The Courageous Faith Podcast

Why Christians Know Conspiracies Better Than the Bible

• Dr. Wendell Hutchins • Episode 99

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Why do so many Christians spend hours researching conspiracies, UFOs, and current events, yet struggle to spend time in God’s Word?

The conversation explores leadership, submission, biblical literacy, end-times hope, and the spiritual distractions competing for our attention.

Topics discussed include:

• Why frustrating situations reveal the true condition of our hearts
• UAPs, global chaos, and the return of Jesus Christ
• Why the apocalypse should bring hope instead of fear
• The decline of cultural Christianity and the rise of a committed remnant
• Powerful testimonies of atheists transformed by reading the Bible
• Why many believers know more about conspiracies than Scripture
• How spiritual growth can change your friendships

The hosts challenge listeners to stop chasing shiny objects and return to the one thing that transforms lives: the Word of God.

The Courageous Faith Podcast is approaching its 100th episode. Thank you for joining us as we pursue truth, courage, and unwavering faith in Jesus Christ.

#ChristianPodcast #BibleStudy #EndTimes #BiblicalLiteracy #Faith #JesusChrist #ChristianLiving #Revival #CourageousFaith #SpiritualGrowth

SPEAKER_03

But like um, you know, kinda like I was saying was that people truly kind of reveal their hearts, you know, when they're going through tough times. You know, when conflict comes up, when uh you know, when when they get uncomfortable, when things I remember pastor did this thing to me one time and so frustrating because I knew it was gonna be tough. I I knew it was gonna be tough. And we had a team that was here, and you know, he's like, Hey, I want you to meet with these people, and these people didn't know anything about me, other than that I'm they see me running around here all the time doing everything they tell me to do, right? And it was actually really aggravating, I'm not gonna lie, because they came in, he brought them in, and uh he was like, Hey, they're gonna come in systems, all this other stuff. And like I didn't get introduced as anybody special, like I wasn't important, right? And not that I'm am important, but like, oh, he's been here for years, oh, he's been doing this. Same thing with Leah, you know. And they came in and they started like telling us to do all this stuff, they're telling us to get here. I think there was one uh Sunday morning, you know, we were they we used to have a call time of 9.20 to be here, and they changed it to 8 a.m. Right? And I'm like, what? 8 a.m. I was like, dude, I'm gonna be here, okay. So I showed up at 8 a.m. and they're all like sitting out in the parking lot looking at me. I mean, I had a key, but there was somebody else who usually came and unlocked the building. Like it wasn't my responsibility. I would just show up, you know, at my time that I was supposed to be here. And like they got mad at me because I wasn't here early to let them in. I was like, well, I didn't even know I was supposed to be here to unlock the door for anybody. So so it was just little things like that. And, you know, they would do really like aggravating things that would just like grind your gears. They would grind my gears, man. But I was like, you know what? They're here, I'm submitted, you know, this is what we're supposed to do, whatever. And, you know, then they started like asking my wife to do these things, and they were going like they were really, I don't want to say inconveniencing her, but they were not being considerate of her and her time. And like she was their maidservant or something like that, you know? And she always did the right, she always had a good attitude, she always did what she was supposed to do, she always did what was asked of her. And I was like, dude, you need to be like open and transparent with these people and just tell them what's going on. And so, like one day we were talking, Pastor's like, Hey, I want you to have a meeting with these people, and I want you to kind of establish where they're coming, where they at. Like, are they connected with us? Are they, you know, are they here for us, you know? I'm like, what? I was like, how am I gonna have a meeting with them? They don't, they're not gonna look at me with a position of authority or anything like that. And he's like, Well, just tell them I sent you. I'm like, okay, fine. So I was dreading it. I was like, I was not happy about it. And I had a meeting, so I'd set aside an hour, right? So I reached out to all of them, I was like, hey guys, I'm gonna set this aside a time for you. You let me know. I want to have a meeting with all of you. Um, and I know you're all busy, so we can do a like an online Zoom call or what have you. And so I had meetings, like I had appointments and stuff after that. So we sat down, we're on the call, whatever, and you know, I'm trying to be nice and like, oh Jesus, love, teamwork, whatever. And they immediately start questioning me. And they're like, Well, who are you? Like, why is so-and-so not in this meeting? Why is this not happening? Why is this not? Why is that not happening? Whatever. And, you know, I'm trying to, I was like, well, pastor asked me to have this, and he's like, this, that, and the other. We need to go through this, you know, these are kind of our systems. And they could not get past that. I was out of order. That's what they kept telling me. And um, and I was like, Well, I mean, I'm gonna be honest with you, you know, in leadership, you know, there's a there's a system that usually works. If the president tells an aide to go talk to somebody and the aide sent them, well, it's as if the president sent them. I believe there's a parable or a story in the Bible where uh a soldier came to Jesus and was like, where did you come to my house? Yeah, you don't need to come to my house. All you got to do is say it's done and it's done. He understood that, right? And, you know, so you know, I'm using the Bible to try to not combat it, but I guess maybe combat is the right word. And uh we got no solution whatsoever. And I was on that call or in that meeting for probably two hours, and I had people coming to my door, like letting me know my appointments are here, right? So I was just like, and I was all flustered and everything else. But all what what ended up happening is they revealed their heart, they revealed their attitude, they revealed their level of submission, right? And they I believe the Bible says is don't think high more highly of yourself than you ought to, you know. And they they they didn't really for people who were supposed to be Christians, right, and understand the concept of preferring your brother and you know, iron sharpening iron and all the other stuff, honoring, right? So submit to those in authority over you. Uh if they had acted like that in a like a if they had worked for me in a position like outside of the church, um, just like the way they handle things, I would have been like, you're fired type situation. You know what I mean? But it's different in the church, right? Because we're all supposed to be brothers.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And so, you know, that was for me, that was so hard to like comprehend because like how do you how do you claim to say that you love Jesus Christ, but what all that seems to matter to you is who's in charge and who's the most important person. You know what I mean? Yeah, like we're all supposed to submit to one another, right? Yes, there's government, yes, there's you know, there's a right and a wrong way to handle things and there's order out of the, you know, out of chaos. But this is the exact thing we were just talking about a second ago with like everybody wants their own platform. Everybody's building themselves up on social media, and you know, because they have something good to say, yeah, and they're not saying anything, you know, even in their transparency, right? Even when they're trying to be vulnerable, it's really just to psi up you. Yeah. That's it, man. I mean, it's it's one of those things where I feel like, you know, all these things they can be distractions, you know, that, you know, and I guess where wherever the the root of your heart is, it's it reveals like truly who you who you are. You know, truly like who's the most important thing to you? Is it really God? Are you really a disciple of Jesus Christ? Or, you know, are you like your own God? I mean, that's we talked about it, we mentioned it, I mean, I brought it up a second ago, but like that's the original sin. You know, Satan wanted to be God, Adam and Eve wanted to be God. Everybody wants to be the big man upstairs, yeah. In control and be in control. That's it. Everyone wants to be in control. And so we use things like you said with PsyOps. Yes, Iops. We do things to bring confusion or to like really to just like distract people and you know what's the what's the thing right now? The UAPs.

SPEAKER_02

UAP, the UAPs, that's it. The hontivirus.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, the UAPs, just disclosure. We're telling the truth, guys.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we're we're being transparent to give you all the disclosure, but there's no proof of anything. It's just like these little grainy images of like lights flashing across, you know, and stories of I I heard I saw one or I heard one. It was like from uh one of the astronauts from one of the Apollo missions. And he's like, There's all kinds of debris up here. So he said debris, very specifically debris, but that's it. So I mean, what is that? I mean, does that mean I don't know, the Russians launched satellites up in space and they blew up or something? Or was it an alien ship that had like not made it? Well, I mean, what does debris mean? Yeah, you know, so there's not like any kind of like real, like hard evidence that says that these are aliens or you know, this is whatever, but people are like grasping to this stuff. Like they've been lying to us for years, and finally we have the truth, and we know that there's aliens or uh what's the term they're using? Dimensional uh interdimensional beings, interdimensional beings. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

So my my favorite part about all this, it's like a shiny thing. Like, look, here's a war, here's a virus, here's aliens are finally here. They're trying to show us all what's over here. Meanwhile, their hand over here, like a magician. Like a magician, yeah. Yeah. There's there's demonic forges being at play that we're just totally oblivious to because 80 years finally they're telling us. Yeah. I mean, Dave K stuff got disclosed this past year. So many things that we've been so worried about for so long. Like, look, here's something, here's something, here's something. All to distract us.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. But the Bible does say we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, right? Against like powers of darkness, right? So, like, we are very aware that there are like other dimensions or other realms, however you want to like describe it. We're very aware about the spiritual and the physical. Okay. And like as a Christian, that shouldn't surprise me at all that there that might be a possibility. In fact, it fires me up. It should, right? Because I mean, if you think about this, think about creation. God said, let there be light. And like immediately there was light. And he's created this vast universe and galaxy, not just one galaxy, but galaxies. And they've discovered a I saw this the other day, they discovered a galaxy that our galaxy would be like a molecule in comparison to the size of that galaxy. Wow. That's how big. And our galaxy is crazy, right? So when you when you realize the expanse of our universe, do you think that God is not capable, if he wanted to, to create other life? You know, he can do whatever he wants. He's God. And there's there's so many like different ideas and theories you could go around about it, but should that scare me? Should it worry me that somebody's sending out grainy images? I could make a video tomorrow of freaking Sasquatch walking around, you know, and does it make it real, or is it just a really tall dude that might be a little hairy? You know, so all of these things are more than anything, they're just another way for the enemy, for the world to confuse and distract the weak, I feel like. Yeah. Or the people who are already questioning everything anyway. You know?

SPEAKER_02

Well, what fires me up about it? It feels like we've been talking about there's a great revival coming. There's a revival coming. And to me, I feel like he's losing his stronghold enemy. So he has to throw everything he can. That's what he's doing, man. He's throwing, he's throwing seeds everywhere. Yeah. Because he's losing that grip he has on us because the revival is coming. Jesus is coming. We are at this time where the only answer is God.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

The only answer is open this book. See what it says about you and see what it says about your creator. Yeah. You want to be, you we want a creator. We want, there's gonna be beings coming in soon. They're gonna say, look, these we we created you. We're we're we you look, we made you for us. Yeah. It's another lie, another deception.

SPEAKER_03

All because Well, it's another way to frame what we have already believed and just put a little spin on it to make it more palatable, I believe. Right? So, you know, you can go back in history and you know, I love history, and but if you look at, I mean, you had the the dark ages, right? You had the plague, you know, you've had, you know, all types of just disastrous types of events that have happened from you know, Mount Vesuvius to um, you know, some of the different hurricanes that have happened. And I'm sure each and every one of those generations of those people felt like this was the end. Yeah, right. Like if they had any concept of, you know, and pretty much every culture has had some sort of apocalyptic prophecy. Right? Or some something that has happened, right? And so I can see how you know you can become jaded if you know some of that stuff, because you're like, oh, well, it's just another. It's just I actually had a conversation with one of my athletes, one of my clients, and we were talking about, I was like, man, Jesus is coming back soon. And you know, I started, I was thinking, like, dude, look at the weather we look look at this week alone in the last seven days. We've had 50-degree weather in May, right? We've had lightning storms, we've had hail storms, dude. There was hail that fell last week at my house that was like like softball size, you know? It was huge, it was crazy. It was like beating my house up. And all in the span of one week, in a month that traditionally is very chill and very low-key, right? This is our spring, this is usually very, very mild weather, and it's been anything but that. And that is compounded across the world. Well, then you couple that with there's like, I don't know, I forgot what the number is like 130, 150 wars going on across the world. I mean, everybody talks about Ukraine, they talk about Russia, they talk about Iran, obviously, right? Because those are the big ones, the one major ones going on right now. But I mean, Cuba is collapsing, you know, the stuff in Venezuela, I mean, all over this world, Pakistan and India, I mean, they're always, but there's always there's a there's constant wars going on, and it just seems like that coupled with like this the psychology, the atmosphere and like the attacks that are coming from all different angles. It's like the heavens are screaming like Jesus is coming. Yes. Like there is like the time is nigh. And it's not, I mean, I don't think it's like one of those things where we should be freaked out and we should, at least not as Christians. It's not about worry, it's not about stress. It's a it's not a the world is doomed situation. And I think that's what most people think. I mean, the word apocalypse, right? Apocalypto, right? It's you know, it it's got a very we all we have a bad connotation on it. And I think some of that is because of, you know, all of the um movies and you know, all the comics and you know, all the types of media that is out there that we have this idea of what those things might look like, right? And if you read the book of Revelations, you know, there's it goes down, you know, there's a lot of things that happen that aren't very positive, but it's not about doom, it's like hope. Like Jesus is coming back to like truly redeem what he create his creation, right? This is like the he's the final boss, right? He's the man, he's the he's the he's the the Lord of all, and he's going to rule and reign forevermore. So the way he created us, right, to live forever and to have no pain and no suffering and all that, that's what he's bringing back. That's a good thing. But all I think people are so like they're so steeped in this like fear on a day-to-day basis that you know like the concept of that is just very gloom and doom. But truly what it is, is God is ultimately restoring brokenness and healing his creation. So, you know, I I think it's a time that what we can do as Christians, what we should do as Christians, is be excited, yeah, and we should be um what would be the word, maybe not encouraged, but like really like passionate and um like spurred to like preach the gospel more and more and more and more to look like a disciple. I mean, think about this. How many people do you know that claim that they're Christians? A lot.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, there's two million, how many? I mean, there's two billion, something like that. I mean, I don't I it's a crazy amount of number right now, but how many are actually I mean, how many practice being a Christian or know what it is to practice being a Christian?

SPEAKER_03

I mean, so real quick, I love that we can do this this fast, right? So just typed in real quick, how many Christians in the world? Uh current estimates put 2.3 to 2.6 billion people. Wow, okay. I think I said two billion, right? James? Come on, right? That's like 30% of the global population. Okay, so 30% now now you look at that, 30 out of 100%. I mean, that's not the majority, that's still the what? The minority, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So, but that's still a lot of people that say that they're Christians. What would you what do you think the percentage of that would be are people that would actually like pass the muster of what the Bible says a Christian really is?

SPEAKER_02

Uh honestly, one percent. Think so? It's something like how you know 1% of the population ran a marathon. I think it's like that five, one to five percent, something very lower than two billion.

SPEAKER_03

And okay, so of that Christian population, if you're saying one percent, how many do you how what do you think the largest group of Christians is? Where do you think that is? You think it's America, you think it's in the Middle East, you think it's in Asia, where would you say? Uh I would say here or India.

SPEAKER_02

Here?

SPEAKER_03

Africa.

SPEAKER_02

Africa.

SPEAKER_03

The greatest region or area in particular for Christianity globally is in Africa. That's crazy. Yeah. So the continent of Africa, right? So there's a lot of different countries, right, and regions and stuff, right? Um, and so we are supposed to be a Christian nation, right? But I mean, I think the numbers I saw before as far as Christianity um in America, let's see, what about Christianity in America? So if we look at the United States, uh, it's the largest religion here. Sixty to sixty-five percent of Americans claim to be Christians. So 35 per 30 percent of the global population claims to be Christian, but 60% of the American population claims to be Christian. So the majority of our population says that they're Christian, but yet there's still fewer Christians here than in Africa.

SPEAKER_02

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And it says that uh it's grown specifically among younger generations here in the last 10 to 20 years. So it says fewer Americans identify as Christian Christians simply because their family was Christian, society expected, or church attendance was considered normal. So the era of default Christianity in America is fading. So it's a stronger committed faith pockets because of discipleship, biblical teaching, community, and personal conviction. So it's growing, but actually growing in the sense of actual Christian So it's becoming less cultural and more intentional. So it's still stronger in the South and in the Midwest, right? Um, not so much in the Northeast and in the West Coast, which, you know, makes that's not a surprise, right? Um but it's becoming, I guess, um a truer version of what Christianity is. But I guess it's like most things, it's becoming it's shrinking as an overall concept. So, you know, we you know, we talk about this. I mean, there's a kind of a general rule, the 80-20 principle, right? 80% is done by 20% from 20%, right? So 20% do 80% of the work type situation. So if it's a truer version of Christianity, and I think some of that has occurred because of what has happened the last five, six years, right? So it's like then this sifting of uh of Christianity, right? So there's been this like um, you know, almost I would say uh a filtering of those who are really committed or those whose hearts are truly surrendered to to God, and those who have just been doing it out of default, or it's it's a checklist thing or whatever, right? Um so you know, I I just I just I just see this thing that that we're doing, you know. There's there's so much purpose that I've had anyway in my life that has brought so much joy and has brought fulfillment because of what I you know have been able to um had an opportunity to be a part of because of what the doors I believe God's opened, but then also my submission to his kingdom and to you know the shepherd he's put in my life. So, which is the exact opposite of what most people live with on a daily basis. Most people are just like lost, man. They're searching for everything. You know, you look everywhere, and people are like, oh, I want to know my purpose. And, you know, uh, what is Mark Twain? There's a famous saying that Mark Twain said that you know, the two most important days in a person's life is the day they were born and the day they find out why. Well, if you are a Bible-believing Christian who actually reads the Bible, by the way, you should learn that pretty quickly, why you were born, what you were created for. And so now there's this, there's this system, I guess, that you know, people could say, and the argument could be like, well, if you're just born to tell people who Jesus is, so that those people realize that their purpose is to tell people who Jesus is. Well, what kind of what what's the system, right? Where's the well it's it's in the talents and the gifts and the purpose God has put in each and every one of us, right? So you're unique. You're a unique, special flower.

SPEAKER_02

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you're very special. Okay, but even in your specialty, you're not that special. Nope. Because we're all special. If everybody's special, are we really that special? Yes. In God's eyes. In God's eyes. So, but you have something unique that God put inside of you. And in a very unique way, you can affect other lives. Yes, you can definitely minister the gospel, but there's other things that you're going to do if you submit to God that only you can do. So what does that what does that give you? An advantage. Okay. Gives you an advantage?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I mean it gives you purpose. It gives you a reasonable thing. Okay. Gives you purpose. I don't fully know, but as I'm we're talking about all this, all the so we talked about people coming around the past few years because of COVID and all that. It kind of puts this whole UAP, new virus, everything into perspective because we came to God because there was an identity crisis. Why am I? Who am I? Where is this all coming from? And the enemy knew that, and he's attacking again. The identity. Identity. Because if they bring a new being coming here to say they created you, we created you. What does that do? Cause confusion.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Distraction. And especially on a newer believer. Like, I thought this was where I was supposed to be going. But this does make sense. You're right. Maybe this was all just or planned for me that I was just created by this being over here. It makes sense. Because there was a guy not too long ago who was saying who was quoting scripture, trying to prove how they stole the Bible from the Bible was stolen from old ancient Samaritan texts about this stuff. They took some of this stuff, and this is why this being created all of us. And that guy, the Wesley Hep. He destroyed him. He destroyed him. Yeah. A Christian. And that's what made him famous. Yeah. That's what he got his. That's how he got his platform. Exactly. Right. He just destroyed him with the word. He's like, oh, that's a lie. You read that wrong. Where's that at? Show me that in the Bible where that actually even says that. And he just destroyed him. Right. But yet that guy still has a platform.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

He still has a voice. Proven wrong, but yet he still has a platform.

SPEAKER_03

Things are coming out now that are pushing his platform even bigger now. So you know what that tells me? It tells me that when the Bible says that the heart is inherently wicked, that the heart is, for lack of a better term, evil. We are born in sin and shapen in iniquity. That's how we come out. Okay. You see this beautiful, precious baby that comes out, and everybody's like, oh, it's so wonderful, so cute, you know? And yes, it is precious. But the moment that baby is born, it is it has a sin nature. That child has a sin nature. And as that child gets older, every inclination that child has is to do wrong. How old's your daughter now? Three?

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Does she ever make the right choices first? Every now and then. You know what I mean? My daughter, I remember like her coming up and when she first started walking and she first started like getting around the house. She started getting into everything she shouldn't be getting into. She was putting fingers near light sockets. She was taking, she was pulling cables, opening all the cabinets, opening cabinets, slamming cabinets. She was going to a glass thing and trying to like slam on it. She was doing everything she could to hurt herself. Right? I remember being in the hospital and being frustrated because all the nurses and doctors did is they didn't tell me how to how to like feed the child, how to change it. They just kept trying to tell me how not to kill the child. All right, come back in two weeks for your check out. Yeah. Come back and hopefully the child's still alive. Right? So like and it's it's in us to do wrong because of man's fallen sin nature. So if that's our nature, if that's like our heart, well then when people like this Yehu, I said it, like this Yehu comes in and says, starts spouting this rhetoric and this stuff, and it sounds intelligent, and it feeds into the ego that you are important and that you might actually have a good argument or a decent argument, that what the wrong things you're doing aren't really all that wrong, then you just have justified who you are and what you believe. And in that justification, you realize, and the world can realize that you're special and that you were right. I had a conversation with with someone and it it really it I don't know if you've ever, you know, had a relationship with someone that you know that you felt like it was close, you really cared about them, and you could see the the mistakes they were making. You know, you could see it's almost like you could see them walking down this path of destruction. I don't know if you've ever like really had that kind of connection with someone before. Um, and it like hurts. You know, it's like it's almost kind of like a parent when you're when you're when you see your kid doing something wrong or you see your kid like on their way to falling off the bed, and you're trying to catch them before they fall, you know, and they're doing everything they can to kick you off, right? And so I was having this conversation with this individual, and you know, I'm not even sure how we got onto it, but they made a statement that basically I'm a good person. I don't need anyone to tell me that I'm not a good person. Nothing happens after we die, and I'm going to live the happiest and best life I can here now because this is the best that there will be. And when they said that, I was taken back, right? First of all, I was surprised that they were willing to be that they usually wouldn't tell me what they really think, right? But secondly, my heart broke immediately. Because, you know, I believe I have a pretty good life. Like I have a wonderful wife, I have a beautiful daughter, I have a great church family, an amazing community. I believe God's doing amazing things. You have a great friend. I have an amazing friend, right? I have an awesome pastor. I have a I mean, I have what what what I believe would be a great life. But if this is good as good as it gets, that's kind of sad, in my opinion. Which is probably why this particular individual is riddled with anxiety and hopelessness and depression and stress and everything else. Because if this is as good as this life gets, I don't know if I'd want to be a part of it. But part of what makes my life so awesome is that I know that it gets better. It's gonna get better than this. And not only is it gonna get better than this, it's gonna be better than this for eternity. Come on, you know, and so there's so many people living this life so hopeless and in so much despair, and they're searching, they're pulling, they're trying to grab, you know, everything they can to hold on to to give them some sort of inspiration, some sort of motivational quote to make them feel good or to make them make better decisions or choices or to become famous or to get rich, right? Because ultimately they think money and fame is gonna make them happy.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

And that just brings more emptiness and more hopelessness because then you realize actually money and fame don't actually make things better. They probably just make them worse. Yep. And bring more pressure and stress and more anxiety because now all these people are looking at you and they're they're they're pulling on you because they want you to be an inspiration and they want you to lead them and they want you to tell them. And so there's this epidemic of hopelessness, and there's this epidemic of confusion and distraction that we're living through on a daily basis. And the answer is Jesus. The hope, the real hope is Jesus Christ. But it takes more than just making a claim to say, I'm a Christian. We have to literally live our life as devoted disciples, surrendering our will to who He is so that He can truly take our hearts, and He can take that stony heart, that wicked heart, that sinful heart, and He can turn it into one of flesh. And he can create something new in you to make you the creation he intended for you to be from the very beginning of all creation. I mean, that's the beauty, I feel like, that's one of the beauties of what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross for us. He took on the sin and the repercussion of our sin because he loved us so much. He took it on himself. Can you imagine loving someone so much? And I mean, as a parent, I think you probably can. Let's say your daughter did something really bad. I'm talking like just horrible, and you loved her so much that you went and served the sentence that she deserved. Now, ultimately, she deserved it. And in our world, we would say that she needs to learn her lesson by taking that punishment upon herself. But because you loved her so much, you went and you took that punishment for her. Now the goal, the hope would be that she would be so moved by that sacrifice that you gave her that she would learn. She would learn from it. And not only learn from it, she would change her ways and not make that same mistake again. And then even more so that she would go out and I I mean, I can't, I would assume she'd be like, man, my dad, nobody loves me like my dad does. This is what he did for me. Yeah, this is how he sacrificed for me, this is how he loved me. Well, Jesus did that for everybody in all of existence, not just the people that were alive at that moment in time in history, but for every person to ever be born that will ever be born. And he constantly pulls on us and he constantly uh gives opportunities. Think of think about this, right? You we were talking a little bit ago, and you should have been recording, by the way. Uh, but we were talking a little while ago, and you were talking about, I guess, some of the fear of what people might think of you, right? Like, what were you saying?

SPEAKER_02

Uh so we talked about podcasting and why do we do things and uh people people have a following. People have had they do crazy things for a following. Yep. And then you kind of like threw it back at us. You're like, well, we're not so different because we have a podcast. We do, yeah. We do things.

SPEAKER_03

I we have this one, and we each have our own podcast, individual ones, right?

SPEAKER_02

So we set ourselves up on platforms to get people to listen. Uh-huh. And you then you threw the question at me is well, what makes it different? Well, what why do we why do we get a platform? Why do we why are we trying to do it? What makes us different than them? And I threw, I was like, you kind of convicted me a little bit because I was I was like, if it's for God, then there would be no fear. There'd be no insecurity of anything in the past, none of that. Because it's for God, right? And uh, but I have that fear, you know, the fear of anything coming back at me later on. Anything like, oh, this guy used to do this, this guy was that. And then you threw it back at me saying, wouldn't that be even amazing? Say, look where he came from, even if it's even if you take God out of that, look at the story, some guy put his strapped up his boots and got to work and took himself out of that. But I had God, God took me out of that. I had him beside me, he got me out of that. And but yet, if it was for God, there would be no fear. There would be no insecurity in what I'm doing, because God got me through that. God's gonna give me through that anxiety of fear of what I've what I think is gonna come. That's not even real. And so that kind of convicted me again. Well, we were talking about why do we do this? What was the point? Why is this? What is this fear coming from? Where's why is there fear if it's for God? And uh so that's where we had left that conversation. And we were like, why didn't we why aren't we recording this? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I mean so I mean, fear is a natural response to a lot of things in life. But you know, the Bible, if people actually read the Bible, you know, I was reading the Bible with my daughter the other day and she was asking me questions about different things, which is I thought was amazing. Because how is she gonna learn if she doesn't ask questions? Because she's at an age now where she's starting to to wonder about things, you know, and you know, she asks me all the time about you know different things she sees, and you know, you know, the English language is not that amazing, you know, and so there's she's very literal, and I think most kids are literal because they're learning. And so, you know, if you say something that maybe is a colloquialism or something like that, it doesn't make sense to them because they're taking it very, you know, very serious, you know. And so she'll ask me questions and I find myself always trying to, I have to like, how do I explain that? Like it's almost like I just know it, but I don't I struggle to like truly put into words how to explain it. So when we're reading the Bible together and she asks me questions, it helps me because I have to like really think, right? And I have to examine my heart and I have to examine the word and I have to be able to, how can I articulate this to her in the way a child can understand it so that she can learn from it and use it for herself, right? As she's getting older and she's growing. And so most people don't rephrase that, most Christians don't read the Bible. They they couldn't tell you who Ezekiel is, they couldn't tell you who Nathan is, they couldn't tell you, you know, maybe they tell you David killed Goliath. They know who Noah is because he's his ark is all over the social medias right now. But most people don't even know very much about the Bible because they've never actually read it, which is so mind bottling crazy to me because there are atheists who didn't believe in God who open up the Bible and all of a sudden believe in God.

SPEAKER_01

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

Think about that, right? Think about that. There's a guy, uh, his name is Nikki Gamble, and he does the um the Alpha series, which is an amazing, like small group kind of series or what have you, a connect group kind of series, and we've done it before in our connect groups. And he was, you know, he grew up in a kind of agnostic kind of household. I think his mom might have been like not a practicing Christian, but his dad was like an agnostic. And so he went to college and he was just strictly an atheist and he tried to avoid Christianity and all the other stuff. And uh he got to a point where you know he realized that he had made a decision about something that he had never truly actually investigated. And so he said, okay, so he started reading the Bible. And within a month of reading the Bible, he read the entire Bible in a month. Most of us struggled to read the Bible in their lifetime. And he he committed to reading that Bible and he read the whole thing. And when he finished reading that Bible, he came to the conclusion that Jesus was real and that he needed a change. Wow. And from that moment, his life changed. Now he pastors this huge church in in the UK. He's responsible for creating this alpha series that has impacted probably millions upon millions of lives and people, right? Because he opened his Bible and read it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

There's another, there's a scientist or what have you, uh very famous uh DNA scientist, and uh he was a doctor, and he was also an atheist. And he would be at the deathbeds of people and uh, you know, trying to comfort people, whatever. And he was on the deathbed of this old lady one time, older lady, she was passing away, and he had nothing but bad news for her. And in the middle of delivering this bad news, she looked at him and said, How are you? She asked him how he was doing, and she said, Do you know Jesus? She's doing this on her deathbed. On her deathbed. She is talking to this guy and asking him if he knows who Jesus is. Wow. And he's like, There was something different about her, like her demeanor and the way she was approaching this death sentence. And she was more concerned about me and my soul than her, than herself and her life, right? Because she said, I know where I'm going. So she didn't have nothing to worry about. You only got two things. You only got two things to worry about. And he was he didn't realize what it was, but it was conviction at the time. And he said he had realized, just like the Nikki guy had said, he had made a decision about something before ever truly investigating it. And as a scientist, that was completely against his actual real belief system. Yep. So what did he do? He opened the Bible and started reading it. And when he started reading the Bible, he came to the conclusion that this was real. And the more he studies science and the more he sees uh maps the DNA sequences, he comes to a better understanding that God is real. This thing called Christianity is real. And once again, it convicted him. So so many Christians are looking at social media, they're watching UAP videos, they're reading through uh freaking, what are the what is it called? The Epstein files. The I don't even know how many pages that thing is. They're studying that stuff. They open up evolution, books on evolution, and they study all that stuff, but they won't even read the book, they don't spend more than a couple minutes every other week reading two scriptures and then saying, I'm a Christian.

SPEAKER_02

I uh was discipling to somebody not too long ago, and I was like, hey, you should read this this this book, this chapter of this book. Then they started sending me TikTok videos about it. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, they didn't read it. No, they did TikTok videos. Someone did it for them. And that's great. You're studying a little bit, but like if these people were atheists and they read the book and God changed their lives, imagine someone who says they're a Christian already, and then they open the book. Imagine what God would do with those lives.

SPEAKER_03

Or just take it this far. If you are so important and you are so special, and you have this mind, right? So we're all created unique and special, or what have you, what happens if you read it and you decide it for yourself? Yep. Right? I think so many people don't, and I think that's probably that's partly why there's a generation of people that are less about uh uh, you know, religion and less about tradition and more about intentionality with Christianity, is because they've actually investigated it for themselves. Right. And so if you read it and you explore it and you break it down and you study it, and then you don't come to that conclusion, okay, that's fine. You did your part. You did your part. You you tried, right? You went in, you did your due diligence. But if you didn't even do that, how can you how can you honestly say that you're any type of a real Christian or you're a follower of Jesus, or you're uh you're definitely not a minister of the gospel. I mean, what would you think the percentage of people who actually share the gospel are?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Right? I used to get when I was younger, there was this one kid who came to our school, and he was just always Jesus this, Jesus that, Jesus this. He was always so like upbeat and positive and like, ah, Jesus, and do you know Jesus? We'd be everywhere, and it would be so embarrassing because you know, I was like, oh my God, this dude, he's he just won't stop talking, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. This dude was the greatest example of a Christian I had ever seen in my life. And as a as a young teenager or preteen or whatever, I was so annoyed with it. Yeah, why are you so happy all the time? Why, yeah, he was always happy all the time. I was in a good mood. He was always in a good mood, he's always smiling. That is a good thing. Yeah, you're jealous, he's having a good time. That's probably what it was. I was jealous because he was enjoying life and I was going through a tough time in mine, right? And I was supposed to be that type of Christian, yeah, and I wasn't. So he was being a good example, and I was jealous of it, probably more than anything else. But what would happen if we actually acted out what we believed or what we say we believe? What would happen if we actually opened our Bibles, got a highlighter out, got some notes out, got a pen out, and we started highlighting scriptures and we started like writing notes and we started asking questions. And we say, hey, hey, Rocky, man, the other day I was reading this in the Bible, and I didn't understand, it didn't make any sense to me, and I don't really agree with it. And I that can't be right. Jesus wouldn't have said something like that. Or or the disciples or Paul said this, and I was like, I don't, man, that it just really kind of hit me kind of weird. And we start talking about it. And then you give me some revelation, and all of a sudden it changes the way I actually start thinking.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Because that's what the Bible is supposed to do. It examines us. It's the only Bible, or I say Bible, it's do you realize the Bible. Has been printed more than any other book in history. Not only that, more books have been written about the Bible than any other subject in history. So it's a it's and it's not really one book, it's 66 books.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

Right? And so it's one story pointing everything to Jesus Christ and our connection to him, right? Our relationship and how we can be reconciled, our brokenness can be healed. So if it's a book that has sold more copies and been printed more than any other book, not only that, it's a subject that's been written about more than any other subject in history. We have more proof for Jesus, we were talking about this earlier, right, than for Caesar. We have more proof that the Bible is an accurate historical document than any other historical document we have. We have more copies of it that were closer to the origination of the sources, the source material than anything else we have. That's nuts that we still question that it's legitimate. And most of it is because we actually haven't read it. But what if we actually did read it and it we did let it examine us, right? The Bible says that all scripture is God breathed and it's given to us for reproof, for correction, for uh admonishment, to lift up the body. So it's literally meant to give us an opportunity to refine who we are. So it should make us uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

It should. We should read it, and then there should be portions of that scripture that we may not agree with. Proverbs. All right, proverbs should hit you. Right? The I I remember, you know, I was uh you know talking to somebody one time when I was younger, and uh, you know, I was like, yeah, I'm learning all this stuff and I got this knowledge, and they were like, oh, well, knowledge is great, but wisdom is better. And I was like, what's the difference? Like, well, wisdom means you can apply for the most part what your knowledge is. And if you want wisdom, you need to pray for it and you need to read Proverbs. So I was like, okay, so I started reading Proverbs, and some of it I didn't, some of it I didn't get, you know, when I was young, you know, and I was reading the King James too, so that probably didn't help either, you know. Um, but over the years, there's so much in Proverbs that truly is it's a book of wisdom, right? You want to know what type of woman you you need to have in your life, go to Proverbs, go to the end of Proverbs, right? You want to know what the kind of man you should be, the whole thing. Read all of Proverbs, right? So it's it's something that the the word of God is so amazing. There's the statistics on it, you know, there's all these you know studies that have been done on it, but the number of authors that have written it, you know, but people are always talking about how there's discrepancies in the Bible. I think I saw one guy one time, he was talking about Paul, and he was talking about Paul's writings, and how earlier in his writings it had this one kind of feel to it, and this one flow to it. And later in his writings it had a different flow and a different feeling. So it probably wasn't the same author. And I'm thinking to myself, well, if you're truly growing in Christ, if you're getting older, I don't talk the way I talked when I first knew Jesus. I've come to a deeper understanding of who God is and who I am in him and what he has for me and what the expectation should be, you know, for me and for what I believe other believers should be. So I'm maybe a little more adamant about how I speak now. Why would that not be a natural transition for any author?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, think about Paul too. So, like I said, a lot of confusion going around. What on what I've been seeing lately about Paul, they're trying to come at him as his character. Like, oh, he was a he killed Christians. Yeah. Why are we listening to him? Why are we doing that's the whole story of the point? That goes back to what you were saying about yourself.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, you're right. That's that's the that is the beauty of it. Yeah, that's what Jesus does. He takes a murderer, he takes someone who was broken and lost, and was the accuser of the brethren, and he makes him into the greatest advocate the world has probably ever known. Specifically the Gentiles.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

Right? So that's what that's what God does. He doesn't take you, right? I think I said it yesterday, the way I put it about the uh, I forgot how I put it. What did I say? Um putting lipstick on a pig. Right? He doesn't take you and just like make you look good. He wants to shape you. He wants to sh- I mean, oh geez, I saw this stinking video, and it was a it was a sheriff in Florida, always Florida, it's always Florida, and he's got images, and he's got one picture of this person, and it was a sting, like a prostitution sting or something like that, and it was a picture of this beautiful woman, and then the person who actually showed up, and it was a man with makeup and everything, and it kind of resembled the other photo. Oh, that's awesome. Kinda, but that's what we do. We try to like think that God just is gonna make us look pretty on the outside, and it's just really a horrible makeup job, and we put our hair up a little bit, when he wants to take us and create us into something completely different, where we don't look anything like we did before, that we are unrecognizable. That's what that's what Jesus does. He takes us, he breaks us, and then he gives us away. That's what that's that is the the the tran he breaks us and he renews us, he restores us, he gives us, he turns us into a new creation. And then on the flip side of that, he says, All right, now I want you to take this out to the world and give away what it is that I gave you.

SPEAKER_01

Show them.

SPEAKER_03

And sh go out and go and then tell them, hey, come and see.

SPEAKER_02

Come and see.

SPEAKER_03

Come and see what he did for me. I rhymed. Yeah. Look at that, I'm over here spitting bars. So I I just I see I see what God's done in your life. And I see how he's when you say things like this, like what God's done, it's like you you're it's over with. Nope. It's I it's just the beginning. Yep. Every day it's new, yes? Every day God does something for you. You always have a testimony, like there's always God's always working on your behalf, He's always doing something in your life that is a miracle. Yep. I have the same exact testimony. I I every day is a miracle that God I look over the span of my life and I see what God has done for me, and that increases my faith to know what God could do in the future for me. What he's doing. What he has done, what he hasn't done yet. And what he's going. Yes. And that gives me hope. It gives me excitement. I mean, is there trepidation sometimes because I don't know what's going to happen and what sometimes it's I'm a little scared of what he's going to ask of me.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, that's another big part of the reason.

SPEAKER_03

You know, but in my surrender to him, it's, you know what, it's an adventure. And every time I trust in him and I and I and I depend on him, he doesn't fail me. You know, there's there's all these songs that say he's he never fails me, he's never failed me, he's not gonna fail me. And, you know, those are cries of the, you know, of the psalmists to to to try to put into words how good God is and how great God is. And there really aren't words. You tell stories, you you give a testimony, right? The Bible says that we are made overcomers by the blood of the Lamb. So it was Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and the word of our testimony. So it's like I'm reminding myself, Jesus died for me, so he obviously loves me. And this is what he did for me. So I don't forget how far he's brought me. And so when something else comes up in front of me, I can overcome it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Because if he did it for me then, why wouldn't he do it for me now? Why won't he do it for me in the future? And that I feel like that's how in growth or in in business and anything else, the further you go, the more faith you have, the more chances you're willing to take, the greater you can climb, the more successful you become. And then when you look back, you it's it's almost like unrecognizable, and you're like, How did I come? How did this happen? How in the world did this happen? Well, we understand because of Jesus Christ, because God is not a man that he should lie, that he's a keeper of his promises. But there's always this like reciprocal action that has to happen, right? So every promise in the Bible isn't just a promise, it's a promise that comes with a caveat. Obedience, your heart, service, surrender, submission, all accountability. These are all things that are required of me to get to the place where God wants me to go. And for so many people, those are bad things, those are negative things. Those are, you know, those are, you know, uh a place where we are not in charge, right? Going back to that whole, we are the masters of our own destiny. I don't want to be the master of my own destiny. I mess up things when I'm master. But when God's in charge, everything seems to be so much better. So much, so much more fruitful. And even in those challenging times, I have a lot more peace and I have a lot more joy in spite of what it is that I'm going through. Right? And in loss, right? When you lose family members, when you when you you know, all right, so I'm gonna try to be as transparent as I can without it sounding bad. Because it might sound bad. Okay, we can cut all of this out, right? Okay, but I was talking to my wife, and you know, I think I mentioned this, you know, the other day, but you know, she was talking about, you know, the show me the five people that you hang around with and I'll show you your future. You know, that's uh it's a pretty popular phrase, you know. And I told her, Well, you're my five people. I was like, you're you know, I don't have a lot of I I look over my life and I was I was thinking about this yesterday because somebody was like, uh they're very nice, but they were uh saying they wanted to be a part, they want to be involved, they want to be my friend, you know, and I was like, Well, I thought we were friends. It's like I thought we were already friends, but I don't have like a lot of close friends that like I used to have, you know, like people that I used to hang out with a lot and they used to spend and talk around, joke around all the time, and you know, we'd go out and do things together. I don't I don't have that anymore, right? I have I have people that are close in relationship, right? You're cl we are close together, right? We're break brothers, type thing, but you know, but you don't I don't have like a lot of that shoulder-to-shoulder brotherhood, you know. Now, is that because I'm not a very good friend? Maybe I don't I hope not. I hope that's not it. Um but I think what it is is that the closer you get to God, then the higher the standard of the people that can walk with you becomes. And a lot of people don't want to go with you, right? And I think that's what the Bible talks about when it talks about being unequally yoked. It's not that you can't love people, it's not that you can't like connect with people, but if they're not able to go where God's calling you, there's a there's a not I don't want to say a separation, but there's there is a separation that that happens, right? Doesn't mean I don't still love that person, doesn't mean I don't I don't still want the best for them, I don't I still pray for them, doesn't mean that I would I wouldn't love to have a relationship with them, but I just I just can't. Yeah, because God's calling me to something different. And uh the level of submission and the level of accountability um and the position of my heart is more important to me than keeping a an empty friendship, right? And making someone feel good about themselves because I you know I I went with their bad choice, yeah, right? I don't know if that makes sense at all. And so I I see that a lot in some of the places of leadership that I've seen other people and how God kind of pulls you out and in front, you know, and uh, you know, out of a place. And so there can be loneliness in that, and I think for some people there can be isolation. But if you do what God's called you to do, and if you put your trust in him, then he said, I'll never leave you and I will never forsake you. And I believe that. And so thankfully, I have a beautiful wife that loves me, that I walk this life in together, and we do it together. You know, she supports me, she loves me. We are equal, we are yoked together, right? We're doing everything together, okay? I have a mentor and a pastor that I know loves me and that cares for uh his flock and pours into us and holds us to a high standard. Um I have you and you know, other people like you that I'm pouring into that I do, you know, life with and thing. So I have all those three relationships on a regular basis that you need. And so my dopamine and endorphin levels are just fine. My serotonin is on is on fleet. So I don't think kids say that anymore, do they? Yeah, no. That's old. I'm sorry, it's the best I could do. So short, such short noitis, right? So are there times where you know I want to hang out and do things with people and just be goofy and dumb? Yes, of course, right? But life is so fleeting and things are, I believe, so close to the return of Christ that do can we really afford that? And so everything has to be on purpose, everything has to be intentional. And uh I think if we are willing and able to hold those standards up for ourselves and for other people, I think that there will be a filtering of those people and there will be people that don't go. And I think the heaven's gonna be full, but it's also gonna be not a lot of people there that you thought might have been there. 30% of the population right now claims to be Christian, and probably the majority of those are probably not very, you know, I don't want to say not good Christians, but they're not practicing, practicing, truly practicing Christians. Disciple makers. They're not making disciples, they're not following Christ, they're not reading the Bible, they're not, they're not, they're not saying, Lord, search my heart and reveal to me where the holes are, reveal to me what is unrighteous, make me new. And if that's not if that's not our our our our mission, our our our desire every single day, well what's what are we doing, man? What is the what is the point? So we search, people search every day. They go down these rabbit holes on TikTok and Instagram. I you know, I know somebody who's very successful, they have a really good job, they're so unhappy. Just miserable in this job. Very sick. I mean, they were uh by all stretches and imaginations, they are like very talented, very successful. You know, everything they touch, it seems like kind of turned to gold, right? They're very uh like physically gifted, right? They're fast, they're strong, but they're miserable. They're miserable and they complain about the job all the time, and they complain about the last job they had. And I would say they claim to be a Christian. Now they were actually talking about going to church on Mother's Day, right? But where's their hope? Who are they falling back on? Is it Jesus Christ? Or is it their own understanding? You're right.

SPEAKER_02

Where's the hope? And I think that's what you ended it off on Sunday was the surrender. Yeah. God, renew my heart, check my heart, like you were saying with David, but then the surrender part, if you want my heart, you've got it. And giving it to him. Because when you have that moment, when you give it to him, everything else is taken care of.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

He reveals to you your heart. Because you said our our biggest problem is not knowing it. Right. Us not knowing our actual heart.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Because it is inherently wicked.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I mean, I think that's the beauty of God, knowing our heart. I think that's a very true statement when people say that stuff. You know, God knows my heart. But it's because he knows your heart is why he's constantly pulling on it. It's why he's constantly telling you how much you need to change it and how we need him to transform it and make us something new because he knows the depths of our heart.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no longer an outward performance. No longer the out putting makeup on a pig. Yeah. We need to have that inside changed. That's it. The actual membrane, the actual inside of us being fixed. That will bleed out into the outer. Exactly. Yeah. And uh, I think on that note, we're hitting our time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I think so. Yeah, we got a lot going on, we got to talk about.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, there's a ton going on, man. We've got uh hundredth episode celebration coming up. Yes. Right? When is that happening?

SPEAKER_02

Uh believe the week after May 22nd. Okay. I know the date on that. The date where we had originally we we had double booked the church with our women's ministry because we have so much thing going on. The women's have a have a uh worship night or something on yeah. And you have BC Fitness has a move with love, May 15th.

SPEAKER_03

May 15th, so that's this this Friday night. Yeah, so there's a lot going on, man. There's so much going on. So there's always opportunities for us to connect and for us to uh get get into the word or support one another or lift each other up or celebrate just doing life together, man. That's that's the fun part about being a Christian, is we don't have to do it alone.

SPEAKER_02

No, right?

SPEAKER_03

So um, and then uh you know, I think as we are approaching this, it's crazy to think that you know, when Pastor started this, that it would happen this quickly to get to that hundred episode. It feels like it, right? Yeah, it does. Um, and I mean I've only been here for like maybe five episodes, ten minutes. So I'm I'm a new addition.

SPEAKER_02

You're on the second, third, fourth. You're on one of the first.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but I haven't been back since. Yeah, yeah, I didn't get that call back. So it's okay. They've been keeping me in the minor leagues. I finally got the call. I got I got the call up. Uh so but uh I'm excited. Um like it's been awesome to see so many people that have come through here um, you know, throughout the the different episodes to see, even like looking how the the the kind of the studio has changed and everything and a lot of the different relationships that have developed over it. So I think that would be cool to kind of get like almost like do a like a recap or like a rehearsal just because I think you forget sometimes. It's like remember we talked about the word of our testimony. I think sometimes you forget where you come from. Yep, you know, so a reminder would be good, and you know, some of the newer uh subscribers and folks they may not have realized like how much how much we've grown and uh how much things have improved over um over the span of the the life of the Courageous Faith Podcast.

SPEAKER_02

Mm-hmm. True, that is very true. Yeah, because we've we've grown a lot. Yeah. We're a small big church, I like to think. Yeah. Or small, but big impact. Yes, big impact, big impact. Um, I got the call from Brian. He's probably gonna be here. Awesome. Yeah, the night. So that's cool for people who've been here for a while.

SPEAKER_03

Where's that he where's he been at?

SPEAKER_02

Working, working, yep. That's it. Mm-hmm. And then um champ.org for everything else we do.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Food truck park.

SPEAKER_03

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and if you want to support uh the Church of Champions Ministry or if you want to be a part of uh the Courageous Pod uh Courageous Faith podcast, you want to support that, obviously the first thing you got to do is make sure you hit that subscribe button. Yes, hit the notification notification button, like it, share it. That helps so much as far as helping to grow um the channel itself. But then also um you can go to champ.org and hit give and you can uh actually give into the ministry. We are supporting so many different uh things across the world. We dig w water wells, we help get people uh off the streets and uh you know uh human trafficking um in South America. There's all these things that the Church of Champions um is connected with. Um and our pastor, Pastor Hutchins, is uh his excellency. I worked it in. Uh is uh he he he he works tirelessly to to do what God's called him to do um across this world. So you can support him, you can follow him, go to his substack. Um you can definitely be a member there as well. Um and he's dropping them every other day now, I feel like a new Substack. So he has a few tiers.

SPEAKER_02

If you there's a free tier you can get for free with a paid tier, oh my goodness. Like every day. It's now it's been three to four times a week. He's giving us more application stuff too.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah. So and that's one of the things I love about what we are doing here is it's not just about you know, whatever the hot topic is, right? Or you know, whatever the political rhetoric or uh whatever UFO is running around. It's not just about that stuff. This is Life, I believe, life-changing conversations that if you listen and you study and you pay attention, you can take this today, I believe, and go home and change your life, change your family, and uh make a real impact. And rather than, you know, it's just another way to complain or talk about what's going on in the world.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. And you mentioned our like and subscribe, but but we have been releasing shorts on YouTube recently. And the way to promote that in the algorithm is to like and to comment. Comment, yeah. I got me some comments. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I got some controversial comments. I was so excited. I was like, oh, I made it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So if you're bored today, go look at some shorts and fight back. Yeah. Yeah, fight back. Yeah, fight back.

SPEAKER_03

The enemy on our comment. That'd be pretty cool.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

All right, guys. We love you so much. Thank you so much for coming in. Pastor, we'll be back. Be praying for him. Make sure you keep him in your prayers. Lift him up. Um, he hasn't been feeling very well, so we want to make sure that uh as a as a body, we lift him up and we're always praying for him. Um, and so we love you, we bless you, and we will see you next time on the Courageous Faith Podcast.