you sing a lot like Willie Nelson. You don't never know where you're gonna be. You can't even sing along sometimes. Yeah, you just follow along. It ain't my habit. It's just total accident. Let the Lord guide you whenever you're up there. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

Well, boys, we are in the May. We're into the summertime events coming up. Sing it on my preacher.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Before you move on, I want to ask a question. You won't let me ask no question.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

I did. You did? Yeah, absolutely. What was your point? It ain't about you.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

You didn't take no notes.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

I got you. It ain't about you. With the exciting point.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

So, how did I make that? How did I make that observation from the scriptures? Any idea? Do you remember that part? Well, I'll have to go back here.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

You started in Mike, you started in Peter Peter Mike.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

I want to say the the best point you made was talking about Joseph and at Potiphar's house. And the reason is because that's where we we are in Sunday school with the fifth and sixth grade students. It was Potifer's uh wife and how he's falsely accused.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

And uh well, they're at the end of that story, Genesis, I think chapter 50, where he said that God intended it for good. Yeah, right. All that he'd been through. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Hey, that's what we're wrong down.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

It's a good principle to consider. Somebody going through some stuff in life, and you uh, I mean, just instinctively, because of our nature, we think, oh poor, pitiful me. Yep. But when you have a perspective that, you know, God's got something else in mind here, then you're able to deal with it.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

Well, I think it was important that in that passage of scripture there when he first got put in prison of how God made the guard see favor in Joseph, or made Joseph see it favoring God in the in the guard's eyes. And so whenever the butler and the baker came with a dream, who did the guard call? He called on Joseph to interpret it. And boy, that to tell them kids I hey the butler, he got to go back to work three days later. But three days later, the baker was hung and head cut off. That was tough to for them fifth and sixth graders to comprehend, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

No.

SPEAKER_04 6:43

Well that that it don't apply that or it ain't about you, applies in every aspect of our life. I mean, you think about it going down a highway, it's not all just about you. You know, you gotta think about the other people that you come across. Yep. And you can apply that in anything you do. Yep. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Our selfish culture.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

We'll make it all it the way we want it.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

We'll make it all about us.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

I made this comment to prevent it.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

You make decisions on the churches, you know, based on that.

SPEAKER_03 7:17

Oh, what I was gonna say, I made the comment to you Sunday night. You know, we always say you see someone in town that hasn't been to church in a while or whatever. Hey, come see us sometime. No, you need to quit doing that and come see God sometime. I mean, it ain't we we're not the ones you need to come see. You need to come see God sometimes. You've been missing out on all these things that God has for you and your family.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I thought she was going a different route. I thought she was gonna say, we're gonna come see you somewhere.

SPEAKER_03 7:42

Well, but selfishly, that's what people want. They want us to go do things and they don't want to survive to bring them here.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

Yeah, they don't want to put the legwork.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Let's uh let's introduce let's introduce our guest a little further. Go ahead. We have old Stephen Kedday cookie with us here this morning. But old Steve has uh accepted, I guess she'd accepted the call, would you say that cookie? Accepted the call to the uh ministry in the area of chaplaincy, which is something kind of foreign. But I mean it's not a foreign concept, it's been around the military and different places, firehouses, police departments for a long time, hospitals. But uh, we took it one step further. And uh he's a chaplain, not necessarily for Shady Grove, but Southeast Arkansas, and done some amazing things. But uh introduce yourself there, Steve O. You gotta speak into the mic.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Gotta speak into the mic, get up close. I was saved as a 10-year-old, same week at church camp that our pastor was back in whatever year that was. I can't do the math.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

1976.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

I'd be about right. The interesting thing is, it's it's nice to be able to go back and the slab's still there, though things have changed, and you can go back to the very spot where you know that that's where you trusted Christ. I don't know if everybody can do that. Can't really prove that everybody ought to be able to do that, but I can. And uh that's uh comforting there. Blessed with not perfect parents, of course. None of us were, but the older I get, the more I appreciate the folks that did their best to raise me. I was adopted as a baby. And uh so I feel like that's a sp was kind of a special thing that God worked out. And uh just uh again, the older you get, the more you appreciate things. I remember a friend of mine said one time when he went off to in the military and he said, you never know what you got until it's gone. And uh a lot of truth in that. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

So I apply that to church as well, not only our parents, but we raised church together, and that makes a big difference. It's a tremendous impact upon your life. You don't realize it until a little later on. Then you look back in those years, those formative years, and you're really appreciative of the time those folks spent to invest in you.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

I I had to share this story real quick. When I first got to know Cookie, I was riding around with you one day, and uh we went to your parents' house, and I don't know what we were doing. I was helping you work on something. And when we left there, I said, I said, Boy, you look just like your dad. And he he drove up the road a little bit and he said, That's funny, I'm adopted. A lot of people say that.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

I think it's just people that say things, you know. Now I meant it. I mean I thought you did.

SPEAKER_04 10:47

I'm gonna say this. They say the same thing about Marcy and her dad. Really? Yep, yeah. Exact same thing. They don't have a clue they're adopted, but they say, You look just like your daddy.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Man, I swore you look just like well, go a little further into your uh the chaplaincy side of things, a little history.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Oh, it starts way back in probably 85, I guess, where I found myself just kind of being drawn to people that were a lot of times forgotten about and still are. And I found myself being comfortable with people. I that's one of the things I'm asked often. Well, don't you get tired of seeing all those people die? No. No, not at all. You just move on. It's gonna happen to everybody. I'm perfectly at home in that situation.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Very few people are. Have you found that out too? People run from death, particularly.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Well, I think what I see a lot of times is people that seem to be comfortable, and you wonder wh how they're comfortable, why they're comfortable when they don't have any relationship with Christ. And yet they seem to be okay emotionally and everything. How do you answer that? My answer has been the devil is a great deceiver. And he can he can keep someone from even understanding their need. So reality.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

There's a deep question. Have you ever ran across that loved one that is super worried about their one that's soon to pass about their salvation? And they almost rely on you to to get them there.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah. And you can't do it.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

I myself have been caught into that situation quite a bit, where somebody's on their deathbed or they got a bad diagnosis and said, Would you go see this person, you know?

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Because they didn't didn't know, never profess Christ. But yeah, you're a lot of times you're too late on that one.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Well, what you really think is you've known this person for years and generations and decades. You had all this time to try to know that for yourself, and now you're asking me to go and try to find that out for you. Yeah. And the pastor's nodding his head because he knows what I'm talking about. Yep. Yeah, you've had, you know, you've known this person your whole life. And I don't even know him. You want me to go in there and you tell them wave some magic wand.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Well, that goes back to our uh discussion we've had number numerous times here about uh being ashamed. Honest truth is the reason that that person never talked to their loved one about Christ is because they were ashamed of it. Either they thought they didn't know how to explain it, but they had a testimony themselves, or they just wouldn't do it. Yeah. And now we've reached the end of the road where this person's gonna pass on into eternity and uh be separated from God forever.

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Is there is there a point where it's too late? I mean, other than death. But Well, you think where you're saying like with our minds gone or something? Well, I'm just saying like I don't know, when you you come to a point to where it's hey, I I think you know, I've done done my best. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

They're not getting it.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Well, you're talking about the I mean, we we you know that no one can save someone. There's got to be conviction involved. So you can preach it and preach it and preach it until they understand that hey, I I'm in need of it.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

Until they understand they're a sinner. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Well, uh, I want to just ask throw out an idea. I texted the preacher last night and asking if he knew what we were gonna do this morning. And uh how did you say it? We just uh We just start talking and whatever happens happening. So I'm gonna throw something out and see if y'all wanna run this rabbit trail or not. I've also had the privilege the last couple years to be filling in at various little country churches. A lot of need, a lot of churches that don't have a pastor. And just almost every Sunday I can be somewhere doing that. Though I've never felt like I was called to preach, but yet here I am in this situation. I guess I am. You know, the opportunity's there. So and I think it takes just as much time and effort and devotion and dedication, whether it's twelve people or twelve hundred. So I've been going through 2 Timothy, which is full of stuff. I want to kind of pick y'all's brains if you're teaching or preaching, give me some feedback. Help me know how to better prepare consistently. Because I've gotten I've I've got up on Sunday morning when I'm not ready and made a total fool of myself, and I don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

Are you talking about like schedule-wise or whatever?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

How we go about preparing to be faithful with God's word on when we we know it's coming Sunday. And I I appreciate it. I appreciate the role of a pastor now more than ever because I see that weight and I see that uh um that sometimes you you don't even feel like it and you know Sunday's coming. I gotta get ready.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

Wake up at five o'clock in the morning getting your Bible and go at it.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

So how how do how do we go about being faithful in that area, doing a good job consistently?

SPEAKER_02 16:43

I I would say this, I I struggled for a long time. You know, sometimes another, I'd be preaching on Wednesday night, have to, you know, get up on Sunday night, sometimes Sunday morning three times in a row or something like that. I'm like, man, what I felt like I had to have a different direction at every every place, you know. And it took it takes a load out. I'm sure preacher you know has to figure that out every week. But I've learned I'd also try to have a personal Bible study too. I say a Bible study, a personal direction that I'm going in life. And and everywhere, every time I get personal in God's word, he always seems to bring it out in every. It don't matter if I'm in Peter, if I'm studying Jonah, I'm gonna bring it out in Peter. You know what I'm saying? It's just it's being intent. In a tent. In a tent. Ryan's in a tent most of the time when he's studying. I don't know if that made sense to you or not.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Preacher, preacher probably has a bunch of uh uh sermons in his toolbox ready to go.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Over to you. Well, I got 30 years worth, but that doesn't work out. Yeah. And that's whenever you rely upon that, when you fall back, you think, well, I'm not prepared, I'm gonna dig over here and find something. That's when you're gonna sweat bullets in the pulpit and feel like it's a little bit. Titan mouth and everything else. So is it better to just because it's not spirit-led.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

Right. I've say is it better just start from scratch and relearn it.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

And as a big part of trust on that one, is uh rely upon the Lord. Yeah, Sunday's coming, you know it. And you put off and you put off, you procrastinate, and then uh lo and behold, I remember, especially when I was raised.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

You're good at that.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Well, especially whenever I was raising kids, you know, you you you wasn't ever home, you didn't even have you didn't have time. You thought, how in the world am I gonna do this? But uh so you'd find yourself one o'clock Saturday morning, and you're still not ready. And that's that's stressful now, knowing that you know 11 o'clock's coming on Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Well, you know, I've been into a spot more with Sunday school where I like couldn't get a direction, couldn't figure out what I needed to say and stuff, and I just told God, hey, this you're gonna have to help me here, it's on you, kind of deal. And it never fails. He ties it into your message every time. You know, so there's there's two ways to look at it. You know, sometimes we can it's nothing wrong with preparing and studying it as hard as you can, but sometimes you do rely on God.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

You know, know your scripture, but I'm gonna make this comment and not saying any of us do this, because I I know we don't, but I think you gotta get in the mindset of, hey, you gotta get out of that performance mindset because sometimes you might get up there and say, hey, I've got to, I've got to perform in the morning. Not necessarily act and everything else, but get in that get out of that mindset of performing and get in that mindset of putting out and what you're putting out and what you're gonna proclaim in the morning, instead of, hey, I've got to perform, I've got to do this, you know, look at it as the opportunity for what you're putting out.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

I'd agree with that. I I probably struggled with that a lot in my younger ministry. Even on a Sunday morning, I felt like I had to add up to preachers.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

You know, I had to do as good as he was, you know, and I would put more effort into I don't know how to say it, the performance of it than I would.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Well, I I think it was a couple weeks ago. I uh we were talking about our first sermons or whatever, and I brought y'all, you know, my first outline of my ser my first ever sermon or Sunday morning. And boy, I just cringed at it, you know. But I can remember through that sermon things, I was like, oh, that's clever, I'm gonna put that in there. Oh, that's that's oh, I'm oh I'm gonna put that in there. That's performing in my my eyes, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Well, some of the advice has been given to me, and uh because I struggled when I first got into the youth ministry. I wanted to, I thought I had to be like Jay because he was my pastor. You know, I thought I had to be a certain way. I thought I and then I'd go to these camp meetings and stuff, and everybody got on skinny jeans and combed hair, and I'd show up in boots and I'm like camouflage shirt. Yeah, and I'm like, uh I don't know what I'm doing, kind of thing, you know. And I thought I had to be a certain way. And someone told me, and it changed my life at that moment. God called me to be me. He didn't call me to be anyone else, he called me to be me.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

You know who told you that? You I learned that principle in the seminary where they were they were, and I don't know if it was intentional or not, but they were trying, seemed like they was trying to mold you into being a particular thing. Yeah. And what from what you what you wore to how you carried yourself, to how you outlined a sermon, you know, and they would grade you on those things and teach you on those things. And I never did fit the mold. Never did. I was just so uncomfortable. I tried, but then I the more I tried, the more I felt like this, I don't think I'm doing the right thing here. This this ain't me. And then I come to that conclusion that I told you. I said, Well, you know, I'm just gonna be me and see what happens. You know, the Lord uses it or he won't. But yeah, be yourself, be comfortable in your own shoes. And accept the fact that God used you. Well, God as far as preparation goes, it's it's uh it's just a lifelong task, I guess you'd say. And for me, it's uh that's a whole lot of relying upon just how the Lord has been communicating to you in your own personal time. That's right. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Yeah, I I can honestly say, you know what that the outward appearance don't bother me near as much anymore. You know, as long as I'm getting the word out, I'm good with it.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Yep. I think there's something to be said about being respectful of God and those in attending as far as how you dress.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Oh, yeah, no doubt. You know. Yeah, I ain't gonna get up there and look like a lunatic.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

But why'd you say it don't matter what hour appearance?

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Well, I mean, like you take the teenagers, too. You never got them now. You take the teenagers, you know. Used to, I thought I had to dress to impress, you know. Now I will get up there in my work boots and a camo shirt, you know, and that that's just who I am, you know.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

I'm just asking. You saying on some Wednesday nights when you start wearing suits and tight?

SPEAKER_02 23:11

You think I need to dress better, preacher?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

I don't see you said outward appearance don't matter. I think, well, I think it probably does. You show up with rainbow hair and I ain't you ain't gotta worry about that, I ain't got it. It does, it it matters. But as far as uh the where Cookie was getting at and was asking after doing this for 30 years and knowing that Sunday's coming, and you do, you have to be prepared and ready, then that's the beauty of uh churches who see the wisdom in following the scriptures and provide the man time. Right. You got time. One of the problems arises whenever you realize that uh, hey, I don't, you know, you fill your time with uh and you could, you know. That's the reason I've always told you guys that it's this job is very self-motivating, you know, because you can squander it all, and lo, behold, here's Saturday and you ain't done that. Well, what'd you do on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday? So you you do, you have to be intentional and get in there. And God's faithful. God's faithful. He'll uh you put in the time, he'll give you what you need to say. And then you just gotta trust that. Yep. Say that. There's a whole bunch of times you'll know that you got a comment that come up and when you're speaking, and uh, you know it's gonna fall on ears in a certain way, but you say it anyway, and let the low side drag.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

I can take you to some sermons that I preach on a Sunday morning that that has been just that, like, Lord, I don't want to say that. I ain't gonna say that. But knowing he wanted me to say it.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Well, having courage to just speak truth is is I don't know, it's kind of interesting, unusual. I'll use Stephen here, for example. He's been called upon by funeral directors in Southeast Arkansas several times. So a family shows up, somebody died, they have no connection to church or a pastor, or we don't have anybody. Stephen will get caught in there, so therefore you gotta stand over the body of somebody you never even laid eyes on and say something. Well, what do you say? Well, you say what the Lord tells you to say, right? And you know what that is. And know goodwell probably the crowd out here listening, rolling their heads or thinking, well, you know, we we didn't really expect this to come out of the well, this is what you get because it's the truth. That's not easy to do.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

And in that moment, that family's looking for you to give them some kind of hopeful at advice that your love their loved one may have made it to heaven. You know.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Give it an example, give us an example of that, Steve, an instance to where you had to stand before a family that you never met till a day prior to this funeral. How'd you handle that?

SPEAKER_01 25:50

I try to meet with the folks the night before at least. That's what you hope to do, and find out a little information. And and I've never had anybody tell turn me down when I tell them I have a kind of a threefold purpose. Um comfort the family, honor God, and share the gospel. And they may not even know what you're talking about, but they'll never say no. And so when the opportunity comes, you just you do that, and you know that the chips. You know the sad thing is I've never seen anybody save at a funeral. Now we don't know what kind of effect may have happened later on. Isn't that interesting?

SPEAKER_02 26:31

But I also believe what the word says word don't turn void. So they he may they may drive down the road afterwards and be thinking about the very words you said.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

So as far as people, I can't remember their names. There was a couple from down around Freeport that were murdered by their own son. One of which they weren't even able to have have an open casket right here in Montecello. And what do you what do you do? You do what you do no matter what. It doesn't matter who's in the casket.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Or what put 'em there.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

That's right. Or a little six-year-old girl killed right out here in a car wreck, you know. Um sometimes the beauty of uh getting thrown in those situations is a follow-up that people don't know about, that you get to meet with a family later on. Yeah. And uh be of help in some way to try to be.

SPEAKER_03 27:25

Would you say you and I'm I'm not pretty much know the answer, would you say you ministered more towards you minister to both, no doubt, but you minister most of the time towards a family rather than the one who is in their last days.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

It depends on the situation. And if you've got somebody who uh can't communicate at all, then you hope there's some family around that you have some s are able to provide some support to. The interesting thing is, and I'm thinking about Ryan's mother right now, that the hardest people to minister to are the people closest to you. The people that know you. Right? Very true. I mean, to walk into a h hospital or something and pray with somebody that you don't know, they that's one thing. But but to sincerely pray for somebody that knows you and knows how big a sinner you are, that's a different that's that devil putting it in there. Oh yeah, we know that.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Still don't make it any easier.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

One thing I do know though is in 2 Timothy 2.15, if we told them about being ashamed or not being ashamed, he gives us one key ingredient to not be ashamed right there in 2.15. Study. And I'm not saying I do it great at all. That's the reason I'm asking for input. I'm not a disciplined person by nature. And David mentioned a while ago about procrastinating, I'm the best at that. But being disciplined to be committed to something is not my strong suit.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

The vast majority of the people that probably are listening to this podcast aren't in our positions to, you know, study and prepare and stand and deliver, whether it's at a funeral or every week at a sermon or teaching a Sunday school lesson. How in the world does that apply to that everyday individual and studying the scriptures and being ready to give an answer? You know, I obviously it's very important for us, yeah, what we do, but for that individual that uh, you know, is probably never gonna walk into a hospice situation or deal with a family that's lost a couple loved ones or in some sort of a tragedy. You know, what's what does that scripture say to them? Because we know it's it's not just for the pastor. Yeah, it was written to Timothy study to show themselves approved unto God. But uh you're gonna see it show up in your life uh in your marriage, in the way you raise your children, and the way you conduct your business, and the way you handle people, your neighbors, your co-workers. And uh that same principle applies that we ought to be prepared, the Bible tells us, to give an answer. Yeah, you know, not just deliver a sermon. You know, be ready. And more than likely, the Lord is gonna use whatever it is you're studying to fill that situation. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Well, if you're asking for the everyday person, what what can God's word do for you? Why should you be studied up? It'll change your life.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Amen. It changed the course of somebody else's life.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Yeah, it changed your ways, change your direction.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

I seen it happen personally in my dad's life. Um and he was a student of the word his whole life that I can remember. Quiet, quiet, quiet man. He never, you know, he didn't speak a whole lot, but when he did speak, people listened, you know, because of what he had to say had some weight to it. And he was the type of man that if you show up into a family situation, he was gonna be the one that everybody turned to to say something. Say on all the prayers at Thanksgiving, you know. Or if somebody in a family died, you know, Lewis is gonna be the one to have the words to that people needed to hear. Yeah. And those words come from his study of the scriptures. He didn't know it at the time, but he was just prepared to give an answer. And man, it's it's wisdom in that.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

You made the comment, preacher, you know, yes, you have us that have this is a full-time job, but you know, Phillip said last week, average Joe. There's no average Joe. We're all saved children of God. I'm just gonna say that first and foremost. But two, you you asked the question while ago, how can other people find time? Or, you know, how can they get dedicated and and and set apart that time in a day where they might be getting up in the morning, getting their kids ready for school, they might be getting home and ball games at nighttime, getting kids ready to bed. You know, what would you say for someone like that to being able to find that time to study the word of God, prepare themselves?

SPEAKER_00 32:11

You have to carve it out. And don't don't complain that it's uh you don't have the time. That's a lie. You got time to get up to go fishing or boat a yard, you got time to do plenty of things. You can make time for God, that's what's gonna last. If they if we can get to people to the point where they've seen the the importance and the significance of spending time with God daily, then it would show up everywhere. Yep, you got it. Show up in our culture.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

You go fishing or you go hunting because you love it, you get a joy from it, you get a comfort, you experience the fun in it. I don't think people understand that same thing can be developed out of the word of God. You know, I've been in the scripture and not be able to put it down sometimes because I felt like, man, this is good stuff. And once people kind of grasp that, you know, they they'll run with it. Now, I think there's more to it. A lot of people just pick up God's word and pick it up and just read it. And they're like, I ain't gonna out of that. So I would encourage people to be prayed up before they get into the word. You know, don't just pick it up and expect something.

SPEAKER_04 33:18

That I think you gotta be intentional about it. Like you you have to you have to uh you have to be disciplined enough to say, hey, in the mornings, I'm gonna get up early, ten minutes earlier than I normally do, and I'm gonna study my Bible. You have to be intentional. Like I have a reminder on my phone, not because I need it, but just it's there. Hey, 10 minutes set aside, I'm gonna read my Bible. You know, 20, 30 minutes, however long you got time. But everybody can have find time to do what they want to do. They just have to want to do it.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Let me talk a minute about how God feeds you. This is me. I can do that, Philip. I can take 10 or 15 minutes, you know, every day and get in the word of God. Maybe I'm reading through the Bible and I read a chapter or two or three. And nothing wrong with that, good and fine. But what I have found out over the years, you spend 20 minutes with God, you spend two hours with God, you get fed. You'll you'll you'll you'll begin to be filled after two hours. Right. You know, and maybe you've read that scripture once, you've read it twice, you read it three times, you read it something else, and finally it just jumps off the page at you, and then you get excited, then you write it down, and then you wait for an opportunity, and Lord, the the opportunity is going to arise for you to be able to speak what you've just read to some situation that day. Yeah. That's what I found. And I mean, uh yeah, I mean, be substantial with the the commitment that you might make to spend the time in the Word of God.

SPEAKER_02 34:47

Well, well, something has helped me a whole lot, and and Cookie, you I take this back to you when we had that men's Bible study 20 years ago. It's been that long. Uh I ain't been here that long, right? 15 years ago then. But the thought of when you open up God's Word, don't just read it. So many people take it out of context. Ask when, where, how, who, what, all them things.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

Five W's and H. Remember tetaway. Five W's and H. Who, what, where, when, why, and how.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

Answer those questions.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

So you've got to ask those questions before you dive into something. Why is he saying this? Who's he saying it to? How or where is he at? And that's helped me a lot.

SPEAKER_04 35:33

Let me ask you this. Do you pick a verse or do you, I mean, when do you know when to stop to ask those questions?

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Whenever you, whenever you your interest has peaked.

SPEAKER_04 35:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Uh, here's an example of that. Uh, I brought it up Sunday morning in uh 1 Peter, which salvation the prophets have inquired, search diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching water, winter, how, and how in the world did I ever arrive at the point that 700 years ago they prophesied these things about Christ. But then they realize I'm telling you this 700 years before it happened, so this is not about you. You see where that comes from? And I didn't get that the first time, I just read it. But you stop and ask your question why in the world would Peter bring up the subject of prophets? What was he trying to say? What was the point he was trying to make? And you start answering those questions, and that's how that comes about. Make sense? That's study, in my opinion. That's that's diving a little deeper into the word of God and slowing down and then going back and reading it again and reading it again. And then uh every time, without fail, the the Bible will answer itself. God will answer your questions. You will come to a conclusion. Yeah, light bulb will go off. And then what I mean by that getting excited is you learn something, and then whenever you learn something, you're waiting for the opportunity to share it with somebody else. And that opportunity will come along. I guarantee you, it will come along. It may be with your wife, it may be with your brother, it may be with your coworker, it may be in a Sunday school class, but it's gonna come up.

SPEAKER_04 37:12

My thought when you were pre when you were preaching that, and you and you brought your point across there, and the light bulb kind of went off in my mind because when I first read this, I yeah, I had no idea where we were going here, you know. And it was just like it was like you threw a curveball, and I was like, hmm, I never thought about that. I don't know that I would have gotten that out the first time I read this script. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

You had to study it.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

You know what I mean? And that was that was the thought in my mind. If I would have just read past this verse and script, probably wouldn't even stop, you know. Yep. Probably would have ended up three or four pages down the road. Yep. You know.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Just read right on past it.

SPEAKER_04 37:49

Right.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Well, I I love how it's that's why we consider God's word the living word of God. Because you may read scripture five times, that same scripture five times in your life, but the very next time you read it, you get something else God wants you to see out of it.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

It's it's it's it's just impressive how that I think that gives it gives evidence to the fact that we call and reference the word of God as the living word of God. Yeah. How applicable it is and how practical it is. And a lot of people read through it and think, I didn't get nothing out of that. Well, do it again, do it again, read it again, read it again. This this and the whole time you're doing it, you're praying, God show me, God show me, God show me. And oh all of a sudden it jumps off the page. I got it. And I mean that's when that revelation, that illumination happens, oh man, it's good stuff.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

Yeah, it's amazing to me how y'all can, yeah, I say y'all, how y'all can pick a verse or two verses or three verses or a chapter or even one word out of a verse and make a whole sermon out of it.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Yeah. I got that, I got that one coming up uh Sunday. And I'm not gonna go there. Actually, it's not this Sunday, it's two weeks from now. Oh uh talking about how how well I'm just gonna hold off. I've already learned something that I'm ready to share, but I need to save a little bit. That makes sense. Don't let the cat.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Well, I love how I'm gonna go back to 2 Timothy, and and it's just something you said. I preached that the Sunday before, Sunday night, and you kind of went back over some of it. And I think what I got out of it was some good stuff, but you I think you seen a different side of it as well, you know.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Yeah, you focus you focused on I remember grace, mercy, and truth.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

I think, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

And then you focused on even the part of Paul saying, Don't be ashamed of me. Don't be ashamed that I'm in jail. Don't be ashamed, don't lose your focus because you're ashamed of something.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

You know where that came from for me was that that instruction that he gave to Timothy, stir up the gift of God which is in you. And what he was talking about is what he had just mentioned, the unfeigned faith that he's seen in him that came to him as a result of his mother and grandmother. Well, everybody knows those scriptures.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

You really had never thought about how and whether that applies. Paul's simply saying, I know you got it in you, son.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

You just need to fan the flames. You need to stir it up. We need to get this out. And as a result, you're not going to be ashamed of the gospel, or you're not going to be ashamed of me as a prisoner. That's how that all comes about. So then I realized that he's talking about his faith.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

And he's trying to trying to encourage him in the area of faithfulness.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

See, I went down the road of as he was reminding him. And you went down the road of he was encouraging him.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

You know.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Right. Well, that that that that in itself, and that's happened to me on a number of occasions through the years. I mean, that I'll just be transparent here and say the thought to quit comes in your mind often as a pastor because of the challenge of being all the time ready, you know. And uh you think, man, you know what? I could I could go drive a truck or I could have a job and uh wouldn't have this stress of knowing that it's coming, it's coming. You gotta be ready, you gotta be ready. And that thought to quit is very real. And uh what I've also found this out is in the in those instances, it's the word of God that brings you back where you realize I can't quit.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

That's right. Who else is gonna do this kind of thing?

SPEAKER_00 41:29

And here's the reason why I can't quit because he died for me. Right? And oh uh Paul is sure to tell Timothy that said, look here, son, here's a reason. You we're talking about an individual that abolished death, for goodness' sake, that's coming back, that's gonna be glorious. And so he reminds me, he goes through those verses 9, 10, 11, 12 of 2 Timothy, and uh that's what he's telling it. I didn't mean to get rolling there, but verse 13 he says tells him to hold fast the form of the doctrine, which is what I talked about this past Sunday night.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

And how I've seen that happen, you know, it's so tempting to compromise, it's so tempting to quit, to not hold fast, keep that which has been committed unto you. Yeah. And that's what Paul testified to Tim. This look, son, I know. I know, I'm persuaded, I'm convinced. And uh and what's been what God has left me with, I've passed on to you. My time is up. He's fixing to tell him in chapter two here, you know, look here, I've finished my course, I've run my race, I kept the faith. Now it's on you, son. And that's why he's telling him stir up to give to God, wake up, realize, don't be ashamed, be bold.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

Well, this will fit in with what you're saying. This will fit in with what you're saying now. You made this comment Sunday morning. Is God's plan bigger than you? You know, it ain't all about you. It ain't all about you. But is God's plan bigger than you?

SPEAKER_04 42:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

So what you're the time and effort you put into God's word is a part of his plan. I mean, and saying he has a plan for you that's going to be good for somebody else. You know, if it's my kids down the road, grandkids, or whatever. But if I this plan will all come together if I'm devoted to God's word. I hope that makes sense what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

You have a desire to be in the will of God, which is how the plan of God is going to be realized in your life. If you are out of the will of God, then God is gonna do the take the necessary steps as any good father would to get you back into that will. He has a plan. Yeah, and God's gonna accomplish his plan. Now you can kick against that if you want to, but it ain't gonna work out too good for you. That's what trials it ain't gonna work out too good for you. God will allow things to transpire and happen in your life to get you to where he wants you to be. Yeah, and sometimes that's Not pleasant. That's kind of like getting a whooping. You know, your daddy telling you, I told you quit riding your bike in that road, son. Right? And uh you just keep that's the father's will for you. And you say, Well, I'm gonna I want to ride it anyway. Oh, go on. See what happens, see what happens. And you gotta let him fall sometimes. And God has to let us fall sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

It's kind of like you made that comment, you know, your grandpa plants an oak tree out there. His will is for that oak tree to bring shade. Well, guess what? He'll never see that shade. Guess what? Who will guess who will? You know, his grandkids, his great grandkids. I would say cut it down and make it timber. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

I I love that thought. I've preached that before, the fact that your grandparents plant the shade trees for the grandkids, the city.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

You never go and sit under it, but yet you're willing to do it. Yeah. I uh I had a thought, I guess I ought to say it, huh? Come on with me. And it deals with old Kelly Cookie over here. And uh Stephen, we're pretty transparent on this show here. So be careful. Let the glory get the glory. Now you made I can remember you made a comment that I've never forgotten uh when you first realized that this is the road that God has wanted you to go down. And you were in your late 50s and done lived a life and had a career, you know, with extension service and this and that. And then you realize that, man, this is I just the regret I have is that I didn't do this 20 or 30 years earlier. I don't remember how you exactly said that. You remember making that comment?

SPEAKER_01 45:37

Yeah, I've said that a lot of times.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

What was what was you when you made the comment, what were you saying? Did you regret not accepting this or doing this or following this?

SPEAKER_01 45:49

No, I I couldn't I couldn't say that that I had uh run from God. I just found out that there was something I was kind of fitted for, something I was made for and equipped for and gifted for, that uh I wished I'd have been doing a long time ago. I mean I had been doing it under the radar, not officially, behind the scenes for years. So that's what I meant was just someone said if you uh find something you really enjoy doing, you'll never work a day on your life. And that's that's the way I feel about it. People ask me all it's frequent, at least weekly. Somebody said, How in the world you do that? Well, yes, that's kind of how God made me.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

How how can you answer this question? How did how did God get you into his will?

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Uh through pain. Now we're going to First Peter.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

Well, that's the reason I told you we're transparent. You know, what what would you say? All right, you are an individual. Me and you both lived 60 something years. We've been alive a lot longer than these boys, but we've experienced that side to where God allows things to transpire in your life, good or bad, unjust or not, falsely accused, all those good things, in order to get us into the area in the ministry that He's intended for us, had a plan for us, uh for a long time. Y'all follow me here? And I know uh you you you were you're an example of that. You know, there's a there's there's a we don't have to go through all the instances and uh some of the struggles and the trials that you faced, but I would say if you really if we really look at that, then God allowed those things to transpire in order to get you to where He wants you to be. Right? Absolutely and it ain't always fun, but what is good about it is whenever you accept that disciplining hand of God, and you really accept the fact that this is my father who loves me, you know, and cares for me, and yes, he's disciplined me, and my biggest job here is to be obedient to that, no matter what that takes. You know, there's a time he's about to get on to me when we get done with this, but you know, back when you lived in Selb and had your place out there, and you went to auctioning off, selling off stuff, and a lot of us, me and Ryan had this conversation, what in the world's going on in cookie life, you know. And none of us could see the future of what God was preparing you for, getting you ready for, to make you available to be used to him. But now then we look back and we see God's hand upon all that.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

Well, how amazing that is. I loved it because the thought of, you know, you'd you'd a lot of that stuff you'd got, you'd worked hard for and saved up for and bought, and and I thought, man, a man works his whole life to get some of this stuff, and you just letting go of it.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Well, how big of a principle is that right there? Letting go. Letting go and letting out.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

And I was good with it because you'd call me a lot of evenings. I'm like, hey, just come over here and get this thing out of my way. Okay. I'll take it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Whether or not at the time he realized it, the Lord's just simply preparing him to be in a position to where you could do, you could go. You could follow me. You could be, you could, you could walk into that that situation, that hospice situation. Where a lot of other people could. Yeah. And in order for God to get us to where he wants us to be, that's what I'm saying. It's while we're in it, sometimes it's very hard to see it, but it's there. And uh let me throw another curve here, and I know I'm dominating being talking most, I apologize. But I look at old Philip over here and what he'd been through the last couple of years. From uh a devastating diagnosis or illness with the brain bleed to all that that's transpired. You have no idea how that's gonna play out in the future. But see, we got a God here who does. And I know you and Marcy well enough to know this. Y'all, you didn't have any choice but to place yourself in the hands of the one who could do handle this. You could and when you do that, you're you're putting yourself in the hand of God. Lord, let's go. You know, and how that's gonna play out the next five years, ten years, fifteen years, how that's gonna show up in Callan's life or Via's life, or your neighbor's life, or your brother's life, or anybody. You don't know. That's why you just gotta be obedient to that and let God handle it.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

You know, well, that that thought of you laying up in that bed that day, fisting to go into surgery, and I don't I know you didn't think it at the time, but now you sit here and go, that wasn't about me. Yeah, that ain't about me.

unknown 50:43

You know?

SPEAKER_04 50:45

On the topic of, you know, talking about how we prepare, you know, and Brother Steve, you asked that question earlier, you know, and through thinking all that and this discussion, I've really been thinking about the listener that's out there right now that maybe that's struggling, you know, just seeing that. Maybe they're maybe they're in the word of God, but they're having a hard time understanding it, you know. They're trying to do their best to die daily and remove themselves, but maybe they're not they maybe they don't have a full understanding of that, you know. And and you said something earlier, you know, is God's plan bigger than ourselves? Absolutely. And sometimes we don't understand God's plan that's bigger than ourselves. I'm sure, Philip, you didn't understand God's plan when you were diagnosed, and you didn't understand God's plan when, you know, who's gonna run my business? You know, I'm I've been in the hospital for so long, you know. What am I gonna tell my kids? You know, the things of that nature. And and I'm sure those thoughts went through your head, you know, and you can apply that to to any situation and what we're going through. You never know what God is going to put you through today for what he's preparing for you tomorrow. And so I would encourage that listener to just trust God, you know, and understand that you're a part of that plan and to keep seeking him, you know.

SPEAKER_03 52:08

Be faithful and just hang on. That's what I say. Once you figure out that plan, you got to remain faithful to it. Yeah. I told Ryan that the other day. I said, uh, I heard a guy say this while ago uh a couple weeks ago. Why complain about something that you've been praying about? Why start complaining about that's going on in your life that you've been praying that it happens, or you've been praying about, God, give me a vision on this, you know? Why start complaining about it? That's not remaining faithful, you know.

SPEAKER_02 52:36

Well, I'm about to blow up. I was about to say, yeah, go ahead, Doug.

SPEAKER_00 52:41

I'm about to blow up. Zach opened up the can of worms, uh, telling about this plan. And so here's a good example of everything we've been talking about. Yesterday morning, I sit down there at 5 o'clock, right? Word of God. Been being Peter. Looking forward to getting down here to some of these scriptures, you know, be holy, am I holy, all that good stuff. In the back of my mind, I'd had that thought, you know, we got senior Sunday coming up. We'll speak to these graduates. And I had no idea, but God knew it the whole time. And so it's a verse of scripture there in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13. It says, gird up the loins. Gird up your loins. Gird them up. Tell how many times are you gonna read that and just keep on going? Right? Yeah. What in the world? That's a King James, right? But uh then if you study it and go to ask him those questions, you realize, you know, it was a it was a common thing. Back in those days, they wore robes. You've seen these, you know, Jesus pictures or whatever, now wearing like dresses, you know. That's what they was talking about. And uh so Peter's telling these folks, pull your pants up, look here, gird up your loins. So they'd roll up that that skirt and they'd tuck it into their belt, yeah, right, so that they'd be able to run.

SPEAKER_02 53:58

Run the race.

SPEAKER_00 53:59

Run the race. Yep. In other words, he's telling them here, I'll just cut to the chase, look, you need to have a plan. You need to gird up your loins, right? Because the life that you're fixing to live, that you're fixing to run, you're gonna need to be prepared. Right? And so think about these seniors. They're fixing to go into another phase of life that they haven't got a clue about. It's all been laid out for them thus far. Now they're re-entering into adulthood, the significance of that. But there's one word I haven't said here yet that's in that same text. Gird up the loins, and he said, of your mind. Yep. Of your mind. Think about that. Think about how the man, and it just rolled. I'm sitting here studying this yesterday morning, and it just started rolling in my mind as to what God would have me to say of how important it is for us to have that right mind and have the mind of Christ. And that our adversary, the devil, knows, you know, that uh if I can get to their minds, and uh, I mean, there's just so many different directions that you can go when you understand that simple principle of what he's trying to get, the point he's trying to get across to these people. So look, y'all gotta have a plan. Gird up the loins of your mind. Don't go into this accidentally, see what happens, you know.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

Well, it it goes to that verse that Cookie yelled at or talked about earlier. Uh 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 15, you know. Uh work hard to show yourself approved. You know, get get in the scripture, gird up your loins, make get your mind right, prepare yourself.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

Mm-mm-mm. I'm gonna I'm gonna save it. There's a whole lot more I could say about that, but I mean that that's a good example of how you take one verse of scripture, Philip, and it just goes. Yep. But that didn't happen in ten minutes. You know, two hours later, you done wrote all kinds of stuff down, you think, well, how in the world? That's the Lord illuminating your mind. You know, and some people have ways of doing that. You go down through here, Stephen's really good at this of pulling out these points. You are too. You know, point one, point two, point three. I got four things here that I have found in this verse of scripture that I think is encouraging to us, and you share those things. Well, how the world did you find those? The Lord showed them to you. But the significance of having a plan is humongous.

SPEAKER_02 56:27

Here's a question for you. Have you ever, we talked about this the other day, have you ever looked back at one of your sermons that you preached and you thought, man, that was one of the best sermons I ever preached. The Lord was all in it. And you look at it a year later and you think, where in the world did I get that from? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:46

Well, I've been guilty of uh being so convinced that this message is going to revolutionize a revival fishing to start, right? Yeah. This church, this town, the finna get on fire floor as a result of this message that God had given me. Nothing. And I I can remember the time where I stood and delivered that. Finally, finally get my opportunity. Couldn't wait for the last song, you know. Y'all be quiet where I can do what I got to do. And then I I got up here and I said it. And uh I'd already made plans of having a big long invitation. This is gonna go for a while. This altar finna be full. And I asked, you know, said amen. Y'all stand up, let's get in this invitation. The Lord's finna work, and not one soul moved. Not one person. And I was mad. So I said, Well, your body has now. We're gonna stay here a little longer until somebody moves. Nobody moved. Let's sing another song. Nobody moved.

SPEAKER_02 57:39

Go lock that door. I bet your song director was like, man, what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 57:43

I was so mad.

SPEAKER_03 57:44

Was your expectation on the people, on God's people, or was your expectation on the people?

SPEAKER_00 57:47

Oh, yeah, no, I was expecting them people to move. And I I asked somebody to pray. That was in Des Ark, Arkansas, and I asked somebody to pray, and I walked out the back before everybody else and went in my office and locked the door. I wouldn't let nobody in. Everybody beating on the door. What's wrong with you, preach? What's wrong with you, preach? I wouldn't even let my wife in. But I was having it out with God. I was having it out with God. And that's where it that's where the Lord taught me that lesson. So look here, son. Don't you expect nothing of these people? Right? You do what I ask you to do and you trust for me for the results. That's right. Because whenever you expect people to respond in a certain way and they don't do it, you're gonna be hurt. So that's where you lower your expectations and you just trust the Lord and let Him take care of the results. Because that's one of the biggest things people have asked me the years, how do you keep going? When nobody responds, nobody moves. There's no change. You're preaching your heart out, ain't nobody listening. It ain't between me and them, it's between them and God.

SPEAKER_03 58:43

Well, you go back to that verse that we just read, show thyself approved. You're not showing thyself approved towards the congregation, you're showing thyself approved towards God. And when you start when you start showing yourself that's you're approved towards the congregation, that's when you're gonna start getting behind. You're gonna start getting flustered, and you're gonna go back to wanting to quit the ministry, preacher.

SPEAKER_00 59:02

Yep. Where do you seek your approval from? God or people?

SPEAKER_02 59:08

Hey, that's a good senior Sunday sermon right there.

SPEAKER_00 59:11

Yeah. Who are you trying to please?

SPEAKER_03 59:13

Well, you said it a while ago, Watson. You know, when you first got into youth ministry, you're trying to prove yourself to other youth pastors, you know, be like, I mean, Zach, Zach, you want the approval of the crowd when you sing a song, right?

SPEAKER_04 59:24

Oh, yeah, there's been multiple times where, you know, we practice on Wednesday night and well, the band's just hot, and you know, everything rolls through and it's good, and and many times we we are having church with each other right there worshiping God during rehearsal, and man, everybody's like, Man, this is gonna be so good, you know. I mean, we're gonna have every hand raised in the Baptist church this Sunday. If revival's coming, I've I've been there, you know, and then so you get up there, and then sometimes you just look across and you're just like, man, nobody's even critical. You know, and and it is discouraging something.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

But I thought about that, but that's the result of their life and what they're doing.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:06

I thought about that Sunday during the invitation. Man, Steven Lynn did awesome. And I looked across the crowd, everybody's just staring at her. I was like, man, everybody needs to sit down and just watch this. This is God moving right here in this little girl's heart. Absolutely. Little girl's heart.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:17

But at the end of the day, you know, I mean, it's not always harvest season either. I mean God's plants bigger than us, as we talked about, you know, and it's just it, but it is tough, you know, when you you you just stirring you and moving your heart, but I it's not about us, you know, and it's it's hard to remember that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:36

It goes back to where you may be in a different spot than they are at that moment, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:41

It may be more for me, you know. I mean, God may be trying to get hold to me, you know. Oh man. And the seeds planted through that though, you know. I mean, even though they don't respond, even though the response is once you hope for. I mean, uh, you take heaven or hell, I mean, how much work goes into that, you know, and how many people are involved with that here at the church, you know, and we see so many groups of people, and and you know, I've I've had the privilege to play Jesus. I don't know if it's a privilege, or I mean it has been a wonderful privilege, I will say that. When those things, when those doors open or that curtain has opened, and I get to see the faces of these people, you know, and I'm sure Bo and Zach Barryman can attest to this as well. Um, but you see the expression on people's faces. You can tell that they are being stirred, you can tell that they're convicted, you can tell that God is moving in them in some way, you know. But yet when they walk out the back door when the production's over and it's all said and done, and Lane presents the gospel, or or you or Ryan, you know, and it's crickets again, you know. And we're expecting to ring that bell, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:56

But oh, it's every night of and I mean I've had the I've had the privilege to do it the past two years, but I've also had the burden of hearing people say, Why aren't people getting saved? We've done all this stuff, why aren't people coming to Saving Knowledge Jesus Christ? And I'm first to say, Who are you to judge? What do you say? And I know it was a four years ago, first time I ever dig it, there were ten of them outside of these doors that came back and told us, hey, they came down to Saving Knowledge Jesus Christ. Right. Just because it don't happen here don't mean it's not happening. Yeah, right. It's just like you said, harvest season ain't all the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:31

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:32

You know?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:33

So you gotta plant, pray, and leave the rest up to you. That's right. You know. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:38

That's a very good point to make. Well, they've ever heard that harvest not every day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:43

That's very good. Well, uh, y'all might not believe this. We are an hour and two minutes in.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:47

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

I thought what the mic back to Kelly. He got something to say, final word. You've been flipping and writing too much over here.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:56

Oh, he's preparing for Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:59

I am doing that too. I guess since we're down to the end, I would share Jeff Flemister's verse that we remember him quoting. 2 Timothy 3.16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. And then Jeff would enunciate the second word differently than most people. He'd say, reproof. That's the way he'd say. Which kind of goes back to my life. I think I've I've been reproved. I've been corrected.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:36

Who corrected you?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:38

Well, God did.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:39

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:42

But the good news is, he said, for instruction and righteousness, in other words, so I can grow. And then the bottom line is that the man of God may be perfect or complete. So troubling life, though seeming hard at the time, can mature you, make you into what he wants you to be, make you to be complete. So that, look at the last part of verse 17, so that you can be furnished for every good work, so that you can have an impact that you couldn't have had before. So all bad things on the surface may seem bad at the time, but they can come out to be really for your benefit in the long run.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:29

Isn't it kind of cool, verse 15, before that, 16, 17? He said, he reminded Timothy, he says, from a child, son. And it goes back to that mama and that grandma. He said that from a child you've known the scriptures. He reminded him again. He said, Look, you got it in you, brother. Just let's go. All scriptures are gonna work for you. Give him your inspiration. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:53

All right, there we go. Philip, last words, final words. Get in your Bible. Study it. Fine time. Yep. Time's precious.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:04

I would add one thing to that for somebody who's just like, yeah, I know I need to do that. And we're talking about how you can get something out of the scriptures. Read it. And read it. And reread it again. Amen. Just keep reading it and keep reading it and keep reading it. Day after day.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:23

Amen. Oh, I'm gonna use this question here. What is God trying to tell you? That's simple. What is God trying to tell you? If you look at that scripture, Cookie just read verse 17, God uses to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. What is God trying to tell you? And if you ain't hearing from him, you ain't listening.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:47

You ain't in his word. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:49

Zachary.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:51

It's not always harvest season. You don't always see the results of what God has in store. And we don't always know his plan. We gotta trust him. And uh and keep moving forward, you know, and keep staying his word. Um, this verse has been jumping off the page at me. Um it's 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 9. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:18

Reward receiving.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:22

Cookie, you got anything else you want to say before we end? No, he's throwing it in the towel. I'll uh I'll say something, preacher. You end it. Uh I'll go back. I think I read this verse last week, but I I read Cookie during your ordination service a couple weeks ago, a couple months ago. Uh 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Remain faithful to him. Figure out what you're putting out.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:50

If any man speak, let him speak of the oracles of God, if any minister, let him do it as to the ability which God gave you. You be yourself. That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion and glory and forever and ever. Amen. That's 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 11. You get opportunity to speak, no matter whether you're a pastor or not, or you're a chaplain or not, or you lead and singing or not. You got opportunity to speak to you, you baseball players, to your co-workers. Speak that it's God speaking through you, and God will get the glory. That's our intent, isn't it? For God to be glorified in everything we do. We have this podcast here, we're doing a lot of speaking. We don't want to be heard. We want God to be glorified. And God can be glorified if there's something we say here, then praise the Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:44

I'm gonna add this to it for you. It goes what he said. Don't let your life and message go to a waste.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:55

No, mic drop it.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:58

Go ahead, Ron. You can praise God.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:00

No, no, Cookie's gonna praise that. Cookie's gonna praise out. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:06

Uh Father, I just thank you so much for the time to be around these men. I pray that for each one of them and their families, that they'd be good husbands, fathers. And whatever role you have, help us to use the gifts you've given us to do a good job serving you and glorifying you. Help us to realize that when tough times come, that you have a plan and a purpose and that uh you can grow us through it. I pray that you would help us to look for people around us where we can do what you say in 2 Timothy 2.2 to be able to transfer what you've given to us to other people to help them grow up in the faith as well. Thank you for Jesus and what he's done for us. Without him, we would be nothing. We look forward to heaven when all the troubles around us will be done and over with and forever just gone. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.