Why Men Suffer in Silence & Overcoming the Poverty Myth

In this episode, we discuss:

The Stoic Myth: Why men hide their pain and the life-changing power of men's ministry and community.

Finding True Identity: A young man's search for purpose and why true identity is only found by measuring yourself against the perfect man, Jesus Christ.

The 90-Second Rule: A brilliant time-management boundary for busy leaders to filter out "time wasters".

Overcoming the Poverty Myth: Understanding that God blesses His people so they can bless His house and fund the Kingdom.

The Car Salesman Analogy: Why modern Christians must stop being "secret" believers who are too afraid of offending people to share the gospel.

Upcoming Events: Join us at the Church of Champions for Passion Week! We have special services planned for Good Friday and Easter Sunday, so bring your family and friends to experience the life-changing power of the gospel

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

But that's the power of of the community. That's the power of living life shoulder to shoulder. And that's a great thing we need to throw in here. You know, you've got to you've got to be in community because you never know how God needs your voice to be used. Yeah. To awaken in some in someone a revelation.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

And that's the I mean, for men specifically, you said you said like being stoic or something like that. That's I think that's a a natural tendency for men is we kind of just grin and bear it. We just like kind of hold on to stuff very quietly.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Well we have to tough it out.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Because we've got to tough it out and we've got to seem uh I was I was with you know I was racing this weekend and we did a we I did two races and so the first race was like just supposed to be for fun, but we went all out because it was another gym that we were going against that we wanted to be you know better superior, yeah. We wanted people to know we were the better gym. And so we got to the end of it, and I I mean I I left it all out there, like for sure. So the next morning I was supposed to race and I was hurting bad. My quads, my legs were just fried. And we started that race, and the we took off immediately, and I was I was thinking to myself, this is gonna be a long day. I hope I can make this race. And so the whole time I am just suffering, and just we're doing everything we're supposed to do, just suffering, suffering, and war is over. Uh I just collapsed on the stage, what have you, and everybody came up, oh my god, that look you made that look so easy. And in my mind, I'm thinking, that was the hardest thing I have ever done. And I wanted to quit every 30 seconds, but I kept going. But they said that I didn't look like I was, but that's the the tendency of men, yes, is that we we are really good at hiding when we're suffering and we're in pain because we don't want we don't want people to think that you know they've got to do more than us, they've got to pick up our slack or we're weak or what have you. So uh that's that right there is one thing I think men have to be able to do. And the only way we get that way is by like being together as men.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Building each other up and saying, hey, you need to speak. Men's ministry is critical. It is, it is for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:10

Welcome to the Courageous Faith Podcast, everyone. If you heard that, that's a little tidbit of what we're gonna be talking about today. That was a good little quick. I know that you weren't supposed to say that, but that was good. I'm gonna use that as open. I didn't know you were recording that, sir. I apologize. That was so good. We got to use that. Um we had so much going on this past week here at Church of Champions, because this is Courageous Faith Podcast, the official podcast of the Church of Champions. And what we got going on over here, we want you to be a part of. So please go to champ.org, find out the events we have, any kind of connect groups they're jumping, they're running all throughout the week. Pastor has a sub stack as well. So you not only get the word on Sunday in this podcast, you also get two substacks. So four days out of the seven-day week, this guy's pouring into you. Our leader is pouring into you, which is actually very incredible if you really think about that.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I mean, the more I think about it, the more I look at it, there is so much going on on a regular basis here at this place. I mean, between pastor's substack, between Sunday mornings, between the connect groups, between everything that's going on throughout this campaign, there is so much ministry and discipleship happening in this place on a and it's the word. I mean, this Sunday, uh, you know, Pastor at the end of service, you know, you look tired. You look tired. But I'm gonna be honest with you, that was probably one of I don't I say probably, and I I just say that because there's so many sermons you hear over your life if you've been in church, but that was probably one of the best sermons I've ever heard on just salvation in general. That was so good. Really? It was so good. It was phenomenal. Yeah. So and I don't want to, I don't want I know you know you're a good orator, but you're kind of that was good stuff. That was good. I mean, uh I even looked at uh the YouTube last night, I was just going through it or what have you, and there were already more views just on that one sermon than in that amount of time, that short amount of time. So I people were sharing it and it was resonating for sure. So we baptized uh I think three people. Oh great. So that's become a weekly thing too.

SPEAKER_06 4:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Well, you know, I think the the measure and metric of um a post-2020 remnant church is um to realize how much you can expand your your kingdom influence by the tenacity and faithfulness of your people. And so it's been a it's been a joy. This week, this past weekend, we had eighty-five people that were downtown doing life together, and Sunday, uh, we didn't notice an appreciable dip in in our um services here, you know. So they weren't even on campus. Uh Saturday evening was another expression of community. There's there's just so many things happen Thursday night, you know, uh the men were gathering, the ladies are gathering, they're doing life groups everywhere. So you have all of these activities going on, giving people an opportunity to find their place to serve, to be equipped, to do life together, to rub shoulder to shoulder with people of like precious faith. And it's just a joy to watch and and see God use that. And uh as we grow stronger and as we recover those things that were lost, you know, I feel sometimes we're very much akin to David at Ziklag. Um and we we're covering those, we're recovering those things that were lost. As we do that, you're seeing the tinsel strength of the church uh amplified. And so, yeah, it's it's a it's been a great joy, and um and I am very tired. You're right. Yeah. Well, one of my favorite. I did it, yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

But unfortunately, I wanted to say, was there something I could do to help you, but I cannot explain to you how tired I am. I didn't know if I could be much help.

SPEAKER_06 5:53

We just had a race, two races. That's why we had 85 people out because it's BC fit. Yeah, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

So many people would do to do something hard and tough, you know, which was Well, I mean, it's more so than that. It's sometimes, you know, it's uh it's emotional when you think about some of this stuff because we had a young lady who was 65 years old, and she did it, she did the event for the first time by herself. So she did the entire thing by herself. And when I first met her, all she wanted to try to do was she wanted to be able to run a mile without stopping.

SPEAKER_06 6:24

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

And I met her, I think it was six or seven years ago. Is that our lady? And uh no, she doesn't come here, she um she doesn't come to church here. She lives like in on the other side of town. Oh, okay. So I coach her online for the most part. Okay. So I met her at Texas Children's Hospital. She was one of their VPs there.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

And uh, but I've been coaching her now for like six or seven years. Wow. And to see her do that entire thing, and she had a smile on her face the whole time, and you could tell she was not like having a she was having fun, but she wasn't having fun, you know, because it was hard. Um, and then when she crossed the finish line, you know, you could see this look on her face of I can't believe I just did something that hard. I never thought it was possible. Exactly. And to me, you know, I know what what all the work she's put in and how can how disciplined and everything she's been. So, but it's like stories like that for the whole weekend, and that only happened because of this like really amazing community and these people that come together, and just to see people texting and putting posts on, and none of it is really talking about their performance as much as man, we did it, we did it. This this team, this whatever. So that's awesome. And seeing those same people and several of them I've got to baptize. Yes, you know, um we're getting to baptize another one April 19th. Wow. So I talked to her this weekend about it. So uh I can't wait for that. At a sporting event, you're talking about baptizing people and and Jesus is what it should be. It's amazing at a sporting event. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

We're taking back, as Lance Wall now says, we're taking back the seven mountains. And the only way to do that is be confrontational enough with the gospel to live it. Yes, amen. Live it in the arena, right? We're not made for spectatorship. We've got to get out of the bleachers and get on the floor. Amen. That's and uh that's that's what we're seeing. Yeah, I was thrilled. I was telling Rocky earlier, I was thrilled when I walked in Sunday morning and he's leading uh our dream team, and he's he's coaching them and encouraging them and speaking into their life. It's just it's a fabulous thing to watch him and Andre and different people that are plugged in doing their ministry, leading people, uh, and and seeing the amplification of that. The the intensity of that is rising. And so I think that's happening throughout America.

SPEAKER_06 8:39

Amen. Yeah, that was a moment yesterday on the way to church. I get a call from James. Hey, I need you to lead the the morning roundup. And immediately I was like, oh man. I was already hitting the church early because I had to do some other things.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:52

And so it was like, all right, God, I'll take it. Like I I took a little pause when he asked me, and I was like, He didn't sound excited when I Yeah, I was not. I was not I was I could tell. It was very uh it was uh it was a push. I felt the nudge, I thought I had to do it. Yeah. And so I was nervous for the rest of the two hours. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Well, that's the the you know, and then that's the grand thing about walking with God and uh being used by Him. If you ever get to a place where it's easy and it doesn't require anything from you, that is a place of danger. And uh the significant places in your life where growth will take place is in that arena at that juncture, and in that moment where you're overwhelmed with, oh my God, are you sure? Should I be doing and and there should be there should be a a period of just um awe and reverence and fear and saying, I I don't know if I'm ready for this. And that's a good place, that's a wonderful place because that that checkmates ego, that checks uh checkmates self-reliance, and it thrusts you into the place where your soul dependence is on God and His anointing, right? And so I I I never want to lose that. I never want to lose that that uh trepidation of saying, God, touch me and keep your hand on me, and I'm nothing without you. Solomon did that. He said, How shall I lead your people? You know, who am I? So that's good.

SPEAKER_06 10:30

Going back to last week, so the women's ministry is phenomenal. Yeah. They have an event worship night, April 17th.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:36

People should come to that. Yes. The men's ministry, Kingdom Men, has finally got ramped up back started, which is this is not it's not connect group, it's a different, it's a men's ministry. Right, right. Kingdom men. We met Thursday at Rudy's barbecue.

SPEAKER_03 10:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:49

Oh my goodness. Phenomenal. Had a great time. Yeah, Kelson did a great job leading it, phenomenal job. He touched lives that I've been trying to reach for a year. Like he he did it in one night. It was awesome. It was an amazing work.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Talk about that because you know, I'm in a place in my life where I'm having to um I'm having to, and everybody can pray with me about this, but I'm I'm I'm needing to find help to take care of my lady while I'm out. She requires that. So um I said all that to say I couldn't be there. And I was very saddened by that, but I wanted to be there. I was praying for you. But tell me what happened.

SPEAKER_06 11:31

So, first you pull up the roadie's barbecue, and it's a car show. We had no idea we got double booked with the car, so it was perfect for all the men just were just ramped up. It was it was pretty cool. But we had our own little section, and 15 of us were there, 15 guys, and one guy who I invited, who I've been inviting to Bible study. Yeah, and he had been missing for a while.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:50

Just no response. He just showed up.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:52

And I was like, It's Christmas. I got so excited. I was like, You're here. He was like, Yeah, I'm sorry. I reached out to you. It wasn't, but I decided to show up. I was like, that's amazing. That's what I'm talking about. And then Kelton stands up, starts talking. He was Richard's saying, This is where we're gonna do we're just gonna hang out and talk. And he ended up just preaching, it felt like just like just started coming out of him. Testimony, opening up. Other men were like saying their testimony, asking different questions. One kid, a young man, was like, How do I know my identity in Christ? That's good. Which is the question that my buddy had been handing this whole time. I didn't even know. I didn't had no idea. That was one of his main questions. I just wrote this down before I left. I gotta find my identity. I was like, wow, what an amazing place for someone to ask that question for you. And then Kelton gave an amazing answer.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:37

And uh by the end of the night, he signed up to start volunteering to help out with the men's ministry. He ended up getting more hands-on with Kelton. Kelton met up yesterday. It's it was a phenomenal thing. Like it was a beautiful thing to see, and it was like that's when we come together.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

That's the power of community and the body of Jesus Christ. That's what makes the Ecclesia a peculiar people. And this this notion, this nefarious notion, birthed out of the very bowels of hell that you can be a lone ranger, be an individual believer, you don't need a church, you just love God, you're He knows your heart, all of that is deception because it takes voices. It takes the first of all, it takes the governmental anointing of God's kingdom, which is we see in the New Testament as apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist. And you you have all of that. You don't have that if you're living alone in an isolation and listening to uh an audiobook, right? You've got to have people around you of like precious faith that know how to speak into your life and has the anointing of God on their life so that it touches your life. And that's what happened with him. You were you were able to see him come into an arena where one voice was able to penetrate whatever veil of misunderstanding had covered him. And so that that is that is critically important, and that's what we're seeing all over the landscape of our church community is people are really rising up and taking leadership by the reins and saying, you know what, we're gonna drive this thing. We're we're my my life matters. And I'll say this to you uh for your buddy and for anyone else that's looking. There's there's a uh misconception in the world that you're responsible to recover your own identity and find out who you are, because your destiny demands for you to steward that and know that. Well, the truth is is we won't know our identity until we identify him. Our identity is in him. Paul said, My identity is in him. If for me to live is him, for me to die is him. Everything about him is a um testimony to me of what I should become because he's the perfect man. If I want to be anything in this world, I need to measure that and look at that through the lens of uh Jesus Christ Himself. And uh from him I get a portrait of proper ethic. From him, I get a revelation of morality. From him, I get the story of salvation, from him, I get the elixir of redemption. You see what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

So uh I would I would challenge you to stay out of Barnes and Noble in the self-help section and get into the scripture and recover your identity in him.

SPEAKER_06 15:35

Yeah. That's really good. That was go ahead. When you at that meeting, you find out that every man is trying to leave their house, yeah. Try to leave try to do their job, yeah, and then try to like balance every other thing they're doing on the side. And what I, you know, I was thinking about you.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:57

You're leading a church. Yeah. Not only when you lead a church, you're leading people in that church. Yeah. Like you're you're ever you you have so many comp departments, departments, I guess, for lack of better words. The departments you gotta lead in this church, make sure they're all working accordingly.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

Right.

SPEAKER_06 16:17

And then the stuff you do outside of church that no one sees. We got optimal. Yes. We have heritage prep.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:24

We have you're a UN ambassador.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:26

That's that's the one thing I just we overlook sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

We never overlook it. I like referring to him as his excellency. His excellency. That's one of my favorite things. That's how it is in my phone. Let you know that.

SPEAKER_06 16:37

Send in his phone. Oh my God. But and uh you you have something with Flashpoint going on too. And it's like all these things, and that's not even that's still not a European network.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

And that's still I mean, how many meetings a day do you have with pastors from around the world?

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Oh my God. I don't know. Uh probably somewhere between eight and ten. Wow. There's so how do you balance that? What is it? That's the thing, yeah. I I agree. That's the thing that you have to understand about leadership is the deeper you move into leadership, the much more restrictive your life is. So I don't have uh I don't have the privilege of free time. Right? Time is not free. And so uh how you spend your time will determine where you go and what success you have. So um you know, for I had an uh I had a friend of mine that said this and and then it stuck with me and I kind of made it a rule in my life. He said, if I am in a meeting or if I go out to eat with someone and it takes them more than 90 seconds to order, they cannot be in my life on that level. I I can't I can't eat with them because my time is under such demand and restraint and constraint that I have to get on with it, right? And what he's what he's saying is is that I don't have time for time wasters. Right? And so be that as it may, my point is uh you have to you have to calculate your time and you have to be willing to be spent for the kingdom. Um and so my time has been very challenged lately uh because of the things that I have going on personally. But yeah, um I have 111,704 emails in this email box, and this email box has 57,241 emails. And so uh if people are emailing me, that might be why I'm late getting back to them. But my point to you is is that you have to have and you have to promote within your organization, within your team, you have to have people willing to see the big picture and step up and take the reins and say, I'm going to be a part of that. And so what you're doing on a local level, because you're doing that on a local level, allows me to breathe globally, right? And it's and stretch the influence of this church. So right now we're involved in um we had a relationship that that asks us to pour into Cuba because of all of the things that are taking place in Cuba. We have now a phenomenal responsibility to sow into that kingdom uh of darkness that that hell has had a grip on for so many years. Well, what people don't realize is underground there's been a great revival happening in the church, has been moving, but it's all been under uh the the cover of anonymity. Well, now that's coming out, and so they're needing help and they're needing resources. And so we have this uh we have this one pastor that he has people traveling over eleven kilometers to come to walking that are coming to church and wanting to get into a meeting, and so he's asking for a little help, you know, thirty five hundred dollars for for this vehicle, and um if you see that and it doesn't mean much to you, then obviously God's not giving you a burden for world missions, and that's okay. But there are people that love world missions, and there are people that will be specifically uh enthralled with the idea of participating in the mission of Cuba, seeing Cuba one to Jesus Christ and their people being relieved from the oppression they've been living in. What a wonderful opportunity we have, and and and the kind of things that we're constructing now, we're trying to build such a broad tent uh tent that people can give even if they're not a practicing Christian. They may be a philanthropist and they say, Man, I like what you're doing in the name of freedom, freedom. Uh I like what you're doing in the name of uh helping people. And so uh it's it this is a wide open door for anybody to give. You know, I'm I'm I'm reminded that one of our greatest uh contributors to optimal family care is a Muslim man. Wow, most people don't know that. One of the greatest partnerships we've ever had in our life is a man who loves me dearly. And he is a Muslim man. Wow. And I've talked to him about Jesus and taught him a Bible study about baptism, and his eyes are open and he weeps, and and frequently he'll come to this church and see what's going on and say, I can't, I can't imagine what all you're doing. And and everywhere he travels in the world, he always thinks of me and he he he'll go look, specifically take time. Now, this is his heart, he'll take time to Find me an old treasured Bible in the antiquities. He'll go dig through Europe and he'll find a and he'll buy it and bring it to me. He say, I I thought of you, I wanted to bring you a gift.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

What a heart.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_01 22:14

And so we have Indians. We have, you know, of course, at Houston, we have so many populations of people, you know. Our worship leaders from El Salvador. It's just a grand place to be, man. And um so we have this open door in Cuba. And then in the last 24 hours or 48 hours, uh another friend reached out and and told me about an open door because I've been working behind the scenes with, we have a very serious situation here in Texas where we have so many kids that were trafficked here as small children and brought here illegally at crossing the border. And so then once they got here, their handlers said they were going to get them status and residency and get all of their legal paperwork in order so that they could become citizens. But they trafficked them and told them that if you don't do this and pay us back with your body, we will rip your papers up. And so these kids have been promised citizenship at the expense of their own uh tabernacle. Wow. Right? And horrible abuse, tragic stories. Well, a friend of ours, God spoke to him, and the government called him and asked him to get a certain license and said, No one in America is doing this, and we need you to get a license to do this because we have an overwhelming need of these young girls that are being trafficked up here, that are becoming impregnated on their way here, or they've gotten here and and and become pregnant. We're talking about nine, ten, eleven-year-old girls, and there's no facility to take care of them. And he said, and this is he's just bold, you know, his name is Troy, and he's he's a he's an amazing gift, and very unique, cowboy, and he said, Yes, God, I'll do it. Don't know how he's gonna do it, doesn't have the resources to do it, didn't know where he's gonna go with it, but uh he said yes. And the next day he was in another state in a meeting, and a man came up to him and said, Do you by chance have a need for a facility that was built to house young ladies that become pregnant and don't want to abort their babies and take care of them and see them adopted out and and do all of that thing and give them a love, give them homes? He just started weeping and said, Yes. Now I do have that need. And so he's got this phenomenal opportunity. Well, we need to be an investor in that, we need to be a partner in that because we have a need here. I have people in our own congregation that I'm dealing with right now from that exact kind of situation. And so the kingdom is being amplified and it's and it's growing at the speed of relationships, and it's growing so fast because we're we're big contributors to Iran. Did you know this morning that well over the weekend Raza Palavi said the the prince said in a meeting in Dallas that Turk uh Iran is the fastest growing Christian church in the world. Wow. There are more people converting to Christianity by the hour than any place on planet Earth. Come on down. Think about that. People are seeing and they're awakening and and God's opening their eyes. Well, we have we have a need to do that, and we've got to get that here in America. So, what I'm doing, another project that I'm on, very involved in, is architecting and structuring the backside, the management systems of Flashpoint Army and building and constructing chapters where we can identify every church, every group, every patriot, every it could be one of these veteran halls, what do they call them? Right, VFW halls. VFW halls. I don't care who they are, they don't have to be saved, they don't have to be, all they have to say is we will pray for America to return to her Christian roots, and we will not lose this nation. Right? Pray for America, and we will act as biblical citizens, and we're gonna take back this country in the name of Jesus Christ. In other words, people that will identify America needs to be saved. America is as much of a mission field as Iran or as Cuba. And so we have all of these things going on, and so it's important for me to be able to, to the best of my ability, manage my resources and time so that I'm not depleted to the point that I'm no good to anybody. Yeah. Did I answer your question at all? Well, I feel like I just went around the booth.

SPEAKER_06 27:22

It's it it's up to all of us. It's not only on you. Not all of us. So um we talked about that thing you put me in on Sunday to leave the Powell out, leave the group. I couldn't have done it without Andre. I was like, Andre, can he rattle everybody up? Because I try to get people in a circle. Don't listen. Welcome to my life. That's why I have Kelly. So I asked Andre. Andre helped me out. And I was like, oh, that's perfect. I appreciate that. And then I went to I got the opportunity last week to go meet the number one caddy in the world. Because the golfer that he caddies for was the number one golfer in the world.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Sheffler?

SPEAKER_06 27:53

Yep. Oh my goodness. That's Scott. He did a, he did a it was a he's a Christian. Yes, he is. He did a meet, he did a Christian lunch and it was free, and it was phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 28:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 28:03

And one question that somebody asked him was, How much did they pay you to come here? Because it was open, it was open in it. Like it was, it was really you could have a conversation with him. I had a, I got asked him a few questions, it was pretty cool. But yeah, the person asked him, Well, how much did they pay to come here? And he was like, nothing. But guess what? And then he's like, I got so I brought a guest with me today. He's like, Can you say and he brought his pastor? He was just like, This guy's a pastor of my church. He's the one who I want who I allow to pour into me. And right now, I need you guys to pour into him. I need you guys to supply his church. Supply, this is the guy that I'm I that represent that I represent, so I need you to pretty much tie. And he's like, I got a signed flag from the masters, from golfers, $10,000. Right now. He had a few of them. If you want this, $10,000. And he gave it to him because they paid the $10K to give to his pastor. And I was like, that's phenomenal. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

That's it. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 28:58

Like you're doing it for the church. You know what you're doing it for the kingdom. You got paid on tour. You get when you do an event like this for God, you're giving it to God. He gave it all to God.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:09

Which is phenomenal. I was like, man, that's amazing. And then the next day, Scotty Sheffield pulled out. He didn't even come to the Houston Open. So the guy just had a free, he just came to Houston, did the talk, went back home. Oh, wow. Free weekend at home, I guess. Wow. But it was that's a that's all our responsibility.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Yeah.

unknown 29:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

To do that. Well, you see, the kingdom is made up of kings and priests. And and the priesthood typically uh throughout scripture, when you look at priesthood, there's a there's a very uh specific protocol to priesthood ministry. And so you uh the school of prophets, you go through these uh these tra Bet Sefer, Bet Talmud, you go through this training and you're and you're uh prepared to become a priest of God. And then the uh the corresponding and complimentary office to the priesthood was the king. So many people get this backward, but they think the king is the ultimate. The king was there to support the priesthood. God established priesthood first. That's why the first priesthood is the home, right? So the kingship is to support the priest, and in the old testament, if you do a uh an e study in economics in the old testament, you'll discover that it took twenty-seven kings to support the work of God. Wow, and so if you think about that, that's how big God's vision is for his people. David gave a one-time offering that would be valued today at over four billion dollars. Solomon had he said the dust from Solomon's feet, the footfall of Solomon, would fall on so much wealth that no man could comprehend it. It was it was something that was storied. It people traveled from afar to see the opulence and the wealth and the grandeur of the house of God. Wow. So my point to you is that when we get our vision right and we get out of secularism and cultural uh idiocy, and we move into this new kingdom reality, and we allow God to change our minds, you know, change your mind, change your life. And if you change your mind to become the mind of Christ, and then you realize He God's will, you know, this this idea that it's God's will for you to be poor is so anti-biblical. Right. It's it birches uh straight out of the it it's the evolution of hell itself. It's to convince you that a God that you claim to love wants to beat you and misuse you and make you uh live in poverty. But if you talk about prosperity, well you're a prosperity preacher. You know what I mean? That's right. But when you get around those kind of people, they're not talking about prosperity, they're already blessed. They have an expectation, I'm gonna win this weekend. And my cut's gonna be this. And I'm gonna give them. And so when you function in that kingdom reality with the understanding, God's blessing me to bless his house. Yes. That was that was the chagrin of the kings, is when when God looks at a people and says, David, you've spent 14 years building your house, but I have no place to sit. Right? So it's it's very much apropos for the people of God to step back and say, God's will is for me to be blessed. And part of that blessing is taking that responsibility that I shoulder this thing, that I own this thing. And that's what I loved about you know, our food truck park, Sister Myrna, she owns that. Chris owns that, right? Andy and but they can't be the only owners. Right? And so Sunday, uh Saturday, my all my days are running together, but my uh Saturday, you come out here and you see different new people owning it. We had a brand new couple out here, and he was parking cars and she was walking around in hospitality and meeting people, and it's just I mean, from a leadership standpoint, that's thrilling. Right. Right? And uh and just to see people incorporating in their life the need to own community.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Well, I think that like I I'm hearing all this stuff in the words I kind of keep hearing in my mind over and over again, is like what your focus, your priorities really are from everything that you're doing throughout the world, you know, what we do on campus, what we're doing on Sundays, is what's the focus? Is is it God's will or my will?

SPEAKER_03 34:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

And it is, it's completely, it's it's so diametrically opposed to the way the world works and operates, is the world is it's about me. Yeah. Right? I'm the focus. Yeah, you know, especially in our Western culture. Yeah. In some of the Eastern cultures, it's it's you know, it's the group rather than the individual. Here, it's about the individual. We're special, you know, we you know, I've got to make sure that I'm good before I can take care of anybody else, right? Right. And there's a lot of selfishness in that. But the Bible talks about how the world is in direct enmity to God, and so you know, it's the exact opposite with the kingdom of God. And so when we focus on loving God first, putting him first in everything we do, and then we follow that up by loving other people the way we love ourselves, which is how we show that we love God and that we are followers of Jesus Christ, then something really strange happens. Like all that work and all that effort you put into your job and all that other stuff, you the pressure of that is kind of lifted off of you. Yes. Because now burden's not the right word, but now the passion, there we go. The passion that you have is for God's kingdom and for his people. Yes. And so that's the effort you're putting forth. And so, yeah, maybe your time and your days are full, and yeah, you're tired, and yeah, there's all this stuff going on.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

But because of that alignment, it brings joy into your work.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

It brings a joy in spite of all the things that may happen. That's right. Fulfillment that you don't un that you'll never get in anything else. Right. And then on top of that, God blesses you. He throws things away. The other day, you know, actually, I almost stopped you yesterday. I was I was I was this close, and I was like, I was like, no, that's I don't want to be out of order. I'm gonna make sure he's the main man. So uh but you were doing the offering.

SPEAKER_03 35:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

And you were just talking about blessings and stuff like that. And uh last week, what have you, we were we had an event, we hosted somebody here. Okay, and uh, you know, we uh they they they were they were good guests for the most part overall, right? But I mean, you got people here that were this place was full, yeah, right? So um they baptized a ton of people. So I mean, it was good. It was good overall, but you know, there was a mess made afterwards, right? And so there's a a lovely young lady who she gives her time to see her. Oh my god, she is and uh she's amazing, right? And I don't think most people even know she does it. No, I need to send her to zeal. And well, you know, uh I made sure this time around I wanted to make sure that we were able to do something to bless her, right? Yeah, and so uh, you know, you I didn't even know you did it. She came up to me, she was she was like, Well, Pastor already gave me this, and I was like, Don't worry about it, this is for you. And so I I gave I gave this amount to her or whatever, and it wasn't even that much, right? Um, and you know, she was very thankful for it or what have you. And then some things came up, and this is how it usually works. Some stuff comes up, yeah, right, and uh I needed to give, I'd made a commitment to give something every month from BC Fitness, right? So I'm tithing off of whatever BC Fitness makes in a month before I pay anything to anybody. Right. So BC Fitness is responsible for giving a tithe every single month. And so, you know, there were some several things coming up, a lot of things happening or whatever, and I was like, oh crud. And so, uh, but I was like, nope. That's right. God laid this on my heart, this is what I'm supposed to do. And so, you know, I didn't even it was like one of those moments where it was like 30-second moments, you know? And that day, that day, I was at the track and we were doing like our last little workout or whatever before the the big weekend coming up, and uh a lady came up to me at the end of track and she gave me an uh like a card, a note, and she's like, Thank you so much for everything you do. You guys are amazing. And she's a member of our gym, she pays a monthly membership, she doesn't come to our church or anything like that. And in there was a note, and it was a very, very nice note. Yeah, very nice, and a check. Wow. What gym do you go to where you go and you hand the owner of the gym money on top of the monthly membership you're paying? That's right. It won't happen in LA Fitness. People don't do that. So that's just another way, like God reminds you. That's right. I got you. Don't worry about it. That's it. Yeah, that's it. But that's when your priorities are on him and not on you. That's right. You know?

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Well, and he shows you how he's taking care of you. And it's that is such a beautiful, beautiful testimony. Um I just opened my zeal to send uh Raquel some a little blessing. And uh and here somebody sent me a thousand dollars. Look at that.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

See now, I got it right here.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Here's the here's here's the thing though. We're talking about it, and as we're talking about it, so the Bible talks about how God's working for us, even when we don't see it. Even when we don't see it, he's still working, right? And it may not be in the exact timeline you think it needs to happen in. That's right. But he's always so when you talk like that in this type of format or in church, people with the wrong mindset and they don't understand, they can make it. You're talking about money. Money is your heart at it. Yeah, they're thinking, they're thinking, they're thinking money every day. He wants my money. He wants all he's just trying to get my cash. No, what we're trying to convince you of and what we're trying to teach you is God's trying to get you money. Is that God wants to bless you of all that, right? He wants you to understand that you can't love God and love money.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

You can you're gonna have to serve somebody. That's right. And he's a much greater master.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

Oh Lord, right? The only one. So when we're talking about this, you know, we're we're going back and talking about this discussion of amplifying our leadership and growing our base. And we've we all know that we're recovering from 2020 where we were just absolutely pummeled. Uh, but God has has resourced us with new believers and new families and young people, and and it's such an exciting thing to see uh what God is doing. And so as as our leadership is growing and maturing, uh, it allows me the freedom to to pour more into some of these global apparatuses that I'm somewhat responsible for. And so the thing that I would say to people is whatever level you're serving at, serve with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And know that you might be lo you might be serving. Raquel is attending this campus. And she may think that the limitation of her influence is this campus, but because she's serving the way she's serving, it allows me to serve others around the world. So there's a direct that's what Paul was saying to uh the church in Thessalonica, and he spoke to the church in Corinth about the same thing, is that because you've given and because you've uh allowed me to do this, you're there's a blessing that is contingent in me for you. And uh, and so I I rejoice in God because of you, and I celebrate you. And then those that wouldn't so, those that turn their back on him, uh caused him much pain and grief. And he said, I can't, I can't joy at your memory, but I suffer this loss for the cause of Jesus Christ. And so there there's very much uh there's a world of uh in ingenuity and um creativity and blessing that's available to people who own um their ministry. I'm I'm reminded of our optimal family care. You know, we have optimal family care. Right now we have two sponsorships available for people in our city or in our region that want to come. Uh and we'll we'll we'll make a way for them. It doesn't cost them anything but time. But people that are struggling with substance abuse, we have two openings right now that I will give a personal sponsorship for, and uh and all they have to do is take advantage of it. And um and we're doing so many things. We we're right now, you know, we're expanding that to the degree that we're we're quickly going to need another building, another facility. And our school is expanding, and the our leadership that's directing that is invested in cultivating the greatest teaching uh and employing the greatest technology and building up young scholars and uh and and getting them ingrained in the reality that they're gonna grow up as young scholars who are able to make a defense of the gospel. Apologist. And so uh I wanna I want to see that happen. We're baptizing people every week, it seems, from from BC Fitness. So we want very much to see that happen, and I'm and I'm going to talk to um our Champions Food Truck Park team, and I'm gonna suggest that we look at doing things on Friday evening. Uh because what we found out this Saturday, and I didn't even think about it, of course I don't I don't have the uh the oversight or the daily operations of that, but I I didn't think about it, and I'm sure nobody else did, but with the time change it gets it gets darker later. So we had to wait for it to get dark enough to show the movie. But I I think if we made available that uh those kinds of things on Friday evening uh people could enjoy that stuff. Stay late and then rest the next morning, you know, that kind of deal. And we had so many food trucks out here and so many people that were just out in lawn, you know, they've got lawn chairs that recline now. My God, they had recliners laid out and all this kind of stuff. So it was a it was a great deal. And and Sister Myrna and Andy and Jose and Chris and all the people that they've got working with them, they work so hard. Because it takes hours to prepare that. It takes hours to take that apart, take down. So there there was a there was a great uh deal of endeavor given to that. So you've got that going on on Saturday. You've got BC Fitness downtown, 85 people. And then Sunday, you didn't see any type of appreciable decline. The tenacity, the worship, the the um the strength and and the nature of our of our gathering uh was was not was not tinted by that. So it shows that we're we're gaining strength, internal strength, by being able to spread ourselves further and not see a decline in anything. Right? So we're going from glory to glory. Yeah. And I that's what's challenging and that's what's exciting. And this week we've got coming up Good Friday. Good Friday and Easter Sunday, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

So uh the Lord spoke to me that you're gonna be doing some special things on Good Friday. Okay, and uh and Rocky's gonna be helping you, and and so that's gonna be good. I can't wait to hear what you have to say.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

But but so he's gonna get a text on uh on Thursday. So hey, just just to be clear.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Yeah. So we need people to to step up, and I want to I want to say too thank you to all of the ladies who have helped me immensely. My sister has been a tremendous help, and she already has so much on her that I can't imagine her even being able to help me. But she's been a phenomenal help. Of course, my daughter, uh two daughters, Leah and um Morgan, and then Talita, um Kelly. I mean, there's been so many. Uh I'm reluctant to start calling names because I'm gonna miss people, but uh Sister Myrna brings food, brother Dolof, Sister Dolof. You have so many that have been such a key part of uh this place that we find ourselves in. Um and and we have more coming every day, you know, to help. So I'm praying for God to give us uh some sort of direction in in her care. Um she has very good days. Yesterday she had a great day, and so um thankful for that. But as I'm helped there, e I'm even able to do more for the kingdom. So um this this is a busy time. And you know, when we're talking about all this stuff, it's not about doing jobs. No, it's about one focus, and that's getting people saved. This is all about kingdom, and this is all about getting people saved. And if it's not about getting people saved, then we're wasting our time because Jesus is coming back very, very soon. And I I have this y burning in my spirit that we've got to get people saved. And it's time to quit playing around and uh uh uh you know, dilly-dallying with the world, and uh you gotta get both feet in and say, Lord, save me and my household.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

Well, I believe too that if you know you I think you'd mentioned a a little bit about this in your sermon, but just talking about Christianity as a whole and how how many people take the label of Christian on, right? But there's not necessarily that fruit, right? And if you look at that early church, if you look at, you know, those apostles, those those groups that were going out to different portions and different regions uh throughout that world at the time in the Mediterranean and stuff, they were world changers because they were so convicted and so passionate about what the gospel was.

SPEAKER_03 48:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

And then they also had this accountability. If you look through all those letters Paul's writing, yeah, he's addressing stuff boldly, yeah, and he's not letting stuff stand, but he's still doing it in love, and he's still like, hey, let's go together, let's do this together, right? And that is that's what Christianity is supposed to be.

SPEAKER_03 48:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:40

And it there should be a definite difference. Yeah. And I'm I'm apologize, but if you're walking next to someone and they don't claim to be a Christian and the two of y'all look the same, there's a problem.

SPEAKER_03 48:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:51

Bottom line. Yeah. So people should know that you, that there's something different about you. Yeah. That that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. There should be no question, they should, I think I've heard you say it before, they should be uncomfortable saying certain things around you.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

They should be uncomfortable doing certain things around you.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

And if they're not, then what reflection of Jesus are you being?

SPEAKER_02 49:12

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 49:13

Right. And so if we have that kind of passion, that honestly is the passion, and that is the thing I feel like draws people more than anything else. They don't know why they want to be next to you. They have no understanding of it, but they just and when there's a problem, you're the first person they're coming to. And when I say problem, I'm talking about life ending. They don't know what the answer is because they know that you must obviously know something they don't know. That's right. And then that opens up so many doors for you to minister the gospel, to tell who Jesus is, to tell how their life can be changed. Absolutely. And that is the passion, I believe, of loving people back to the passion, the purpose of Jesus Christ. That is the vision, the mission that that changes people's lives and helps people understand the whole idea. Pastor said earlier, change your mind, change your life. Yes. It it all my dad used to tell me, use your head for something more than to keep your ears apart. Yes. And so, like what God has given us, the brain is an amazing thing and it can do some awesome stuff.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

But well, you're talking about you're talking about the seminal moment where your belief system becomes domination or dominance or uh a dominatory. So uh if you think about that, that that's a legal term for jurisdiction. So you you cannot have a confession that is meritorious if it produces no fruit. Right. So if you're walking with somebody and they can't know that you're in the kingdom, right, then you're you're a a confessor of a label that you don't have the product of.

SPEAKER_00 50:48

Exactly. Right? Can you imagine being working for a company and you're a salesperson? Yeah. Can you imagine saying, well, I don't talk to this person who's looking for a car because I don't want to be pushy. Right. Or I don't want to offend them. Right. Can you ever imagine a car salesman saying that? No. Never. Never. If so, they're not going to be a very good car salesman and they're never going to eat. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Well, they won't be a car salesman long.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

At all. Yeah. So as a Christian, it's not about, I don't want to offend people. I don't want to, I don't want to be, you're worried about people not liking you. You're fearful that people are.

SPEAKER_01 51:23

I would rather them have their feelings hurt and be saved. Than anything else. Than anything else. You know, I had I had a situation where someone contacted me and said, uh, I was an area uh pastor, and he said, uh one one of your saints was here uh and I wanted you to know, and I just said, brother, if you can help them be saved, I want them to be saved. Right? Uh and and the point is that we don't have time for trivial pursuits. We've got to get back to the basics and say, we are radical about saving people. You know, and if it means uh we need to help you with optimal family care or BC Fitness or Food Truck Park Community, whatever avenue and door you can come through, we will meet you there. And the more doors we have available, the more opportunities we're gonna see people saved. And it's all to get them here on Sunday and get them in that altar and see their lives transformed by the power of God.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

I'm reminded of uh the apostles walking in and the gentleman asking them for some money.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:33

And they said, I don't have any money to give you, but what I've got, yeah, stand up and walk. Yes, sir. That is right there chapter four. It's more than anything that I don't know why that just like popped into my head just now. Yeah. People come into this place and since I've been here a while, you know, that's a lot of times people that they don't, they may not attend, but people come in need.

SPEAKER_02 52:53

Yes, right?

SPEAKER_00 52:54

People contact every need, right? I need rent, I need my lights, I need food, I need whatever. You know, and your heart should be broken for that, right? Your heart should be, you know, you should want to try to help people and do your best to serve them, right? But what people need is Jesus Christ. What they need is salvation, what they need is the Holy Ghost. What they need is a new life experience.

SPEAKER_01 53:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:22

And if they can get a hold of that, if we can get a hold of that, then God will take care of everything else. He will, he will, he will handle all the other stuff that that that that really is not, it's not an internal thing, right? So, you know, he's gonna he'll give you clothes. He look at the beauty he's created, look at the flowers, look at the birds. Yes. If he loves them enough to adorn them, how much more will he take care of us?

SPEAKER_01 53:47

Well, in Acts chapter three that you were talking about, Peter and John are walking to the temple and they identify the fact that you're asking for something. And most people get fixated on the fact that they didn't have any money. Right. That that that is totally out of context. What they're doing is they're being missional and saying, listen, we don't have what you think you need, but we have something that is the need of the hour, and it's the greatest need of all mankind. Right. Your salvation. So they they changed his whole dynamic view of what his real need was. And and that's what we've got to do with people is we've got to, no matter what they're asking for, we've got to lead them to the ultimate need of life. And the and the question demands the ultimate answer. It does. And that's Jesus. Right. And so yeah, I'm fired up about it, and I'm I want to see um us expand our uh leadership pool and our leadership team and see people winning. I there's there's coming a day very soon where people are gonna be so invested in what God is doing, and they're gonna feel that now is the hour. They're gonna fill every seat in this building multiple times a day. And and so that's what I believe it for. Bring your friends this weekend. Yes. Bring your family this weekend. Give somebody five dollars and buy them a pizza, whatever they got to do to get here in Jesus' name. Amen. And uh and I can't wait to do that. And then and then ultimately what we want to do is I want to see uh I want to see us have nights of worship where we're exalting the King of glory and loving him and bringing people into his presence because it's all about being saved.

SPEAKER_06 55:29

Amen. Amen, sir. Well, that's it on time, Pastor. Do you want to praise out?

SPEAKER_01 55:33

Yes, sir. Lord, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for your glory, and we thank you for your anointing. We ask you to touch every person who is either watching this by YouTube or is listening on Spotify or Apple devices. I want you to meet them in the sanctuary of their own life and meet them in a sacred place of dwelling and touch their life until the consecration on their altar is blazing with the name of Jesus, and the Spirit in their life is the Holy Ghost. We ask you to anoint every one of us to make this your Passion Week to seek and to save those who are lost. We love you and we praise God for every one of you. And we'll see you this week, Passion Week, at the Church of Champions or wherever you may be on a digital platform.