God Gave You a Promise...Now What?

In this episode, Tim Rice and Deborah Hong dive into what it truly means to steward the promise of God over your life—without falling into the trap of striving, hustling, or trying to make things happen in your own strength.

So often, when God gives us a promise, our instinct is to take control and push it forward. But what if the key isn’t in striving… but in surrender?

Tim and Deborah unpack the importance of relying on God, trusting His process, and embracing His timing—even when it feels slow or uncertain. They share insight on how to remain faithful in the waiting, avoid burnout, and partner with God in a way that brings lasting fruit.

If you’ve been holding onto a promise from God and wondering what your next step should be, this conversation will encourage you to trust Him more deeply and steward what He’s spoken with wisdom and peace.

🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who needs this encouragement.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The self-manifestation of the promise is never as good as God's manifestation of the promise. And whatever doors like you open, you have to keep them open in your strength.

SPEAKER_07 0:12

A lot of times what happens if we try to manufacture our own promise is you create your own manufactured problems and challenges that now you have to go through, and now you have to figure out because you decided to sit on the throne of your life instead of trusting the Lord to be on the throne. So now you gotta rule. Now you gotta reign. Now what you gonna do about that? Welcome back to another episode of Protect the Altar Podcast. And we are back.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

We back.

SPEAKER_07 0:52

We back the dynamic duo. No one calls us that, but I will. I will. We are so excited. Tim and I are here today to share a word of encouragement.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 1:04

That we hope will stir you up.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Stir the pot.

SPEAKER_07 1:07

Will stir you up in faith today and renew your hope and renew your faith and regenerate you. By the end of this podcast, you are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Ready to hold on for all the promises.

SPEAKER_07 1:22

So that's exactly right. Because today we're going to be talking about how to steward a prophetic word over your life. So many times, oftentimes, we receive these words or promises from the Lord, you know, whether it's through his word or whether it's like through prophetic impartation, or like maybe the Lord just puts a dream in your heart and you know it's like what you were created for, but reality just don't look like that. So it's like, Lord, what do I do whenever you gave me this word, but then I am not living this word? And that happened over and over and over again in the Bible. And what do we do with that? How do we steward the prophetic word? Because God does expect us to do that. So without further ado, let's jump into this topic.

SPEAKER_05 2:07

Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_07 2:08

And my question to you, Tim, is is there, has there ever been a prophetic word over your life where you're like, How do I steward this? What do I do?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yes, uh, is the short answer. The long answer is there are still words that um we're still stewarding.

SPEAKER_07 2:27

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

And this moment, yeah, you know, like us doing a podcast. I remember getting a word um from Pastor Patricia, your mom, about us doing this. And then I was like, okay, you know, but like, and that was some years ago when it was talked about. I still remember where I was at the moment that she had said it. And um, and here we are in this moment. Um, but yeah, like many times I think I've seen that in life, and some things happen quicker, some things take longer, and I know we're gonna dive into that and talk about that some. But yeah, how about you?

SPEAKER_07 3:06

I've definitely had prophetic words where I'm just like, What? First of all, I've been confused by some prophetic words. Okay. There have been times where I'm just like, I don't even want this word, Lord. And so I'm sure some people felt like that, you know. There were people in the Bible who felt like that where they're just like, they didn't even want the that word. And um, I remember even you bringing up about this podcast. I remember probably over 10 years ago, I got a prophetic word from a a gentleman um from Bethel Church who had come and ministered at our church, and he said that he saw like teaching on YouTube and impacting the next generation. And and I was just like, wow, that's amazing. But 10 years ago, what like a whole decade? A whole decade. And so it wasn't that you know we were being disobedient, but it was about timing and about following the Lord because a lot of times the Lord will give you a word way before the season of that word. And what happens is we can become desperate, we can come become like, I gotta make this word happen. Yeah, you know, Lord, you said I was gonna be important.

SPEAKER_06 4:20

You said I was gonna be important. You know, so people need to recognize oh Lord help us.

SPEAKER_07 4:28

But it can it can feel a little crazy sometimes, yeah, you know, and that desperation can come through, and that's where the the schemes of the enemy can sneakily come through in our lives and we don't even realize it, i.e. Abraham and Sarah. Yeah, let's talk about it. What in the world were they thinking? What were they thinking? Desperation, desperation, yeah, and it was almost like a lack of faith in that moment. Because why take matters in your own hands if you trust the all-powerful God?

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 5:03

Because if you truly trust the all-powerful God, you're gonna trust that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ever ask, think, or imagine. Yeah, but if you're not in that place of faith, you are gonna hustle your way to a fulfilled promise. And when you hustle your way to fulfilled promise, you always get a not optimal result. You always get not quite what the Lord said to do.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

I like the way you say it. It's like to a to a fulfilled promise, but maybe not the fulfilled promise. Right. Right? Because um what we found is that you know, i.e. Abraham or Abram Sarah, Abraham, Sarah, right, right, um them pushing into that place is creating something, you know, an entire nation of people that um you know later on become an issue, you know. Um and even more so the the self-manifestation of the promise is never as good as God's manifestation of the promise. And whatever doors like you open, you have to keep them open in your strength. But whatever doors God's open God opens, He keeps it open. And we just steward what he puts on our hands.

SPEAKER_07 6:24

And just to go back, uh Ishmael, the Lord loved Ishmael.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_07 6:27

You know, and his He said he wouldn't make him into a great exactly a prince of, you know, and so we we are not saying anything about that, but we're saying that a lot of times what happens if we try to manufacture our own promise is you create your own manufactured problems and challenges that now you have to go through, and now you have to figure out because you decided to sit on the throne of your life instead of trusting the Lord to be on the throne. So now you gotta rule. Now you gotta reign. Now what you gonna do about that? Well, you know, and that's where the Lord doesn't want us to be. He doesn't want to have to us to go through battles that are unnecessary. What he wants us to do is to is to trust in him, but that that's easier said than done. Yeah, that's not like something that just happens the easiest when we're talking about our own character, especially if you're a driven person. If you're a driven person and you like to make things happen, or you're a hustler, we like ourselves a little bit of hustle, you know what I mean? Especially in America, we love to hustle. Ain't nothing wrong with that. I don't care what anybody says, there's nothing wrong with hustling. But the problem is, yes, you can work hard. The Lord rewards hard workers. Yeah, and you know, there's so much fruit that comes with that. But there's like this balance. You have to make sure that your motivation isn't desperation to make a promise happen. You have to make sure that you're trusting in the Lord and you're actually hustling because of obedience, not because of desperation. So the different motivations actually make a huge difference.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

And so it's the difference between like aligning yourself with the word and trying to manifest the word. Right. That's the difference. Aligning yourself is like God begins to create a path or he brings, he opens doors for these things to start happening. And when we're children of God who spend time with him and we we know what the word is, we we've had these prophetic words, and we're like, oh wow, and you you can sense God on it, you can go and pray, and God knows this is from me, you know. Yeah, and um, and then you begin to align yourself. Um, but that's the self-manifestation is like when you're out there like, no, let me push my way into it, and all of that, man. And I think that I love I love zeal. I think that that's good, but some people's zeal pushes them into a place where they got a lot of problems after.

SPEAKER_07 8:47

Right. And and that gets you to the place where maybe either your talent isn't fully developed for the position you're trying to get, or it can get to the place where then you have to like keep the door open.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 9:02

And it wasn't the Lord opening the door. And, you know, someone who I always think of is Jacob in that situation because that wrestle, that's a real struggle because he was a hustler. He was somebody who was driven. He also had the prophetic word. The Lord told his mother that there was gonna be that, you know, that war and that the younger one would overcome the older one. And so she already knew. So she helped him a little bit, you know. And so then Jacob finds himself in this place, but he also like transformed in the process. Yeah, you know, the promise actually brought transformation to his life. And somebody that we we talk about um, you know, recently was Joseph.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 9:47

So what do you want to share about that?

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Well, Joseph is just like the I think it's a prime example. One, like God never told Joseph everything that he would have to go through in order to see this fulfilled promise, this dream that he had, right? And, you know, had he had done that in advance, the truth is I think anybody in their right mind would have been like, I'm good. Like Yeah, that that one ain't for me. I don't, you know. Um, but like if Joseph knew that he would be sold into slavery, you know, his his death faked, you know, and then sold into slavery, and then falsely accused of rape, and then thrown into prison. And my one of them And then forgotten in. That's the thing, you know. I was actually that's why I was marking in the scripture this morning. I was looking at that part um since we were just talking about this, is it's like the one the last thing, it's like after everything I've been through, I'm in I'm there. Like this one thing I'm asking this, the the king's cupbearer to do is like, hey, like remember me, you know, just remember me. Make sure you tell this man about me, tell the Pharaoh about me so that I can like get up out of here because I ain't done nothing to be here. And then right in chapter 41 of Genesis, it starts with, and two whole years later. And two whole years later. Man, it's like, man, you've been through so much, and sometimes I think that is a part of the process too. Is like, man, God, is it not enough? Like, I like I've been waiting and I've been waiting and I've been waiting. And and even Joseph is trying to like work something in there, like, hey man, like maybe just tell him about me or whatever. You know what I mean? But he's it's like a whole other two years later, and then he's remembered, you know.

SPEAKER_07 11:25

Oh, that's rough, dude. And like, and then the fact that Joseph had to guard his heart not to become bitter, he couldn't turn on God and become angry with God. But Joseph was called for such a time as that, and there was it's all about timing. Yeah, a lot of times with these prophetic words, it's a very divinely appointed time where the Lord wants them to be in a certain place at a certain time, but they gotta wait. And a lot of times we want to rush that. But if we truly trust the Lord, then we understand that he's orchestrating something so divinely. So, like even with Abraham and Sarah, for Isaac to be born at a certain time, that was very important, so that it's not rushed, you know. Or what about other people who were waiting? Like in the New Testament, when we see that Zechariah and Elizabeth were, you know, waiting, they were old and their age, they were barren, they even struggled out, but then they got pregnant with John the Baptist. But it was to align perfectly with John and Jesus. So it's like, what all of this is about timing. And so then we see Joseph. All of that was timing. If he would have come out too soon, if he would have, you know, not even been in that situation, he couldn't have even been the person to provide the solution to the upcoming famine. And so all of this is timing. And oftentimes in our life, we if we can look back in their life and see, oh, I see God, how you orchestrated that so perfectly. Why were they ever in doubt? Of course, 20, you know, retrospect 2020 vision, like looking backwards, it's always you can see clearly. But with our own lives, when we're in the middle of the fog, we're in the middle of the waiting, it's like, where are you, God? You forgot about me. And God's like, no, if I did it for them, I'll do it for you. And it's all about the timing. If it was all about the timing in their life, don't you think it's all about the timing in your life?

SPEAKER_01 13:24

And it's also that like I think what you said is key is like, so we read back and that builds our faith. And then when it's happening to us, we have to let our faith triumph over our emotions and feelings. We got to preach it to ourselves, yeah. Like it's and that's the only way to do it, right? Is the is it's to look at the the scripture and see one, the promises fulfilled of God, how he doesn't miss, he never has, he never will, you know, and then it's constantly reminding ourselves of those things. And it's in those moments that we find out what do we really believe? Do we really believe the God that that we read about, that we sing about, that we we serve? Do we really believe that he can do that? Or, you know, are we worshiping at the altar of our feelings and self and find ourselves as the uh the one who is able to manifest and push forward these things? And I honestly feel really strongly about this because like I I heard a word uh uh a couple years ago that really rocked me, and and I I feel that I've seen this now that I understand it, I've seen it in how I've gotten to where I am today, and I know it's gonna be the way that I get to everything that the Lord has said. And it's just simple. It is be in alignment with God and meet the demands that are in front of you today. That's the way Joseph did it. Even in prison, even in enslavement, he just continually met the demands. It created favor. And even when you thought that the favor was gonna get you to a place where I'm gonna work myself out of this because I'm the number, I'm the top dog here, you know, as a slave to Potiphar. You know, I'm the right hand man, right? Uh it's and then something happens, and then it's like prison, you know what I mean? But then you meet the demands every single day.

SPEAKER_07 15:08

You just responsibility, even in prison, he was still encouraging others and interpreting other people's dreams, even when he himself maybe have felt, you know, overlooked. And then in prison, that's when the you know, he still met the demands.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Absolutely. And you find from the the moment that the promise, the prophetic word, the dream, whatever how we want to, you know, say that is given up until the moment that you see it fulfilled. That space in between is God forming you to be able to carry it. Because if he gave it to you in the middle of it, you wouldn't have what it takes. It would kill you. And some of us need to be really grateful that we didn't always get what we prayed for, because if you got it when you wanted it, you don't even realize what that would have done to you. Because God is so masterful, yeah, he does not miss, he knows the plans that he has for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, but to give you hope for a future, according to Jeremiah, you know, and so yeah, it's about trusting him. And something you said about trust, I just want to say is that, you know, um, do we trust ourselves? Do we trust him? The battle between that is when you're dead, you can't trust yourself, and that's what God has called us to do. Scripture tells us, you know, carry our cross. It's about a dying daily, it's about your dead life, not your best life. Your best life is your dead life. It is you dying to you so that you can become everything that he created you to be, because that is the meaning of life.

SPEAKER_07 16:41

That's so good. Yeah, and the perfect scripture to go along with this is literally the entire chapter of Psalm 105. Yeah, because this scripture talks about give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name, make known among the nations what he has done, sing to him, sing praise to him, tell of all his wonderful acts, glory in his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice, look to the Lord in his strength, and seek his face always. And it goes on to talk about Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, the children of Israel, talks about what they went through as they struggled to see their promises fulfilled. And in verse 19, it says, Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Come on.

SPEAKER_07 17:25

And so we're talking about Joseph, talking about Jacob, talking about all these situations. The word of the Lord tested him. So exactly what you just said is like we thank God he didn't give it to us when we originally, when he originally told us about it. Just like David. David wasn't ready to be crowned king when he was anointed by the prophet to be king.

SPEAKER_05 17:50

So true.

SPEAKER_07 17:50

He had to go through all of this wilderness experience so that the character could be formed in him. And the Lord is doing a process in us to get us to trust him fully. And also there is a temptation to be our own God. And that is the temptation we have to continue to fight and not succumb to. And so, because a lot of times we can we can end it up end up in really horrible situations, but I just love how Joseph, prison before the palace, David, he was hunted before he was ever crowned. Abraham, he was barren before he ever saw Isaac. And so there's this time thing that happens and it reveals what's inside of us after we get a prophetic word. Is it faith or is it striving? Is it trust or is it control? Is it obedience or is it compromise? So we have this opportunity to show the Lord, I trust you. I don't know how this word's gonna come to pass, but just get me in alignment. Yeah, you know, get me in alignment. A lot of times we don't even know what to pray, the the word of God says. So the Holy Spirit can pray through us. That's true, you know, and so we don't even know how to get in alignment.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Well, when you pray in the spirit, you pray the perfect will of God.

SPEAKER_07 19:10

You do, and a lot of times, like you just you just be in God's presence, even like you know, He it says moaning and groaning, you know, you you don't have nothing to say. Yeah, just let the Spirit of God pray through you because we truly don't know how.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

And sometimes that's the best place to be, though. Yes, right? Like if you if you knew how you you could do it and you could do what God, you know, is you didn't even need God, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 19:37

Exactly. You don't need his angels, you don't need his help.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Absolutely, you wouldn't need the cross if you could do it on your own, and that's the craziest part, right? That's the whole part about us being our own God, you know, exactly. It's so it's so strange, man, that you know, we could do that. And the key to that is literally, like I was just saying a second ago, I think it's just the dying on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_07 19:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

It really is. It has to you have to die to you, ambition, frustration, yes, you know, all of those things. And um, and sometimes the understanding, you know, I said this a couple weeks ago, um, but like your understanding has to bow to your obedience. Like, like your your understanding can wait, but your obedience can't. And so, like, if sometimes the Lord is saying to do something, you know, then it's like, okay, I'm gonna do it. I may not necessarily understand it. And and it may not even your obedience doesn't look like striving, let me make this happen right now. But it's just like, okay, Lord, then if that's what you say, where then that's where I'm going. You know what I mean? Like it's being in alignment with that thing.

SPEAKER_07 20:40

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

In your heart before you are in the physical.

SPEAKER_07 20:44

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:45

And just to to go back, like, I would love to share a little bit of like how I even had to navigate when I received a prophetic word from Cindy Jacobs, who is a trusted prophet. She has prophesied to kings, to like in other nations. She's prophesied to presidents and you know, congressmen and senators, and seen so so many words come to pass. She's very accurate.

SPEAKER_05 21:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 21:11

And so she had come to our church and she gave me a word back in 2022 about um releasing music. And I I've said this before, but I'll mention again, this was a time where I literally was just, I had reached this place where I was just done. Like I had written since I was 13 years old, but there was so much pain connected with, you know, my brother and writing and singing all this stuff that I just wanted to give up. But then all of a sudden, the the word of this the Lord came through this um prophetess, and I just was faced with this moment where I had to deal with the with the pain of the promise, because there can be pain in the promise. You know, a deferred, deferred hope makes the heart sick. Absolutely. And so deferred, even um unmet expectations and and managing those, and what did God actually say? And so I I had to then confront this head on. And the Lord took me through a process of healing and and all of that is wonderful. But then actually navigating, what do I do with this? You know, like okay, we're releasing music, we gotta write music, but I I knew that this was an invitation to ask the Lord for a strategy because I just didn't know. And so, you know, I started looking online and um different, different um friends in other places who've written songs and released songs began to reach out and say, hey, like this could be a great next step. You should come to this songwriting retreat. And so like I started saying yes to different like invitations where it was like inconvenient, last minute, and I had to invest in it. And it was crazy. Like I remember going to Orange County, like literally 24 hours after being invited. And that's another side of the country. And so it was very crazy, but it was like the Lord orchestrated everything. And in fact, like, you know, um, just that was a divine appointment that connected to the next person, and that connected to um this next opportunity, this next writing retreat, which can which um connected me to another person who is now a part of North Palm worship and also connected us to who is now our now manager in Nashville and helps us navigate a lot of decisions. And now we are able to have a distribution, um, distribution services so we distribute the music correctly. And and then we have connections with uh the resources to actually release the resources to other churches. So all of this would not happen. And it was like one domino after another if I wasn't like praying in the spirit and asking the Lord, like, what is the next step? And I wasn't trying to go out there and rub shoulders. Like, I literally remember the Lord telling me when you go to this writing retreat in Nashville, do not try to make connections. Do not try to rub shoulders with anybody, rub elbows with anybody. And I was just like, What? You gave me this word, and now you're telling me don't try to make this word happen. Okay, all right, all right, whatever. So I go and then as I'm there, there was one speaker that just stood out, and I, as we were walking away, the Lord said, Go talk to him. I said, You said not to rub elbows, and now you're telling me to go talk to him. It was very confusing, but he said elbows with an S.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

That's that's more than one. That's what just one.

SPEAKER_07 24:17

I could do I could just connect with just one. So I connected with just one, and that that's the person who is now um wonderful. He's gonna be on the podcast very soon, Steven Brewster with the Harmony Group, and he's now the one that manages us, and so now Brewster. Yes, and so he will be on the podcast very soon, y'all. But all that to say we just have to trust the Lord and let him navigate, let him connect us to the right people that we're supposed to be connected with. Because if we truly trust the Lord, and there were other opportunities and there were other things, and I kept praying through them, and I'm like, Lord, if this is the door, then I know it's gonna stay open. But if you shut the door at all, then I know this is not the door, and I'm not gonna fight it, I'm not gonna try to pry it open. I because I don't get my worth from someone telling me that I'm worthy.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Come on.

SPEAKER_07 25:03

I get my worth from the creator telling me that I've made you intricately and beautifully and wonderfully made. And so that's the difference. If we try to get our worth and our validation from humans, then we're gonna constantly be trying to get our validation. Get me, feed me, you know, give me, you know, I need more. No, don't be desperate, but be in faith that God has already seen you and loves you and has called you and has called you for such a time as this, and will open the doors and will make the connections and everything that he has for your life, he will make all you have to do is obedience to this moment and this time. And what has he called you to do today?

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Pretty true.

SPEAKER_07 25:46

Maybe it's writing a song in your room alone.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

It might be.

SPEAKER_07 25:49

Maybe it's going to a voice lesson or a piano lesson or an instrument lesson, whatever it is you play.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Or maybe it's, and I love what you said earlier about your story. You were talking about how writing be was such a painful thing for you because of everything that you had gone through. And I I I just sense this as you were talking. This is really strong in my heart right now, is that uh somebody who's seeing this, you need to know that your pain has a purpose. Um, because I have seen your pain um be able to connect you to certain things in a song that like rock people's world. And I think because you had to walk through weakness, because you had to walk through uh sometimes feeling uh the feeling of frustration or disappointment or alone in those seasons. God I need you to understand that there that pain is net your pain is never wasted in the kingdom. God knows how to use every single thing. And so like I just wanted this to, I want that to be an encouragement. If you're a songwriter out there, if you're somebody who who's going through anything, whatever the case may be, just know that even your pain is not wasted in this process. It's actually building something that God's going to use to bring glory to himself.

SPEAKER_07 27:04

Exactly. That is so good. And I wish I would have known that earlier. Yeah, man. Uh sooner. And the sooner we understand that, the sooner like we just release, just just release all striving, just release, all you know, doing it in your own strength and trying to be like, notice me, notice me, because that won't actually make a difference in people's lives. If we're coming from that place, that's how the world is. Yeah, you know, and they need people. The the the word of God says the earth is groaning for the sons of God to appear.

SPEAKER_05 27:35

So true.

SPEAKER_07 27:36

And and what does that mean? Like when we really understand that we are made in his image, like God is not like sitting in heaven being like, Notice me, love me. Like, uh God knows his worth.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Crazy thing about that too is it's like you're you're saying, like, notice me, love me. And a lot of times that that comes from like the mouths of other people. And I've said this before, but it's if you live for the acceptance of others, you'll die from their rejection.

SPEAKER_05 28:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

And it's about the audience of one. Who do I want to be pleasing to, man or God? Even this is what you know the disciples said, you know, who do we obey, God or man, you know? And I think that the the the point of it all is to understand it. If if he said, I'm going to do this with your life, then just continue to stay submitted to that, no matter what it looks like, even when it may not even make sense, or it's it may cost you, you know, even certain brownie points.

SPEAKER_07 28:29

Um or it may even look immediately look like the opposite of what the word said.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Oh, go ahead there. That's good too.

SPEAKER_07 28:37

Where it literally, Joseph, he was given this dream, yeah, and then he decides to, you know, boast about it to his brothers. Well, let me tell you, bruh. Immediately sold into slavery.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Immediately.

SPEAKER_06 28:52

Immediately. God said, and you will go to slavery.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Go to jail and do not collect $200. You do not pass gold, do not collect $200.

SPEAKER_06 29:02

Do not. You need some character development. Some of y'all have been OBM out too much. God has you in the process. No, I'm just kidding. Oh, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_07 29:12

But we do have to trust the Lord, and a lot of times it does look immediately opposite of what the Lord promised.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Before you, before you live in the kingdom, you gotta die.

SPEAKER_07 29:21

You gotta die.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yeah, and it's it's crazy because it's the oxymoron of it, right? Exactly. But you're literally dying to live and you're living to die.

SPEAKER_07 29:29

We love it. We love, we love, we love a good paradox.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Let's go.

SPEAKER_07 29:33

Okay, so to recap this little this little lovely teaching here, yeah. Uh, how do you steward a prophetic word?

SPEAKER_01 29:40

You meet the demands that are on your life today, today, and just meet continue to meet the demands, be faithful, be excellent, steward and be excellent.

SPEAKER_07 29:52

I like that part.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Yeah, and you will you will get there. God will make sure that he gets you where he wants you to go. Because again, the prophetic promise, the prophetic word is, guys. I know we want it, but it's not about you. Like it's not about you, it's about him, it's about him getting glory. And I think the more we understand that, uh, it transforms our hearts, and then it's easier for us to trust that.

SPEAKER_07 30:17

True. I love that. Well, we thank you, Pastor Tim Rice. Thank you for that, and I hope that that just encouraged you because I encouraged me. Hallelujah. And so we're gonna go to our next segment of Praise or Pass, where we're gonna react to a viral video on the internet. We're gonna see whether we praise it or we pass it.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Let it go.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

Stop, stop. You can't hear why you ain't playing what I'm playing. There you go. Give Brother Chris a hand for hearing. You can't hear. That's why we have so many problems up here. Turn turn me up in something so he can he say he can't hear me. Uh, Brother Tyrone. Everybody can hear me for him. You ready? Try again. This is gonna go viral. Ready? So you don't you can't hear like everybody else. I know, but everybody else here, and you can't I ain't tell you to do all that because you ain't got the first part right. You're doing too much. You ain't there yet. Hey man, you you don't need to do nothing special if you ain't got it simple. Ready? Come on, Callie, put the keys to that.

SPEAKER_07 33:22

Okay, low-key though, he locked them in.

SPEAKER_03 33:25

Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_07 33:26

He locked them in because that sounded good at the end. And his vocal tone is everything.

SPEAKER_06 33:31

But let's talk about let's talk about this. I'm gonna choose to believe that was a skit. No, I'm gonna choose to believe No, don't tell me no. No, it wasn't. I'm gonna choose to believe that was a skit. A part of the message. It was a part of the message.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

I have I've seen that brother's videos for years, and that ain't the first person that has ever happened to. And I did not know that we were getting ready to watch that, and it was gonna be, I think it's Brian Crane, Crane, or I don't know how to pronounce his last name, but he's a prophetic gentleman. He's been around the block.

SPEAKER_06 34:02

Listen, and he can sing.

SPEAKER_07 34:04

Oh, yeah. He can sing. Yeah, but I'm praying for Chris. Chris on the bass, I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you, Chris. Lock it.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

He said everybody can hear me, but you can't hear me.

SPEAKER_07 34:14

Yeah, it was the comments for me.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 34:16

It was the comments for me because that's roasting somebody without realizing you're roasting them.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 34:22

Maybe you do realize it, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

No, no, it's you know, and honestly, I think some of that is like the little little bit older generation of boys just kind of say what they want to say, and it is what it is, you know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I get it. I would I think he he wasn't lying. He said this is gonna go viral. He was right. This is good, this went viral. But he did lock them in.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

He did.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

I don't know if he's a musician, I don't know if he plays anything. I know that I know that he is an anointed prophet. Um, and I know that he was obviously hearing something in his spirit, or he knew how something went, and he was trying to make sure that he got them boys locked in.

SPEAKER_07 35:03

So now the piano player could have probably helped the bass player a little sooner because it seemed like he caught on immediately. And so he he just left him out, you know, in the D-Pen paddling. Yeah, he's over here like trying to get air.

SPEAKER_06 35:20

And he was like, Don't try to complicate it. Why are you trying to add stuff where you don't even have the first part?

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Don't don't make it, don't make it more complicated than this. You ain't even got the simple part.

SPEAKER_07 35:30

You don't even have the simple part and we be doing that. Why, why musicians and singers, why we do that?

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Yeah, that was a that must that might even be that's a message right there.

SPEAKER_07 35:40

Yeah, they're trying to do runs, and I'm like, you can't even be on pitch for the actual melody line. Don't do the run until you can conquer each note in the melody line.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_07 35:51

Then add the run. But you know, this is a complicated praise or pass.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is complicated, and this is obviously spontaneous to say.

SPEAKER_07 35:59

This is spontaneous.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

At least that's what it seems like. It doesn't seem like maybe this was something that was practiced beforehand.

SPEAKER_07 36:04

Exactly. And maybe it should have been.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Maybe it should have been. Could have been. You know, or it could have been something that was in the moment.

SPEAKER_07 36:09

It could have been in the moment.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 36:12

But, you know, for me personally, if I was in, you know, that prophet's shoes, the I would have refrained from probably some of the comments. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, that's what I would pass. I I pass on some of the comments that could really, you know, especially in front of everybody. If that's a rehearsal and you have that type of relationship with Chris, like I know two brothers are gonna like, like if my sons, you know, talk to each other, that that's how they would talk to each other. So, like your family members, something like that, or cousins, or like you're you were very, very, very close with that person to talk to them like that. Like, what you were trying to do, like add in stuff, like I understand that. That's the type of relation you have that type of trust. But in front of everybody is diabolical. Yeah, I'm with that.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

I'm passing.

SPEAKER_07 36:59

Yeah, I'm passing that part. Yeah, like actually helping him, like, hey, piano player, help him out real quick. And then I'm gonna teach the church as I'm teaching the church this, you make sure he's locked in with his notes real quick. Like, something like that would have been a little bit more honorable.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

The point of the matter is I want to get I want to get this message out.

SPEAKER_07 37:18

This this the point was to worship, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:21

That this oh well, you know.

SPEAKER_07 37:23

Well, I hope Chris had some thick skin and he was able to get right in the river because some people that would take them out completely and they'd have to go to a sozo.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Yeah. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_07 37:34

They have to be delivered.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

It's true.

SPEAKER_07 37:37

So we you know, I I think for the sake of the kingdom, we should just be like, we we should just be extra honoring.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Oh, absolutely. You know, let let's do let's do all things, you know, and let's do it in decent and in order. And I don't think embarrassment should be a part of that, like on purpose, right? With sarcasm and things like that, right? Um, and why kick him when he's down?

SPEAKER_07 38:02

Like he's trying to learn your song last minute, dude.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

He's there, he in there, he ain't going nowhere.

SPEAKER_07 38:07

Yeah, so my heart goes out to you, Chris. I literally pray for you, Lord, help him. Yeah, just bless him.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Bless Chris, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 38:15

We bless Chris, but at the same time, you know He taught him. He taught him, he got him. Maybe not the best way, yeah, but you know, he got it.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

We've been there.

SPEAKER_07 38:28

We meant we've been there, you know, and in fact, you know, I was laughing because um I will I will not name this person, but a worship leader, uh two decades ago, probably now, yeah. Two decades ago, there was a bass player at our church who could not hear. He could not hear the notes. Everybody could hear but him. It was the same situation. And but the the difference was this bass player had practice all the songs and had the chord chart right in front of him. So it was double frustrating. It was double frustrating. So the worship leader takes this is before in your monitors, so he takes the stage monitor and he throws it during the worship set. He throws it to the bass player, so you hear it like a bop on the floor, you know.

SPEAKER_06 39:19

And I remember being 13 years old, being like in the audience, I was worshiping and I was out of the spirit.

SPEAKER_07 39:29

I was like, I was though. Let's just say that worship leader later apologized and never did it again. But he was frustrated, so I understand the frustration. Bass players, you're very important. Stop frustrating the work of the people.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

The community is sticky. Things are gonna happen.

SPEAKER_07 39:45

Community is sticky, people don't do things the best because they're human sometimes, that's right, and they get frustrated, and we're all trying to be like Jesus every single day. So let's try harder.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Every day.

SPEAKER_07 39:54

Let's try harder. Amen. And so this worship leader never did that again, but that bass player also never did that again.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

He said, Lord, let him let the Lord use you, but not right here today. Not this one. Let him use you, but this ain't it.

SPEAKER_07 40:09

We pass the comments, praise the effort.

SPEAKER_01 40:14

There we go.

SPEAKER_07 40:15

And we praise his voice.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Yeah, yeah. I do.

SPEAKER_07 40:19

Tone tone was toning.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

He tone it.

SPEAKER_07 40:22

We're gonna go questions, frequently asked questions for worship teams. Okay, so frequently asked questions from worship teams. Going right in vain with this topic of frustration. So we all want excellence, right? No one wants to be a part of a train wreck of a worship set. Like, no one wants the bass player and the piano player and the guitar player to all three be playing different chord progressions. Like, no one wants to be a part of that. Everyone loves when everything's locked in and it's just meshed well, and you're just like, yes, Lord, you can move. So if you know, we got different, we got new members or members that are still learning and how to flow and all of these things. How do you do with the frustrations of cultivating the excellence while also, you know, not destroying the the person like with those comments, especially for leaders who are more sick like um excellence driven, they come prepared, they've they've practiced their songs like a hundred times, they've sought the Lord, they've prayed, they've done all of these things, and then they come to practice, and it feels like you know, some people are just dragging, you know, barely listen to the songs, barely paid attention.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

That's the point right there. Yeah, right. Like it's like practice. If we're being we we call it practice, really, but it's rehearsal, right? You know, because practice is said this a thousand times, y'all. You should be doing on your own, and when we come together, we're rehearsing, we're putting it all together.

SPEAKER_07 41:51

You should not be waiting to the day of to be listening to the song you're leading or playing.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

And if it's something that's difficult, like you got a new uh uh member or or worshiper on the team or something of that nature, and it it is we've had that where it's been like maybe even a style of song that's just a little more tougher, certain notes, certain things, or whatever. And it just takes extra time, and you have to be willing to put that in. If you're not the you know, somebody who can just pick it up on the spot, then don't wait till you're on the spot to hopefully pick it up. Yeah, and don't also be like, oh, well, that is not my thing. Da-da-da-da. Your thing is to worship the Lord. Yeah, yeah, that's what your thing is, and you're gonna give them the best you can. We're not talking about perfection, we're talking about excellence.

SPEAKER_07 42:35

Exactly. And that's what I think leaders have to understand too, is like, okay, if you've done all you can do, you have picked the sets, you've shared the sets, you've shared the resources, you have rallied everybody, you've encouraged them. Hey guys, listen to the song, you know, maybe a week in advance, you know, listen to these songs, make sure you rehearse on your own. Let's come together. And, you know, you provided the resources, you've done every possible thing you could do. And let's say the musicians also did all of those things.

SPEAKER_05 43:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 43:02

But let's just say the connections between the brain and the fingers are not connecting all the way. Sometimes, you know, and they make some mistakes. That's when I think we have to give it to the Lord. And we have to be like, you know, Lord, we're doing the best we literally can do. And we give that to you, you know. And that is sometimes that is my worship, is as a perfectionist and I want things excellent. And I know that everybody did bring their best. Everybody did, you know, rehearse and they did do their best, but maybe we still made a mistake. That's when I just am like, that's my worship to you, Lord, because I we we can't be perfect, and we tried our best, but I don't want it to, I don't want to get distracted and make it something that it shouldn't be about, about being perfect instead of about true worship unto you. And that is an offering from me to the Lord when I give that to Him.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Yeah, it's the posture of heart. Yeah, yeah, that's worship.

SPEAKER_07 43:53

Yeah, and so I hope that encourages those who maybe are a little slothful to you know.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

know rehearse a little bit don't wait to the last minute the Lord is worthy of more but then I hope that encourages the worship leaders who feel frustrated like maybe this guy had felt frustrated with that bass player you know to do the best you can do to equip your team yeah but once you've done all you can do then give it to the Lord that's it do not make it about you know striving and perfection because then that can become performance mentality and that is not worship no not at all when you realize who it is that you're worshiping why would you give anything lesser than to the one who gave everything for you know like that's the that's the posture of it and so you you mark out time and it becomes specific so that it can be dynamic.

SPEAKER_07 44:47

Right right um and we still we practice all the time it doesn't matter how many times we sung the song we are still gonna be practicing on our own time that song absolutely because we want to make sure that you know we're bringing excellence and we know it well and yeah so for those that are there that that maybe I don't know if we've hit this but that may not feel like they understand the difference between perfection and excellence how would you describe that I mean I feel like perfection like there is like this undertone of just like striving like just like a little bit of like anxiety like you feel like oh like what what would happen if I'm not perfect if I'm not excellent like or not excellent if I'm not perfect what would happen and if the answer is like someone's gonna be mad at me or you know the Lord won't move or you know whatever crazy lie then that is not of the Lord and you have to surrender that to the Lord it could be unhealed areas it could just be a personality trait that you have to surrender and die to. And then excellence is when you literally are not waiting to last minute but you're you're you care about what the Lord cares about. You care about the worship team you care about the set you care about the songs you care about practicing because the motivation is you care about the Lord.

SPEAKER_05 46:07

There it is.

SPEAKER_07 46:07

And so if that is your motivation and the undertone is not anxiety it's love for the Lord then that's excellence.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

And but there is this line between slacking and um you've always told me is like that's the best you possibly can without using that as an excuse. Right. Right? Like excellence is a son or a daughter doing the best that they possibly can but you can't tell me that you did the best that you possibly can if you didn't practice on your own already if you didn't make any effort like even driving in the car like you can pull up the tracks the practice tracks you can be practicing your song even in the car as a singer.

SPEAKER_07 46:47

There you go now as a musician you know you got to set you know actual time aside you can't be playing your guitar and driving at the same time. Well no unless you have no even then even if you have a self-driving Tesla hands have to be on the wheel so you know eyes got to be on the road. Then two you know so all that to say is there are you know so we just have to know how's the Lord wired us and what does the enemy try to use against us or what is our own personality try you know the weaknesses of our personality and if it is slothfulness then we know we have to over we have to overcompensate you know and say you know I have to be excellent so I'm gonna put the practice in and if it is I'm oh ultra perfectionistic then I have to know when to release it to the Lord so it doesn't become this anxiety thing of of proving. So true. So just know yourself get to know who who God's created you and how he's created you and then know your weak points where the enemy would try to use that against you. So we hope that this episode has been encouraging, uplifting and we hope to see you next week on the next episode of Protect the Altar podcast