Trusting in the Lord

We got uh another awesome guest today.

We got uh Pastor Fernando.

He's from Encounter Grace Church.

I know I've got to sit in on a lot of your men's groups of feminists.

So they're they're really awesome.

Got Brother Vic here, of course.

And today, man, it's gonna be an awesome little little like always, you know, an awesome word.

Like always, we want to target men that are struggling right now, that are, you know, they got one foot in, one foot out.

Hey, they want to come to church.

They know they're missing something in life, but right now the enemy, of course, is using all he can to keep men out of the church, right?

Because that's how he attacks the households by, you know, getting the the role of the man away, right?

So, so men, if you're listening today, like always, you know, we pray that this message reaches y'all.

Make it to that church, whether it be encounter grace, whether it be new life, trinity, whatever, you know, you know, whatever in Lovebook, you know, we pray that this pushes you and shows you that, hey, you know, we're here to open with open arms ready to take you in, man.

So today's topic is uh trusting in the Lord, right?

So whenever Vic wrote this out, that's a good one, right?

Yeah.

Because a lot of us, or you can say like Hollywood or or even even us, bro, like in our hearts and minds, we we feel like if every single answer uh prayer is answered correct, that means we're either doing something right or God's really listening to us, right?

But it's sometimes those prayers that aren't answered.

Yes, and we kind of get like, hey man, like, does God really love me?

Does am I doing something wrong?

Why hasn't he answered this yet?

And I'm sure everybody around this table has had those prayers before.

And and and I have too, right?

And I'm sure the guys listening, maybe some of you guys have had a prayer that hasn't been answered yet.

And that this is why we encourage you guys to go into the church, because if it hasn't been answered, maybe there's something going on that that's why it's not being answered, right?

Or maybe God's telling you to hold on.

Because if I answer it right now, then it could probably even damage your walk, right?

So my question, Fernando, whether it be personal or maybe somebody, and of course, you don't have to name no names, maybe somebody that you've prayed for, or maybe have came to, because as a pastor, right, you've had a lot of men, you know, I'm sure come up to you like, man, I'm struggling with this or this is going on, and I don't know what to do.

But have you ever came across that where it's like, hey man, I does is is God really there?

It makes you question it, right?

I think it's everyday, you know, that's all of us, you know.

Man, at the end of the day, you know, when we, you know, come down to it, everyone of us, you know, even it doesn't matter how how deep our relationship was, we get to a point some days where man, we where we kind of question it, you know?

Yeah.

But trusting God, you know, is is something that's that's crucial, you know.

But jotted some stuff down here, and I put this little, if you see that I put on there, because everyone is of us have heard this.

Yeah, we've had that friend that said trust me, right?

You know, that might take you back to like, yeah, we got in big trouble that night.

You know, yeah, but you know, that that word trust me, because either you said I trust you, or you're like, why should I?

You know?

Because, you know, and that kind of, you know, a lot of that's how the world is today.

Yeah.

And man, you know, when we've got somebody coming in that doesn't know God, you know, that hasn't experienced God, you know, that's a good question.

Why should I?

That's right.

Why should I?

You know, I'm busting my tail at work, working all these hours trying to pay the bills.

Why should I trust this God, you know?

And and it gets down to this, you know, you can't trust someone that you don't know, you know.

That's right.

And, you know, as especially like in the in the men's group, you know, everything that that we study is about us getting uh deeper into God.

That's right.

You know, because if we stay up here on the shallow part, you know, then you're like, we're just playing, you know?

We're on the fence, you know, in, out, in, out.

But man, if we wanna, if we wanna make it to heaven, first of all, you know, you have to be committed to God.

That's deep.

You know?

And whenever we get to what God designed the man to be, you know, when when God, when he says that he formed Adam, you know, and he said that he made Adam man according to his image, you know, there there was no girl there.

It was just man.

It was just Adam, you know?

And I always I like to picture this.

Can you imagine, you know, when God formed Adam, just think about this.

That when God breathed life into his nostrils, the first thing that Adam saw when he opened his eyes was he was face to face with God.

That's right.

Isn't that awesome?

You know, that's right.

That's the first thing that that was the first thing that his eyes saw, you know, as being a living being.

He saw God face to face, you know.

But God gave man a big awesome task, you know.

First of all, we gotta get ourselves to God and get saved, but then God called us to be leaders, you know.

He called us to be the priests of our home.

Yes, we're gonna be able to do that.

And all that, all that, you know, it it takes us, you know, we have to work.

You know, we have to work.

You know, you know, we've heard this all if it if it's if it's too good to be true, and usually it's you know, that's right.

But even in God, you have to work at it.

You know, if you if you were go you work 12 hours a day, you have to make time throughout that day to seek God, to read his word, to pray.

Because if we don't, then our spiritual life is gonna reflect it, you know?

And especially if you're a new man coming into the into into church, you know, man, brothers, I want to encourage you to put some effort into this.

And and I tell you this because when you put effort into God, it will pay off.

Okay, the results will be blessings, you know, because you don't do nothing for just to do with God.

Man, if you pick up a little piece of trash, man, God knows.

Yeah, you know, and we don't do things to so that God can pay us, but but know that one day, anything that you did for God that He is gonna remember.

You know?

And we have to work at it.

You know, I like we have to know.

Yeah.

I like what you said about about playing in the shallow end.

Yeah, that's that's a good metaphor.

That that's a good because a lot of people do that.

Yeah, they play in the shallow end, they're just kind of back and forth, back and forth.

They're really not how how does the world even say they're not taking that plunge.

Yeah, they're not really like, hey, let me let me jump into the deep because that's that's what it is with God, right?

It's like, hey, you're gonna trust me or not?

Well, you're gonna have to come over here where you're probably it's gonna feel like you're drowning, right?

Yeah because everything's hitting you, and and we know who's hitting us, right?

It's the enemy.

Yeah, right.

So that that's awesome.

I also want to pinpoint what you said about, and it brought this to my heart, what you said about if we're gonna work 16 hours, we have to make time for the Lord.

And and and of course, what you just said about that beautiful picture of Adam seeing God face to face first, right?

First thing he saw, because I learned this here at this church when we were, Pastor Art was bringing us over here for y'all's men's group, was that thing I actually taught them about a couple weeks ago at our set at our Saturday Bible study.

That I think Pastor Lada said this.

He said, You tithe 10% of your money, but you guys were being pushed to also tithe y'all's first 10% of y'all's day, right?

And I believe that's the way he put it together, right?

So, and that's what I taught, I was teaching these guys.

I was like, that helps for me.

Because in the morning, right?

After the morning, and my whole family wakes up.

I I got six kids, bro, and I and I got my wife, right?

And of course, it's hectic in my house.

So that's like the only time I can actually study because everybody's still asleep, you know.

You know, four in the morning, you know, I get up and do my thing, right?

But that's beautiful, like that, bro.

The way you said it, like when you wake up, God should be the first thing we see, man.

The first thing that we seek, man.

You know what I mean?

And that's I believe that's tithing 10% of your time.

Because just how he blessed you with a paycheck and you give 10%, he blessed you bless him.

Yeah, he blessed you, he blessed you with life, right?

So, what greater deal to do besides give me your first 10% of the day?

Man, you know what I'm saying?

That's true.

I learned that here, bro.

I was listening to you.

That is true.

Yeah.

So what do you think made me do?

I know there's something in your heart you want to share.

That is true.

So I had been I saw this video recently, and it was an atheist.

And this is crazy because he took the biggest step of faith without even knowing he was doing it.

He was doing it as a, well, since everyone talks so much about it, I'm just gonna, for a month, I'm gonna study Christianity, I'm gonna step into it, I'm gonna see what it's about, but I'm gonna take it deep.

I'm not gonna be on top of the waters as most Christians are.

And he said it just like that, as most Christians are, I'm not gonna stay on top of the water.

And I was like, that's crazy.

An atheist saw that most Christians stay on top of the waters, but he dug deep into it.

He was like, Yeah, that's that hurts because it's like, man, like, what do you mean?

This guy that who doesn't believe in it.

Yeah, and he was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take, like, you know, I'm gonna step into it, but I'm gonna do it as it says for a Christian to do it.

And he steps into it.

I think he got 10 days in, and he's crying on the video.

He's, I want to give my life to God.

I want to but he took that step of faith without even truly knowing he was taking a step of faith.

And I think, you know, as Christians, we should be the first, we should be the example, rather than somebody seeing from outside, like, eh, yeah, these guys aren't even doing what they you know preach.

Yeah, and I think we should start taking that step of faith, taking that trust in him, because I mean, that's all that's necessarily what it is, is trusting in him and you know, trusting that he will take care of you.

As you know, with the 10%, he'll big give back double, even triple of what you give him.

Yeah, that's right.

That's a really like it was a really touching thing because it's like, man, you know, how are we gonna sit here and preach to him?

Like, hey, you should come follow Jesus, but he sees that we we're only on the top level, we gotta dive deep.

Yeah, and it's sad because that's a lot of people out there that won't come to a church because they've been, I wouldn't say that they've been burned, but you know, why did Jesus say, he said it this way, he said, by their fruits you will know them.

And our lives speak so loud.

That's why, you know, and that's what sometimes people don't want to come to church because of church people.

You know, that's true.

And and and and men, you know, they're they're burned out, you know, man.

You know, I've seen the you know the church, the church guys, you know, church men, man, they're they're the worst ones, you know.

And that, you know, so that's our fault.

You know, that's on us, and that's exactly right.

Like, like Vic said, is that it's because people don't men don't take the plunge, man.

They don't get serious.

That's right.

Look at Proverbs 3.

I mean, we've all heard this one trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

It says, in all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight.

Dude, I love the I love the message format.

I love to when I preach, and look what it says it says, trust God from the bottom of your heart.

That's what that atheist did.

He didn't, yeah, he didn't say, I'm just gonna learn about this and put it in my head.

He did it from the bottom of his heart.

He says, Don't try to figure everything out on your own.

Amen.

It says, listen for God's voice in everything that you do.

Like in everything, not just every now and then.

Man, brothers, we're supposed to give it all to God and be led by him a hundred percent.

That means if you're a mechanic, you're putting head bolts on, you're doing that for God and with God.

If you're out there where brother Peter works, that's you know, you're doing that for God, with God.

And we use the same thing with you, but the everything we do, you know, we shouldn't exclude God from any part of it.

It says everywhere you go.

He said he is the one who will keep you on track.

It says, don't assume that you know it all.

It says, run to God and run from evil.

You know, brothers, when we're faced with the things that we fall to, it says here we need to run from them, you know, and we don't just run away from, we run to God.

You know, whenever we can run to God first, you know, and we'll learn that, you know, the devil gets us.

Sometimes he gets us every day with the same trick.

You know, he's got us down.

He's like, I got you.

I know, yeah, I know I did it yesterday, I did it the day before.

But dude, we gotta run to God and we gotta run from that evil.

It says, and your body will glow with health, and your very bones will vibrate with life.

It says, honor God with everything you own, everything.

It says, and give him the first and the best.

And it says, your barns will burst and your wine vats will brim over.

It says, but don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline, don't sulk under his loving correction.

It's the child he loves that God corrects.

Amen.

It says a father's delight is behind all this.

Amen.

Because as a father, you can you can you can just yeah, I mean, like as a father, you can understand this, right?

Because you love your son, daughter, whatever it may be.

When she messes up or he messes up, you're correcting him from love.

And that's what a lot of us don't understand is when God's doing his correction, right?

We feel like, man, what did he did he forget about me?

I mean, he didn't answer that, so what am I doing wrong?

That's the first thing we want to say is what are we doing wrong?

Or or see, he's not real.

Yeah.

But we don't see that part.

That's the chastising part, right?

Where he's like, Well, I can answer that, right?

Because you're you're not where I can answer that.

Because I've heard that some blessings, right, can can harm you, right?

Or they can do wrong, right?

Yeah.

And I like that part right here, what you with what that translation says, trust God from the bottom of your heart for all the men listening.

At the end of the day, it's not the outward, because we can play the part outside all the time, right?

It's what's in your heart, right?

Like when you give that tithe, you're really trusting.

That's what I was teaching these guys the other day, right?

It was some people do give the tithe, but they give it almost like it's a bill, right?

Yeah.

There it is, there it is.

No, you should be giving it like, hey, I'm doing this because the Lord's gonna provide work next week, next week, next week.

And we can't hide our heart, right?

From from God.

Because we we can I can hide it from you.

Yeah, I can play the part all day long, and you're not gonna, you're gonna think I'm a I'm a I'm a decent brother, right?

But yeah, God knows my true heart.

Yeah, and I can't hide that for sure, man.

You know, that's right.

It's all a heart posture, bro.

Yeah, you know, you know, God will see through a$3,000 suit.

Yeah, the church might not, I might not, but man, we don't treat God, we don't fool God.

We don't, you know, and that's why it's so important.

And you know, and and then sometimes, brothers, you know, as as we grow spiritually, yeah, you know, sometimes the the answer doesn't come the way we want it because we're being put through a test, you know?

Because you can't be trusted if you can't be tested, you know?

That's right.

You have to pass the test first, you know.

And a lot of the times the growth in our life, you know, because you don't just come to church, brothers, like men that are listening, man, it's not just about stepping inside a building.

That's right, you know, it's it's about giving your life over to God and letting him do something awesome with your life, okay?

But in that life, it's more than just punching the clock, it's a complete transformation of what you want to swear.

The Bible says that whenever we come to Christ, that we are a new creation.

That means that when they say new creation, that means that you start completely over.

You're not the same that you are no more, you're someone brand new.

But that person has to grow spiritually.

And that growth sometimes comes from us going through the storms, going through the struggles, the things that we ask God to take from our lives.

Sometimes those are the things that are molding us and making us into who God wants us to be.

Okay, because we see ourselves through kindergarten eyes, and God sees us through graduated, college grads, masters having people, amen, that have obtained the blessings that He has for us here on earth.

Because sometimes we settle for the bottom, and God's like, son, I want you off the bottom.

I don't want you to stay there no more.

So sometimes, you know, we have to just commit ourselves to God.

Amen.

It's in the commitment.

Amen.

You know, and and brother, if you're if you're discouraged today, going through trials, facing the same, the same old, same old, I want to encourage you to seek God and ask him for direction.

And you know, here's what when I was about, I think I was like eight years old, I went to a vacation Bible school up there.

I grew up in a little town called Cotton Center.

Speck on the map.

You know, I heard of that.

Cotton Center, I heard it.

And uh I remember being eight years old and I memorized John 3.16 and uh memorized it, never forgot it.

But when I was 18 and I gave my life to the Lord, that verse finally made sense.

Because, see, I knew it all those years, but I did not know what it was.

Because you don't know who God is until you've experienced the love that God has.

You know, and when Jesus comes and he puts that love inside of you, because see, the the love of God is what draws us all in.

Whether you want to admit it or not, you know, we're drawed in by his love because we feel it, we experience it.

We don't, it's not, you know, we're not coming there to see how it feels.

No, I felt it.

I knew it was real, I knew that God was real, and that's what drew me in.

You know, and all of us come because of that.

You know, and it's that love that breaks us down.

Yeah, you know, it doesn't matter how how big and bad you were, how many ugly things you've done, you know, a lot of men have had there's men, you know, I I was we grew up in the country and we weren't, I knew nothing of the city life and gangs or drugs, hardly at all.

I'm not saying that I was any better by no means.

Yeah, but we just I just we weren't in town.

It was different.

Yeah, yeah.

But the Bible says that we all fall short.

We all sin and we all fall short of the glory of God.

Because it there's nobody that can step up to God and say, man, God, I was pretty good, wasn't that?

No, none of us, not a single one of us, right?

You know, we all have to come in the same way, yeah.

But it's that love that brings us in.

You know, and a lot of these men go around, they dude, they there's people, I tell my kids, uh, my my son, my son, because he teaches the youth, and he's like, sometimes he's like, man, these kids, you know, that go through a lot of stuff.

Son, I said, you were super sheltered.

You know, you grew up with me and your mom.

We went to church and we grew all up in the church.

I said, There's kids out there that weren't that lucky.

They didn't have that, man.

And there's men that have had horrible, hard lives, and they carry all this stuff around, you know.

And sometimes us from the outside looking in, we're like, you know, you need to change, you know, you need to stop doing that and you know you need and give your life to God and it's all, but man, these guys, they got a lot of stuff in there.

Amen.

You know, and and sometimes from us, from the pastors or from the church leaders, man, we gotta work with them guys.

Yeah, you know, it takes that little extra call, that little extra push, that going out of the way to shake his hand before he walks out of the church.

Yeah to know that, hey, I don't know what you've been through, but I don't care what it was, but God can help you.

You know?

And that's that's where we have to, that's where we have to work with these guys, you know?

Yeah because man, you know, Jesus said he saw the multitudes and he had compassion on them.

I love that.

You know, because and that's that's how we should be.

That's right.

You know, it should never be about achieving a number at the church, man.

Yeah, it's about getting as much people in there as we can.

You know, we want you to know who Jesus is.

You know, I don't care about anything else, even if you come to our church or somebody else's, but you have to know Jesus.

That's right.

Because we don't want you to go to hell.

Yeah, right.

That's what the bottom line is, is that we shouldn't want anybody to go to hell.

And that's beautiful, bro, that you said that about the eyes of Christ, right?

Because I've been I've been studying this book or reading this book, right, that a brother gifted me from the men's group.

It's Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

I don't know if you heard him.

Uh awesome book, bro, but it's uh for me.

Uh-huh.

Because I've never been a big reader, right?

Yeah.

You know, but now I'm starting to read a lot of books now that I've been in my Bible like crazy, right?

And I want to learn more, right?

And I want to, so there's this is he's a Christian man and he was alive during the when Hitler was killing all the Nazis.

And he was a German himself, but he was a Christian.

And so he he ended up losing his life because he was trying to, you know, of course, minister during this whole time.

Like, hey, what we're doing is wrong.

It's, you know, antichrist, and you know, the whole the whole nine yards, right?

So, anyways, he said that, bro.

He said that it's because the name of the book is called uh the costs of discipleship, what it's gonna cost you, right?

Because we know salvation is free, but it costs you everything, right?

And he used that part and he said that he goes that as a disciple or as a man of God or a woman of God, he goes, if you do not have that for people, what Jesus said when he said he looked out into the crowd and and and he had compassion, he goes, if you don't have that, he was like, I'm sorry, but you're not in the right, you're not your heart's not in the right posture.

Because you shouldn't be looking at people like that.

You shouldn't be looking like what you just said, like, why can't that bro just get it together, man?

Like, what's wrong with him?

Just come but God's like, Jesus was like, you don't look at people like that.

You're supposed to have compassion for them, and like you said, well then spend some more time with him.

If you if the you know, right instead of judging him, right?

Like, hey, you know, so spend time with him, you know, just tell him what you know will show them in the scriptures, what you know, how to have a better life, man.

But yeah, that's yeah, that's beautiful because I've read that word.

I'd like to give like a little testimony on that.

So I have an uncle, and I don't mean to put him down, but this man, he's done things, he's been through things, he's he's yeah, he's like the whole nine yards.

If you saw this guy, you'd be like, Oh man, I'm gonna walk this way because he's tattoos everywhere, you know.

The street life.

Well, actually, the day I got married, he texted me, he's like, Hey, what time does church start?

I was like, what?

Like, what?

What do you mean?

What time does church start?

You go to church?

Yeah.

And he was like, I just want to, you know, see what how it's like.

You know, and I was like, I mean, church, church starts at 11 30, English service, I'll be there.

And he shows up.

Well, I I showed up and then he's calling me.

Are you here yet?

I've been parked in the parking lot.

Oh, wow.

I'm already walking in.

And he's like, all right.

So we kind of meet in the front.

And I walked in, I ended up walking to the back, and he was in the sanctuary.

And everyone's hey, how you doing?

It's good to see you again.

And you know, saying hi to him.

And when we sit down and everything, he taps me, he's like, I really love it here.

And I was like, who are you?

Like, this isn't my uncle.

I know you.

I've known you for the past 22 years of my life.

And I was like, What do you mean?

Like, what you this isn't.

And he was like, Everyone acts like they know me.

Like, I'm real, like, they're treating me with compassion.

And I was like, Yeah, because that's you know, that's what it's meant for.

That's what you're supposed to do.

And he's like, I feel welcomed here.

I feel, you know, other he's been to churches, and he's like, and everyone looks at me like I'm crazy.

And I mean, my dude's got tattoos.

Yeah.

And I was like, I understand why, but like, you have to, yeah, you have to be treated with compassion.

He's like, I really do feel loved and welcomed here.

Service hasn't even started, it's just that what like five minutes that we get before?

Yeah.

And I was like, I mean, there's a reason why you're here.

Yeah.

And you just service goes over, and then it's the day we got married.

And he's like, You're getting married today?

I was like, hey, God didn't bring you here for no reason.

You're gonna see your nephew get married, and he was all excited.

But yeah, I just like to point that out, showing that compassion.

I mean, even to some people that gone through life very like, I'm telling you, he's had been through the mud, he's been through it all.

There's things that you think you've seen, he's seen worse.

Yeah, and to for him to say those words, it blew my mind because I was like, like, I've seen the church compassion, but I've never seen it from eyes of like, you know, different standpoint.

Yeah, and he really did like it shook him.

And I mean, he ended up from old charges, he ended up going back to jail.

But he's I've called him, I've talked to him, and he's working in the churches, he's doing Bible studies, and I'm like, who's this guy?

Like, where you been at?

Because I've been waiting for him.

And he's been like moving in the prison system and everything.

And I was like, that man is like that's a blessing.

Just from a little compassion.

I I want to say it was one of the ushers that told him, like, hey, I've seen get to see you again, and he's like, bro, I've never been here in my life.

And I was like, hey, yeah, but now he's moving, he's living for God, he's you know, and I think that's just like one touch of you know, compassion shows.

And and I think that's what that's that's why we talked about that, man, or why I opened up like that was because that does happen a lot.

Like when I invite people, or I even hear them talk about church, is that, you know, as they say, man, well, they're gonna, it's gonna, you know, they're gonna judge me or yada yada yada.

Because even me, when I when I returned to the church, right, because I had I had a big prodigal son deal, you know, of course, 15 to 18 years, I was out of the church, right?

And didn't want nothing to do with it, nothing at all, right?

But when I got that calling to come back, right, I had it heavy on my heart.

The enemy was in my mind.

He didn't want me to come back, right?

But that's a whole thing too, and trusting in the Lord, right?

At that time, I was trusting in him without knowing.

Because even in the parking lot, I was just like, I was telling my wife, like, I don't want to come in here, man, because I was ashamed.

And we know what is what does the Bible tell us?

Jesus forgives sins, right?

And there's only one person who reminds you of your sin, and that's the enemy.

And while I was in that parking lot, bro, like, he was reminding me of everything, and he was like, No, you don't want to, you know, it's just in my mind, like, don't go in there, don't go in there.

They're gonna, they know everything you did, you know, you they're gonna make fun of you or or whatever.

They're they're not gonna accept you.

But no, that was the biggest lie because as soon as I walked in, I mean, just like that, I remember Pastor Sam from a young age, and he was the first one I saw.

And he just like, and he's a tall guy, right?

He was just like, Peter, and he was hands wide open, and I was like, oh, this was nothing that I thought was gonna happen, right?

But for those listening, that's that's how the enemy works, right?

He's real tricky.

People gotta remember he's been the enemy for what 2,000, 3,000 years, right?

So he's pretty tricky.

Oh, yeah.

You know, he's real tricky.

He knows since he got kicked out of heaven, he's still mad.

He's still mad.

So a question, Fernando.

Yes, sir.

I got a uh one for you.

I want to pick your brain cut.

So, I mean, obviously, we know you weren't a pastor your whole life.

No, when you first came to Christ, right?

Was there a time, and honestly, because there's a I know there's a lot of men I've went through this.

Was there a time when you did question it?

Where it really did test your faith, let's just say at the very beginning, maybe mid, but was there a time that you were like, Man, is this gonna work, man?

Is this working?

Is it is am I even doing the right thing, or is there any time that you questioned it?

Oh yeah, yes, sir.

So uh, and it's uh so you know, it's it's like uh I got saved when I was 18, and uh but I didn't give my life completely over to God, you know?

Yeah, and like that's that's many of our tr of our struggle.

Yeah, you know, and then I got married when I was 21, and when I was about 28 years old, I started getting still going to church, tithing, you know, yeah, pretty, you know, on n didn't miss no church, you know, doing the church thing, crossing the t's, doting the i's, yeah, checking the boxes.

When I was 28, I started getting some anxiety and panic attacks.

And I I mean it the worst feeling of my life, thinking that I was about to die.

And this happened for like six years.

Got put on on antidepressant medicines and couldn't eat.

I couldn't go out with my family because I was afraid.

I I mean, I I was going back and forth to work, but just barely making it.

You know, couldn't swallow.

I couldn't breathe at I thought I couldn't breathe at night.

I thought at night my heart would stop and I'd wake up, you know, and it was the most ugliest feeling that I ever felt in my life.

Wow.

And going to the doctor, you know, still going to church, but I go to the doctor and I go to this this Indian doctor, he's an Indian.

And he's telling me, he's like, There's nothing wrong with you.

He said, he said, put your faith in God.

And he puts his hands together like that, you know, and and I don't even know if this man was a Christian, but he's telling me, like, like, hey, you might want to look for something, you know, because there's nothing wrong with you.

You know, and uh I was had gotten up to the highest dosage of that medicine that I was on.

And I was going to church and and finally I stopped going to church.

Finally got bad enough.

I stopped going, and the pastor went to my to my house, and he said, I was outside over there with my daughter, and I knew he had pulled up and he was out front talking with my wife, and he went over to where I was and he said, he taught me these words.

He said, He said, I don't need your money.

He said, I don't care about your tithe.

He said, but I gotta make sure that you make it to heaven.

He said, You need to commit your life to God.

And at that moment, at like my mid-30s, I realized that I'd been I hadn't been playing church, but I hadn't been fulfilling the calling that God had put in my life.

You know?

Because God was calling me tomorrow and I didn't want to.

Because I was super happy with the good life and everything.

I loved church.

I didn't drink, I didn't smoke, I didn't do none of that stuff.

But God was calling me to something else.

And I was telling God, no.

Well, after the doctor said that, you know what, once you get on this medicine, it's hard to get off.

He weaned me off down to nothing, and I've been free from it for over almost 15 years now.

Wow.

And uh but yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I questioned that, you know, and and but you know, it's just man, God doesn't like us to play church.

No, that's right.

He does not like that.

That's right.

And men, if you know you listen to me, man, any when it's got to do with our with our eternity, yeah.

We don't we don't think about it.

Everybody says, Well, you're going to hell.

People say, go to hell, you know, like it's not that man, but it's an eternity.

Yeah, yeah.

The Bible says that that there will that that's where we're gonna spend forever.

That's it.

You know, yeah.

We're either gonna be in heaven or we're gonna be in hell.

There's no in between, you know.

So, brothers, just take it somewhere.

That's right.

You know, that's right.

We can't be playing around.

That's right.

You know, and if you've studied your Bible, you know, you you even the TikTok things, everybody's like, man, the end is near.

Yeah, and it is, it is, bro.

The signs are being fulfilled on the daily.

Yeah, man.

We it's right now, it's crunch time.

Yep, it's almost the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter.

That's right.

And there's men out there, there's families up there.

We all have loved ones that are not serving God, that are not saved.

Brother, man, it's time for us to get off our cans and get to work.

That's right.

You know, start doing something.

You know, hey, we gotta get serious about this because we can't be playing around.

That's right, bro.

That's right.

That that's deep, bro.

Because that's I think I think that's why we do it like this, bro, because Holy Spirit takes over.

And I'm pretty sure there's somebody out there listening to what you know what you had to say, because that's a lot of people's story.

Because look, you're a pastor, you're an awesome man of God, right?

But you haven't been that your whole life.

Yep.

God had to put you through something, so now you can identify with people like that, right?

Yep.

And yeah, and I know anxiety is bad, bro, because my wife uh struggled with that, bro.

For and gosh, like when I got with her, man, I would sometimes be like, Of course, I was in the world, right?

What's wrong with you?

Yeah.

She would get like that, bro.

She's like, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't, yeah, she would start crying.

So I I know the depth of anxiety, bro.

Not because I did it personally, but because my wife, yeah, and she would have to take medication too, man.

And praise God that she don't take it anymore, right?

But yeah, dude, it it's it's something like it's it's you know, I guess you can say like Jonah, right?

He ran from his calling.

Yeah.

And look what the Lord did, right?

Because he was supposed to go and and and preach to a city that he wasn't, you know.

She didn't want to go.

He didn't want to go.

Because he didn't like those people, you know.

He didn't like them.

You know, and and it's crazy because we talk about Jonah and we talk about God's compassion because he he sat to watch, because he's like, he knew in his heart that weren't gonna change, you know.

But God had different plans, you know.

Yeah, he got to see the compassion of God.

That's right, man.

You know, and for those that are listening, that's right, the story of Jonah.

Jonah didn't want to go preach to uh yes, Nineveh was just a horrible city.

You can probably pick any city in the United States and it's gonna it's gonna match up to Nineveh, right?

Yeah, but that's how God's mercy is, guys, for you guys listening.

Even though the other world and maybe even Christians look at these cities or these towns or these neighborhoods, and like, man, they ain't gonna change.

They ain't gonna change.

Man, God looks at it differently.

He's like, man, there's somebody in there that's gonna change.

Yeah, he's God's rich, his mercy's rich, right?

It's rich.

He's gonna, he's waiting for you.

He's waiting on us, man.

And uh that's deep, you know.

And and and that's why I want I asked that, because I'm like, yeah, I know it'll it gets emotional, right?

Because it brings you back to a hard time, but but man, our testimony can reach many.

Amen.

Yeah, you know, and it's very true.

That depression and anxiety, and it's man, it's real.

It is, and it uh it brings like in the youth today, the young kids with all the pressures, all the cyber, I don't know if that's the word of the day of this today, but the bullying that goes on, you know, because because of the social media and all that, dude, that dang anxiety and that depression is real.

Yeah, and the devil uses it for to bring suicide, you know, into you know, and man, we gotta stand we gotta stand against it.

I can tell you firsthand, you know, that with reading your Bible and praying that you can overcome that you know, because that's what it took for me as every time that something would pop into my mind, because it first starts is up here.

Yeah, you know, and you know, just uh Joyce Myers says the battlefield of your mind, yep, but that a battlefield up there, you know, it's the it's the enemy whispering things in your ear.

Did you feel that?

Yeah, did you feel that?

You're sick, there's something wrong with you.

You're fixing to die, you're fixing to take your last breath, you know, and but you know, we have to overcome it.

The Bible says that we gotta take every thought captive, you know, and take it to the obedience of Christ.

You know, so whenever we can learn to do that, so anytime the enemy takes tells you something, we take it to God.

That's like we go to God to verify it.

Like, yeah, is this true?

And God will verify it, you know, and if it's not from him, he will get rid of it, you know.

But we have to get ourselves there where we can allow for God to do that, you know, and it goes to that first deal is that we cannot trust someone we don't know.

Amen.

You have to know.

I have to know.

You have to dig deeper.

Yep, you have to know.

You have to know.

That is very true.

Man, that was that's awesome.

That's powerful, right?

That's always powerful, bro.

That was always yeah.

Anything, anything in clothing, babe?

I don't know.

Right now, that gotta be, yeah, that was you getting deep with that one.

I like so I was reading this back piece, and it says, get to know God through his word that builds trust.

Now, I know a lot of people nowadays struggle because you hear a lot of, well, the Bible's not true, the Bible's you know, this and that.

And I think I like to see that even on like news outlets, there's so much proof, there's so many things that show that the Bible is real.

Yes, you there's they found so many artifacts, they found so many things that prove that the Bible is real, but they still, nah, I don't know, it's been touched by so many hands.

It's been well, there's this there's the one thing that I like to because I mean when you start reading the Bible, the uh it's the connections.

I don't know if y'all have seen it, it's a little picture and it has all the connections that the Bible has.

Oh, yeah.

And it's like a huge it's more than a rainbow because it's many connections.

Yeah I I think Josh Howerton was just speaking on this.

It was like six thousand, sixteen thousand connections throughout the whole Bible.

And in my mind, it's like, how can you not trust something that's connected that was written over thousands of years, but still, yeah, I mean, all these connections, all these, and he leads to one thing, you know, back to God, back to being saved at the end of it, back to making his way to heaven.

Like there's so many connections, and I understand it is hard to trust things that you know, oh, man's touched it, you know, it's it's not the same as it used to be.

But one thing that I want, I'm I want to, I've been trying to do is read back into like the Greek, read start learning the older language.

So you you're not reading what man touched now.

You're gonna go back into what the original language, back into Hebrew, back to and I think that's something that you know we should some guys, I think it should take a step of well.

If you don't trust this, the you know the translations now, then try to go back to the original text.

Go back and you know translate those because I've done some reading, and man, I it's like crazy.

It translates way better than what the Bible now translates, but it's the original text.

Yeah.

But yeah, there's so much there.

Yeah, yeah.

I I know one simplified thing, man, and it and it probably sounds I've I've heard this before, and it's as simple as it can get, right?

If you look at your old history books, that's why when a lot of people try to question Jesus Christ, did he really die?

Did he really resurrect?

Well, there's a lot of literature out there that backs it up.

Like, yeah, this he was he was so much of an important figure in that time that look how simple this is.

Did even the old textbooks, right, say, Oh, this happened, yada yada yada BC before Christ.

Because he was such a a big monumental time period, yeah.

Yeah, while he was there.

And that guy goes, You don't hear nobody saying before Muhammad, before Buddha, before whatever, you hear them say BCC.

That's a wide time period.

Yeah, BC.

Yeah, and A D.

Yeah, because he it was just a uh he's the marker for that time.

Yeah, and that's how they say it.

Okay, when you read this, this is yada yada year BC, right?

Or AD, right?

After after what is it, after death or after dissension or something like that?

I think it's after death.

After death, right?

So I would say so.

So, like, yeah, I was like when I heard him say that, he was like, this is so simple, bro.

Like, you know, because you don't, you know, all the other religions that are out there, you don't hear them using those as modern times, bro.

You know, even the Muslims gotta use our Jesus to waste their time.

Yeah, too.

Where's yours at?

Exactly, right?

Exactly.

Yeah, like uh one of the little a couple little one more little line that I wrote jotted down right there.

We can trust God by reading and hearing of what he has done for others, you know.

There's power in the testimonies, but but I but my next line right there, look, it says, But let me tell you, man, I trust him because he heard my cry.

Amen.

You know, that's right.

A lot of us come to church because, man, we've experienced God.

That's right.

Like, yeah, I I I know what the Bible says and I believe it.

Yeah, I believe that he touched your life, but man, I'm here because of what he did for me.

Yeah, what he did, you know, because he heard me, you know.

Yeah, yeah, that's powerful.

Yeah, that is very strong, man.

Yep.

And uh there's there's a man out there right now listening, and all you gotta do is trust, bro.

Trust, walk into those church doors.

We're recording right now, it's a Saturday.

I don't know when it's gonna make it, but tomorrow's Sunday, walk in that church door, man.

Just trust him, man.

Walk in that church.

I mean, the next service day, whatever the Sundays and Wednesdays.

Sunday, Wednesday, Monday night prayer.

I don't know when you guys have it, but I mean, there's there's a lot of churches out there.

Guys, you know, we're in the Lubbock area, but I'm sure in your city there there's churches out there.

Or you're gonna just reach out to that brother that you know.

Hey, I know this guy goes to church.

I'm pretty sure they would not mind taking that step of.

Oh, well, I I can I'll explain it to you.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we well, I mean what Lubbock has what, probably what, 2,000 churches?

Come on, brothers.

Pick one.

Turn the corner.

This one I think.

Yeah, pick one, man.

Pick one.

I guarantee you're not you're you you'll you'll love it, you know.

So trust in him and and just try it and make your own testimony.

Well, not make your own, let the Lord make your testimony, right?

Because uh then that's when you'll really trust him, is when he pulls you out of it.

He's probably not gonna pull you out the way you want to be pulled out, right?

Because uh me, but when I got pulled out, I had expectations I was gonna get pulled out, and it didn't go anyway that way, yeah, right?

It went different, but I love it, right?

And uh just trust the process, let him let him get you out of your mess and and and have your own testimony to reach out to your your family, brothers, and whoever else is out there that need test, man.

Amen.

But Fernando, we appreciate it, bro.

No problem.

Thank you for the invitation, man.

It's awesome.

For a lot of people who don't know, me and uh Fernando he likes classic cars like I do.

Yeah, you know.

Pastor Jesse, our Pastor Jesse, he loves classics too, you know.

You know, I had to take a small break from them because they were kind of pulling me to the side too much, right?

But taking too much of my time, but I still got a love for them, man.

So me and Fernando, we we we we hit it off like that, man, because he's a classic car.

We love them, man.

So I love junk.

There you go.

Yeah, me too.

Save here, man.

My wife, my poor wife, yeah, and then I'll buy another one, and she's like, and I'm like, then I see another one, like, man, that's the car of my dreams.

She's like, I thought the other one was like, no, that was the car of that dream.

This is this is the new dream.

This is the new dream.

Good night.

So, amen, man.

Well, we appreciate it, Fernando.

Thank you, brothers.

Encounter grace, y'all come check them out.

Yeah, 10 o'clock Sunday mornings, and then Wednesdays at 7.

Amen.

Give them the address, bro.

101 East Two Lane.

Amen.

Do you have any events coming up?

Anyway, no, not that I know of.

But I know that if y'all want to pray for us, our church, our neighborhood here, where our church is, is the the Muslims just purchased an old school building right in our neighborhood, right up the street, and they're calling it a community center, you know, and they're giving lots of free stuff to the community, and then every time they go in there, they get a little free lesson on the Quran.

Oh, yeah.

So, uh man, if y'all help us pray, you know, wait, do we I mean we know that they ain't got nothing against God, yeah, but the compassion, yeah, because they're misleading these people, you know?

That's right.

And you know, you all you gotta do is look a little bit, study a little bit on their stuff, man.

These, you know, they might look peaceful now, but they're not a peaceful people.

No, they're not peace.

You know, they don't they don't like Christians, you know?

Yeah, so uh man, if we could just pray, you know, and just believe that that God's gonna clean this neighborhood up.

Amen.

And then that's and you know, when when God gets rid of the stuff that's against him, that's part of it.

That's right.

That's right.

That's right, man.

Oh, quick little shout out, cause that's where I learned up about all that.

You know, what we don't want to, we want y'all to get it, understand it right, right?

We love Muslim people.

We just don't like that evil inside Islam, right?

And shout out to like God Logic, Sam Shimon, David Wood.

You really want to know the meats and bones of that religion, check out the check out their podcast on YouTube, and they'll they'll show you the real part of Islam that they're trying to hide from everybody.

They come in peacefully, but the once once they're there a majority, then they they come in with a sword.

Yeah, and uh so check them out, man, and that way you can see that we're not attacking them.

We're just we're just trying to make it known what what they're really about, man.

So well, I appreciate your time, brother.

And uh we're definitely God bless you, bro.

God bless everybody.

Thank you, brother.