Just Cuz Podcast

Episode 24: ACCOUNTABILITY

Jae & Catina

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SPEAKER_01

This is just levels to Jessica! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, we missed it. Y'all, we missed y'all. We always missed it. Oh my god, we always missed it. It does. And I'll be like that.

SPEAKER_02

But what's crazy though? It takes forever for us to get back to you all.

SPEAKER_01

Rolling with the homies. Okay. Rolling with the homies. Okay. All right, y'all. So you already know. Here I come. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_02

Let's go get it tool.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, because I'm still gonna come with it. But before I come with it, though, because I almost forgot this, we got something new. Determine if you want to stay tuned or if you want to jump and listen to something else or what have you, but today we're talking about holding yourself accountable. We're talking about accountability, okay? Because it's very important that we are accountable, right? All right, boom. So here I come. You we go. Happy, oh, happy, oh, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy, happy, happy birthday to you. It's a revised happy birthday to you. Hey, hey, happy birthday to you. So guys, happy birthday. All right, birthday. If no one told you, if nobody celebrated you, if nobody gave you some cake and some ice cream, right? Can you go from Jess Cuz Podcast? Happy birthday. We love you. We're happy that you saw another year. Oh and baby, celebrate all you alone because guess what? It's your birthday. Hey, come on. Happy birthday, girl. These songs just be coming out of nowhere. But anyway, you just making up songs. It just comes. I don't know. It's the creative mind that's in you. Well, then let's roll with it because it show did it. All right, y'all. And I have to say this too, guys. So when this comes out, your girl will have had something major take place, okay, when this comes out, when this podcast hit. So I might need a way to talk about it. I think I am. But anyway, it would have taken place, and yeah, it's gonna be something new. All right, Tina, you ready?

SPEAKER_02

I'm ready. Let's hit it. Let's hit it. Give it to them.

SPEAKER_01

So this is our mood check. This is our temperature check. This is when we check in with each other, make sure we're good, make sure we're lovely, make sure our life is phenomenal, okay? So, what is our mood? Do you want to go first?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you can go first.

SPEAKER_01

Well, baby, my mood is excited. I am in expectation. I am ready for everything that's coming forth moving forward. I feel like I say this every time you we ask the mood, but that's just the way I feel. It's like I am so excited and I'm ready for what's to come. And I am so grateful too, on top of that, because it's like it's beautiful to be in this space. It's beautiful to know that God is your pilot and he is rolling like he got you. You just sitting over there relaxing. He the driver that you can go to sleep with. Come on. Instead of y'all sleeping in them Teslas, you better have G with your co-pilot as your pilot, and you you be used as the co-pilot. Okay, and my seat is all the way back, Jeans. Okay, okay, my seat all the way back, and I am enjoying the ride.

SPEAKER_02

How about you, Cena? I feel good. I feel good. I won't say I started out this way, but I'll say that I feel good. I feel reassured. And I probably said this last time. I don't know, but it don't matter. It don't, it don't, because today is a different day and this is a different way. You never know what people are going through in their in their lives and from the day to day. So on today, I feel good. I feel reassured, I feel re-energized. Um, even about situations and um situations that I don't have control over, I still feel um, I still feel reassured, and I still feel as if I hold the power. You know, I don't hold, like, I mean, I don't have control over the situation, but I have control over me. And because I have control over me, yeah, I believe that makes it valid enough that I can say I hold the power.

SPEAKER_01

But you do hold the power because Jesus lives in you and there is no separation. Period.

SPEAKER_02

Period.

SPEAKER_01

The world, you got this, girl. Feeling good, all of that.

SPEAKER_02

Ah, let's go. I feel good.

SPEAKER_01

All right, y'all. So here we go. It is my nephew pup's favorite. I missed him when I talked to him, Tina. But it's my nephew pup's favorite, it's your favorite, it's my favorite, it's Tina's favorite, it's everybody's favorite. WYD. What would you do? What would y'all do? This is an opportunity where you get to come in, sit with us in our podcast, right, and put your two cents in, ask your questions, see what advice that you need. If you want us to talk about something, get to drop that so we can talk about it. Pull up a chair. Pull up a chair, sit at the table with us, get in the studio with us, okay? This is your opportunity where you get to writing, you get to um DM us on all these socials because we own all of them. Right. Or you get to email us at justcuse80s at gmail.com and drop your story, drop your line, and we take it from there. Today, this is from Candace, y'all. Hey, Candace Girl. Hey Candace. How you doing? All right, so she says, hey y'all, I love this podcast. Oh, thank you, Candace Girl. I have started a new job in a new city. I am in my 30s, single, no children, and ready to meet my person. Oh, I don't know how to meet a quality man or where good men are or men that are ready for me. I need help knowing places to meet. W W Y D, what would y'all do?

SPEAKER_02

Did she say how many years she's been in her job? Did she say anything?

SPEAKER_01

Is it new? She didn't say well, she said new. She said she said I started a new job in a new city. Well, I'll tell you you wouldn't keep your eyes open if you're not. Yeah, yeah. So you want to go first? No, you got it. No, you got it. Okay, so Candace, this is fun. This is exciting. First of all, girl, you in your 30s. 30s was fun, right? Right. All right, and you have a new job and you're in a new city. So you look, you have already been set up, okay? Because look at it going on. Yes, let me say this. A man to find for wife, find up a good thing. Come on, girl. But here's the here's the key that we never talk about. A woman has to make herself available. If a woman is not available or doesn't have herself in place, how will that man find her? So you can't stay at home. Please, please. You can't sit at home all day, every day. Don't go out, don't do nothing. You can't do that because you have to make yourself available. And you spoke about quality men. You spoke about men that are interested in and meet you where you are. So this is a new job. Like Tina said, the job. It might be your job. You might he might be there. It might be you're in a new city. So whatever your hobbies are, whatever you like to do, so think about things that you that you can go and do and and make yourself available. Sometimes I think we forget that we're supposed to date ourselves first. And when we date ourselves, is you are figuring out you and learning you, right? And so that's really you dating God. Like this is your time to you know date all of you, right? So take yourself out to eat. If you want to go to a spa, go to a spa. If you want to go to a movie, go to a movie, enjoy it by like by yourself. You never know who you're gonna meet. Going to an art show, going to a play. You didn't say what city you're in, so we don't know what's available to you. But these are things, these are things and places that you that you can go and things that you can do to where it will open up the opportunity for you to meet amazing people and like-minded people, right? And so um that's what I would say is like look for look for opportunities. If you're in the cars, go to a car show. That's good. Um, if um if you I you know, I don't know. If you if you're a skater, go roller skating. If you like to bow, like do these things. And of course you can do some of these things with friends too, but I don't want you to be afraid to love on you because you're you're seeking and and hoping that your that your boaz finds you, right? And so when he finds you, you already know what that feels like for you for for what it is that you want, right, and how you want to be loved and how and how you want to be treated because you would have all God has already had a one-on-one with you for that.

SPEAKER_02

I love it. I love it. You know, the I love it. I love the advice that you gave. The only thing I'm I would even say, and it's just an addition to that of what you said, because I think the places that you told her to go is excellent. The the idea um and the advice of how to find this man, I think is excellent. Um, the thing that I took note of is that she's asking where to go. So obviously, she is not um into the whole internet dating. Yeah, and thank God I wanted to say and and I wanted to speak on that part because this might help somebody else out there that's looking. But Jay said you have to make yourself available, which is absolutely true. You have to make yourself available, and you and face-to-face is something completely different than online. Online, people can tell you what they want to tell you over the phone, they tell you what they want to tell you. But when you're face to face, you're held to an accountability, and you actually see what it truly is, and you actually see if it's quality or if it's not. And so I think it's important, like Jay say, is to um is to put yourself out there, love on yourself while you're doing the things that you love to do, those in those places and those spaces is where you're probably or likely gonna find someone that has the same interests as you. You don't want to date someone that does not have some at least of the same interests, interests that you have, because otherwise, what are you guys gonna do? And if you end up finding those, um, you know, that person or several people because you're young and you're single, so it gives you an opportunity to test the waters and to test the field, you know. You don't have to be subject to one person, but um, but if you take that time to love on yourself and find who it is that you're looking for, you're gonna find someone that has the same interest. Yeah. And like I said, that is what brings the quality to the relationship, yes, the relationship point, because you're gonna start to learn things about them. You can't see over the internet or through the phone um, you know, certain things or you know, particular characteristics or how people live. You can't even see how people live. You can't when you are um doing this type of dating. But when you are doing actual dating, face to face, you're going out on dates, when you when you're doing this type of dating, you get to learn a person and to know what your compromises are and if they actually meet, or what, or you know, like I said, your like-mindedness. You know, and that's important in any relationship if it's looking to go anywhere. So I think that um what Jay said is absolutely right. But like I say, the reason that I'm saying what I'm saying is because there's a lot of women out there that have not found what they're looking for because they're not making themselves available. Right. They don't want to go out anymore. Well, somebody needs to see you, yeah, they need to see your face, they need that, they want to spend time with you. You feel a person's um uh character and personality when you're with them. You you get to know who a person is and whether you like them or not, just being around them. Yeah, you get to try to spirit by the spirit, exactly, and you get to look in their eyes, right? The eyes that's important. And I think that because things have become so microwave and so convenient and innovative that we've lost that when it comes to um how we live our lives, and we have to get back to some of that in order to get something of quality. So that that is one way that you actually test um test the quality of what it is that you're looking for. And another thing, too, um, for people like you know, that might be in this situation, they're still looking or whatever, and they're doing the online dating. What happens when you get with that person and you realize these people date forever, they date for years online, years, never seen each other. And as soon as they get together and they get in one uh another's presence, they realize they do not like one another. And you have spent so much time, so much time exactly. I do, I think that what Jay said is excellent, that you should absolutely go to the places, show yourself self-love, go to different, and you know, even outside of that, stretch yourself and go to different places, you know, things that might not necessarily have been of your interest, but it's only because you never explored it. Right. So keep doing what you're doing, uh, you know. Well, if you're not doing it, do it, implement it. Yeah, what Jay said, absolutely, I agree.

SPEAKER_01

And and I will say this too, and a lot of time as as women, we forget to do this because we feel like the first person we meet and they see we see all these amazing qualities and stuff, and we think that's the one. Right. Um, sweetheart, you're in your 30s. Talk about it. Date, talk about it, date. Make sure you allow the space for you to date, even if you feel like when you meet someone that, oh my God, this is the one. Give yourself opportunity to like explore options, right?

SPEAKER_02

You might find you in something what is your typical.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Be open. That's what I was gonna say too. Because you're in a new city, so some of these people can become friends, right? You know, that's right. So be open and and enjoy it, have fun. This is time for you to have fun and be safe when you do it as well. Because make sure someone always knows where you are. And me and my friends, honey, we used to get license plates. I know that's right. We used to get a license plate number to the person who came to pick you up. And um, taking care of yourself too, as being someone that is in a new city and at a new job. Just make sure you take the precautions because it's not Mayberry no more, okay? But you got this Candace girl. And keep us posted. We want to know what happens.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01

But we want to invite to the wedding, right? You ain't even met him yet, and we already told you you're gonna marry him.

SPEAKER_02

We are gonna find him. We know you're gonna find it.

SPEAKER_01

All right, Tina. So go ahead, Candice. You ready, Tina? I'm ready. This is the main topic. Hold yourself accountable. This is about accountability. So, Tina, when I think about holding yourself accountable and accountability, it's it's far more than just evaluating yourself. Right. Accountability says that you know what, whatever my actions were, whatever I did, whatever I said, whatever I thought, um, I need to be accountable for that. And I need to be accountable for that in the moment. I need to address this right now. Now, this is something that is a daily something. This is an everyday, all day, you don't get the rest with it. This is something that you do that becomes a way of life, your everyday life, just as you do breathing. Because when you hold yourself accountable, you omit being an accuser. Oh my gosh, that's good.

SPEAKER_02

That's good, that's good, that's good. She just dropped it.

SPEAKER_01

I'm just I'm I'm serious. You you will you omit that because it's natural for us in our flesh to want to accuse someone or want to hold other people accountable for the things that we deem necessary for them to be accountable for. Come on, and we don't take an inventory of us, we don't take um the accountability of our actions, our choices, our voices, what we've done, what we don't do, what we should have done, what we did, like all of those things. We don't take an inventory check of that.

SPEAKER_02

Jay, what you just said is exactly this. You know what that is? When we don't take inventory, we don't take inventory or hold ourselves accountable and we become the condemner. Do you know that that is exactly what the Pharisee spirit is?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, let's talk about it. Come on now.

SPEAKER_02

That's exactly what the Pharisees don't do that. Come on, teach us, girl. That is exactly what the Pharisee spirit is is like. So this is the way that I'm gonna break it down to you. So you're talking about the condemner. The condemner is the person that never says, they never stand up and say, hey, look, I'm imperfect, or that I did this. They never take responsibility for themselves, but they always see everything else that's wrong with everybody else. That's exactly how the Pharisees walked around. I I was reading, y'all know I'll be reading, whatever. But I was reading, read girl. I was reading in the word, right? And you know, if you go back and you trace in the Bible, everywhere that the Pharisees showed up, they showed up as Jesus was trying to do good. He was all he was trying to do was do good for the people. He was trying to tell the people about his coming, he was trying to tell the people about salvation, he was trying to tell the people about his father. Jesus was healing folks, he was setting people free, he was he was uh casting out demons. Jesus was doing all these different things, but the whole time in all of his good acts, because this is what happens when you're in your good act, when you're doing what you're supposed to be doing and you're walking according to righteousness and you're you're following the instructions of your Lord or your Savior and you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. There's always gonna be somebody that shows up every place that you go so that they can cast their stones or so that they can try to trip you up. And this is not even this is and we're not talking about the hater, we're talking about and we're talking about a Pharisee spirit, a Pharisee spirit. The Pharisees showed up everywhere, everywhere that Jesus went, they showed up. This is what this is the thing that bothers me about this, though. The Pharisees were the ones that were over quote unquote religion, right? So religion was big then, but it was called Christianity, but they lived by law. Okay, but Jesus came, he came so that the law, he wouldn't, he did not abolish the law because the Bible tells us that. But he came so that he could give a better way of repentance, so that we could be free. Now, listen, these Pharisees would show up everywhere this man went just to do well, but you are over religion as a whole. At what point? And I don't think that anybody ever pays attention to this, because all we look at is the situation at hand. But if we study a little bit deeper, at what point, if you are over something and you're running something, that means you should be busy, right? That means that you should be attending to it, right? So then when problems happen, when things come about, or there's certain um positions or jobs that need to be fulfilled, or what have you, um you have to take care of those things. But at what point, at what point, if you're following behind someone else just to trip them up and to condemn them, are you doing your job? At what point in the in the Bible can you tell me, because there's no point that I have read in the Bible, that the decide that the um Pharisees were making disciples? No, that was a part of the Christian walk, is that we would be making disciples. At no point in time throughout the word of God does it read that the Pharisees were going around trying to make disciples or doing any of the things that Jesus was doing. The only thing you've seen them doing was following behind that which they saw that was righteous so that they could call it unrighteous, so that they could condemn it. Condemnation. Is something completely different. Understand is completely different from conviction. When Jesus came and he bought the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit brings about something that's called conviction. And conviction is a good thing. And I explain this in this way. Because if you got something that tells you what's right from wrong and you pay attention to it, that's a good thing because it can save you. It can save you from hardship, heartache, or trouble, right? That's where the conviction comes in. Like, okay, well, I probably shouldn't do that. So, okay, I think so. I'm not going to do it. But condemnation is a whole nother thing. And that's what that's what the Pharisees walked with. They walked with condemnation. They walked as if they were a picture of perfection. They were ready at all times to kill Jesus, to stone others. They were ready at all times to bring around to bring about harm to other people. How can you call that anything or any part of Christianity or love? At no point in time were these men, uh quote unquote, men of God, leaders, religious rulers, ever seen in the Bible or heard in the Bible that they were in there talking about love, or that they were in there talking about compassion, or that they were in there talking about um, you know, the way, the true way. You never heard these things, but they were stuck on rule and regulation and law, and only because they didn't have control. See, this goes back to this goes back to a setting of control. That's also a characteristic of the Pharisee spirit. Control. It's gotta be my way. It doesn't look right because we wrote, because we wrote it out this way. Again, my we those are singular. That's not plural. That is for that is for the benefit of that particular person or that particular organization. That that does not benefit as a whole, and it makes it next to impossible for people to seek forgiveness. It makes it next to impossible people to um be in a repentant state because they can never meet the perfection. Everywhere that Jesus went, they tried to trip him up. He went to, I was reading this morning about how the Pharisees bought him. There was a there was a woman that was caught in the act of adultery, and it spoke about how they did this to try to trip Jesus up in what they asked him. They said, Well, you know the law and you say that you support the law. Because remember, Jesus didn't come to abolish the law. So as they talked to, as they talked to Jesus about this situation, look, we have this woman, she was found in the act of um adultery, and the law says that she should be stoned to death. Jesus simply rebuked that Pharisee spirit and he said, but it's the way that he did it. He did it with wisdom. Jesus realized that all they wanted was to make it seem as if he was contrary to what the law says. So Jesus used wisdom and his and he responded, okay. As he wrote in the sand, as he stooped on the ground and he wrote in the sand or wrote in the dirt, you know, he just not even looking, not even giving them eye contact, because sometimes you can't even give eye contact or the time of day when it comes to focus to the enemy, when it comes to focus on the Pharisees and their spirit. Sometimes it doesn't even deserve the eye contact. But as Jesus wrote with his finger in the dirt and the woman stood before him, and they had already stated what her case was, they stated what her case was, hadn't even asked her to speak on her own behalf. She had no attorney, no, no, no one to stand there before her to defend her. It was just between her and what they had to say. Now, see, already it's it's uneven. Already it's unfair. Yeah, it's unmatched, it's unfair already. But Jesus' response was okay, well, I'll tell you what, since y'all want what y'all want and you think that you're right, I'll let you have that and I'll let you be right. But this is how it has to be done. You that is without sin, cast the first stone. And he didn't even look up, he didn't bother to look. He just kept writing in the dirt. He didn't even bother to look. And by the time that he stood up and he raised his head and he looked around, there was nobody left except for the woman that was left standing there. And his response to her was easy because he did exactly what he came to do for us. After he rebuked that religious spirit, that Pharisee spirit, he told that woman, go and sin no more. He gave her the repentance, he did exactly what it is that he came to do in response to what he had came up against, in response to them coming at him just to try to catch him up. He used a godly wisdom, he used a kingdom wisdom. He operated through the dominion and the power in which he has when he rebuked and he bound up that spirit because you obviously it was bound, it was bound and it was tied. They had to to the point to where it had to leave, they had to leave. There is a difference between conviction and condemnation, and that Pharisee spirit comes with condemn condemnation all day long.

SPEAKER_01

That's that judgmental spirit, that's that, that's that self-righteous spirit. That's and you spoke about something when you said like it's a difference between um like a hater, like someone who hates, but not someone who condemns. Yeah, that's because a hate a hater will hate from afar. Come on, or they'll have their own secretive thoughts about you, but a condemner will stand in the open and try to expose. And they don't realize that they are exposing themselves when they do it. And that's the thing about holding uh holding yourself accountable because if you are busy holding yourself accountable for you, doing your work, doing you, yes, you have no room to for anybody else's stuff. Yes, indeed. Because you are making sure that you grind this thing out right. Come on, okay, you are making sure that you are doing this thing to the best of your ability because news flash condemner, come on, nobody is perfect. Come on, nobody is perfect, nobody is living a perfect life, nobody is living a life that's without complete that's completely without sin. No one is doing that. We're incapable of doing well. We are in perfect, we're perfectly imperfect. That's it. That's what we are, and when we understand that, we stand before no one to condemn them of anything because we understand that God's mercy, God's grace, God's favor upon our lives and what he has shown us is also extended to others. And so when we understand that, when we stand at a place that we that we are in full understanding, then we know that we could never part any part of our body, lips, or anything to fault or condemn anybody else for anything that they've done.

SPEAKER_02

We can't do it, we can't do it because you're too busy being accountable for your own self. How can you be accountable for someone else? We don't control the actions or the will of another person, we only control our own actions and our own will. And it's a good thing that God didn't give us that type of control because we would screw it up, tear it to pieces, we would screw it up because a little bit of power handed to us. We go nuts. We go nuts with titles, we go nuts with positions, yes, we go nuts. We go nuts with money, status, we go nuts with things like that. And I thank God that He did not give us that much control, He gave us all the control when He gave us will, free will. Yeah, He gave us enough control with that, but with that free will comes the accountability. We have got to look at the things that we do and judge our own selves. That's right. You don't nobody else has to judge you if you judge your own self. That's right. If you function under conviction, that will create your own judgment in your own self. And we're not gonna judge ourselves to a place of death. No, we're not gonna do that. No, we're not gonna judge ourselves, but we'll but we'll be quick to do it with somebody else. We will. We'll be quick to kill somebody else's dream. We'll be quick to kill somebody's put somebody else on death row. Put somebody else on death row, put somebody, we're we're quick to kill somebody else's ministry, we're quick to kill somebody else's gifting, we're quick to kill somebody else's um success. Wow. We're quick to kill all these other, it's all based off of somebody else's. When is it, at what point in time, do we get rid of the Pharisee spirit to where the accountability comes back to us? Because if the Pharisees would have been doing what they were supposed to be doing, there wouldn't have, there would have never been a ruckus in the beginning. Had they been worried about, had they been worried about ministering to the people and bringing people to the Lord, there wouldn't have been as much going on as there was going on on the side of bad, on the side of evil, and the side of wicked. They were given, they were given the law so that they could learn who the Lord was. They were given it for that reason, but they misused it. They did. They misused it.

SPEAKER_01

And how often do we do that? How often do we stand in a place of position and power and we misuse it? How often do we fun do we do we fumble what God is trying to do for us? He puts you in a place of power so that you can extend mercy and compassion to others, not so that you can condemn them, not so that you can push them further off track than what they are, but at some point, somebody got to stand in the gap and say, look, let's work through this. That's right. Let's figure out what it is that we can do better, let's figure out how I can help you be better.

SPEAKER_02

Like what Jesus did. Yeah, because Jesus was all about the help. He was all about the help, he was all about the deliverance. And Jesus was all about ministry, and that's all ministry is is serving. Jesus is about serving. And a lot of times we forget that that's what ministry is. It's serving. It is not surf, it is not self-service, but it is to serve others. Yes, yes. But if we were, if we paid attention to the things that we should be doing when it comes to others, helping others, things of that nature, serving others, we would never find ourselves in a position to where we lose our own accountability. We lose our own accountability because we become humanized to the point to where we have no more feeling, we have no more compassion, no more love for other people because all we see is the sin. Jesus already told us that sin was not for us. No, and it was not for us to judge it, but it was for his father. He came and he didn't even judge. Why don't we have the power?

SPEAKER_01

You know what? That's exactly what I was gonna ready to say. If Jesus came and did not judge, how do we have the power? How could we even put ourselves in a place to and we say we know so many people, especially if you've grown up in church and you've grown up in Christianity, be more like Jesus, be more like Jesus. Well, you're not being more like Jesus, you're not, because you're doing opposite of what he came and what he did. So make it make sense. I say this all the time. Make it make sense, make this one plus one equal two and not one plus one equal ten. Right. Like make it make sense, make it plain so that you can understand it so that you don't make those same mistakes that many have made before us. Yes, indeed. We're supposed to do something different. We're in 2026, and we are not supposed to carry the bad habits and the bad decisions and the um the mess up legalism, traditionalism, all of those things that have plagued us for all these years. We are a part of the change. Come on. We are a part of the difference. And when we stand in a place of accountability, then we exercise that. We exercise that, we make it plain, we say, no, this is what it is, this is how it's supposed to be. Yeah, mama, daddy, um, great this one, great that one, probably did it that way because they didn't know no better, or they could they didn't have the tools to be able to, you know, move forward. But one one major tool that we have is the word of God. Yes, and the thing about the word of God, it has been around forever, since the beginning of time. Forever.

SPEAKER_02

And people forget that they think they try to put years and ages on it. No, the way that you should answer that question is that the word of God has been been here since the beginning of time.

SPEAKER_01

Beginning of time, since the beginning of time. And the thing about it is, you know, for for those that was here and lived it and went through it, and we talk about the parables and the stories and fables and all these things that are in the Bible and what the Bible is made up of, but that is your instruction book that shows you you have something. There is nothing that happens in your life under the sun that you can't go back to the Bible and pull a reference to help you along your way. Now, see, here's my thing. I I'm I'm the one that I'm gonna I'm gonna think about the one that might be like, okay, Jesus, or okay, you know, you believe this and you believe that. Here's my thing. If you want to take a gamble and take a bet on something, why don't you take a gamble and a bet on what you can prove? Come on, come on, what you what you can prove, what has been proven. Yes, what has been proven if you say you believe in science and all of this? Well, these things have been proven, right? You can go back and in time and reference places and times and dispensations to to um make the the word that you're reading its accurate. So if you so if you can do that, and it's still prevalent today in 2026, and we A D. Come on, and these and a lot of the things that we're looking and and and um seeing and experiencing is from when Christ was here. Come on. I'm confused.

SPEAKER_02

At a time that he walked the earth, but then you know, like you said, but then you're not believed.

SPEAKER_01

No, you're not believed.

SPEAKER_02

All the proof the word is living. This right here is a revelate, a revelation of what the living word means. For you to have, for you to have advice for something that you have not even experienced yet in life, that it all be laid out in one book. Yeah, that's living. Yes, that means that someone else has already walked it out for you. Yes, and that's exactly what Jesus did. He walked everything out, and he came so that he could get it right because we were messing up. Yeah, we had already messed up, we had already messed up a time before, and then he gives us another, then the Lord gives us another opportunity, and we start messing that up again, and he had to send his son in order to get things in line. Yeah, he gave the he gave the Pharisees and the Sadducees their opportunity to run religion, and I call it exactly that because it was religion. He gave them the opportunity to run religion, but they failed. And the reason that they failed is because they were not in alignment with what God was saying, they were doing things the way that they wanted to do it. We just talked about that self-serving versus serving.

SPEAKER_01

And it's happening today, it's happening. Like it's happening today in religion, and and what Tina, what, and we've talked about this before. Um, what people fail to realize, and especially at this big number of year that we're at, 2026, we fail to realize that God is calling us to be one, one um flock, one being, one. There isn't a separation of religion. He is calling us to be one, and he has been trying to bridge the gap so that we come together as one church, as one, as one, one it's a word I'm looking for, and I can't think about it right now.

SPEAKER_02

Lord help me. But we are all but we're one. We're all under we it he is calling us to be one.

SPEAKER_01

One body. One body. One body. That's the word I was looking for body. He is calling us to be one body because he is calling all that had gone astray back to him. That's the part right there. And I am a witness, and I'm gonna bear, I'm I'm gonna, I'm gonna, it's like, I don't know if it's called, I don't think it's exposing because I'd be very transparent about this. But I grew up in church ever since I was five years old. There comes a place and a time in your life where you have to, you cannot depend on other people's walk with Christ. You have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt and build a relationship with God, your relationship with God. And you have, and and I believe that the Lord wants us to have questions. I believe that the Lord wants us to seek and get understanding. And I and I questioned the Bible. I questioned the Bible. I was like, okay, Lord, I said, um, help me. And really, what it was was I was questioning religion. I was requ I was um questioning how God can we be separate. You got this religion here, this religion here, that religion here, that religion here. And we all believe in God, but we all separated by these deities that we believe that it's a different person that helps us to get to you, or that came and died for us, or whatever the case is. And so, and I'm just talking about me right now, just because podcasts, I'm talking about me right now. I'm talking about how I said, God, I need you to show me because I want to live in fullness of truth. I want to live in full understanding of what it is that I say I will die for.

SPEAKER_02

Come on.

SPEAKER_01

Because you need to know what it is, you need to know what you are living for, and you need to know what you would say. For God, I live, for God, I die. You need to understand that. It can't be what your mama thought, right? It can't be what your daddy believed, it can't be what auntie did and grandma did, and this one did. You got to know you got to know for yourself. So I had to step out there and say, God, show me. Let me get in this, let me understand your word, let me understand this walk, let me understand this is why I believe the way I believe. Yes, I've seen signs and wonders, wonders. Yes, I've seen God heal. Yes, I've seen God deliver. Yes, I have been filled with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues. Yes, these things have happened to me. God, I want the fullness of truth.

SPEAKER_02

Come on here and preach today.

SPEAKER_01

I don't want nothing that's microwavable. I don't want nothing that can be that can um pass through a generation of time. I want something that's gonna stand, that's gonna be lasting for me. And so that's what I did when I started seeking, and God showed me him.

SPEAKER_02

You have to go through, you have to go through that time and that space, which it creates the relationship. Yes. You took the time to seek him out, and that's what the word tells us to do. It tells us to seek him. You cannot find him unless you seek him. You've got to seek him. But see, that's exactly why so many things happen. Okay, so if we go back and we talk about all these other gods and deities and all this stuff, that stuff happened because those people weren't seeking God. They were no longer seeking God, they were seeking other things. And so if we get ourselves back to focus into seeking God, ask talking to the one and the only God, the almighty God, because there's no other gods. All that other stuff is little G. That's little g. And that is not God, it is one God, the Almighty, and the only way to him is through his son, Jesus Christ. That is his word and is spoken. And we already talked about how his word that is spoken is living word. It is living word, he is man and we can feast on him. It is good, it is good for us. But when you talk about all these different things, that is the exact reason why if we seek after him, we will absolutely find him because he will reveal himself and he will reveal everything else to be a lie. There's no lie, there's only truth in God. Lie does not sit in him. Everything else that does not align to what his word says and what is spoken, it's a lie, and it's not of God. But you have to seek God in order to know that because it requires a relationship in order to have understanding. When you talk to someone, when you're in a relationship with one with um, with a partner, a significant other, and you discuss different things or whatnot, you start having an understanding of one another. But if you don't talk, if you don't have a relationship, I can't say that I know such and such if I don't have a relationship. I can say that I associate with them and associating with someone and having a relationship with someone. When you have a relationship, you start knowing people's mannerisms. You start knowing what they're going to say before they say it because you know how they think. This is what God is requesting and requiring of us in this accountability. It is a it's a part of our accountability. The only way for you to have a relationship with him is that you seek after him. But it requires our accountability that we say, okay, I don't know it all like the Pharisees. I don't know it all. But God will show enough tell me. He'll show enough expose it to me.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And and Tina, the thing about this right now, and I I echo, you already know we echo what each other says every day all day. But this is what's so amazing to me. Just as you spoke about the Pharisees, it is no different from what's happening today. It's not. It's no different than what's happening today and you go to all these different places and you're condemned and listen don't trust what we say okay that's why it's important for you to seek yourself. Seek yourself and maybe you maybe this is your first time even ever hearing about about um gaining understanding and finding out who Jesus is and all this this might be your first time ever hearing that right but guess what congratulations that's right because this is your day this is your day you get you get to take your whole everything in your in your own hands and find out for yourself because you I would never ever ever want to stand before anyone and say okay well I'm I'm here for you to judge me off of what this person over here believes. I ain't doing that Jay ain't doing that I'm not doing that I'm not doing that I am not going to stand before my savior my father my creator and say well because my mama believed this or my daddy said this I'm standing here because that's what I believe and I'm just here you better know him.

SPEAKER_02

No that's not going to get you nowhere. That's not going to get you in you better know him because the Lord says in his word he says if he doesn't know you if you don't have the relationship he will say depart from me I know you not yeah you need to have the relationship you need to know and you can't believe or trust everything that everybody says because some people some people have this word tangled up and they got it wrong because they will put all kinds of things on top of it all kinds of spins all this theology all this science all this thing it is living and it is spirit and it is truth. That is what the word is and God will reveal his word unto you you do not have to look to man man he he gives man revelation for a reason so that the word can go forward and things can aspire but what I'm saying to you is that if you seek him and you have that relationship with him he will begin to reveal things unto you and give you understanding that man cannot give you whether the understanding comes through him speaking it to you or it comes through experience and we learn through experience. We learn through experience a lot of times we go through things and later on in life we say oh my gosh now I understand what that meant yeah the old folks used to say by and by as I was young I never understood what that meant. But now in my older age as I'm maturing in my age as I am maturing now I understand what that means it makes sense over time in due time in due season you will begin to understand but you gotta seek him and you have to hold yourself accountable. Don't worry about what it is that everybody else around you is doing and I'm saying this and I'm saying this and I'm saying it out loud and I'm saying it out loud and I'm saying it strong standing firm on what I'm saying because it is enough of people thinking that they have the power to condemn. I am so tired of hearing so many people feel as if they're so righteous to the point to where they have the power to condemn no I'm sorry all you're doing is walking in a Pharisee spirit yeah it's one thing allow people people if we all become accountable for ourselves we will then start showing the compassion that Jesus walked this earth with because of our own accountability because we start to accountability because we then start to realize that we are not a vessel of perfection right period look y'all that's I mean there's nothing else to say that's it hold yourself accountable period period there's that's just it and then all you're getting get understanding.

SPEAKER_01

Yes indeed all right y'all well we at the end now y'all honey we didn't came down this that was a heavy meaty wonderful topic so now we're about to make a little light little fun little back in the day a little take you back a little take you back here we go so my back in the day I'm gonna say today is I remember the feeling that I used to have like being at my grandma's house and like this smell that I used to smell it was very um it it was very authentic in her home yes like the scent in her home it smelled like baby powder and whatever if she was cooking because you know she's always cooking and so you would get a hint of the food smell every now and then but I can remember that smell and that feeling sitting in that front room and me and my cousin um well our cousin Sean was talking about how the light used to shine through the window and just that feeling of um just knowing that you were you were safe it was peaceful going to sleep on the couch with the news in the background playing and those houses yeah it's different it's different and I remember falling asleep and then when you wake up um Wheel of Fortune or something might be on so you didn't slept for a good two hours that come on at 7 7 30 or whatever I just remembered those moments and those are moments that you treasure and that you never forget that's beautiful that's beautiful that's beautiful if I would go back and remember something from back in the day um I remember how before life began life and all of my relatives were here oh Tina I remember when all of them were here and that everything was good and that everything like people the the actions that you see now in family you wouldn't see then no because again back to the accountability yeah you wouldn't see the you wouldn't see then because the love was strong there was a connection and because of the accountability of how they were raised together is how they raise their children.

SPEAKER_02

But as people begin to pass away it seems and it feels as if some of that love and the way that they were taught is is being lost I'm not even gonna sit here and and um sugarcoat it like it's okay because there's things that are not okay because people have lost what it was that their mothers and their fathers took the time to like embed in them just to instill in them when it came to family and how to really love. Like you wonder why things are so off market like how things are so off base now is because that part that substance that ingredient has been lost because people don't necessarily look at things and they don't act in the same way because they feel like they don't have to be accountable because those people aren't around anymore. But let me tell you something something that's important to do is to always remember that that which your mother and your father and those that were before you, what they instilled in you, it was for a reason. It's just the same as how the Lord told us we're supposed to carry on the word it will never be known into the next generations unless you teach it unless you instill it unless you continue to speak about it. It will never continue on unless you continue to do those things that you were taught.

SPEAKER_01

So when they when they start to scatter and it doesn't look the same it's because you dropped the ball that's I was about to say it's it's our responsibility as from generation to the next that we hold those things. Those things are sacred um how we interact with one another how um how as the matriots um in the family or um those that um that you know are in a place of of um elderly to to the younger ones you instill those things and and in some families it's still there it's still there because they did the work and they did the things to make sure that it would stay there and that you know okay I refuse for this generation to be lost right like I refuse for this one to make these decisions that um we have to keep it and we and we have to and I and I believe um that's a part of God's mercy because when if we ever completely lose it and then that's when the whole narrative changes everything changes the whole entire narrative changes and when you stop it's just like this word if we don't speak about it it will die it will die it will die and people will never know people will never know and and that and that is exactly the function of family yeah and how families should run those things that are that are dismissed because now such and such is no longer here that is not the way no that's not the way if you want to keep the way if you want to keep the right way it's just like how they say um you know it's not like how we say well you know back in the day I was raised this way. Yeah well we recognize how things were back in the day then why do we change them like do we navigate from them you know what happens we conform we do we conform to what society is what's happening in society is society ain't right necessarily and the thing about it is when you think about society society is made up of all of these different negative um annotations or that that come together that says that it should be this way because maybe this person and their statue said it. And so because they said it then everybody else that's beneath them needs to conform to it and this is what it's supposed to be for the whole entire nation for the whole entire nation and you don't realize that there is a trick of the enemy that has made you to rethink everything that has been instilled in you right all the the the love the compassion the Jesus everything that's been given to you to be stripped away because this is his dominion that's right and he's he has dominion over it right now and he that's what he's come to do. That's right and you have to fight past that and through that and so that you can help your offspring to carry on those things that's right that are true.

SPEAKER_02

That's right that are real that's right if you aren't the one to continue to instill the love then what do you expect is to come the follow through is going to be exactly that which has been sown I ain't never seen an orange uh an orange seed plant and it produced apples or apple seed oranges it doesn't work like that so then when you start seeing the change which is that might be negative and in another in another tense it could be the good if it's the good it's because you did the work and you and you stayed the course we have to learn to stay the course but sometimes things become so warped to the point to the point to where we lose course and we lose track yeah and it's the and you don't recognize and you don't even recognize you can't even recognize it no more and you say why are things not the same because you changed because you changed and because you didn't keep if if if it were the Lord you didn't keep the commandment because you changed you didn't keep what was embedded you didn't keep what was taught so I remember back in the day when all of my family all of the patriarchs were living and everything was good and it was love and people didn't talk crazy and they trusted and they like I said and they love it was different but now it's so many things that have happened and that have changed because people have conformed to the world and people have so much they they have so much condemnation for other people but one thing that one thing I will say though is that even from back in the day and I don't care how far away from that that you can get one thing that you do know is that you were taught that family is family. Yeah and this is important that I'm saying it I pray to God I pray to God that my all my family is listening because it needs to be said and it needs to be spoken that family is family and we need to behave like family is family. That's what I remember back in the day when everything was good when it was all good.

SPEAKER_01

Well that's okay you just challenge all of us to step back and and try to pull back those things that that we know that were good. Let's get in alignment and let's be accountable. All right y'all you heard it right here on Just Cuz Podcast let's be accountable give back the family and and love on people like we're supposed to and share the goodness that's that's what it boils down to. Period period period all right Tina what are we gonna do? We gon' we gonna leave laugh and love thank you for hanging out with us thank you guys