Hearts on Fire for Jesus Again!

This podcast episode explores the spiritual journey of believers, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a close relationship with Jesus, recognizing drift, and returning to first love. It offers biblical insights from Revelation 2 and the parable of 'The Prodigal Son' to encourage repentance and renewal.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, my name is Timi McCullough. And I'm Nakeisha Myers.

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Welcome to In the Beginning Podcast, where we call you back to your first love, Jesus Christ. So this episode is our very first episode. We don't have the balloons. We don't have no confetti. But we are so excited to be here with y'all. Yes, we are. And it's going to be centered around the letter to the church in Ephesus. Before we begin, though, let us pray.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Thank you, dear Heavenly Father, for blessing us in this time and in this safe. Thank you. We thank you, Lord God, that you are our teacher, Lord God. We actually teach us, teach our audience. Give us a word, Lord, from you. Give us understanding. Let us walk away stronger than we ever been before. Yes. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

So our scripture reading is Revelation chapter 2, 1 through 6.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

What version do you have? I am coming from the NIV version. Okay, I got ESC.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Since you did the prayer, I'll read it.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

So to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right? The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your words, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Yet this you have. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for that. Jesus for the word. I first want to point out the letter to the church in emphasis. Jesus wanted them to know him as the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Why didn't he just say, tell them Jesus said? The great I am, tell them I am that I am said. Why did he refer to himself as? That stood out to me because I noticed that on each letter, he's referring to himself as a different thing. So these were real churches, real leaders of these churches. So he's talking to them and he's talking to us individually. So we can put ourselves in these categories too. I noticed that people look around. I was reading through these churches, and I'm like, well, you can pretty much, there's a type of saint for each church. So I was like us individually. I noticed when I was reading, and I stayed on Church of Ephesus for about a month because the Lord had me pause right there and made me realize that I had drifted. That's when I realized that, oh my goodness, I drifted. My prayer life was getting weak, and I was spending so much time trying to do good. So I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. I just, when I sat down and thought about it, I'm like, when was the last time I actually had quality prayer time?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

And I didn't realize that until I started reading on the church in Ephesus. And I'm like, I'm the church, and I'm named during the church in Ephesus, because that's what I'm doing with me, with my spiritual life. That's what's going on. We are the church. People are the church. Yeah. So he was talking to those churches back then for sure. And it was physical churches, those leaders. But he was also talking to saints, like individually. This is what you have done. But you think about what they were going through. You know, you got Balaam and you got the goddess Artemis. So I think it's interesting that Jesus refers to himself as he wants Ephesus to remember him as the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands and the one who holds the seven stars in his hand. And going by what they were facing during that time, those people needed to remember Jesus was the one who was over all believers. No matter what you got going on around you, society had lost their minds at that time. They were worshiping idols, they had the goddess ornaments, they had Balaam, they were doing all kinds of sexual, immoral things. But you got these saints and emphasises who were still trying to stay safe in spite of what society was doing. Just like today. You know, they was for them to do that during that time, they won't look that bad. They were considered outcasts. Like you're too different. You don't even fit. So they were going through a lot. And they were getting persecuted, they were getting beaten, they were going through a lot. And Jesus, by referring to himself that way, was reminding them, I'm over everything. You know, that's what he was telling them. You look at the right hand, God does nothing.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Everything he does means something.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

So even though he's saying that, you have to consider his appearance and how he's interacting with John. He has the stars in his right hand. Right hand is authority. Right hand is favor, is honor. And he has those stars in his right hand. You know, I it was those churches, but I mean he's looking, and it just amazes me. Jesus wasted no words, he wasted no images. So when I read up on why he chose that to because he could have just said, tell him Jesus Christ of Nazareth said, or tell him Jesus said, or the Messiah said. He could have said that every letter could have started that way, but every letter started differently. And it was coming from the same God. So I thought that was interesting. Especially because pretty much what they have kind of mirrors what we're going through today.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Right. As Christians, when I read this, it it's like God, you know, we are God's children. And when we walk in the spirit, you know, we we're walking to please God and our and how we treat we we're supposed to bear fruit, love, kindness, helping us, serving us. And um when I read this, it's like I'm looking at a person of God, a child of God. He's doing what's best, he's doing his works, but nobody's perfect. Nobody's perfect but Jesus, you know. Nobody's perfect. We're all balanced something on the inside. God is saying, I see everything you're doing good in me. I see this spot right here that you have lost your first love. Because all our works is gonna be tried in the fire when we're just part they're done in love. What was your intention? So he tells them, go back to your you have lost your first love. Doing things out of love and not out of words, or not out of money, or what you can get out of. And you know, like it says first works returning to the passionate, love-driven devotion that we had when we first believed. Think about when we first believed in Jesus Christ, we had that fight, we were moving in the spirit, we were just doing things. We we were so in love with God. We just like he said, we spent that time before him, going to him, praising him, reading his word, driving in the car, talking to him, that personal relationship, that love burning. I remember that love. Still got that love, but I remember very strong when I first got saved. I remember when I wanted everybody to have what I hate. And Kisha, I remember a time when my when David, our brother was, you know, he wasn't saved. And I went and talked to him, and I was talking to him about God during that time, he wasn't ready. You know, he wasn't ready. And I remember sitting in the car, I had left him sat in the car, and I sat there and cried because of the love. I want my brother to be saved. Because when you get saved, your eyes open, you no longer see and feel things to say. As if, you know, the first God says you realize everything you thought was wrong, that you could have died and went to hell if it wasn't for the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. I mean, you actually realize that Jesus saved you from hell and and you want everybody that would be free and have that love. So I think love would be our first word. What did Jesus do? He died for us. He died for us. We love somebody, what do we do? We'll go we'll do go hard. Take care of them. And today everything's about money. Everybody wants a dollar.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

And to be accepted. You have people conforming to society. You have saints conforming to society rather than doing no, because we know what the words say, but people look at you different when you start doing that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

They look at you different when you start behaving that way. And I remember when I first came, and you if you notice, when we first come to God, it's just like a parent-child relationship. The baby, the toddler, little middle school, they always want to be under you. They always want to be around you. Where you go, I'm gonna go. But then when we get to be teenagers, we really stray. We stray. We start to drift from our parents. We come to them when we need them, and then we're back to doing what we want to. And that's kind of like what we do with our Christian life. But at some point, if you're growing, that's gonna be a drift. But that drift don't have to include losing that quality time with Jesus. Because if you're losing the quality time with them, how are you getting instructions? How would you know what you're supposed to be doing in Christ and what where you're where you're supposed to be going? He can't tell you because you're not talking to him. You you've started doing other things. And I've noticed that, you know, our spiritual lies kind of mirror our physical lives as kids with parents.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

It is.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

You know, we we turned into teenagers and we just and some of us have done that drift and we haven't come back yet.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

And then there are some of us that realize that we've drifted and we do, okay, Lord, tell me what we I can I did, I'm sorry, can we get can I get back to where I was? That's kind of like where I was when I raised that's not an overnight thing, it's a process. It's a process.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

I mean, depending on how close you are to God. So it's like, you know, God says spend more time with me. Yeah, that's a that's you know, we can go and find that time, that quiet time, spend time with him. But what about when we have strayed away? I mean, God never leaves us, we leave him. So it's a process, you know, getting closer and closer and closer to God because it's just like a relationship. If you and that person are not on talking terms and y'all have distance, it's a process to get to get back what you had from the beginning. It don't mean you don't love each other. You got to, you know, grow, you know, grow your you gotta get back wisdom. You gotta work on it, work on that relationship. It gets better and better every day. So there's a some point you have to stop, don't go any further away.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Right. Say, Lord, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

So when he's saying remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, he wants you to remember where it went wrong. Yeah, where you started. Sometimes you don't know what how did I praying and asking, Lord, show me what I've done, show me where I've messed up, Lord. Open my eyes, open my heart. What did where did it go wrong? And you you're it'll come to you, but you have to get that quality time. You got to get time to yourself. Spend a few minutes, 30 minutes. Yeah, when you could be just thinking and meditating on what life was like. You everybody remember when they first got saved? And everybody has these stories that our encounters, well, not everybody, but most of us have encounters with Jesus, and we can remember that. You just read just sit down and just think, Lord, where did I where did I go wrong? And just talk to him. And then as soon as he brings it to your memory, where you started, what day it was that you kept putting off prayer that day, you kept putting off prayer that day, and then you put prayer off that day, and you put it on, and next thing you know, two weeks have gone by. You haven't prayed not once. You haven't spent not five minutes in quiet, just just you and him. And that's where you started to drift, and that's when you remember it. Lord, forgive me for doing that.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

You can feel the difference.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

I'm sorry, you can feel the difference. Right, it doesn't feel as strong. The pull isn't as strong as it is, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

And in this particular section of the word, just like Jesus is saying, He's talking to the house of God, he's not talking to people that are not not saved, he's talking to Christians that are doing they're working in the church, they're working, doing good. But he's looking at your heart. Look at that spot right there. I need for you to fix that.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

I need for you to to uh you know I think a lot of people just miss tomorrow. You're doing you're getting busy, busy, busy doing all this stuff in church.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Repent and let me restore you.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So that you can go on. Because I was reading I think it was in Matthew this week where God was saying He wants us to bear fruit and that we have to dwell in the vine. We can't bear fruit if we don't dwell in the vine. And Jesus is divine, our God is this, and he's the rule, he's the vine dress. Uh-huh. And we can do nothing unless we dwell in the vine. He said, Those that bear fruit, he pruned them so that they can bear more fruit. And the ones who don't bear fruit, they wither up and they die. I think they cast into the fire. So, as Christians, we're gonna be doing the works, we're gonna be doing it because we're children of God, new preachers in Christ, but God is pruning us.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

And don't get wrapped up in the works. Yeah. As a matter of fact, don't even focus on the works because you can't do the works if you don't have the faith. And the only way to have the faith is to stay connected to Jesus. Right. So that quality time enables you to do the good works. Good works is works for God, not just anybody can do works. Anything, anybody can do some. I've I've been doing good, you know. Don't get us in heaven, but the godly works is what we're talking about here.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

But we want to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and that fruit is love, faith, kindness, and even that, even that comes through.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Staying connected with Jesus. That prayer time is your lifeline. It's your lifeline. You have to have it. Without it, the works is just dead. If you notice, they were doing good. They were doing real good. He told them that much.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

They were doing real good.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

It's not like they were still in trouble because they didn't spend that. That's relationship. That is relationship. And if you remember in Matthew, where Jesus was telling the parable and he said, I never knew you. Depart from me. Depart from me. Yeah, I never knew you. That requires a relationship. I never knew you.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

That doesn't mean you could be working and doing all these good things and just thinking you're living holier than that. But if you don't spend two seconds in his presence or make him priority and spend time with him, you're still doomed. It's just, it's not gonna work. Because you gotta have that relationship. That's where our strength comes from, that's where our joy comes from, that's where our peace comes from, that's where our love comes from. That's how we get self-control. All the fruit is in staying connected to the true vibe. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Right. Everything Jesus did, he didn't waste an image and he didn't waste words. Everything he did, everything he said meant something. I don't want to speed past of who we who standing in front of us first.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

So is it just like he says, addressing his authority? Yes, how he overcomes every obstacle. He's bigger than whatever we're facing, whatever, you know, issue that we're facing in our life, whatever storm that is, whatever it is, God is bigger.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

He is all that's what it all boils down to. And put no people in the emphasis. For him to be looking like he was looking and them going through what they are going through. He was just simply reminding them, I have the authority, I have the power, I have the strength, and I have you. He's telling John to tell them that. So he's talking to the church. He's talking to these people. These and then these are pastors and whoever the apostles, whoever over these churches, he's telling them to tell your congregation this. So the pastor, he's not telling them, he don't want to tell you something, and then you keep it to yourself. He's saying the church in emphasis. You tell the angel of the church in emphasis this, and that angel is over that church. That angel's supposed to deliver that message to that church. So he's talking to the people. Yeah, he's talking. And he's trying to remind them that I, that even though you got all this going around you, and society's doing all this to you, I have the final authority. I have the final rule, I'm your refuge. Come to me. So when he's saying I'm him who holds the seven stars, he's basically saying, you tell the one who is over all this, the one who owns all this, the one who's in control, the one whose authority overrules everything that he said, that I said this. That's basically what he's saying when he starts the letter off that way to them. Because he says to Smyrna something else. He didn't tell Smyrna, you tell, you didn't tell John to tell Smyrna, the angel Smyrna that. He didn't tell him to tell Smyrna that. He told him to tell Smyrna something else, because Smyrna was going through something else, and they needed to see a different aspect of them. They needed to be reminded that of that aspect of them. Because back then it would have meant something to them.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

So it should mean something to us too.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

That means he's going to present himself to us according to So no matter what you're going through, no matter what it was that caused you to drift, if you don't remember nothing else, you remember what that image means. He's holding the seven stars in his right hand, not his left. That's a hand of authority, that's a hand of power, that's a hand of salvation, that's the hand of strength, that's the hand of refuge. He's holding us in that hand. He don't have us in his hand. He's not holding those stars in his left, he's holding his right hand. So if they don't remember any hands on the right hand. You remember, he's sitting on the right hand of the phone. So if you don't remember nothing else, remember who he is. If you can remember who he is, that'll draw you in closer because now you want to know what he's talking about. Even now in society, if they're addressed, if they have on the best of the best, people are interested in them. They don't see what he's talking about. Oh, I want to see what she's talking about. And they're all ears just because of your appearance alone. You can open your mouth and sound like an idiot. But because of how you look, you got my full attention. And how Jesus presented himself to those people during that time, and it wasn't just for them, it's for us too. If you need an image to pray, the battle's in our mind, so we gotta have some type of image of Jesus in our mind when we're praying. Because we need to see in our minds out who we're praying to. If you don't have any other image, have this image of the Son of Man in your imagine yourself kneeling down at his feet, those burnished bronze, refined by the fire, beautiful feet.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

Pierce.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Imagine yourself praying in front of that person. Because he gave you some good imagery here, and all that means something, he's all powerful. That's just who he is. He can get you back from your drift, just come on back home. That's all I'm trying to say is that don't let's not speed past the way he's looking, because he's standing there looking like he's looking for a reason. I'm just saying, just think about how he's looking too, because that means something. Focus on that. Two and one that speaks to his authority. And he's talking, and he was reminding them of his authority before he even tells them anything else. He's reminding them exactly who he is before he starts telling them A, B, C, and D. And people skipping past that authority part. And I and I think that's what we're doing today in society because we're playing with him. A lot of people just sitting out here playing with Jesus, playing with God, like he, because you don't, and you don't even know who he is, and then you just it it I guess they see good Samaritan Jesus, which is what made them turn around and go back to the world. But that's not who we're dealing with. That's not who we're dealing with. We got the great I am here.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

We got the King of Kings. We got a true vine.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Right. We got true vine. The great I is it's just him, the first and the last, the live. So we're dealing with, we're dealing with, and no matter what society has going on, what push pull people away, his authority. Get that image of him, because that right there for me was enough for me to be like, wow, it means so much. We wanted them to remember I'm holding you in my right hand. I I'm over this. You don't have to worry about what you got going on. And what's going on around you. I just need you to come back to me. Right. I need you to come back because we had something going on, and then you left.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Right. That's gonna draw us to search ourselves and say, God, I why is it that's keeping me? We gotta know how to apply it to our lives. He's up there, he's telling them all the wonderful. I see what you're doing. It is good. He's telling us this I have with him. He's gonna judge us when we come to him on judgment day. Oh God, didn't I, didn't I? Like you said, he's gonna say, Department, you work up of iniquity. That I never knew you. The Holy Spirit is the one that's speaking to us. You know what I'm saying? Timmy, I need you for you to do more. If you don't apply this word, you're gonna fit away and die. That's the sign of saying to me, go back, repent. You know what I'm saying, and do your first words. It might your first words might be different than my first words.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

At the end of the day, even though we're talking in history, we are the church. And God dwells in us, and he is in us, and he sees us. We can't hide nothing from him. He says, Hey, I see that spot right there. I need for you to fix that. He sees many Christians today, and because they have not obeyed God, they have followed. They are teaching the word, they are doing the good words, but because they are looking at that spot, because God lets us know what's going on with them. You know, He Holy Spirit speaks to us. Yeah, you know, he lets us know, repent, you need to stop doing this, you need to stop doing this. But if we don't face it, go to God, repent. God, I need help. I need I got I got a problem with this issue, this area here in my life. You know, God does, he's saying, I'm gonna deliver you, just come on to me. But if we look past it, what happens? Down the road, you fail. That preacher, he was so strong, he talked so good.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

I can't believe he failed with that. Yeah, he started missing prayer sessions. That's what he's saying. You abandoned it, you left it. That as we staying connected, we that's how he tells us. When you when you're spending that quality time in prayer and you're making him a priority, you hear the Holy Spirit so much clearer. That spot, you don't have to be, did that well, did you just say it? You hear him clearly. That thing you be doing, it comes it comes to clear when you have that strong prayer. Like when you actually cultivate your relationship with God. You're actually standing, you're making a priority, you're making a point to show up often to talk to him. Show me what I'm doing now, open my heart up, what's going on, where am I missing up? Or just reveal it to them. Because that leads to growth. To grow, and it leads to you doing, that's how you know what to do in those sessions. That's a pruning. I got my mar that's where I get most of my marching orders. That's where I get most of my marching orders. The when I stay in, when I'm staying in close contact with him, even throughout the day when I'm talking to people, and he's telling me things about them, I can hear him when he says, tell her this or tell her that. That that's happened a few times. And I'm like, and then when I say it, they're looking like they got egg on their face. And I'm I don't know what's going on with you, but can I pray for you? Sure, yes, please pray for me, you know. But that that comes through that that close fellowship. Relationship. When you start abandoning those prayer sessions, that connection gets weaker and weaker. He's still talking. It's just so much stuff now that I can't even hear him as strongly as I could be.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

So it all boils down to remember where you sell. Remember where you drifted. That's what we're calling it today, drift. But it's backslide for a second off a year. People are still in their drift. But just remember where it went wrong. Because you gotta remember it. Because if you don't remember it, you're gonna be right back at it.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

But the Holy Spirit will tell you.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

He can't tell you if you ain't spending your time in prayer.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

He's right here.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

It'll be right there, but you still don't miss too many prayer sessions to hear it.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah, because I remember. So you remember when you fell.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Lord, I am sorry that I did blah, blah, blah. And please forgive me. And then you start thinking about the stuff that you did. Start thinking about what you did when you first got saved. Well, I prayed. I looked at pastors on YouTube, the Holy Spirit, I talked to the Holy Spirit a lot. I'm gonna start by doing that. Lord, can you help me? Can let's do this. But I remember doing this and I remember and you start doing that stuff. But it comes naturally to you. If you can't go back to your 30-minute and your hour sessions, 10 minutes, five minutes, just to sit and just quiet and just talk and focus on God. Lord, show me where I show me where I messed up. He will show you. You'll get it. It'll come to you. So clear. And then when he shows it to you, he reminds you of the prayer that you prayed. I did that, should have shown me that. And then you can get back on track. It's not, it's not hard. It's just it's really hard to stay on track, honestly. Because the world has a lot of distractions. And the devil serves all your fun stuff and all your best, all the best things that you love to do. It's a it's a civil platter. Gotta keep them prayer sessions going. Because that's where our lifeline is. At his feet.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Go to the TV. No to you know, you can't go to the beach all the time. You can't, there you gotta put God first.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

There's gonna be some separation. There's some quiet time, there's a season where it's just gonna be you and him. And that was the fun, that was the best time.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

No, people think that when you serve God, that there's no fun in serving God, but there's joy in serving God. And you still get to have fun to do God. You just do a clean thing.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

It challenges you, and oh my goodness. I have been praying. It was just chaos in my body. Lord, I feel so busy. I feel like I do this, this, and all that was in my head. It was all in my head. It was just my mind was racing. I feel hurried and rushed, and like I don't have enough time on the planet to do the stuff that I vote to do. Yeah, and then Rhonda had called me.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

She said, The Lord told me to tell you that everything you need.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

I was praying for clarity. She said, What you're looking for is at his feet. She said, Wait a minute. Yeah, he said, everything that you're looking for is at his feet. And I'm like, She said, I don't, she says, I know I might be sounding crazy. I don't know what this means, but this morning, while I was cooking, he told me to tell you that what you're looking for is at his feet. She said, Monsieur, I said, No, you don't sound crazy. I know exactly what it means. Because I hadn't been praying as often. And I've been, when I said, Lord help me, Lord, how am I supposed to do this and where I'm supposed to go? I feel like I got too much to do. I got too much to do, and I don't got no time to do it. I need some clarity, I need some help, I need some focus. And I said, I know exactly what it means. I said, because I've just been too busy in my head.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

I mean, I can get so overwhelmed sometimes, like, oh, I need to do this, oh, I need to do this. But it's all in the leading of the Holy Spirit. Because God will call you. You feel like this urge. I just I need to go pray. And you blow in there and pray. But you ignore it. You move. You move and move because the Holy Spirit will function you to unspend time in here. Yeah, there are times when you don't. Close that book and read some work. Yep. And you put it up. You had a busy day, you might be driving the work, driving the work, and God Holy Spirit said, you know.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

You're ignoring those calls, and that's how the drift starts. Because you know that that's who's calling. And for me, it was the same way. I know. I will in just a second. I'll do that. And just let's let me top up this one little email and I'm gonna get my and I never did it. Before I know it, it's bedtime, and I'm still remembering it's still on my heart. Stop and pray. Stop and pray. Stop and pray. I will, I will, I will, and then just never get praying. And then day two call, it's the same thing. Fooled me for a week strong one time.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

And you feel and I every day I'm like, but then you start feeling, you feel the difference. You don't feel as strong, you don't feel as confident. But if you get with Jesus with that time and you stay with him, the more you spend time with him, the more clarity, the more confidence, the more everything you need. It's like when we go to our Father, we are the branches, we dwell in the vine, the vine nourishes us. Jesus Christ nourishes us. He knows our day. Let me strengthen you up some more. Let me give you this right here. And then we're able to go and function with peace and joy and strength.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Instead of feeling down, depressed, and tired.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

Yep. And you feel it when you when you stand in a relationship, you're actually cultivating and praying and spending that time with them. You can actually feel that connection. It's strong. It feels like something's I'm being fed something.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

You do, you do.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

And it's constantly there. And it feels so good. It feels like I'm being I think of a butterfly, not a butterfly calipill in a cocoon. And you know how on some shows you can see that little light pulsing through it, and every time it pulses, you see the shape of the calipillo in there. It's the cocoon is feeding it something. And that's how it feels. When you got that, when your prayer life is, when you got a regular rhythm with your prayer life, and you're making that a priority. It feels like you're constantly being, I call it living water. It feels like the Lord has that living water. It gives me butterflies. Just think about it. I got that living water. That connection is there.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

But if you ever start to drift in that drift, and you hang out in that drift, it gets weak.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

And before you know it, you're opening yourself up to more worldly things, one after the other, until you finally have realized you've stepped away from Christ.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

And still they're waiting on you to come back.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

His grace and mercy calls you back.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

You stepped away. Because he's just not going to let them. And thank you. His grace and mercy calls you back. So guess what he did? Told me to start this podcast and call y'all back. You just said it. I appreciate you for saying it. His grace and mercy. I'm not here on my own strength. And I didn't start this for me. I did it because the Lord told me to.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

I'm like, Lord, I don't even know what. He's our parent. And it's just like we who have children, or somebody we're looking after. We're nurses taking care of that child, giving that child everything that child needs. But sometimes that child of wonder, come back in here. And that's what God is to us. The whole get back in here, you're getting out of line. And who's able to tell us our right for wrong? Our parents, our God in heaven. You need to clean that up. If you don't clean that up, that's gonna get you in trouble. That's what Holy Spirit does to us. He's a real father. That's not what God said. He is a real dad.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

You just explained this podcast. You've been asking Keisha what what what this is the podcast. This is Jesus calling you back because we're in this last leg. And I'm gonna tell you something. True saints, you true, all my true brothers and sisters out here. We can feel it. We can feel it. You feel the time. You you feel the time is changing. You feel the shift happening. There's a there's something. It's a challenge. Something's going on. Yeah. The whole family feels it. We feel it. And it's time to come back home. Okay? We ain't nobody perfect. Ain't no perfect Christians walking around here. Ain't no perfect saints walking around here. We all mess up. We get back up and we try it again. And that's why we got the Holy Spirit. Let us know. Clean, that's why. The easiest thing I had to do was stop the the act of sin, the the gambling, the drinking.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

But then there's inner sin.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

That was the easiest thing. Yes, but those acts of sin. That wasn't hard. That was actually pretty easy when I think about it. What's hard is this stuff going internally. What's going through my thoughts? How many people I want to throw punch every day? How many people I want to curse out? I say, Lord, you see what I'm thinking. Please stop me. Because you see what you see what's going on with my those things. That's what I'm struggling with. Inside. The act of sins, when I think about it, that was pretty easy. You know, it took me a whole year after I got saved. Stop gambling. The Lord finally, you know, made me realize, I did deliver you. I kept praying, Lord delivered me. I I showed me the sin in at first. Maybe that'll help. But you know, but he did, he showed me the sin in it. And that it did help. And you know, he told me what to do. I'm Reverend Tony Evans. Reverend Tony Evans.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

Tony Evans.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

He did open up a school. But anyway, Reverend Tony Evans, he had came. He said, if you're dealing with one of his YouTube videos, if you're dealing with addiction, and he had Romans 6, 7, and 8. And I said, okay, Lord, that must be because that was during the time I was praying. Lord, I need to get over this gambling because I started seeing people need to pray for. I can't pray over nobody when I'm struggling with this stuff myself because I don't I mess on them. So I was trying to get out of gambling and doing the stuff I was doing. And so it just so happened I was looking at YouTube and the Holy Spirit finally allowed me to listen to Pastor Tony Evans. And that video came up, Romans 6, 7, and 8, I think was what it was. And I read all three of those chapters every day. Just like he said, I said, Lord, that's my prescription. I took that as my prescription. That was Jesus writing me a prescription. And I read it every day that I read, I prayed. Every morning I get up, I read it again, I pray. And then the Lord said, take a fast. You want to take a fast? And I prayed, and it was that New Year's, December the 31st to January the 1st at one day fast. I took that fast. And he put Miss Sandra, Kedra, and Booger in my head. And I told him, I said, I told Kidra, I said, Well, the Lord's calling me to fast. And while he was telling me, giving me my fast and instructions, I saw you, Miss Sandra, and Booger flashing in my eyes. So I'm inviting y'all to fast. That's what I did. And Keith was dealing with some stuff. I said, Well, I'm gonna go ahead and fast because I think this year is gonna, and that was last year. And this year's gonna be my year to quit. I'm gonna get out of this mess. We deliver. We're gonna go ahead and claim it right now. We deliver.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

Yeah, it's been going on about over a year now. Come on, year number two, I'm not gambling.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

Well, this is a process. Like serving God's a process. And it's a process that will never end until you're not gonna be perfect.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

He said, those who endure until the end. Come back. We're your sisters in Christ, and Jesus wants you back home. We're not doing this for our health.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

We love you. We want you to come back. He's coming back soon. We're gonna know when, but we know that Jesus Christ is coming back. But he says, and I know I want to be ready. Do you guys want to be ready? I want as many of us to go as we can.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Me and Rhonda done claim the angel that's gonna pick us up. And I said, Lord, get in the room for Timmy, because I know he's big enough to carry me, you and Rhonda. He's gonna pick us up. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. But yeah, dibs on the angels, go sweep through and get me and then get Rhonda. We're gonna pick up Tammy on the way to the clouds. I want you to think about woman king and Naoi, the main character, that final trial just before she became an agoji warrior. That whole obstacle course was brutal. Their whole training was brutal. But now we made it through. Now we got right at the finish line. And she looks back, and her friend has fallen. Now, by now, Naoi is bloody, she's cut up, she's tired. And she just had to fight some warriors, she just had to go through some thorn bushes, she just had to group on this big old wall. She was hurting. She fell off the wall, but she ran back and she got her sister. She picked her sister up and her and her friend got up and together they made it across the finish line. She got across there and she so in the beginning podcast, I want y'all to think of me and Timmy as an always. We are coming back to get you because yeah, we want to go to heaven, but we want as many as y'all to come as possible. We just want you, we want all of we don't. I hate to see anybody perish. And it's sad that a lot of people will. Yeah. But as many as they can hear, me and the Lord is gonna get this to whoever he needs to get it to. We want you to come back. And if you're not saved, you're gonna always be welcome to the family. Come back home and welcome to the family. Welcome back home. Timmy, thank you. Because that's why I was going to ask you to read. Could you please read Luke 15, 11 through 32 for us?

SPEAKER_00 39:22

Okay, and I'm coming from the parameter of the lost son. Jesus continued continued. There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he delivered his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got got together all he had, set out for a different country, and there squandered his wealth in the wild living. After he had said everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating. That no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's higher servants have food to spare? And here I am starving to death. I would set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. Okay, stop right there.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

So you notice there's a dream. Okay, go. Now he's remembered.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So he got up and went to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, quit, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fat calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is power. So they began to celebrate. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

I guess that would be the 23. So that's where we were at.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

That's what Jesus is saying to all saints who have found themselves in the drift or backslid, and you just you just couldn't do it no more. I don't even want to be saved no more. Because you can't lose salvation. We know what salvation is. It's where it's gonna always be. You can't you lose it, but you can't reject it. So for those who have turned their back, this is what Jesus is saying. He still loves you. Some people feel too ashamed to come back. They think they've messed up so bad that they can't come back. And then you got people who are claiming to be saints, helping them to wallow it, judging them, kicking them out, not showing them any type of love. But the prodigal son, that is what God is saying to all you who have drifted, who have not just drifted, but you just completely turned away from the faith.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

That's where we are. So final thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

If you're lost, if there's anybody that's not saved and you don't know God and you want to be saved, the Father says He that believeth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that that Jesus died for our sins, and that God raised him from the from the dead. God said, if you believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, thou shalt be saved. He also says that he has a free gift for us, and that it's the power of his Holy Spirit that empowers us to live that holy life that God requires of us. We can't do it on our own. We have to be able to dwell in the vine. And in order to dwell in Christ Jesus, we must receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So if there's anybody that you want to be saved, or somebody that has backsliding, you just confess your sins. Repent, and let's start to come back into your life. Everything is done by faith.

SPEAKER_01 43:53

You must believe.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

God. And I promise you, we all are not the same. There is characters in this house. Yes. This household, everybody's different. He tailors his relationship with us to us. So come back. Let us love on you, because we do love. And if you have any questions, comments, prayer requests, because I can pray for people now. If you have any questions, comments, a prayer request, our email address is this is the only way we can be interactive right now. But it will get better, I promise. In the beginning, ITB at Outlook, and we will pray for you. Continue to love you, encourage you, hold you accountable because we got to hold each other accountable. I want y'all to hold me accountable too. You're always welcome back home. The Lord is reaching out his hands and he's saying, Come back. So our closing prayer is this. Most holy and gracious Father. We give you honor and glory and praise just for who you are, first of all. Thanking you for your love and your kindness, your mercy, your forgiveness. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, I thank you for your grace, Father. How wonderful you are. Thank you, Jesus. You are awe-inspiring, God. You are amazing. Lord, you took your word and you turned him into a person, and we get to call him our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we get to call him God. Father, you took your spirit and you turned him into a person. We get to call him our teacher, our advocate, our friend, precious Holy Spirit. We get to call him God. Lord, we thank you that you've made a way for us to get to you and to speak to you and to talk to you. We thank you for loving us, Lord. And we ask you, Father, right now in the name of Jesus, to touch our hearts, touch our minds. Lord, from where if we've drifted or we're in a drift and don't know it, Lord, we ask you to reveal it to us. Draw us closer to you, Lord. Create that hunger that we had for you in the beginning. Create that service that we have, Lord. Lord Jesus, we thank you right now for your love again, for your mercy. How great you are, Lord. And we ask you, Father, in the name of Jesus, to just continue to watch over us and keep us and draw us closer and closer to you in these last days, in these last and final moments, Lord. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Amen.