Conversations

Clarifies one thing. God only wants one thing from you, and it's only one thing you can really give him, and it's your heart. Some people wonder why we come to church. It's because church is a time to where we let— you know, scripture really clarifies one thing. God only wants one thing from you, and it's only one thing you can really give him, and it's your heart. Some people wonder why we come to church. It's because church is a time where we let God sculpt our heart. Church is a time where we let God put His Word in our heart. And church is a place where we can express our gratitude corporately for who He is and what He's done. But what God wants us to understand, He is representing us very well. Our representation is isn't in Washington. It's not the State House. It's at his right hand, his Son that has died and rose again, our high priest that has nail scars in his hands, ever lives to make representation before you through— oh Lord Jesus, help us. That's what God's trying to say. We're spending our energy, our time, and we're fighting battles that have already been won. Come on. Thanks be unto God that always causes us to triumph. Listen, in Christ Jesus. When he is the center. It's not just the song we sing, it is a life that Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life and life more abundantly." How many want a full life, an anointed life, a life with zest and power? Then stand in awe in who he is. We're weighed in the balance and we're found wanting. We still want even though we have everything. See the person who Jesus died for. Christ is the Savior of the whole world. Because of our sins, listen, the Creator became our Savior. That's what blows me away. It's not a cross. It is the cross and the person that was on that cross that amazes me. Because a lot of people died on the cross, but only one died and rose again. And only one was the Creator of heaven and earth that hung and bled on that cross for me. The sin in all of God. Hey, well, idol truth, your heart. I need to understand that he's the potter and I'm the clay, and he ain't finished yet, but he has begun a good work in me, is going to complete it. In fact, Paul said in Romans 8, you've been predestined to be conformed into the image of Christ. If there's an area of your life that's not reflecting the risen King, the divine sculptor is working on that area in your life. Look up, your redemption is drawing nigh.

God There we go.

All right everyone, well, welcome to the channel. I'm with my dear friend and the founder of Man of God Ministries, Franco Ortega. I'm Gerald from the Kingdom Minded Man, and you're tuning in to Conversations where we just talk about all things that are happening in the faith, some of the stuff that I've experienced in the New Age, sharing testimonies, and just a great conversation between two people who dearly love the Lord. So So let's kick it off. Frank, what's cracking? What are we jumping into today?

Well, I think the first thing that I want to address, and you can put what you guys think in the chat, but I don't believe that I have too many buttons unbuttoned on my shirt, but Joyful's woman of God believes that I do. I think it's just enough. Just enough. So I'd like feedback on that.

Amen. I would say, I'm going to quote it to your friend of mine. When I was going through the nightlife industry, he used to, uh, always go out before we— like, before he went out, he would go to stop at like McDonald's or something, and he would always get a Happy Meal. And I was like, bro, you're— first of all, you're eating McDonald's. Second of all, you're a grown man. Why are you eating McDonald's? He would say, it's just the right amount of yes.

Let's go.

And I think maybe with your shirt, it's just the right amount of—

it's just the right—

you know, the Bible calls us not to let others fall through sin. And I think, you know, the girls be tempting us at the gym, and you might be tempting some ladies out there with that, uh, you know, Retruditide body you've been working on. And now you've got a little Don Juan Corleone with button-down. It's just the right amount of sin for it to be acceptable.

I've always had— I want to see if I can put this mic somewhere because I feel like it looks weird right on my chain.

Yeah, you can put wherever you want.

I'm just gonna do this.

I'm sure I'll pick it up.

You always put on your hat.

Yeah, go for this. Does that work? It works great.

Put it right— no, I want to put it away from you.

Yeah, right there and pop it on there.

That good?

Yeah, it'll pick it up.

Like, it looks weird.

It looks great. Let's see, maybe we do this right on the sides. The side piece.

There we go, a little side piece.

Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

Hopefully it still sounds good. Um, bro, well, I mean, just, uh, kick us off. Tell me what you were gonna tell me earlier. You said God smoked you down last night. Oh yeah, so it's a little earlier.

It's been a phenomenal, I would say, past like 24 hours. So, um, I had an amazing conversation with Apostle John, right? So I meet with him on Tuesdays. What a blessing, right?

Which, by the way, is a massive blessing. Massive. I don't know a lot of pastors No, that have the ability to be able to meet like weekly with just somebody from their congregation.

Yeah. So, and I don't take that lightly. I really— and I also say that like, you know, God releases favor. I think it's— it hasn't been like that. I've been through a few churches and they were all great. And, uh, you know, lesson learned is like really find out what you need and desire as you need to be ministered. So I came from a church that was, uh, where I met my wife was nothing wrong with it. It was just the top-down ministry. And they explained that when we had our offboarding call. They just said, you know, like, listen, the head of the house has an organization below him, and those are the people that are going to speak to you. Yeah. And I really desired having an intimate relationship. Biblical.

That's the structure that God gave for us.

That is the structure.

Yeah.

And you think about it, when he was in Exodus, right, he couldn't have a conversation with everyone. And I completely understand that, right?

Yeah.

And there was also 12 disciples that had direct access to Jesus. So I do look and say there are inner circle and there are congregation, right? There are people that are worthy of praise and worship, but they might not have the direct access that they need, right? I desire more of an intimate relationship with the man of God, but I also prayed for discipleship. I also prayed that God would give me a man of God who would cover me so I can have corrections. Specifically because of the kingdom-minded man. How am I going to lead men if I don't have a covering, correct covering?

Yeah.

And that's something we always talk about, you know. I love the heart of men, that they want to coach and they want to help people, but they go out there and through their inability to have structure, biblical structure, they mislead people. Like, you can't just give your opinion of what you think the Bible says. Yeah, right. Your opinion is great, but I need to know what the word of God is actually saying. So Yeah, prayed for it. And I've been blessed with it. And I'll receive the favor of having that direct access. So we were chatting on the phone over Zoom. And I had said to him, you know, I'm a person who likes to observe patterns, things that happen, because I think those patterns are telltale signs of where God wants to work on you.

Yeah.

And I noticed two things, the spirit of offense, which would then directly correlate itself with um, you know, the spirit of condemnation.

Yeah.

So offense would creep in, and then I would begin to take the offense personal and condemn myself, right? And I was chatting with him, and, and, you know, there was a way—

because you're, you're saying a lot, but it's like we're just going through it.

Yeah, well, that's why we pause.

Yeah, you said that. Yeah, because I'm genuinely curious on this. You said the spirit of offense led you to self-condemnation. How did you get offended? And how did that lead to condemning yourself?

Yeah, well, when you have a deep wound of rejection, right, the devil will play off of what he has data on.

Yes.

So he knows that rejection is a great way to get my ears to point up. So, you know, I had noticed a couple of things, like as I, as I'm about to go into year 46 in April, I started thinking about my, my life. And I started thinking about who's been around me. And then I started really thinking about the word friendship. And I started really thinking about who in my life is an actual friend, but who are in my life that are what I would call acquaintances. And I think in our culture, we call everyone a friend. But I hold the word friend in a dearer place, meaning I'm actually invested in knowing you. Right? And I think people are invested in association, but they're not invested in the title a friendship, which means I would actually want to be invested— time, yeah, energy, right, relational— into knowing you, your family, your children. Yeah, you know, what are your desires? What are your struggles? What is your wife— you know, I don't need to be intimate with your wife, but know of her. Yeah, know of what she does. I think people are casual.

Yeah.

So I said I'm in the season where I don't desire casual relationships. Yeah, I'm okay with being cordial, but I don't want to have association of people who definitely don't want to know me in a way that I want them to know me and I want to know them. I started going through my roster and, uh, you know, my wife had also put together this really amazing, uh, birthday that we both came into agreement with that we would create this worship event, and it's limited to 50 people. I'm partnering with the church Yeah, you know, technically probably gonna be fun. Yeah, it's gonna be amazing. So with 20 people, right? So just as I started going through it and I started like, you know, reaching out, I noticed like maybe some people like very slow to respond or didn't respond. You have to follow up. And you know, my wife would say to me, not everyone's going to be like you, correct? You know, I'm going to respond right away and I'm going to make it a priority if that person's a priority in my life. But I always say, you know, you prioritize what you're focused on. Yeah. Right. So some people might not be focused on that and people got stuff going on. Right. So that kind of started the momentum. It wasn't like anyone that I reached out to, if they're listening, didn't respond in a fast enough time or things like that. It was, I started just taking inventory check. And then I noticed like a couple of patterns that started coming up that like, I was having one-way relationships with people. I started looking at the text threads and I started looking at the communication, and I noticed that it was very one-directional— me outward but nothing coming back in.

Yeah.

So that's how first the spirit of rejection popped in, and like, oh, you're not really that relevant as you think. Now that's not my thought, that's the opposition trying to plant foothold, because Apostle Tommy always says that sin doesn't happen in the action, sin happens in the mind. Absolutely. You know, that's why men get skewed off that Bible verse where it says, you know, if you look at a woman the wrong way, you've already committed adultery in your heart. It's like, bro, the Bible is trying to tell you that your eyes and your mind are the gateways to the falling.

Well, think about it. Why it doesn't say be transformed by discipline and changing your actions. It says be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Exactly.

And Like when I was, when I was coaching, there's this insane model that's just really helped me. And when you get intentional about following this model, you can actually map out your results and change your results pretty rapidly.

Okay.

But it's all with the mind. So it goes with like circumstances is the top thing because everyone goes through, like, for example, you send out that invitation, right? Yeah. There's not an immediate response. That's a circumstance, correct? That's just something that happened. And what this model teaches is that circumstances, they're not good and they're not bad. They just are, right? And I learned this from a life coach, but I took all of it to scripture. And what's it say in scripture? It says that God will work all things out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. That scripture says all things. That scripture doesn't say God will work bad things and good things. So why didn't God label things as good or bad? He just labeled them as all just neutral.

Exactly.

Because circumstances are neutral. It's not bad. And it's not good. If someone didn't respond immediately, it just is. So the very next thing that happens in our human experience, the very next thing that happens, it's thoughts. Right after that, it's thoughts. It's subconscious thoughts, which is where we talk about like our wounds come into play.

Oh, yeah.

Because then, oh, now my wound is thinking for me.

Yeah.

Now my old belief system is starting to think. And then sometimes it's conscious thoughts that when you entertain them long enough, it becomes part of your belief system. And then we could go into all of that later on. I actually want to do like a couple lives just on this specific topic because it's really powerful how a thought turns into a belief. And you, you, you'll experience it, especially when I break it down. You'll be like, that makes total sense. I need to stop doing this. I need to start doing this. So your thought, bro, is like the very thing, next thing that happens based off the circumstance. Now what people don't understand is that our thoughts, and this is so empowering, our thoughts are completely optional. They're completely optional and we have a choice in it. Why else would it say in the Bible to take every thought captive and make it submissive to Christ. It means that if I have a thought like I'm being rejected, that's not, that's not submissive to Christ.

No.

Which means I can take that and I can change it to make it submissive to Christ, which means like, no, I'm not rejected. I am highly loved and I'm highly favored. Yeah, right. So then those thoughts, whether you take charge of them or we just let them rest— this is good. I know this is going to help somebody right now.

It's great.

Whether we just take hold of them or we just let them go, those thoughts lead to create a feeling. Absolutely. Think about this. Have you ever thought about something like so long? Like maybe, maybe I used to do this all the time when I was struggling with like my, my stuff with my dad. Like, I would just think of like, what would I do if my dad died today? And the more that I entertained that thought, it's like, if felt almost as if he did die. Like, I started to experience sadness, I started to experience anxiety, but he didn't die. He was alive, right? But my feelings were connected to the thoughts. So people don't understand, your thoughts are actually what creates what you're feeling right now. If you tell me that you're sad right now, I already know you're thinking thoughts about yourself that make you sad. If you're feeling condemnation, I already know you're thinking really bad things about you. If you're feeling anxious about the future, I already know you're thinking nothing but negative, potential negative outcomes for the future, or like that you have nothing that you can do right now. You could trace it back to the thoughts every single time. And then those feelings determine the way that we show up. So it leads to actions. Yeah. So if I feel rejected, if I feel hurt, if I feel defeated, I'm going to show up completely different than if I feel loved, if I feel powerful, and I feel like I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Yeah.

Does that make sense? Which is what I just faced honestly these past couple months where it's like I'm just battling, battling. So then even like my content production is affected. Why? Because I, instead of my feelings leading to action, my feelings would lead to inaction. My feelings would lead to pause. My feelings would lead to overthinking. My feelings would lead to protect yourself. My feelings— you see what I'm saying? And then come the results. Yeah. Then come the results. Our actions determine everything in our life. If you take— Tony Robbins says this, and it's just absolutely true. There is one common denominator between every single ultra successful person whether they're successful in their family, whether they're successful in their business, whether they're successful in their faith. And it all comes down to one thing: radical action.

Correct.

Radical action. And if I'm frustrated, if I'm defeated, if I'm worried, my actions are going to be so different than if I'm in an abundance state, which is what God promised us. Jesus said, I did not— I came here to give you life and life more abundantly, more abundantly. So it's interesting because nobody realizes that, dude, your thoughts, you don't have to own them. You can submit them to Christ, make them— so it was in jiu-jitsu, you were in wrestling. When you take something and submit it, it's not an easy task. It's a fight for sure. It's, it's a fight, especially like if they've been training for a long time and they got good endurance and those things. Well, if there's been a thought, like for us who have, you know, and every single person who's listening right now, anybody who has any level of a wound, right? That thought has endurance. That thought has strength. And so the only thing stronger than that is what, Joyful? The word of God.

It's interesting. You said that your thought, like you need to submit your thoughts to Christ. Doesn't the Bible also say that your thoughts are not yours? Correct. So here's the, here's the, the thing that stood out to me. Well, people will then say, well then how come I'm hearing negative thoughts? Because you're not submitted to Christ.

It's the devil.

Yeah, you're not fully submitted in your walk, so you give access to ungodly thoughts. Yeah, right. So for me, even if I hear that, so where do I need to be fully submitted, right? Surrender, right? It doesn't only go with the negative. Everyone's like, oh, correct, you're a man of God, how could you? Yeah, but there's areas of growth.

Yeah.

So it's fully surrender to what God's will is, what he's trying to do in my life.

Absolutely.

So as I, as I began to analyze those thoughts, or just, you know, start seeing what was coming up, what's the pattern?

Yeah.

It's always examining patterns, because patterns are telltale signs of like data points. Yes.

Right.

Where do we see this recurring behavior?

Yeah.

How does this behavior affect the way I build relationships or tear them down?

Correct.

So, you know, just to kind of spring forward, right? So I have this data point of why, why is this particular thing a wound scratch? Right? Well, bring it all the way back to your childhood. If you—

you're talking about the rejection.

Yeah, if you weren't picked in school, you know, scrawny kid not picked when you're young, the damage ever, they say, like, you know, the ages of like 1 to 7. You know, 0 to 7 are like damage areas, like they were— your brain will record a lot of trauma.

Yeah.

So if I'm young, dad's not around, mom's dragging you around all the different locations, she's trying to get a footing, you're not— you're not rooted and planted, there's no faith, there's no God, right? You absorb all this stuff, right?

It's true.

And then it just carries into young, young adult, young teen, young 20s, young, you know, mid-30s. It just compiles itself by then. So that wound needs to be addressed. But I've been praying before that to the Lord, show me the areas of my heart that need healing. Yeah, because I want to lead at a higher level. Well, how can I lead someone if I still have damage? Yeah, now you don't need perfection, but you need to be cleaned out and wrung out so you could serve at the level of Christ wants you to servitude. If you're called to leadership, these are the things you should be praying for, not Lord, make me a rich man. You should be praying for, make me a vessel that has the capacity to receive wisdom, knowledge, and divine interception.

Yeah.

So in that moment of, of asking that, God starts to give me, but I don't notice it yet until these specific things happen. So yesterday, if you remember, I also had a great call, right? And that was on Tuesday. Today's Thursday, right? Okay, so I have the Great Call Tuesday. I call that revelation because my apostle says, here's the good thing, you're hyper-aware. Yeah, but now, but now just point A, point A, you're already there. But what do we do from the point of awareness?

Yes.

Okay, so we go into Wednesday. I get up bright and early. I go to the gym. That was the day you were coming back last, the night before with Goose, so you weren't going to make it to the gym, correct? So I'm at the gym, pop on Apostle Tommy's newest, uh, thing, newest sermon. I'm listening and I'm paying attention, and he says something, it's mind-blowing. Um, and I think, I think it'll help if I actually get the exact thing I sent you a text. Yeah, so I'm looking and I texted this to you right here, 6:13 AM yesterday. God is good. He said, if you don't know how to serve the least of these, God will not trust you with any more. Apostle Tommy, right? And he said, Busy Christians versus Fruitful Christians, I God Still Provide series. That's what— if anyone wants to, we'll put it in the description below.

Busy Christians versus Fruitful.

Yes, that was the, the, the thing he said it in. But the context of it—

say it again, what he said. Yeah, he said, um, if you don't know how to serve the least of these, God will never trust you.

God will not trust you with any more. Meaning there'll not be more, right? Now, that— I sent that to you right away because Frank's, you know, kind of tagline for why Man of God Ministries was birthed was he said constantly to me for almost a year, you know, I feel really called to serve the least of these. It's unsexy. No one wants to go to death row prisons. No one wants to go feed the homeless, right, when it's not like on an outing or something, you know. No one wants to hug people that are smelly and, you know, uncleaned, right? But Jesus did that, bro.

You want to hear— to give everyone context, so we're starting a, uh, we're starting a discipleship group in one of the, honestly, the worst prison I've personally ever had the, the opportunity to go to.

Yep.

And we're only able to disciple 16 men at a time because we obviously want it to be effective. Um, and I'm obviously not going to read their names, but all this is public record. Like, you can see public record. This is 3 men. This is only 3 men of the 16 that we're going to be discipling and pouring into and just loving them really well. One of them convicted for murder, the other one second-degree murder. I believe one of these guys actually, uh, I think it was the first one, strangled his mom. Like murdered his mom by strangling her. And then the third one, because we didn't do research on all of them, the third one, second-degree murder, prior incarceration included multiple counts of sexual battery on a child. Who wants to go out to those guys?

No one.

Everybody wants to go out.

I would say the majority of the people listening, in their spirit, the first thing that probably came up was why would you help those people?

Yeah, if we're being honest. Yeah, I mean, bro, if I'm being honest, anything that ever involves a child, yeah, that's immediately what comes into my mind. So guess what I get to do? I get to take that thought captive and make it submissive to Christ.

Yeah, because we don't have to acknowledge— we don't have to come into agreement with the sin.

Correct.

But isn't it not our Christian duty to redirect the sin to salvation? Like let God handle how he wants to judge. He's the judge of judges. But are we not to serve those people? Because what do we do with them? Just let them just be vessels of death and just go on with their life as is and just rot away, right? I'm not saying he's gonna go— they should go out walking the streets because they want to be wherever it is, but who knows what they do inside those prison walls, correct? So, um, I'm thinking about that. I send it to you, but what Apostle told me says next is mind-blowing. He says that he— and it's all— you could go listen to it. He says that he was at a big conference that he got hired to speak at, Christian conference. And after he finishes his speaking, right, he goes to the bathroom, opens up the bathroom door, and there's just pee everywhere. And he says, disgusting, all over the seat, the floor, everywhere.

Yeah.

And I mean, you know, like anyone else, we would do is we probably walk out. So he begins to walk out, and he hears a voice of the Lord say, You're gonna leave my house like this?

Hmm.

Dang. And he says he goes in the bathroom stall, locks, closes the door, and gets toilet paper and begins to get down and clean the toilet, the floor, everything. And he cleans it up pristine. Wow. Never says a word to anyone. Doesn't go up there, oh, I went on my hands and knees and I cleaned those toilets for you.

No, no, no.

God asked for something, he did it for the Lord.

He got humbled.

Yeah, exactly. He said humility is the access point for favor. That's so good, dude, right? And he goes, not a lot of people want to serve the least of these. They don't want to get down and clean the pee. I'm, I'm above that.

Yeah, so let me tell a staff member so they can get—

yeah, so they can go make a YouTube reel out of it or an Instagram post. Look at my apostle, he's a— he will, he'll do anything, right? Right. People don't want to do it. But what does the Bible say? Don't let the left hand do what the right— only the left hand know what the right hand does. For all good deeds should be done in secret.

Yeah.

To your Father in heaven. That's why I have a bone to pick. I'm not against it because I think it gives people some faith, but I got a bone to pick with people who go on social media and they give out money to people and they do it as like a trick. Yeah. Oh, I got $10,000. And if someone answers me the right way, they'll get the treat.

Yeah.

It's a little manipulative. And it's also like fame catching.

Yeah.

Like, why don't you just leave the camera at home and stop tricking people? And why don't you just go serve people who genuinely need the money?

Yeah.

Right. And what do you do? Why do we shame the guy who reacts with anger? I don't have any— like they do is the guy who goes, I don't got any money. My life's tough enough. And then someone comes by, oh, I'll give you something. Oh yeah. Lucky you did that. Cause I'm giving people who give me 10 grand. Too bad you didn't get it, sir. So now he gets shame.

Yeah.

What are we doing for him? How are we changing his heart?

Yeah.

How are we changing the hardened heart of Pharaoh? Yeah, right. It's just ridiculous. So the Lord begins to work on me with my request. We're back to the spirit of offense, spirit of rejection, right? With friendships and this and that. So I start to reach out to— I sit at my computer and I say, I'm going to reach out to the men that signed up for Breaking the Pattern. In February but never showed up. And instead of like robodialing, I'm just going to begin to call 20 or 40 of them a day because there was about 200.

Wow.

That signed up, right? So I start calling.

I mean, what a list to just be able to call people for prayer.

I start calling them. Well, first I'm calling them, ask them, you know, I noticed you weren't on the call. I want to get like— first of all, I never got a chance to meet you.

Yeah.

And secondly, I'm doing it again. If you want to come, great, but how can I pray for you while I have you on the call? Yeah, so, you know, a lot of it goes to voicemail, unknown numbers. We get a lot of spam. I get it, man. So I'm calling, you know, calling nobody, calling nobody, calling nobody. Now, after every call, I'll text them too. Hey, I just tried calling you. This is Gerald from the Kingdom of Manbo. But behind the scenes stuff that people think that we don't do, but we do, because there's a lot of AI and a lot of spam and a lot of robots. Yeah, I get it with people. The human touch is just drifting away, right?

Yeah, it's true.

So Some guy calls me back. Yeah, who's this? This is Jared from the Kingdom Life, man. How are you? What's your name? I'm looking. Oh, is your name like Mike? I'm speaking up. He goes, yeah, it's not a good time right now. Now if you get me on the phone, you're going to get something different. I go, really? Well, tell me more. Well, I'm at the VA hospital right now. Things aren't going well. Praise God. Yeah, he's like, what? I said, well, the Lord sent me as a radical interception to your life because I'm going to pray for you. So what do we need to pray for? Yeah. Well, I came from a narcissistic relationship with my wife. I was abused physically, emotionally. I'm not doing well. I'm sick. And I said, praise God.

Yeah.

Because today will be the day you remember that God radically intercepted your life and changed it for the good. You'll never be the same moving this day forward. Now, as I begin to pray for him, the Spirit of God wrecks me. I start almost weeping. And I'm like, what is going on? I can't get words out.

Yeah.

And those are the best prayers.

So I prayed for this guy who I don't know. Who doesn't pay me, who's not a coaching client. He's a man looking for someone.

Yeah.

To say, no one acknowledged me.

Yeah.

And how would they ever know until you send the preacher? That's what I always remember, what it says in scripture. You got to get out there and pray for people and preach, because if you don't send them preacher, how would they ever know that salvation exists?

Yeah.

So I started praying for him, and he says to me, you know I was having a bad day today. I even was having suicidal thoughts, which I tell my wife all the time. You think people put on smiles, but you never know when that person says, you know what, today I'm going to take that gun out of that glove box. I'm going to blow my face off because I hate myself.

Yeah.

Because everyone told me I'm a POS since I was a little kid, but today's the day I'm tired. And then here comes someone, hey sir, did anyone tell you that God loves you? That you're worth something? Your life matters. God's got a plan for you. Radical interception. Yeah, the spirit of death was coming in and I put the blood on the doorpost.

Amen.

How dare you? Marking him. Yeah, for victory. Yeah, so that guy said, I was thinking about that, and he said, you're like an angel that you were sent to me. Yeah, did I feel like there's hope? Amen. Number one, least of these. Yeah, second one, Frank knows this. There was a man who was in my Telegram group and he said, I need help. And as I went to respond, he removed himself. I said, not too fast, Jack. I'm going to find you in my spreadsheet. Found his phone number, texted him. I say whatever I said to him.

And what did he do when you texted him?

He didn't answer me. He didn't answer. You see how people give up real quick? But what happened? By the Spirit of Christ, the next day he reached out to me via text. Hey, I'm sorry, I'm going through a lot of stuff. Could you add me back into the group? I said, absolutely. But while I have you here, how can I help you? I'm dealing with a lot of this, that, you know, spiritually dealing with pornography addiction, masturbation. I can't break it. It's tormenting me, right? People are hurting, man. Yeah, that's what we talk about. Yeah, people want ministry because they want platforms. I don't want ministry for platforms. I want ministry because I want people to get the freedom that I have.

Yeah, which is what you're doing. You're doing ministry.

I'm doing ministry. I just, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not MOG, right? That's why I partner with the ministry, right? But God's given me what I want.

Amen.

So that guy, what happens now? Remember the VA guy? He wants to take his life. He's not doing well. He gets radically intercepted. Then later in the day, I'm sitting right here on this couch. I get a physical, a phone call. It's that guy. Hey man, can you help me? You could hear the desperation. What's wrong? Uh, you know, I came home late last night. I woke up in the middle of the night. You know, listen, if you're listening, you're a man, you're probably like, I had an erection. And I said, nothing wrong with that. You know, I wake up with one, most guys do, right? Healthy testosterone. He said, yeah, but I grabbed it and I started putting on pornography. I said, okay. I said, well, first of all, praise God. Because the Bible says that if you confess your sins to another man, your Father in heaven will hear your prayers. Praise God that you have the strength to do that.

Yeah.

Because most men do what? I'm a POS, I'm shameful. Look at me, I'm terrible. And they do what the devil wants, isolation. Yeah, but he said not today, not even knowing. But the access point was available because what? The seed of hope got planted when I said, you ever need anything, here's my personal number, you call me. So he called and I answered.

Yeah.

And then I served. I didn't say, well, you know, man, you should look into my program. I don't care. Let God move him to do that.

Yeah.

Because God tells me I'm going to be fruitful.

Yes.

God tells me I'm going to be provided for. God told me my joy is full. So I'm either going to listen to what he's declared over my life and let him unfold it by doing the Father's will.

Yeah.

Serve my people.

Yeah.

Look what he did. You have a spirit of offense, you have a spirit of rejection. I'm going to show you, you need to serve people. I'm going to take it away. Go clean my bathrooms. Stop trying to be a platform chaser. Go be a Christ chaser.

Yes.

So he sends me to tests, because it does say the Lord will test you. People are like, no, God doesn't do any tests. Yeah, he does.

Yeah, he doesn't test you with temptation to sin though.

That's what I just read in Deuteronomy. I'm in Deuteronomy. It said the Lord will never test you to sin, but he's going to test your heart. Yeah, he's going to test you. What comes out of your mouth, is it true?

Yeah.

Do you believe? Do you have faith?

Yeah.

Are you a man who's going to serve the least of these? When I send you people, are you going to serve my people? Yeah, because I could just swoop in and touch them and boom, they're healed like he did to me. Yeah, and I could rescue anyone, but I created you, Gerald, for a mission.

Yeah.

Okay. So I say to this guy, let's pray. I give him something to do. I said, do you command your evening? What do you mean? I already know. Well, why do you think you wake up tempted with boners? Because you didn't go to bed preparing the vessel for war.

Yeah.

When you sleep, we've been talking about this, conquering your evening. Why do we do it? Because you don't understand that the 8 hours you're laying there, you're not just resting. Yeah, you're moving in the spirit.

Exactly.

That's why the witches, the warlocks, all the people that get active, they get active by midnight. They're out there cutting chicken's blood and making pentagrams. You think it's all nonsense? It's not. They're trying to gain spiritual dominion in a place that they have no authority. Yeah, until you give it to them. Okay, so now I— my wife comes in and I— and I'm like, wow, this is incredible. I tell her, I'm like, this is incredible. Again, you know, not being blessed with the finances, but I'm being blessed what I call in my heaven coins.

Amen.

People want bitcoins, I want heaven coins. As my heaven coins go up, I go, wow, I'm stacking up treasures in heaven that don't rust and moth. Yeah, but you're eternal.

Yeah.

Okay, that's what I want.

There was a guy who asked, um, he, he met an angel and he asked the angel if he could show him his mansion in heaven, his home in heaven. And the angel was like, it's probably not a good time to do that right now.

And he's like, no, man, like, please, please, I really want to see it.

I really want to see it.

Yeah.

He's like, no, man, I'm telling you, it's not a good time right now. And he's like, please, like, I'm gonna be persistent. I'm not gonna stop.

Yeah.

So the angel was like, okay, let's go. So they go to see his mansion.

It's so cool.

And he has a foundation and a couple of boards up. And the dude's like, what is this? And the angel's like, well, you haven't really given us much to work with.

That's good.

So there's a lot. And you know what it is, bro? At the end of the day, we were— me and, uh, me and Guy read, uh, we were reading in Ecclesiastes today. And Ecclesiastes, it can be— it can be, if you're not reading it in the right perspective, it can be extremely depressing. Yeah, because over and over and over and over again King Solomon says, and I found out that it was all meaningless, that it was all meaningless. In other words, everything that you do here on Earth for yourself, anything that we do here on Earth for envy, anything that we do here for vanity, bro— Google, I'm glad they built Google, but if you didn't do anything for the kingdom, regardless of how imperfect you are If you— I got a feeling there's going to be a lot more people that people call imperfect that have actually done more for the Lord, right? Like, uh, Guy was just telling me that some dude, uh, just tried telling him something like, oh, and you call yourself a man of God? And it was like because of just like areas where Guy Jones could have shown up better. And Guy was like, bro, before I— let the one that has no sin cast the first stone.

Yeah, people love that.

And then Guy was like Bro, I guarantee you, I'm like, I guarantee you he might have these areas squared up. I'm like, but I can guarantee you I've done more for the kingdom than he has.

Yeah, I call those people soapbox prophets. They roll their soapbox out. Hear he, hear he, let me tell you. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, so to, to give you the, the, the, the, the best part of the story, so I, I pray for these guys. I'm like, this is incredible. And I'm sitting at my computer a couple hours just working, and I get a phone call. And it happens to be, uh, one of the people that I was, you know, praying about and, you know, having like feeling a little rejected or not connected to. And listen, God is good, man. Yeah. Person calls me and says, you know what, I was out hiking and I just all of a sudden just had a thought about you. And I felt like I haven't reached out in a while and connected. And I wanted to reach out and see how you were doing.

Amen.

Thank you, Jesus. Yeah, a great conversation. And then I say to that person— so then I also say to that person, because they're connected to someone else, I said, you know, I've reached out to XYZ person, and, you know, I haven't heard from them. And, you know, I just want to connect. And I feel like, you know, I don't know why they don't reach out.

Yeah.

And then we get off the call and the person goes, hey, I know you mentioned on the call that maybe you thought you had the wrong number. And I know I told you that they haven't changed the number, but I realized it's been months and maybe you didn't get the right number. Here's the number. So I get the text and I open it up, the number, and I realized I didn't have the right number. So here I am creating a story. I'm texting this person, they don't respond. I'm sending them voice notes for prayer. Yeah. And in fact, whenever I looked at the thread from that number, I didn't know who it was that was texting me. I thought it was someone who was interested in my program. So I was just speaking. They said, oh, your program looks great.

Yeah.

So I thought maybe someone just found my number or whatever. It's on the internet. I don't know. And I was like, but I never asked. I never said, who is this? Yeah, I just, you know, thought they would apply or something and I would get that. And I messaged the person immediately, said, hey, you gotta call me, I gotta tell you a funny story.

Yeah.

And we go through the conversation and I'm telling them, oh man, I thought you just weren't paying attention to me and blah blah blah and all this stuff. And I was like, no man, he's like, I, I actually thought because I didn't like, you know, finish the application, you thought I was blowing you off. I was like, no man, I would just give it to you for free. Like, you're my friend. And then it was like, oh, you got to come out here and we got to connect and all this stuff. So long story long is our wounding will create a story.

Yeah.

And the story is what the devil hopes you do. Yeah. But if you follow what the word tells you to do, you could have simply solved all this problem by— first of all, if you feel offense, you're supposed to do what? Reach out to your brother and have a conversation.

Yeah.

Instead of creating a story and letting your wounding create the story around who they are and what they're feeling, which will lead to a horrible outcome, which will lead to a horrible outcome.

Yeah.

So why I think this story is so great is because it follows principles that the word of God asks us to do. And because I was willing to serve God's people God served me back graciously.

Amen.

And I thought that that was such a revelation, right? And the cool thing is that none of that translated to fixing any of my financial issues. Yeah, but it helped increase my faith. Yeah, because that's what God will do. He'll, he'll use things to increase your faith and your foundation, because how could he build on something that's faulty?

Yeah.

And I just felt like that, that story was very, very powerful because it, it showed the progression of how God plants and moves things in order.

Yeah.

Because I'm curious what would have happened if I would have said that, if I had that quote, and I would have just said, yeah, that's cool. And I didn't send it to you.

Yeah.

And then I didn't go back and watch the video again.

Yeah.

And get really what Apostle was saying. And then take what my apostle told me on the call and really start, okay, let's think about that. Yeah. And then saying, oh, I don't want to call these people.

Yeah.

I don't want to take this call with this guy because I have his number saved. Uh, what does he want? I'm busy. I got things to do. How many of us are doing that? Yeah, that's like—

it's true. Well, it's because we're always looking. We're usually always looking to see where we can gain.

Yeah, that's the unfortunate thing, you know.

Like, um, and you guys have probably seen me post a little bit on, on Facebook even, where I'm just like, dude, like, um, get away from— like, and not that Christian networking is bad, but like, the priority I feel like should be relationship, you know. Like, if I feel like— if I don't feel like I can go on a vacation with this person, like, how much do I really want to like invest in them anyways. Yeah, you know, um, because out of— so I— it's something that my old pastor taught me, um, it's called operating out of the opposite spirit. And so it's when I don't— if I don't know if my intentions are pure in it, then I'm going to go ahead and do the opposite, which is really also what led to The Least of These, to MLG Ministries. Yeah, was I was like, okay, Lord, do I want to do my own ministry for a platform? Do I want to do my own ministry for a show, for all these things? And I'm like, I don't want to do that. I want to make sure that I'm pure. And then I read the scripture where it's talking about the least of these, and pretty much if you don't do this for the least of these, you're not getting into heaven. It's pretty much what it says in Matthew.

Yeah.

Um, like, I sent it to Adam Foote and I was like, hey bro, read this, tell me what it says. He was like, well, it looks like it says that if we don't do those things, we're not getting into heaven. I was like, exactly. And so operating out of the opposite spirit, and it just sounds like that's what you— that's just what you started doing, bro. It's like you started— God's giving you a heart for people, right? Because what do you always say? You know what I mean? You need to be careful when you say these things because our words, you know, are powerful. Death and life is in the power of the tongue.

Amen.

We always say like, I just don't like people.

No, I don't say I don't like people. I say I look at my pastor and the heart he has for ministering to so many people. And I always say I gravitate more towards evangelism because I like to just set you on fire and leave.

True.

I don't—

which we all need that role, right?

My pastor always says, good luck, because you have the pastoral anointing on you. So good luck.

That's literally what I always put you where you don't like. But I love— that's what I was going to say, Anthony Mitchell.

That's why you won.

That's why you're going through this right now, bro, because God is literally giving you a heart for people, period, period.

And to give people grace. Yeah, that's what I learned through this whole thing.

Yeah.

And it was funny because my apostle said I need to do a teaching on grace. Yeah, because all these people needed was grace, bro. That's what everyone needs. God gave me— I always say this, that's what I said.

What's the scripture say that leads a man to repentance?

Repentance. Oh, that's— I don't know what word by word.

It's the kindness of God. Another translation says the goodness of God will lead a man to repentance.

Yeah, like, look what he did for me. I told my apostle, I said, yo, for 40-something years I was giving God the middle finger.

Yeah.

And when he said it's time, never once did he say, well, you know, before I forgive you, remember this?

Correct.

He just said, welcome home.

Yeah.

Grace.

Yeah.

And forgiveness. We don't do that for anyone.

Yeah.

We hold them to this impeccable standard of excellence.

I do it for everyone because— but here's why.

What I mean is like, we give people a hard time. I've, I've a lot of things.

I've royally screwed up time and time again and needed much grace. And Pastor Stephen Collins said I give much grace because I need much grace. And I believe it's in Matthew also, or maybe in John, where it's talking about how be careful how you judge someone because to the same measure you will be judged.

Yeah.

And Cade called me the other day and he was just thanking me because whenever he would, whenever he would fall short, he would call me.

Yeah.

And he would experience grace and he didn't like that. Because he's a professional athlete, he's a man. Yeah, so he wants to be what? Corrected.

Corrected.

He wants to be corrected. And I'm like, bro, it was never my job to correct you. It was my job to show you grace. It was my job to give you a, a practical and tangible experience of what God in heaven is doing right now to you. That's, that's my role. It's the Holy Spirit's job to correct you and convict you.

Yeah, that's, that's facts.

Like, so it's never our job to correct someone and that— no, no, no, dude, anybody who's screwed up— so this is anyone who's listening right now. Yeah, you could all agree with me on this. You don't need somebody to make you feel worse about your screw-up than you already feel— make yourself feel about.

That's what shame lives in, man.

Exactly.

Because why try? I'm already a POS.

You're, you're already beating yourself up enough about it. And then people just add on to it. And guess what that does? It just solidifies the thing that you were just thinking about yourself, which is why we stay in this vicious cycle, just repeating things because we've never had an actual interruption. What's an actual interruption? Grace. Grace. An actual interruption is grace. And so Kade told me, he was like, it's funny because I started calling another person instead of calling you because you would never correct me. He said, and I thought that's what I needed. He said, but now I'm realizing I should have probably been calling you instead the entire time.

The Lord was saying to me when you were talking, he said, tell them about the spirit of observation. I said, what is that? He said, it's a close relative to the spirit of distraction. And I was thinking that men are habitually not observant. And they live highly distracted.

Tell me more.

Like the men who reach out to me, they say when I call them and say, hey, I noticed that you signed up for the event but you never showed up, and the first thing they say is, well, I don't really have any money right now, bro. It's a free event. Yeah. Oh really? Because they're, they're distracted.

Well, do you think—

distracted by their own, their own thoughts, problems, shame, sin. They don't have an observant mind to what God is placing in front of them.

Well, and also, bro, also we got to think like in realistic terms, I guess. I hate to say that, but realistically, everyone now is trained. We humans are trained. We train humans. Everyone now is trained that there's nothing that's really free there's going to be a hook. Yeah, there's always, there's always, there's always a hook. So people— so I could see him literally being like, I don't want to get on this thing because I know that there's going to be— there's a, there's a catch somewhere. There's got to be a catch somewhere. Which is why I feel so freaking good, bro.

Yeah.

Um, with like the way, the way that God's asked me to do ministry, which is going to prisons and homeless people, right, is like my main focus. Prisons and homeless. Why? They can do nothing for me in return. Correct. Also, when I do these lives, it's like— or when I do anything, no one can be on here thinking, when's the hook coming? Maybe at first they are. Yeah, right, because they're like, oh, he's got to make money somehow. Yeah, but it's like, yeah, but you don't realize that I'm not gonna hook you. So in that dude's defense, guys could say, yeah, but, but just read.

Yeah, but I guess also maybe the spirit of shame is there because They say, if there's an opportunity at the end and I want to do it, I don't have the finances to do it.

Not knowing your heart.

But yeah, you haven't given yourself an opportunity.

Yeah.

Also, it's like, this is the problem. See, like, the masculine is not sitting in its place of power because if someone presents something to you, dude, you have the opportunity to say no thank you.

Yeah.

It's because you, you, you've been, you've been kicked in the crotch so many times they've gone up into your stomach. You don't have anything there.

Yeah.

So now you're, you're like, well, what happens if he makes me do it? Makes me do it? Dude, no thank you.

Yeah.

But you know, there's been this, and this is a whole nother conversation.

Well, it's a problem that, you know, we're saying with Andy Elliott's in the world have created.

Yeah.

I mean, hard closing.

Yeah, the hard closing and stuff like that. I'm an invitation guy now. Amen. Everyone who watches my stuff, I have a coaching program. I don't run a ministry. I run a men's discipleship leadership program. Okay? I help men achieve what they want to achieve. My time, right, is to be paid for.

Yeah.

I serve people all the time. Yeah. If you want a specific level of oversight in your life, attention, coaching, discipleship, that is a paid option. If you want to come to prayer, it's 3 nights a week. If you get my phone number and you want me to pray for you, I pray for you. There's no paying for the gospel. That's the fine line, correct? You get a lot of buffoonery, these men. Oh, well, you shouldn't be charging for the gospel. It's a free event, idiot. Yeah, you know, that's the problem is that there's such a wounding. Yeah, for people that have been manipulated, everybody thinks that help means gospel.

It doesn't. It doesn't, dude.

My big thing is this: why don't you go to church? You need help? With your walk and understanding how to read the Bible and all things faith, why don't you go ask your pastor? That's what we talked about. That's why when we built what I built, I specifically said this works alongside the church.

Yeah.

This is not a replacement for. Correct. In fact, all guys that get on board, I asked them a major question. Are you at a church? One. Are you submitted to a pastor? Two. If those are no-nos, I go, Hey, we need to get you planted and we need to get you covered. Yeah, that's a non-negotiable. If you're not willing to do that, this don't work. Yeah, because this ain't the fix for the guys who go, I don't do church. You got the spirit of rebellion, bro. Yeah, well, I don't do religion. Neither do I. I do church. Yeah, and I do order and I do covering. How am I supposed to go out there? Every word that I wrote on that paper, I put it in front of my apostle.

Yeah.

Is this right? Is this correct? Why? Correction helps me. Yeah, dude, I'm not in the pulpit with the microphone, so if I'm going to even say one thing about the Bible, I got to make sure this is in order. Yeah, this is the problem with men. There's a lack of order, man. Yeah, they all want— this is great. We could, we could button it with this. Um, you know, Apostle Tony always says this is the best thing. It changed my life. Because the verse that saved me— and I say the verse that saved me is because that's the one that stopped me— was I heard the verse that said, 'Beware of false prophets, for they show up in sheep's clothing, but underneath they're ravenous wolves.' Isn't it funny that it says sheep's clothing? That's what I'm gonna get to. So I always thought, and everyone listening goes, 'You gotta watch out for them false prophets, those preachers and pastors, those guys doing prophecy.' Bro, you're not even reading the word. Yeah, because it says they appear as sheep. Well, who are the sheep in the church?

The people in the seats, the people in the pews.

Because a shepherd shepherds the sheep. He didn't say be leery of false shepherds. Yeah, for they show up in wolves' clothing. He said be leery of false— be leery of sheep, of false prophets that show up in sheep's clothing.

Yeah.

They're the guys in the pews that are pulling you out of the church. They're the people on the internet. They're telling you, I don't do church, I do it this way. They're telling you, come to my Zoom room church. They're the people who are saying, come to my event. Don't worry about that. You don't need a pastor. It's the people that have broken theology that lead you astray. Yeah.

Well, bro, think about it. How many times do you hear a pastor hammering another pastor saying you shouldn't go to his church? Very rarely. Yeah, but you'll see a YouTube channel.

That's it, the heretics with YouTube.

Or you'll see someone, hours and hours of critiquing the man of God. And, and they're— and they, they're not preachers, they're not pastors, they're not— they're not leading a congregation.

This is mind-blowing to me because it showed me the problem with the modern church is we don't lack biblical order. I decided that I was going to read the Bible front to back, not to be religious, not to be structured, but I wanted to get a full gape of the story of God. Yeah, I mean, I'm into Deuteronomy at this point. I also stop and go, what, did I read this already? If the Lord repeats himself 3 times, he's trying to tell you something. Hey, knucklehead, 3 times, you shall have no other gods before me. Yeah, dude, we worship in idols and everything. Yeah, we got idols in work. Yeah, we got idols and platforms.

We got idols our own strength, on phones.

Maybe I get more views, maybe I get more of this. Oh, I'm gonna grow here. Oh, I'm gonna do my YouTube church. Oh, I'm gonna do this, bro. We don't have submission. We don't have surrender to Christ. Yeah, this is the issue. I don't know if we pause here. I'm supposed to have a phone call at 1 o'clock.

Oh, you're supposed to have a phone call at 1 o'clock?

Yeah.

Okay, awesome, cool. Well, thank you for everyone that's watching on the live. I hope this blessed you, um, and we're gonna do this again, man, just kind of have some