02-17-23

The speaker starts off by acknowledging the first person joining the conversation. They express gratitude and excitement for the morning and share some brief interactions with other participants. They mention the number of people present and express their appreciation. The speaker then begins to talk about a story they want to share. They mention being blessed by someone giving them a track in a parking lot. They express their excitement about the story and encourage others to listen and share it. They mention the Bible verse Hebrews 11:1 and highlight the phrase "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." They show a card to the camera and explain that the church they pastor needs a new roof, but they don't have enough money for it. They talk about the small size of their congregation and the low average Sunday offering. They mention trying to save money for the roof but facing various challenges and setbacks over the years. They ask if anyone else h Alright, who's the first one on this morning? Will it be Ray? Who is it? Let me see. And the name comes up. Ray is the first one again. Ray! My brother, my brother, I appreciate it. It's good to see you this morning. Once again, the first one on. Love it, love it, love it. Brian, back to back right there. I love it. How are you gentlemen doing this morning? Good to see you. Got my Bible, got my coffee. Uh oh. TLBS 4? TLBS 4 is up there right there in the top five. Let's see something. Let's see something. Alright. Alright. Just making sure. TLBS 4. Always in that top five getting on this morning. Praise God. I'm good, Brian. Amen. Got a great story today. Man. Oh, we got 185 on already? Wow. We got a great story today. You guys are going to want to hear this. You might have seen my post. You're going to want to hear this. Man, you might want to send this out. I was blessed yesterday morning by the gentleman giving me a track in McDonald's in the parking lot. Amen. Love it. Love it. Finer than a frog hair split three ways. Good morning. 287 people this morning. May God bless you guys. Oh, my, my, my, my. My, my, my, my. What an incredible morning. Praise God that the Lord will allow us to see another day. Praise God. Wow. Wow. Guys, good morning. Let's start off in prayer. Lord, thank you for blessing us to see another day. Thank you for allowing us to wake up. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you, Lord, for who you are and what you've done. Lord, we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right. This morning, guys, I got to share something with y'all. Let me take a sip of the coffee. I got my coffee here. Hebrews 11.1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Wow. Wow. The substance of things hoped for. Let me get a sip. Let me share something with you guys. First, let me show you guys a card. It will be backwards. Here's the card. Okay. And I know it's backwards. Please forgive me. Where have you been, Pastor Paul? I've been here. I've been here. We're doing our lives every morning now at 0630. So I'm here. But praise God, I'm glad to see you here. Watch this. I just started following you, friend. Man, here we go. Man, a man tipped me $400 after cutting his hair. Get out of here. Praise be to God. And let me add to that. I bet you that $400 was right on time. Tell me it was. Tell me that $400 was right on time. And matter of fact, guess what? I want somebody, after I tell this story, I want someone to tell me something incredible that's happened with you. I'm going to share a story about this card. All right? About this card. But I want someone to go on with me and tell me an incredible story about something God has done in your life that was pure faith. It was pure faith. All right. Let me share this story. Once again, Hebrews 11. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Okay, watch this. Folks, as you all know, I pastor a church in Phoenix. And this church was built by my father in 1986. Okay? The original roof is on there. Our old church was built in the 50s, but Dad got bought out by the airport. So he built the church that I now pastor. The building that we're in is the one I pastor. Well, by strange coincidence that our building, the insurance for our building had lapsed. And so our roof is not covered. So anything that comes in, a storm or anything, we can't call insurance. So we had been trying to save money for a roof. Now, our congregation, for those of you who have visited, is very small. And we don't raise a lot of money. And I'll be honest with you all, our average Sunday offering, the physical offering, is about $200 a Sunday. And that's a lot. Our cash app offering, add that in, is about $250. So collectively, it's about $450 a Sunday. You do the math. I receive nothing from the church. We still have got the electric to pay for. And our church, just so that you can have a reference point, our church holds about 450 people. So to cool it in the summer is about $600 a month. And to warm it in the winter, we really don't turn on the heat. So we don't worry about that. Water is a little bit. Power is a little bit. And, of course, you've got to add in cable and all that stuff. So our overhead, which is not crazy big, it's still there. And there's some there. And then, you know, maintenance and this and so on, et cetera. But my point is we've never had a lot of revenue coming in to save enough for our new roof. But since 1986 until this present day, our roof has taken an incredible beating. And in the process, over those years, our air conditioning has been stolen. We've had vandals do certain things. We've had to replace. We've had flooding once in the church. You get it. We just have things that go on where you can never get ahead. How many of you have been in that position where you just can't get ahead? You make enough money to meet the daily needs, but you just can't get ahead. Has anybody ever experienced that? Give me a thumbs up if you've ever experienced that or a high or something or yes. You make enough money to meet the monthly responsibilities, but it seems like you can just never get ahead. Has anybody ever experienced that? There you go. I mean, come on. We've all done that. And that's our church. That's our ministry. You know, we have a lot of people in our church that don't make a lot. And, of course, I'm not going to believe them. I'm not here to fleece the flock. However, Miss Debbie, yesterday, watch this. This is so incredible, guys. This is so incredible. Oh. So yesterday, Miss Debbie is sitting at the table. And I'm about to go out and do my little Uber, my little side hustle. And she calls Century Link because something's going on with our landline. I know landline. At the church. So she calls Century Link. And so she called them. And they said, and as you know, Century Link, at first I wanted to complain about it, but it ends up being a blessing. Century Link said, we will be at the church from the time of 1230 until 930. So someone has to be at the building from 1230 to 930. So I told the wife, I said, well, I'll go over there. I can, you know, grab my Bible and stuff. And I can, you know, I can Uber Eats later in the evening. And I'll just go over there and I'll wait. Because why? They make you wait. So I get over there. And in route, watch this. I get a text that Century Link said they're there. So I said, I'm almost there. I got caught in traffic and so on, et cetera. Long story short, I don't think they were there. But I ran like a madman to get there. And they weren't there. So I just waited. So I was in and out of the church and office. I was in my study. And I found a book from my friend. And it was cold in the church. So I'm not going to turn on the heat. So I said, you know what? Let me just go outside and sit in my car. Now, this is when it gets good. Yeah, it is horrible customer service. But this is when it gets good. So I go out of my car. And so I was sitting in my car. And I was looking at my Bible. And I had some other information. And I was sitting there. And all of a sudden, a truck pulls up next to my parking spot. It's a nice truck, relatively brand-new truck. And on the side, it says roofing. At first, I had been now, mind you, guys, I've been telling the church for the last few Sundays, guys, we've got to raise money. And so far, we got an estimate for the roof. It was going to be $20,000 to do our roof. $20,000, that means to do the whole roof. That means strip it down, replace that wood, do the trim around the side, the whole thing, $20,000. And that was a good deal. That was from a gentleman named John within the church that does roofing that was going to get a bunch of people together. And they were going to do the roof. So that was an estimate we got. So this truck pulls up. And it said roofing. I assumed at first it was someone that John knew, the guy that's in our church. So I didn't think much of it. So I got out of my car. He gets out of his truck. He goes, hey, my name is Mike Kibler. He goes, and I am a representative for this company called Titan Roofing. And that's what it said on his truck. So then I said, oh, wait a minute, he's trying to sell me something. And he's not a part of John and getting our roof done. And I've been talking to the church. Guys, we need to raise money. We raise money. And basically so far we've only raised $5,000. And that was donated to us. Okay. So I said, hey, let me stop you right from the very beginning. He said, okay. I go, we are in the process. We know we need a new roof. We've got an estimate. It's been $20,000. I go, I pass it to the church. I'm telling you right now, we at this point in time do not have enough money to put a new roof on there. Now, you guys got to understand something. I'm not into financing. Okay. I could have financed this. But I told the church, we're not going to be in debt. Because we have almost three acres. We have a building that holds 450 people. And we have zero debt. We have no debt. We owe nobody nothing. We've not taken government loans. We haven't gotten anything. We are in zero debt. We have no debt. Okay. So that you know that. I go, we're not going to get a loan. I'm not interested in. I go, I know that you're probably a roofer guy. He goes, well, you know you can, you do your insurance thing. I go, we don't, that's not covered. That's a story within itself. I go, so all we have is $5,000. And we're trying to save every, well, we have $5,000 plus about another $600. So $5,600. Because beautiful families like the Coleman family and some other families have donated. So we have $5,600. But I told him $5,000. I said, we only have $5,000. We have nothing else. So I'm sorry to waste your time. Please forgive me. But we can't do business. And I'm so sorry. So he goes, well, can I just look at the roof? And I said, well, that's up to you. If you want, go ahead. And I'm like, well, what does he want to look at the roof for? But I'm like, you know, I'm a nice guy in that regard, I guess. So go ahead. So him and his buddy, they go take their ladder. They put it on the church. And they go to the top of the church. So he's at the top of the church. And we have a cross. And I'm looking at him. And he's right near the top of the church on the cross. And I'm like, and all I can think is like, please be careful. Please. Because you know that roof is, yeah, a slip and fall. Yes, a slip and fall. Plus, our roof is worn. It's the roof from the 80s. You know, there could be parts up there that, because we've had the storm and the rain, and I'm thinking, oh, man. So absolutely. He's on the phone. And I'm like, okay, he's on the phone. And I'm like, look at this guy. What a salesman, man. I told him we're not going to do business. And I'm like, but I can appreciate the hustle. I can appreciate the sales. I get it. Let me take a sip because I'm excited. So he's walking back, and the roof slopes down. And as he's walking back, he gives me a thumbs up. I'm like, okay, what does that mean, a thumbs up? So he comes down. He comes out of sight. And he's with a friend. And he gets to his ladder. He comes down the ladder. His friend comes down the ladder. And he looks at me. He goes, let's do this. I go, I told you, sir, we only have $5,000. We can't do this. We got an estimate of $20,000. Now, me, I'm not a construction guy. But I know to do that roof is more than $5,000. I know that. I mean, I'm not a construction guy. So he should have flown a drone like I did. You know what? I think he was trying to huff up a sale. So maybe he would have done a drone. However, the good idea. Okay, here we go. So I go, sir, I told you, we only have $5,000. We're not going to be. He goes, we'll do it for $5,000. And I'm like, and I thought, I'm like, is this guy punking me? Why would you play? I'm thinking in my head, why are you joking? He goes, you know, and then he started sharing his story. Now, this is where he says, you know, I have been a bad person my whole life. Let me read something here. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. He says, I've been a bad person my whole life. He goes, I did drugs. I hurt the people I loved. He goes, and when an opportunity comes for me to be able to bless, he goes, I take it. And I was just looking at him. Let's put that on pause because I got to jump somewhere else. You guys got to understand. I called my godparents. Or I should say, well, I called my godparents a week ago. Who are my godparents? Their name are brother and sister, Willie Pierce. They are people that have been in my life since I've been a baby. Friends, close friends to my mother and father took care of my parents. I called them up and I asked them about a week ago, would you loan us the money to do our roof? They said, let us think and pray about it. Now, they're an older couple. And I said, will you loan us $15,000 to do our roof? I don't want to be a debt to a bank, but I'll be a debt to you all because why? They love me. They love my family. They love the church. They attend another church, but they used to attend our church. And they said, let us think about it. Do you know, on Monday, they called me up and said, Paul, we have to inform you. We are unable to loan you the money right now. It's just, you know, things are tight. And I said, I'm fine with that. You know, I get it. I get it. So, it was interesting. Our conversation, because brother Pierce is on the phone, sister Pierce is on the phone, and we were all agreeing that God is going to do something. Sister Pierce said, now, I don't want, Paul, I don't want you to be upset. I go, I'm not upset. She goes, no, I don't want you to be disappointed. I go, I'm not disappointed. I go, God's going to do something. She says, if we could give it to you, we'll give it to you. And I said, you've given enough, because they gave the $5,000. And so, with that being said, I told them, I also have people that are donating. We've already started applying that, and we'll be applying that. I go, God will do something. So, I hung up with them. And we all agreed that God was going to just make some fabulous, phenomenal, incredible thing happen. And we were operating, once again, let me read it again, Hebrews 11, it says, Now faith has assessed some things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So, this young man, fast track the story to yesterday now. This young man said, I've lived a life that hurt people. I've lived a life that caused people pain. He goes, and whenever I can get an opportunity to help and to bless, I will. And I looked at him, and I said, I cannot believe this. You're going to replace our whole roof for $5,000. And he says, I'm going to strip it. I'm going to replace the material that's under the roofing. I'm going to replace the roofing, the wood. And he said, absolutely. He goes, I spoke to my partners. They agreed that this should happen. He said, I have to speak to another lady named Lindsay. He goes, she's a woman of God. I'm sure she's going to make this happen. But he did say, but will you do us one favor? And I said, what? He said, will you contact three on your side? That's the local news. I said, I will do better than that. I will make a TikTok video right now, if you'll allow me. He said, fine. Now, don't get me wrong. I know some of you might say, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. Were they doing it to be pat on the back? Are they doing it? And I'll answer that right now. If someone does something so benevolent in love, shouldn't we brag about it? If someone does something out of the kindness of their heart, shouldn't we, the recipient, boast about it? Shouldn't we brag about it? Shouldn't we tell others? Even last night when I text him and let him know that I notified the news, he says, well, if they want to broadcast this or not, we are so grateful to be able to do it. I said, it's going to happen. Because let me tell you why. There's so much negative news today. We are looking at the chemical spills. We're looking at the earthquakes, the balloon things. The list goes on of how much negative news is all around us. It's time for us to hear something that blesses people. And he said, well, now that you said it that way. Now, he asked me in the first place will we reach out to him. It's no problem. I had no problem with that. You are going to come over and you're going to take a $20,000 estimate and do it for $5,000. That is something to brag about. And I'm not bragging. And here's the company. And I know it's backwards, but I don't want to flip my phone around because you know I'll mess it up and never get it back. But my point is if this company can bring, he said, I'll probably bring over about nine to ten men. It'll take us one day. We will do A, B, and C. He goes, the materials probably will cost us about $5,000. He goes, that will pick up our materials. But if we can do this to get you guys a new roof, I tell you what, I can go on Channel 3. Good morning, Lambrio. I can go on Channel 3, our local news station, and I can go on TikTok. And I can go on Instagram or Facebook or whatever it is, and I can give God all the glory and all the praise. I'm not praising the company. I'm praising for God moving the company to take their resources to bless our ministry and put a new roof on our building. Folks, that's faith. I've been asking the church, guys, we're going to have to save. We were even thinking of ideals, like to make tamales so that we could do this and do that. We were trying to think of all kinds because we're a small church, and any of you who have ever visited our church know that we have a small church. But I figured at least it was going to take us a while to put a roof on there. One of my friends, Beau, blesses our ministry every month, and I said, well, that's going to have to go to this. And some people bless our ministry through our cash app, and I said, well, that's going to have to do this. And I was just like, okay, whatever I can do. That's why I was so bummed when the company that I consult for said, we don't need you as much because I was going to even use that to at least try to get a new roof on there by next winter. That was the plan. But then God stepped in, and let me tell you why. Because when I was speaking to my godparents, and I wasn't upset at all when they said they couldn't do it, all right? Watch this. Watch this. The final words of my godparents and myself is, God is going to do something. That's all I said. I said, God is going to do something. And I believe that. Now, I didn't know it was going to be yesterday. I didn't know it was going to be a roofing company. I just assumed that if we decided to sell tamales, God would have us sell a million tamales. I just believed that if it was going to do a car wash, God was going to have us wash a bazillion cars. I didn't know if God was going to have someone say, here's a check. I didn't know. But what I do know, now hear me out. But what I do know, that God was going to do something. And this young man, let me tell you what his name is. This young man, Mike Kibler. Mike Kibler, K-I-B-L-E-R, Senior Project Manager for Titan Roofing, Insurance Claims Specialist. When Mike Kibler stopped by, okay. Mike stopped by to drum up business. Mike stopped by to be a good salesman. Mike stopped by doing his job. But when I was transparent with him and said, we only have $5,000. We are in no position to finance. We do not want to get in debt. And it was at that very moment, and I could see it on his face, and I've seen this before. The Lord Almighty touched him to be the vessel. And he even, before calling his partners, to some degree, said, yeah. This is something we need to do. I didn't realize what was going on because he hadn't gone to the roof yet. It was one, he was on the roof. He was on his phone. He was speaking to his partners. And he told me, his partner said, if your heart is moved to do this, consider it done. See, guys, that was the Lord. Now, I know some of you. Some of you. You question your faith. You look at Hebrews 11.1. You look at some of the faithful as you read in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, the hall of faith. And some of you have been struggling with your faith. But I'm here to tell you that God is able. I'm here to tell you. I'm here to tell you this morning that the God that we serve is able. And it doesn't matter what it is. I've seen God heal people that were told they were not going to be healed. I've seen God extend the life of an individual who was told that they only had six months. I've seen God repair marriages that from the outside looking in seem to be unrepairable. I've seen God deliver families from just on the brink of destruction to make sure that they stay together. I've seen God do this. But the common denominator with each of those examples was faith. Once again, faith. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for. See, we were hoping for a new roof. We were hoping for the revenue to pay for a new roof. And like I said, we had $5,000 and some change that was donated by a few people. We had some incoming bull, a friend of mine, myself. We were going to add on to that. We had some ideals about making tamales and car washes and doing what we need to do. But the thing that we had, we had faith that God was going to deliver. And as the pastor, I made a decision that I was in no position to put God on a timeline. Y'all better grab this one. You better grab this one. Y'all better grab this one because this is important. Because some of you put God on a timeline. Yeah, see, some of you are so time-oriented and structured that because your schedule is scheduled, you think that you're going to put God on a schedule. See, I had to make a decision. I said, Lord, the roof needs to be repaired. Now, folks, if there's a heavy rain, sometimes there's a leak. Come on now. Sometimes if you go to our church, and I want all of you to come see it, if you look, Lambrielle can show it to you. Give me a minute and I will tag team with people and we can talk. If you come into our building, there's some places where it leaks. And subconsciously, you want to put God on a timeline. You want to say, God, the roof can't sustain another rain. We don't get a lot of rain here, but, Lord. And sometimes we want to put God on a timeline to meet our schedule. But you've got to make a decision. God, I cannot put you on a timeline, but I have faith that you will deliver in the right time. See, when I got done talking to my godparents, I told them, God will provide. You're right. My time is not God's time. Because I'm in time, and he's eternal, and he's God. That's a conflict within itself. Do not put God on a timeline, but put your faith in God all the time. Don't put God on your timeline, on your schedule, on your Google calendar. Don't do that. But have faith all the time. Knowing that God is able to deliver in the right time. And trust me. Please, trust me. I have resources. I can pick up a phone. I have numbers in my phone of people that can write a check. But I don't do that. That's not what I'm about. I have people that I can reach out and text. That I can say, hey, we're in need of this. But I don't do that. Because I don't want... Watch this. Who remembers when Abraham... Watch this. When Abraham went in to save and to capture his nephew Lot. Watch this. Watch this. And if you remember, a king came to Abraham and said, well, let's make an exchange. I'll give you this if you give me that. If you remember. And Abraham said something. And I paraphrase. And I paraphrase. He says... Watch this. He says... I will not allow you to give me anything that you could tell anybody that you made me rich. Watch this. I could have called some folks that could have wrote a check. But I don't want them to say that they did anything for the church. Now, I call Brother and Sister Pierce because they love me. They love the church. They love the ministry. They love my parents. They were there from the very beginning. I know folks like my buddy, Bo Locks Ratt, and some other folks that they love the ministry. And they love supporting what we're doing. I know their heart. But I will not reach out on this phone and call anybody and say, well, you write a check. Why? Because I don't want them to say that we did this. But I want to say that God did this. Because this young man from Titan Roofing, he didn't know me. I didn't know him. He was out just doing what God called him to do is to work. And he happened to come by this church at this particular time. And I shouldn't have even been there because it was a divine appointment. And because my wife, Ms. Debbie, set up an appointment with CenturyLink so that we would be able to get our telephone landline working. And at that divine moment, God, not man, not woman, God orchestrates Mr. Mike Kibler from Titan Roofing to show up to make a sale. To show up and in the process seize an opportunity to be used by the creator of the heavens and earth. And let me tell you why. I didn't call you this morning. I'm not on here today to say a call that I made and someone blessed. I'm here to tell you an unorchestrated, unsolicited, no networking, but pure God. Pure God. And all I did was have faith. That's all I did. All I did. All I did was have faith. I didn't put God on a timeline. I didn't orchestrate or network or call, but I said, God will provide and he's able. Even this morning, Ms. Debbie, she said, you won't be receiving any more consulting checks, will you? I said, no, it's done. I go, but if God, remember I told you all to build altars? Because they did it in the Old Testament. Why? That altars was symbolic of what God did. I said, baby, just yesterday, God did something. If God can do that, he will take care of us. And she said, you're right. You're right. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm going to be doing my little Ubers in the afternoon. Whatever, whoever blesses the ministry, so on, et cetera. Praise be to God. We do the possible. God does the impossible. But I get back to the point of all of this. Folks, faith. You've got to have faith. You have to trust in God. God is going to deliver at the perfect time. Not our time, but the right time. So, I'm going to do a live when they start the roof. Today, they're going to email me to have Miss Debbie pick out the colors on the roof. You know, what color, whatever you guys call that material. Is it tile? I don't know. Composition? I don't know what you call it. They'll pick out the colors. But I'll do a live. Channel 3 on local news. I reached out to them, hoping that they would go ahead and broadcast this, because I want shingles. Thank you. I'm praying that they will come so that they can broadcast this, so that this company can get recognition. I pray that any of you, if you live in Arizona, please, if you could spread the word. And they haven't put it on there yet, but why would my God do this so far? But I pray that some of you who live in Arizona, if you would just spread that around and let them know that this company is blessing a ministry. Amen. Amen, Joshua, the artist's eye. I pray that you would do that, share that information. But I'm telling you all, God is good. God is good. Who wants to go on here with me and tell me an incredible, faithful testimony? Who wants to do that? And you know, if we do it, you've got to figure out, you know I don't know how to add people on. But if you've got a faithful testimony, I want to hear it. Please, God is good. All the time, God is good. Guys, I'm over the top. I'm over the top. I was like, last night, man, I, right now, y'all, you know when you, I was just, matter of fact, the first Sunday of the year, I went before the congregation. I said, y'all, you know, I do not like talking about money with the church. They know that. One of the gentlemen named John is my praise and worship. I looked at John, he goes, yeah, he doesn't like talking about money. I hate talking about money. I said, but church, we have to start blessing the ministry and take care of our ministry. You know, because from, I think it was, I don't know. I kid you not. I'm going to say for the month of, and I know why, it's the holidays. But from the month of December, probably November, December, our Sunday tithing and offering was average, about 80 bucks. I know some of y'all, you go to churches where that's not an issue. But in our church, the majority of our congregation, people are on fixed income. They're very economically challenged to some degree. They live, you know, put a fixed income. I don't, I don't, I understand. But when this took place, y'all, I'm trying to, I'm sorry, my mindset, I'm trying to read some of these things and I'm also trying to talk. Let me start reading. My testimony is very simple for today. He sent me here to watch and listen to you. Thank you, Jesus. You know what? That, thank you so much. That's a blessing. That's a blessing. As we love, goes to, as we love, goes to the glory of God. Amen. Amen. Hey, Pastor Paul, have you heard about the revival at Asbury College here in Kentucky? It's amazing. I have seen some snippets of it, and that's incredible. I don't know a lot about it, but you know, oh, I don't have my Kentucky cup. I usually have my Kentucky cup. I have seen snippets, but you know what? I'm excited for revival. I'm excited that people are just getting on fire for the Lord. We talked about that yesterday, and I want to apologize. I'm two years sober from alcohol addiction and lost 110 pounds. You know what? Brother Wilbur, amen. May God get all the glory and all the praise. Oh, my, my. Watch this. Pending eviction, many tears and fears, many turndowns and credit. No pets, just got a house. Wow. Melanie Brown, so you're saying you had some things going on, but God has blessed you to get a house. Come on. So God opened a door. Things were closing, closing, closing, but God opened a door. Praise be to God. That's a blessing. Watch this. Hang on. Yes. Oh. Lamriel, how are you doing? Yes, amen. Glory to God. A few days ago, I got out of surgery, and I've been going through, but I've been getting better. And you will get better in the name of Jesus. I hope I didn't miss anything. Son got into nursing, didn't know how we were going to pay for it. He was able to get a scholarship. Amen. Amen. I had a mom that had a bipolar, manic-depressive, try her best to recess. Yes, he did. Nobody was giving me a chance. I just needed a home until my permanent one comes in heaven. Oh, my, my, my. Y'all, did you hear this? No one, thank you for getting, no one gave this individual a break. This is Melanie Brown. No one would give her a break, a chance. And then God provided a way. Guess what? You can only give credit to God on that one. Thank you. Brandon, thank you so much. You can only give credit to God on that one. Think about it. You can only give credit to God. There you go. Joe, it's good to see you. I haven't seen you in a while, my friend. It's good to see you. Joe, you know, have you ever looked at Joe? Joe meets everybody. Joe meets everybody. It's amazing. Every time I turn around, Joe's got somebody. God delivered me from addiction and has called me to evangelism and ministry and deliverance. Amen. Praise be to God right there. Learning to be patient and trust God, this helps a lot. Do not put God on a timeline. Please don't. Who are we to tell God this is what you've got to do at this time? No, no, no. Trust in God. Hey, Pastor Paul, bless you. God bless you, man. God bless you. Amen. Praise God. Good to see you this morning. Good to see you, Brother Joe. Tony, amen, right. No, I work a full-time job, married, and help my brother take care of his kids. Praise be to God, Edward. I love that. Just got number two gifter badge. Just got the number two gifter badge. What is the number two gifter badge? Amen. God has also delivered me from addiction and then led me to school in order to help others. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. So you are taking your experiences to get the education to help others. I love it. All because of God being there for me through good and bad times. You know what? We praise God all the time. My son was doing badly with his mental health. Now he has a degree, a full-time job, and he's happy. Praise be to God. I love it. Was on the brink of divorce, and God is restoring my merits. I love it. I love it. So I thank God every day for always blessing me. Amen. See, God can restore a marriage. God blesses. When an institution labelize your kids as they will not make it or they have mental illness, blah, blah, blah, blah, God has the final say. I think all of us good Christians are going to get to testify. Amen. So I thank God every day for always blessing me. Yes, I was on the brink of divorce, and I read that one, and restoring merits. I'm telling you guys, I've seen people on the brink of divorce. I've seen it over and over and over again. And I've seen where God has turned the hearts of the couple around, and their marriage was stronger than ever. My, my, my, my, my. I love this. I love this. Who else? There's no more? We got 142 people on here, and God is not doing something in your life? Full restoration. Love it. Love it. Full restoration. Not half restoration. He said full restoration. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. It's a strange time in this world, but God is moving everywhere like everywhere. Amen. Amen. Amen. Walk by faith, not by sight. I'm seeing the same strange things, but I know God is doing something. Love all this praise reports. Praise be to Jesus. Praise be to God. Amen. Praise be to God. I saw you for the first time today. God sent you to me. Praise God. I feel renewed for today. Praise be to God. I thank Him for taking me away from my sin and depression. Never been too happy and in contempt. Praise be to God that God delivered you. I see, I walk like this. I need God to be the judge of my family in my courtroom. God will be. I'm trying to read them fast, real quick. Did you see the 53-year-old atheist go to Joe Rogan and admit his belief in Jesus Christ? I didn't see that. Wow. Wow. My Lord, my Lord. God is always present with me. He gave us so much peace when my parents passed. I think of my mom and dad. I agree with you. The peace that comes from God is when I did my father's funeral. Oh, amen. Amen. You know that's nothing but God. God has been with my family and through the hills and the valleys I've been going through the trials. Amen. But God has been with you. God provided a new job position that gave me the opportunity to make more money to provide. Amen. God gave me a gift by doing events for special needs. Amen. Watch this. Okay, I read that one. Hang on, hang on. Suffered from anxiety for about a world of things. God took it away and gave me peace. Praise be to God. I made the varsity football team after three years of being turned down and I am happy. I love it. I love it. I love it. I tried to file for divorce. God blocked it using my attorney. Okay. Praise be to God. God said, no, no, you didn't get a divorce on my watch. I love it. I need your email so I can give to you. My email is pabram at me.com. pabram at me.com. Or if you go to the content page on TikTok, you'll see an email there. But pabram at me.com. P-A-B-R-A-M at me.com. pabram at me.com. One of the moderators will type that out for you, please. He never leaves us or forsakes us. Isn't that what the word says? God gave me a gift to play at church. A pianist going 33 years at church. I love it. I love it. So you're taking your gift that God gave you. Folks, that's important. God has given each one of you a gift. How are you using that gift to glorify the kingdom? How are you using your gift to glorify the kingdom? Matter of fact, yesterday, there was a young man that came. After the roving guy left, a young man came from California to visit me, him and his brother, because they're going to be running in Arizona. And that was the topic of our conversation. We were talking about using your gift that God has given you to glorify the kingdom. You've all got a gift. Something. Something. All of you have got something. My gift is to just love on people, to run my mouth, to glorify God, to preach, and so that's what I do. So if your gift is to sing, sing. If your gift is to hospitality, do it. If your gift is to just love on people, do it. If your gift is to, I don't know, maybe you're great with math, help keep the books at the church. If your gift is building, build at your church, at your ministry. Take your gift and use it for the glory of God. All right, let me answer all these, or at least make this. God gave my family hope. Oh, God gave my family hope when all was lost for our epileptic son and helped turn things around for him. You know, that right there was powerful, because sometimes events or situations, circumstances can make a family hopeless. But this individual says God gave us hope when we were hopeless and turned things around. I love it. I love it. I asked for the Lord to use me in church, and I was asked to cook as part of our church cafe. Praise be to God. Such a beautiful thing, making food to bless people. Now I'm one of the head cooks. I love it. I love it. See, it is, guys, I'd rather open the, I'd rather be the usher at the door than not be in God's kingdom. I'd rather be the usher at the door in the church, in the house of God, than not be in the kingdom or in the house of God. I'll be, you don't all got to preach. We don't all have to teach. We don't all have to sing. But just the small things. I'll share something with you, all right? Lambrielle, who's on here, watch this. Let me take a sip of my coffee. Lambrielle, who's on here, used to attend our church. But when her husband decided to go help his father, they went to go help him. Okay. But we have a wall, a nursery that we use as our makeshift nursery. It's a cute little room. Well, the problem is when you were in the nursery, you couldn't see in the sanctuary. So you could hear, but you didn't have a visual. So Lambrielle's father-in-law and brothers made a hole in the wall with a window. They don't attend our church. They just saw a need. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Did you all hear that? They saw a need. So they took their construction skills. And I know some of you with construction skills are like, oh, that's not really a big deal. To me, you might as well be building the World Trade Center. So they took their construction and they built a window. And this window must be at least 5 feet tall and probably, I don't know, 10, 15 feet long. Put plexiglass, framed it out, did the drywall. And when they got in there, it was block. It wasn't just wood. It was block. So they went through block. Why? Because they took their gifts that God gave them. They had the ability. They saw a need. And they said, well, God moved us to do this. They did it, I think, in a couple Sundays. Not one Sunday, one weekend and come in another weekend. That's my point. Take your gift. If you see a need, allow God to use you. My gift is to talk. My gift is to share the Word. I share it. I might not be the intellectual theologian and some guys who can break that Word down. But I take what God has given me and I'm me. And I share it with those of you. That's my gift. And I see the need. And this is why I believe God has blessed me and the family and the ministry. That's why I believe my parents were blessed. Because why? We take everything that God gives us. May God get all the glory. And we say, here, God has given this to me. Let's read on. You are leading souls to Christ through TikTok. God knows how many. But if only one, it's worth it all. Even the angels rejoice over one soul. Ten years in prison, they said felons can't get a finance license. But God moved. Did you hear that? Because you know, folks, I've never been incarcerated. But I will, I should say, I've never been, I'm not a felon. I'm none of those things. But, however, when people are felons, they come out and they have no chance. They have no chance. This is why there's always that circle back. There's always that reoccurring that they go back to their old ways. Why? Because they're not given a chance. And I'm not here to advocate politically either one way or another. But I'm here to say that this individual just said I was a convicted felon with no opportunity. And no one was going to give me a break. No one's going to give me a chance. But God made a way. Father God, I pray in the name of Jesus with regards to Solomon. I pray that you would just bless him. I pray whatever the need is. I pray for him right now in the name of Jesus, Lord. For I do not know, but you know. You know the need, God. And I ask you as your son, as your servant, Father God, that you would bless him in the name of Jesus. Amen. But God opened a door for this individual to get the financing that he or she needed. So that they could live a productive life. And on top of that, they are forced not to even give credit to man. Because man said, because you're a convicted felon, you will not get a break. This individual must say, only God. By the grace of God. Oh, grace. Unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. Folks, everything we've been talking about this morning is called grace. Grace. This is what we've been talking about. Unmerited favor. Please pray for my friends who are battling cancer, going through treatment. Father God, we pray for the individuals that are going through the cancer, that are battling cancer, that are in their treatments. I pray, we pray in the name of Jesus for healing and restoration. But, Lord, I pray that you will give them the strength to have the faith to carry forward, to move forward. That, Lord, you use this situation for the glory of the kingdom, Father. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Grace and mercy to those that need grace and mercy. Grace, unmerited favor. Mercy, not receiving what we do deserve. My friend here says it's cold in Missouri. Please pray for the homeless that's on the streets. Father God, I pray for those homeless. Lord, I pray right there, not only there, but anywhere that people will somehow see the need and open up their doors, whatever that may be. May it be a church. May it be a building. May it be a home. May it be an apartment. Lord, I pray right now that you bless people to open up their hearts to help those that are in need from the elements. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Amen. God is good. I'm so scared that not being in school, I will fall back into fleshy desires. First, you don't need to be in school. You need to be in God. You need to be led by the Spirit. You need to be in your word. I heard a statement yesterday, and I thought it was so incredible. If you are not feeding the Spirit, the flesh will eat. Did you hear what I said? If you are not feeding the Spirit, the flesh will eat. Meaning, we have to be in prayer. We have to be in our word. See, there's nothing good. According to the Scripture, thank you so much, there's nothing good in the flesh. If you're not in the word. Now, I didn't make that statement, if you're not feeding the Spirit, the flesh will eat. I didn't make that up. I heard that. But it moved me so intense, I had to run with it. If you are not feeding the Spirit, what does the Spirit desire? Thank you. The Spirit desires the Word of God. The Spirit desires prayer. The Spirit desires to be around like-minded people. Thank you so much, everybody. The Spirit desires that it grows in the faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. If we are not feeding the Spirit, the flesh will consume. The flesh will eat. The world will offer the flesh what it desires. You can sit down and watch a TV show, and the commercials within themselves will feed the flesh, and you will consume it, and you will find yourself so off-base that you're not enduring the joy of your salvation. But if you feed the Spirit, if you're fasting, and you're praying, and you're in your Word, the flesh is unable to eat. It's unable to consume. Thank you. Thank you so much. So, friend, you don't need to be in school. I reiterate. I know you're going through specialized schooling so that you can help others. But you don't need to be in school to fight the flesh. You need to be in your Word. The only way that we are overcomers is through by the Word of God, by prayer, by fasting, by communion with God. This is the only way that we overcome. Do you think I have a title of Pastor Paul? Do you not think that I have to fight and struggle with the flesh? Do you know that there is a conflict between the Spirit and the flesh? They are at odds with each other. I don't care who you are. If you are in the flesh, I don't care your title. I don't care your ethnicity. I don't care your financial situation. I do not care. There is continuous battle between the Spirit and the flesh. But who do you feed? I feed the Spirit. Who do you feed? I feed the Spirit through studying God's Word. I asked a gentleman who, once again, came from California to visit. While at the church, he was landing at 3 o'clock. I said, well, I'm going to be at the church. Why don't you come over and visit me at the church? He said, okay. And he's a runner. He's a long-distance runner. That's why he's coming in Arizona. And I said, what is it you do when you run? I said, what's your thought pattern? What are you thinking about? What do you focus on? Because he runs marathons. He says, I pray. I said, you pray? I said, I love that. He says, because when I pray, he goes, it removes the pain. I said, the pain? He goes, yeah, when you get pain, you run a marathon. He goes, I start getting pain in my lower extremities. And all of a sudden, things, and he goes, and I just sit there and just, I pray. And he goes, and I just sit there and just, I pray. He goes, when I run these marathons in certain areas, he goes, I pray. Why? See, the flesh, there's a great analogy here, folks. See, the flesh, as he's running, is weak. The flesh is saying, stop. There's a great analogy. I hope you're all picking this up. This is great. He says, you know, the flesh is weak. It's saying, stop. It's saying, give up. He says, but I'm praying. He goes, because when I'm praying, I'm not thinking about the pain. I'm not thinking about the wanting to give up. He goes, when I'm praying, all I'm doing is just putting one foot in front of the other. How do we convert that to us? The flesh tells you to go back to the drugs. The flesh says, go back to the drinking. The flesh says, go back to the abuse. The flesh says, go back to doing everything but serving God. The flesh tells you to go abuse yourself through sexual activity. The flesh says, well, you know, you don't really need to go to church. You can work on Sunday. Matter of fact, you can do more overtime because you want to make a lot of money. The flesh can say, you know, I want to do everything I possibly can to be famous, to go to Hollywood. The flesh says, you know, I want to be somebody powerful. See, these are all the things of the world in the flesh. But when you get into their word, when you get into prayer, when you have your focus on God, the flesh starves. See, we have to decrease and let God increase. We all are in a spiritual battle. We are all in a spiritual warfare. So in the book of Ephesians, we have to put on that full armor of God. In the book of Timothy, it talks about being soldiers, not getting entangled in the affairs of the world. You've got to feed that spirit. But if you do not, and I repeat, if you do not feed the spirit, the flesh will eat, the flesh will consume. And we're talking about spiritual here, guys. We're talking about spiritual here. The flesh will consume. And all of us, all of us know this. Maybe some more extreme than others, but we all know this. How many of you have stopped reading your Bibles and the joy of your salvation has dissipated? Come on, how many want to admit this? You've stopped studying your word like you used to, and you found yourself drifting away. And matter of fact, to some degree, you feel God is not present. How many of you? How many of you? If you say you didn't, you've never had, you're a rare specimen. You know some of you have slowed down your prayer life. Some of you used to be a prayer warrior. Matter of fact, your family members used to be scared to invite you over for dinner because you were the first one. We got to stop, we got to pray. You were the first one that people would call. Hey, I'm going through something, will you pray for me? But then you stopped praying. You slowed down on your prayer. Matter of fact, you'll throw out them popcorn prayers just to say you prayed. Some of you slack in your attendance. Well, you know what, I can miss this Sunday. You know what, I've been at church every Sunday. And all of a sudden, that Sunday turns into two Sundays. Two Sundays turns into three Sundays. Next thing you know, you haven't been in church in months. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you lost your salvation. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that somehow you're going to find yourself sitting up in the depths of hell. But what I am saying, you don't have the joy of your salvation because you're allowing the flesh to be fed. But I didn't mean to preach at you because that wasn't the case. But what I'm trying to tell you is this. The school, that's not going to keep you. That's not going to give you that ability to overcome. The double-edged sword, somebody mentioned it. That double-edged sword right here. You know, how many of y'all know why the Word of God is called the double-edged sword? Anybody want to tell me? Why is the Word of God identified? And somebody, where's that scripture at? Show me where that scripture at where it says the Word of God. Is that in Timothy? Where is it at? That the Word of God is a double-edged sword. Somebody give that to me. Where's that at? You know I need a little help. Where's that at? Help me out, somebody. Where does it say double-edged sword? Where is it? In Timothy what? Somebody give me there. Where does it say the Word of God is a double-edged sword? Josh, somebody. Y'all, help me out. You know Pastor Paul needs a little help. Help an old brother out. Where does it say? Timothy what? Is it Hebrews? Is it really? Is it really? Oh, my, my, I'm way off. Oh, look, somebody's helping. Oh, somebody help me out. My Lord, y'all helping me out. Woo, come on. Thank you, Jesus. For the Word of God is a living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Come on. Did you hear that? Anybody want to know why the Word of God is a double-edged sword? Anyone? Because it cuts both ways. And notice, if you read it, really read, listen to what it's saying. Watch this. For the Word of God is living and powerful. Brother, you can't be sitting in school thinking that's going to help you. Now, I'm not saying that's not a good thing, but what I'm saying, the Word of God is where you get your help from. The Word of God is where you're going. Yeah, I see where you're going, 2 Timothy 3.16. We know what Paul is saying there. Amen. I concur with that. I concur with that. However, watch this. For the Word of God is living and powerful. It's living. The school is not living and powerful. I'm not beating you up. It's a good thing you're going to school. I'm not saying that. The job is not living and powerful. The relationship with people is not living and powerful, but the Word of God is living and powerful. But watch this. And sharper. Gillette ain't got nothing on this. It says, and sharper than what any two-edge. You know what a two-edge sword does? It swings both ways. See, a one-edge sword only can go one way, so you have to rotate the wrist. But a two-edge, you don't have to rotate nothing. You just, you go forth, you go right, you go left, and it cuts. But watch this. It breaks something down. Thank you, brother. Watch this. It says, and sharper than any two-edge sword. Watch this. Piercing even the division of soul and spirit. Watch this. Watch this. Y'all ready? You know, I've been in the medical field for a long time. And I had a doctor trying to mess with me. And he said, Paul, I have gleaned the internals of the anatomy. I have seen the inside of the body, and I have never seen the soul, and I have never seen the spirit. He says, what you got to say about that? You've got faith. You're a religious man. What do you say about that? And I said, well, sir, that's the internal part of you. You are unable to see the soul and the spirit. That's the internal part. That which is internal cannot be seen. You can't see it, but trust you me, it's there. Because the Bible says that that two-edge sword can pierce even to the division of soul and spirit. Am I unfrozen now? Can you hear me now? Am I unfrozen? Anybody? Can you hear me? Let me know you can hear me. Yeah, okay. Here we go. So he said, I don't see it. I said, it's eternal. But the word of God sees it, knows it, identifies it. Matter of fact, even in the book of Genesis, even the word of God says that God created it. Man became a living soul. All right? The word of God can even pierce. Now we're going to go to the physical part. It says right here, it says, piercing even the division of the soul and spirit and the joints and the marrow. The joints and the marrow. That's the physical part. The joints, the bone. What's within the bone? The marrow. The measurement within that, between the marrow and the bone is. But it says that this two-edged sword can pierce through it. So the word of God affects the physical. And it affects the spiritual. And it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. See, a classroom gives you knowledge. The word of God brings you wisdom. And knowledge. Folks, this is where it's at. So don't feed the flesh. Don't feed the flesh. Because if you're not feeding the spirit, the flesh will consume. That's it. Bottom line. That's it. Alright. We've preached enough. We've preached enough. I thank you for those other scriptures. I was looking at some other scriptures that folks were putting out there. I thank you. Can I say that again? Do not feed the flesh. But watch. But watch. If you are not feeding the spirit. If you are not feeding the spirit. I'm talking to Christian folks right now. If you are not feeding the spirit through prayer, word, and association with other fellow believers, being under the word, the flesh will eat. The flesh will eat. Because why? If you're not studying. Is Mercy Me still on here? Mercy Me. Are you on here? Mercy Me. I haven't seen her this morning. I think I did see her. Is Mercy on? Mercy Me. Are you out there? Is Mercy Me on there? Thank you. Blessing day. Mercy Me. Are you out there? Let me see. I'm going to brag on her a bit. Is she on here? Okay. She's not on here this morning. That's okay. Mercy Me on. If you look at her video or post just now. She's got this cool video. I wanted to ask her about that church. When was that church built? Because you know, I think she's in Philadelphia. Where you know, stuff is really old. Okay. And she's got her Bible. She's got her Bible. She's got the camera. And she's got that fast track TikTok video. And she's doing a study. And then she's going to the church and stuff. And you look at her Bible. It's all lit up. Highlighted. Notes. Why? She's in her Word. She's feeding the Spirit. Then when she's done in the Bible, it shows the video that now she's going into the church. Somebody said, what's your translation? She can study. Amen. Right? What translation? Today's translation is New King James. Could be King James. I love the NLT. ESV. So there we go. Highlighted. She can study. She's feeding. What's she doing? Because she's not here to defend herself. But I'm going to tell you what she's doing. See, I don't know her on a personal note. I just know her from here. But what she's doing is she knows she's got to feed the Spirit. See, she knows something about herself. We don't need to know it. But she's feeding the Spirit. Because she knows that she's not feeding the Spirit. If she's not praying, if she's not going to church, if she's not in the Word, she knows that that flesh is on autopilot. It will start consuming. She knows this. See, she knows herself. And see, that's where you and I got to know yourself. You've got to get out of that denial state and say, you know what? If I'm not in this Word, if I'm not in my prayer, if I'm not under that sermon, this is why I don't miss church. I don't miss church. You're the pastor. You shouldn't be. Even when I'm out of town and we go somewhere, I go to church. Why? Because I've got to be on the Word. I've got to be in the Word. I've got to be listening to the Word. When I get in the car, I love listening to preaching. When I'm out Ubering, I've got my little earphones on. Don't knock me out because I've got my earphones on. I'm listening to the Word. I go to the store. Ms. Debbie? Right here. Where are they at? Oh, here they are. I go to the store. Ms. Debbie? I'm walking around the store. If I'm listening to Christian music or I'm listening to R.C. Sproul, Piper, you name it, I'm listening to the Word. Why? Because I know the flesh. And you can get back to Mercy Me. Mercy Me is not in that Word because she just has nothing to do. She's in that Word because she's developing her disciplined student, her discipleship. She's in that Word because she wants to grow closer to Christ. And she knows that that is a process. Thank you. That's a process that takes a whole lifetime to be in your Word. When I was a kid growing up, my father was always in the Word. And I used to think, does that old man have nothing else to do but read a Bible? Someone asked me, what podcast do you recommend, Pastor Paul? You know what? The only podcast, I don't really listen to podcasts. One of my brothers in Christ named Ricky, he tells me about the podcasts he listens to. I never really listen to podcasts. I do audio book, and sometimes I'll go to YouTube videos, put it on my phone, and I'll just listen. So there might be somebody better. I know on our group chat thing, the group will send some folks that they listen to. But I don't really listen to podcasts. Not that I'm against them. That's not the case. It's just I'm old school, and sometimes I don't even know how to get to the podcast. Even though I have a podcast. I do have a podcast. I haven't put a podcast out in a long time, but I don't really listen to them. And it's hard for me to do a podcast because the interaction is important to me. So I don't know. But I'm sure there's some folks that can tell you. However, see, I'm not here to pick on Mercy Me, but what I'm saying, Mercy Me understands that her help comes from the Lord. Mercy Me understands that praying, being in her prayer closet, interacting and communicating with God. Do you know what makes my relationship so powerful with Miss Debbie? We talk. That's my best friend. We talk. We talk. You want to be best friends with God? Talk. Talk. God. I talk to God. I have reverence for God. But I speak to him and say, Lord, I just want to thank you. When I was leaving church the other day, him and I had a conversation all the way home. I said, Lord, I want to thank you. But I didn't see that coming with regards to the roof. Lord, I didn't see that coming. But, Lord, you know exactly what we needed. I just praise you, God. And it takes me from the church to almost getting home, it takes me about 50 minutes, 45 to 50 minutes. If there's traffic, it could be an hour. Yesterday it was pretty quick. And me and God, I was just, oh, my father, you're so good to me. And I started thinking about my sermons on grace. I said, Lord, you just, and I called up some folks. And I said, hey, Brandon, how you doing? I said, God, I just thank you. I just praise you. I said, I've been preaching about grace. And here you are showing grace on the ministry. I talk to God. Why? Sorry. If I'm not in my word, in my prayer, under the word, or anything that has to do with the development of me as a disciplined student, as a disciple, I understand that if I am not in it, my flesh will eat. Brandon, praise be to God. We're doing good. Thank you for asking. I know for me that if I'm not in that word, oh, mercy me. I got some questions here. There you are. Number one, mercy me. Wait a minute. This is what we're going to do. I want mercy me to go live. Mercy, go live with me. Go live with me, please. Please do that. Watch. We've been talking about mercy. Let's see what mercy says. Mercy me. Good morning. Good morning. Now, real quick, I got a question. I was looking at a video. Sure. We're at a point in front of a church. Is that your church? And how old is that church? I wish. No. So those were a handful of churches in my neighborhood. Just within a couple blocks, there's what you saw, those four beautiful, beautiful churches, some Catholic cathedrals. I know one is St. John Cantius. And I forget the other three. So I wish. And I just love them so much. Wow. Wow. Now, here we go, mercy me. And I'm going to set you up for this, and I'm going to tell you why. I was talking about your video, and I was saying, I believe that mercy is in setting. I made a statement earlier. I said, if a person is not feeding the spirit, their flesh will eat. That was the statement. Now, though, why do you do that so much? Because I saw your Word, man. You had every highlighter available, notes, everything. Why do you do that so much? Why do I do that so much? Because I have to. I was listening to the sermon, and the teacher said that you are never staying still, that you are either moving forward or backwards. And so I just have to. It's what sustains me spiritually. It's what gets me right for any day. But also, you know, Pastor Paul, I shared this with some of you guys. You know, I want to know the Lord more because I want to love him more. You know, I want my life to be joyful. I want to have a revelation of my salvation so much that it does make me joyful, that it does set me up to be someone who can be joyous in any situation. You know, a lot of what you were talking about on your live recently, about just being joyful. So, yeah. Yeah, though, Mercenie, so I'm just going to, you know, ask this question. Yeah. Have you ever gone through that season where you weren't in your Bible or you weren't praying or you weren't at church? And what was the result of that? Yeah. Unfortunately, a couple times, God's gracious, though. But there's definitely been a couple times in the last couple years where I neglected it. And it's funny because what happens is like these same habits start to come back up, you know, whether it's just sleeping in a lot or not cleaning up my room, not taking care of my chores. Then it starts to kind of snowball into other bad habits, like watching TV that I shouldn't be watching. And so any time that I've done that without, you know, recognizing it and just immediately turning back to the Lord, right, like basically giving it room or just being negligent to kind of stop it right in its tracks, I've fallen into sin or I've fallen into a place where I'm dishonoring the Lord. And then I'm, of course, like shameful, and I don't want to turn back to him because I feel so guilty. So I definitely had those seasons, and it was always the same couple of things that would come back up. And the common, the common, the commonality in each one would be that I was neglecting intimate time with God, like not even just studying or being diligent to study, but just being with him, you know, just just waking up and spending time in prayer and just talking to him. So I've definitely done that. Also, the Pastor Paul, something that happened to me recently, which was very new for me was I was, I was being diligent in the word. I was being diligent in prayer, right, because I always tell people when people ask me, they're like, how do I feel, you know, joyous? How do I get over this anxiety? How do I feel closer to God? Right. And I always tell them, you know, read, get in your word and stay in prayer and abstain from anything that that is sinful in your life. And I always told them that. And then this last month, I guess, in January, I had this, this experience where I was seeking the Lord, you know, diligently, you know, I was in my word in the morning throughout the day. I was getting up. I was in prayer. I was being diligent to like obey the spirit. You know, I was very gracious and grateful and seeing that I was like, okay, like, it's getting easier to be self-disciplined, but I wasn't feeling what I had always come to expect to feel. Like, I didn't feel that he was near. And I wasn't happy. I didn't feel happy. And then the Lord showed me like, I don't want you dependent on, on another experience from me, but like, I don't want you dependent on these feelings of like overflow of love or anything like this. He's like, I just want you to be obedient because what I've already done for you has shown you that I love you. And I was like, oh my gosh, because I was so reliant on those feelings where I was like, wow, why is it not happening? Why am I not feeling better? And I think the Lord was really trying to show me that like, if he's never given me, if he never gives me another revelation, if he never has another breakthrough in my life, if he never does anything new, I need to be sufficient in what he's already done. And so I realized like, okay, like I've been telling people, you know, you know, oh, if you're feeling this, you know, you need to do this. And he showed me that it's not always about that. It's not always about that. So. Wow. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. You know what, uh, uh, uh, uh, mercy me. You know, I call you mercy me guys. I do that. That's, that's what I want. But help me out here. Now you, you sound like a seasoned, old Christian one. And you just, you just getting this, this, this, this incredible movement of God. But how old are you? I am 27. 27. Y'all I hope she's 27 years old and God is blessing her. Blessing her. Wow. Now how long you've been a believer? How long have you been a believer? Well, you know, I, I always used to say when people ask me this, well, I believe I was saved. And I would tell them the first time that I started really going to church. But when I look back at my life and I look back at the fruit of my life, I have to be honest with myself. And I think that I, I don't know if I was really saved then, you know, but I'll answer you that I started seeking the Lord when I was about 23, when I realized that I need to get my life together and I need to stop playing around and really seek him. And that's when I started to get to know him as a person within about what, you know, knowing things and going to church. That's when I started to get to know him as a person. Wow. So now let me ask you this though, because I know we're all wondering now you have siblings. Are they on board or your friends? I mean, do you start that support system with regards to external folks? Well, um, so I'm, I'm one of six. I'm the youngest of six. Um, big family. Good morning, everyone. I'm seeing the comments. I see you guys. Uh, yeah. So I'm, I'm one of six. Um, it's interesting. So the, when I was young, when I was about 18 and 19, my, one of my oldest sisters, not my oldest, but one of my older sisters and her husband, they had gotten saved. And then I started to get to interact with them. And, and it was at the same time I had started going to the church for the first time. But both of us, the three of us had, had really fallen away for a few years. And then in 20, in 2019, I moved in with my sister and her husband and my brother shared something to me. He shared me, you know, he was sharing about how he felt grieved the way he's been living his life. He had recently had a heart attack and he had, um, he had flat lines and he said, and he, so of course he was like in shock saying, you know, I'm wasting my time. God forbid I would have, you know, I would have, um, not, not woken up. Like I need to get my life right. And so that, that was a conversation that made me realize, yeah, me too. So that was 2019. So them two, uh, those two are Christian. Um, they, they, they certainly, they certainly struggled. I would say in the last two years, they've really been, um, walking more narrowly. Praise God. Um, my other sister, who's my youngest older sister. Um, she got saved two years ago. You spoke with her pastor, Paul. That's Cheyenne. She, um, it was really, it was a, a really, uh, tough time being her sister and her friend before she was saved. Um, and that was, that was at a time in my walk where I started to learn that like, life is not about me and this walk is not about me. It's about glorifying God. And, and I, I forced myself to stay in connection with her cause I was the only sibling that she was close to cause she struggled with anxiety. She struggled with a lot of selfishness. It was really, it was really, really bad. Um, but the Lord kept like, I just, I just knew I couldn't give up. So, you know, I would send her sermons. Um, I would just tell her when it came to advice, I'm like, listen, I don't really, I know you're going through a lot. All I can tell you is to pray to the Lord. Like, that's all I know what to tell you to do is to seek him and, and, and try to follow him. And, um, it was a while before that happened. But, uh, as of two years ago, she, you know, got impressed with himself in her heart and she had a revelation of who he was. So she's, she's a Christian now, which is exciting. Cause now I have a sister in a new sense. Um, so I have the three of them and then my other two brothers and my other older sister, they're not saved. So it can be, it can be difficult, but you know, I praise God for what I do have. I'm so thankful that I have someone in my family, um, because other than that, you know, I don't have friends or anything like that that are saved. I lost, not that I lost friendships cause I still try to stay in contact, but I don't spend time with the people I used to so much. Um, but you know, I have brothers and sisters at Bible studies in my church. So I'm blessed with that. And you know, you know, you know where I was praying for my mom. So she's next. Amen. Well, mercy, guys, I want you to hear this and I, and I want you to see how God works. So mercy. Um, my big thing was I was going to put you on blast and I said, I don't know mercy on a super personal way, but I know that mercy studies because she has to, because I, once again, the original statement was, if we don't feed the spirit, the flesh will eat. And I used you because once again, I saw your video. I saw the Bible. I was very impressed with that because I believe that Christian folks, uh, should study. We should be in the word. We should be praying, praying. she brought a revelation there because we shouldn't seek it to get that high, but we should seek it because we're disciplined obedience, uh, uh, disciples of Christ. Now everybody listening. I think it's incredible that mercy got on here cause she said, because she said, because I have to, I have to mercy. That was, that was beautiful because it lined up to exactly what I was saying. And I'm trying to convince people, um, or in this particular case, someone said when I'm not in school, I feel like, you know, I'm slipping back or reverting back to my, my flesh or old ways. But I was saying, if you are not feeding the spirit, the flesh will eat and you came right in right this morning. And, and, and I think my, one of my brothers said the congruency was complete. Amen. Praise God. I'm glad that you're, you're telling people that because what I'm realizing too is, um, in my, in my, in my experience in my churches, I mean, I, I, I've only really been in some non-denominational churches. So I don't know if this is common in that sector or if it's just overall lack in the body of Christ, but we don't, we don't, I don't get that exhortation and that encouragement in person. Like, you know, we get the word on Sundays and we have our Bible studies, but I don't, like I want my pastor and I want the people in my congregation, the elders, the people who have been walking with Christ to, to like exhort me to get into my word and to warn me of, of the risk of not getting, of not getting into my word. And I don't hear that enough. And so I've, anytime I'm having these conversations in Bible study, I'm like, that's why I say you need to get into the word. Right. Even if it's, you know, like I said, not, not necessarily for a feeling. Now I realize like, okay, like you don't come with these expectations, but I just feel like it's not talked about enough. How saying in the word is, is crucial to the relationship with God mainly because we're so we're so, we're so immersed in the world. Right. And we are going to be conformed into the world and we have been being conformed by the world since, until the moment of our salvation is when the transformation started to happen. But you know, there's, there's that, both ends of that relationship where we need to see God and then he's willing to transform us. So I just, I wish it was talked about it, talked about more in my, in my experience, but I'm glad that you, that you said that because it's the truth. Well, mercy me, I know that I'm not the only one, but you know, I appreciate the, the, the, the wisdom that you brought to the table. You're you're from your view. And I still, let me reiterate. If I boast, I boast in Christ, man, 27 years. You, you just like you bring it. I don't deserve it. I, like you said, all glory to God. Like if, if it wasn't for him, I would have nothing to come up here and say. So, well, I praise God. I love it. Thank you for jumping on. Thank you for blessing us. And you know, just keep up the good work. Yes. And you know what, see real quick, you know, I, I was actually sleeping in cause I'm off today. I have some time off today. And I got, for some reason I opened TikTok, which I never do and someone DM me and said, Hey, Pastor Paul just mentioned you. And I said, Oh, let me see that. And then I'm like, sorry if I sound like. I saw that video and I thought, you know, it was a great example. When I looked at your Bible, you're in front of the churches. I, you know, and I'm intrigued, especially where you live. I would have to say, you know, cause churches, we don't have here in Arizona, old churches like that. They're relatively new compared to you guys. So, but the great takeaway is this is, and I was trying to point out that mercy is in her word because she knows she has to be, because if not, if she's not feeding the spirit, the flesh will eat. And you said, or maybe I'm watching TV or, you know, whatever that is, but we as Christians have to keep our focus and have to stay on point because if not, man, I like, I know you and I agree, but we can just slip slide away and we find us not experiencing the joy of our salvation. Amen. Amen. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate you, Pastor Paul. All right, kiddo. Everybody, God bless you. Make sure you follow MercyMe. Go on her lives. Listen to what she has to say. You get the whole perspective, but to hear somebody 27 years old on fire for God, blesses my heart. God bless you. Have a great day. Love y'all. Bye. Y'all take care.