(0:00)The End of Year Hangover
unfiltered welcome back everybody Welcome Back Where do you guys find all this energy from honestly I just take the whatever Esther has left and I holiday season holiday season is over we're about to go into the new year you know the bad thing about this thing is that this thing flies so quickly yeah it's like 2024 just started and now yeah I literally I'm like we should be in like June how are we at the end I remember January 1st like so vividly and I'm like I can't believe it's it's about to be what do you remember about it I mean we had dinner after so we do a New Year's dinner after uh crossover we go home change everything where did you guys go where did we go I don't remember where we went no where else is open at that time of the day no we it's hard it's hard to find very it's very very hard is a few months of um cing around before yeah is yeah like a lot of places open no no it's hard at 1:00 a.m. at least for no no no not right no no not o overnight like not like you mean later in the day later in the day we going to e but even then some people like lots of people take take like clothes down still like lot of plac are shut I would love to go to dinner after that New Year's Eve service you know it's my oh yeah it's my wedding anniversary I like to just take my wife straight to dinner and be done with it are you going to finally tell us how many years how many years
(1:33)27 Years: The Marriage Secret
okay I got married in 1998 this is January 2025 so do the math that's 26 27 Jesus is Lord to Jesus wow my marriage is older than some people in my church a lot of accurate he man you've been doing the thing PF I'm old man congratulations thank you thank you thank you I have really worked very hard I should pastor about that listen that like let's get her opinion on no you guys know me now to know me is to love me I'm a likable easygoing laidback Stressless person um everybody who knows me thinks I'm chilled and easygoing why are you guys silent clearly yall don't know me then I mean I mean no you're you're you're you're great you're great P remember you're wise yeah remember Esther gave wise wow okay keep it moving keep moving but yeah how are you feeling about the end of the year and just the new year starting do you do resolutions nope no why was the
(2:37)Why I Have No Resolutions
time why was the time okay so I got a phone call today and um me and my sister it was my sister-in-law and we were just talking about like how she feels like the Lord is preparing her for something new in 2025 right and I was like I don't have anything like I just I don't know what's happening in 2025 I haven't heard from the Lord Lord I don't think I've even asked I'm just like going with the flow um but I am expect I do want things to happen in 2025 but I guess I'm like I don't know just increase in my family in terms of intimacy more kids maybe you said increase in your family you know me me and W are considering well you should consider because okay I won't say anything but yeah we are considering okay um you know we've had the conversation but overall I just the mean increase in terms of intim within our home um us doing more things together as a family um you know those are the main thing careerwise you know both of us kind of doing different things in our career not necessarily like obviously we want to go higher but I don't think that's necessarily go it's just to tap into areas where we feel like we can maximize the best of our potential in those areas awesome so what about you Dr Shim um resolutions um I don't have any so I don't know I don't typically have like a ton of things that I go into the year like wanting to do but I feel like this year particularly I didn't have I I think this is maybe the first year I didn't even have an idea I just knew that I wanted to rest and not have a lot on my plate and it has actually been such a great year like and I it part of me is like maybe this is how I should just be doing my life don't really have nothing go in and you just be useless you know just be like God whatever don't don't be a blessing to anybody just live your life for your are you hearing what I'm saying whatever you got in store for me I going take it because it's been a good year that's great I like that um and not that I whatever God has in store for you you take it I mean it it just I think coming in without having like like expectations in and not that expectations are bad I think I was just more open I was just like hey God like this year I really what I want to do is prioritize rest and everything else like I trust like in that way and prioritize like spending time with you so um this year I actually spent a lot more time in the word than I've ever done in my life um so it like but I didn't have like it wasn't even a I must if that makes sense I was like I want to do this but I didn't feel like I was on a Time clock or like you know but it's been good it's been good so I'm excited for next year I mean I know that I think I'm like I also need to figure out okay what do you want to do for real for real um but I think I'm also basking and just enjoying what this year had to offer like the goals and the visions of like the new year you almost like want to prepare how you go into the new year in a sense yeah but so no resolutions I don't do
(5:45)Are Resolutions Just Chains?
resolutions because I feel like resolutions are um speak and I don't want to sound super spiritual because you know I get tired of that I I feel like resolutions are some kind of like manifestation type of thing no no like a like a chain that you tie yourself to right um I want to do this I want to do that I'm going to do this I'm going to do that I'm going to lose 100 pounds I'm going to do this and all of that I feel like one should aspire to better oneself But ultimately I've come to understand that the most important thing I can do with my year is to do what the Lord has ordained for me to do right right is to fulfill the goals that he has set for the year and usually they're not goals for me they're goals for the Kingdom
(6:37)God's Agenda vs. My Goals
right and in in in in in reaching for those goals to the extent he gives me Grace I find out that I grow right I am fulfilled I am um in a better place so it's not I don't approach to year with resolutions for me more like a curiosity about God's agenda right for the kingdom for the year so at newc at NCH for
(7:01)Finding Joy Beyond Circumstances
example um shout out got the got my shirt on you yeah last um last year the word we entered the year with 2023 to 2024 was that the Lord will feel the sounds of joy and laughter will ReSound from our tents and people hear that and they think of laughter or joy as the consequence of our circumstances right but it is not speaking about our circumstances per se it is speaking more about the internal right the joy and the laughter that comes from imagine if you and um the most powerful human being on the world are at loggerheads right where you know he's trying to kill you he wants to take from you you know if he lays eyes on you you're dead right and then you and that guy are now good I know that's a scary place to be yeah you and the guy are good you know you and him are best charms right there's a joy and a lightness that comes right and I came to understand that the joy that God wants is not the joy that is based on circumstances right or the happiness sorry that is based on circumstances but the joy that comes from within from knowing your status in your relationship with him and what has happened for me and I've tried to um communicate to the church is the length and the bread the height and the depth right of God's love for us right and I know we have not it's it's it's an uncompletable task right but bringing our minds to Center on that truth right and when you know the value of that truth right um your heart will be filled with joy and your mouth will be filled with laughter no matter what is going on around you that the King of Kings and the Lord of lords right the commander of all the armies of Heaven the one who rides upon the wings of the wind right the one who dwells in light that no man can approach looks at you and says we good I mean that's awesome that is a that is a beautiful thing and um so so 2025 I I have an idea of what it is right of what um our our theme is of what um the Lord's um word for us is actually I know what the word for us is it might change before them but right now I think I know what the word is I want to see how that plays out because what I imagine it is going to be is usually not how it it plays out so so I'm looking forward to that you know um how does it play out how does it manifest right because I think it's going to Manifest this way and then manifest another way I'm like H could this be it and alas there it is um yeah so I find my purpose in God's purpose yeah my resolution is in his resolution and I think that's the way um to approach this I'm curious do you have any major highlights from
(10:04)The Danger of Highs and Lows
2024 not really no um no you know the way I look at days now right is it's almost like a Continuum it's not one day after another it's just one long day right and it's full of highs and lows right and if it's high today it's okay it's going to be low tomorrow and if it's low today it's okay it's going to be high tomorrow right so I try not to let the highs overstimulate me right because I know that if I get overstimulated by the highs the lows are going to devastate me and and actually I I had an experience this year so something happened very very positive happened in my life and I was very chilled about it right like really to the point where people are like like is everything okay I was really even about it and people gingered me up like ah you should be celebrate you should give a testimony and I'm like you know it was really I mean that's yeah that's honest though that's like people wanted me to be excited and I'm generally not an excitable person but they really and it's anyway that's
(11:23)The Rice and Stew Philosophy
true I heard you only eat rice and stew why why why do you make that sound like it's a thing like it's a it's the way she brought that up like that's that's an like explanation for why you don't get excited about things because you only eat rice rice Tre is is is like it's exciting like like oh you're used to just one boring yeah yeah but but see see this is the thing that you guys don't understand about R and St right rice and stew rice white rice specifically and stew and when I'm talking about stew I'm not talking about mutton stew or or something I'm talking about the traditional um red stew red stew with fried proteins um um there's such a there's Beauty and simplicity right I give you that it's underrated because it under it is underrated and and I I I think the most beautiful things in the world if you pay attention are the most simple things complexity brings chaos uh I don't know we you know some of us like Bakery it's a a bit complex but you know for those of you that don't know that's a traditional Nigerian dish from the eural land if I'm not mistaken from somewhere yeah pits of H pops wow PF that slander that the the push back is going to be so real you'll be okay it's going to be so real that that slander they we don't want to be unfiltered about food let's just let's let's leave food I can get really unfiltered about some things let's let's leave food so avocado we're just no PF we're not going to go there today we're just going to I didn't mean to bring you back off your point but to you the point that you making about something exciting happening in your life it something happened that people got excited about and they thought I should be excited about it and I'm like nah guys and everybody was the people who heard about it were like oh my God oh my God we need to have a part I'm like guys chill oh my God oh my God and then fast
(13:16)Why I Stopped Performing Excitement
forward 6 months later the exact opposite of the same thing happened so I'm like you see so am I supp supposed to do now crawl into my grave thank God but guess what I listened to them I got excited I got excited so I now sat on this high place of excitement I whipped myself up to be excited to satisfy the masses the cacophony of voices what does that mean PF pandemonium I think we should have like a little segment that just said English words with PF because clearly you guys don't you think vocabul yeah and like and like clearly our vocab is not even near anywhere you know Jesus like it's giving those you know Nigerians and how they just talk with like words that are like just wow yeah so because you don't know the meaning of a word it's not a bad word the language that you speak no wait wait sweet sweet pause there is a norm for words that are typically used on a normal basis in our society that is not used really because no yeah really where do you use it do you use it you talk I mean can you can you just Google it you just Google it just Google it Google it c a c o p h it's even good that he's spelling it because careful careful it's okay because a harsh discordant mixture of sounds mixture of sounds we have learned something new today guys if if anything you learned that okay so I listened to the multitude of voices I have to dumb down my English oh my God and I got I whipped myself up into a lather got excited and then the exact opposite happens right and now I have to dig myself up if they had left me alone but then do you not think that like that prevents you from fully experiencing like whatever it is whether it's like the excitement that comes with a new thing or the sadness that comes with something that that happen I'm very
(15:32)Navigating ADHD and Emotional Intensity
um okay I don't want to hear about this but I was a few years ago diagnosed with ADHD right so I get very intense about some things I'm a very um I I I'm I'm an extreme kind of person if I like it I really like it if I don't like it I will not touch it with a 10ft pole right if I get excited I get very very excited and if I get down I get very down best for me is just stay even right because when I get into a hole right only angel Gabriel can pull me out of it and when I get on a high ah it's a problem so it is better that everybody just leaves me so everyone leave PF alone and the nature of Life the nature of Life of my life has been a lot of Lo lows a lot of very intense lows right and the truth is this year the thing with lows is that they have a way of swallowing the highs right when you are at your lowest it's hard to remember when you were happiest right and that's the nature of the lows they they they they become all encompassing it's almost like they swallow up any good thing as ever happen feel like you can't get there almost yeah yeah and it's it's a struggle right to to remember that you know what the sun actually shines you know and I know this is um there are people who recognize what I'm talking about where it seems as if that dark cloud just packs itself over your life and over your mind right and I've been there and I don't like to be there you know and one of the ways that I think I have managed not going there is to just have this approach to life where um I am grateful for the good times but I know that the bad times are kind of around the corner the Bible says in this world you will have tribulations so tribulations don't impact me as much as they used to they don't devastate me like they used to my turnaround time how I describe it has vastly improved you know and I I attribute that to my learning that um this one too will pass whatever it is it will pass successes it will pass failures it will also pass it gives you perspective so I know it sounds a little um what's the word gloomy but it works for you it works for me man I like to enjoy my highs and and suffer the lows no you have not been in my lows man you know there's some lows that I maybe because you know one of the and I've talked about this on this on this in our conversations is that when you have a tendency to Melancholy or depression right sadness is just a um um circumstantial sadness situational sadness is a very very light trigger away from putting you in depression right and so I I I I try to avoid it because it's so the line is so thin thin that one minute I can be sad because this thing broke I thought you know what's happening for the next three months I'm struggling so I'm expecting it to break so when it breaks I'm oh it broke okay well we'll fix it you know it's a coping mechanism that works for me I'm not asking anyone else to adopt it please enjoy your what do you call it your highs and be sad over your lows because that two pass away to pass it All Passes All Passes yeah so we're going to get it I know you guys probably thought oh wow we started no we haven't we're just about to start now sorry um but we're going to kind of get into today's episode you know you enjoy eny talking to us Pia yeah I do I do he's like but yeah so um when Esther and I we we didn't actually get a chance to talk really before this um episode and we so why am I here we're getting there we're getting there we're getting there and so I had asked her um I had like textt her hey do you have any ideas for like what we were going to talk about and because I didn't want to just say something things I just said hey do you have any ideas and then she had texted me and she was like hey I was thinking we can talk about the gifts of the Spirit speaking in tongues all of that and then I took her I took a picture of cuz I was at work I took a picture of a piece of paper that had scribbled possible ideas and I had lit literally written spiritual gifts developing them and I was like oh I guess that's what we're talking about like we're on the same page here we are today and so that's what we're talking about today spiritual gifts spiritual gifts all right what do you want to know okay so I'm going to read I'm going to first start by reading 1 Corinthians chapter 12 thank you um from verse 4 thank you it's good to do things based off of scripture yeah okay um so I'm going to get started um 1 Corinthians chapter 12 this is from verse 4 there are different kinds of spiritual gifts and this is the NLT version um but the same spirit is the source of them all there are different kinds of service but we serve the same Lord God works in different ways but it is the same God who does the work in all of us a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other to one person the spirit gives the ability to give wise advice to another the same spirit gives a message of special knowledge the same spirit gives great faith to to another and to someone else the spirit gives the gift of healing he gives one person the power to perform Miracles and another the ability to prophesy he gives someone else this ability to discern whether a message is from the spirit of God or from another Spirit still another person is giv the ability to speak in unknown tongues or unknown languages while another is given the ability to interpret what's being said it is the it is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts he alone decides which gift each person should have and I mean that is then the segue into uh 1 Corinthians 13 when he talks about love and how it's necessary to like all of this is nothing without love right and so we were just um kind of talking like since we didn't really get a chance to talk as much we kind of just um talked a little bit about how um one setting the this I guess explaining the difference between one the gifts of the Spirit and then the fruit of the spirit I think that would be a good place to start okay what do we want to start the difference right yeah the difference so so the gifts of the Spirit are given by the Holy Spirit to different people right so different people will um will will um manifest a gift of the spirit right and that list you read even though you read it from the new leing translation and that makes it not seem as profound and concise right um the gifts of Prophecy words of knowledge words of wisdom the utterance gifts speaking in tongues interpretation of tongues um um the power gift healing um Miracles Faith right all of those gifts the Holy Spirit distributes to each person differently right as he Wills when he Wills now the fruits of the spirit and it's not fruits is fruit right and the fruit of the spirit is love and then it breaks love down into multiple streams right um gentleness kindness patience and all of those things faithfulness those are the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit right if the holy spirit is in you right we will see the fruit of his presence in you right in the way that you behave right now the thing about fruit is this all believers should have fruit if they have the Holy Spirit the manifestation of the fruit is um is to the extent of the Holy Spirit within you right so let's say you have uh uh you have the measure of the holy spirit that I have right I'm going to ask you as a questions in a second I'm not going to ask you we all have the the same measure of the Holy Spirit we don't have the same level of Faith right but the holy spirit will have the same now if the holy spirit is in me there are certain things that you will see manifest in me so you will see that there's gentleness in me you'll see that there's patience in me you'll see there's kindness that is evidence that the holy spirit is in me in spite of the fact that Fe is known as not a very patient person right or uh gentle person right the gifts are totally different gifts today I'm prophesying you're speaking in Tong right tomorrow you are Discerning Spirits they don't all aggregate in one person the fruit all aggregate can aggregate in one person but both of them are by the Holy Spirit none of them are by your will yeah Christians we we we like to use the term cultivate when we're talking about fruit because you know it's an agricultural term right you have to cultivate the fruit of the spirit as if you there's something that you should do to to have the Holy Spirit you know um bear fruit in you and and when I think about that I struggle with it because I I used to I grew up hearing it and it made sense you know if you want even for me I think it makes sense yeah but but it's it's it's borderline error and I explain what I mean and I use the word borderline generously is actually problematic extremely when Jesus Christ was talking about this he said I am the vine you are the branches right and what did he say his father is the husband man right the husband man is the farmer right the cultivator of the vine right and the branches what do they do nothing they just remain in the Vine and the fruit is Manifest in them right the person who does the work is the is the farmer I am not the farmer I am just the bearer of the Holy Spirit and my role is to get out of the way so that the Holy Spirit can manifest through me right not use my head when the Holy Spirit is saying Fe me be gentle when my head is saying no no no no no no no I cannot be gentle I need to teach this person a lesson or two that's me getting out of my way and saying you know I know that I need to teach this person lesson or two but something in me is saying be gentle that thing in me is the Holy Spirit and that gentleness that comes out of me is the fruit of the spirit right I don't do anything to dig it up it is there it's there right right the only thing I do is don't interfere with it don't hinder it if a tree is planted in Fertile ground it will bear fruit all the tree does is remain planted that why Jesus Christ said abide in me say if you abide in me and my life my words abide in you you will bear fruit and your fruit will remain right for the gifts Paul said desire right desire it want it right and some people will say Pursuit is the proof of Desire I think it was mil Monroe that says that Pursuit is the proof of Desire no mik M if you if you want something you will go after it so how do you go after the ability to prophesy study about prophecy right understand what it is understand what it is not and when you understand it right if the Holy Spirit wants to use you as a vessel to prophesy you you understand what's going on and you flow in that gift right but it is not an exclusive to one person gift right these days you know we have people who um mistake a gift for an office right yeah a prophet is a prophet that is what his position is in the body of of Christ he stands as a beacon right as a a what do you call that thing a microphone an amplification of God's voice but he's not the only person who can prophesy so I can prophesy on and off as the Holy Spirit Wills you can prophesy on and off as the Holy Spirit Wills but sh may be a prophet that is her office that is her job she prophesies you know what I'm saying yeah right like a teacher right yes there are some evangelists that teach but they might stly just be I mean their office might be a office of an evangelist like that is what they do yes yeah that's their office yes I do have a question about this because when you're thinking about like just growing like when I think when when I think about people that are that reference like growing in this in the in love because I think about like growing in love yeah um I think to your point when the Holy Spirit checks us about something we have an opportunity to yield to what the Holy Spirit has said and so I think sometimes when the Holy Spirit tells us things we might hear and then ignore it but then after that thing has happened we're like oh it was the Holy Spirit that told us this thing and so we begin to grow in that area of um you know what we kindness what we grow in is our our ability a to descend the Holy Spirit right that's number one we grow in our ability to separate the voice of the Holy Spirit from the voice of our flesh right and the voice of our past and the voice of our our friends and the voice of our experience right that's what we grow in that you know hearing God and knowing that this is God we we The Love Is Love Love Is Love right if I show love to sh how does that grow you what I'm saying the growth is not in love the growth is in my ability to step aside right and let God do God right what about practicing love like what are you practicing you just do it there's no practice there we can't being kind or being patient like I think those things we have to practice those things I don't know if those things necessarily like I feel like you know you give your life to the Holy Spirit he makes you a new but I think it's it's them walking those things out like with fear and trembling like actually walking out patience walking out kindness like I I don't I I you know I'm so sorry I struggle with these terms right because practice when I hear practice it's something you do in uh it's something you do um is not real right so uh uh football players have a time of practice where they kind of play the game but it doesn't count right you know what I'm saying it doesn't count practice is it doesn't count there's no time at which kindness doesn't count it counts every single time exactly so what are you practicing you're doing it right right you so they say uh uh practice patience if I have to be patient it counts right I can't sit in front of my tea and say okay let me practice patience no but you get my point yes I do so that is my and my problem is not I understand what you are saying but the language of it right can be confusing so what can we say then how can we differentiate the two to what meaning for instead of saying practice kindness because obviously we know that be kind be kind be kind be kind every opportunity you get be kind show kindness right because it counts each time there's no there's no you know there's no practice time right it's it matters every time the Bible says SW your seed in the morning and don't hold your hand back in the evening because you don't know which one is going to change somebody's life that's me paraphrasing right I the fruit of the spirit right is this the holy spirit says to me Fe say don't say what you are thinking to Esther say something nice instead right and I choose not to say something nice which is what people do right yeah I I messed up period right there's no gives boxes what I said to you right what is going to take the damage away okay where I come from in Nigeria they say uh words are like eggs on once they're brok you can't put them back right if I said something nasty to you the damage is done you may actually God forbid never heal from it without the special Grace of the Holy Spirit right coming to heal you so I don't get to mess around and say okay you know what I'm still a baby Christian it doesn't matter every time the Holy Spirit asked me to do something it matters or he wouldn't ask me to do it right so if I meet somebody who right now you know what they need is gentleness and I'm rough with them or what they need is is you know uh uh uh uh um um what's the other one longsuffering and I'm just like you know I I can't take this I I I'm intolerant with them it it's it's impactful right so I have to let get out of the way Christians we focus on We Major on the minors and it's because we have a very wared perspective of what Christianity is to be a Christian means that you have accepted that Jesus has paid for you and that you are following him in that revelation we follow Jesus but not in the revelation of the completeness of his work right we follow Jesus in the same way Disciples of John the Baptist follow Jesus they are attached to John the Baptist but they're hanging out with Jesus but they're getting their matching orders from John the Baptist right so they are following Jesus technically but their heart is still with John they still live according to the ten dictates of John not according to the tenant dictates of Jesus right the the the the the expression of our faith is in our relationship and interactions right but we have turned Christianity into this mechanism to receive blessing right we've turn Christian to this opium right to um to dull our senses from the realities of Life yeah yeah you know but that's not what it is it is that we accept that our sins are paid for right that in this life we will have challenges right but in the life that is to come we have hope based not on wishful thinking or the writings of some Eastern philosopher but based off what the Lord has said to us what the Lord has done for us right but when we turn Christianity in this into this vehicle for you know um um um acquisition whether it is wealth or happiness or whatever it is then we struggle with doing things for people because the question okay so how does it benefit me to be kind to sh right so somebody has to tell you that if you if you if you are kind to shim God will bless you that is why I'm kind to sh and if I don't really need the blessing should I still be kind to sh and I wouldn't say those people are walking in the spirit then no they're not so yeah because I was going to be like so like listening to what you said like I'm hearing that if we do have the Holy Spirit we will exhibit the fruit of the spirit yes Without Really Trying yes that you'll just be kind what does what does the tree do to bear fruit your mango tree what does it do to bring mangoes just somebody I need somebody to tell me what the mango tree does to yes to water has to shine who P water on it said water has to rain has to rain has to fall sun has to shine who PS the water not the mango not the mango who does the son not the mango what does the mango do mango J say that is why it is the fruit of the spirit not your fruit the fruit of the spirit right the Bible says that you shall by their fruits you shall know them right the Fruit of the Spirit is what tells me that you are spirit filled and speaking in tongues is not a fruit of the spirit it's just a it's gift it's a gift okay right it's not a fruit of the spirit the fruit of the spirit is the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit right the fruit of the spirit is the natural character traits that the holy spirit will produce in US yeah I believe that people produce different fruits at different times yeah I believe that people as they yield to the Holy Spirit you will see more fruit in their life Liv right um and and and I think that's a good distinction too that what that over time you will grow more fruit oh yeah absolutely absolutely but you see this is the thing yeah the only thing that I think a Christian is called to do the Bible says be transformed by the renewing of your mind the Bible says that as we behold his glory we are transformed into to the same image from glory to glory Jesus Christ is the personification right the manifestation the Bible says is the express image of the glory of God as we Behold Him the Bible says we all with unveiled faces right beholding as in a mirror the glory of God are transformed into the same image from one level of Glory to another I believe that the when we're talking about prayer at one of the episodes right the more we spend beholding Christ the more we become like Christ right but the beholding is specific the Bible says beholding like in a mirror what a mirror does is display what is put in front of it right yeah you put it bring a mirror now and put in front sh what the mirror is going to do is put send my beautiful face right display's beautiful face back to sh right if we behold Christ what does that mean that we are displaying Christ if we behold Christ like in the mirror we're displaying Christ right so what you to to display something is to is to Proclaim it is to declare it is to show it to everybody right if you start to show people what you see of Christ you start to become like Christ right but what we want to do is this we behold Christ but we don't Behold Him to sorry we look at Christ but we don't look at him to Behold Him we look at him to get ways and tips on how to be rich right how to run our businesses how how to conduct our marriage but the Bible says Behold Him like a like in a mirror look at him and display him if you look at Jesus and display Jesus you know what's going to happen the fruits of the spirit are going to be seen in you right so look at Jesus what when you were reading your Bible what did you see of Jesus you mean today yeah today I was actually you know what when I read my Bible today I I told you that I sent you a text message because I was reading James and he was really James James coming for yeah James people talk about James James is a bit of a in some ways in some ways James if you're not careful can appear contradictory to the rest of the Gospel I need a little bit of clarification and some things that's why I asked we'll talk about it but um but no but when I do read um I told you initially when I I was reading I was seeing myself the Israelites everything and I at some point like I felt Jesus say like God SA you're looking at everybody but me when you're reading like you need to look for me in all of these stories like stop looking for yourself stop looking at other people um look for me and then I started to see even in the Old Testament God being kind like and being um generous and being like loving and like you know like and I looked it up I think the word has said like loving kindness I I was like Wow but we kind of because I wasn't initially looking for him I just kept saying oh well I just saw The Dramatics and you saw and you saw how fantastic God is yes right but you never thought to yourself yeah that this thing I am seeing I should be displaying right not because God is going to judge me right because of my sins so let me quickly you know display him not because I'm going to get points for displaying him right but just you know because because you know he's not going to judge you he already paid the price he can't judge you for what Jesus Christ he has judged Jesus for that's Double Jeopardy right he can't punish what he has punished Jesus for you and I all of us we we we we we need to get away from this mentality that God's agenda is our agenda God is not our facilitator God does not you know if you sit down in your head and create a God that God exists to serve you he sat in his head and created us so we exist to serve him right when we move away from that bless him bless him bless him my name is Blessing the quicker we're going to get to a place where we actually start to see God and yield to God right now we just use him we use God we're just take away if if if somebody said to you that after Jesus God is not doing anything for you again no more blessing he's not getting you a job if you are sick you're going to die sick you see the ah ah he wouldn't I don't know if he would do that no but just if he said to you if he said if he said to you listen if said to you I'm going to do one thing for you and I'm going to I'm telling you what I'm going to do I'm going to give you Jesus and these are the consequences of having Jesus right in you're going to die at some point and then for you're going to live for the rest of your life if you have Jesus the rest of your life you're good right you're going to live in heaven with Mansions of God whatever right but for the rest of the time on this Earth I ain't doing squat for you yeah many of us will be like but you know see that's the gospel that's the gospel for some that live in Thor world countries that are like we are fortunate to be in the western world but for some people that's actually their their life and so and they're still serving Jesus they're still serving but why would we still serve Jesus if if if he if he does not promise US silver and gold what the Bible says the Bible says a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his material possessions right that means that God does not assess you based off of what you have right that means that what you have means little or nothing to God right we we all accept that but do you know what that means that means that God cannot be invested solely his whole life cannot be about giving you stuff that he considers of no value he cannot consider that the most important thing that cannot be his goal in your life give you stuff just say if he thinks these things are of no value why is it that that's all he wants to do for you give you stuff that he says are of no value right if we can move away right from a very Earthly bound Faith it's all about the blessings here the blessings here if you look at the early church the early church thrived and prospered even after persecution even after all sorts of programs right they thrived and the flourished and up till now we we still have that church right right but they went about this Prosperity thing this every outcome is going to be a good outcome I mean how do you tell Stephen that everything is going to be all right he's being stoned and he's saying forgive them how do you tell Peter who was hung upside down or the one they borrowed in oil or the one they threw in the lion stand right how do you tell these people that our Christianity is contingent on God answering and giving us stuff well that's how you know that it's not real Christianity there you go yeah but it works for Judaism because in the Old Testament it's a carrot and stick thing if you do good God will give you stuff right and if you don't do good he will lock you up and take your stuff and that's the approach we have what we forget is that that Old Testament was a signboard a billboard pointing us to Christ back to Jesus right back to Jesus showing us our inability to walk the straight and narrow consistently but we we take it as the gospel it's not the gospel I do I have a question right when it comes to like when the Lord says like I'll rain on the he does say this it causes he causes the sun to shine on both the believer and the unbeliever like and the rign to fall yes yeah okay so in in regards to like gifts what does that look like nothing let me tell you something about gifts gifts are the gifts of the holy spirit where does the Holy Spirit reside in US how does the Holy Spirit Come to reside in us we have been cleansed and Washed by the blood of Jesus yes right if the holy spirit is in me then I can manifest any gift right right as the Holy Spirit Wills correct so the gifting comes from above but through the holy spirit in me it comes from within right yeah it's not coming from outside then why do I guess people phrase it has like a sitting gift almost like okay I think there are are there people that have Sitting gifts if you know what I mean by sitting there people that are very comfortable operating a certain gift okay so they frequently operating a lot right I guess my question would then be like how do you then discern like if you have been given a gift right how do you like so you're saying like some people are like they're comfortable operating and that because they they I guess they realize that okay this is a gift that I have and then they start um practicing in it or not practice but you know what I'm talking about how do you discern then like hey this is what this is actually a gift that God has given me like I guess even just the gift of healing or Miracles what if I have how do I know if I have that or not okay so if somebody comes to you and they are sick right pray for them pray for them okay so if nothing happens does that mean that I don't have the gift happens how do you know nothing happen how do you nothing happen they didn't immediately I mean remember remember the guys who came to Jesus Christ with Leprosy yes I said to them go and tell the Go and show yourselves to the priest right as they were going they were healed sometimes the people who come to you is as they are going that they are healed not why they standing in front of you their healing is not to validate your Christianity their healing is to validate God right and sometimes that validation right has no business happening around you then how do I know if I have the gift of healing or Not by Faith by faith so so this is the thing I I I I speak words of knowledge and words of wisdom sometimes right and this is the way it works I know that I have been cleansed by the Holy by the blood of Jesus I know the Holy Spirit dwells in me if a thought comes to my mind right that is not that does not fit right my pattern of thinking or train of thought in that moment I can take that and say that's the Holy Spirit right and I will speak that word right I may be wrong I actually may be wrong but I also could be right yeah what stops me from speaking the word fear fear of being wrong correct what are the consequences of being wrong you were wrong I was wrong yeah and what I have egg on my face embarrassment I'm embarrassed okay so my ego then right hinders me if I say there's somebody there's a person here and the Lord is saying to you you know you're going to get a job tomorrow there's nobody here that's going to get a job tomorrow who have I heard you say I can insist okay out of all the four people here if you are going to get a job tomorrow raise your hand who is that person who is that person why why am I doing that cuz I want to prove that I I want to prove to everybody there that I'm actually operating in the gift yes right right so there's a lot more fear and a lot more of a trepidation so to speak right in operating in the gifts so when the Bible says I when he says I will re on the just isn't that is he not talking about gifts he talking about gifts he's talking about he's talking about the blessings okay do you know anybody who is not a Christian who's doing well materially that's not yes okay that is God says I will cause he say be perfect even as your heavenly father is perfect in that he causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine on both the believer and the unbeliever alike yeah right the rain and the sun speak of the blessings of God right there are farmers who are Heathen who enjoy the benefits of the rain right and the sun right what I struggle with is not unbelievers beinged BL that is God he's perfect it is when a Christian expects that he has to jump through hoops that unbelievers don't have to jump through right to get the same blessing from God right an unbeliever without praying expects that his paycheck will come but a Christian is told that if he doesn't fast and pray he will not get his paycheck right why do I want to serve a God who is easier on non-f family members than on family members why do I want to serve a God who is harsher on me now that I am his son than the guy out there who's been uh jackass and that's our that is the Christianity we've been taught unbelievers don't fast and they get married why are Christians having to fast first why do we teach fasting as a precondition the comments are going to be on fire I'm not don't get me wrong fast but don't fast like God is demanding ah if you don't do a 40-day fast I'm not going to give it to you then some unbeliever coming from the pit of Hell Comes and he gives it to that person what kind of God is that he's is is he's harder on the Israelites than he's on the Babylonians no we are his children we shouldn't have to uh uh uh beg for bread from him for that matter right that's why when that woman Samaritan woman came to Jesus for healing said this is the children's meat it's the children's meat it's ours right but then they've taught us and they've em bibed in us the mentality of the elder brother right who who says I have served you all my life I have walked like a dog and you have not even given me a fatted cow for me and my friends to celebrate a cow a cow a cal what is a cal to that father the same way we're begging for this trinkets from God he says no no says your father in Heaven knows that you have need of these things so when we are praying like like God is a wicked Taskmaster we're not sleeping like God is a wicked Taskmaster we're not eating like God is a wicked Taskmaster that we have to impoverish ourselves to impress what are we saying that is why every time somebody has a blessing that we have been praying for there's a bit of there's a Ting of something there cuz you're like ah I paid the price it's like you go to college for 8 years trying to get a degree and somebody doesn't even go to college and they're giving them the degree you are going to feel some type of way yeah but if you understand that those degrees are nothing they're not the best our father has the the prodigal son when he came when he went to his father and said give me my stuff right give me my half of the inheritance the father gave it to him like what's that that's nothing the father gave it to him meanwhile uncle was complaining walking miserable that is why a lot of Christians particularly those in the prosperity Camp are not happy they're disappointed they're disappointed somebody sold them a Dream well guess what they're not going to tell you that they're disappointed so they keep plooding on they keep plooding on they keep plooding on right and with each step that they take they're closer to the grave but their faith has diminished and many of them get to the door of the gray River as some cultures call it without any faith so just a bful of disappointments are you so I guess I'm trying to understand are you saying like so not Faith like for salvation because they believe that Christ died for them but what kind of Faith are you saying I'm saying that your faith Grows Right your faith increases your faith is perfected right the perfecting of your faith is to get you over the Finish line right it is to help you cross the river called Death right to go from mortality to immortality that is why our faith needs to be perfected right but when your faith is being constantly bashed by disappointment based of a faulty theology You're Expecting from God what God never promised right you're expecting God to do stuff that he's not your expectations are misconstrued yes they are based off of a god that is not real yeah by the time you're getting to that Great River many people don't have faith many people are like that's why Jesus Christ said when the son of man returns will he still find Faith because a lot of people are so disappointed but the community makes it really hard for them to come out and say this thing you've told me is not working on it's not true I was sick and I didn't get healed I was broke and the bill didn't get paid right people struggle but they can't come out and say they struggling but young people these days you know what they do they're like and they just bounce cuz the community now is so loose right nobody's looking at you sideways for not going to church in my days you don't go to church you get like 25 phone calls 15 visits it's better for you to go to church with your disappointment that will not go so people are in church they are disappointed right in God right but God said in this world you will have troubles but then we tell them if they fast right at the beginning of the for 120 days the year there will be no trouble then there's trouble meanwhile the unbeliever who did not fast one day in fact watch Night Service he didn't go he was drinking and he was drunk about F no trouble the life is sweet that's what it looks like no trouble how how do you deal with how do you how do we explain that then we now twist ourselves in pretzels trying to trying to explain away the sun shining on an unbeliever or the rain shining on an unbeliever says be perfect as your father in Heaven is perfect be a blessing to everybody whether they are believers or unbelievers full stop so one is blessings one is gifts yes no one is fruit one is gift one is fruit one is gifts yeah and then I guess my other question would then be like I think some Christians don't believe that um like the gifts are still I don't know there's [Music] a like oh there's no more gifts and and stuff like that like can you just speak to that a bit CU I don't know why I don't know why they say that because I don't see any deadline or any sunset in the Bible about the gifts I don't see any Scripture to justify that right that at a certain time the gifts will disappear I don't see any Scripture to justify the idea that the gifts were only manifest in certain people right I believe that we are not seeing the gifts in abundance as we should because the gifts are a witness to the word the gifts are given to validate the Gospel of Jesus and because you feel like it's not being preached then that's why we're not seeing the gift yes yes the Old Testament how many times did anybody other than how many times were was healing done in the Old Testament not as much I would how many times maybe once when the um the uh what's his name General was toh toy right yes it wasn't happening how many times did anybody multiply Five Loaves and two fish the Miracles that happened were miracles of Victory and War right you know God stopped the Sun from setting and the Moon from you know rising or whatever right but the interpersonal Mir testimonies Miracles that you see in the Old Testament we don't see it there because science and wonders are a witness of Christ I would say we don't see it in the western world yeah we don't see I hear all I hear about it all the time in like Africa and Asia and these places so okay let's talk about it you hear some of it is real and some of it is contrived okay some of it is contrived some of it is is the yeah right and people will tell you well we do this to boost the faith of people we want to encourage their faith I do believe you see Miracles right all over the world in the west and in Africa but in the west and in Africa considering the number of spirit filled Christians the miracle should be phenomenal the quantity of it should be exponentially trillions more than we are seeing it and the reason why is because God is not going to stand and validate anything except Jesus full stop so if you preach Moses you're not going to get any Miracles and if you see it you get a trickle and it's God being merciful to somebody who's listening or somebody who's who's there right but the rivers that we expecting we're not getting it because we're not talking about Jesus people keep saying oh everybody has heard the gospel no no no everybody has heard religion right and until the gospel is preached Gospel of Jesus is preached he's not coming back and it's going to take a minute because a lot of what is being put out there is religion Full Stop The Ten Commandments the 63 laws of Moses I'm seeing pastors now wearing uh prayer Shaws from the temple right I've seen churches right celebrating feast yum and such like right not I'm not talking about Messianic uh Christians those are Jewish Christians who culturally those things are a part of their culture I'm seeing Christians from Africa and and America trying to go back to observe the laws of Deuteronomy and Leviticus when the Bible says by The Works of the law shall no man be justified right and then when you put on your prayer Shaw right and you are you know blowing a chuar right according to the uh the laws of Moses where's the miracle what is the miracle going to do to validate your prayer sh or validate your chauffer what exactly is the miracle going to do to say that this is the way this is the guy follow him God is not going to do that right so we need to come to that point where we realized what is the problem the problem here is the gospel the true Gospel of Jesus is not what we are preaching if you preach the go Gospel of Jesus you see Miracles yeah sorry we're talking about gifts and fruits how you oh that was that was great I mean yeah yeah um me who's gonna fire you okay let's go let's go to you no um I do want to ask this question see your point about like I would say in our in our in our church Community like how can we how we how can we begin to Foster some of the gifts that you know the Lord has given again Foster okay let me tell what we can do let me tell what we can do can I tell what we can do yes teach about Jesus preach about Jesus right and let the Holy Spirit do his thing make a space where it's safe for people right to get it wrong yeah yeah make a space where it's safe for people to to just you know flow but I found out that people really like people talk about authenticity all the time until it's time to be authentic and then they're like yeah no not me I'm not going to walk around with egg on my face you know I I like your generation a lot and the reason why is that with your generation there is a Resurgence of a hunger for God the people in your generation actually care care more about the things of God than the Millennials I'm talking about genes now right the genes actually more interesed Millennials are heathens well I'm Millennial and I care a lot about you're not you're are not liar what's before okay so I'm gen I'm Gen X are are you sure you're not a boomer I'm a boomer I'm not a boomer it's okay I don't see that as a d boomas are boomas are are one step away from the greatest generation are above you yeah of course okay okay clearly you don't understand Jesus is Lord I'm I'm a gen xer then after Gen X is what Millennials Millennials yes okay the Millennials are problematic Millennials are are the are the Heathen generation mercy of God no seriously MERS are the ones that are just people say geners are are Living Church in Rose and I think they're living church not for the reasons why the Millennials are Living Church the Gen are Living Church because of the of Gen X like your gen sorry gen genes I apologize the genes are Living Church not for the reason that the MERS left church the miners left church because they are selfish and they just wanted to party and they just didn't want to be bothered the genes are leaving because there is an in congruity between the message that they are hearing and the message that they are reading right but there's a hunger there right for God the Millennials don't have a hunger for God they have a hunger for money and party and and and good life soft life why is that though like there's a reason why that is the case and then when they were being born the devil touched them I'm sorry I'm sorry that's was a joke that's a joke can you can you can you can you erase that part of the podcast please joking imp fix wouldn't touch anybody the aers just touch no but um I think that we're going to kind of just finish off today here yes I think so too what I'm going to say what I took away from it was um just that one the fruit of the spirit I I don't have to do you know to um display God's fruit as long as I abide in Christ and actually Behold Him um then like my nature will begin to not change but just reflect what I'm be like who I'm beholding and then as for the gift um desire them they're good and and and and why why do you desire them I do have before we go tongues because that's that's I I was watching something today and then um they were just talking about like you know like tongues speaking in tongues in the in the church congregation and then praying in tongues within maybe your personal space or even has like grown up in African Community people pray prayer meeting people are't praying in tongues or you hear online they're like oh um at a worship set you know everybody start to pray in tongues you know so how would you speak to the those points around you know gifts okay so you have to put I know we're out of time but I'm you have put it in context right Paul was talking to the church in Corinth and there was a lot of chaos there people were doing some mad stuff service was just my favorite a cacophony of noise right a pandemonium right and he was addressing the disorder and the chaos and he was speaking into those things to give them structure right and what he said was don't speak in tongues if there's nobody to interpret it because if there's nobody to interpret it then the person hearing it is just hearing noise and thinks you're mad right it is better that you prophesy to their understanding because when you speak in tongues people don't understand what you're saying except there's an interpretation and this wasn't just praying maybe was somebody like getting up yeah I I agree so in church I do not I've told all the pastors all the ministers do not pray in tongues once in while they will forget do not pray in tongues do not speak in Tong because the spirit of the Prophet is subject to the prophet that means you decide whether you're going to speak in tongues or not don't do it except there's somebody there that you know will interpret otherwise somebody who comes in right is going to think what nonsense is this person talking right that tells you that church many times is not for the unchurched it's for the churched in Nigeria people speak in tongues because everybody in that church is already churched right is not an odity they familiar with it it does not make them think anybody's crazy do you get so in that setting where you are not expecting an unbeliever right go ahead and speak in Tong but if you think an unbeliever is going to be there then maybe not so in our church we don't speak in tongues during a gathering like a Sunday morning service on a Prayer meeting where everybody who is there came there to pray right I will speak in tongues but but I won't do it on a Sunday morning because again there are people in there who somebody dragged them here if you go to prayer meeting you wanted to be there you know there's a bit of a difference in in in that that was good awesome thank you wait before we go we have to finish cuz we said the why the why we desire these yes are we are we speaking are we manifesting the gifts to advance the kingdom or to advance ourselves right do you want people to know you as a Healer right or are you seeking the glory of God if you're seeking the glory of God then you realize that sometimes God is glorified in a death can you let somebody die because that is what will glorify God that's tough that's tough yeah all right guys um and on that note thank you for joining us make sure to like subscribe comment share I feel like I'm getting good at saying all these these words to do all the things we want to interact we want to respond to those comments yes email us let us know what you think and if you have questions um that you want us to address in any of our episodes um go ahead and do that but that's it for today enjoy the rest of your week happy New Year everybody and yeah happy New Year no merry New Year you already told us that Mary is not a I did say I still say that I said Mary sounds like intoxication and Sh Christmas has passed but but that is your personal like your personal lived experience wow so wow okay happy New Year guys 2025 is going to be late oh it's going to be good all right guys we'll see you happy New Year unfilter [Music]