Quit Watering Weeds | Dray Stewart (ft. Trustie)

In this episode of Escaping the Chains, Dray Stewart (ft. Trustie) shares a story that goes beyond testimony—into what it actually looks like to hit rock bottom and encounter real change.

But what hits hardest isn’t just the story…

It’s this line:
 “Quit watering weeds.”

How many things are getting time, energy, and attention… that aren’t producing anything?

This conversation gets into:

•  What faith actually looks like when it costs something 
•  The tension between providing vs calling 
•  Why “good” isn’t always “God” 
•  What it means to finally take the step and jump 

For anyone feeling stuck, comfortable, or unsure what the next move is—this one will challenge that.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey everybody, we are so excited to have Dre Stewart, Dre Day, uh with us all the way from Ohio. Amen. Amen. Amen. Um, we want to get into a little bit of a story, but we were actually having a conversation about faith, and I I kind of wanted to dig into that um and start off with this word faith. So uh go ahead and introduce yourself, Dre, and then we'll we'll start to have a conversation about leaps of faith.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Sure. So my name's Dre Stewart from Chillicothe, Ohio. Just a cat down the road, man. Um I always say it every time I speak. I'm nobody special. I'm a person who lived their life in the shadows, and I had an encounter with Jesus six and a half years ago, or almost six, five and a half years ago, almost six years ago, that just changed me to the core of my being. I never dreamed I would be doing this, never dreamed I would be speaking to people or doing music. It's literally just something God started pouring out onto me. And so uh to die is my gain and to live is for Christ, man. That's it. He saved me on death's doorstep and for a time such as this and to glorify the magnitude of his grace and mercy in the gospel that is extended to everybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

What's the name of the place where you're from? Chilakothy. Chilakothy. Yeah, not coffee. Chillicothe. Coffee. Coffee. Yeah. Cool. Well, now, you know what, actually, so when you said what was your life like before that encounter, and how did you get to a place of like brokenness to where you even were ready to because usually it takes like getting somewhere to really be able to submit and just be like, I can't do this anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

For sure. And I've been blessed to hear so many people's testimonies, man, and I hear that story of the rock bottom, and I feel like I got multiple of them. Like I had multiple rock bottom experiences where all I had left to um pursue was Christ. I was raised in the church. Um, I seen the Lord do miraculous things in my family. I was blessed to witness the salvation of my parents unfold. And so I seen the difference. I seen life without Christ, I seen life with Christ. I couldn't deny that there was a difference, but I just rebelled from it, man. I rebelled from it so hard. Um Jesus revealed himself to me when I was nine years old. That I was a sinner destined for hellfire and that Jesus was my savior. And I didn't understand what that meant. I couldn't understand what I did to God for him to want to send me in the flames, but it scared me, man. And I started praying right then and there. And I prayed every night after that. And I remember feeling sorry. Didn't know what I was sorry for, but I remember feeling sorry. And um, long story short, man, I remember the night praying on a cot in my grandma's living room, and uh it was like I didn't have nothing to be sorry for. I remember feeling that. And that was the first time I received a command from God, and he said, Tell him what I've done for you. And he wanted to wanted me to tell the church my parents was taking me to that he saved my soul, and uh I was always super backwards growing up, man. Um hated talking to people, hated talking in front of people, and so I wrestled with it, you know, like nothing happened, or they're gonna look at you funny. And so now it's like I pray to God and I get this command and it's making me uncomfortable. I stopped praying to God. And I can look back and see that's when I opened myself wide open for the influence of the other agenda for my life. And uh long story short, man, I started selling drugs when I was 12. I started doing drugs when I was 13, and I did that for the next 14 years, and throughout you know, that lifestyle, I had multiple encounters with Christ where he was just, you know, looking back, I can see he was pursuing me. He was pursuing my heart. And this last time around, man, uh I got to a place where I thought the Bible was written by elites for mind control. I thought I could manifest any reality I wanted to through reprogramming my subconscious mind. I thought the reality that I experienced was a reflection of my subconscious programming, and I could see where that was hijacked over the course of my life, and that led me to believe even the Bible is an attempt to hijack people's subconscious mind to uh keep them locked up in this, you know, dull sense of reality.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

And so uh radical season, man. I might talk a little bit about it tonight, uh Friday Night Fire.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

But um Yeah, we have uh you guys hear us talk about that, but Dre's gonna be, we record a lot of times before our service here in Marion, and he's gonna I don't know what he's gonna do because we gave him the green light. So it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

I don't know what I'm gonna do either. But yeah, man, uh at a time where I deserve raft the most. My heart was the furthest from God it had ever been. Um I'd relapsed on drugs, and it was just earth-shattering, man, and that's when he came, still knocking on the door of my heart. Clear up to death's doorstep. That's the best way I know to say it, man. There was no rehab that could save me. There was no family, no friend, nobody. Uh could not control my impulses, and the drugs I was doing was killing me. And I can remember just like waiting. Like, what does it feel like when your heart explodes and there's nothing I can do about it? Uh not gonna get to tell nobody goodbye. You know, all that. Day in, day out, day in, day out. And in a couple weeks into that, he came knocking on the door of my heart, bro, and there was no denying that this is the God of the Bible. I knew who it was, I knew who was calling my name. And uh instead of looking to the world outside of me, I just I said his name, man, and I went within. I didn't have to go very far because he was right there. Knocking on the door of my heart, and I explained that to people, like, what does that mean? It's like, if you understand this vessel is the absolute middle point from a world outside of you and a world within you. And if I want to go take a journey to you through this world and knock on the door of your heart, I'm looking you in your eyes and speaking to your ears. You heard that's the gates to your soul. I'm knocking on the door of your heart. You can let me in or you can shut me away. If you let me in, I sup with you and you with me. What I have inside of me is now dwelling inside of you, and what you have inside of you is now dwelling inside of me. This way he says, I stand at the door and knock. I will sup with you and you with me. He knows what I bring to the table. My failures, my shame, my uh mistakes, and the laws that I broke of God's will. He says, I'll take it from you and I'll give you what I have access to. Something that's not plagued from sin or this environment, I have access to a kingdom.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

And he shares that with me, man.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Well, I tell you, a love entered my heart, bro. That was so full, and it wasn't a revival of it wasn't a revelation of something new. It was a revival of something I felt before and forgot about. It was familiar, and I knew in that moment where I felt this before, it was the love that formed me in my mother's womb. And all I could do was weep and say, I'm sorry. How did I forget this? And like I said, man, instead of meeting me with wrath, he met me with grace and mercy.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

I need somebody to hear that part right there. Instead of meeting him with wrath, he met him with grace and mercy. And that's like, we know what we deserve. You know, we were I was talking last week, and it was like, you know, I went to the cross out of like, I don't have any place else to go, and I had nothing to offer. Yeah, I couldn't tithe anything. I I had nothing but an absolute mess, you know, and I just threw it down at his feet. And I think for stories like these, and we've talked about this a little bit, like I think he chooses people like us because it has to be him. Nobody can look at us and be like, hey, oh, you know what I mean. He already had the gear. I didn't like to talk. You know what I mean? I didn't I didn't want to talk to people, nothing. So so God, you know, Jesus like is like, I'm gonna this one right here, like I'm gonna make a messenger. And we like we were talking last night, like I felt, um, and I'm sure you felt like this, but I was invisible to the world when I was using, unless I was stealing. Then everybody saw me, you know, I mean, and wanted to do something, but I was invisible, I had no voice. And then I had this encounter with him, this dude on methadone, sloppy, you know what I mean, nothing to offer anybody. And boom, he sent me out as a messenger, like the woman at the well. Um, and we've we've had we have had some, I think every time we've talked, which is we've only talked a handful of times, it's like we have we have no business being here. You know what I mean? Like, what are we doing here? Right. You're setting up speakers, it's like, why are we here? Right, you know, but God, it's that's the that's the beautiful thing about a lot of the people that were around, it has to be. It has to be Jesus Christ gave them new life.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

You know.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

And what greater thing could I could come from my life? My life in my hands took it to death's doorstep. I destroyed everything I touched. And so, like I said, man, to live is for Christ and to die is my gain. I believe that, man. I believe in his promise and the place that he said he's gonna prepare. And it's just uh it's an honor, man. I speak a lot on the internet, I hear a lot of people's opinions, and it's like, dude, I need a savior. Yeah, I broke all of God's laws, and there's no way around it. I need a savior. I'm I'm not banking on anything that I'm doing or that I've done. My hope is firmly in his promises. And if it's not for his promises, I'm in big trouble. I know that.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

If I could right now, we'd be doing a praise break. You know what I mean? Like, I swear. I need, and that's the thing, is like, and I was having a conversation earlier today, but it's like the world's so bad, there's so much going on. Well, we can see it now. And if you're out there and you're like, it's so like overwhelming, it is. But we find peace in a savior that has given us simple instruction. Some of it's more difficult, but but he's given us simple instruction. You know, because we're fighting ancient stuff. We've been talking about that, stuff that's been around a long time, and we've been given simple instruction, like take captive every thought. Yeah, know that he's my peace, talk to him all the time, you know, pray to him. And when you're doing that, you'll find that all this stuff is a mess. It is, it doesn't change, but I have a peace within me in the midst of it, mm-hmm. And I know that I'm on some sort of assignment, you know, and yeah, that's what I gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

And when you keep your eyes on him, you stand on what swallows everybody else. It's like, how do you respond to this?

SPEAKER_02 10:59

I don't, right? You know what I mean? Like, I just don't. It's not that I don't care. I don't want to use terminology like that, but I really don't care.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

That's the biggest argument, too. People, because I'll share my opinion, and people's like, how could you turn a blind eye? How could you just live in ignorance? Christians aren't called to do that. I'm like, dude, it ain't got nothing to do with living in ignorance. It's people, you know, tell me all the time about making this righteous judgment. And it's like, man, the wages for sin is death. And it happens in your heart before you ever take a man's life with your hands, you sinned in your heart already from the hate you carried in it. The outward expression of sin is is is you know like a delayed response.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

You look at a woman lustfully with your eyes, you don't even have to touch her, you committed adultery already in your heart. And so God has seen everything that has dwelt in my heart. And if what has dwelled in my heart was laid bare for the world to examine, bro, lock me up with the wickedest of them. Yeah, you would stone me and deem me as wicked. I don't have no place to judge nobody. What if heaven looks at me and makes the same judgment? And I believe, why wouldn't why wouldn't angels look at the filth inside of me? And it goes back to like, dude, I need Jesus. I need the blood of Jesus, and I need what he's promised to be my advocate.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

I think I think the church would operate so different. I believe some people are called to call things out, you know what I mean? That's their gift or whatever. But I think the church would operate so different. You know, I had somebody one time I had had a friend, and they we had had a falling out, and they were talking really bad about me, and then they came back a couple years, and I was like, dude, I forgave you. You know what I mean? And and he was like, How did you do that? And I said, dude, I uh like the thing is is like I'm not fighting with men. You know, like this this I think the blessing of having a little bit of an evangelistic call on your life is to know like I'm fighting something, yeah, you know what I mean. I don't have beef with your flesh. You know what I mean? I pray for I pray for it. I pray for you, but I know, you know, I mean, all first off, I can't carry that around. We see so many people that seem angry, and they're claiming Jesus, and it's like you said, like if I was to open up my heart, we would all be humiliated. That's why you want to walk around humbly because everyone's guilty beyond measure. Beyond measure. The whole point of what we the Jesus that we read about walked, you know what I mean? So who am I as he walked? And I really look at it, because I'm a I envision stuff, him getting mocked, you know, ripping pieces out of his beard, all of those little details that the one thing I wouldn't want to go through, you know, just getting your hair the hair ripped out of your beard, the crown of thorns, like none of that stuff. That that's the beginning of the day for him that day. Who am I to think that I've gotten to someplace that he didn't need to do that for me? You know what I mean? I like he he did it for all of us in that humility. If you can carry a grudge with somebody and you're walking under, you know, you under the salvation of our father, when he could look at the people that did all of that stuff to them, and he can look down and be like, forget, forgive them for they know not what they do. He gave them a clean bill. You know what I mean? He f he he said, Forgive them. So nothing he didn't want that. And then Stephen in the Bible, who needs to be talked about more, did the same thing. He said, Don't hold this against them. The like the people, like we can't handle sometimes. I'll get frustrated. Like I got a little beef with somebody. This dude, these people were killing him. They were killing him because of his beliefs, and he said, Don't hold this against them. And if they can do that, I should be able to walk through this life and not be very offended very often, you know. And we and I think we've gotten on the internet and everybody gets all tangled up. I'm saying and this is another thing we've been talking about. People fighting over like theology, and it's like what I need to know is do you believe that Jesus lived a sinless life? Did he you know, did he go to the cross for our sins? Is he the Son of God? Did he die on that cross? Was he resurrected three days later? Did he ascend 40 days later? Did his spirit fall on the upper room? Because if you believe that, we can probably sort some of the other stuff out. Now there is heresy and all of that, but we get to fighting over how do you get baptized? However, you baptize, you know what I mean? Like, not to offend anybody listening, but that is not that is not stuff to go to war with your brothers and sisters over, in my humble opinion.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

And then, like, in a public setting, we're so quick to run to Facebook or whatever social media and blast our opinions about whatever and whoever. And it's like, man, that's not decent in an order. For one, and two, if you're gonna use these tools as a platform to do anything, are you coming up short? Is that the greatest thing you could talk about today? Well, it's like that's why it's Jesus' love for me, man. Yeah, 100%. It wasn't the fire and brimstone preaching that I heard growing up that made me want to seek God. It was whenever I got a little taste of that love that loved me uh when I didn't deserve it.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Well, if we're not doing it out of love, it's point it's meaningless. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's biblical. Because I think sometimes I want to get into the faith conversation before we hop off. For sure. But I think sometimes we can we can puff ourselves up a little bit. Like I wake up and I unlock my, you know, I open up my little Facebook and I'm like, oh, there's controversy. I'm sure people want to know my opinion. Nobody asked. Nobody said, hey, John. And they'll press you sometimes. They'll be like, well, what's your opinion on it? But I don't, you know what I mean? We think we've gotten to a place where it's like my, you know, my my little digital creator account, like, you know what I mean? People are like, I need to know, like they're waking up, like, what's John got to say about, you know what I mean, X, Y, or Z? Nobody's doing that. So I stay in the, I stay in the lane where where God wants me. And it's like there's people out here that we're trying to reach. And if that's what you do and you feel like God's led you to do that, and you have peace and all of that stuff, you know what I mean? Bless you. But like for me, I I just when I read that like all of these things are nothing if we're not doing them out of love. Yeah. Who am I? You are nothing if you're not doing it out of love. And that's a very we should read it every day. You know, grace and love, and and there's correction in there and stuff too. So I'm not talking greasy grace, let your brothers run and do whatever. There's correction, you know, in covering and all of that stuff. But yeah, and I like how you operate on that stuff because I see it on social media, and you'll be like, you know what I think about this? And then he goes back to Jesus Christ's safety. None of it matters, bro.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

What cubit is it gonna add to your life to know any of it? Yeah. Now, you know, and again, it's not operating out of ignorance. If God leads you to dive into it, you will operate with authority and power.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

So we're down in the studio, and Gary Bernon, my brother, is watching the door, and he is not good at it, apparently. A kid just a kid just got loose. Um, which one was that? Lakin. Lakin, Zach's daughter. He's on the ones and twos over there. That's O T G Z Co. So um, man, uh bro, I could talk to you all, you know what I mean, forever. But um, so we got to talking a little bit about faith. And um you just want to touch on what kind of got that started, and we'll get we're gonna dive back into that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Make me tap into my short term the dentist. There ain't a whole lot there in the situation.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

So, yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Um, yeah, man. Uh, we was actually talking about my homie trustee. He's sitting over here. Uh, shout out JCS Trusty, trustee, uh, aka my brother Brand uh Andon. Um just taking that step of faith, man. Um, he's a young creator, super talented, anointed, um, heart for God. I can't imagine being 23 years old and and being on the mission he's on. But um you know, he was working a nine to five job and just um sharing with him my opinions and guidance on like, man, if you like just step away from this and pursue the gifts and talents that God has given you, um, I believe that it will take you places that this little nine to five, you know, you you just wouldn't dream of. But then it's like in the same breath, I've built a video production business for the last seven years. It became very lucrative in my life, and I still hold on to that. Um, but in it I see the consequence. I see the consequence of breaking my momentum in the things that God has placed in my life. And so it's like almost like you can think of my life as a garden, and here I got all these random jobs that mean nothing. They don't have no ties to the kingdom. You could even go as far as considering them is weeds, weeds in my garden, and every day that I use my resources to water these re weeds because I perceive that there's gonna be a harvest that comes from it in the form of you know some money that's here today and gone tomorrow, that nine times out of ten serves no purpose other than the desires of my flesh. I'm speaking to myself, people.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

You need to um you need to get the rights to that. Quit watering weeds.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Quit watering the weeds. And and and you know, the more that you water the weeds, the more damage that's gonna be done to the fruit-bearing plant when you rip them out. The harder it is to rip them out, the more it takes to rip them out, and sometimes it gets to the place where you water the weeds in your life where you can't rip them out. You need a move of God.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Um, and and then and then whenever it comes to that, man, a lot of times that fruit-bearing plant has to go too. It's like a hard reset, that rock bottom experience that we have, you know, all probably had.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

You gotta dig the ground all the way back up. Fresh restart. Faith is such an interesting thing because we were talking about that, and we we we use this word faith like a cute Christian word. We'll just have faith, you know. But like the truth is that that's a big, heavy word when somebody says faith, because it's easy for me to say faith when I have no choice but to have faith. Right, you know, and it's easy to be like, well, have faith in some of the little stuff. We were talking in Gary, and there was a point in my life where I had to trust God with a situation going on with my daughters. That's heavy, you know, and there's a lot of back and forth in faith. You'll have a Lot of unnecessary conversations with God. Like, you still there? You still am I still supposed to jump? I'm stutter stepping because what happens with me sometimes is I know, like, I I I get that know inside of me, like okay, that knowing. And it's like, I need to jump. And it's like, eh, it's just like jumping in the pool when you were younger and you know the water's cold. It's like, yeah, and you see other people get over to the side, take a couple steps back, and you see other people jumping, you're like, they're having so much fun, but you know, and I think that's something that we have to be cautious about because if I'm like, hey, Dre, just have faith. You know what I'm saying? That's something that sometimes you like I might need a brother to walk me out and check on me and be like, hey, where are you at with that? Where are you at in your prayer? It works out every single time. But yet when another opportunity comes up, like, dude, I was living in a motel. I shouldn't have a comfort zone, but one's been built, you know, through this and that, all blessings from God, stuff that he's maneuvered, and now I'm sitting in these things. And and and we were talking about that earlier, too. Like you had, like you just you have these things that God's calling you to do. Yeah. And people are like, have faith. But I think one of the scariest conversations I had was with one of my friends when he looked me dead in the face and was like, when are you gonna jump off that boat? You know, I mean, no wiggle room, no, hey, have faith, I'll pray for you and leave. Like, when are you gonna jump off that boat? Yeah, how long are you gonna stay on that thing? While you're watching people you're watching people jump off doing what God's called them to do, you know what I mean? And you're sitting on that boat missing kingdom stuff, missing what you're called to do. And faith is I always thought I always thought that's a like I see it as a soft, nice word, but it's not. Like faith is like, have faith. Paul said he was blessed, but if you look at his life, we talk about this all the time. That wasn't a blessed life by my standards, what he was going through. Right, you know, but like that faith, and man. I and it's something that I think no matter the the strongest, most faithful Christians I've ever met, could probably still use some more of it, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Yeah. Help my unbelief and uh the consequence of not having faith, man. And it's like I'm literally sitting here processing it real time in this moment. Um like I'm blessed to to have this guy sitting beside me who I've watched take a step of faith, and I see the just in the short amount of time the fruit that's coming from it and not just the numbers, but God doing what he said he would do. I'll supply all of your needs according to my riches and glory that are in Christ Jesus. And that's the motivation, that's the drive, that's the creativity. And I find that like you know, we are creatures of momentum. We live in a universe of momentum. If you want to push a car, it takes a lot to get it rolling. But once you get it rolling, you can walk with your fingers and just as long as you keep it rolling. And so what I'm experiencing, I'm experiencing is like I shared with you a minute ago, I'm not working a whole lot, but I do got jobs lined up, you know, sporadically throughout the month. And if I'm building this momentum in my calling from God and the things that He's put on my heart to do, but then I have to stop it just for a moment so I can go do this, you can see where that's a weapon formed against me. I'm literally just processing it right now. Process that, yeah. And so it's like makes me want to leave here and get on my phone and text all these people that I've you know said I can do this job and tell me you're gonna find somebody else. But then at the same time, I got so much going on. I'm about to have a baby. My wife, um, you know, we're throwing around the idea of her stepping away from her job. We're trying to buy a home. And so it's like I could use this extra income, but where's my faith? Yeah. That God won't give it to me. I mean, Lord Jesus, help my unbelief.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

And I hope whoever's listening to this know, like there's nothing wrong with you if you have trouble, like operate, like if God shows you something and you're like, oh, I gotta go. Like we, the the most the fact that we're having this conversation and you can see, and Zach's over there in just a short period of time, everything that he God's done in his life, and bro, here, like you see it, but there's still we have conversations. It's like, bro, you know, we gotta have faith. Like, we're we find ourselves like micromanaging and being like, okay, how are we gonna get this covered and that covered? And I think that don't get me wrong, you don't sit on your couch eating Cheetos and just be like, God, make it happen. You know what I mean? Like, there is work behind it, but well, when you start to take over the control and the the you know, over managing, like we and we encourage each other every day we talk. You know what I mean? And we'll talk about this, and sometimes two, three days later, I'd be like, bro, you know what I'm saying? I feel like we're taking control back, time to hand it back over, you know. Choose this day who you're gonna serve.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

It's like if you're hot or lukewarm, I'll spew you out of my mouth. Man. And every time I run back to do one of these little jobs that ain't got nothing to do with what he's doing in my heart or in my life. It's like I'm not serving him when I choose to do that.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

And when you put it like that. You know what I mean? Like that's that's heavy, man.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Choose this day. I have done that before once I had a revelation not to accept no more weddings. I was in Africa with my pastor, and um whenever I came back to testify to the church of my experience, I shared it with them, and somebody had messaged me that morning looking to book a wedding. And uh I was like, you know what? I'm gonna I left it on red. I was like, well, maybe, maybe, you know, maybe I'll do uh I'm not shooting no more weddings. I turned out 38 weddings that year, 2024. And I got five on the calendar for this year. Man. See what I did? Yeah. Well, dang, man. I didn't know this was gonna be like this, man.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

It just started conviction all over me. Hey, this is what we want is like conversation, because like, so Dre, I've met you a handful of times. I've known you for a what a couple years, but we've had a handful of conversations, and I think this is what I want people to see is like this is a lot of times where the conversations on the phone go. We're not sitting here talking about the logistics of getting you here. That was a three-minute conversation, you know what I mean? Like whatever, you know what I mean, what time, setup, all that stuff the time, five-minute conversation. But the conversation's past that of like, I don't ever want people to look at me like I've arrived somewhere. Right. You know what I mean? Or like I don't, you know, I like being transparent, but these conversations that we have, and that's what I had talked to to Zico about was like, man, you know, before we were having these great, and I told you this, we've been having these great conversations in the parking lot. Then we go in and we go through the testimonies, testimonies are important, but you know, it's like I want to have those conversations.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Yeah, yeah. Me too. Because, you know, for people who share their testimony a lot, it becomes very um, you know, you lose that opportunity to uh explore unmapped territory, and that's exactly what happened right here in this seat, man. I'm processing things real time of like dang man, I need to make some changes. I need to really get in my prayers and seek like, is there more? Am I leaving a lot on the table?

SPEAKER_02 29:57

The harvest is plenty, but everybody's up in here feeling convicted. I can see it on Zach's face. Have your way, Lord Jesus. Praise God. Like we're not, it's not sometimes like this is the this is the conversations you need to be having with your brothers and your sisters. It's like, bro, like you're doing good and you're telling me you're doing good, but what, but are you doing the God thing? Not just the good thing. Are you doing the God thing? 100%, man. I think um we're probably gonna have dude. I'm so I thank you so much for coming and jumping on here and uh and doing the Friday service. We're excited for that. Like it has been this conversation has blessed me. I'm glad we had it. Um we'll have to do it again sometime. For sure. Let's get Lil Bro on here so he can get a plug. Hop over here and get on one of these cameras. He can take my stuff. I'm not kicking you off. Let's get trusty.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Let's trust IE. Um, you can find my music on all platforms. I'm on social media called JCS.trusty that stands for Jesus Christ's Son. Um and man, like I really, I really just want to put my identity with Jesus, you know what I'm saying? Like when you think of me, I want you to think of Jesus. You know what I'm saying? But I don't want you to think of me when you think about Jesus, you know, because I'm the servant and he's my master. You know, and I just want to I just want to make that clear because, bro, Jesus saved my life. You know what I'm saying? He is the way, he is the truth, and he is the life. Without him, I don't have life. I should be dead like ten times over. You know what I'm saying? I grew up living in the streets, I grew up in some in some bad activity, you know what I'm saying? But in the midst of my mess, bro, like I wasn't trying to get better. I wasn't looking for a solution or nothing. Like, just in I was just living my life day to day, you know. If I live, I live. If I die, I die, it's whatever. But in the middle of that, Jesus came to me. He called me by name, bro. He said, Andon, that's my government. He said, Andin, you're calling us to be a pastor. You're gonna study at Ohio Christian University, which is a school not not far from where we from. And man, I was like, alright, you know, I got nothing else going for me, so I might as well just see this through, you know what I'm saying? Like, what's the worst that could happen? Just be back to where I am now. So I followed through and it was coincidence, coincidence, coincidence. Everything was provided for. I got into the school, um, got scholarships, everything, bro, and it was like so many coincidences. It got to the point where it's like, okay, this is this is really God, like it's not a coincidence at this point. And so I just followed through with it and the Lord really changed my life, bro. Like, through that, like I just saw that there was something deeper to life, deeper to um what I was doing, you know, it's just more out there for me. And so the reason why I go there and I tell you that story, bro, is so that you know that God loves you where you are. It doesn't matter what you're doing, where you at. I was high when he did that. I I was literally smoking, I was in the midst of it. But it doesn't matter where you are, what you doing, what you did, God still loves you and he's for you and he wants to save you. He loves you. He's knocking on your door. All you gotta do is answer. You know, if you if you're hard-headed, if you stubborn, he can't work with somebody like that. You got to submit. Like I said earlier, I'm the servant, he is the master. You know, a hard-headed servant isn't a servant. That's a disobedient servant, and that's not good. You don't want to be disobedient. But yeah, I just want to share that with y'all real quick.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Amen, amen. So, you know, 23 years old. Seeing trusty, 23 years old, man. I can remember the things that I was wrapped up in when I was 23, but I can also recall that even then Jesus was still knocking on the door of my heart. I was uh 20 years old the first time I really got into the Bible for myself. I went to the refuge ministries uh at 20. Life was at rock bottom. I was awake for seven days prior to getting on this bus high on methamphetamine, and I had no idea what I was even going into. I just knew I felt this call in my heart to go to this place that my mom told me about. And um and so I and and I and I've been blessed last year to go back to the refuge ministries and speak to these guys. Trusty was actually with me, and to tell them, like, man, if I could have got a hold of this thing when I was here, if I could have got a hold of this whenever he separated me from the world and separated me from my pursuits and and just dwelled and and and did exactly what he said, just be still and know that I'm God. But in my mind, if I wasn't doing drugs in my mind, if I wasn't hurting people, then I I was I I made it. And I ran away from my calling man. I ran away from the place and I and I ran back to the seven greater demons that was waiting on me, and I stayed in Egypt another seven years. And so um I praise God for trusty surrender to the Lord. It's been a blessing um just to know him and to see the growth in him as a man of God. Uh, he failed to tell you that he is 23 years old with a bachelor's degree in ministry. Uh saw it to completion, four years of schooling and uh super talented guy, man. Writes all of his own music, makes his own beats. Now he's making his own content. And uh I'm just super excited to see what God's gonna do in your life, man, and I'm blessed to just walk this thing out beside you. This dude sharpens me in ways that I never dreamed, you know, when he approached me years ago on social media, just asking for advice. Yeah, who would have thought it was gonna be like this?

SPEAKER_00 35:33

Man, whatever whenever I first found Jesus, you know, like way back then when I was 18 years old, I was just looking for mentors because I didn't know what I was talking about, I didn't know who Jesus was, I didn't know this, that, and the third. And so I'm just like finding all these mentors and people who could feed into me and talk to me and teach me because I can learn better from that. And so I'm like reading breeding or something, you know what I'm saying? Somebody sent me one of his TikToks back when he was first starting out. I call the John the Baptist days. He had freeform dress, big long beard, always doing nature walks, everybody was in the woods. But he sent somebody sent a video that I was like, all right, but I'm gonna just hit him up. You know, what's the worst that could happen? So I hit him up, we met up and we hung out a couple times, we linked up, did a couple live streams.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Went live, preached the gospel to the masses in the middle of a creeping by bonfire. Yeah, it was crazy. Like it was I couldn't get enough of it back then, man. I just I couldn't get enough of telling people what Jesus done for me. And it's like, if you're willing to listen, I'll sit here by this fire until there's nothing but colds.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

He needed too, but like I ain't never had no experiences like that. I'm like, what is this? Like, who is this dude? Why is he out here like this? I don't feel like humans are supposed to be in the woods like this. And so, I mean, it was it was really cool, but then like something happened. I don't think I don't even think anything happened. I think we just drifted apart, life happened. And it was all love, and then I started going to the church he was telling me about. And yeah, a couple years later, we laid off. We've been friends ever since, and like if we over time we just became brothers, inseparable. You know, I'm cool with his whole family, he's cool with my whole family. Like, it's it's deeper than friendship, you know. Yeah, it's it's all because of God, man. Like, God, God has surrounded me and him with godly people who who sharpen you, you know what I'm saying? Like the people I was around, I love them to this day, bro. Like, there's that's still my family. But I mean, they just dragging me down to where I'm trying to escape from, you know what I'm saying? So I I can't I can't be around them as much. So God put me with godly people like Dre. You know what I'm saying? And he he actually met a lot of the people I was rolling with, and he became friends with them too, like, which is crazy. And he they were all in my bachelor stuff, like I got I got married. Yeah, and we had a bachelor night. He was ministering to them. I was ministering to them, and I had another homie from school who was ministering, and like, bro, it was so cool to see that all these people I was rolling with, bro.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

I had revelations that night too. Revelations that uh I remember me being old and can't keep up with these young bugs. This damn at the hotel just blown up and I'm like, My knees hurt.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

Y'all doing more reps? But bro, it was so cool to see how God will he like he doesn't he doesn't forget your life in the past. He doesn't look at you or what you were, yeah. But he he will still, you know what I'm saying, give you opportunities to present the gospel to them. You know, and it was such a blessing to see, such a blessing to know him, bro. Like Drake, he's put me on to so much, given me so much wisdom, helped me out with so much, with with content, with music, but really just with life, with relationships, with with my relationship with Jesus, bro. Like, if I got a question, he gonna I'm going to him. You know what I'm saying? It's it's been it's been smooth. Yeah.

unknown 39:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

For real. Iron sharpened as iron. For real, bro. You wanna wrap this thing up? Well, trust Trusty, thank you for sharing your story, man. Uh I think we're gonna wrap this thing up and just end it with a prayer. God, I just thank you for this moment. I thank you for this opportunity. Lord, I thank you for the life that you have breathed into this day. I thank you for calling me and trustee out to this place, Lord, and I pray that uh just the light that you have invested into us will be magnified in this place, Lord, for anybody who's in the dark to see you, to see that you are who you say you are. Lord, you're doing what you promised you would do, and we have faith that you will continue doing what you promised you would do. And so we give you all the glory for this moment, Lord. I thank you for Brother John. I thank you for Brother Zach. I thank you for the people who are connected in this little place in Marion, Indiana, Lord, um, to serve you, to uplift your name, and I thank you for the work that you've done in their hearts. I pray that you continue, Lord, to just send resources to them, Lord, aid them in this journey to preach your gospel to the masses, Lord, to love on people, to show people that there is a way that Lord, you are the way, the truth, and the life. And so I thank you for uh the opportunity to break bread with these brothers, Lord. I thank you for the opportunity to minister to the people we're about to minister to here in a moment. And I just pray that you move in mighty ways in this room, Lord. I pray for wisdom, Lord, to just flood our minds, flood our hearts. Uh, and I pray that we can offer up a fragrance that is pleasing to you tonight, Lord. Uh and I just thank you for your goodness and your grace and mercy. And I'll give you all the honor in your precious name, Lord Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Hey, real quick, I know we just prayed out, but the Lord put something on my spirit, man. So look, I've been having a lot of people talking to me recently. It's like, I want to get closer to God. I'm trying to get closer to God, but I don't I don't have my purpose yet. Like, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. And so what I always say is I shared a story of David, bro, like King David from from the Old Testament. It's like before he was king, he was a shepherd. Like he was just working in his father's fields, like tending the sheep, whatever. Now it's his day to day. He wasn't looking for promotion, he wasn't looking to be king, right? He didn't he didn't have his purpose yet, he didn't know it. But he was still serving God and being faithful to what assignment he did have, you know what I'm saying? And then one day Samuel, prophet, and the servant of the Lord, came and anointed him as king and gave him his purpose. And so what I'm trying to say to you guys, if you if you are feeling that way, is that just be faithful to your assignment. Continue to be faithful to God, and your your purpose and your assignment will come. God is taking his time while you're in the field, being the shepherd, preparing you and getting you ready, bro, and making sure he can trust you. He can't give you a blessing that he can't trust you with, right? And he's not gonna give you a blessing that you're not ready for. If you give me a million dollars right now, I'm gonna go spend it irresponsibly. I'm gonna keep it a buck with you. You know what I'm saying? If he if he gave me, if he gave me the the um success I'm having right now with with music and with content and everything a couple years ago, I'd be irresponsible with it. You know what I'm saying? I'll always misuse it. But I'm ready now, and so he's giving it to me. I you know what I'm saying. He he just he just wants to know he can trust you, he wants to prepare you, you know what I'm saying? So it is coming. You're proponent your propone promotion, that's the word. Your promotion is coming, your purpose is coming, you know what I'm saying? Just be faithful and be patient. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall walk and not get weary, and they shall run and not faint. Amen. God bless you.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode today. Make sure you subscribe to our channels and follow us and give us reviews on all of the platforms. If you really liked what you heard today, share it with somebody that you care about. Thank you. We love you.