1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,800 Your ambitions aren't bad. Your ambitions aren't evil. 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:07,120 Your ambitions should be directed towards serving God. 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:13,240 So many of us have been made to feel guilty for flourishing, and 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:15,720 I believe this is a podcast that's going to give you 5 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:17,120 permission. To flourish. 6 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,160 When I came to faith in Jesus, there was not a lot of 7 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,240 conversations about work ethic and dignity. 8 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:25,720 Hey, one day you're going to marry a woman, and that woman, 9 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,280 generally speaking, is probably going to want to stay home when 10 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:30,840 she has babies. We know selfish ambition is bad. 11 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:33,160 We know it's not helpful to just build your own castle. 12 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,560 Now, do I work those things out in a way that doesn't build my 13 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,560 own castle, but builds God's Kingdom and equips me to be the 14 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:41,880 husband, the father, the leader that I'm supposed to be? 15 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,400 What is the thing you're the most excited about right now? 16 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:46,840 I think honestly like telling young men about. 17 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,520 If you are looking for a practical, if you are tired of 18 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,560 just a sit back life waiting to figure out your calling, I 19 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,600 believe this is the message that you need to hear today. 20 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,800 Welcome to the podcast today. I am so excited. 21 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:10,400 This is a book that I believe is going to give permission to 22 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,400 young men and even women to flourish godly ambition, 23 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,440 unlocking your full potential of your time, talent and treasure. 24 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:23,080 You know, so many of us have been aid to feel guilty for 25 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,880 flourishing. And I believe this is a podcast 26 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,640 that's going to give you permission to flourish because 27 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:32,880 we fight by flourishing. We don't fight by division. 28 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:35,360 We don't fight or win by shrinking. 29 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,720 We fight by becoming everything God created us to be. 30 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,160 And I'm so excited because I've got Ruslan today with me. 31 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,640 And Ruslan is a man's man. And I told him, I said, I travel 32 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,880 and speak to women, but I always carry men in my heart. 33 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,400 And so I'm so glad you could join me today. 34 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,880 Let's talk about why you would write this book because you're 35 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,760 kind of a rapper. You're kind of a little bit of a 36 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,560 fringe edge wild card. And I love that. 37 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:04,360 Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me. 38 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:09,400 What a what an amazing intro. I am originally a refugee from 39 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,360 Azerbaijan, Baku in the Middle East, just north of Iran. 40 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,960 So me and my family are Armenian came to the United States and 41 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,080 after my dad left, I really struggled coming to the faith. 42 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,000 And then after coming to the faith, walking out what God 43 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,360 worked in. And that was the, the tension in 44 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:27,720 terms of like I understood that when I came to faith in Jesus, 45 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,480 yes, I had some traumas, yes, I had some issues, but there 46 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,960 wasn't really a conversation about like now what there was a 47 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:38,320 conversation about like, hey, you got to, you got to go to 48 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:39,320 church, you got to read your Bible. 49 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,360 OK, I, I got that. I'm going to read my Bible. 50 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:42,720 I'm go to church, I'm going to join a men's group. 51 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:44,680 OK, great. Hey, you got to stop looking at 52 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:45,640 porn. You got to stop sleeping with 53 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:48,200 your girlfriend. OK, I, I got that part. 54 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:51,720 Yeah, but but, but now what? Now what am I supposed to do? 55 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:52,400 What? What? 56 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,760 What am I created to do? There was not a lot of 57 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,560 conversations about work ethic and dignity through work. 58 00:02:58,560 --> 00:02:59,960 There was not a lot of conversations about 59 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:02,840 responsibility, about like, hey, one day you're going to marry a 60 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,320 woman, and that woman, generally speaking, is probably going to 61 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:07,880 want to stay home when she has babies. 62 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,880 And you need to think about that when you're 20 because that's 63 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,040 coming when you're 25. When you're 30, those 64 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:15,560 conversations weren't had. And so as I went down this 65 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,520 process of becoming a full time artist, traveling the country, 66 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,440 having my first son, my wife coming home, we paid off a ton 67 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,280 of debt. We we had a completely different 68 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,040 life than we were brought up with both broken families, 69 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,760 single parent household. And I just saw this void of not 70 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:35,600 a lot of conversations equipping people for godly ambition. 71 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,000 We know selfish ambition is bad. We know it's not helpful to just 72 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,720 build your own castle. But how do I pursue those things 73 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:43,800 that God worked in? How do I work those things out 74 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,480 in a way that doesn't build my own castle, but builds God's 75 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,440 Kingdom and equips me to be the husband, the Father, the leader, 76 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,200 the the entrepreneur, the creator that I'm supposed to be? 77 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:55,520 Yeah. And I do feel like people have 78 00:03:55,520 --> 00:04:00,680 been so jaded by, oh, prosperity gospel and and what you're 79 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,160 saying is, hey, we are building for Kingdom. 80 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:07,320 We are building for life. Because when you have the 81 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:12,360 ability to get out of debt, when you have the ability to provide 82 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,000 for your family, then you have the ability to be generous, 83 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,959 Amen, and build Kingdom things. And it sounds like your heart is 84 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:20,240 really to give men permission to do this. 85 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,320 Yeah, absolutely. And I think sometimes, you know, 86 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,760 the the that teaching sprouts when there isn't good teaching, 87 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,520 that's being pushed forward. And so instead of just railing 88 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:30,560 against the prosperity gospel, which I think there's a time and 89 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,120 a place to do that, I think we need to teach people biblical 90 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:34,960 prosperity and say, well, what does that look like? 91 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,880 What do the Scriptures say about finances, career, calling? 92 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,080 How do we navigate these things? And I think anyone that I know 93 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:43,840 in the West where we're not persecuted and we're not under 94 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:47,280 the Roman Empire, who follows biblical principles to live on 95 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:51,160 less than what you make, save, give generously, have a plan, 96 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,120 tends to do well, right. You get out of debt. 97 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,080 You, you tend to do well. And what my frustration has 98 00:04:57,080 --> 00:04:59,880 been, we serve a supernatural God, but we don't talk about the 99 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:02,400 Super practical of serving a supernatural God. 100 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:04,720 And so that's what I'm hoping to to get people to say like 101 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,800 there's a practical side to our life, to our ambition, to Our 102 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,480 Calling, to our marriages. Let let's get after it. 103 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:12,160 What was the turning point for you? 104 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:15,040 There are so many turning points, OK, the the initial 105 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:16,480 turning points, I come into faith in Jesus. 106 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,080 I, I was very angry at God because of the things that 107 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,800 happened to me in my childhood, experiencing sexual abuse, my 108 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,880 father not being in my life. I was arrested at the age of 11 109 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,760 for breaking into a home. So there was I had to have been 110 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,240 the youngest atheist that walking around at like 1011 like 111 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,360 I'm an atheist, God doesn't. Exist. 112 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,360 I was in the United States. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 113 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:37,800 God doesn't exist. And if he does, he doesn't love 114 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,200 me. And that was four or five years 115 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:44,000 of wrestling through that, going from atheist to theist to theist 116 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,920 to finally surrendered Christian when I was 17 years old. 117 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,240 So that was the first turning point was like, I'm giving 118 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,760 everything over to Jesus. I would say after that, me and 119 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,320 my wife went through a debt free journey following the principles 120 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,960 of Dave Ramsey, the first babe, three baby steps, which I still 121 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,040 think anyone that's struggling financially should follow those 122 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,920 first three baby steps. We got out of debt and something 123 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:06,760 interesting happened when we got out of debt. 124 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,440 All the sudden we could afford for my wife to stay home with 125 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,800 our first son, Levi. And then I was working at a on 126 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:14,960 staff of the church doing all the media, all the cameras, all 127 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:16,760 this stuff that we see. I was the guy behind the scenes 128 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:18,400 doing it. I communicate from the Sunday 129 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:20,560 morning platform as well, maybe 6 * a year. 130 00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:23,200 And I remember I was starting to sense this, this tension because 131 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:28,040 I was traveling so much that I, I couldn't keep doing church and 132 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:29,920 keep pursuing music in my music career. 133 00:06:30,280 --> 00:06:32,000 And, but at the same time, we were out of debt. 134 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,280 My wife was a stay at home mom and we had saved six months of 135 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:36,480 living expenses and we were praying about someday 136 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:38,840 transitioning and doing this full time. 137 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,400 And after years of praying, years of following God's 138 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,400 principles, I was coming back from South by Southwest, a huge 139 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,640 music festival in Austin, TX. We were in New Mexico and I'm 140 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,320 talking to my wife and I go, hey, like I think we should keep 141 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:52,760 praying. I think we should pray about 142 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,720 maybe putting in my 2 week notice to, to transition into 143 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,400 doing this full time. And I remember my wife who is 144 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,680 young, you know, we're not even in our 30s yet, right? 145 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:04,760 And I remember her saying to me, I don't think there's anything 146 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:06,760 else to pray about. You need to come home and put in 147 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,400 your two week notice. And those, those words like I 148 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:11,880 still remember the, the smell. I remember the diner we were in. 149 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:13,320 I remember what the other guys were doing. 150 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,800 That moment to me confirm that like my wife actually trusted me 151 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,760 because we had walked through a system of getting our house in 152 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:23,840 order and getting our finances in order and getting Our Calling 153 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,600 in order that she was the one that was like, there's nothing 154 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:27,840 else to pray for. Did we pray? 155 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:29,840 We prayed and prayed until we couldn't pray anymore. 156 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:32,120 And then we got to go out and we did it. 157 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,240 Not that was 10 years ago. Till this day I've been a 158 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,720 primarily self-employed full time entrepreneur doing ministry 159 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,320 doing music. I want to share with you about a 160 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:46,320 phenomenal opportunity. I love to study the word of God 161 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,400 and logos.com back slash Bevier is going to give you an 162 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,800 opportunity to have a 60 day free trial. 163 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:58,120 I love that you can actually deep dive into all of these 164 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,160 different commentaries they are bundling together. 165 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:07,600 Listen to this 190 resources you can try out logos for yourself. 166 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,600 You could do a deep, deep dive into the word of God and all 167 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:15,560 you've got to do is go to logos.com back slash Bevier to 168 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,160 start your free trial. And you know, I, I was listening 169 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,680 to something yesterday and this guy was saying that if a woman 170 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:29,160 is not in a soft state in her marriage, if she's always like 171 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:32,240 high drive high, it's because she doesn't feel safe. 172 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,559 And that when the husband takes a leadership role, which it 173 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,240 sounds like you had taken that you had said, I'm going to 174 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:40,520 provide, we're getting out of debt. 175 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,280 We're going to take action steps. 176 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,520 So that your wife basically said, I'm ready to jump off a 177 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:47,880 Cliff with you because I believe I can trust you. 178 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:52,280 I believe that you can lead. I love that. 179 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:58,640 And I I'm hearing so many young men waking up and taking back 180 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:00,280 their masculinity. Are you seeing that? 181 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:02,760 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, even in this may sound 182 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,400 silly, but like even in the rise of like young men going to jiu 183 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,960 jitsu, young men going to the gym, young men just wanting to 184 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,520 go outside and hunt and fish and like all these things that that 185 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:16,680 are good, like these are good masculine things to empower us 186 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:19,360 to be providers, protectors, priests of our homes. 187 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,680 I have seen a huge just jump in attendance in our local Church 188 00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:24,200 of just men coming back to church. 189 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,760 I think this is the first time where young men are more likely 190 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,200 to be going to church actively than young women like in the 191 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:31,880 history of our country. That is correct. 192 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,520 Which is incredible. And so I, I, I see it and I go, 193 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,240 this is awesome. And now I'm like, OK, you guys 194 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:39,080 are going to want to get married in five or ten years. 195 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,240 Let's, let's get your life in order now, because you're going 196 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:43,720 to, you're going to have a wife. She's she's probably going to 197 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:45,840 want to stay home. She has little ones initially 198 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,120 And let let's get your, your, your finances in order. 199 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,040 Let's get your mindset in order. Let's get your ambitions aligned 200 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:54,080 with God's. Ways and godly ambition is going 201 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,480 to give them the practical to be able to walk this out. 202 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,640 You know, I, I do feel like so many people don't know that I 203 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,320 stayed home. Like they think I was always, I 204 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:07,160 was not traveling. I mean, I, I breastfed all my 205 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:08,360 boys until they asked me to stop. 206 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:12,680 I was like 2 1/2. And so I was not leaving my 207 00:10:12,680 --> 00:10:14,760 children. I wanted to be home. 208 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:19,240 And most women, they have that angst when they feel like they 209 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,080 can't have that as a choice. Now, of course there's women 210 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,560 that are single parent and not necessarily by choice. 211 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:27,760 Your mother would have been one of those where you, you have to 212 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:30,320 work. But ideally, God has always 213 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:34,000 meant that the husband would be the provider and the wife could 214 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,040 be the nurturer and the grounding of the home. 215 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,320 And that is not a less than position. 216 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,680 That is, that is a powerful position, but it's going to 217 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:45,520 require powerful leadership on the male's part and 218 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:47,680 responsibility. And sacrifice like you. 219 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:49,640 You got to sacrifice short term comfort. 220 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,320 You got to sacrifice maybe eating out as much going out as 221 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:54,880 we didn't do anything for the 18 months we spent getting out of 222 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:56,000 debt. We did nothing. 223 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:57,960 We went nowhere. You're lucky that it only took 224 00:10:57,960 --> 00:10:58,640 18 months. Yeah. 225 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,560 And and we technically had six figures of debt, like we were 226 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:05,120 $100,000 in debt. I had Co signed on a condo with 227 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:07,280 my mom. The second mortgage ended up on 228 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:09,680 my credit. And so it was, it was a grind 229 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:10,720 up. And this is before YouTube, 230 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:12,120 before I was making any real money with music. 231 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:13,680 This was, this was a lot of work. 232 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:19,200 But my wife trusted me because I had shown improved, repeatedly 233 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:21,240 shown improved. And then when it's when it's 234 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,680 time to put our head down, she's not because I think sometimes, 235 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:26,080 and I and I'd love to hear you speak into this. 236 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,280 I think sometimes we're in this idealistic view of work life 237 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,360 balance and I'm going to shut my phone off for four days at a 238 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,800 time and call it Sabbath and be unreachable and like all this 239 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,560 kind of stuff and, and listen, like Sabbath is predicated on 240 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:44,320 working hard for six days. And so and now I'm hearing young 241 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,400 men talk about Sabbath in their 20s, and it's like, did you need 242 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:47,880 to put your head down? You haven't even worked. 243 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,040 You haven't worked six days to have it right now. 244 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:51,160 I think you should take a day off. 245 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:53,800 I think you should rest. But I think we, we kind of want 246 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,000 everything like we want perfectly at work life balance, 247 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:57,680 but we also want to be providers. 248 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:00,000 And it's like, hey, man, when you're young, you just, you just 249 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,120 got to put your head down for a season and work hard. 250 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,240 And I think that the thing that I heard Dave Ramsey said this as 251 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,000 well, the thing that is scary to, to wives is that they start 252 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:13,080 thinking this is forever. This pace is forever. 253 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:15,200 And it's, and that's where communication comes in. 254 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,680 So I'm we're about to have our third child. 255 00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:19,680 I think I told you that we're expecting a boy in November. 256 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:22,000 Congratulations. I'm working very hard right now. 257 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,560 I'm traveling a lot, but there's communication, hey, Dad's going 258 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:27,160 to be gone for three sleeps and I come home and I'll be gone for 259 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:28,640 four sleeps and then I'm at home. 260 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,360 And then after mid-october, dad's not going anywhere for 261 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:32,640 months. I'm home, I'm home, home. 262 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,560 When there's communication, I think wives then go, OK, we're 263 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:39,600 in a season where he's going to work really hard for a season, 264 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,440 not forever. And then that will give us the 265 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,360 flexibility to have more of the, of the work life balance that 266 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:47,640 we're going at. But but I think we get the 267 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,000 sequencing wrong. I, I think absolutely. 268 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,320 I think I overheard a conversation between my husband 269 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,440 and another pastor and he said it's shocking to me that all 270 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:59,080 these millennials are like resting and they don't work. 271 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:01,040 He said they're already not working enough. 272 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:02,800 And then they're they're like exhausted. 273 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,640 And I think when you have purpose, like you're saying, OK, 274 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:09,480 I'm just going to, I'm just going to grin and bear it for 275 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,880 the next three months. I'm going to do this Then, you 276 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,000 know, there's a reward on the other side of it. 277 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:19,880 And so I absolutely I, you know, we, we come from the mindset of 278 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,280 work is what you do play is a privilege. 279 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,880 That's right. And yeah, I, I found this, and 280 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:26,400 you probably have seen this in the culture. 281 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,920 When we had COVID, everybody began to think that 282 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:36,240 entertainment was their right. Like we deserve every single day 283 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:39,560 to be entertained. And and like my husband and I, 284 00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:42,920 when we pioneered the ministry, we put those kids to bed. 285 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,840 We were either, you know, folding, you know, batching mail 286 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,440 or praying or cassette tape duplication. 287 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,920 I mean, we, we were working and we didn't think of, we've 288 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,720 already worked six hours. We worked whatever it took, we 289 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:01,640 stayed up as long as it took. John's first book that he wrote, 290 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:05,920 I, I would, I would edit at night from 10:00 to 2:00 AM now 291 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,720 forever and ever. No, but for two or three months 292 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:10,920 I did do that. And I think people don't know 293 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:15,120 how to count the cost. And so I'm really excited that 294 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,640 you're telling people. Plus there's reward. 295 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,400 Yeah, that's right. And there's dignity. 296 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:21,360 There's dignity at work. You feel good. 297 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,160 I think the latest data that I've seen said the average 298 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:29,920 American watches 7 hours hours of media a day. 299 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,480 So when are they working? Well, if you're spending seven 300 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:36,520 hours watching stuff, and that's not counting work, that's just 301 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,960 you're passively consuming Netflix, you're on social media, 302 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:42,000 you're on YouTube 7 hours a day and you're sleeping, let's just 303 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,640 say 7 hours a day and you're working and in the commuting and 304 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,640 the meals, you don't have any time that that averages out to 305 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,560 50 hours a week almost, right? And so I'm not even saying, hey, 306 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:53,320 get off of social media. I'm not, I'm not saying I'm 307 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,880 saying, hey, what if that 50 hours a week you spend passively 308 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,680 consuming stuff? How about you cut that in half? 309 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,360 25 hours of like deep work, go learn a new skill. 310 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,640 Go go, go, go make yourself more of an asset to your current 311 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:09,160 employer. Because instead of, hey, how can 312 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,360 I get the most amount of money for the least amount of work? 313 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,200 How about you give the most amount of work and effort and 314 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,680 then see what happens within the institution you're already in 315 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:20,520 while developing yourself so that you can do something on the 316 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,960 side and potentially that side hustle turns into a, a, a full 317 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:25,600 time thing. I think these are like 318 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:27,600 uncomfortable things because I think we're so scarred from 319 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,200 hustle culture of like just work endlessly. 320 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,920 And that is not good when you identify yourself with the stuff 321 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,960 you do for money, right? We can't, our identity has to be 322 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:39,160 anchored in Jesus, right? You. 323 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:41,720 We are not what we do for money. Our purpose can't be and what we 324 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,320 do for money, our purpose as followers of Jesus is to know 325 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:47,480 God and make him known. That's every single Christian's 326 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,080 purpose. Our assignment may change, 327 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:52,040 right? Your assignment when you had 328 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,240 little ones was is very different than your assignment 329 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,000 right now. You you have an incredible 330 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:57,280 podcast. You're speaking all over the 331 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:58,280 world. It's a very different 332 00:15:58,280 --> 00:15:59,840 assignment, but your purpose never changed. 333 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:02,880 Your purpose was to know God and make him known and calling in 334 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,400 the book I, I explained how calling is discovered. 335 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:08,160 Calling is not static. We're like I'm at this fork in 336 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,920 the road moment and if I go left I'll ruin everything and I'll 337 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:12,320 miss the will of God for my life. 338 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,600 No, no calling is from your purpose of knowing God and 339 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:17,360 making him known to understanding the current 340 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:18,520 assignment of what's in front of you. 341 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,440 Calling is in the process of discovery through being faithful 342 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:23,880 with our time. Talented treasure. 343 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:26,480 So it sounds like you're giving people permission to make a 344 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,040 mistake. Oh yeah, make lots of mistakes. 345 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,280 Exactly, exactly. You know, I, I had this 346 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:36,680 interesting story where my husband had just turned 60 and 347 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,840 he had all of his friends in from golfing and I flew in from 348 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:41,520 California. I'd done a women's conference 349 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,720 and I ended up in the spa because this husband was like, I 350 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:47,280 don't want a facial. You could have my facial. 351 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,040 So I end up in the spa and this young girl sees me and starts 352 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,320 crying and pushed and she opens up her arms and she has my book 353 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,520 in her hands. And so I sit down with her and 354 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:00,760 she's like, I, I just, I, you know, I just got married. 355 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,120 We just moved. We just this, and I thought this 356 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,040 all sounds great. You know, why is she stressed? 357 00:17:05,319 --> 00:17:07,640 And she said, I'm just so afraid I'm going to miss God. 358 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,800 And I thought, I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard 359 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,760 that. But I said, well, listen, you 360 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:18,960 know, first of all, the enemy will use your desire to please 361 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:21,119 God against you. He will freeze you. 362 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:23,480 He will say, don't take a step. You might make a mistake. 363 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:24,599 And I said, I'm going to tell you this right now. 364 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,280 You're, you're guaranteed you're going to make a mistake. 365 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:29,680 You're going to be misrepresented, you're going to 366 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:32,000 be misunderstood. But you need to take a step 367 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:33,800 anyway. And I went back to my hotel room 368 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:37,520 afterwards and I heard, you know, when I was pondering in 369 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,200 this question, I heard tell my children, I'm a really big 370 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:45,160 target. And the only way they don't hit 371 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:48,800 me is if they don't move. Like, where can we go? 372 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,880 And every, every mistake I've ever made, everyone, any mistake 373 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,800 John's ever made, I'm sure any mistake you've ever made, it 374 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,720 became a teaching opportunity. As long as you, your purpose is 375 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,000 to love Jesus, to make up, make him known, God will take it all. 376 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:07,280 Even the worst things I've ever like in a moment where it was 377 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:11,120 either the marriage or things I did, God has always redeemed 378 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:13,000 those things. And I do think we have a 379 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,120 generation that froze during the pandemic. 380 00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:18,920 It's not a fight and flight. It's a frozen. 381 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,040 They don't want to take a step. They don't want to take a 382 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,160 misstep. So they're doing nothing. 383 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,120 And God says when you walk, you'll hear a voice behind you 384 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:28,920 saying this is a way not when you sit and so. 385 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:30,640 That's so good. And I think I think something 386 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:35,400 practical that might help people is the idea that God it God's 387 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:38,200 will is this permanent destination that you got to go 388 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,280 through. And it's like a scavenger hunt. 389 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:41,680 And that is how. We were raised right. 390 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,200 That is how we were raised. It's it's very stressful. 391 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:48,400 Yeah, and, and, and the way I I frame God's will for my life, as 392 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:52,080 I say, God's will for our life is in God's ways for our life. 393 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,480 And so if you want God's will for your life, you have to ask 394 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,600 yourself the question of how am I doing this? 395 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:01,720 Am I, am I going about building this ministry, this nonprofit, 396 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,760 this job this season? Am I going about it in a way 397 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,520 that God would go about it? Or am I doing it from a depleted 398 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:09,840 selfish place? Right. 399 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,000 And so I think God's will for our life is in God's ways for 400 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,560 our life. And God's ways for our life is 401 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:17,960 in God's word. And so if we stay aligned with 402 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,560 God's word, then we can always be doing God's ways, whatever 403 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:23,560 we're doing, whether you're a stay at home mom, whether you 404 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,320 are leading a podcast and a staff of people. 405 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,080 And then that will always keep us in God's will that it's not 406 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,200 the static thing. And I think that the how often 407 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,400 matters much more than the what, right. 408 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:36,680 So when you say make mistakes, I don't know, or I'm saying I 409 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:39,000 don't, I'm not, we're not saying be flippant and just jump out 410 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,520 the window and be reckless. We're saying as you go through 411 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:45,240 the process, you should be concerned about the how and, and 412 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,800 the way you're doing stuff because even if it's not the 413 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,600 thing, sometimes it'll lead to the thing. 414 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:51,680 I thought I was going to be a famous Christian rapper for 415 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,720 Jesus and I had the songs with Lecrae and I had all the thing 416 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:56,840 that the who's who and Christian music. 417 00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:00,200 But I'm so grateful where I am now and, and, and how I've been 418 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:01,440 able to pivot and go into YouTube. 419 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,200 I still do music, but sometimes it's the thing that leads to the 420 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:06,200 thing. And then it's that process of 421 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,560 just faithfulness and discovery. I love that. 422 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:10,920 What is the thing you're the most excited about right now? 423 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,000 I, I think honestly like telling young men about this concept of 424 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,880 godly ambition and, and just getting to the point of like, 425 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,200 hey, your ambitions aren't bad. Your ambitions aren't evil. 426 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,880 Your ambitions should be directed towards serving God and 427 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,760 loving God and serving people. And if, and if we could figure 428 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,840 that out, I think we'll see a lot more men leading, a lot more 429 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:34,680 men financially stable, a lot more men getting after it. 430 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,480 And that's a good thing, right? Like I, I, I think I'm tired of 431 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:42,040 society telling people, hey, if you want to change your 432 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:44,160 trajectory, if you want to change how your life is going, 433 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:46,000 that's bad and you're a bad person. 434 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,200 You're not a bad person. You see the opportunity that 435 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,240 this is the best time to ever be alive in the best country that's 436 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,560 ever existed. And we look at the scriptures 437 00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:00,000 and we'll like, romanticize like martyrdom of Paul or martyrdom 438 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,320 of Stephen. And it's like they were under 439 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:06,360 Roman occupation that hated Christians and made it illegal 440 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:08,200 to be a Christian. This is not our. 441 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:09,640 Concept that is not our, that is. 442 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,720 Not ours. And so if you, if you think Paul 443 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,040 or Peter were to land in 2025 and open up and, and look around 444 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,600 and say, you guys got cameras and this is being broadcast and 445 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,560 millions of people, we're so interconnected and you're, 446 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,320 you're worried about if like you're going to make a mistake. 447 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:29,360 And not like, I think they would be alarmed with how much we 448 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:31,240 waste the opportunities that are in front of us. 449 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,320 And so I'm, I'm saying, Hey, take inventory. 450 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:35,200 Where are we? Who's are we? 451 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,120 What is the things that are in front of us? 452 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,680 And in that man, we can usher in so much good. 453 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,960 And, and, and the book is based on the passage in First 454 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,400 Thessalonians 411. What it says, make it your 455 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:50,480 ambition to lead a quiet life. Work with your own hands so that 456 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:54,240 your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that 457 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,440 you may not be dependent on anybody, right? 458 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,160 So the idea of like working with your own hands, minding your own 459 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,160 business and our daily life is what wins the respect of 460 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,080 outsiders. It's the it's caught and not 461 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:05,520 taught. We could have the greatest 462 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,200 polemics and the greatest theology and apologetics and all 463 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:09,040 that. I love all of that. 464 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:11,080 I love preaching, but it's your daily life. 465 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,480 It's the Pagan looking at you and saying something different 466 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:15,880 about that. You love your wife. 467 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:17,440 You love your wife. You lead well. 468 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,480 Yeah, You're not angry. You're not. 469 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:21,240 Yeah. No, people are watching and 470 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,000 waiting for us. And I, I do think right now when 471 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,680 I, when I got the preview of your manuscript, I was like 472 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:28,720 which? By the way, thank you for an 473 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:30,440 amazing endorsement. Absolutely. 474 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:34,040 I was. I was so excited that you were 475 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:38,320 taking this on because it's one thing for a woman to give men 476 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,000 permission to flourish. It's completely different thing 477 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:45,920 when a father and a brother and some somebody who has come out 478 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,840 of being a refugee, which my father was a refugee. 479 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,720 So I understand that. And my dad, he never spoke 480 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,280 against our country. He saw this as a land of 481 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,640 opportunity. He he you know, and he rose. 482 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,840 He was the president of the Home Builders Association if Indiana, 483 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,880 but he didn't start there. He started on the roof roofing, 484 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,960 which is the worst job in construction. 485 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:14,280 So we have to have people in a place where they understand 486 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,320 doing hard things now doesn't mean you'll do hard things 487 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,240 forever. But if you are not willing to do 488 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,080 the hard things now, you're, you're never going to see the 489 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:26,440 things you really hope for. And I, I do think so many people 490 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,200 think, well, you've taken this out of my account. 491 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,560 You flourishing means that I didn't get to, you know, your 492 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,560 success means my failure. And instead of saying, wait a 493 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,560 minute, if you can do it, I can do it. 494 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,520 And then I know for me, you know, the balance on the 495 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:48,920 prosperity missing was the whole idea of God is the one who gives 496 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,520 us the power to create wealth. And wealth isn't just money 497 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,880 wealth, it's legacy wealth is what you're talking about, a 498 00:23:55,880 --> 00:24:00,160 life of respect, a life of consistency to establish a 499 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,640 covenant. And you know, for me, being from 500 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:09,240 generations of non covenant people, I wanted to establish a 501 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,440 covenant and it had nothing to do with money and more to do 502 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,440 with wealth. And I, I love that you're saying 503 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,000 to these men, because I, I'm hearing more and more women 504 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:19,920 saying I'm tired of being a boss babe. 505 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,840 I'm tired. This is, this is ill fitting. 506 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,080 I'm tired of treating men like they're nothing. 507 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,280 I'm tired of the, the Barbie Ken dynamic. 508 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:32,880 I actually really want to be soft again. 509 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:38,520 I want to be feminine again. I want to to have a man that I 510 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,400 can respect, who respects me, who I can dream with. 511 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,920 I I watched Lila talking about how, you know, Erica Kirk was 512 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:47,920 under submission with her husband. 513 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,480 She was under his mission. And that is not domination. 514 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,640 That means that she understood that her and her husband were on 515 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:56,720 assignment. It sounds like you and your wife 516 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:01,200 know this is our assignment. And I'm loving that you're 517 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,720 activating. Yeah, generation of young men, 518 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:06,760 what is your greatest challenge right now? 519 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:15,640 You know, I think I, I look at challenges as seasonal, yes, 520 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,120 windows into what God is doing with me and through me, right. 521 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:22,440 And so for me, I, I don't, I don't, I think challenges right 522 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:24,960 now it's, it's simple stuff. It's like I miss my family right 523 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:26,520 now. You know, I, I would really 524 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,160 love, I love my 4 year old. I love my 10 year old. 525 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,480 I love my wife. We have a really fun rhythm at 526 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,480 home when I'm home. And so it's like the next couple 527 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,280 weeks I'm traveling. It's hard, but we understand, 528 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:40,040 Hey, this is for window of time and then dad's going to be home. 529 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:42,520 You know, I don't I don't do any travel through January, you 530 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:44,880 know, so I'll be home from mid-october to January. 531 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,840 We're doing our summit in March. I'm doing some tour stuff after 532 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:50,520 that. So I would say that the practice 533 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,920 was like, I just miss my family. I think the YouTube side of 534 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:55,880 things is really interesting in the broader. 535 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,960 This is a macro conversation and I would actually really love 536 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,160 your inside on this is something that I'm noticing that I've 537 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,400 heard from the I would say let's just call it the radical left 538 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:09,640 right for to simplify it is this idea that the system is rigged 539 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:15,440 can't get ahead. It is hard and it's about fill 540 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:17,360 in the blank this injustice or this structure. 541 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:19,960 I'm concerned now that I'm starting to hear that from 542 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,280 pockets of the right, the system is rigged. 543 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,840 You can't get ahead. It's the immigrants and it's 544 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:28,520 the, it's Israel and Israel derangement syndrome on the far 545 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,760 right. It's immigrants, it's the black 546 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,520 people, it's these people and it's the they're saying the same 547 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,560 thing. It's hyper racialized, right. 548 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,440 The left focused a lot on race. Now the far right starting to 549 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,880 focus a lot on race. And I'm, and I'm, and it's the 550 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:49,000 same demeaning message of you have no agency because Israel's 551 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:50,440 bad. You have no agency because the 552 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,200 immigrants are here. You have no agency because the 553 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,800 black people. And it's so debilitating because 554 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,560 the worst thing you could do from young men is rob them of 555 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:58,840 their agency is to tell them that you're a victim. 556 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,520 You can't get ahead. And it's because of they of them 557 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,120 versus saying, Hey, there's all sorts of things that are unfair 558 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:08,160 about the world and what none of us are the same height. 559 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,120 None of us have the same, you know, attributes. 560 00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:13,440 But by the grace of God, we're all image bearers and goodness 561 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,240 gracious. If you apply God's principles to 562 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:20,520 your life over a long enough time horizon, you'll be fine. 563 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,680 Yeah, those are people, that one excuse, you know, to be honest 564 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:30,760 with you, I really had an awareness that you cannot give 565 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,240 away your power to excuses one way or the other. 566 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,040 And you're right. I mean, I, I am starting to see 567 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:42,040 that it's, it's almost like white men have become the, the 568 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,440 horrible person. So now they're saying, well, you 569 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,280 guys have shut us down. Well, here's the thing. 570 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,840 We are not subject to this culture. 571 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:54,000 We are subject to a Kingdom. And so you either can bow down 572 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:58,920 and make excuses and live in the lesser, or you can rise up and 573 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:02,400 say, hey, I'm, I'm of Goshen. I'm not in Egypt right now. 574 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:07,520 I'm not going to live under the parameters of offense and racism 575 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,720 and anger and unforgiveness and victimhood. 576 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,320 For me, I have 0 tolerance for victimhood. 577 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,800 Like I said, my dad was like, heck no. 578 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:22,120 And, and I, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but my mom 579 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:27,480 was a victim her entire life. And all I saw was weakness. 580 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,200 When people make themselves victims, they're looking for an 581 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,400 excuse to opt out of God's covenant on their life. 582 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,080 And for me, I was like, no, no, I'm not going to do that. 583 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,320 I'm not going to say that anybody outside of God has the 584 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,880 right to define me, has the right to limit me, has the right 585 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:48,240 to, to say what I can and cannot do. 586 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,400 And I'm, I'm not going to get in strife with other people. 587 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,320 You know, there's this division right now on both sides. 588 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,720 I mean, to me, it's, it's definitely more prevalent on the 589 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,160 left, but we are starting to see it begin to turn. 590 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:07,080 What I loved and you know, when I watched the memorial, I felt 591 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:10,200 like where it was healthy was when everybody pointed to Jesus 592 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:15,040 and not to, you know, the left or the whatever the other was. 593 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,000 We do not need to get entangled with the enemy schemes because 594 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,080 we have a, a God who has a plan and his plan remains hidden. 595 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,040 I love how Isaiah says he was sits in the heaven and laughs. 596 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,840 I mean, he, he knew that you would go through something hard, 597 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,720 but he also knew that you would rise above it. 598 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:37,000 And you know, I've, I mean, I had cancer when I was 5 and 599 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,000 it's, you know, it's much when I was young, I thought it's not 600 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:41,480 fair. I have one eye. 601 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,560 It's not fair. But that actually made me 602 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,800 stronger than probably if I'd had two eyes, there's a. 603 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,400 Resilience in. You there's a resilience that 604 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:56,000 hardship works into our lives and and also it punctuates your 605 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,200 life and too many people's lives have been punctuated with 606 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,520 question marks when God is like enough this chapter's oven. 607 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,080 You need to put a period in this and you need to flip the the 608 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,600 page and stop making this about you. 609 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,440 Yeah, well, you know, the interesting thing is we don't 610 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,560 always have a great theology for suffering, right? 611 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,400 We, we, we, we want the easy path. 612 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,440 We want pleasure and dopamine. You want to just numb ourselves. 613 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,320 But but when we talk about calling and purpose, there's an 614 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,360 interesting fact that I looked up. 615 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:27,720 I don't know if I share this with you when you were on my 616 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,880 podcast, but I looked up the word passion and in the Oxford 617 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:35,200 Dictionary, the word passion is uncontrollable emotion, right? 618 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:37,240 This person is a man of passion, uncontrollable emotion. 619 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:41,320 But the second definition for passion in the Oxford. 620 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,640 Have you ever like this up the suffering of Christ? 621 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,800 I mean, there we go, right? The movie, yes. 622 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,640 The movie. And so and so the word passion 623 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,200 is not just that uncontrollable emotion. 624 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,200 The word passion comes from Jesus being willing to suffer. 625 00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:59,760 And I wonder how many folks when they're thinking about what am I 626 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:01,440 supposed to do? I just want to follow my 627 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,560 passion. If you find something to do so 628 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,040 much, you know, you love it so much, you'll never have to work 629 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:07,360 a day in your life. And it's like, wait, wait, no, 630 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:09,880 no. What if your passion was more 631 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,840 oriented about what you're willing to suffer for and what 632 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,600 if and sacrifice for? And what if you're willing to 633 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,800 suffer and sacrifice for? The bad things in your life are 634 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,960 actually equipping you to be more resilient to suffer and put 635 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:23,400 your head down when it's difficult. 636 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,680 And I think if we reoriented our our clinical passions around 637 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:27,720 what are you willing to suffer for? 638 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:28,760 What are you willing to go through? 639 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:32,800 And the more we suffer and, and hardships come, the more likely 640 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,480 we're to be Brazilian and to go through that suffering to refine 641 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,280 ourselves in the fire. And I think that's, that's the 642 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:40,320 part that like, I don't want to do that. 643 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:42,400 That's, that's uncomfortable. It's like, it is uncomfortable, 644 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:43,880 right? Jesus says, hey, he wants to 645 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:45,360 follow me and wants to save his life. 646 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,720 We'll lose it. And he wants to gain his life 647 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:48,640 for my sake. We'll find it. 648 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,400 And that word life means psyche. Like it's a different Greek word 649 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:52,840 than Zoe life. And John 10-10. 650 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:55,160 You have to lay down your psyche, your mentality, your 651 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,600 ways of doing things so that you can walk through that refining 652 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:00,320 fire. And that happened to you as a 653 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:01,440 child, happened to me as a child. 654 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:03,080 Sometimes it keeps happening to us as. 655 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:04,640 AI feel like I go through stages. 656 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,360 I mean it's a whole James one. I mean it's just kind of pure 657 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,560 joy. You know when when you go 658 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,520 through this intense fire and you know one of the things when 659 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,000 when I was reading it, the whole book of James chapter, you know, 660 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,000 chapter one it in the message paraphrase. 661 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,840 It kind of sets it up where it says the text come from all 662 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,040 sides. And I was reading it and God 663 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:29,520 said, I will put you in seasons of ambush without any means of 664 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,880 escape to show myself strong. And so he like it's when your 665 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,600 whole world falls apart, you turn to him. 666 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:38,640 That's right. And then when you turn to him, 667 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,800 you and I both know first step of any spiritual warfare is 668 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,600 submitting yourself to God. It's a it's a posture of 669 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,240 humility. Then we resist and and then he 670 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,560 flees. But too many people skip the 671 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,880 suffering time. And I have found in my own life, 672 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,160 anytime I pulled myself out, God's like, OK, you know, if 673 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,240 this is too hard, you can pull yourself out, but there'll be a 674 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,560 retest. And the retest is always harder. 675 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,200 I've just learned stay the course, Don't, don't opt out, 676 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,520 don't skip out. I mean, I remember in college 677 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,480 being like, I don't really want to get up and take a test. 678 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,400 And the first time I did that and then I showed up for the 679 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,080 retest, I was like, this is wait, this is way harder. 680 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,120 He's like, absolutely. The retest is always harder. 681 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,680 And so God wants US, has set us up with struggle as 682 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:26,680 strengthening, he sets up obstacles to actually develop 683 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:29,520 us. And too many people avoid the 684 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,760 very thing that's going to actually propel them forward. 685 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:35,760 And so I, I love that you're setting this up of, hey, yeah, 686 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,880 do what you love, but probably you're going to have to go 687 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,160 through a lot to get to that place where you even discover, 688 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,760 you know, and one of the things I also loved about the message 689 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,680 translation, and I don't know if it's in Matthew 5, but it, it 690 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:54,800 basically said that when we help others find out who they are in 691 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,320 Christ, that's who we discover who we are. 692 00:33:57,800 --> 00:33:59,600 It's not always about me. That's right. 693 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,600 It's about others. I mean that that is the the 694 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,920 ultimate example. When I'm when I open the book, 695 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:08,960 we talk about helping others. I open the book with the idea in 696 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,159 Luke chapter 22 where the disciples are arguing about 697 00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:13,920 who's the greatest. It's the greatest right You 698 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:15,679 have. He just washed their feet. 699 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:17,600 He tells him he's dying and tells him. 700 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,159 He's going to go to the cross, he says 1 of you guys is about 701 00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:23,080 to betray me. And then in Luke 22, he says. 702 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,560 And then a dispute rose among them about who was going to be 703 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:27,080 the. I love the humanity. 704 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:29,679 It's so crazy. It's so he's just trying to have 705 00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:31,679 a final meal. He's trying to demonstrate 706 00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:33,719 what's about to happen, washing their feet. 707 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:35,520 And then they would argue about who's the greatest. 708 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:40,199 Now the, the interesting part is in that moment, Jesus never 709 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,440 rebukes their desire for greatness because he had rebuked 710 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:45,679 Peter, he rebuked the Pharisees, he rebuked Judah. 711 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,520 He had no problem rebuking people, but he never rebukes 712 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:52,239 their desire for greatness. Instead, he redefines greatness 713 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:56,600 as service and and redirects them towards hey, you want to be 714 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,400 great, Don't, don't be like the the gentiles who dominate and 715 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:03,280 who domineer and and and and. It's about status and clout and 716 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,360 power. The greatest among you should be 717 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,040 like the biggest servant, right? And so when you're talking about 718 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:11,480 discovering it, it is absolutely a through line to how can you 719 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:13,800 serve people? And, and sometimes, like if you 720 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:15,640 struggle, I was, I was with a, a friend of mine. 721 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:18,760 That is I, I didn't, I didn't know he, that he did he deal 722 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:20,720 with this like, hey, like I'm naturally a selfish guy. 723 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:22,560 And I said, I would have never thought you're naturally a 724 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,160 selfish guy because every time I'm with you, you're the guy 725 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:27,320 that's willing to do anything. You're you'll stack chair and 726 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:28,400 it's a pretty high profile person. 727 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,600 I'll tell you who it is off the record, pretty high profile 728 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:31,960 person. He he's like, I just want to 729 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:32,720 serve. I want to stack chairs. 730 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:36,520 I want to do whatever and I said you identify as a selfish 731 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,680 person, Therefore you put things in your life to take the 732 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:42,600 attention off of yourself by serving right? 733 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,440 And that's a good thing. Sometimes it's the remedial 734 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,120 tasks of putting our head down and saying, Hey, I'm going to 735 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,960 show up and I'm going to serve because I don't, I, I, I don't 736 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,040 like this part of me, right? So it's creating those 737 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,640 boundaries and those frameworks to say, let me serve people. 738 00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:59,560 But sometimes serving people might mean you are on a platform 739 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:02,600 and you're sharing something that you are able to articulate 740 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,200 that you've made simple, that's complicated for other people, 741 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,080 that's actually also serving people. 742 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,040 And so I think once we figure out what is that process, then 743 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,960 we can go, OK, now I, I, I, I can start to refine the skill 744 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,160 set that I have. So I have a a chapter in there 745 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:19,160 about talent stacking. Something's coined by Scott 746 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,520 Adams. Many people think that, like, 747 00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:24,080 you need to be the greatest at one thing, right? 748 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:27,200 So, like, am I I graduated class of 2003. 749 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:29,600 LeBron James graduated class of 2003. 750 00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:31,400 I wanted to be a professional basketball player. 751 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:33,600 LeBron was on his way to being a professional basketball player. 752 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:35,320 But I'm not sure if you know this. 753 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,280 There's never been an Armenian that's made it to the NBA, 754 00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:40,000 right? Never. 755 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:42,720 Yeah. Fun fact, I had to discover this 756 00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:44,440 little thing called genetics, right? 757 00:36:44,720 --> 00:36:46,600 Like it's not, it's not the cards for me. 758 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,320 So many people view this process of like, I want to be the best 759 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,000 thing at one thing. And the idea of sound stacking 760 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,560 is Scott Adams says it's like, you don't want to be the best at 761 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:59,000 one thing. You want to be top 10%, top 20% 762 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,720 at like 5 or 6, seven things. And then then you're a Unicorn 763 00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:05,320 and you're, you're valuable. So the folks here on your team, 764 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,120 I've met a lot of them. They wear different hats. 765 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:10,040 Many of them can edit. They know how lighting works, 766 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,240 they know how audio works, they know how copy works, they know 767 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:14,200 how social media works, they know how to do it all. 768 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,600 And so now they're a greater asset to you and, and you as 769 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:19,200 well. You've taken certain skill sets. 770 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,920 You started as an editor for John, then you wrote your own 771 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:24,560 book and you stacked learning to communicate and speak. 772 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:27,280 Now you're doing a podcast. So we're stacking these 773 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:29,440 different things that I think most people were like, well, I 774 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:33,320 just want to do the one thing. And it's like or build on top of 775 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:37,680 your current skill set to create a, a Unicorn like approach to 776 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:40,160 what you present to the marketplace and to your church 777 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:42,880 and to your community. And that's the more direct way 778 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,480 to success. It's not I want to be LeBron 779 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:46,880 James. I'm not going to be LeBron 780 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:48,400 James. It is just not in the cards for 781 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,440 me right you? Can practice all day long. 782 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:52,320 I'm not going to grow another foot. 783 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:53,760 It's not in the cards for me, right? 784 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:56,080 And our by the way, our birthdays are a day apart. 785 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,520 So wow, same Goodyear. Does he know this compare? 786 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,680 I'm going to tell him. Same year and so same year, year 787 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,120 of high school, a day apart, not the same, will never be LeBron 788 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:07,240 James. But that's what I thought. 789 00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:08,840 I wouldn't be a professional basketball player. 790 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:11,120 And so when we start saying, OK, wait a minute, what are the 791 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:12,440 things I'm already naturally good at? 792 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:14,640 What are the things God's already kind of using? 793 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:18,200 What are opportunities to serve, serving my local church, serve, 794 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,160 serve my local community. And then you start putting this, 795 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:24,680 this link of skills together. And that is actually the pathway 796 00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:27,320 to say, OK, now you're an asset. Now you could be a blessing and 797 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,920 you can go and work for Elisa Revere or you can over the next 798 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:33,520 10 decades, 5 decades, 3 decades to become a Lisa Beer. 799 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,320 Listen, I I want new improve no, and I always say that when young 800 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:38,840 girls come back to me and they're like, I'm going to be 801 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:42,400 like you one day, I'm like, I hope not, I hope, I hope, I 802 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:46,040 know, I hope I have paved a way that you go further and farther 803 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,640 and it's not it's not me, you know, being false humility. 804 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:53,400 I'm just like, I did not work for you to be me. 805 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:56,160 That's right. I worked for you to be you And 806 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:59,040 and I want you to take all of that my mistakes and all of the 807 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,240 right things. You know, I want to close with 808 00:39:01,240 --> 00:39:03,040 this. I I love that you did 809 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:07,560 practicalities and I know one of the things that changed my life 810 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:13,320 was when I first married John, I worked in bookkeeping and I'm 811 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,880 like, what? I mean, I was doing the ten key 812 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:18,080 at our church. I was, you know, batching 813 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:22,840 deposits and hated it, hated it because more because of the 814 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:24,960 people in the accounting department and stuff like that. 815 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:26,680 And so John said, you know what, Lisa? 816 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:31,040 Why don't you write down, like, what you want to do? 817 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,720 And I'm going to tell you, writing a list for me. 818 00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:39,040 At that time, I was newly married. 819 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:42,520 I hadn't finished my degree. I mean, like, I had all of these 820 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:45,560 strikes against me. I was great with like, oh, I 821 00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,280 want to go scuba diving. Oh, I want a snorkel. 822 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:51,760 Those things were fine, but I remember when I wrote down I 823 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,440 want to write a book, I heard who do you think you are? 824 00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:57,760 When I said I want to travel, who would send you? 825 00:39:57,760 --> 00:39:59,400 Who would pay for you to go? You don't. 826 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,400 I mean, I wrote down I want to do television makeup. 827 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:03,840 I want to be a television producer. 828 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:08,960 Everything I actually wrote down, just writing it down was 829 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:12,480 like a battle but within like 4 years. 830 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:17,440 I'd done all of those things and it was a clarifying and I did 831 00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,400 pray. I said, God, I want to scribe 832 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:24,520 the things that you have for my life and I am going to be very 833 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:26,760 specific. And then when I was very 834 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:30,640 specific, when opportunities came, I recognize them or that's 835 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:32,720 something I asked. Like I literally said, I want to 836 00:40:32,720 --> 00:40:37,360 do television makeup and and two weeks later I get a call and 837 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,680 they said we need ATV makeup artist, we'll pay for you to go 838 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:43,640 to school. And so I got trained and paid to 839 00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:47,200 do TV makeup in Dallas for Christian broadcasting things 840 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:52,000 and it was just crazy. But if I was just all over and 841 00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:56,160 do I do that now? No, but did that watching, you 842 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,080 know, and I'd get bored. And so I would say, do you know 843 00:40:58,080 --> 00:40:59,200 that plant's coming out of their head? 844 00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:01,800 Can I move that? So I started to get a mindset 845 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:04,840 about, well, that they're taking a long time to say that, you 846 00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,600 know, and I, then they, I started becoming an associate 847 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,480 producer and then I, and it all worked together. 848 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:14,360 And, and too many people aren't willing to come in at the lower 849 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:17,880 level and then do more than required. 850 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:22,360 Like I used to literally say, I am done with all my work today. 851 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:24,080 Can can you give me something else? 852 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,280 And, and literally they said, wait, you're done. 853 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:29,280 I'd be like, yeah, everything you guys have asked me to do, 854 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:30,520 I'm done. What else would you like me to 855 00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:33,480 do? And I ended up taking over and 856 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:37,720 creating a whole different job. And so you want to become 857 00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,520 irreplaceable and whatever job you're at. 858 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,560 And that's, that's godly ambition. 859 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:45,720 That's right. And it, it wasn't because I 860 00:41:45,720 --> 00:41:48,520 wanted approval. It was because I knew I was 861 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,000 working as unto God. And I knew that it was wrong for 862 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:55,520 me to be at a job being paid full time and not working full 863 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:57,920 time. That felt really wrong. 864 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:01,200 And some of the other employees were OK with that. 865 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:03,920 And so I ended up changing things. 866 00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:09,440 So can you do this? We believe in prayer and would 867 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:12,920 you just pray and give people permission under the sound of 868 00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,800 your voice? Wives, I believe wives need to 869 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:17,160 buy this book for their husbands. 870 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,880 I believe mothers and fathers seem to buy these for graduates. 871 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:26,040 I believe this is a book that God is giving keys to people and 872 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:30,160 I just want you to pray a blessing and an opening and 873 00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:33,880 breaking any stronghold in their mind that would fight against 874 00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:35,120 this. All right, let's do it. 875 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:39,000 Father, I thank you so much for this conversation. 876 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:42,080 We thank you for just the team here, Lord, everyone that is 877 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,840 that is getting after it. And I thank you for every single 878 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:48,560 person that's watching this conversation that you have them 879 00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:50,200 right where you want them, Father. 880 00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:55,240 And I pray right now, just a lifting of the mind battles, 881 00:42:55,240 --> 00:42:58,520 Lord, the lifting of the, the cognitive dissonance in the 882 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:02,360 indecision and the, the, the, I don't know what to do, Lord, 883 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:05,040 That there would be clarity after this conversation that, 884 00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:07,920 that the apathy would be gone, but that ultimately there would 885 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,440 be the next step for them that you have for them, Father. 886 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:15,400 They would not be stuck in any sort of analysis of paralysis, 887 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,760 but they would go to first you and your word and your 888 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:23,000 scriptures, take inventory of who they are, whose they are, 889 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:24,480 and what you have for them to do. 890 00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:28,840 Lord, and to step into the next season of their life. 891 00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:32,000 Lord, whether that looks like starting that ministry, starting 892 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:34,960 that nonprofit, that podcast, whether that looks like 893 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:38,040 developing more useful skills, whether that looks like having a 894 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,720 honest conversation about where things are at in their finances 895 00:43:41,720 --> 00:43:43,920 within their marriage. Lord, that they would take that 896 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:46,200 next step and that they wouldn't be afraid. 897 00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:50,440 Lord that we, we, we just give them permission to go after it. 898 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:54,080 Lord we thank you, Lord we love you and we pray these things in 899 00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:56,800 Jesus name, Amen. Amen, Amen. 900 00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:00,520 OK, So guys, the book we've been talking about Godly Ambition and 901 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,720 it's available now, correct? It's available now. 902 00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:05,360 You guys can get this on Amazon. We will put it in the show 903 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:08,400 notes. This is a perfect book. 904 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,920 I think this needs to be Christmas gift because so many 905 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:14,880 people are going to have some pause and they have a lot of 906 00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:17,800 questions. And so I believe this is a gift 907 00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:22,160 that will actually produce clarity and and move people from 908 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:26,080 a place of inactivity, inactivity to a place of 909 00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:28,040 assignment. And as you said, agency. 910 00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:29,720 I love that. Thank you so much. 911 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:31,600 Thank you. Thank you for joining me. 912 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:32,880 It's amazing. Thank you.