(0:00)The Messenger vs. The Message
I remember one time I preached a message on holiness a long time ago and I went to the Lord I was like can I preach a nice message that makes everybody happy and the Lord said is it the messenger that will decide the message or the person who sending the messenger so which one are you f I'm the messenger then I decide your message so for me right now I've come to a place where I'm like you know what God I'm serving you right wherever you want me to serve you that's where I'll serve you I really don't care anymore I I'm filter Hello and welcome to another episode of PF from Furge. My name is Tindola. Hi everyone. I'm Roslin Noa or Bi Bi Bisah Salah. The energy is very chill tonight. Yeah, we just weather thing probably keeping it light. The weather is a bit a bit wet outside. It's a bit raining, bit damp also because Esa is not here. Well, Esther is the life of the party. We love you.
(1:00)The Exhausted Podcasters
Yeah. Um, so how's everyone feeling? I'm good. I'm tired, man. It's been a It's been a long weekend. Today's supposed to be my off day. I actually didn't do anything today. That's um very unusual. Think I'm really tired. So you guys, I'm tired. You get You get what you get today. This is the really really tired podcast. No, we could probably try and get like when we get we get some PF. I think this is a good episode. It's not hard to get something out of just get me to read the comments and then and then that will that will stir me up. Yeah. The guy who says I'm lying, I want to tell him something. I don't think we're that we're unfiltered, but we're not that no. I mean, if No, no, we're not going to do that. I can say to him in Euroba. No. Maybe. No. You should do that. I need to refer to some of his ancestors, but I can't. Yeah, you can't. I mean, you can, but we shouldn't. We shouldn't. Maybe. Maybe first generation ancestor, not five generations. [Laughter] We're not do that. No, this is we're just joking. Um, but though speaking of comments, we do appreciate all the feedback we've gotten. Most of the feedback. Most. Yeah, we appreciate most of the feedback. The ones that appreciate all the feedback. All the feedback. Even the disrespectful Yeah. the ones that ill ill educated. Um um yeah, we appreciate all the people. Yeah, even the accusatory ones. The ones that comment about our attire not being fresh. Uh somebody said your attire was not fresh. Not talking about my attire. Yikes. Big yikes. Um also to pay some bills, not all the bills. Um this episode is sponsored by B Avenue Bakery and I can't I can't say what I want to say. No, you can't. If I can't say what I want to say, you can say, "Oh, man. It's going to be such a great." So, should we really be calling show PF unfiltered since we are apparently filtered? PF semi filtered. Semi is even far. Is I should be able to I should have to speak to ancestors. I think so. I think you can. I think I can. I just don't know if we're ready. The audience is ready. You guys are not You guys are not ready. They're not ready for it. They're not ready for They're not ready for PF. I don't think so. So, we can talk about maybe a name change like maybe in the future. What do you think? Maybe we should I you know, let's just do a promo by with tape on my mouth so I can't talk. Let's just That's a great idea actually. So, we change the name to PF. I can't talk. Yeah. Or we could do PF for friends. Whose friend? Your your friends. Ah, the ones that are calling you like the telling me that I'm Yeah. that I want to tell them they Exactly. their ancestor. Exactly. Let's move on to Okay. Okay. Okay. Let's get Let's get Let's get to We appreciate all the comments. All of it. All of it. Absolutely. We appreciate the engagement online. Um it's been really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Um again, I mean, we're all over socials. So, if you don't know by now, um social media involves YouTube, right? Tik Tok, my right. Uh, Apple, Spotify, Spotify. Are we on the Facebook? Instagram. Facebook. Are we on the Facebook? I don't think so. We're not on the Facebook. That's kind of old. Old old. Oh, wow. So, if we're not on the Facebook, that means that all my people will not be there. Yeah. Uh, Facebook is No, we have to be on the Facebook. I'm not sure. We are not on the wall on the noses on the
(4:40)Do we need to be on Facebook?
Facebook. No, that's a long time ago. Are you serious? Yeah, that's a long time ago. Uh, I need to update my We have high five. High five. We should We should be on high five. I think so. Oh, guys. I don't even know what high five is. That's That's the problem. I'm sorry. What is high five? There's audience capturing that. We're not We're missing right now. All the 60 year olds and 70 year olds. I want to see. I think it's about like 90 something year olds. High five is old. Uh, all right. All right. Okay. Let's get Let's get into it. This this episode is going to be
(5:10)The Problem of Unanswered Prayer
about practical faith. Yep. At least that's the intent and the idea behind the episode. However, how did you know that was coming? You uh but stubborn. Um yeah, it I wanted I personally and I was I was talking to me before we came live. I personally want to know the truth behind unanswered prayers and I I'll give you a couple of scenarios. Okay. Right. Um imagine someone that is trying to is about to write their exams, whatever exam that is in a couple of weeks or something, right? And obviously they're nervous cuz the exam is important whether it is for GPA uh or for to earn a certification to you know earn more money to take care of their family or whatever. And that
(6:04)Scenario 1: The Failed Exam
individual now seeks their pastor or spiritually then you know it's they say you know understandable um whatever you ask in God's name um you shall receive um and you know when you pray pray uh with thanksgiving supplication make your request known all that right um and then the person now takes the exam in those two weeks and fails the exam and obviously he's like okay goes to pastor and the pastor now goes, "Well, you know, maybe it just wasn't God's rule for you." Mhm. Hey. Um, and that person is left a little confused because you should have told me before. Yeah. Like, you know, because when I when I came to you with that, you you you didn't pull a Jesus and say this is my request. So, if it's your let down like you told me that if you ask, you shall receive. If your faith is as small as a monster seat, right? You will move mountain. In this case, the mountain of the exam. That's one scenario. Mhm. Another scenario again is someone that
(7:03)Scenario 2: The Job Furlough
um let's say they are they maybe a government contractor or they a government employee and they find out that email goes in unfortunately due to the new administration you're on a short list of people that could potentially be fired fired followed followed that's an interesting word follow yeah okay follow follow is deli oh F. Fur. Okay. I didn't say fellow. I said what? Furlow. Fur. So happy. What is it again? Furlow. Furlow. Okay. Not follow. Oh, fellow. Yeah. Jesus is. All right. Um, and this individual, is that is that right? Appreciate you. Uh, and this individual then again, same thing. Heavy art knows that okay, this is about to affect my family. Maybe that the promises of income have just even had a baby or go to their pastor or whoever it is that they go to. They're told, you know, ask and you shall receive, right? And they pray and he gets fired and he gets fired. He gets fured. Fured, right? In those contexts, I guess to now give you the floor of like the truth behind an answered prayer is unanswered unanswered prayers and then what practical faith actually looks like. Okay. So, so a couple of things,
(8:28)God Is Not A Vending Machine
right? Number one, we need to get away from this mentality that God is this vending machine, right? Who exists to answer our prayers laughing cuz she actually said you were going to say that. Yeah. God is not a vending machine, right? He has a will. He's a sovereign being, right? And we don't always know his mind in every situation. But one thing that we do know is that he loves us, right? And when we take things to him as we should, in the way that he has said we should, right? Then we're confident that he answers us, right? What I would not um ask you to be confident about is what the answer will be, right? Because that is presumptuous. It's like me saying, I know today very well. Tul has said he has a million dollars to give to people, right? He does. He doesn't. But okay, you know, Tuli has said he wants me to be comfortable, right? So I go to I said today, give me $50. T is still going to exercise his will. I said, do you know what? Based off of my own interest, based off of my own analysis, and finally based off of my love for you, my answer is no. It is presumptuous to go to God, right, with the expectation that his answer will be yes in the sense of giving you exactly what you want every single time. Right? The Bible says his answers are
(10:04)Joseph's Dream Was Not The Vehicle
yay and amen, right? But the yay and the amens transcends the vehicle of the blessing, right? To the actual blessing itself, right? So, Joseph had a dream and in his dream he saw the stars and the moon and everything bowing to him. Saw all of these things. The the vehicle to the answer to that to the manifestation of that is not I suspect is not what Joseph thought. M so if for example the person who took the exam the promise and the blessing of God is that you are going to I'm going to prosper you right and you think the way to prosperity is your GPA or you think the way to um being able to provide for your family is that is that job right God is not bound to your job what he's bound to is his word which is that he will provide he will meet all your needs that is God's word right I shall supply right I can supply take no thought right he didn't say take no thought through this vehicle. You get my point? So when we come to God, we have to understand that his promise is tied to his word. His word is not tied to our wishes and our whims. Right? So if you come to God with thanksgiving, right? Thanksgiving basically is saying thank you because I know that whatever it is you decide to do in this scenario will be in my best interest. I know that you love me. So if you choose another way to provide for me, I'm okay with it. Right? But we always assume that the only way God's word is going to come to pass is the way we want it to come to pass. Right? So the only way this person who is about to be furoughed in his mind thinks God is going to provide is through my job. So his whole faith is attached to God keeping that job. And God may be like, you know what, this brook has dried up, right? I need to provide for you in another way. Yeah. And then God is like, no, you're going to lose that job. And sometimes I think God lets those things happen, right? So that we can then answer the question of where is your faith? Where is your faith? The fact that you ask God to help you keep a job doesn't mean your faith is in God. It could be that your faith is in the job. You're confident that you know if I have this job, I'm good. You should be confident that if I have God, I'm good. Right? So sometimes that happens
(12:42)Is Your Faith In God or The Outcome?
to test us. Right? You're doing an exam. You don't prepare for your exam. And then you go to your pastor, ask your pastor to pray for you. And God may want you to realize that it doesn't work like that. Yeah. What you sow, you reap. If you don't sow, you don't reap. If you don't prepare, the Bible says a horse is prepared for battle, but victory belongs to the Lord. If you don't prepare the horse for battle, yeah, there are many battles that have been won with horses that are not prepared. But God may want you to realize that you should prepare the horse. I don't know, right? I have to trust in number one, God loves you. Right. Number two, God knows the end from the beginning. Yeah. And nothing is hidden from his eyes. So whatever it is the Lord decides to do or not to do, faith is that I trust that it will always work out for my good. The Bible says that the thoughts that I think towards you are thoughts of good and not of evil. Right? If God does not think any evil thoughts towards you, why should we and you believe that? Then why should you question his response to your prayers? And I mean that's I I like the way you put it because BI had asked you asked a question already about what happens that in that interval of I don't want to take the words out of your mouth but remember the question you you asked that's a lot of questions but um about what happens in that interval when you're waiting like oh yeah like so as you're once you say the prayer and then what do you do when you're waiting for that answer like do you just like okay I have faith in God that that he's going to answer everything. So, I just chill or do I prepare or what am I even preparing for?
(14:15)The Dangerous Waiting Period
I I don't know that waiting period. Wait, wait. In what scenario? When you when you pray to him and you're like, "God, I want um God, I want like to increase my income or I want to have um be married or whatever." That waiting, you're waiting for that answer. Prepare for what? Prepare for what you're praying for, right? No, no, this is the thing, right? First of all, let's let's we need to back up, right, and say these people that are praying, who are these people, right? What is their standing in relationship with God, right? Are they people who are standing on the right side of God? Are they in right standing with God? Right? I would probably say yes. Yes. Okay. So that means that there are people who have who believe that Jesus died for them who have accepted the sacrifice of Christ and are dealing with God on the basis of faith through the new covenant. Well, you put it that way. I don't think mo again people that have listened to this podcast know I don't think most of us including myself again I think we would like to think that we are those kind of Christians. Let's just assume that we are right that you understand that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and your interaction with God is by faith not by works right. So let's assume that but if we were to your point if we are then it would be interesting what God if we are if we are if we are if we are in right standing with God by faith right the interest will be in God not in God as a means to an end but our fruit shows that I'm not saying this in a like that's the thing though that's the thing though right I can believe that Jesus died for me right I can accept the atoning sacrifice of Christ but still see God as a means to an end because that is an that is a function of education right and education can be partial right so you can educate me on how God sent his son to die for me and when he was on the cross he said it is finished you can educate me on what the Bible says in Galatians what it says in Colossians what it says in Romans you can educate me on all of those things but you can forget to educate me or miseducate me right on the sovereignty of God, right? You can leave out parts about the love of God that are critical for my interaction with God. You know what I'm saying? So, I would call it partial education, right? So, for a long time, I was partially educated. I knew some things, but I didn't know some things, right? I knew that Jesus died for me, but I didn't realize or I didn't know, right? And I'm not blaming anybody cuz I've always had the Bible. M I didn't know the extent and the comprehensiveness of that sacrifice. Right. I didn't fully appreciate how much he paid for. I thought he paid for some sins and then some sins were on me to deal with. Right. Right. So if somebody's approaching God from the perspective of all my sins are paid for. I have no confidence in my obedience to the works of the law. I do not come to God with my own righteousness. I come only with that which has been imputed, added, credited to me through Christ Jesus. Right? I am abiding in Christ. I'm abiding in the revelation, right? That Christ has died for me. If you go to God, Paul says you should come with boldness before God, right? If you go to God without boldness, right? There's an assumption that okay, you are qualified, right? You're qualified to answer, to receive an answer. Yeah. that the Bible says that uh God's hand is not shut and his ears are not deaf, right? It is sin that separates us from God. So Christ has taken away the sin. So there's no separation between us and God anymore. Okay? And then that person prays, right? So when you pray, Jesus Christ, not Jesus Christ, the Bible says that we we don't receive cuz we don't pray. Mhm. Cuz we don't ask. And when we ask, we ask and miss because we are asking to squander on our own lust. Right. Right. So this person who's praying, are they praying out of their own lust? Are they praying in the name of Jesus? Are they praying on the basis of their need? Are they praying in the name of Jesus? I think they are praying in the name of Jesus. But motive is no, let's just leave it at that. Forget about the motive part because you're praying in the name of Jesus. All God sees is Jesus, right? cuz Jesus said whatever you ask in my name, right? God will hear you and answer you. Right? So they've they've they check all the qualifications. Okay. Right. So now I have prayed. Is there a word for my life? Is there an overarching word that I am living by? Is there a promise of provision right that I am guided by? Is there a promise of a destination? Right? If there is, then I can go to God and say, "Hey, um, Lord, you know, you promised me, yeah, that I was going to, you going to do this for me, but I've got this situation, right? And I would like you to address this situation." Yeah. Once I have prayed, two things. Number one, I will wait to hear from God. Right. Yeah. And when I say wait to hear from God, I remain in the posture of listening. If I are talking now and gi ask me a question, she doesn't turn her back on me, right? She's going to sit and wait. She's going to remain attentive, right? Until I respond to her, when we ask God for stuff, when we say things to God, do we remain in that space, right, where we are waiting for a response for him? One time my wife said to me, "Um, babe, uh, can you go out and mow the lawn?" And she just walked. She just said it and continue doing stuff. And I said, "No." And she was shocked. I'm like, "You asked me a question. You didn't give me an instruction. If you had said, "Babe, go out and mow the lawn." Or, "Babe, please mow the lawn." That was not a question. That was You were telling me what to do. Now, you asked me a question, right? And I said, "No." And you're shocked. Did you what were you right? You didn't even wait for an answer. Yeah. So when we when we go to God, right, are we asking him for stuff? Are we demanding stuff of him? Are we saying, "God, can you help me fix this? Are we saying God, you must fix this?" And that's that's the question of the title of the of the topic, the practical faith. Like like is is faith a a demanding a oh God even though this is important in terms of like taking care of my family or losing my job and it is um is faith I guess I want to put it is faith faith is they that come to the Lord must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him right the scope of the reward the timing of the reward right the uh uh uh nature of the reward right is in the hands of the rewarder but we don't again sorry me I stop saying we that's not how we operate we we think the scope the nature and the timing is our how's that working out for us but and that's why this is there's a lot of disappointment because we're going to God right with an agenda of what we want and it's hit or miss right it's hit or miss in the sense that some God is like yeah yeah okay you can have the or something like, "Oh, no, you can't have the car." Right? But then you're going to God, not asking. That's the thing, right? The Bible says, "Bring your requests, bring your supplications, bring what you want to God. God has to decide." His response to you. I'm sure he's not a decision in the sense that men make decision. Right. Right. But we're not asking God for stuff. We're demanding stuff of God. What if the person asks? Mhm. And to B's point, the person waits. Doesn't just ask and walk away. Shout out to pastor. Uh and then they don't get that that that thing that they ask for. So Lord, I want to marry versus Lord, I want to marry this woman. What am I asking God for? What exactly is he ask? One of them is God, I want to marry. So whatever you give me is second I want to marry. Lord, how about Lord, I would like to marry and can you bring somebody? Should I marry? Right? But then should I marry this person? When you when you ask God a question and we know between a question and a demand some of us don't know, right? A question is is basically indicates that you are uncertain as to the answer, right? Yeah. Am I correct? Cuz you have this look on your face. No, I I agree. Okay. So, so B, you ask God, let's face it, you ask God a question, right? Not a demand framed as a question. A question. And God is like, well, if you really want to know what I think, right? I don't think this is a good idea. Right? But that's not what we do. We ask, we make a demand and we frame it in the most polite way we can. Right? And then we walk away, right? Because in and that's the right thing to do when you make a demand. You make a demand and you go and you wait for it to to materialize because you are really God. It's not you know what I'm saying? So yeah, I can tell you what to do after you've made a demand. Prepare for your demand to be met, right? But then you're dealing with a sovereign being, right? Who is not your servant. So when you make a demand of him, there's also some potential that you know what, prepare to be disappointed because you didn't ask him. Jesus Christ said, "This is my will. This is what I want, but not my will, but your will be done." We don't pray like that. And we've been taught to many times we've been taught not to pray like that. Tell God what you want and leave it. I actually even have a um question on that or I guess a comment because we don't pray like that. In fact, we pray constantly asking the same thing over and over and I mean there is some scriptures in the Bible. You see using the word asking we're not asking we're demanding. Okay. Well, demanding yeah they'll be like God give me this and they'll keep asking the same prayer request over over but is that this is what I think. I think that right this is what I think. I think you should ask God for what you want in the same way that my kids ask me. They say, "Dad, can I have Dad, I need a new pair of shoes. Can I have some money?" Right? That's that's what they do. They ask me. Yeah. My kids don't come and say, "Dad, give me money." If they did if they did that, I would feel offended. I would be like, "You're so entitled. What work did you do to my pocket that you're going to tell me give me money or give me a specific amount of money?" They ask that I have a need. Can you? Right? And then I'll say, "Okay, well, I've got $25. I'll give you the rest tomorrow." Right? So, I engage with them because they are asking. They're not demanding. Right? I think with God, we demand. If they asked me and said, "Dad, um, can I have $150?" Right? And I'm like, I'm on the phone. They can come back again. and they can come back again and come back again. Until I respond to them, they have every right to keep coming back. If I respond to them, I say no. If they come back, I'm going to be really pissed. If I respond to them and they say, "Um," and if they come to me and I say, "Uh, give me some time." They can keep coming back until I respond. If I say, "I'm going to give it to you," then they should start preparing, right? But then they should start shopping online for what they're going to do with the money or which particular shoe they're going to buy. So are you saying or what I'm hear you say is that if I'm not I'm not the reason why I can't really hear whether it's a no, a yes or no right now is because I'm not actually asking. You're not asking. You're demanding. Okay. Now the gap is closing. You're demanding because you think you know what is best for you better than God. Right? So you're demanding a solution that you think is the best solution, right? You're not saying to God in those scenarios, Lord, you know, I need to provide for my family. That that's clear, right? And I have this job. Can I keep this job, right? Can I keep this job, right? To provide for my family. And God can be like, "Yes, you're going to keep your job." That's not what we do. We go to God and say, "Lord, I need to provide for my family and they're trying to fire me. Everybody that is responsible for putting my name on that list, sell ghost fire, burn them down." And God is like, "Oh, really? I put your name on that list." Do you guys get my point? No, I'm I'm getting it for sure. There's a lack of trust between us and God, right? We feel like we know what is best, so we go to God. And and please hear me. I'm not saying this from a place of, oh, my prayers are perfect and I don't go to God with demands. I'm constantly making demands of God because I see a problem. I know what the solution is. My car breaks down. The solution is dollars. I'm going to say, "Lord, can you give me Lord, I need my car fixed." Right? We we do it. But we need to acknowledge that it's problematic, right? When we go to God and we make no room for his sovereignty, we make no accommodation for the love that compelled him to send his son to the cross, right? We approach him like spoiled kids who know what is best for them every time. Oh, sorry. I was going to say cuz I've so I have like a little prayer tent. So I actually like go in a tent and I close up close it up. Wait, you have a prayer tent? Yes, like an actual tent. Like an actual tent. Wow. Interesting. Where? In your in your room. Yeah. Wow. Must be a big room. Well, I was in a two-bedroom. So then when I had my prayer tent, that's where I used to go into. So now you're in a four bedroom. Pray is the No, okay. Anyways, yes. So I'll go in there, you know, I'm praying and then I would listen to like where you say um about waiting to hear his thing, but I don't. So I'm like, "Okay, God, I'm just I'm going to stay here and listen." So I'm here listening. Is it like basically meditating just waiting for him to respond back or you hear nothing? I kind of I don't hear I don't be honest. I don't hear nothing y'all. So I kind of feel like okay I guess he's not answering right now or does that just come back again basically? Keep making. So So number one are you making demands of God? I'm not saying God what should I do? You're not asking him that. No, you're asking what should you do? Yeah. I'm saying God like what should I do? Okay. Awesome. So, if you ask God, "What should you do?" Right? I don't think you need to stay in the prayer tent, right? I think you need to stay in um in in a in a focused posture, in a in an attentive posture, right? Staying in a prayer tent when you know you only got 30 minutes left before you have to clock into work, right? It's kind of okay. Staying for 30 minutes. Yeah. Like, God, you have 30 minutes to answer me. If you don't answer me in 30 minutes, man, I'm kind of polite. Yeah. It's a It's a different kind of demand. Yeah. You're giving God, God, you got 30 minutes to answer. So, I'm got to go, man. I would say to you, ask God. I I need you to tell me what to do. I need you to tell me. And many times, we do ask God, particularly when it comes to direction, right? Not provision. With direction, we are like, what should I do? I've got two choices. What should I do? Right? This is the thing. When you ask God two choices, what should I do? This is what I think this is the way it works. Wait on him, right? to speak to you. Remain in that posture of I'm waiting to hear from you. Right? Don't make a decision until you hear from him. Yeah. We did a a a sermon series, a Bible study series on hearing from God recently. Right. In that time, God will minister to you what choice he wants you to make. Right. The the one of the problems is that we don't know how to recognize his voice. Yeah. So God could be speaking to you and you may not even know he's speaking to you. It happened to Samuel, right? But he will speak to you. And sometimes I feel like God doesn't say anything because there's nothing to be said, right? And in those times it will be clear there's nothing to be said. While you're waiting to hear from God, one of those jobs will pull their offer, right? And there's only one left. In that case, you know that well, this is the one God wanted you to take. You get my my point. Um, sometimes, you know, you find out that, oh, the person who is um who you're going to work with is a serial killer. Then, you know, that's not the job for you to take. Or maybe there is a lesson to be learned there. What if they're a reformed serial killer? Reformed serial killer. Good luck with that. Because sometimes if they inform serial killer, why would the Lord allow me to find out that they are serial killer knowing how I feel about serial killers? Maybe he wants you to be open to serial killers. Not kill you, but maybe there's something that you were going to do in that instance. He will give me something tangible to hinge my faith on, right? Not just that I know he's a serial killer. He will give me a word, a revelation that I will say, well, this is for me to deal with. He will speak something to my soul, to my spirit, to my mind. Right? I think God communicates with us. I think A, we don't know how to recognize his voice. B, we're not patient enough, right, to hear his voice. And C, we make more demands than we make requests, right? And all of those things work against us knowing exactly what he wants us to do. Yeah. If you are patient, if you have exercised yourself in recognizing his voice, you will know what to do. Sitting down and giving him 30 minutes in your prayer tent is not necessarily going to work. If I give him an hour, maybe an hour and a half, I don't I don't know. He might and he might not. He fit and he fit in. And if he fit in, then come and tell me that God didn't come through for you. That's beautiful. Beautiful broken English. Got you. What if like Sorry, I just What if like um speaking of faith, is it okay to ask for signs like God if this is really You can ask God for anything. But it just doesn't it just depends on if he cuz I was I'm thinking of Gideon. You can ask me You can ask me for anything. Gwagos. Yeah, you can ask for anything. Whether you get it or not is a totally different question, right? That's number one. Number two, why don't you get it? Right? I can ask God for anything, but I have to make room for the idea that God is not my butler. Right? He is not He's not bound to give me everything I asked for. That's the that's that's the problem. We think that once I ask him under certain conditions, he must. No. Because his word says he will. That's what people say. He must because his word says his word says he will. But he will in context. Context. There's always context. Um Hannah prayed for a child. God gave him a boy. God gave her a boy. Are you going to have a boy? Your first child is going to be a boy. It's in the Bible. Yeah. Right. The point I'm trying to make is that we we we we don't a put things in context. We don't look at our own context. Right? So you see something in scripture and the context is God is talking to somebody in a particular scenario. You automatically project yourself into that scenario. Even though they it may be two different context, two different scenarios, right? There are some things that God did for some people in the Bible, God cannot do for you. It would kill you. It would destroy you. Elijah called fire from heaven and burnt the offerings. If he did that for you right now, right, it would be a big problem. Some of us don't have the the the spiritual and emotional capacity to handle some of the things that we want God to do for us. His love compels everything he does for us. Some of things we ask for are not good for us. Right? Is he bound to give it to you? I think that's kind of the the gifts of God they make rich and they add no sorrow. Right. So yes, he will. It's in his word, but it's also in his word that his gifts make rich and they add no sorrow. If God is going to do something for you, yeah, it has to make you rich and add no sorrow to you. And not everything that makes me rich and adds no sorrow to me will make you rich and add no sorrow to you. I think earlier on you mentioned something around we've been educated. Mhm. If for whoever it is out there, whether it's the person trying to pass the exam or the person that is worried that they might get furled, right? um if the education is God will do do this for you because he says he will and he will but the context is not said whether it's behind the pull pit or whatever that individual that hears that message consistently is again I guess to your point is prone like you said they have we all have the Bible so it's our responsibility like you always say like check you know but if that's what most people I just educate I mean I heard someone say one time which again is a true statement what God cannot do does not exist right that's a fact doesn't mean God will do everything but again the the person doesn't people don't typically follow back with doesn't mean so the person is not like oh let me go on the altar of god and pray for this child or this gender because what they told by the education is hey a factual statement what god cannot do does not exist they don't give the context yeah and and and I don't again we have our bibles And there's a reason why God allowed the Bible to come into existence, right? If we choose to ignore scripture, right, and listen to base our relationship with God entirely on 20, 30, 45 minute sermons, then that's on us. God has given us the resources to know the fullness of his interaction with us. Right. Yeah. Nothing that God cannot do does not exist. Also, Bible says that the gifts of God make rich and add no sorrow. And we all know we all know without and I say that without any fear of contradiction that there are things that God can do that will not be a blessing to all of us. Will be a blessing to some of us will not be a blessing to all of us. If you don't have any leadership training, you don't have any leadership skills, you are a laidback sipping a margarita on a beach kind of guy, right? In your straw hat and your swim shots. That's your life. I'm actually visualizing there. Yeah, actually me too. Yeah, right. Just chilling. Yeah. And then God takes you and makes you the CEO of a fastpaced company doing 300 billion a year. Is that a blessing? You lose your mind. Doesn't matter if you pray for it. No. You don't have the Yes. You don't have the capacity. The gifts of God make rich. They're not supposed to drive you mad. Right. You see babe. Fine. babe say Lord I want that babe and the Lord is looking at you say that girl the way that I have made her she will kill you destroy he's not going to the same thing you see one guy oh man the guy is nice everything but the Lord knows that the way he has made you and the way he has made him if he let the two of you together somebody is killing somebody so he says no and you and I know that the fact that a guy would be a great husband for man doesn't mean he'll be a great husband for GI and God knows the difference. So Gi can pray until her eyes turn blue. If he loves Gimie, he's bound by his love to say no. You know how many of times I say no to my kids when they were growing up? Oh my god. You have kids? Yeah. Daddy, can I drink this? No. No, you cannot. That is not good for you. Absolutely. But but I like the color. I get it. You just can't. It looks like like I'm really thirsty. No, that is bleach. You can't drink it. There you go. There you go. You see bleach making something that is black white. You are thinking, "Oh, maybe that make me That's the thing, right? That's the part of of of of faith that we don't talk about, right? The trusting God and trusting his choices and trusting his love, right? We we we we we deal with faith only from the part of Jesus Christ says if you ask him for anything and you don't doubt right he will give it to you right but the other side of it is that some of the things that we're asking him for right if he gives it to us it will be like giving bleach to a child I know that right you guys know that so why is it that we still fall apart when out of his love he says no right Why why is it that we don't think that he knows the difference between bleach and um and apple juice? Well, I was there yesterday today. And that's why I I made the point not not we and I were talking before this shoots. Not to put it was very quiet today. I was actually saying stuff. I was actually saying stuff. Wow. Okay. That's what you were saying. No, no, but like the whole cuz the episode is practical faith and and Gim actually called. She's like, I kind of know what BF is going to say about what about the God is not a butler. Yeah, I literally called it. Yeah. Okay, you called it, but but that tells you that you know the right answer, but are you leaving the right answer? I know I'm not. Yeah, it's it's kind of hard. How is it hard? Because of just having to renew that mindset. I can tell you they care. because I'm making demands. But even though to your but even though I know like what Sorry, you stop. No, I I'll take you back off. Even though I know and I I like how you said it earlier about how the the the when Christ said he went to him. He was obviously in pain about what was to come. But he did say this is my request, but if it's your will. Yes. But we don't I mean it's like my wife saying to me, "Babe, can you mow the lawn if you want to?" She doesn't do that. She just says, "Babe, can you mow the lawn?" And and and no, in fact, she doesn't I do it to her every night. She's like, "Babe, can you turn out your light?" And I'm like, "No." It's a shock, right? It shocks her every time. Every single time. It I kid you not. This is it. Uhhuh. When she does it, I just I just say, "No." And and she's like, "What?" Do you sometimes do that to test her and see the real I do it out of irritation? Okay. I'm thinking about God. I do I do out of irritation. Like if you want me to turn out the light, tell me, "Babe, turn out the light." Right? Tell me, "Babe, turn out the light." Yeah. And I will turn it out. I'll say, "Give me a minute." Right? When you say, "Babe, can you turn on the light?" That's that's manipulative. Now, you're you're you're couching a command as a request. And when I actually exercise my right to say no, you're you are offended. Then stop doing it. And she does it every night. Every single night. And I say the same no every night. It would be nice to get Pastor A on this episode. We have to Yeah. Like Like why would you ask me to do something? I don't want to do it. I don't want to do I I I I'm on my phone and I like light. I like a lot of light. I'm a child of light. I'm good. I was Yeah, I was going to say like reason why Mhm. was cuz you know how like we have this vision of who we see ourselves in the future and you're like maybe it's also maybe due to impatience of like God, what should I do to get myself there? like and you're trying to work. It's all about what you see, not what God sees. Right? You have this vision for yourself, right? Of how you see yourself or where you see yourself, right? And you're trying to achieve it through the means that you have chosen, right? I remember when um I felt like I had I was called to to ministry outside of my home country, outside of Nigeria. And um I was pastor in a fellowship where I met my wife. That's it. Before I met my wife, before my wife became my wife, while we're still all just friends in the fellowship, I talked about this in the dating episode, right? Um my pastor at the time came and said, "Hey, Fei, um I want you to come and assist me on a church plant in England." And we went and I went and I prayed. Now before he had that conversation with me, I had perceived in my spirit that I was about to face some kind of transition, right? I didn't know what form it was, but historical patterns I I I kind of added 1 plus one, right? So I was in that place of fasting and praying anyway. So when he came and said, "Fe, I need you to come with me to England, right, to assist me in this church plant." I you know revved up the prayer and fasting a little bit and I didn't ask God should I be going to England. I assumed that since my pastor had asked me to come right then God was asking me God was telling me that was the I went to the British embassy and they turned me down multiple times. Multiple times they turned me down. It it was devastating for me. Then um he he suggested that I go on another mission trip with another group of people, right? I think it was to Haiti. Yeah. And somebody shut it down, right? So that didn't happen. Then somebody came up with this idea to go on a mission trip. Now we had missions all over the world. So the idea was for me to go and assist the Haiti mission. And then the other ideas go and assist the um the Israel mission. We had we had a church in Jerusalem. Was it Taliv? I don't remember the time the particular city. And the process then was you get your they decided we would go to Bible school in Jerusalem, right? And then take the admission to the embassy and get visas, right? So we did that and I got my admission to the Bible school in in in Israel. You went to Israel. I didn't. Oh wait. So I was relax. So I was part of a team of people that were supposed to go on that church mission admission trip. So we all went you know with our admissions whatever. I had I well the other guys were going to just visit. I was going to stay longer and we all went there and they refused all of us. We're all denied visas, right? And so we went back to the office and then they said, "You know what? Maybe we were too many. Let's take Femi out of this list." So they took me off the list and they went back to the embassy and they all got their visas. Yes. You were the bad luck there. I was the bow. I was the I was the I was the I was their bad luck. Now this is me, right? who believes that God had called me to ministry outside Nigeria getting turned down at every single point. Devastation you cannot imagine. I ended up in the church office, right? Working in church office for about 5 years, for about 5 years after that, right? It was very difficult for me because I felt I knew what my life was supposed to be. I felt I had heard from God what my life was supposed to be and I knew the path to get there, right? And God was shutting the doors on the path that I thought would take me to where he had shown me I would be. Right? If I had trusted in his love at the time, right? If I had trusted in his sovereignty and love at the time, I would not have experienced the emotional trauma and turmoil that I did. Cuz I saw all of those things as a rejection from him, right? As a the the gospel lost credibility in my eyes, right? Meanwhile, while all this was happening, the best thing that happened to me after Christ also happened. In the middle of all this, I met my my wife and I got engaged, got married, had our child. Right? While all of these things were happening, I was learning skills that up till today I use as a as a pastor. Right? I was learning the mechanics of church, the dynamics of church. I was learning things that I can't even tell you about in in one conversation. Right? God was preparing me for what he had called me to. But the path that I thought it was going to take was not the path that God had chosen for me. Right? God was preparing me. He was equipping me because a major major if not the most critical component of my ability to function in the office to which he had called me was my wife. If I had left Nigeria at the time, you wouldn't have said I love you to pastor AK. Sorry, I was saying you wouldn't have said I love you to pastor. No, I I I I I had been in the fellowship for 8 weeks or 8 months when Pastor Tony asked me to come do the church plant with him in England. Right. That was 1995 or so. I I don't even remember the details. Right now, one day I'm I go to work, right? I go to work and I'm sitting down in my office talking to my uh my boss at the time, my immediate boss or supervisor at the time. Not my boss, my supervisor. My boss was the was the senior pastor. And you know, the senior pastor was were supposed to have like a meeting around 10:00 a.m. or something, but he he didn't show up for it, like an office meeting. He didn't show up for it. So, myself and um Pastor Bingigo, we're just sitting down and talking, right? And the senior pastor walks in, um, pastor Esco, he's gone to be with the Lord now. And Pastor Esco walks in, right? He's, this was around like noon, much later than he usually comes in, you know, and he's like, ah, you know, Pasco used to speak a lot of pigeon English. That's one of the things I learned. I speak pigeon English. I got it from pastor. And he just, you know, he was like, man, he's just coming from camp. The general overseer of the Redeem Christian Church of Pastor De had summoned him that morning. We didn't know about it. I said to him, I need you to send somebody to Austria now to go start a church now, like now now. And Pastor Esco, you know, Pasco is not he doesn't rush like that. He's a he's a planner. He's a very intentional, deliberate person. He's not going to send you on missions without having the resources to support you, you know. So, they put him under immediate pressure. Immediately, he walks into the office. I'm sitting in the office. I'm talking to Pastor Bigo. And you know what he does? said, "Man, I don't know who I go send Vienna." Feel me? They're going to Vienna. Within 3 months of that conversation, okay, while just shortly after that conversation, my wife, we have our baby in July on the 3rd of July. Yeah. By the 19th of July, I was in Vienna. Just like that. Newborn, everybody came with you or just you? Just me. Okay. Okay. Just me. But that was not the path that I saw. Yeah, that's not the path I would have liked. Right. And that is the one area where God has been constantly testing me. That area that trusting him with what my future looks like and the path there that is my own that is my own little bone in my throat. Right? So for me right now, I've come to a place where I'm like, you know what, God, I'm serving you, right? Wherever you want me to serve you, that's where I'll serve you. I really don't care anymore. I really don't care. All I care about, I know you love me. I know you love my family. I know I am at the center of your will. So do with me as you will. I remember one time I preached a message on holiness a long time ago. And I went to the Lord. I was like, can I preach a nice message that makes everybody happy? And the Lord said, is it the messenger that will decide the message? That's interesting. Or the person who is sending the messenger. So which one are you, Fei? I'm the messenger. Then I decide your message, right? So you hear what I'm saying? Absolutely. So we we have this idea and we cling to it, right, of what like when God said to Abraham, Abraham, your descendants will be like the stars and the sand and all of those things, you And Abraham is like, "I don't even have a child." Lord say, "You have a child." And Abraham goes, "Oh, you mean that um servant that is in my house? The child of the servant that was born in my house?" And God said, "No, you will have your own child, right? Your wife will bear a child for you." But Abraham was locked into the way for God's will to come to pass. The way that he will be the father of many nations was through his own son. Right? But he got to a point where he was like, "Do you know what? I don't care how your will is going to come to pass anymore. You're going to make it come to pass. So you want him, you can have him." So Abraham brought Isaac. Mhm. And God said, "That son that I said, yeah, I was going to give you, bring him. I want him. Sacrifice him to me." Abraham took Isaac there because by that time he had given up the idea. Yeah. That to be the father of nations passed through Isaac. It passed through God. God chose Isaac, right? We have to get used to the idea that the path to whatever it is God has shown us. Yeah. Does not always pass through the road we think it should pass through. Right. It passes through God, not the vehicle. Right. God took Jesus Christ through Jerus to Jerusalem on a donkey. God could have taken him on the back of a Lamborghini. a Lamborghini, a horse, whatever. A Lamborghini horse, right? But when we lock ourselves in without specific revelation that it is this horse, then when God is like, "Nah, man. I'm going to use a donkey." Oh my god. I I think PF for me, I know we're going to wrap up shortly. I think for me the biggest thing that I got from that Isaac M it's such a powerful like metaphor even though it's real biblical because the the one thing you and your wife have been asking for that you laughed okay I'm old I'm not going to get you get it yeah and then give it up that's the same thing you have to sacrifice at the altar yes and then to the point about how like God's grace and love still covers all he gave he saw the the exercise of faith from obviously Abraham but then gave the ram Yeah. After cuz he was never that was not No, it was about Abraham's faith. It was about It was about Abram's faith. It was It was God saying to Abraham, you you you feel like the only way for you to be the father of the nations, right, is through a biological son. And Abraham got to the point where he was like, you know, I trust you can do it even though I don't have a son. So is that what faith is? Yes. So then to back to earlier point I don't think we faith is you will not hear wind you will not see thunder you will not hear lightning but you expect rain. Yeah. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Yeah. And the evidence of things not seen. Right. We are constantly looking for the substance. Yeah. In the things that are seen. Yeah, we're looking for the evidence in the things that are seen. And Abraham for a long time was looking for the evidence in Isaac. And when Isaac came, God said, "Nah, man. Give me that boy." And Abraham gave him up. After 25 years, Abraham gave him up, say, "Take him." Cuz Abraham could see himself being a father of many nations without Isaac cuz he trusted God. There you go. There you go. And when he gave Isaac up, God is like, "Yeah, this guy is ready." And by the way, the, you know, the irony of it is that God's plan, right, for Abraham transcended Isaac. We are the descendants of Abraham, but we are not his biological descendants. So even in that moment, right, where God says, "Give me Isaac." It was Christ. Christ was the pathway right to the nations to the to being the father of many nations right I'm just trying to say that we need to be careful with God when we lock ourselves in right to one path we want the same thing we want to be happy right people want to be happy they want to live fruitful peaceful lives right but everybody has decided this is the way to do it and God is going to make it happen the way that I want it to happen. And God is like, "Nah, man. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. That is not the way I'm going to take you." The Israelites thought that the journey to the promised land was going to be 11 days. God said, "Nah, man. It's going to be longer because you guys, if you see war, you will run." God does that sometimes. He decides that your journey to marriage is going to be longer because if you go the short route, you will not survive it. Right? He decides that the the and then and then you get to the you get to to to to the edge of the Jordan and then you send out spies and you you attend one marriage conference and you hear all the things that married people are struggling with. Ah no no no no no no no. And he's like okay do you know what let's kill all the unbelief inside you first because ultimately guys Yeah. If God has determined and I think this is the case for every believer. Yeah. And the Bible says it right that you know um um count it all joy right when you go through diverse trials because you know that these things are working for you a far greater weight of glory that your faith is being refined like gold even though your faith is more precious than gold and on the day that Christ is revealed right your faith will bring you praise honor and glory on the day that Christ is revealed everybody who names the name of Jesus should have enough faith right that they will receive praise, honor and glory. You know how we always say that um um the thoughts that I think towards you are thoughts of good and not of evil to give you a future and a hope and to bring you to an expected end. That expected end is that place where your faith right brings you praise, honor and glory on the day that Christ is revealed. That is the expected end that God is walking towards. Not a big house in the city, not a big car with 28,000 horsepower, whatever. Right? No, it is to the point where on the day that Christ is revealed, it will acrew to you praise, honor, and glory. I I mean, I think that's Yeah, that's a great way to to to wrap it up. I think also like anyone that has any um of those stories where you real what you what you hope for the way you wanted it to show up didn't show up the way you wanted to show up. But then I can tell I I can tell you that if anybody if anybody had told me that I would do ministry in America right in in 1995 that I've come to and I've told you that you were smoking something. I I had no desire to be here. None whatsoever. None. Anybody that told me I'd be in Texas in Dallas. Alas, alas, here I am. Here you are. Yeah. And will I will I end up? Will I will I finish here? Is this where uh Christ will be revealed? Is this is this where I'll be on the day that Christ is revealed? I don't know. I may not be. There may be somewhere else. I have given up in the last one year. I have given up the idea that I know what that path is going to look like. All that matters to me, yeah, is that me and God are like this. Where I am, right, I've given up. And honestly, like if you are watching this, listening to this, and you're like, I'm tired of that chase, that chase, that constant struggle, and you know, you can join one of the fastest growing churches in central Dallas. Oh my god. I'm just saying because clearly we are we the church says things like yes God's will will be done. Yes, his promises for you are true. However, they give you the context. Some churches don't give you the context. So, you just keep chasing and keep chasing and keep chasing. Man, I I've been through that chase, man. They keep telling you jump, you know, keep they keep raising the hoops, right? Or you fast for 40 days, fast for 100 days, fast for 200 days, fast for the reason why you've not got the answer to your prayer is that you've not fasted long enough and you keep jumping jumping and you get to a point where you just lose hope cuz you've jumped through all the hoops and they can't tell you anything more other than okay fast for a whole year and then what are you going to do? Are you going to fast for a whole year? But he says to fast for a whole year then you know that more that's kind of crazy. Yeah, but people are doing it like like God is so deaf. You have to bang on his door for a whole year and not eat to get him to answer your prayer. He was supposed to love self discipline in the in the hopes to like convince God to change his rules. That's why they said I'm a liar. Remember? Oh yeah. Said you can't you can't earn God's love. Shout out to whoever put in the comments by the way. Call me PF liar. How dare you pastor. Drop your comments down below. We love our conversation and if you think I'm a liar, please feel free to say so. Absolutely. I I will be sending my own comments but my comments might miss you. They may go might skip multiple generations or encompass all the generations. I appreciate y'all. Uh I guess we catch you on the next episode. Bye bye. Unfiltered. [Music]