[00:00] Speaker 1: (dramatic music plays) Everyone faces questions and decisions that require insight and answers as we move forward personally, professionally, and corporately in all areas of this thing we call life in America today. Hello, this is Joe Schofield and I invite you to tune in every Monday evening from 6:00 to 7:00 PM as we talk together and hear from key leaders of all ages and backgrounds about your questions. Interesting, informative, intuitive, but always encouraging. Tune us in on BBS Radio Network. Join Pastor Joe and co-hosts Ron Greer, Dr. Paul Hall, Stephanie Thayer, and Dr. Craig Thayer in Raising Expectations. (dramatic music plays) Hey, good evening, friends. It's Monday night and we're sure glad that you tuned in to Raising Expectations. Glad to have you with us tonight and looking forward to a really good show. And, uh, we never take it for granted you're part of our family.

[01:38] Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in, thanks for writing in, thanks for your prayers and, uh, know that your prayers are always important to us and we pray for you too, very, very much. Uh, we're all believers. We believe in the power of prayer. We believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and we know that he died on the cross for our sins, huh? And the great thing about that is we know that he's coming again someday. In the meantime, he's working in our lives every day. And the whole name of this show is Raising Expectations, and we know who can do that, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. So we hope you know him as your Savior. If not, we got lots of things we can do to help you with that. In the meantime, tonight we have a great guest, so we're gonna skip right through very quickly our, our team. We have the most wonderful people. They bless our lives. I'm Pastor Joe and my wife Melba, she's right here on the right. Isn't she cute? Anyway, I want to keep going now.

[02:28] Speaker 1: (laughs) As we get going, if we go from here in our home all the way to the West Coast near Lompoc, California, actually in Lompoc near Santa Barbara, we have Dr. Paul Hall.

[02:39] Speaker 2: Hi.

[02:39] Speaker 1: And, uh, he's right there, and he's been a friend for many, many years. He's a retired pastor, he's a theologian, he's a teacher, and he's a man with a cold. So keep praying that we can get rid of that cold and he gets to feeling a lot better very soon, because, uh, he's a tremendous blessing to everyone. Good to see you, Paul. Okay. (laughs)

[02:56] Speaker 2: Thanks. Good to see all of you.

[02:58] Speaker 1: That's right. (laughs) That's right. Hey, we're gonna jump all together and go all the way to the south part of the East Coast, which would make it the southeast south, which is in Dalton, Georgia. And right there we have two of our favorite people in the world, that's Dr. Craig and Stephanie Thayer, and they live there in Dalton. And that's Stephanie there on the left. She's a tremendous lady of God. She is a business lady. She's a health lady. She knows how to help counsel people. She does a wonderful job being a vessel of the Lord to help so many people. And a, a great mom. You should see the kids. It's a great team they've got there. And on her left is the guy she's also done a great job on, and that's her husband. That's Dr. Craig Thayer. And we call him Tank. And Craig is a tremendous surgeon. He's, uh, done so many different things in his way helping people. And they together team up. It's a wonderful thing when you put two together like that what God can do.

[03:54] Speaker 1: They've done mission work, he's done surgery. They've been in, in the, uh, Caribbean, they've been to Africa. They've done a lot of things like this. But most of all, they're great parents, they're great representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, and everybody loves them. And we're just part of that team, right guys? So, uh, we're so glad you're there tonight. And so if we all join together we're gonna come back to the ... Through, we're gonna fly over all those smaller states there. They're not quite as big as South, Central America, which would be the great state of Texas, and that would be in the city of McKinney, and that's where one of our favorite pastors is. And that is (laughs) Pastor Ron Greer, who made it back on a special thing tonight. He's, uh, good to have him (laughs) with us tonight. He's always a pleasure and a joy to be around. Love this guy. He's a great counselor also.

[04:41] Speaker 1: He works with Man in the Mirror out of, I think it's in Florida, but he handles the state of Texas in many different ways. Wonderful man of God. He's done so many things for God in his life. And, uh, these people right here are such a blessing in my life, and this lady is such a blessing to my life. I'm a very blessed person. So we want to share those blessings with you as we get on with our guest tonight. Our guest is a wonderful guy, and you always look for him. He's part of our family. Uh, his name is, as you know, Pastor Will Hobbs, and he's from the great city of Midland, Texas now, at Kelly View Heights Baptist Church. There's his wonderful family, his wife Lauren. Are those two the cutest girls you've ever seen in your life? And, uh, I just wanted ... Every time I look at them I just want to laugh and give them a hug. There they are. And, uh, they've got a wonderful family, a wonderful ministry. And tonight he's gonna be sharing with us about the faithfulness of God.

[05:36] Speaker 1: Can you think of anything better to look at tonight than the faithfulness of God to know that whatever we're facing, whether it's in our home, in our family, in our church, in our state, in our nation, the Middle East, around the world, we know that the faithfulness of God is there. So we want to welcome, um, Will to be with us tonight, and we want to give him the great famous round of applause. Will, welcome to Raising Expectations. We're your family, a part of the team here. Just jump in there. It's good to see you, and share with us, would you?

[06:07] Speaker 3: Yeah, great to be back with you guys. How's everybody doing?

[06:10] Speaker 4: Great.

[06:11] Speaker 5: Good, how are you?

[06:12] Speaker 6: Good, good.

[06:13] Speaker 3: We talked a little bit about it earlier, but we didn't get, uh, too long to talk about it. Yeah, uh, Joe and I talked a little bit about some ideas for tonight and what we could discuss, what we could navigate. I think the faithfulness of God is a great broad topic, so obviously we can discuss anything under that umbrella. That's a massive, I mean, Joe, we could spend a year of shows on that one topic.

[06:36] Speaker 4: That's right.

[06:37] Speaker 3: God is so faithful. So, I wanna set it up with a scripture verse, just to set the tone for it, and then Joe and I were also talking about a few ideas to talk about the world scene and how we see God's faithfulness playing out there, the home scene and how we see God's faithfulness playing out in our country and in our homes, and then the church scene, how do we see God's faithfulness playing out in the church, and how as a chur- local church can we be faithful? How can we be obedient to God and be salt and light in this world that needs to see God's faithfulness 'cause they see a lot of the opposite. A lot of that. So, here's the verse, uh, Joe, uh, there are so many great verses and, and passages in God's word, but here's the one that really stuck out to me. Um, one of the things that led me, that made me think of this verse, uh, and, um, I know you guys have probably heard it as soon as I start reading it. I'll put it on a... I don't even remember doing this.

[07:34] Speaker 3: When I was younger, uh, my stepdad's dad, and his name was Edward Halbert, and he was a World War II veteran. Uh, he went in, um, on D-Day, um, he was with the unit that was not, no one else from that unit went in on D-Day, can't remember the na- numbers of the units. They were supposed to go in on day number two, but he and a small group went day one so that they could be calms behind lines. Basically between Operation Market Garden and the invasion of the beach. And he was captured very early by Germans, um, horrible story what he had to endure. Great man of God, never got bitter at God. Why? 'Cause he trusted God's faithfulness. You know, you, y'all have heard some of the POW stories, there's a great one by Jerry Curtis, uh, Colonel Curtis called, he was Air Force, Vietnam, called Under the Cover of Light. And if you haven't read that book, it's fantastic.

[08:30] Speaker 3: He talks about surviving the Hanoi Hilton, they called it that, that's a, uh-

[08:35] Speaker 4: Right.

[08:35] Speaker 5: (laughs)

[08:35] Speaker 3: ... not the Hilton (laughs) . That was their joke name for it, and they learned, he discussed how they learned to communicate through tap code and all that. So, the whole time they're seeing the faithfulness of God. Well, my step-grandfather saw the face- faithfulness of God, uh, through, throughout, even when he was a POW, he'd think, "Well, why is God faithful? I'm a prisoner of war." But God led him through it and s- taught him amazing things. I'm telling you, it's, he's got stories for, uh, we could do a whole show on his stories.

[09:04] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.

[09:04] Speaker 3: So, um, I made a bookmark, I don't remember doing this. When I was a kid I made a bookmark for him, and laminated it, and obviously this, this sounds like it was inspired by my mo- a craft that was inspired by my mom probably for maybe a birthday gift or Christmas or something like that, and at the time you're a kid, so I put some grass and, uh, probably a leaf from a tree in my yard on a piece of paper, made, cut it into a bookmark, and I wrote this verse. And I ha- and I, um, laminated it and I gave it to him as a bookmark, you know, with the little string hanging out, thread, whatever it's called. And then, um, he, I found out years later he actually used this as a bookmark in his Bible.

[09:50] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.

[09:50] Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.

[09:50] Speaker 3: As his bookmark. And, and I f- found it out when he died and, um, I don't remember the details but I think my stepdad asked me, "Hey, do you want this? Do you want this bookmark back?" He'd been using it as a bookmark in his Bible, so really cool.

[10:05] Speaker 4: That's pretty cool.

[10:05] Speaker 3: Um, it says Isaiah 40:8, it says, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." And, um, I don't even remember making the bookmark, but, um, maybe a little bit, but it was really cool to get that back. Now I have it, and, and it, I keep it in my work bag and I look at it and it's just, it's a neat, I don't get sentimental about very many things at all, but it's a neat memento.

[10:31] Speaker 4: Yes.

[10:31] Speaker 3: Of God's faithfulness. I'm reminded when I think of his story, I'm reminded when I think of what's going on in the world scene, the home scene, our church, our churches and what's going on there. Um, obviously mixed with some defeat, we do face a very real enemy, but, uh, the whole time you see God's faithfulness through all of it. And so, Joe, I didn't know, and any of y'all, which one we wanted to start on. Joe and I had discussed the world scene and he had, he had thrown out the example of Secretary of State, Marco Rubio's talk to the European nations, um, as just maybe an initial idea. Um, I didn't watch the whole thing, I only watched a recap of it on Daily Wire, uh, but I didn't know if any of y'all had watched it.

[11:14] Speaker 3: Apparently he got a standing ovation, and he was just explaining to them, obviously they're frustrated at us in a lot of ways and have been, and, um, Trump, our president pushes, President Trump, excuse me, pushes very hard, obviously he's a tough negotiator, but I think Rubio did, I didn't watch the whole thing, I think he did a good job of s- of smoothing things over and it's a sign hopefully of progress with the other European nations and our allies over there for, for what we need to do. Uh, did any of y'all watch that? I don't know.

[11:47] Speaker 6: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

[11:49] Speaker 5: I actually-

[11:50] Speaker 6: Yeah, I did.

[11:50] Speaker 5: ... did not watch that.

[11:50] Speaker 3: Oh, so part of it? Part of it?

[11:52] Speaker 5: Yeah. One thing I want to say before we, we go there, if it's okay?

[11:55] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.

[11:56] Speaker 5: I have, um, a couple mentors, you know, spiritual, I have a career one, and so the career one, she recommended three books to me, and I just blindly bought them.And I start, I got one on audiobook, and, uh, it's called Man's Search for Meaning. And it also-

[12:15] Speaker 3: Hmm.

[12:15] Speaker 5: ... is in World War II, and it's a psychiatrist who was a prisoner of war.

[12:22] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[12:22] Speaker 5: But what was really interesting about the book was the perspective was on the resilience of humanity.

[12:30] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. Hmm.

[12:31] Speaker 5: Not so much on the atrocities. He does touch on that, but I'm very, very sensitive to war. I don't do well with it. Like, he loves all that history. I just, it makes me sick.

[12:42] Speaker 3: Yes.

[12:43] Speaker 5: But very profound, kind of like what you were saying about your step-grandpa, um, the resiliency that people can demonstrate and the will to live. And this particular man, Victor, was also a believer.

[12:59] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[13:00] Speaker 5: And it's very impressive and very humbling to hear what people go through and what helps them-

[13:08] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[13:09] Speaker 5: ... stay faithful and stay committed and encourage their neighbor, and that kind of thing.

[13:12] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[13:13] Speaker 5: So I just wanted to share that. That's, that one is definitely worth reading as well.

[13:17] Speaker 3: Sounds like an awesome book. And Colonel Curtis's book was interesting. Um, I won't go into the details of tap code, but it's basically a way to communicate. They couldn't even see, and nor did they know how many other people were in cells around them. They were in isolation at first. And so they would do cap- tap code and communicate. Well, he, the guy one wall over, at some point, they had saved enough bread and I don't know if it was water or juice, it was probably just water.

[13:43] Speaker 7: Water.

[13:43] Speaker 3: Can't remember the details, but, uh, one time, they, Jerry Curtis is witnessing to this guy.

[13:49] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[13:49] Speaker 3: And he said, "No, I'm, um, I'm a believer. I, I, I know Christ." And they did, um, they did communion together. They're not in the same room.

[13:57] Speaker 5: Okay.

[13:57] Speaker 3: And if the Viet Cong had heard them doing it, they would have been severely beaten just for getting caught doing the tap code. But, uh, it was cool. It was God's faithfulness. I can't even see you, but we're having communion-

[14:09] Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.

[14:10] Speaker 3: ... not visually, but spiritually-

[14:12] Speaker 7: Correct. Right.

[14:12] Speaker 3: ... you're on the other side of the wall. And it was just, I mean, yeah, God's faithfulness showed up, like you said, personal resiliency. Man, it was, it's just so cool. That sounds like a good book.

[14:24] Speaker 5: Okay. It is. It's a good one.

[14:30] Speaker 3: Yeah. Anybody else? Have y'all heard what's going on in Iran? Um, so apparently there's huge revival going on there. We know that the government is, apparently, we think that the government's killing protesters. So that's horrible.

[14:46] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[14:46] Speaker 3: But throughout all this, uh, it has something to do with China. I missed a few of the details.

[14:52] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[14:53] Speaker 3: Uh, but a lot of Chinese nationals are in that area. And there's an underground church movement in China. W- m- many of us know this. Very strong, by the way, despite Chinese Communist Party, uh, government.

[15:06] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[15:06] Speaker 3: The CPP or whatever it's called. And, um, and yeah, and they are leading Iranians to the underground church. They're, they're basically helping bring it. It was already in Iran, but they're, they're strengthening it, leading people to Christ. It's been, um, it's been amazing. Have y'all heard about any of that? Of course, our media's great at talking about, oh, all the bad things, right, Stephanie?

[15:27] Speaker 7: (laughs)

[15:27] Speaker 3: All the bad things, all the death.

[15:29] Speaker 5: Yeah.

[15:29] Speaker 3: And they want you to, if it bleeds it leads. And then, but, but what else is going on there is I don't know how many untold numbers of people are coming to Christ and being discipled and mentored, um, in part, in large part, thank you, thanks to Chinese believers. Have y'all heard about any of that?

[15:47] Speaker 7: Uh, yeah, actually, actually, it's been going on for, uh, a few years. One of the, the, the huge explosion-

[15:52] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[15:52] Speaker 7: ... before the, uh, protests, uh, we have, uh, a, an organization that's actually stationed here, actually here in, um, uh, right here, right near Dallas. It's called Iran Alive.

[16:05] Speaker 3: Yes. Yes.

[16:05] Speaker 7: Uh, I first, yeah, I first got involved with them, um, it's an online church, but they have other, kind of, uh, hidden churches as well. Uh, last time I had-

[16:13] Speaker 3: I, I think I met the guy that run, that started that, Ron. Uh, I think I did.

[16:17] Speaker 7: Yeah, he te- he attended, he attended, uh, Prestonwood for a while.

[16:19] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

[16:20] Speaker 7: On and off, he and his wife. Yeah. Uh, so I met with him, met him, and then, uh, met him through a friend from Wisconsin who was, uh, Iranian, or Persian. Persian, let me get that right.

[16:29] Speaker 3: Excuse me.

[16:30] Speaker 7: She's not, she's not Iranian. (laughs)

[16:32] Speaker 3: Yeah, Persian.

[16:34] Speaker 7: (laughs) And, uh, the first, the first thing that, uh, that was happ- that was going on at the time, uh, you had Muslims who were coming to the, coming to Christ in droves. They were seeing visions of, of the m- of the man in the, in the robe. He told me to come to you. Uh, it w- I, and of course, being a good Baptist, I was skeptic going, "Eh. The..." But I met-

[16:57] Speaker 3: Oh, it's happening.

[16:58] Speaker 7: ... you know, a n- number of people and, and after a while, talking to different missionaries from there, there were hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of them.

[17:06] Speaker 3: Wow.

[17:06] Speaker 7: But his church at the time had grown, uh, by a, by, I think a hundred and some odd thousand people. So one of the largest, uh, number of Christians, uh, at the time, converts in Iran in, in centuries.

[17:19] Speaker 3: Wow.

[17:19] Speaker 7: And even now, you have, uh, through both the Chinese, who actually, uh, uh, an interesting thing is the Chinese came to Iran because they're, they're taking advantage of I- of Iran. Uh, they're building roads to, uh, to the coast and for shipping.

[17:35] Speaker 3: Okay.

[17:35] Speaker 7: And what they end up doing is now the Iranians owe them, right?

[17:38] Speaker 3: Interesting.

[17:38] Speaker 7: So they have so many people there. But they got-

[17:40] Speaker 3: You actually know way more about this than me. That's great detail.

[17:43] Speaker 7: Oh, yeah. They, they got converted there. And then so now you have somewhere around two point som- uh, 2.1 million Muslim converts to Christianity in the last probably, uh, five or six years.

[17:55] Speaker 3: Wow.

[17:56] Speaker 7: Yeah. So it, it's, uh, it, it's fascinating, fascinating.

[17:59] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[17:59] Speaker 7: But w- but again, it goes back to the point, right? It's, you have constantly in scripture, uh, God assuring us of, of his faithfulness to, to his people.

[18:09] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[18:09] Speaker 7: Um, and you, and you look at the times when he, when he makes this statement or he gives the word-... is using them and missing them doing something really stupid. (laughs)

[18:17] Speaker 8: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[18:18] Speaker 7: You go... (laughs)

[18:20] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[18:20] Speaker 7: It's the steadfast love of the Lord endures, I mean, never ceases. Uh, his mercies are everlasting. Uh, they never come to an end. That, you know-

[18:30] Speaker 8: Mm-hmm.

[18:30] Speaker 7: ... they're new every morning. Y- and you look at Lamentations when he, when he gives the p- the passage, right? And you go, "What's the context?" And you, wait a minute, (laughs) what?

[18:40] Speaker 8: Yeah. Exactly.

[18:40] Speaker 7: In the midst of all this, you talk about God's faithfulness. And the same thing in, in mo- in Exodus. So even when we are faithless, as he says, he is faithful.

[18:49] Speaker 3: Right. So-

[18:50] Speaker 7: And even when it seems completely hopeless to us in the middle of a country taken over by a, a horrible wicked, um, uh-

[18:58] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[18:59] Speaker 7: ... revolution-

[19:00] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[19:00] Speaker 7: ... that, that there's no hope at all, and yet there's still a defiance of, of that-

[19:05] Speaker 8: Yeah.

[19:05] Speaker 7: ... and of our own imagination, God has these little small groups of people in the country, and he's faithful to them, and he uses them faithfully to spread his church in spite of-

[19:17] Speaker 8: That's right.

[19:17] Speaker 7: ... all the, uh, folks involved. Yeah.

[19:19] Speaker 8: (laughs) Yeah.

[19:20] Speaker 7: Sorry.

[19:21] Speaker 3: That's-

[19:22] Speaker 7: We'll pass the plate now. Go ahead. (laughs)

[19:24] Speaker 3: That's so good. And, Ron, when you were talking, I thought back to that passage in Isaiah. It doesn't say that, you know, God's d- it doesn't just say that God's word doesn't go away. It's, it's con- contrasting it against the grass and the flowers that fade.

[19:39] Speaker 7: Yeah.

[19:39] Speaker 3: It doesn't even fade. It doesn't even-

[19:40] Speaker 7: Right.

[19:41] Speaker 3: ... diminish.

[19:42] Speaker 7: Yeah.

[19:42] Speaker 3: God's faithfulness doesn't even diminish or slow down.

[19:44] Speaker 7: At all.

[19:45] Speaker 3: And everything else would seem like it has to because you think, well, they're under Sharia law. They're, they're not supposed to convert. If they do, they're in danger. Their life may be in jeopardy. But, uh-

[19:56] Speaker 7: Not, not maybe. It is. (laughs)

[19:59] Speaker 3: Yes. Yeah, if they get caught. Right. Exactly.

[20:01] Speaker 7: Yeah.

[20:01] Speaker 3: And, and it's even starting to happen in England. I just listened to a, a, an podcast episode, uh, from a gentleman who is a believer from Islam to Christ, and he-

[20:11] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[20:12] Speaker 3: He grew up in England. He's Pakistani, but he grew up in England, and there's a large population there in, I think, Birmingham, but I can't remember which neighborhood for sure.

[20:21] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[20:22] Speaker 3: And yeah, he, uh, in England... I mean, these guys just beat the ever-loving dog out of him. Probably would have finished him off, Ron, if it hadn't been for-

[20:30] Speaker 7: Yeah.

[20:30] Speaker 3: ... a couple guys walking by that saw it and yelled at him and stopped him. And, uh, I don't know. They were... So he had to leave. I, I, I don't know if he's over here now or if he's in, in hiding somewhere. But yeah, as-

[20:41] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[20:41] Speaker 3: And you think, okay, this is in Iran. No, this is in England.

[20:45] Speaker 7: Yes. Right.

[20:45] Speaker 8: Yeah. Right.

[20:46] Speaker 3: But God's faithfulness is still there.

[20:49] Speaker 8: Yeah.

[20:50] Speaker 9: So let's suppose we've got people listening to the podcast, and we feel comfortable talking about faithfulness.

[20:59] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[21:00] Speaker 9: And we can give some definition to that term, that faithfulness. But, uh, y'all jump in 'cause I'd like to know what you think, what is God's faithfulness? And how is his faithfulness displayed? Okay. And how is that faithfulness reflected through the life of us as believers? Okay.

[21:22] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[21:22] Speaker 9: So give a little meat to chew on, 'cause I think, you know, we, we, we can talk about... I mean, I, I think the assumption is we say, "Well, God is faithful." And people go, "Well, yeah, yeah, sure he is."

[21:32] Speaker 7: (laughs)

[21:32] Speaker 9: But what does that mean? You know, what, what does that mean, you know?

[21:35] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[21:36] Speaker 7: Yes.

[21:37] Speaker 9: So jump in. I want... I'd love, I'd like to hear what y'all think.

[21:41] Speaker 3: Tank, what do you think?

[21:42] Speaker 9: To deliver on his promises is what I would say. Joe, go ahead.

[21:45] Speaker 8: No, Tank was, Tank was gonna jump in there.

[21:48] Speaker 6: Faith to God-

[21:48] Speaker 3: Oh, Tank, go ahead. Sorry, I didn't see you, buddy.

[21:51] Speaker 6: Faith to God is not a noun. It's a verb.

[21:54] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[21:55] Speaker 6: You have to demonstrate your faith. Like the guy on the cross-

[21:58] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[21:58] Speaker 6: ... next to Jesus. Originally, I always got like, in my head, man, he just said, you know-

[22:05] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[22:05] Speaker 6: ... take, take me with you. I was like, okay, well, how is that a demonstration of his faith? It wasn't that. It was when he rebuked-

[22:12] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.

[22:12] Speaker 6: ... the other thief.

[22:13] Speaker 3: Hm.

[22:13] Speaker 6: Said, "You know what you did. You deserve this." That was a repentance. So by his action of repenting his sin for being a thief, he demonstrated his faith to Jesus, which bought him. Didn't buy him. It gave... Jesus gave as a gift, grace, mercy, like Ephesian.

[22:33] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[22:33] Speaker 6: But by grace, by faith, we get grace, right? So, so but it's a verb. So I think we need to show that. We need to... What's our duty? What's, what's the commandment on the mount, right? Multiply. We need to be a light. So add all those... I forgot what your last question was, Paul, but, um-

[22:58] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[22:58] Speaker 6: ... yeah. Three part question.

[22:59] Speaker 9: How to demonstrate in their life and believe-

[23:01] Speaker 6: When you get older, there's, there's... Okay.

[23:04] Speaker 4: What was the last question, Paul?

[23:06] Speaker 9: So how, how do we demonstrate? How is that reflected in our lives in, in a very confusing world, you know, that God is faithful? Um, because sometimes they don't see it in us, you know.

[23:19] Speaker 3: Right.

[23:19] Speaker 9: And so how, how do they get past us, you know? Uh, and, uh, I guess what, what I gue- what I'm trying to say is, it's, it's just too easy. It's too easy to say to somebody who's hurting, "Well, God is faithful." And I've had people bat that one back before and say, "Well, yeah, well if he was so faithful, then why am I blah, blah, blah, blah," you know.

[23:43] Speaker 7: Right. Right.

[23:44] Speaker 9: Uh, and, and I, I think those are good practical questions because I think Christians really need to have an answer to that, you know. Uh, we can appeal to scripture and we can point out where God has been faithful in scripture, even when people were unfaithful, you know, as Ron-

[24:00] Speaker 7: Right.

[24:00] Speaker 9: ... Ron talked about.

[24:01] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[24:01] Speaker 9: So there's no, there's no lack of evidence scripturally. Uh, but like, uh, I wo- I was always curious. In seminary, we had a class called Practical Theology.

[24:12] Speaker 7: (laughs)

[24:12] Speaker 9: Well, if it's not practical, I mean, why are we... Why in the world are we-

[24:16] Speaker 8: Are we doing it?

[24:17] Speaker 7: Right. (laughs)

[24:18] Speaker 9: You know.

[24:18] Speaker 4: The rest of it theology.

[24:19] Speaker 9: Yeah, practical theology, as opposed to impractical theology.

[24:22] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[24:22] Speaker 9: You know.

[24:23] Speaker 7: Right, right.

[24:23] Speaker 6: Are miracles practical? Are they, uh-

[24:26] Speaker 9: I, I think it's-

[24:27] Speaker 7: (laughs)

[24:27] Speaker 1: (laughs)

[24:27] Speaker 9: ... I think, I think it's easy for us as believers to get trampled sometimes, uh, from what we see, what we observe, what we hear, and where we're getting that information, you know? For example-

[24:40] Speaker 1: Yeah.

[24:40] Speaker 9: ... if you would have told me that there were 2.1 million conversions, you know, I'm going, "I, I haven't heard that." You know? I mean, that's news to me. Uh, and, and that's cause to rejoice, but I, I guess getting down to it in, in our lives, you know, h- how, how do we reflect to a hungry-

[25:01] Speaker 1: Mm.

[25:01] Speaker 9: ... dying world w- without Christ, how do we reflect to th- to that world, um, the faithfulness of God in, in our lives, you know? We- of course we have testimonies, but do you understand what I'm trying to say?

[25:16] Speaker 1: Yes. Yes.

[25:16] Speaker 7: Yeah.

[25:16] Speaker 9: How do we really make a tackle? How, how do we get the rubber on the road for people-

[25:21] Speaker 1: Yeah.

[25:21] Speaker 9: ... who are really searching for, for some answers, okay?

[25:26] Speaker 1: I think people-

[25:26] Speaker 7: I think... Go ahead.

[25:27] Speaker 1: ... I never talked to so many people in my life as I have in the last few years.

[25:31] Speaker 9: Mm.

[25:32] Speaker 1: And I think the people who have been run over and parked on-

[25:35] Speaker 9: Okay.

[25:35] Speaker 1: ... those are the people that want to hear more, and I believe I hear you saying, and I believe I felt it also, I can know all the phrases, all the verses, all the texts, all the stories, and I can be profound in front of people and they're gonna say, "Ooh," but actually they don't.

[25:53] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[25:53] Speaker 1: They wanna know what Paul's feeling here. And it goes back to something that's so simple, and it's so simple sometimes I'm embarrassed with God when I talk to Him about it.

[26:02] Speaker 9: Mm.

[26:02] Speaker 1: But He said, "Look how I made you."

[26:04] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[26:04] Speaker 1: "I made you with a body, with a soul, with a spirit. Why in the world did I choose to do that?" Well, very simply, without being theological, nobody wants to hear all that when they're hurting, then when they really catch on, they can't wait to devour it. But the body is my spacesuit. I walk around planet Earth in a spacesuit called the body. It gets bigger and smaller depending on how much I eat. But, you know, when I tell it to somebody, they relate to that.

[26:28] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[26:28] Speaker 1: And I say, "That's your body. You got a soul. What is that? Your soul."

[26:33] Speaker 7: (laughs)

[26:33] Speaker 1: "That's your mind and your emotion and your will. That makes you who you are and unique to nobody else." That's still the same guy that's getting beat down, stepped on, and you feel like you want to cuss and quit.

[26:43] Speaker 9: Mm.

[26:44] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.

[26:44] Speaker 1: "You've got one more thing. You've got a spirit. Well, what is that? Inside of those," as it says in Colossians 5, "you have an empty spot until you know God. And you won't know God unless you listen. And you're not gonna get to see God through me." And I say, "Very simply, you are crushed right now. You're hurting. You don't want simple answers. You don't want a thesis, you don't want this, that, or the other.

[27:12] Speaker 1: Just go talk to Him alone." "How do I do that?" "I don't know, figure it out."

[27:17] Speaker 7: (sniffs)

[27:17] Speaker 1: And you know what? Nine out of ten times people come back. I've had them storm into my office, I've had them call me on the phone, they come back and they say-

[27:24] Speaker 9: (clears throat)

[27:24] Speaker 1: ... "Joe, I think God spoke to me."

[27:27] Speaker 9: Mm.

[27:27] Speaker 1: Then the doors open to do what Paul's so good at also-

[27:30] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[27:30] Speaker 1: ... "Let me lay it out for you." But at that point, they've decided, "I want to hear." And you know what? Here's the last thing I'm done. In the midst of the pain, whatever it is, with no answers at all in their hands, they water up to me and they say, "I get it. He's there." Then you've got them right where the Holy Spirit wants you-

[27:53] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[27:53] Speaker 1: ... to be able to share with them.

[27:55] Speaker 9: Right.

[27:55] Speaker 1: I think that's where people are hurting.

[27:57] Speaker 7: Yeah. Well, I- I'll take a shot at it also. (laughs)

[28:02] Speaker 9: (laughs)

[28:03] Speaker 7: Uh, I think for, in my mind when, um, uh, I think I remember the, the, the passage.

[28:08] Speaker 9: Mm.

[28:09] Speaker 7: Anyway. So the idea is that, that God's faithfulness is, is a, uh, is a display of, of God's perfect loyalty and His perfect, uh, cons- consistency-

[28:22] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[28:22] Speaker 7: ... uh, to His, to His true character, right?

[28:24] Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[28:25] Speaker 7: Um, His character and, and His Word. So if God's faithfulness is His absolute perfect loyalty to His character, to who He says He is, and to His Word, then me as an, as a, as a follower, as His child, uh, faithfulness to me-

[28:43] Speaker 9: (sniffles) .

[28:43] Speaker 7: ... is that I live out, uh, as perfectly as I possibly can, consistently as I can, that which I say about the God that I, I'm a part of. Uh, uh, so for instance, if, if I, um, I think to me it looks like I have neighbors, I have people I, I, I, I run into, or people I spend, I'm around for a period of time, right? What does God do for... I mean, what, what does God do?

[29:08] Speaker 9: Yeah.

[29:08] Speaker 7: What does His character say about th- that someone's hurting or just someone who's lost or someone, you know-

[29:14] Speaker 9: (coughs)

[29:14] Speaker 7: ... just, just that one person there, right?

[29:16] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[29:16] Speaker 7: He, He finds ways to make Himself known to them. That's part of His, His loving character.

[29:21] Speaker 9: Exactly. Right.

[29:21] Speaker 7: He does it in nature, He does it in everything.

[29:23] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[29:24] Speaker 7: He makes himself known.

[29:25] Speaker 9: Right.

[29:25] Speaker 7: All right. So my deal is, no matter where I am and who I'm with, I, I want to find ways to make God known to them.

[29:32] Speaker 9: Yeah.

[29:32] Speaker 7: Make it known to them that I know of this God. And when, and in cer- circumstances where, where like, like you talk about, Joe, when people are hurting or they're angry-

[29:42] Speaker 9: Yeah.

[29:42] Speaker 7: ... I'm still going to l- look, look, look and act and revert back to the character of God.

[29:47] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[29:47] Speaker 7: What is God's response toward-

[29:48] Speaker 9: His word.

[29:48] Speaker 7: ... this individual who is completely whacked out and, and, and angry- Yeah ... and whatever else it is, right

[29:54] Speaker 9: It is.

[29:55] Speaker 7: Do I, do I, uh, do I buck up and, and force myself on the, uh, or fight? No. You know?

[30:00] Speaker 9: Yeah. Exactly.

[30:00] Speaker 7: I try to reason as best, as best I possibly can- Mm-hmm ... and my reason for reasoning isn't that just to simply calm them down

[30:08] Speaker 9: Mm.

[30:08] Speaker 7: ... my reasoning is to, is to get them to a point where they understand there's something better than what you're experiencing and dealing with right now.

[30:15] Speaker 9: Amen.

[30:15] Speaker 7: And there's another way of dealing with it. So, I mean, I think in those ways it's, it's lived out, is the best way for us to show God's faithfulness to us, but our faithfulness to Him in the lives-

[30:27] Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

[30:27] Speaker 7: ... of other people. And so, and so

[30:28] Speaker 1: And you will feel it.

[30:29] Speaker 7: I-

[30:29] Speaker 1: Amen. Amen, Ron. They will feel it 'cause you laid it, and there's no words for watching somebody all of a sudden light up and say, "Oh, yeah, that's it, Ron."

[30:40] Speaker 9: Crazy.

[30:40] Speaker 1: Excuse me, Will. Go ahead. I just (laughs) want to-

[30:42] Speaker 9: That was great.

[30:44] Speaker 7: Yeah.

[30:45] Speaker 3: Yeah, I- I-

[30:46] Speaker 10: So... I'm- I'm sorry, Will. Go ahead.

[30:48] Speaker 3: No, I was just gonna say that he-

[30:50] Speaker 10: Okay.

[30:50] Speaker 3: ... his faithfulness is seen in his... that he always delivers on his promises. And so-

[30:55] Speaker 10: Amen.

[30:56] Speaker 3: ... some of them are conditional and some of them are unconditional. I don't mean that he backs away on his promise conditional. I mean, when I say conditional, um, he says, "I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing." You know, "Choose life."

[31:11] Speaker 10: Yeah.

[31:11] Speaker 3: So conditional meaning if you're gonna follow me, here's this great result, if you're gonna trust me in this area. If you're not, um, there- there might be discipline. You know, God is the hardest on his children in scripture through Old and New Testament when they don't take him at his word and believe what he says.

[31:27] Speaker 10: Sure.

[31:27] Speaker 3: They don't trust his faithfulness. And so, there's a condition. You know, Peter says, "Don't treat..." I'm para- this is extreme Will paraphrase for Peter.

[31:35] Speaker 10: (laughs)

[31:35] Speaker 3: Peter says in his letter, "Don't treat your wife like garbage and then expect God to listen to your prayer." He- he has this, uh, First Peter 3:7, at the very end it says, "so that your prayers may not be hindered."

[31:45] Speaker 10: Right.

[31:45] Speaker 3: And that's basically what he's saying. So that would be what I mean when I say some of his promises are conditional. That's- that's what I mean. Some of them are unconditional. God just says, "I will do this for you. I love you. I'm gonna do this or that for you." And so, I think a big part of reaching people with the faithfulness of God, and Paul, the example you brought up, are the people that need to be as- assured re- and- and reassured of God's faithfulness more than anyone else, more than anyone.

[32:15] Speaker 10: Right.

[32:15] Speaker 3: And that is, look, God is, like Ron mentioned, God's always consistent. He's never gonna go against his character. And so what... Let's- let's go to his word, and this is where discipleship comes in. Let's go to his word and see what promises he's made us that we can rest our lives on and- and know that his faithfulness, his attribute of faithfulness means he's going to always deliver on those promises.

[32:38] Speaker 10: Mm-hmm.

[32:38] Speaker 3: And- and that is... Man, that's there for the person in the middle of just losing a family member. That's there for the person sitting in a prison cell, thinking they're all alone, and then they find out there's this guy next to 'em and they do communion together. You know, this is-

[32:53] Speaker 10: Right.

[32:54] Speaker 3: This is someone thinking, "Oh, man, I'm never gonna get to thank that person." Okay, back to my step-grandpa. He, um... Amazing stories. There are three of them that would make you think that's not real, it didn't happen, but it did. But one... Okay, so one of them, he had trench mouth in the POW camp. And trench mouth, I don't know the bacterial name for it, uh, Dr. Craig may have a stab at it, but it's really bad. Well, if you can, um, cut your gums, it's kind of an emergency procedure to get your gums bleeding, and Dr. Craig, you'd have to help me here. I don't understand the- the physics behind, the- the biology behind that, but apparently, it- it promotes- Draining the pus. ... the healing process.

[33:36] Speaker 4: Oh.

[33:37] Speaker 3: And draining the pus. Okay, and draining the pus. Okay, that's probably part of it. So... Okay. So he's got trench mouth, horrible infection. He did end up losing his teeth eventually, and he- he always had wooden teeth, which we thought was, "Wow, you have wooden teeth?" (laughs) This prison guard... Okay, think of a Nazi prison guard doing this. This did not happen, right? This prison guard gives him his pocketknife. Uh, apparently, they built a friendship, or as much as you can in a POW camp. And so, he gives him his pocketknife to drain the pus, cut the gums, whatever the- the- whatever the self-surgical procedure in that sort of emergent situation where there are no doctors, and it just helps you stay alive and helps your mouth heal. I don't understand. But anyway, so my point is, it was a huge help to him at the time. He gave the pocketknife back. You know, so all these years, he's thinking, you know, "If I could just...

[34:35] Speaker 3: If I could just thank that guy, that guy might have saved my life if I could just thank that guy." Fast forward years later, my stepdad is with him. I think he's already an adult, but he just happens to be with him. My- his dad is going to a new chiropractor there in Houston, Texas, is the area they live. Going to a new chiropractor, and, um, obviously this is through, I guess, some sort of military benefits, et cetera, so maybe there's a limited list to pick from. So, they go into the office. They, y- you know every time you do that, you gotta fill out all this paperwork. So, they go in, fill out all the paperwork. Um, he's with his dad, they walk into the room, and you gotta wait, right? And most chiropractors are not like Dr. Wassenberg was here in Midland. I was in and out in 10 minutes. I never even spent 15 minutes in that place. That guy was u- unbelievable. He's retired, but I'm kinda mad at him for retiring 'cause he was so great, so fast.

[35:28] Speaker 3: So, you go in there, they're in the waiting room. The chiropractor walks in. It's the prison guard.

[35:35] Speaker 10: Oh, wow.

[35:36] Speaker 3: The German prison guard. I don't even know the story. You think, "That's not possible." Uh, he came to America. He somehow got whatever license you have to get to become a chiropractor. He, I don't know, obviously learned English. He's practicing chiropractor in Houston, Texas, and walks into the... So, they sent my stepdad out of the room, and that he said they talked for the longest time with the door closed.

[36:01] Speaker 10: (laughs)

[36:02] Speaker 3: And so, you just... You think of that reunion and you think, "Man, look at the..." I mean, not everyone has a good experience like that, but the... I mean, there's just... There are story after story after story, small things and big things, where God's faithfulness shows up in peoples' lives.

[36:15] Speaker 10: Mm-hmm.

[36:16] Speaker 3: And, um, you know, Edward Halbert went through the ringer.

[36:20] Speaker 4: And what are the odds?

[36:21] Speaker 3: But God's spirit was there for him-

[36:23] Speaker 10: Amen.

[36:24] Speaker 3: ... in that hospital, yeah.

[36:25] Speaker 10: The odds, man.

[36:26] Speaker 4: Right?

[36:26] Speaker 3: There was zero.

[36:27] Speaker 4: That's why we say like, "Oh, what a coincidence," you know? What do you mean?

[36:29] Speaker 3: There was zero.

[36:30] Speaker 10: (laughs)

[36:31] Speaker 4: No. The odds were odd. There's no- there's no odds. There are no odds.

[36:34] Speaker 3: There's zero.

[36:35] Speaker 10: Yeah.

[36:36] Speaker 3: If it wasn't coming from my stepdad, I wouldn't have believed it.

[36:38] Speaker 10: Right. (laughs)

[36:39] Speaker 6: Yeah. Wow.

[36:40] Speaker 4: And what a beautiful, um, moment for both of them.... to have some healing, right?

[36:49] Speaker 3: Yeah. And his dad was a strong believer. There's no way he didn't witness to that guy.

[36:53] Speaker 9: (laughs)

[36:53] Speaker 7: (laughs)

[36:54] Speaker 3: I don't know what happened, but there's no way he did not witness to that guy.

[36:57] Speaker 9: (laughs)

[36:57] Speaker 4: I believe that.

[36:58] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[36:58] Speaker 7: Oh, praise God. I, I, I want, I want to put, try another twist as well. Um, I guess in my head, I, I go back to, uh, my prison cell and at the time, you go, "Okay, um, if I'm questioning the faithfulness of God..."

[37:20] Speaker 3: (sniffs)

[37:20] Speaker 7: And your, part of your brain goes, "How faithful can He be-

[37:24] Speaker 3: Hmm.

[37:25] Speaker 7: ... when He let you go through all those crazy things and end up in this place?" Right? And then, you, you're, there, there's, you have the infirmary where you have guys, uh, who have never gone home, uh, because they're sick and you know they're gonna, probably gonna die there.

[37:39] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[37:39] Speaker 7: And you go, "Okay, if God is faithful, then why is it these things are happening?" And then later on, in my studying and reading and digging, uh, the question become, question comes, "Why are you alive?"

[37:55] Speaker 3: Mm.

[37:56] Speaker 7: Why, why, why-

[37:58] Speaker 4: Yes.

[37:58] Speaker 7: ... do you deserve to be alive? Why do you deserve to be breathing? You know?

[38:00] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[38:01] Speaker 7: What, what, what kept you from, to, to 19 and 20? I mean, te- tell, give me a, give me a reason why you should be alive, you should be breathing. Give me a reason why you should even be experiencing this, this pain or this disappointment with somebody else's life who isn't your... It doesn't belong to you, by the way. (laughs) It's mine. And you go, "Uh, well, well, uh..." It's one of those Job conversations, right?

[38:25] Speaker 7: (laughs)

[38:26] Speaker 3: Yeah. (laughs)

[38:26] Speaker 7: It's like, "Am I faithful?"

[38:28] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[38:29] Speaker 7: "Yes, I'm merciful, I'm faithful. I'm merciful, I'm loving." And the fact that you're breathing-

[38:36] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[38:37] Speaker 7: ... and, and still here-

[38:38] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

[38:38] Speaker 7: ... speaks of the faithfulness of God and the mercies of God.

[38:42] Speaker 3: That's right.

[38:42] Speaker 7: Uh, it, it's like-

[38:42] Speaker 3: And Ron, and Ron-

[38:44] Speaker 7: Say it again? Sorry.

[38:45] Speaker 3: Ron, the question's not... It, it's right in line with what you're saying. The question's not, why does God allow bad things to happen? The question is, why would God bring anything good in my life-

[38:54] Speaker 7: Yes.

[38:54] Speaker 3: ... when I have done this and this and ruined everything? And-

[38:58] Speaker 7: Absolutely.

[38:58] Speaker 3: ... like, back to what you were saying, the fact that I'm here, the fact that I'm breathing.

[39:03] Speaker 7: Yeah. It, it could... I, I, and we, we just said the same. It's been reiterated over and over again. Uh, we had, we, uh, brought my wife's mother, uh, down to live with us, uh, 'cause just couldn't leave her there anymore. So she lived with us for, for three years and, and then ended up dying anyway. But even in the midst of that, you know, even when other people are, are, you know, kind of angry and, and just distraught, here you have these two people here going, "Oh, well, praise God." You know?

[39:33] Speaker 3: Yes. (laughs)

[39:35] Speaker 9: Yes. (laughs)

[39:36] Speaker 7: It's still the faithfulness of God. She had, she, she got three years-

[39:40] Speaker 9: Yeah.

[39:40] Speaker 7: ... of great care and loving on her and experiencing... Okay. And she knew the Lord, and oh, and she died comfortably in our house in our bedroom. Not in a ho- nursing home, not in a hospital.

[39:55] Speaker 3: Not alone.

[39:56] Speaker 7: Not alone anywhere.

[39:57] Speaker 9: Yes, yes.

[39:58] Speaker 7: Right?

[39:58] Speaker 9: Amen.

[39:58] Speaker 7: It's like, okay, God is, God is being, He is being faithful. And for us, it's like, okay, the faithfulness of God is seen in the fact that He enabled us and powered us and even giving us the, the mind to even do that with her.

[40:14] Speaker 3: Hmm.

[40:14] Speaker 7: I mean, on, on all levels. It's just... I mean, you can't get away from it.

[40:19] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[40:19] Speaker 9: Can I say two really quick things? I...

[40:22] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[40:22] Speaker 9: I like what you said, Ron, about it being, uh, God's character, you know, His faithfulness. Uh, thinking about this, as believers, as followers, when we give our... When, when we open our heart to Christ and He comes to live in our hearts in the Holy Spirit, I think it's fascinating that the Bible says in Galatians Chapter 5 that we are given love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So if we think we can't do it, that's just not true, you know? It's just not true. The other thing is... Just a real quick illustration. Uh, I found a verse of scripture today. Uh, uh, uh, one of, one of the blessings of living in Lompoc is we... And we joked about it, seeing the launches of the rockets.

[41:12] Speaker 3: Hmm.

[41:12] Speaker 9: Um, I like to see on Facebook sometimes when people say, "Oh, look what we saw from Phoenix, Arizona. Look what we saw from... you know, blah, blah, blah." And I'm going, "Look what I saw from my backyard." You know?

[41:23] Speaker 4: (laughs)

[41:23] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[41:24] Speaker 9: You know, it's really fun. But there's a verse of scripture and it's, it's, it's in, um... It's in... Let me find it for you. It's, uh, Psalm 36:5. Let, what... This is what it says. "Your love, oh, God, towers high into the heavens, and even the skies are lower than your faithfulness."

[41:46] Speaker 3: Hmm.

[41:47] Speaker 9: Now, that's pretty, that's pretty good. I mean-

[41:50] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[41:50] Speaker 9: ... if I go out and look up in the sky, even the skies are lower than God's faithfulness. And to keep those things in mind, you know, it, it really, it really helps effect positive change. I, I don't know about you, but I will confess, God's not finished working on me. I don't have this all stuff nailed down yet.

[42:10] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[42:11] Speaker 9: Uh, but every day is an opportunity, you know, to express what He's given to me in gifts, in, in the gift.

[42:18] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[42:18] Speaker 9: And, and-

[42:19] Speaker 3: Amen.

[42:19] Speaker 9: ... part of my response, I think, is gratitude for who He is and what He's done-

[42:24] Speaker 3: Amen.

[42:24] Speaker 9: ... and to worship Him. To worship Him.

[42:26] Speaker 3: Amen.

[42:27] Speaker 9: To, to bow before Him and acknowledge that He's the creator of all of this-

[42:32] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[42:32] Speaker 9: ... based upon His character and His faithfulness. So that's what I want to share. That's great.

[42:36] Speaker 4: No, I have two things. I know you have two things.

[42:38] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[42:38] Speaker 4: But one was, I walked into my girlfriend's house Saturday morning, and there were multiple men, and one of them said, "Well-"

[42:46] Speaker 5: ... what order of the spirit are you working on this week? And they were all being silly.

[42:50] Speaker 1: (laughs)

[42:50] Speaker 5: So I turned around and I said, "Obviously self-control," and then rolled my eyes.

[42:54] Speaker 1: (laughs)

[42:54] Speaker 5: Because does anybody ask for, you know, embracing that one?

[43:00] Speaker 1: (laughs)

[43:01] Speaker 5: No. I don't, I don't, I don't think so.

[43:03] Speaker 3: That's a good one.

[43:04] Speaker 5: Paul, you, you, you work on that one?

[43:06] Speaker 1: Yeah.

[43:06] Speaker 5: Yeah.

[43:06] Speaker 1: Well, you end up in prison when you don't, so-

[43:08] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[43:09] Speaker 5: Yeah.

[43:09] Speaker 1: ... it's a personal thing for me. (laughs)

[43:13] Speaker 3: (laughs) Yeah.

[43:13] Speaker 5: Okay.

[43:13] Speaker 1: That's, that's essential for me all the time.

[43:15] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[43:15] Speaker 5: I forgot my second one. You remind me.

[43:16] Speaker 6: Okay, so two things. One is, Ron, Paul, why do we encourage you guys to write books? That's the first one.

[43:24] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[43:24] Speaker 6: Second is the answer to Paul's last question, and that is because it's our testimonies in life, our stories in life-

[43:32] Speaker 3: Yes.

[43:33] Speaker 6: ... that give hope and demonstrate the faithfulness of God.

[43:37] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm.

[43:38] Speaker 1: Okay. Now you made me feel guilty. Okay, thanks a lot, Chris.

[43:41] Speaker 6: I'm sorry.

[43:41] Speaker 1: I'm working on it, I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I'll get on it. Wow.

[43:44] Speaker 6: Again, I know I just threw it under the bus. Ron, you need to write a book. Paul, you need to write a book.

[43:48] Speaker 3: And Tank, and Tank it's, uh, they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.

[43:55] Speaker 1: Yes, yes.

[43:55] Speaker 3: It's what you're saying.

[43:56] Speaker 6: It's example, right? When you can live it, the best minister is the one that's been ministered to.

[44:03] Speaker 3: Hmm.

[44:03] Speaker 6: When you've gone through life and experienced what you're coaching someone else through, you're profound.

[44:10] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[44:10] Speaker 5: I remember my second point. Paul, you s-

[44:13] Speaker 1: (laughs)

[44:14] Speaker 5: ... you said, you said worship.

[44:16] Speaker 3: Uh-huh.

[44:16] Speaker 5: And I've been trying to study the art of war. I have a friend that says we need to understand war in scripture.

[44:24] Speaker 6: So do I.

[44:25] Speaker 5: I don't, but Joshua is great.

[44:28] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[44:30] Speaker 5: Exodus. The front of the line is worship, so it's the musicians.

[44:38] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[44:39] Speaker 5: And prophetic.

[44:40] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[44:40] Speaker 5: It always starts with praising the Lord before we go in. We, we think this is the position, right? Fight. Our, our, our fight position is actually glorifying the Lord.

[44:54] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[44:55] Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.

[44:55] Speaker 5: What a humbling thing to think about.

[44:57] Speaker 1: Yeah.

[44:57] Speaker 5: Because I don't think that's our, that's not my normal reaction. I don't know if it's your normal reaction, right?

[45:03] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[45:04] Speaker 5: But it's true. We are meant to worship, and we're gonna worship something, so let's make sure that it's correct where we're worshiping.

[45:11] Speaker 1: I keep thinking of a synopsis they're giving Will. He just opened such a great thing here. You know, like, I know people can hear God speak to them. They've really shared, and being Baptists, shoot, when we were in school, you had to take your hand and put it down real quick. Remember, Paul? Hands down. Don't raise your hands while we're singing. Put that down. Whoopsie. There it goes. But now we've realized just how much, and then like each of you have said, I mean, I'm just getting blessed. How about you? I'm just soaking it all up and getting blessed, because He does speak. All they have to do is just hear, like what we're sharing, and then all the truths that you've all shared come flying through and, uh, it's, it's times like this where people really begin to feel who God is. And, uh, that's, it- it's amazing. I'm still like you, Paul. God's still working on me. I'm still in the putty phase. Yes, I've been in the fire, but it's, He takes it out and says, "No, that's not good.

[46:03] Speaker 1: Let's do it again." So...

[46:04] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[46:05] Speaker 1: ... work on that, so, uh-

[46:07] Speaker 3: Back on the wheel.

[46:07] Speaker 1: (laughs) Yeah. Right. We're doing on that, so. So often we feel about that, uh, that... Did you say amen?

[46:15] Speaker 5: Amen. Me?

[46:16] Speaker 3: (laughs) .

[46:18] Speaker 5: (laughs) Yeah. He did this, he did this.

[46:21] Speaker 1: She says stuff in Spanish, Steph, and then I don't know exactly what she says. You know? She's disagreeing with you

[46:27] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[46:30] Speaker 6: They're a lump of clay and it's being molded, and you go to the kiln next week.

[46:34] Speaker 1: That's it. That's what she said in Spanish. (laughs) Well, look, folks. Well, we need to take just a moment. Stephanie, would you do us the honors like you do so well and just tell the people a little bit about us and-

[46:47] Speaker 5: Sure.

[46:47] Speaker 1: ... see if, uh, get the word out to them for a moment?

[46:50] Speaker 5: Sure. We would love if you could join us by going to bbsradio.com/raisingexpectations. That is the website for our program. And you can find all the goodies that there are to find about the program. Um, we have prior shows, you can listen to the recordings, you can learn about each co-host, how to connect with us. There's a link to Pastor Joe's book, to Craig's book, and then there's also all the fancy ways, the snail mail ways, all the ways to give donations. We greatly appreciate that. That does help us stay on the air. So thank you for being generous with your time, your sharing, and your money.

[47:32] Speaker 1: Amen. Amen. Thanks, Stephanie. And folks, we do appreciate you so much. We love and thank God for you. Thank you for helping us keep everything rolling with BBS Radio. They are the best anywhere you'll find, and they're worldwide and they're wonderful people. We just love our guy TJ and the whole family. Hey, Will, we're looking at this right now. Give us, uh, you used to... When I got to be on staff with Will, you could pitch anything to him and it would always come out first class.

[47:58] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[47:58] Speaker 1: He just does an incredible job. Will, take, take, take about four minutes and give us a synopsis about how you see that faith here as we wind down.

[48:09] Speaker 3: Yeah. I, I really think this is unique opportunity for us. I mean, every generation can legitimately say this, though. That's the other thing about God's faithfulness, it's multi-generational. But in our generation really right now, I think we can honestly say we see His faithfulness. I mean, we see a lot of bad things too because of sin and our disobedience to His character and our not representing His character well. But, um, but His faithfulness still shows up through it all. The world, it's on the world scene, we're seeing it in other nations. And I think it's a shame that our media doesn't do as good of a job at reporting some of the things that God is up to spiritually and physically all around the world. Um, even great...... outlets like the Daily Wire, you know, Ben Shapiro's group, um, World News, if y'all haven't heard of them they have a lot of great stuff. Even great groups like that, um, sometimes I listen to them and I, I'm a Daily Wire subscriber.

[49:07] Speaker 3: I just, sometimes I listen to them and I think, "You... I'm sorry that this lady's mom, who's a co-ho, anchor co-host is missing. I, I wish she wasn't, but look-

[49:21] Speaker 1: Yes.

[49:21] Speaker 3: ... we, (laughs) you spend half your podcast segments talking about, "Let's talk about what's going on in the world. You know, God is saving Iran, I didn't even know the number was that high."

[49:31] Speaker 1: Yeah.

[49:31] Speaker 3: Millions of people in Iran, and that's just one country. So, uh, that's part of it. Um, the home scene, I think God's faithfulness is seen in the home scene, what's going on in our country. The revival in the younger generation, I think we're seeing that. Um, you know, on the church scene I think I see it too. What, what we're doing through the local church to disciple people, to be salt and light, I think is incredibly helpful. Um, you're never gonna find a perfect church. They say if you find one, don't join it 'cause then you'd just mess it up. But, uh, but it's, you, we see it. And so, just a couple things. If you have a relationship with Jesus, then your calling is to share how God's faithfulness has shown up in your life with the people around you who might not know about that.

[50:17] Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[50:18] Speaker 3: They, they've heard the stor- maybe they haven't heard the stories. Maybe they've heard the stories about Jesus but th- there's no relationship. And so, r- the third part of Ron's question, that's one of the ways God shows his faithfulness, through us to them, is communicating the simple, simple, simple, a four-year-old can understand it, message of the Gospel.

[50:38] Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.

[50:38] Speaker 3: God loves you, God wants you back, he died to win you back. I mean, it, it, it is really is that simple. You can go into more detail but it's that simple.

[50:45] Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.

[50:45] Speaker 3: And so secondly, if you don't have a relationa- relationship with Jesus, I think the most important part of God's faithfulness, if you're listening right now and that's you, that you'll ever experience, is by receiving his open-handed offer to you of salvation. That is his payment for everything wrong you've ever done or ever could do, that he made for you when he gave up his life on the cross.

[51:12] Speaker 1: That's right.

[51:12] Speaker 3: So if you want to know Jesus, I think that's the most important calling that he's placed on your life right now, is, is to know him and if he's, if he is tugging at your heart and, and you do understand that, that that's h- coming from him, you can say, "Lord, I, I know that my sin has separated me from a perfect relationship with you, and I've done that, I've done that. But what you did about it was you lived a perfect life, so you didn't have to die, but you did anyway, so you're the perfect sacrifice. You died on a cross to win me back to you to pay for that sin. And Jesus, I want what you did there, I want that in my life.

[51:47] Speaker 3: I want that applied to my spiritual account."

[51:50] Speaker 1: Right.

[51:50] Speaker 3: And if you pray that, it, it's not the magical words, it's not the incantations and the mystical.

[51:55] Speaker 1: Right. Mm-hmm

[51:56] Speaker 3: It's just the heart attitude of the, r- your realization of your need for Christ. And, um, so if that's you and you're listening, that's, I think, when we're talking about the faithfulness of God, that's the most important first part of his faithfulness that you should experience.

[52:12] Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. Amen.

[52:12] Speaker 3: So thank you.

[52:13] Speaker 1: Amen. Hey, we love you, Will. That was great. Thanks so much. So glad you're part of our family and, uh, uh, Ron, love you, brother. Good to-

[52:21] Speaker 3: We love y'all too.

[52:22] Speaker 1: ... make a good breath of a truce. Amen. Steph, Tank, love you guys, you mean the world. Thanks for your ministry and your blessing. And Paul, we're all praying you- you're feeling better and, uh, love and appreciate you for so long.

[52:33] Speaker 3: Thank you.

[52:33] Speaker 1: Honey, I'm sure glad you're here too.

[52:35] Speaker 4: Thank you.

[52:36] Speaker 1: So I thank the Lord for everything he's doing in our lives and, uh, we give him the praise and the glory. So we'll, we'll have Will back real soon. We'll just keep let, roping him all the way and lassoing him in from Midland, Texas. How's that Texas illustration? (laughs (laughs)

[52:51] Speaker 1: Okay. We'll go from there. God bless you and keep you folks. May he walk with you, make his light to shine on you because you're looking. Uh, look forward to seeing you next week again. Will, God bless you and the family. Hug them all for us. See you next week. Oh, God bless and keep.

[53:07] Speaker 3: Thank you guys.

[53:08] Speaker 4: God bless you guys.

[53:09] Speaker 1: God bless you. (uplifting music) Friends, thanks for joining us on this week's program of Raising Expectations. We profoundly hope you found it engaging and at times humorous, but most of all uplifting, so that we may with you, one topic at a time each week, become more encouraged to move forward to an exciting future in, as we always say, this thing called life in America today. So let not your hearts be troubled, your family, finances, faith, freedom, it can be a great future as we talk, listen, respect, and pull together. Please let me hear from you. You can reach me at 972-922-8556. That's 972-922-8556 or Joe Schofield on Facebook or LinkedIn. It'd be a pleasure to know you and we hope you'll listen in again next week on the BBS Radio Network.