Don’t Give Up
Join Ham Smith and Bob Branton as they share their experiences of God’s goodness, mercy, and power to take us from death to life. Their desire is to encourage you that no matter where you are or what you’re going through, don’t give up—because God hasn’t given up on you.
Don’t Give Up
Don't Give Up Season 2 Ep 7: Trials & Tribulations
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, we dive into one of the most real parts of the Christian walk — trials and tribulations.
Following Christ doesn’t mean life gets easier. It means you’re not walking through the fire alone.
We talk about:
- Facing hardship and staying faithful
- Why trials are part of the journey
- Trusting God when you don’t understand what He’s doing
- Growing through pressure, pain, and perseverance
Every believer will go through seasons that test their faith. The question isn’t if trials will come — it’s how you’ll respond when they do.
This conversation is a reminder that God is working even in the middle of the struggle.
Stay steady. Stay faithful.
Don’t Give Up.
🎧 Podcasts We Love & Recommend
👉 Aligned Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/@alignedpodcast2024
👉 The Rev Show Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/@revhix
👉 The Devote Cast
https://www.youtube.com/@TheDevotecast
👉 HTY On Air
/@hty_on_air
👉 Josh Lovell
https://www.youtube.com/@Josh_Lovell
👉 Good Fight Studios
https://www.youtube.com/@Indy_Filmmaker
Hi, and welcome back to Don't Give Up. Thank you for watching. We have here today Howard Stanley from The Living Truth, and he's gonna sing you a song before we start.
SPEAKER_01I will give you a new name, and I will give you a new star, and I will show you my ways, and I can give you new heart. Will I am able to help? Just be willing to let me help you, and I'll stand in the way of every storm that rises against you. My love is light, the world is never shown, and I can give joy you can contain. Just be willing to let me help you in understanding. The weight of this world you cannot withstand. It's the ground that you're built, is made a sale. But the rain is descended. Oh, in the case.
SPEAKER_05I'm your host, Hamilton Smith, your co-host, Bob Brown. We're a Christian podcast that stirs your soul and strengthens your faith. Join us as we explore powerful testimonies, the history of God's Word, and reveal them as delivering power over addictions, depression, and life's trials. We'll celebrate success, learn from failures, and ignite your journey to arise in Christ's unstoppable grace.
SPEAKER_04We started this podcast because we both experienced God's goodness, mercy, and power to take us from death to life. Our heart is to encourage you that no matter where you are, don't give up. God hasn't given up on you.
SPEAKER_05Wow, wow, wow. My God, that song really hits me home. It's just drink of my cup and you'll never be the same. I struggle with alcohol for so many years, and I have one drink of Jesus, and I've never been the same. I've never ever been the same. I wake up early, I pray, I read my Bible, and I worship. Drink of that cup. Drink of the cup, the living waters that will flow out of you. Meditate on his word day and night, and you'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of living waters. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Howard, for that. Wow. Today we have such a beautiful episode. If you haven't already, last week's episode was brother truly a man of God, Leonard Pickett. He's been on Teach and Preach. He's a uh a big part of uh Kingdom Chasers with Willy Woody Small. Um he's been on uh Bible studies. We've really uh gotten close these past few months, and uh I'm uh so blessed to have him in my life. And uh uh likewise to uh uh Chris Butler, aka the Butler. Um just uh super funny guy and he loves the Lord, and uh you know we talked about uh the Disciple Center and Uncle John Granite who runs it. I really highly recommend that you go watch it. But today, this is uh season two, episode seven, and guess what? I can believe it. All right, believe it. There you go. I can't believe I believe. Yeah, yeah, there you go.
SPEAKER_04Yes, we'll have to have him play that verse on the way out of the side.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, we'll have to. Um today's episode we have now this guy I seen him on the Devotecast, shout out the Devotecast with Ronnie and Ezekiel George. Um he was giving his testimony and it was it was a powerful one. And then I uh got a hold of him and he started sending me over some YouTube videos and stuff like that, some clips that he uh created on him witnessing um on Omegle TV, I think is how you pronounce it. O me TV. O me TV, yeah, okay. And and YouTube, he he gets on there and I guess what is it, just keep changing every few seconds?
SPEAKER_03Or it's like were you FaceTime random people that you like like continually is skipping that you FaceTime random people basically is what it is, and it's just keep on going, and that's I go in there and witness and that's awesome.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I've seen a couple of the guys that you've witnessed to on there, and man, you're just spitting out facts, you're spitting out word, and I'm like, oh man, this guy's good. You know, well, it inspired me. I started hopping on TikTok, right? And getting on different live streams, and every time I get on there, I I I've I've led four or five, maybe ten people. The one weekend I led almost 30 people to the Lord on TikTok.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's an easy platform. Like awesome. Yeah, Omi TV. Yeah, it's a lot of people use it for bad, to be honest with you, but if we're if you're you're going on there, you're using it for good, you know, it's a good, you know, it's a it's a tool to bring people to the Lord, you know? Yeah, anything can be a tool to bring somebody to the Lord.
SPEAKER_05Well, this is my young brother, uh Patrick Porter. Patrick Harris Porter. That's right. Where are you from? Chicago or Illinois. Same thing. Chicago, Illinois. He's got a powerful testimony. He's gonna share it with us today. Bob, you got anything to say? Yeah, what's the church?
SPEAKER_04You go Howard Stanley is your pastor.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_04And what's the what's the church, uh?
SPEAKER_03Living Truth.
SPEAKER_04Living truth. Amen. All right, that's great. That's a that's a great man of God. You've got uh Shepherd in you there.
SPEAKER_03Mm-hmm. It's a very good church, and I think, you know, Uncle Howard is one of like, in my opinion, one of the best Romney worship like people in the United States at least. Like I listen to all of his songs, I love his music, and you know, it's it's honor to say, you know, he's my pastor, because I think he's one of the best. You know, his preaching is good too. Everybody, everybody in the church, it's a great church. And if anybody's ever in Chicago, come check it out in um Elgin, I think it's in Elgin, Illinois, or Chicago, or Schomburg, Illinois.
SPEAKER_05Are you saying that just because he's here?
SPEAKER_03Uh no, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_05No, and he can dance.
SPEAKER_03He can dance, he is a good dancer, not anymore, but he can do voice impressions, he can do a voice impression.
SPEAKER_02Like voice acting. Yes. Uh he's a good actor. Uh he can compose like cinematic music, uh, and he has an extensive knowledge of cinema. Just want to throw that out there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Enough about Howard though. Tell us about you, though man.
SPEAKER_03I originally I um was going to uh Uncle Eli Wells' church out there in Akron a lot, and it's like a six-hour drive, whatever. I was going out there, you know, as much as I possibly could. And shout out Eli Wells. Great man about Eli. Love you. He was a man open door. Yeah, he was the one that baptized me, but um the man Eddie Mesker, he hooked me up with Howard, and it's a closer drive to me to Chicago, so I started going to that church instead, and I I've been loving it.
SPEAKER_05You talk to Eddie Mesker a lot, don't you?
SPEAKER_03Yes, I do. He's the man, aka the weatherman. The weatherman.
SPEAKER_05Shout out, Eddie.
SPEAKER_03Shout out Eddie Mesker. No, I love Eddie Mesker.
SPEAKER_05Um so uh I want to get into this uh testimony, but then we'll get into how you started witnessing. Okay. That's cool. Yeah, yeah. Uh 100%. You know, uh I guess what was this did this happen last year?
SPEAKER_03Uh it's what is it's February now. It's been about 14 months. Okay, where was this at? Um Davenport, Florida. Oh, right here. Yes. Okay. Davenport, Florida. I didn't know any of the Davenport, Florida. Give us a little bit of the testament, whatever, you know. Um well I would say the seed of Christ was planted in me about five years ago, but up until I was like honestly, till like I was 17, I walked, you know, a very fine line. You know, I was still giving into the world a vast majority of the time, still living for the world, you know. And I went back and forth with it, you know what I mean. My testimony is very similar to Ham's, like, one minute I was saved living for the w wor uh the Lord. One minute I was, you know, going doing ignorant stuff with the boys, you know what I mean? And it wasn't up until I was just turned 18, like literally a month after I turned 18, I was in a car accident that, you know, would go on to change my life forever, you know, and it a couple people passed away, and I was the only one that made it out alive. And out of that, you know, I had a broken back, broken hand, broken ankle, my whole body was broken, the truck caught on fire and it filled with black smoke, and I breathed it in, and I had bruised kidneys and and the smoke was in my internal organs, everything, and you know i i I had a the only way I can describe it is God gave me the power and this right hand, the only part of my body that wasn't broken to be able to drag myself out of the vehicle and wait for to get uh airlifted to the hospital. And you know, it's in moments like that where you think you're gonna die, you know, your whole body's broken, you can't breathe, you're begging for water, you're choking, you're gagging. And you think that in those moments you'd be thinking about, you know, the money or the jewelry or the equipment or the women, whatever it might be, all the worldly things, but you think about, you know, I'm about to die, and I decided that I was gonna live my life separate from God. So now I'm gonna live my life eternally separate from God. And you know, I could have been a better son, I could have been a better um big brother. I now my baby sisters are gonna have to look at their big brother in a casket, and um you could have been a better friend, you could have read your Bible some more, you could have prayed some more, you couldn't have you could have lived for God more, you know, you could have followed the commandments, but most of all, you could have put your full faith into Jesus Christ, and now you're fixing to die. And thank God that that day was not the day that the Lord called me. And I thought the first face I was gonna see when I woke up was gonna be God, but I woke up in the hospital and first face I seen was Uncle Eli Wells, pastor in Akron, Ohio, and he later on went to be the man that would baptize me. And you know, I'd like to say that, you know, after that it was easy and it was simple, you know. I gave my life to Christ and you know, just you know, led my life to the fullest after that, but unfortunately didn't go that way. You know, I was in a wheelchair for a couple of months, I couldn't walk, you know, I I I couldn't even go to the bathroom on my own. I it was like, you know, it's embarrassing to say, but I can't, you know, I I was incapable of moving. Like I literally from like here, like all the way down to my feet, I literally couldn't eat I mean, it was the pain that would be caused from me just like moving a little bit is it was horrible. I had to be lifted into a wheelchair to, you know, do stuff. I had to wash myself or my parents would whatever had to take baby wipes and wash me or whatever it might be, you know, to make sure I was clean. And, you know, don't even mention, you know, when I had to get the sheets and pillows changed every day, you know what I mean? Like having to roll over the side, you know, I it was literally like it was agony, literal agony. Like imagine needles going into you, you know, and it's in moments like that where you know your your whole body's broken, you can't move, and you're in this deathbed pretty much, it feels like, and you know, you there's people being mean to you, you got, you know, i it's just you're living in misery, and you know, I can't tell you, you know, how many times uh, you know how many dark nights there were. You know, how many nights were you c have to cry yourself to sleep, how many nights you have to just endure and say, God, why is this happening? And you know, it comes to my head each time what Job said, you know, what God said to Job when Job was questioning, you know, who are you to question me, the uh creator of all things? And it's every single night that would happen. I would cry, I would say, Why is this happening to me? And I didn't understand. And they say the odds of me being alive is like the odds of you going to the store, buying a Powerball ticket, and hitting it for a billion dollars. That's the odds of me being alive. And to think that I'm able to walk in here, like I don't need a wheelchair, I'm healed. And six months after my accident, I got in the boxing ring again. Yeah, yeah. I got healthy, yeah. I got inside the boxing ring and I put on a good show. And you know, prior to that, I was you know, aspiring to try and be a professional boxer, a professional athlete. And you know, that set me back. And you know, doctors, you know, they don't know what they're gonna tell you, you know, they don't know if you're gonna ever box again, if you're ever gonna be able to do anything again. You know what I mean? They're completely clueless. And but the whole point of me sharing all this, you know, every single day I thought about I was gonna give up, you know, and sometimes you know, you still think about giving up. And I've endured and I've endured and I've endured. And since all this has happened, I'm in a season of my life now where I feel like I'm in a promised land in a sense. I feel like that the God has rewarded me, and I'm a season of happiness now, and the Lord has blessed me tremendously with you know, the men of God around me that are discipling me, that are mentoring me, with, you know, the you know, everything, just work, everything. The Lord has blessed me. I wake up every day with enjoyment to see what is gonna happen today. Who am I gonna bring to the Lord today? Who am I gonna, you know, speak to today? What am I gonna learn about the Lord today? You know, what is the Lord gonna show me today? And it's it's beautiful. And you know, since then, you know, I've gone through a lot of stuff, you know, even besides my accident, you know, I've dealt with a lot of different relationship issues, dealt with, you know, different, you know, people being mean, you know, just all kinds of different stuff.
SPEAKER_04But was this when you first got born again? Is was after this accident?
SPEAKER_03Um, I would say that was uh after the accident was a rededication. Okay.
SPEAKER_04And I, you know, you knew the Lord before that, but you just wasn't serious.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I wasn't serious, and I feel like that's when it's more so like that was my rededication, and that was when I decided to pursue I was gonna be in ministry because I had so many people telling me, you know, you got a calling on your life. You're good, you know, you the good the Lord brought you, you know, out of this for a reason. The Lord, you know, has something over your life, and I cannot wait to hear, you know. I can't tell you how many people would tell me, I cannot wait to hear your testimony in church one day, like just assuming that I would be doing it, you know what I mean? And I'm like sitting in the bed all like queasy on medicine. I'm like, what are you talking about?
SPEAKER_04I remember that moment. We kind of all lived it with you. Um, it was a horrible moment, and then never heard you again. And then later on the summer, we started this, and then you popped out of nowhere with with the hat on, and you don't we were doing a video. That's the next time I seen you. You know, so the don't give up obviously was a was a big part of your story too, right? When you come across that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, as soon as I mean, with as soon as I did my first podcast with uh Ronnie and Zeke, the devotecast, I you know, just kept on getting opportunities, you know, to give my testimony, to, you know, do different things. And then, you know, one day I was I forgot, I think I was driving home one day, or I was having like a I was having a nervous breakdown, I think that day actually. And then all of a sudden I see uh don't give up FaceTiming you on Instagram. I'm like, who's this guy? And then I answer and it's Ham with like a big old smile on his face. I don't know him, and he's like, yo, this and that, I want you in the podcast. How you doing? I'm the Hamilton, you know, that's great, man. I'm I'm seeing what you've been doing, this and that. And I'm pretty you were in the truck with somebody else who was on FaceTime to Eddie Mesker, and while this is happening, and while this is happening, Eddie's like making fun of my haircut, and like looking like it was dead, and and you're blurry because I'm out in the middle of a cornfield, I can't see nothing uh because I had no service, and it was just it was ridiculous. It's funny, man.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you know, for what I can like gather from this, it reminds me of a song uh written and sung by Todd Harrison shout out.
SPEAKER_02Um Todd Harrison.
SPEAKER_05Yep. Uh The Potter's Wheel. Put me back on the potter's wheel. I was marred, but now I'm healed, and I'm back in your love. You know? And it always takes near death or brokenness or you fill in your bank blanks, I'll fill in mine. And you know, anytime I ever I faced jail time, you know, I I my arm was basically severed off, and uh, you know, I I'll say it was paralyzed for a long time, for a little bit, anyways. And uh so I I get what you're talking about their agonizing pain and and just being feeling helpless. You know, but that's what we need to be. Yeah. How about that? We need to be helpless.
SPEAKER_03If our life was easy, then we'd have no reason to come to the Lord.
SPEAKER_05Well, you know, uh I I'd like to because when when you're I feel like whenever it's it's uh it's almost easier to call on the Lord when life is hard. You know what I mean? Because it's like who else are you gonna call on? But if we could just praise him in the good times, how much better would he be then? Yeah, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04And uh I'm saying most people forget I'm in those times, right? Exactly. It shouldn't be that way.
SPEAKER_05No, no. And uh, and uh, but uh um uh I I you know your story really touched me. And the first time I seen you, right? I seen the testimony on Ronnie and Z. I said, Man, there's something about this guy. I'm not gonna lie, it touched me, and I felt the Holy Spirit all over him. And then I you sent me over your thing after we got done talking, and I was like, this kid's got it. I was like, This guy's he he's got a heart for souls, and that's I Love witnessing. I love it. Bob knows I love witnessing, and I love somebody saying the sinner's prayer of me. I I love that. Yeah. To me, it is amazing fuel. You know, I've been so hungry, and then I've witnessed to somebody and led them to the Lord, and it's like that hunger just leaves. I'm full, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Like when we all went out witnessing the other night, there's this one woman, and um, I don't I forgot what she said. She either came out there to pray or whatever it was, but after I got done praying with her, it was like, you ever see the scene in the movie The Chosen where the uh the the Samaritan woman at the well, like as soon as like he revealed himself to uh to her as the Messiah, she went running happy instead, and that's exactly what this woman did. And that was better than finding a hundred thousand dollar job. Literally, that woman running away like in tears, happy of joy. Like, that was literally like it's better than finding a hundred thousand dollar job.
SPEAKER_05Was this downtown Orlando the other night? Yes, or was that Icon Park?
SPEAKER_03Oh, you weren't there. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot. I tried making it so easy. I thought you were there for some reason.
SPEAKER_05I wanted to be there so bad.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we touched a lot of people that night, I think.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Josh Lovell shout out with God Chasers and uh Luke prior with uh Make Heaven Crowded. Yeah, I I really wanted to be there, and I didn't ask her shout-out, guys. Man, yeah, but uh how many souls did you guys leave the Lord that night? I I was it like four or five souls?
SPEAKER_03Honestly, I couldn't tell you. Honestly, I don't like I I don't know how people are like popping off with these numbers, like 10 souls, 30 souls. Like, I don't know. I don't really keep track, honestly. I know a lot of these. I think personally, well, we all went out in like groups. There was probably like 15 of or probably not 15, but probably like 10 of us, and we all went out in like groups of two and three.
SPEAKER_05So keep keep this in mind whenever I say that, okay. Like when I think it's not a competition. No, it's not a competition to anybody out there. I'm just saying, like, I don't personally keep track of it, right? But if one soul, it's a celebration, yeah. If one soul comes to the Lord, all of heaven, all of it, not some, not 99%, all of heaven rejoices like a parade. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, so that's amazing. I rejoice, you know what I mean? So that same feeling you had, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's it's better than win the lottery. It's it's that woman just it like makes your heart melt. It's you know.
SPEAKER_05So when did that start? When did you start doing the uh omie TV? Yeah, when did you start doing that?
SPEAKER_03Well, there's a um YouTube channel that I used to watch back before the accent, back before anything. It's called needgod.net. It's on YouTube, and they do like the witnessing on omigo. And I honestly had done it prior, and I've done it before, but I never recorded it. But you know, then I started, you know, just I would like wanting to start posting it and start start building up a ministry, and I started recording me doing it and on my laptop, and I started posting it, and I love doing it because it's like a good one-on-one deal. It's an easy platform. You just open up your computer and start witnessing somebody, it's amazing, you know.
SPEAKER_05What I loved about you doing it is you were straight business. He was like, they I guess like they click on like that, you know, it's a different thing, and he's hey, and he's drinking water. You believe in Jesus? Yeah, he died for your sins, but you're straight to the point, you know what I mean? Do you know that he died for your sins? Do you know anything about Jesus? Yeah, you know, and he is, he's straight to the point, you know, because I guess I I can only imagine when I seen that, I could only imagine how many people was like, whatever, so and so or whatever, and just like clicking. Yeah, is that does that normally happen? Like people just cut off.
SPEAKER_03Usually it's it's honestly like street witnessing. I mean, you like you get a conversation out of somebody every one and probably 10 to 15. It's like street preaching, you know, street you know, street witnessing. It's the same thing. I mean, the same amount of people I would say, like, you know, either like cuss you out or do whatever, or like get mad and click off or whatever.
SPEAKER_05Well, because you said there's people that shouldn't be doing some stuff on there that yeah, you know, and he you said that, didn't you say that you witnessed a couple of them?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's like all right, all right, I I gotta be like, do the people calm down, or we're talking about Jesus, you know. I mean, that's there ain't no room for this, you know. That's awesome, man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Especially to be so young and like, you know, God wasn't the you know, the the reason everything happened to you, but since that happened to you, you know, uh he's you're definitely taking advantage of it to to draw you closer to him and you're getting a relationship with him. But to have a uh near-death experience and to be, you know, literally like escaping from hell and running, you know, and and to be able at such a young age and realize and have such a clear vision, this is what I want, you know, and as us, I know myself, since I've met you, Aham, Eddie Mesker, you know, your pastors, we see that in you, and we, you know, we want you to stay the course and not be distracted and and to and to get in the world because you have so much time ahead of you, not to hold you back, but to make sure you, you know, you fully understand what you're dealing with and and uh and be able to minister it to people because you're gonna be a powerhouse, whether you know it or not. You're very humble, you're a very humble person, like because we joke around, and he, by the way, he takes abuse from us. We're torture like almost like an internship, and he's so cool. He's so cool about it. I mean that he's so cool, he's so humble. You know, you would never know that, you know. Uh and and I really appreciate him. I I love the I was bragging on him the other day. Somebody was asking me about him, and I was bragging on him because I I I just known him for this year, but I'm really impressed with him as uh as uh a young man in the Lord, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, like, and I want to say too, you know, I thank God every single day for saving my life because literally I should be dead right now. That's I I should be dead, and I I thank him every single day, literally, for saving me because I should be dead. But the point of me wanting to give my testimony, wanting to do these things, it's not for my glory, but it's for God's glory, and it's to tell people we do not have all the time in the world, we are not guaranteed 70 or 80 years on this earth. We are not guaranteed. We I'm an eyeball witness to it. We could go at any moment. I want anybody watching this right now to ask yourself a question. If I'm to come face to face in front of God right now, am I gonna go to heaven or hell? What it what am I gonna tell him? Okay, like we you know, we live our lives, especially young people, you know, everybody honestly in general, like we live our lives like there's like we are guaranteed all these years on this earth, but I'm an eyeball witness to it. I mean, I had uh another friend, a really close friend of mine, uh, from the time I was probably 12 years old all the way up until I was 16 or 17 when he passed away, and he was a year older than me. This was a few years ago, and he was a real close buddy of mine, and it it it hurts me. It's like, you know, Uncle Howard, his song Um Teenager, it's um um some play too long and now they're gone and it's just too late now. That's literally like some pla are playing too long and it's too late. We are not guaranteed this many years on this earth. We need to make ourselves right with the Lord because either if those are uh trumpets are to blow today or you're to get hit in the head by a rock or whatever it might be, and we're to come face to face with God, what is our what is our answer gonna be? You know, what what are we gonna do? You know, I came very close to having to answer, you know, and the whole point of me doing this is God gave me a second chance. He might not give you one.
SPEAKER_02Amen.
SPEAKER_04You know, well, again, it isn't, you know, um, God is always He's gonna be He's the giving a life and life more abundantly, you know. You gotta understand people do this sometimes, you know, it's you feel more metaphoric. Well, yeah, I understand. But people, and I just want to be clear for people out there because they do struggle with that. They're they're take like God is taking them, and God and and people die. Sometimes people just die. It isn't God or the devil, you know, but most of the time it's the devil that's that's comes to rob, kill, and destroy. But Christ came to give life and life more abundantly, you know, and and it's important to understand that when when you're dealing with the Lord, the Lord has nothing but good for you, and and it's his will that you're after. And very rarely does his will get done. You know, that wasn't uh it wasn't his will for all those things to to happen. You know, if you were in his will, it would you would have taken a different path. But it's very few times that people agree and will do what God wants them to do, and then that's the that's you're seeing God's will, and Jesus Christ done it perfectly, and he he wasn't the only, he's the only one that probably done it perfectly, but he was he's not the only one that's done God's will. And uh you see you see that happen a lot, that people you know take it, and and then what happens is they end up hating God for for somebody that that that uh that they lost. And it's very important to make that distinction because the enemy hides behind that. The enemy hides behind uh you know uh is somebody a lost loved one or something that that ends up that was God because God can do anything, you know. But it but God works through people and God works through a broken world, and uh in his will, he you know, he wants to to to um to work through us.
SPEAKER_05Beautiful. Um if you pray, read your Bible, worship, prioritize God's presence in your life, be desperate for it. You know, if you're desperate for something like air or or water, you're gonna do that. If you do the if you act like that to Jesus, right? Jesus shows us how to be in the will of the Father. Because Jesus walked a sinless life. Not and I've all I've said it before, I'm not Jesus, but Jesus was a man. Jesus was a man, and he showed you how to resist the flesh. He showed you man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. You know what I mean? He showed you how to carry your cross, deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me. He showed you how to take off this flesh. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And to walk in the spirit. You know what I mean? And I always say this, I always say, hey, let's dissect this, and I'm gonna do it one more time. What is the spirit? It's the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? It is God. What is God? He is love. If we start walking in love, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04It's all in love, yeah. Grounded in all the other things all comes back to love.
SPEAKER_05It falls into place like dominoes.
SPEAKER_02I will say though, Escape from Hell will be a cool movie title. Like Escape from LA. Yeah. Escape from Hell.
SPEAKER_05That's what I love about Jimmy Burns. He could pull a movie title on that for like 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's your genre, man. Horror. Escape from hell. No, I think it'd be more like action, like Russell Crowe.
SPEAKER_03Can I play in it? Yeah. I'm looking for acting opportunities. I was supposed to be in Cobra Kai. Okay.
SPEAKER_05No, I no, I wasn't.
SPEAKER_03You looked at do it in the auditioned for it. I actually didn't know.
SPEAKER_04If you had told me you played in it, I would have sworn he did. Yeah, that'd be.
SPEAKER_03No, I when I was like big into kickboxing and stuff like that, like I actually auditioned for it.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Yeah. I'm a big fan of Cobra Kai.
SPEAKER_03I didn't get it, obviously. No, it's great. That's really cool when I auditioned for it.
SPEAKER_05Well, you got any don't give up words for the for the viewers?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, your age group, you know, because that's uh yeah, that's the ones that are. Yeah, that's who we're trying to reach out to.
SPEAKER_03Jesus never promised, you know, that this life was gonna be easy. He he promised you the opposite, you know, he promised you tribulation, he promised you all these things, but these things that happen to us are not meant to destroy us and to beat us down and for us to never give up, never to get back up, you know. These things are meant to strengthen us, to strengthen our souls, you know, that's why he allows tribulation. And if we endure to the end, then we will be rewarded in the end. With you know, in heaven, we'll be with Jesus, we'll, you know, have eternal victory, eternal salvation, eternal love, eternal peace, eternal joy. In this life that we live, the world that we live in currently, it it's not worth living for. You know, when we live for the world, it promises us absolutely nothing, you know, and it it literally promises you absolutely nothing. But when you follow Jesus and you go through the tribulation, you endure, you live for him, then you will be granted eternal victory in heaven. And I promise to anybody watching this, you know, I live the world, you know, and it's not worth living at all. And you know, I would rather live my life every single day. If it's if I'm to die tomorrow or a hundred years from now, I'd rather live every single one of those days living for Jesus Christ and going through tribulation every single day than live for the world one day, because that's I want to, you know, I obviously I don't want to um live for the world. I wanna, you know, spend eternity in peace, not just you know, 70 years, however I want, you know, if I'm lucky enough to get to 70. You know what I mean? And you know, when you're living for the for the Lord, it's not easy. You know, there's gonna be so many times, you know, everyone in ministry knows it. You know, you're gonna have to forgive, you know. You're gonna have to um you can't give up. You you um you're gonna have to forgive those who smack you in the face. You're gonna have to endure, you're gonna have to do a lot of different things, but it's worth it in the end.
SPEAKER_05That's awesome, man. You know, and hey, if somebody smacks you in the face, I think it's okay if you be angry, right? Huh? This is a good move. It was metaphorically.
SPEAKER_04It's metaphorical. You can block. Blocking is not a symbol.
SPEAKER_03It's more so like if you're gonna have to take it sometimes. You know what I mean? Absolutely. You can't give a reasonable.
SPEAKER_05Be angry, it's in not. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. And protect thy face.
SPEAKER_03Protect thy face. Yeah, I'm not encouraging if if someone's attacking you not to defend yourself. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05You should definitely defend yourself if you need to. Though uh honestly, I think that was a beautiful testimony. Thank you. I'm so proud and honored to even know you and uh I've witnessed with you. Uh, you know, I've I've did some ministry with you, worked the altar with you, and uh, you're a powerhouse. I can't wait to see what the Lord's got in store for you this future. And occasionally you will see him on the Instagram of Don't Give Up, Giving the Word. You know, we like these little one-minute sermons. Bob, preach it, Pete, and uh Patrick here. It's it's I'm I'm surrounded by the greatest team ever. And uh I'm very blessed. And I with you guys, man, I'm highly favored. I love it. I'm so thankful for what God's done in my life. But if you're sitting at home or in your pickup truck, you're on the side of a job, you're really struggling with anxiety, depression, you've had suicidal thoughts, remember don't give up. God hasn't given up on you. He loves you, he knows the plans he has for you, the thoughts he has for you are good and not evil. His plans to give you hope and the future and an expected end. Call out to Jesus, accept him into your heart, you will be born again. Any man who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God bless you. And remember, like, share, subscribe. Please download the YouTube app. Please, in the name of Jesus, you will download the YouTube app. You will subscribe TikTok, Instagram, Spotify, iHeartMusic, Apple. We're all over the place. God bless you. Jesus loves you.