God's Gifts SE2EP7

The speakers, Chris and Elizabeth, talk about their weekend activities. They attended a mental health awareness event and a birthday party. They discuss the turnout at the event and their interactions with the attendees. They also mention the resources they obtained and their plans to share them on their ministry's Facebook page. Elizabeth talks about her stay at a hotel and the positive experience she had there. Chris shares his experience at a church in Coleman and the prayer meet they organized to counter a pagan store's event. He expresses his appreciation for the church and the impact it had on him. They encourage listeners to check out the Kingdom Center church in Coleman. Overall, they had meaningful experiences and feel spiritually fulfilled. Hey everybody, thank you for joining us this evening for Divine Appointment. This is Chris Cottony. As always, I'm sitting next to my beautiful sister, Elizabeth, Beth, Liz, Boss Lady. Hi! I don't think they heard you. Hello! Is that all you got? Hi Chris, how are ya? There you go. I'm doing good. Alright, so before we get started, before we do anything else, I'm going to go ahead and pray. That God will retake control of this whole podcast. Father, we love you, we thank you, we praise you for all that you are. We ask that you fill this room with your presence, with your joy, and with your peace. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. So, this past weekend, we have had a full Saturday and a full Sunday. Sister, would you like to tell everybody what we've done Saturday? Sure. So... You want me to remind you? Saturday, no, I know. Okay. There's a lot of things going on Saturday, actually. One thing in particular, well, we had the grandbaby's birthday party at Big Time Entertainment in Oxford. But before that, we had mental health awareness through a step-it-up program without the point that was held in Ashland, Alabama. We had a table there, Breathe Ministry, and there was a lot of different vendors there from different companies. And you know, the thing is... It's the same one that they actually had in SoCal, like a week or so before. Yeah, and it was in a smaller area. It was actually right across the street from the fire department. Yeah. But I'm telling you, there was more people that turned out. There was a lot more people that turned out than what I was expecting because of no bigger than, you know, the location of the area. It was just a real small open area. You know, it wasn't even at the park or anything like that. And they packed a house, man. I mean, there were so many people that showed up, you know, interested in each program and what everybody brought, you know, as far as flyers and gifts and stuff. But anyways, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I mean, I did mean to, but... Gifts. Yeah. You remember the one that was drawing tickets? Oh, yeah, yeah. Everybody would draw a ticket and then they would call. Yeah. Yeah, and I think the kids really enjoyed what I think you also enjoyed, the fire dolls. Why you got to bring the fire dog in it? Okay, so, yeah, I had a picture taken with the fire dog. And, uh, did it have a name? Sparky. Sparky. Sparky the fire dog. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I got a picture taken with him. And Terry sung the national anthem again. Yeah. And she did great. You know, me and Terry was dancing and doing a little twirling and stuff. I'll come real close when the dog come up, Sparky come up to me wanting to take pictures. I'll come real close to grabbing his hand and trying to do a little dance with him. But, um, as a matter of fact, I think we ought to edit that part out just now. Because I shouldn't have said that. Uh-huh. Because it's really weird. It's so weird. I think everybody that's listening by now knows you, uh, you're a little weird. Yeah. And I apologize. I sound like I'm a little soft up, but... Because she is. She's a little, maybe. But anyways, yeah, so it was a great turnout. We did meet some new people. We also got some resources, uh, that's going to help as well that we can share with other people. Yeah. There's a lot of resources out there in several different areas that you never even know about. Yeah. Which is one thing that I thought was pretty incredible, talking to some different people. Uh, so what we're going to try to do is, uh, add those resources to Brave Ministry page and post that. So that you can have those, uh, contact numbers and names in the event that you or somebody you know may need those services. I think that's going to be a good idea. I think it's a really good idea. Yeah, so we'll do that. Uh, Brave Ministry is, uh, on Facebook. Which is exactly that. Brave Ministry. So go ahead and search us up and, uh, follow us. And, uh, you'll be able to see those things. And several other things that we have posted already. Yeah. So that was my Saturday. So I left around 12 to go. I got two grandbabies, both their birthdays are, or they're like two days apart. So I went ahead and did a, uh, one big birthday party. Turned out well. A little chaotic, but. Yeah. It, it went well. Okay. What about you? What did you do after this? Well, I left early, uh, from, from the Stepping Up Mental Awareness thing. I left, I think I left about 1130. And I headed to Coleman. Uh, went to Coleman, uh, that Saturday. And, uh, that way I wouldn't have to make such an early drive Sunday morning. Because, uh, I went ahead and got out, I got a room up in Coleman. And, uh, what's amazing is I still had the Brave Ministry shirt on, right? And when I walked in to this hotel, they asked me, they said, well, are you from a church? And I stopped my thought. Why in the world? Did they feel like they felt the need to ask me if I'm from a church? I'm like, thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, God. Your light is shining so far. And I looked down and I seen Brave Ministry shirt on. I'm like, oh. And so I was like, yeah, yes, ma'am, I'm with the ministry. And I kind of, you know, described to her, you know, what we do. And she said, well, look, I'm going to give you a church discount. I'm like, alright, yeah, cool. So, yeah, so I got a good discount. Had a beautiful room. And, uh, the next morning. Hey, wait a minute, before you go any further than that. Tell everybody what you say. Tell a little bit about what you went into your room, what you saw. Because this is really funny. No, it's not. I'm going to throw something at you. Alright, so I don't, I haven't stayed in a lot of decent rooms before in my past. And this room was, it was hands on in. And with the discount and everything, I think it was about $125. Which is really good. Well, I mean, I was thinking $125, my Lord. No, that's good. But, um, and so when I walked into the room, the first thing I seen was the TV. And it was across the screen, it said, welcome, Christopher. I'm like, wow. I mean, when I walked in, I seen the TV. Talking about a welcome. Yeah. And so there was this huge king size bed, a desk, a couch, ottoman. I'm like, man, I'm not going to be here but for one night. If I didn't have to work Monday, I probably would have stayed Sunday night. Beautiful room. And I'm sitting there on the edge of the bed, I was watching one of my favorite pastors, Robert Badu. And he was giving a message. And it just hit me. I was like, thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you for giving me the ability and the means to be able to just stay somewhere nice. And he laid something on my heart. And he said, Chris, you're a child of the king. You're royalty. And I'm like, you know what? He's right. We deserve to be happy. We deserve to be treated like a royal priesthood. Not by this world, but by the choices that we make. We owe it to ourselves. We have to remember that we are children of the king, of the most high. And we deserve the best things that we can give ourselves. Not what this world can give us. But we deserve the best version of us. So anyways, that's the story about my hotel room. Thank you for sharing. So the next morning, I went to this church. And this church was... The name of this church is... And I wrote it down right here, so I'll make sure I get it right. Well, I missed it. The name of this church is the Kingdom Center. And let me tell you something. If you're looking for a spirit-filled church that is... The room is so tangible with the Holy Spirit that you can see him. That you can touch him. This church is amazing. It's in the Coleman area. If you're in that area, I definitely recommend you look him up. And once we got done with the service and everything, There was this company that opened up... These certain people that opened up a store there in Coleman. It was a... What do they call it? A pagan store. And they sold stuff like witchcraft books. Certain kind of candles. I'm sure like Ouija boards and stuff like that. And there was a day at 3 o'clock that was inviting the youth in the community to come over for tea time. And I'm sure once they got the youth in there, That was going to tell them what kind of stuff they had and everything else. Well, the pastor of this church that I went to, Him and the congregation was like, This ain't going to happen. So what they did was, They planned a prayer meet at the park there in Coleman. At 3 o'clock. And invited everybody there and gave an outage for the youth and the people in that community. To be able to come there and praise the one and only true God. Instead of falling into witchcraft and wizardry. Oh wow, that's great. Unfortunately, I didn't get to stay as long as I wanted to. Because I had a long drive coming back. But I think they stayed there from like 3 o'clock that evening until like 9 o'clock that night. Wow. Doing nothing but praising God, speaking the name of Jesus. And there's no telling how many people was going up and down the road. Or maybe coming to the park. And was able to be witnessed to without anybody even knowing it. Yeah. I mean it was just so good. Yeah, it's like it ignited something in me. Like it activated something inside of me that I felt. And it was kind of like me being fed. Right. And the Spirit witnessed to me. He fed me. And it was just, it was God ordained. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. But anyways, like I said, if you're in the Coleman area. I highly recommend you to look up the Kingdom Center. And there's some great people there. They welcomed me when I come in. They welcomed me with hugs and handshakes. And I mean just smiles. There was one guy named Eric. He was walking around anointing every seat in there with oil before everything started. Wow. Yeah, so it was really good. I met extended members of the family of God is what I did. That is awesome. Yeah. I love that. Sounds like you had some awesome experiences. Yes, I did. I did. I needed it. We all did. We all need that. Yeah. That awakening. Yeah. Yeah. So. Good. But anyways, so how's your week been so far? That bad? Yeah. My week, well, you know, and I don't want to. It could always be worse. Right. It could be better. It could always be worse. I've hit some snags and some struggles this week. Not any that God couldn't help with. Yeah. Steer me in a different direction. You got to take the good with the bad, I reckon. Oh, okay. Continue to praise his name. Amen. That's what I try to do. I fail miserably most of the time, but hey, I try. Yeah. I do try. Okay. So that's been kind of my day, or my week. Yeah. And how's yours? I can't complain. I cannot complain. Actually, the other, I think it was yesterday, or the day before yesterday, God was really speaking to me about this story in Scripture, and I just really want to touch on it real quick, if you don't mind. Of course not. Well, it starts in 1 Samuel chapter 17, and it's talking about where Saul was appointed king. And we always talk about David and this and the other, but if you back up and look at where Saul was appointed king, first of all, Saul's dad sent him to go look for these donkeys that he lost, that was missing. So he sent Saul out to find these donkeys, and his dad told him, well listen, go ask the prophet Samuel and see if he'll prophesy and tell you where they're at. And so Saul did, and Samuel, oh thank you God, and then Samuel said, you are going to be the next king of Israel. Oh well, the first king of Israel. Because God told him that he's going to see the next king, or the first king of Israel at a such and such time. And then that's when Saul come up to ask him if he could help him find the donkeys. So anyways, so what Samuel did is he got some anointing oil and he poured it over the top of Saul's head. Because see, back then, they didn't anoint people then like church folks do now, you know, put a little bit on their thumb and put a little, you know, don't mess up my face, don't ruin my face oil, just put it on my forehead. No, they would get this oil and they would pour it over their head and let it run down their body. Like a real anointing. Like a bathing. Well it's kind of like how the Holy Spirit anoints you, because he covers all of you. Ah. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. I gotta preach one day. Yeah. So anyways, I'm telling you, I strongly suggest that you take notes when I do put all this together that God showed me, because I can't write it down fast enough. Which, I'm not even halfway done with what God wants me to see out of it. So I'm just sharing with you what he showed me on the way home. Yeah, yeah. So what Saul done is, after he had the oil and everything poured over his head, and Samuel looked at him and he said, so what we're going to do is we are going to call all the tribes of Israel together and make this huge ordeal, this huge announcement about the first king of Israel. And this is the only time that I mind you that anybody has ever called all the tribes of Israel together to announce a king. Okay. The only time, ever. But the thing about it is, this is going to be the first king of Israel, so I'm sure that's the reason behind it. Yeah. So anyways, and I'm trying not to chase rabbits, but I want to make sure my point is clear. So Samuel called all the tribes together and he announced that God is going to show who the next king of Israel is going to be. And they went through each tribe. One person from each tribe lined up. And Saul was, and it says in Scripture that he was tall in stature, wide, you know, a bigger guy. And God told Samuel that's how he would recognize him. So Saul was bigger than the rest of them. He was taller. He, you know, he probably built better, looked better than any other. He was handsome. So he stood out from the crowd. So once Samuel got through all the tribes and, you know, selecting this one to leave, that one to leave, once he finally got ready to announce the king of Israel, they could not find him. Now, I want to remind you that Saul already knew that he was going to be king because he's already been anointed to be king. And, oh, wow. Samuel already knew that Saul was going to be king because God told him and he's the one that anointed him. But that didn't stop Samuel, I mean, Saul from hiding behind the baggage into what Scripture says. Now, let me pause right there and let me ask you how many times have you hid behind the baggage in your life to try to deflect or get away from something that you don't think you're worthy of doing, even though God told you he was going to do it? Oh, I haven't. Sometimes it's because of the baggage that we think that we're not worthy of it. So this is what Samuel did. I mean, this is what Saul did. He hid behind his baggage, right? And that tells me that Saul accepted the anointing and the call that God had on him, but he didn't agree with God. Because if he was in agreement with God, he wouldn't have hidden when it was time for him to be announced. And I think that was the pivot point of Saul's career as king. And I think that laid the foundation of what type of king he was going to be. Because he manipulated, he conned his way, and he used people as he was king. And that's what people with low self-esteem and fear of rejection and stuff like that, that's the way that people have, that's the way that people deal with other people when they look down on their self. They make others feel lower than how they feel about their self, that way it lifts their self up. Yeah, some people do do that. Not everybody, but yeah. So after Saul was appointed king, and he got his kingship, God gave him an anointing. And all of God's gifts are without reproach. Which means that when he gives you a gift, he's not going to take it away from you. That's a gift. A good example is like if he gives somebody an anointing to be able to sing good. Like he gives them a gift to be able to sing. And they don't sing praises to God with that beautiful voice. They sing other secular music or vulgar music or whatever. Well God's not going to give the person laryngitis so they can't sing anymore. But what he will do is... He could. I'm sure he could, but more times than not, he's not going to give somebody laryngitis just because of the type of music they're singing. He's not going to take his gift back. Because scripture says his gift is without reproach. So he's not going to take it back, but what he will do is take away his anointing. And his anointing is just him agreeing that you're using the gift for what he's called you to use them for. So, here's Saul. He's making mistakes. He's not being the king that he should be. And when God pulls his anointing away from Saul, and it pulls his agreement away from Saul, you know what happens? God decides to make another king. Do you know how I know that God pulled his anointing away from Saul? Ask me again. How do you know? I'm glad you asked. Because Saul, all of a sudden, got a tormenting spirit. And he needed somebody to play the harp for him to tone down the evil spirit that was living inside of him. I promise you, if the spirit of the living God was still anointing him and inside of him, the evil spirit would have no room to go. So, that tells me that God pulled that anointing away from Saul. So, Saul needed somebody to play the harp for him. And guess who? Guess who it ended up being? David. But, fate has it, if we want to jump from that scene and go to the scene where David is, God tells Samuel to anoint that there's somebody, one of Jesse's, that almost hit the floor. She's got a little squeezy ball, and it popped out of her hand. Anyway, squirrel. So, what Samuel does is, Samuel is told by God to go to the house of Jesse and to anoint the next king of Israel. And Samuel does that. And when he gets there, he's looking at these taller statured men. Is he feminine? Well, I'm sure he was. But, he was looking, oh God, he was looking for the same statured man that he had anointed previously as king. Remember me telling you what size Saul was and how big he was? Well, he was looking for the same type of person in the house of Jesse. And, that's where God told him that man looks on the outward appearance, but I see the inside of him. I see the man's heart. And he told him, there's a man there that I've known as a man after my own heart. So, when he's saying that one of the sons, his biggest son, Jesse's biggest son, God told him, no, that's not him. The next one, no, that's not him. And, finally Samuel looked at Jesse and he said, do you not have any more sons? And they're like, yeah, I got one more out there watching sheep. And so, he said, well, why don't you just go get him and bring him hither, king James version. And so, that's what he did. When David walks in, God told Samuel, that's the guy, right there. Can you imagine David walking in with probably sheep poop in between his toes and smelling all bad stuff? Because he's been out there in the field this whole time. And he's standing there and he's like, okay, what's going on? Dad, did you call me? And Samuel be like, you know, you're fixing to be the next king of Israel. Um, okay, what now? Well, Samuel gets a bottle of oil and he pours it over the top of his head. He anoints him. The same way he did Saul. And, once he gets done anointing him, and pouring that oil over the top of David's head, I want to do a quick comparison right quick. When he poured the oil over Saul's head, the oil seeped through and got to Saul's mind. It got in his head. It got in his mind. David didn't let it do that to him. David let the oil go to his heart. Because as soon as he was anointed, he looked around, didn't know what to do, and Jesse sent him back out into the field to tend the sheep. Looking back, I see that that is David training how to shepherd sheep before he becomes king. That's a good way to look at it. Oh, there's more. Don't you give up, there's more. I ain't giving up. This is where the story comes in with David and, what's his name? Goliath. There we go. David and Goliath. Now, the R-rated version of this story, the real version of this story, because most of the time we've heard about David got a rock, sunk it in a dude's head, and he fell dead. Well, that's the PG version of it. The rated R version is that he put his hand and wrapped it in that nappy hair, pulled his head up and sawed his head off. David did. True story. Go back and read it. He cut off Goliath's head. Now, and I jumped ahead because I just really wanted to prove that point, that there's so much in this story that people have skipped over that I want to point out. Because tradition and religion has left so many things empty, so many pivotal points in these characters' lives that we can learn so much from if we just focus on it. Right. All right. So, let me get away from that rabbit. Let me go back to the squirrel. So David, now his brothers went to the army of Israel and fought for King Saul in the army. And Saul, oh, thank you, God. When he received this, and look now, oh, wow. When David received, I'm not going to say this happened instantaneously, but I promise you chronologically in the scripture, this happened in the same chapter. When David was anointed with oil in the same chapter is when Saul received that tormenting spirit. Coincidence? I think not. Right. So after David is anointed, he goes out and he tends the sheep. In my mind, he's getting ready for what's to come. Yeah. Here comes these people saying, hey, look, Jesse, your son, David, and these are some of the soldiers. Yeah, I know what I'm talking about. I did good, didn't I? Somebody had to look it up to make sure I knew what I was talking about. So these soldiers were sent by Saul to gang this David guy that knows how to play the harp. And all this is strategically organized by God. So they get David and they say, hey, we need you to come to the king's chambers to play the harp. So he gets in there and the chamber and he starts playing the harp and he finds out what it's for. Can you imagine what was going through David's mind? Like, wait a minute. I've been anointed king and promised kingship to that throne. I mean, if it was me and if I was him, I would have been like, yeah, I made it. I'm in, it's about to happen, it's coming, it's so on, I'm fixing to be king. The oil would have got to my head instead of my heart. Keep in mind that that oil got to David's heart. So he played the harp. And not only that, but he was asked to be the armor bearer and carry Saul's armor. And when the war popped off, they sent the soldiers to fight the Physicians. David's brothers went to fight. You know where David went? Back home. But guess this. Oh, thank you, God. Jesse told David, he said, hey, I need you to do something for me. And keep in mind, David knows that he's been promised and anointed to be the next king of Israel. Jesse looks at his son, David, and he said, look, I need you to take some ham and cheese sandwiches. I don't know what kind of sandwich or bread it was. We're just going to go with it. It was food. And he wanted him to take this food to his brothers that's fighting in this war or in this army, find out how they're doing, and then bring the news back to Jesse to let him know how the kids are doing. And people are saying, you want me to door dash some food to this army that I'm supposed to be over eventually, but you want me to run an errand and to get information and come back? Yeah, that's supposed to be somebody else's job at this point. No doubt about it, especially if I was anointed to be the next king. I would have just waited it out. But that's not David. He just said, yes, sir. But it says before he left, and you can check me on this. It says before he left that he got somebody else to watch his sheep, to tend his sheep before he left. David's already been a good king. Right. So he leaves. He gets... Ooh. He was sent on an errand by his dad, Jesse. This errand right here is what changed his life and the direction of his kingship. I just told you another story that the exact same thing happened to one person. King Saul. Remember his dad sent him on an errand to find the donkeys and to talk to Samuel? That changed Saul. So obedience. You never know what God's got waiting for you if you just humble yourself. Even though God's given you a promise. Sometimes when I receive a promise, I'm feeling some type of way that I don't get it seven minutes after he makes it to me. You know what I mean? Yeah. But the thing is, is David stayed humble. And he did what God wanted him to do. And he did what Jesse wanted him to do. Jesse sent him on errands. He played a harp for the very person that was sitting in his promise. Because God promised him that he would be in that seat. But until then, David chose to sit there and play a harp to Susan. To help him to carry his dirty laundry and his sword and his armor. Well once he gets there to give the food to his brothers. He hears this big ugly Philistine guy that was big enough to eat hay and look dumb enough to enjoy it. That's a new one. He looked around and he's seen all these people shaking in their armor. Worried about this big bulky cud-chewing Philistine calling everybody out. Now there's a story behind that too. Because of the victory of one person will get the victory for everybody else. That's why they were scared. They was trained for war. So they wasn't scared of one man. They was scared of one loss. Because the best soldier from Israel would battle Goliath. And if they lost, the whole war would be lost for them. For the whole... Right. Yeah, I got you. Yeah. So, I'm sorry but I got something on my throat. So anyways, um, yeah, thank you. Oh. This is a big sip. That's so good. And you can shut me up anytime. But this is... I'm not going to shut you up. I'm listening. I was thinking about these stories and all of them came to me on my way home from work the other day. So David looks around and he says, you know, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that defiles the army of God? And Saul says, okay, well here, take my armor and go get him. Seek him. But David turned him down and said, I don't want your armor. You can check me. He said, I don't want your armor. I know that if he took that armor, then Saul would have gotten some of the credit of what God empowered him to do. He took five stones and killed Goliath with the first one. He didn't even need the other ones. No. No, he didn't. Well, here's the thing. When he cut off Goliath's head and took it to Saul, I mean, you know, Goliath's head was probably like his. As you're toting it, right? And Saul, hey, you know, is this the guy? He wouldn't even be sure if he had the right guy or not. I think that's why he grabbed four more. Just in case he needed it for a couple of more. You know what I mean? I mean, I could be wrong. But he did cut his head off and take it to Saul and say, is this him? I think that left room for understanding that if it's not, I go back and get the next one. But anyways, I see. I mean, I wonder what Saul thought when he came up in there with that head. Well, you know what? I'm glad you asked me that because that triggered another thought that he showed me. I'll tell you exactly what happened after that. When the war was done, they got the victory. They went back. And a bunch of women started singing praises about Saul and David. But they started singing that Saul is the man who's killed thousands. And David is the one of ten thousands. And, of course, we know the personality now of Saul and what frame of mind he is because of the back history. Yeah, because of the back history that we went through previously just now about how he feels about himself. And in return, that's how he treats everybody else. But we also know the attitude of David. So Saul fixed his face on David and it said that evil entered his heart and he told himself that he was going to keep an eye on him. So Saul took his attention off of his kingship and off of his kingdom and put it on David. Now, I'm sorry, y'all, but if I was David and if I knew that I was already anointed king and that I was called to be king and that there's no doubt that I would be king, then there's not a king that could tell me anything to do. You'd probably get in the way. I would get in the way. I would do things my way. I would go ahead and plan ahead what changes I would want to make. But what David did, and if y'all want to see the heart of God and the character of God, look how David handled this. Because God said this is a man after my own heart. So look at the heart of David. David stayed humble. Keep in mind, God said this is a man after my own heart. So let's focus on the heart of David. He was humble. And how do I know that Saul still had the anointing but just not God's approval? Because David had many chances to kill Saul after Saul had tried to kill him. What did David say? He said, I would not lay my hand on the anointed of God because God had appointed him king. He said that multiple times. When he had a chance to kill him in the cave. When he had a chance to kill him when he was at camp. Multiple times. Multiple times. Even the people that was with David said, hey look, God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Let's lay him out. He said, no, we would not lay a hand on God's anointed. Even though this anointed king was living out a life that was promised to David. But evidently David's life wasn't ready at that point in time to receive that promise. And we know how it all ended. And we know how David came into kingship and some of the mistakes that he made. We know a lot of the mistakes he made. But I'm just really thinking about how him and Saul both had the same type of anointing. They were both anointed the same way by the same person. They both were humble enough at one point in time to take orders from their dad. Before and after being anointed. So I think that where one went wrong and the other one didn't is what they did with the anointing. It's how they received and perceived what the anointing meant. Because that says that they had the seal of God's approval about what he's called them to do. And the calling for Saul didn't change but the assignment did. You know what I mean? Because God pulled his approval away. And that was by his own hand. That was by his own hand, yeah. So I think a lot of times when God has called us to do things or given us gifts or anointings or anything like that, that we have to realize that just because God tells us about it or puts it on our heart or shows us something doesn't mean that it's meant for right then or right there. Maybe sometimes God tells us things like that for us to expect it. And if we're expecting something, then we get ready for it. Instead of just waiting to receive it, if I'm expecting something, then I prepare for it. Like David did. He was preparing for it. He was a good shepherd of his sheep. And when he left, he made sure that we were attended for. Same way God did when he sent Jesus. And then when Jesus left, he made sure we were attended by the Holy Spirit. David did the same thing. Saul did not. As a matter of fact, Saul tried to hide. Yep. And, you know, I think the same characteristics stayed in the bloodline from Jesse to David, from David all the way down to Jesus. That they knew what was coming. They expected it. So they prepared to receive it. I know when I'm giving promises or I've had things laid on my heart, that sometimes it's just hard for me to realize that just because I received a promise now doesn't mean I'm where I need to be or that I'm about to receive it. Sometimes it's just God winking at me and letting me know, Hey, look, I got you. Yeah. I got you. I see you. I hear you. And I got you. Because God speaks. He does. He speaks. But we've got to realize that He also listens. We need to be in a place where we can hear Him too. Yeah. We need to realize that He listens as good as He speaks. And sometimes when He listens to us, it's not listening to what we say either. It's listening to what we need. You know, He can listen to us without us saying anything. He knows what we need, man. He knows what promises we need to receive and when we need to receive them. David received a promise and it took him years to get it. Abraham received a promise. Do you think they ever felt like maybe God forgot? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Look, he was human. He was human. But I think where he went right is where he didn't let the way he felt dictate on what he did. On his obedience. Yeah. Because I'm sure that he had to remind himself, you know, look, you know what, Saul is an anointed man of God. God has anointed him and appointed him king. And I think that David was comfortable in the fact that God created him on purpose for a purpose. But, you know, it's just that, you know, it amazes me that David had this promise and he's seen somebody else live in it that in his mind wasn't worthy. The only thing that made Saul worthy is that God put him there. And we've got to really, really be careful in today's church. You know what I mean? Where you see a position that you know God has caused you to do. And you know that God has prepared you and anointed you for. And you might see somebody else just living that life out. And God letting you know, listen, I'm just showing you that you can do it. That it's not for here. It's not for now. But I'm letting you know you need to prepare. I'm letting you know that your time is coming. And that's happened to me so many times in my life, you know, to where God's given me a promise and I'm like, okay, God, where's it at? You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. We're one of those, most humans are, where you're like, we're not patient. Yeah. So we're like, okay, you're going to give it to me. Okay, well, where is it? We're over looking like, any minute now, look at our watch. Yeah, without preparing for it, without expecting it, just demanding it. You know, if we don't expect it and prepare for it, then the only thing we're doing is demanding it. Well, and I feel like too, if God shows us something, like he has this planned out for us and he shows you, sometimes we jump ahead of ourselves and we try to do things to orchestrate. To help God. To help God. Because we want to go 100 miles an hour. Yeah. Or not at all. Not at all. Yeah. Sometimes. You know, sometimes I think that's why God keeps us in the dark sometimes about certain things. Because if he, and I think that's a lot of the reason why he spoke in parables. So we can receive just what we need. When we need it. When we need it. But we stay hungry and looking for more. I think that if God sit back and told me the exact plans that he has for me and my future, that I would make preparations on how I can help it happen instead of expectations on waiting for him to make it happen. Through his molding. Yeah. Yeah. I would try to mold myself. And you'd be all warped and everything. You know how a potter, when they mess up, they just plop, plop, plop, plop. That would be me. I'd just be a flopping bent bowl. Mess. Yeah. Just a flopping mess. Say that three times. Or a mess. I'll mute the mic if you want to try to say flopping mess. No, no. I did say it in my mind like three times. And I didn't have a problem. The problem would be from your head to your mouth. It worked. You're a mess. You are a mess. Quit. Okay. So, yeah. You know that makes a lot of sense though. I know. Hustle yourself, brother. What happened? Did you? Yes. Did you not let all that die down before you? No, it was just like vomit. Hustle yourself. Well, I didn't come up with it. God gave it to me. You still got to hustle yourself. I know. It was good. I thought it was good when he gave it to me. Yes. Very good. So, yeah. I think we're all guilty of trying to jump ahead of God or play his role. We attempt to anyways. It never works out right. It never works out like we want it to. You know, there's been situations where I've been where God's like, okay. I know for, you know, like he gave me signs for like one day we are definitely going to have a breathing ministry rehabilitation center. Yeah. It's going to happen. I'm going to claim it because God's done laid that on my heart and other people's hearts. So, I know it's going to happen. Yeah. Now, there's a lot of unknowns though too like when. I don't know. But I do know it's going to be on God's time and I know it's coming. Yeah. So, I've tried to be patient with that and I've actually done good in that regard. But there's other things I have not. For example, okay. So, in order for this plan to work, I'm going to have to prepare, right? Yeah. So, I'm like, okay. So, maybe I need to look at, you know, my situation as a whole to see what I need to change to be ready and available when that time comes. Yeah. But it also comes along with God will let you know. God will open those doors. You will know when to walk through those doors. If you're being obedient, if you're listening to what God's trying to tell you instead of just looking at your own, you know, your own lens of what you think you should prepare, how you should prepare. And, you know, you're right because if we start getting in God's way because God will step back and allow us to get in His way. Yeah. And sometimes we'll get so caught up with being devoted to the method He uses and not the maker that He is. We build, as believers, idols in our own life. That's true. Even when we sit back and say, no, we're not doing that. We will idolize. I'm like, come on, American Idol guys. We will idolize some of the smallest things. We'll idolize His methods on the way He does things. Samuel had a bad habit of doing that because he was about to choose one of Jesse's sons because he had the same stature as Saul did. But God said, no. We will idolize, you know, I don't know, social media. You know, we can idolize that. Anything that you put in front of or higher than devotion time with God, you're idolizing. Listen, I know that steps on a lot of people's toes. It does mine. But being aware of it is what's important. Yeah. Because we're not going to be able to do anything about it if we don't admit that it's there. But believers do have a habit of idolizing things in our life without even realizing it. When the creator and the maker and the one that whispers in our ears when we need to hear the truth, He's there all alone. And we get so caught up with idolizing church, the building, and tradition, and religion. That we idolize these things that our parents, parents, parents have taught throughout the generations. And we take it in as truth. When a lot of times it's not. It's just high standard morality is all it is. Instead of biblical truth. Biblical truth tells us the way that we should live, who we should live for, and why we should live that way. And you can probably find it in the manual. What's the manual? The Bible. The Bible. Oh yeah. Is there another one? Nope. It's D manual. D? D. It's spelled D. D-E. No, D. It is D manual. Yeah. It is the one we need to be reading for sure. Stop. You know what, we had no candy. That's what's wrong with it. I didn't want to reach over. You've been talking this whole time and I was like, and then I'm on point. So you made it tell me the whole time I was talking you had your eyes on this darn candy. Well, it's what you hated. I want that one. Yeah, so. Hey, we're doing a podcast right now, so one of us can grab the candy while the other one's still talking. Yeah, but I couldn't get around you without interrupting. And I didn't want to. And Dawn is here, guys. Dawn. Our amazing Dawn. Yes. Of the day. Of every day. And she signs so brightly. Okay, yeah. She's amazing. She, I feel like sometimes she's our slave, but we don't want her to be. We're like, no, don't do that. She's so helpful. Humble. Huh? Yes. Well, and she just corrected me. This is what God called me to do, is to help. So, she's been obedient. What we've been talking about. So. And. So, uh, yeah. Proceed. I was fixing to say something, but you snatched the paper out of my hand. You were fixing to or was you about to? Now you're going to. Now you're going to, yeah. Go ahead. You just pulled a mama on me. I'm trying to get better with my writing. So, mom helps with correcting me. Yeah, our mom is real good with grammar, spelling. What's grammar? Huh? What's grammar? No, grammar will be the way you use it. You said grammar and spelling. Yeah. Grammar and spelling is not the same. No, it's not. Grammar is how you use the word. Tomato, tomato. Tomato, tomato. Potato, potato. That's spelling. Potato, potato. That's spelling. But anyway. Okay, proceed. Uh. You just stepped on my rabbit. Well, never mind, girl. When is this time up? We've got, we've got about seven more minutes to deal with this. To deal with what? With you. Oh, well. I'm not going to put this game of my mouth story out of my mouth. I don't want to be able to talk to you after, you know. Let's just be talking right now. Oh, so there's some. Go ahead. No, please. Go. Yes, mother is great. Yeah, so our mom gets on us a lot of times about our grammar. And the way we. Some of our vocabulary that we use. Spell things. And. Sentence. Oh, the spelling is insane. She's insane when it comes to spelling. It's crazy. But. Like, I've got a bad habit of. She loves to be about it. Yeah, I've got a bad habit of saying. Fixing to. Like fixing to. I'm fixing to do it. Or I'm fixing to do it. And don't you even act like you don't either. He's fixing to fix everything. And don't even act like you don't. Because I heard you say the other day. I cringed. And that's. One of my kids words. But. When I read my old memories on Facebook. And it said, I'm fixing to go to bed. I was like, ooh. I'm about to go to bed. But you still talk. You still talk that way. See, your mom's rubbing off. Well, I'm writing that book one day, y'all. And I've got to do better. Y'all will be in it. I was just thinking that. Are you going to put y'all in it? That's in the dictionary. It is. Well. Ain't it? Facizzle is, too. I doubt that. It is. Ain't. Ain't you going to? Ain't. If I asked you, would you want to? Ain't is in the dictionary. Ain't is in the dictionary. Yes, it is. It is now. Just like Facizzle. Who says that? Snow Dog. Snow Dog. Thank you, goodness. And Chris. No, y'all don't say that. I don't use that. I just did. I've heard you say it a couple of times. No. Y'all never heard me say Facizzle. Except for just now. Okay. But, yeah. So. I don't know how we even got to that point. But she is. She's, uh. She helps. Who? She helps me. Mom. Oh. Yeah. You know, the person we've been talking about for the last 40 minutes. Oh, somebody help me. 40 minutes. He's got to get sleepy over here. He's got to figure out what he's going to say. It drains me. So, a couple of things. Before we have to, um. Oh, we're ending on time. Yes. Go ahead and do the. I'm trying. Oh. Before we have to close everything. Because we're running out of time now. I wanted to mention a few events coming up. In the coming months. So, uh. One being the End Addiction. Talladega County. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh.