Stop Running From God | Ron + Hope: Unfiltered

Hello, everybody. It's Ron and Hope, unfiltered, real, raw, relevant. Here we are back. And we have been talking about the call of God on your life. The call of God.

You said you had a prophecy.

I didn't have a prophecy.

You know, there's something I didn't finish in that last one.

A prophecy.

You said somebody you know, the Lord spoke to you.

Yes.

Now, when I came in there, I told them last week that I went home for my first holiday weekend in college and told my dad, I said, I think I'm called. And he didn't— I don't even know if he responded. But now, my grandmama jumped up off the couch.

Because she was there.

And started shouting all over the room. And my grandmama, old holiness shouting, like Indian war tribe shouting.

Pauline.

Started shouting. Grandma Pauline, that was my dad's mom, and went running back in— she was in the guest bedroom. She was there for Thanksgiving. She went running back in the back.

She got her Bible.

She came back in with a Bible. I was at this time 18 years old. And she said, I got something. And she pulled a piece of paper out that she had wrote down. I forget the date, but I was 12. And said, you don't need to worry about Ron Jr. I've got my hand on him. He is called, but his call will be much different from his father's. That's all it said, and it was about that big.

And she kept it in her Bible the whole time.

She kept it in her Bible. And with any faults people have about their grandparents, I'm gonna tell you, both of my grandmamas were praying women. If they didn't know anything else, they knew how to pray. And so, you know, that kind of got maybe Dad and the day moving a little bit more, 'cause my grandma knew how to shout and make a scene. She shouted and cleared things out when she did.

Yes, she did.

Yeah, you had to give her room. And so that's, you know, confirmations along the way. Then I started having prophetic confirmations by people that would come and speak and point me out and speak a word over me. And all that helped me solidify the fact that this is the path that I need to put my life on. And I needed a Bible school. I know people don't think it's necessary. Let me tell you, Ron Carpenter needed Bible school. But we started with this, which is where I wanna go to the tithe thing. Can we do that?

Yeah.

So, our last podcast, for those of you that got to hear it, didn't, I'll give you a 60-second rundown. I was asked in a conversation my daughter was having, how have you and Mama, you know, dealt with disappointment in church and from church people and church-related things?

And not wanna run away.

And not just wanna like, you know what? To heck with all this. Y'all can have it. We'll go sell insurance. We'll go work at Macy's and sell cars. Just whatever. And I said, Chandler, I said, number one, you endure it because of a sense of calling. Because with a call, the Bible teaches, comes a grace. So you are— as your days are, So shall your strength be. So, you will always have strength for the day.

For the day you're in.

But I told her something that is very theological— theologically controversial. So, don't go out and teach it. Don't go out and teach it and say, this is something I'm teaching now 'cause I heard Ron Carpenter teach it. You've not heard me teach it.

We're talking about it.

You've heard me talk about it when I try to explain my life experience. And Hope can chime in if she feels the same way. But I have, and I shared this with my spiritual sons. I have 23 of them. And they, all 23 of them on the Zoom call, wept. All of them sitting there wiping their eyes. So, even though I don't know if I could prove it theologically, there are people that resonate with it.

Yeah.

And it's this. I do not believe everybody has free will. Now, I got Calvinists turning over in their grave and I got Methodists turning. I mean, you know, there are a group of people that I believe are a tithe. I don't believe that they're 10% of the population. That's not what I'm talking about.

No.

The tithe belongs to the Lord. The tithe is what I've always said, it's basically the principle of— what'd I call it?

Representation.

No, not representation. Divine portion. I had to think, I'm sorry. The tithe is the principle of divine portion. Basically, God always carves out a part for himself and says, it's mine, don't touch it. It's mine, don't eat it. It's mine. Whatever. It's mine.

Like the tribes.

Right. It's mine. The Levites are mine. Leave them alone. The Holy of Holies, don't go in there. You'll die. These 2 trees in the garden, don't eat them. The tithe, if you do, you're cursed with a curse. I believe that there are these people that are a tithe. They belong to God from birth. And I don't believe those people have options. And you say, what is your biblical proof of that? Go ask Jonah if he had an option.

Right. Go to Nineveh. No, I'm not going to Nineveh.

Okay, I'm gonna sink the ship and I'm gonna kill everybody on it. I'm gonna get you swallowed by a whale. I'll take you to the bottom of the ocean. How long you wanna negotiate this?

That's the runners. That's the runners in the room who think you have free will.

You think you have a choice. You think you have a choice.

And I do hope—

I've talked to people of a younger generation who was like, yeah, I'm gonna do this for about 8 years and I'm gonna turn this over to him. I'm just gonna pull out and do this. And I sit there and I'm amazed. And I'm like, wow. I said, I've never had those options.

Right.

And I'll try to do this and not get emotional. But like, you know, people like, why in the world? Why in the world did you have such a good thing and you went to— West Coast. I'm like, well, God didn't come say, Ron, you know, have you ever thought about California? I hear the weather's good. I want an apostolic move in an unchurched region to blow open the sky. And I will bless it with signs and wonders.

And he told us to go and we didn't have an option.

That's what I'm talking about. I didn't get asked. It wasn't chosen. It was chosen for me. And I hear people now choose to be in ministry, choose to start a church.

Like, ooh, where do I want to go start a church?

Choose to get a church. Choose what's— go just look on a map. You know, I've heard that things are great in this city. This is a good city to start a church. And I'm like, It never worked like that for me. And you, every once in a while, you cross paths with these people that they didn't have choices either.

Yeah.

They didn't have— I heard Reinhard Bonnke, they buried his body in Africa. He's German.

Yeah.

Because he had no choice but to give his life to the continent of Africa. That man, probably has half of Africa saved. And they buried his body in that. He had no choice. They would try to get him to come to the States and preach. He wouldn't even come.

'Cause he knew his call.

Yes. And he went to the parts of Africa not a lot of people would say is a great place to live. And I have always just sensed— I didn't have a—

And here's the thing.

I didn't wanna be with God. I didn't wanna be in ministry. Back in the day— You wanted to be a coach.

I wanted to get away from it and I wanted to be another lifestyle.

I respected God. I wanted to be saved. I didn't wanna go to hell. But I didn't wanna serve God.

Yeah.

I didn't wanna be one of the chosen. I didn't wanna be over here. Yeah. I wanted to go out and live another life and let my dad do that. My dad's a good man. Let him do that. But you gotta understand, I didn't do this because Wow, Hope, wouldn't it be nice to be in ministry? I never did that. In fact, I think I warned you.

Yeah.

When I took you off and started talking to you, this is what I'm called to. This is, from my experience, what it's like. And can you be married to that guy? Well, you began to respond to me, since a child, I've always felt.

Right. And I think that not— Knowing that you are chosen or a tithe unto God—

To directions.

When you don't submit to that, your life is hell.

If you are one of those and you don't try to submit, oh, man.

When you don't submit—

I think God will shake you down.

He will. Because he is going— the story that he's written for your life, Is going to happen. So, he's got to make it worse, worse, worse, worse, worse so that you will submit.

What I just said, people have trouble with. God doesn't do that. He might pull his hand and let the enemy— God will shake you down.

Yes, he did. He—

yeah.

Look at Jonah.

That's what I said. Look at Jonah. God was willing to do whatever he had to do. To get Jonah there, sparing nobody.

Right.

And I don't—

Yeah, other people suffered.

We don't talk about that side of God.

So that the call of God could come to pass.

Exactly. We don't talk about that side of God. We— the Apostle Paul, a slave unto Christ.

Right. Slave means you have no— Slave means you don't have options.

You don't have options.

No free will. You eat when they tell you to eat. You sleep when you're told to sleep.

I, Paul, an apostle unto God and a slave.

Yes.

And nobody talks about that, that side of God where every once in a while he has this one and he has this one. And nope, you don't get to make choices and you're not your own.

And unfortunately, just like Jonah, I've seen it. I see it today. I see people I know who continue to run from God.

And it's hell.

And it's hell, not just on them, but other people are affected by your lack of surrender. And I don't know. I don't know what people are afraid of.

Well, I was just gonna say, I'm gonna begin to benefit now. I was afraid.

But what were you afraid of?

I was afraid God was gonna make me live a life I didn't wanna live.

Like a less fun or a less flourishing or what?

I had this small image of ministry. See, I didn't know— we didn't have this kaleidoscope of ministry opportunity back then. I saw what my dad had to do. So, in my mind, God's calling me to do what he did.

Yeah, you saw your dad have to cut the church grass.

I did not want to do that. And I had to go cut it with him.

Yeah, and had to do the church hymns.

And we vacuumed, and we cleaned the toilets, and we visited everybody.

He did everything.

And we didn't get to take vacations.

And you didn't get your daddy.

No.

You didn't have your daddy at home. And you didn't want that life.

Right. And, you know, I lived life, you know, with other people, with other kids. You know, your dad coming to the game tonight? No, he's not gonna be here.

He'll be at the hospital visiting somebody else.

Right. But here was my defense. My daddy belongs to God. Your daddy don't. So, I'm willing to be at this ballgame without my daddy because my daddy belongs to God and he's special. Okay, I didn't mind that. And somehow, I think I came out of that all right. I had some deficiencies.

But you didn't want to do that.

But my dad lived, to me, what was the most unattractive life I've ever seen. And my dad had— there was no boundaries. You gotta understand, and all that wasn't healthy, but it was all I knew.

Right.

And my dad was accessed 24 hours a day. If somebody was anxious and couldn't sleep, our phone would ring at 2 o'clock in the morning. My daddy had talked to them for an hour.

Every vacation y'all went on, you had to leave.

We'd get called back early 'cause somebody died. And they— there were no elders. There were no associate pastors. Nobody else got to do it. We packed up. Pack your stuff back up. We're driving back home.

So, you probably had some silent resentment as a child that you probably didn't even know you had.

I may have. I don't feel like I ever resented him. I had such honor for him and the way he lived. And I honored that level of commitment. It earned my respect. I'm like—

But you didn't wanna do it.

But I didn't want to. I wanted no part of it. So when in Ron Carpenter's teenage mind to say, Ron, you're called, it's me, I'm not gonna do that.

You didn't look like that.

Yeah, and I didn't wanna do that, man. So yeah, I was afraid. I remember that, Hope, it's funny what you remember. I remember doing this, you know, my dad made me do all the plays. If I was in a play, if there was a children's choir, I'd had to do it.

I bet you were so cute with that blonde hair.

But I remember it was this— we did a play one time about a kid who was, I think, having a struggle saying yes to God. And there was like a funny song in it where the guy sung, hey, God, please don't send me to Africa. You know, do you see what I'm talking about?

Wait, can you sing that again?

God, don't send me to Africa.

You remember it. The fact that you remember this song.

You know what I'm talking about? There was this sense of, God's gonna make you do stuff you don't wanna do.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it.

And everybody else gets to do what they wanna do. But if you're called, God's gonna make you do all this stuff you hate. And nothing's further from the truth. I wouldn't trade lives with anybody.

Oh, no. It is the most rewarding life. It's hard life, but it's rewarding.

It's hard life. The fruit is greater.

But just like we told Chandler, you told Chandler last night, The call is what keeps you in, even when it's hard, 'cause you don't have options.

You don't have— I don't have the choice to say, the heck with this. I don't have that option. I don't have that option. I, you know, Hope, if we be honest with you, if we wanna be real, raw, and relevant, I didn't feel like me or you, neither one really had that choice when our marriage was on the rocks.

No.

In some ways, what it may have been easy at some time for us to say, you know what? This thing's a mess. We just need to go on and try to live our— I never felt like that was an option for me. And you said that as soon as you went to Living Waters, you said, I didn't know about anything, but one thing I knew is I was supposed to be married to you. Yep.

I think that when you know you're chosen, there is a level of a standard bearer that, you know, you have to keep. There's a standard bearer. And not everybody in ministry maybe feels like they are that chosen. Maybe they feel like ministry was just a choice and they have other options.

I don't criticize because some of them are having great success and some of them have won a lot more people to Jesus than I have. But there is just this view today in this generation that being in ministry is not a sense of being validated, it's not a sense of a call, not a sense of oversight, not a sense of being qualified. And it's full of opportunities and options. And they don't want to commit because they want to keep all their options on the table. I never felt like I had options.

Me either.

I felt like I had assignments.

And if I felt like— if I did, if I chose something different, that I would be disobedient.

I never felt like, I'm going to try this. I'm going to try this. You know, I felt like there needed to be a fellowship. I started a fellowship. There needed to be an apostolic network of people and I started a fellowship. We needed a church in the Bay Area where they say nobody can do it. You know, so what I do, I start trying to put things in place to get where I feel like God wants me to go. You know, we didn't— Hope, my dad had a church ready for us to meet with the deacon board and go into with a 3-bedroom parsonage, a salary, health benefits, and 401. And we went out on nothing and went. And started churches with none of that in place because I didn't feel like the other was an option. I don't know. I feel like almost we probably sound like weirdos.

No.

You're a tither. We don't have options.

I think there's a lot of people listening to us who it resonates with, who say, I have felt like that, but nobody has said it like that or described it like that.

But tithe. belongs to God. And if it is not brought and submitted to God, God feels robbed. So, those of you that belong to God and run— You're robbing him. God feels like something has been taken from him. And I have one book, the book of Jonah, that'll prove God will shake it down to get back what's his. Do I have a lot of other proof texts? I probably have some with the Apostle Paul. But the fact is, I do believe there is this realm of people that are called that have somewhat challenging assignments. They seem to weather it and nobody understands how they weather it. But the fact is, they were not given options.

And what mighty calls are on people's lives, I do believe, are the people who run the hardest.

I think it's dangerous to be in ministry with the option of getting out. Because as soon as you get hit— let me tell you something. People will hurt you. I mean, people will hurt you. And as soon as you're like, ooh, don't want to feel that again, you'll get out if you have the option.

I think we need to pray for people who— it may be people in your life who you know are running from God, and you see the collateral damage that it's causing. It could be your children. It could be your husband. It could be your family member.

Yourself.

It could be you. It could be you. You're running from God, and you just happened to stumble on this podcast, and you say, my life's a mess, and I have caused havoc everywhere I've been. And I have got to submit to God.

I'm gonna tell you something, God don't lose.

No, he don't.

God is undefeated. He don't lose. And he'll shake the tree and he'll shake the tree and he'll shake it till it all falls out. He just will. I heard Jentezen say that— I've never heard anybody say it like this. And here again, this has got theological problems. But Jentezen, I don't mind— I guess he'll mind because he was on TBN when he said it. He was being interviewed by Matt Crouch. And he said, you know, I preached to people all these years. And he said, but then I had to take my child and drop him off at rehab. And he started crying.

Yeah.

And he said, I'm gonna tell you something, Matt. He said, before God uses you, he'll hurt you. Now, I've heard people say, I've been hurt. Jentezen said, He'll hurt you.

It's that limp, that limp, that thorn in the flesh.

The limp.

The thorn in the flesh.

He came away from that experience limping, but it marked him for God. The limp marked him.

And I think a lot of people are afraid of that. Well, it's not pleasant. The limp, the cross you gotta bear, the thorn in the flesh. But I want you to pray, Ron. Our time's almost up. I want you to pray for people who are running from God or have family members who are running from God, that the Holy Spirit would arrest them, that that run would stop, and that they would submit to the call of God on their life.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray that the struggle would come to an end.

Yes, God.

Those listening that this directly impacted them, I mean, it directly impacted them because they know the wrestle because they're doing it. I pray for this rest to come upon them.

Yes.

And the embrace of what it's like to be chosen and the privilege of being chosen. the privilege of being marked by God for service, that it is the highest honor we could walk with. And I pray for those that are suffering because they have a loved one.

Yes.

And their running has caused damage to everybody that cares about them. I pray for the grace to recover, but I pray that the runner would quit running, would cease from his striving.

Yes, run out of gas.

And I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, that here again, there would be this embrace, this, as Hope said, this arresting, this apprehending, Yes. Of this person, bring it to a still.

Bring it to their knees.

And God, that they would be embraced. They're falling right now. And I pray that the pain would not have to continue and the discomfort not have to continue and the sinking of the ships and the belly of the fish, all that would cease.

Yes, release them, Holy Spirit, wherever they are.

And that they would embrace the call of God on their life. And Lord, when we embrace that call, may we live it knowing it's not optional and that no matter what we go through, the grace will be there. To not just endure, but overcome. So, Lord, I pray and I thank you, and we believe together in Jesus' name.

Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen. We love you guys. This has been Ron and Hope Unfiltered. Go like, subscribe, share this. Put this on your— all your streaming platforms.

I think somebody knows somebody that you need to say, you need to hear this. Send them the link and say, you need to hear this. If you got a runner, You need to hear this. Tell 'em.

We love you guys. Thank you for being with us. We'll see you next time. Ron and Hope Unfiltered.