Ever feel like you're walking a path that's lined with hurdles and setbacks? We're here to tell you that these obstacles could very well be part of God's calling for you. We break down the verse where Jesus challenges their readiness to follow Him, an experience that mirrors our own spiritual journey. We dig deep into their resilience and unwavering faith despite the uncertainties and challenges
Do you ever question the impact of your work, especially when it feels like you're not reaching anyone? We talk about being seen and valued, even if we aren't always aware of it.
Lastly, we tackle spiritual misconceptions, sharing insights on the power of ordinary things when blessed by God and how they can be twisted by the enemy. Just as God grants us free will, it's our responsibility to discern right from wrong. To keep this spirit alive, we are thrilled to announce our upcoming series, ‘UNCONFRIDAYS', and our new Wednesday schedule for the podcast. Every step we take, and every word we speak, aims to bring us closer to God. Join us, the journey is just getting started.
Ever feel like you're walking a path that's lined with hurdles and setbacks? We're here to tell you that these obstacles could very well be part of God's calling for you. We break down the verse where Jesus challenges their readiness to follow Him, an experience that mirrors our own spiritual journey. We dig deep into their resilience and unwavering faith despite the uncertainties and challenges
Do you ever question the impact of your work, especially when it feels like you're not reaching anyone? We talk about being seen and valued, even if we aren't always aware of it.
Lastly, we tackle spiritual misconceptions, sharing insights on the power of ordinary things when blessed by God and how they can be twisted by the enemy. Just as God grants us free will, it's our responsibility to discern right from wrong. To keep this spirit alive, we are thrilled to announce our upcoming series, ‘UNCONFRIDAYS', and our new Wednesday schedule for the podcast. Every step we take, and every word we speak, aims to bring us closer to God. Join us, the journey is just getting started.
Welcome back to the Loco podcast. I'm your host, Elani.
Speaker 2:And I'm Roman, and we are in a new location filming again.
Speaker 1:We filmed here last time, but we didn't record, but we were, or well, we did video work for you here, but we did. But we yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, so, um, this is going to be the new setup for uh for now, but we're just excited to be back with you, be back with you guys, sharing with you guys again and, you know, um, sharing some of the things that we've learned and all that good stuff, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think when we had last spoke you were kind of talking.
Speaker 1:I think we were talking a lot about um just like finishing when you started, i think like at that time you were looking to leave ministry school. Since then you've actually graduated, right, so you got your certificates in Bible and also leadership study. So let's kind of like we've kind of start there and just kind of talk about like I don't know I guess how like that experience was deciding to finish through maybe some of the things that you learned from it, um, and kind of like what you've taken from that and that you're applying into your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i would say, probably the number one thing that I learned from ministry school is that I actually heard this, this Bible verse, yesterday, and it's, it's a ball verse I've always I've talked about before and, you know, i thought of creating a clothing brand around it actually, but, um, it's, uh, i believe it was Peter or it was John, i can't remember which one, but uh, you know, they shouted to Jesus and this is when he was first starting his ministry Um, i'm going to follow you to the end of the earth. You know, jesus, i'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus says are you sure about that? You know, foxes have dens, uh, the birds of the skies have nest, but the son of man has no place to rest his head. And that verse popped back up for me yesterday, because it doesn't that just, you know, explain a lot of the things that you want to do with your life, whether that's on a success path or whatever it might be.
Speaker 1:You know it sounds really like any path of that be to talk about in relational aspect. We can talk about it, yeah, and rare and success, but yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:Right. So yeah, I don't know where I was going with that. I lost my train of thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i'm just um.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i guess how true it is in like our lives and like how we feel like it's supposed to be easy, especially if we're going to be following Jesus, that the path is going to be made really clear and really simple.
Speaker 1:Um, or let me take that back It could be clear, but I think we think that, because we're going to follow him, it's going to be made very simple and it's going to be like the most luxurious life that we're going to live, um, when we decide to follow in his calling for us. But I think, yeah, like what I've learned a lot from you actually is like when you talk about that verse quite a bit before and I'm kind of glad that you brought that up now is that, um, yeah, you used to say like it ain't going to be easy, like you always used to say that I feel like it's not going to be easy, like I remember when we talked about this podcast and you know like it's not going to be easy, and I feel like that verse kind of just explains that you know, the son of man has no place to rest his head, meaning that it's not going to be the most Um yeah, there's not going to be any.
Speaker 2:Any rest on the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When you choose to follow Jesus. It's not an easy path And you choose to be a Christian that actually is on the field, playing the game, saving people, inspiring people, spreading the gospel, spreading the good news on a daily basis, and that includes in today, not even talking about in biblical times. It's not going to be hard, it's not going to be easy. It's going to be hard. You know there's going to be people that are going to come after you and they're going to ridicule you. They're going to condemn you. They're going to try to crucify you, just like how they did back in the day. It's nothing. Nothing changes in those aspects and those and though and at those points, but you got to understand.
Speaker 2:When you choose this path, it's going to be a tough path. You're going to go through a lot of self doubt. I mean, there's been times where Peter you know the most faithful out of all of us has said I thought we were going to die. There was points in our journey where I was for sure I was going to die, that it was over and his faith fell flat. That doesn't mean that, okay, maybe this path isn't for you, maybe you shouldn't be doing this. That just means that it's just hard. That's all that it means.
Speaker 2:Just because it's hard doesn't mean it's not for you. Just because it's tough doesn't mean that it's not meant for you and it's not in God's plan for you, for you to have that come true in your life and come to fruition in your life. And so many people they start things that they're great at, that they're talented at, or that they have a calling for And because of the beginning may be a little rough, or the middle or even the end may be a little rough, they quit and they never. they back off of their calling and it's unfortunate and it's sad And they think that anything that's worth having or that they should have should come easy. And that's just not true.
Speaker 1:I think it's because we see so much well in today's culture anyways, we see so much of the success put on the social media and it looks like it's overnight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or maybe they do when they follow along in the journey And they're like, oh my gosh, i've been following you from the beginning and it's really cool to see now And they still will think like wow, that was so much easier for them, like something that I feel like I couldn't be able to do So, like that. I'm glad that you bring that up because, yeah, it is a tough path And it's like we do struggle with self doubt, like there's been times I know for myself where I wanted to like stop doing something or just like take a break and not want to come back because it is challenging and it is a lot, but it's like I think we need to remember that the rewards will be greater than what we're facing 100%.
Speaker 2:I mean, I was at the end. I didn't even realize that I was at the end of ministry school when I wanted to quit. You know what I mean. How funny is that.
Speaker 1:Test away or something.
Speaker 2:How stupid and funny is that? You know what I mean. I'm like I don't want to do this anymore, i'm done. I take one more. I'm not even paying attention. All I'm doing is paying attention to the struggle. All I'm doing is paying attention to all of the negative parts of the journey instead of all of the positive things that came with it, and I didn't even realize that I was at the end, that it was over, right, right. So I think it's funny and that's why I bring that up And, like what you said, i think that 100% applies to everything in life.
Speaker 2:Really it does. So I think that carries over to even some of the stuff that we're doing now with some of the things that we want to achieve in our dreams and having real estate portfolios and creating Christian platforms, like what we want to do with the lookup pod. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be a road. It's going to be tough. You're not going to overnight get a million followers or overnight have a million people tuning in to what you're looking at, but it's like what you've continuously brought up over the last couple of days that Tyler the Creator short where you don't know who's looking. You don't know who's watching. You don't know who you're impacting.
Speaker 1:The short that I was referring to was this reel that popped up or something and it was a Tyler the Creator talking about. I don't remember who he was talking about an artist.
Speaker 2:Some artists that he'd discovered.
Speaker 1:Yeah, He said that he found those artists just from watching YouTube videos and this guy had six views on this YouTube video. but Tyler the Creator is one of those six views and he discovered him and put him on a platform and obviously he's a big artist. today. I can't remember who the name is, but that really stuck with me because it makes you realize that it's like oh man, i'm putting so much effort into making these reels, i'm putting so much effort into recording these podcasts, i'm putting a lot of effort into rebranding and making things look good and all this kind of stuff, and you think that we are following so little that you think it's nobody. but even if it's just one other person, you don't know who that other person is, you don't know who's watching you. So yeah, i think that was just really profound to think that everything that you're doing isn't going to wait.
Speaker 2:No. But even if one person watches it, that's one being, soul, one being that you've impacted in that day. So why does it matter if it's a thousand? or why does it matter if it's a million? Why does it matter if it's three million when one person has seen it? You know what I mean, is it true Do you agree or not agree This is like a rhetorical thing that every person matters, every soul, every body matters. So why do you get bummed out when you get 50 versus when you get 50,000? Is the 50,000 more valuable than the 50 when we're talking about people?
Speaker 1:No, Yeah, which kind of reminds me of the verse of he leaves in 99 to get the one just because of how powerful like that verse really means. It just goes to show how meaningful every single one of our lives are.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And we aren't to waste. So I think like when we think of our actions and every action of ours isn't to waste I think like it's easy sometimes to look at things that we're doing and think that it may not have any meaning in the moment. You know what I mean. Just little actions like we're talking about right now, regardless if you are doing things on a social platform or out in there, but it may seem like everything you're doing me is of no importance. But I mean, if he's willing to leave the 99 that are already following him to go to the one who is lost, like that just goes to just really kind of bring that impact back to how important your life truly is.
Speaker 2:Right, and shouldn't you treat other people's lives the same way that God treats your life and other people's lives? So it's important, that stuff's very important, that stuff's super, super impactful And I think that was like my final lesson that I learned from Central Academy, and it's very humbling because it came right when I just becoming so worldly.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. So, but I guess the other thing that I learned was just how important education to the Bible is. You don't realize how many people are false prophesizing, And it's an and for me, when I hear that word, I feel like it's like really intense, like you're a false prophet. I feel like it's a pretty intense word, but it's true. There's a lot of false prophets online and I think they would be less prevalent, not because of education. If education, if people educated themselves more on the Bible and what encompass the Bible as a whole, I think false prophets wouldn't exist.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's because, as I'm coming to learn more about the Bible and what I've learned a lot through just through church services and from her pastor and from things that, like I've heard from you, from things that you've learned, is that the Bible it's so special And each sentence of the Bible is so meaningful And each sentence that comes before then that sentence and after the next sentence and gives the context of what that verses to mean, because there are What happens in the entire book.
Speaker 1:Yes, like there are some things in, like Deuteronomy for example, that are really intense and are very. You would think that God is a very judgmental God And that we are supposed to live our lives in judgment of others or in guilt of things or things like that. But it's like you have to look at things in the full context of it and even what even certain words may mean, because, also, the Bible was not originally written in English And, as we know, when it comes to just translating in different languages, there's like not exactly a direct translation for a word that's used in one language to another, so it's like we use words that are similar to that.
Speaker 1:And maybe a few words, a phrase that may be somewhat closely similar to that word, but it's not that word in the end. So it's like when we look at the Bible and we can understand that, like not everything is meant to take so literally word for word, exactly what that says, that, understanding the context of it, i think you can. you can misconstrue it. You know what I mean And it's easy, and I don't blame some of these false prophets, because it's like if you don't fully sit through and read word for word of what this means in the context of the story, of what that verse was written in, what God is, Think about it.
Speaker 2:It's an ancient text. Yeah, you know what I mean. It's the most used ancient text, that's used every single day. You know what I mean. Like it's like it's like on the same level as hieroglyphics and stuff like that. You know what I mean. It's like it's something that you actually have to study, but because it's so common and because it's so relevant, still I think people don't really look at it that way And they look at it as twilight where they look at it as Harry Potter. You know what I mean. Like some, i feel like some non believers and even believers look at it as like oh, it's a book, but like no, this is like ancient text that's sacred and blessed, that you need to study and that you need to dive into, and I think our pastor does a really good job of that. Pastor Judd, of just like breaking down.
Speaker 2:Okay, this verse means this, but this word translator from Hebrew is not exactly the same word as what's said right here in this translation, and I think sometimes, you know, we can get carried away as Christians and we attack other people and we guilt people, we shame people, we spread misinformation on certain topics and certain things, and I don't think that's what it's about.
Speaker 1:There are certain things, too, that I've like seen too on, you know, just social media and stuff like that, from other people who are supposedly prophesying about how you should live as a Christian, and there's just some things that I I question because I'm like how is this biblical? Like there are a lot of things where it's like meditation is demonic, yoga is demonic, crystals are demonic, and when you think about that, i'm like The Bible literally just says not to worship these things. So I mean, if you are worshiping a crystal, okay, but if you understand that crystals were created from the heavenly God, everything on earth here is now heavenly. If you like put more prioritization of meditating on things that are unjust and not pure and unholy, then yes, then I can understand why that can be demonic. It's like you've got to understand, like we were talking about many times, that the devil can't create anything. He can only manipulate it.
Speaker 1:And so when we look at some of these, i guess, worldly activities and things that are very common in today's culture, they're not demonic, but can they be made demonic? Sure, just like anything else, anything else, exactly. And so when you think about that, i mean like Jesus meditated, you know what I mean, and he calls us to meditate on his word. And how can that be demonic Yoga? all that is is I mean, there's many forms of it and there's many you know, explanations of it.
Speaker 1:It's just the connecting of your breath and your movement and your mind, and so, at the end of the day, that's not demonic crystals I mean, i'm not sitting here, do I have crystals in our home? Yeah, and like, do I believe that certain things of this earth can be holy? Yes, absolutely, and I do think that some may have been granted certain things. I mean, if you just think of, That of healing properties. Yeah, that of healing properties.
Speaker 2:They could be. Things can be blessed with healing properties and it's been seen throughout the Bible Hundreds of times where ordinary things have been blessed. Dirt has been blessed.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Dirt with some spit mixed into it has been blessed. Water that turns into wine has been blessed. A rock has been blessed, where Moses stabbed a rock and it became And it poured out water. There's been bread that fell from the sky. There's bushes that catch on fire. Why is the thought that Talking bushes that catch on fire? Why is the thought that maybe this crystal has been blessed with certain spiritual properties or energy to help you with certain things or ward off certain energies? Why is that? I don't get why that's any different than anything else that's been blessed in the Bible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i agree with you And there's a lot of that that's being talked about And it's just like that's why I think it's so important to remember to not be so easily conformed by the patterns of this world In the book of Romans, where numbers but be transformed by the renewing of your mind And it's like it's easy to look at really anything like anything that you'd be talk about and could. It very easily be manipulated and misconstrued and the enemy can use that to his advantage. Yes, absolutely. But also it's like I believe in a God that's created everything on this earth, so that's created everything on this planet and this world and this universe.
Speaker 2:Including Amethyst, and that shows me like going back to the false prophecy thing. that shows me that they don't know their Bible. That tells me that they don't know God all the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it should just be a call to all believers to just learn the Bible and study the Bible, and that's something that I am growing in as well and learning to do more of, and I think it's like, if you feel like something isn't right, just check your Bible, go back to the facts.
Speaker 2:All it takes is a quick Google search. Bible verse about astrology. Bible verse about the stars.
Speaker 1:Bible verse about Do you use restart and open up that chapter and read what it may say before and after? I mean like if you look at the stars, like the three wise men found.
Speaker 2:Literally used to the stars, using the astrology, using constellations. So the fact that people say that like, oh, astrology is demonic, like y'all didn't read the beginning.
Speaker 1:I mean right, It's like can it be misconstrued? Yeah, I'm not saying that it can't be.
Speaker 2:Anything can.
Speaker 1:That's what the devil does. Yes, that's what he does And like I mean if you just look at this idea of genders in today's world, where it's like he can't create a new gender, so all he does is just misconstru it, he just manipulates it, and where it's like you can just be the opposite one Or you could just be the same, where you can be both. You know what I mean. It's like he's not a creator, only God is. So it's like just me cautious, and some of the things that you may hear from other prophets, because unfortunately and that's what I feel I can give a lot of the quote unquote Christians a bad name is that there are others who are operating under the term, under the title of a Christian, and yet they spill some things that don't necessarily come.
Speaker 2:It's misguided Right, all it is is misguided. Their pastor is themselves. A lot of those people. They don't have a church, they don't have someone that has taught them, they have never been to ministry school. A lot of those people who speak on social media and stuff like that. It's a platform. There's no barrier, there's no gateway of entry. Anyone can say anything on there. So when you're out there, just keep in mind like not everybody's on point like that and really gets their Bible all the way and understands God's word all the time. So I'm guilty of it. I've been sucked into little arguments and comment sections, but that's literally what the enemy wants. He wants us all to be divided And he wants all of us to be divided over the dumbest stuff, the most trivial, the most useless, the most pointless things. So we can stop Focusing on the important things in life and being united in that right. So That's my take on it. Man, that stuff's been driving me up the wall.
Speaker 1:I think that we can very easily get passionate about, because it's like Sometimes we feel that we know and the truth on those things, and when some of it's just being, it's just like whenever you hear someone Talk about someone you know and it's like not true, you know, of course you get a little upset, but like that's not, that's not what they said. You know, like I read that, like that's not what it said.
Speaker 2:So It's some of those so dig back into the Bible, you know. I mean go back through proverbs, really study it. Go to a ministry school if you can. If you have one at your church, i'd recommend it.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be hard, especially if you haven't been to school in a while and I think it's important just to get around other people that are talking about God's word, like And having conversations like these yeah, having conversations with those people and it being really Like raw and unedited and allowing you to just balance what you think, maybe going off on each other, and I think you can get a full, better understanding of what the word means rather than you trying to decipher it yourself.
Speaker 2:Um.
Speaker 1:Just know that if it is Something you hear that feels watered down or feels to of this world, it's probably not his word, because if you look back on his word, like he said, it's an ancient text It's not gonna apply to like these, these trivial little Worldly stuff that we have in today's culture. There was a bug that I was reading recently that talked a lot about like these large churches and Just like big pastors and things like that and a lot of times like The unfortunate thing is is that they feel that they have to almost water down God's word or add in different Raw belief, step in it to attract more, attract more people, when Realizing that God's word is enough, like what is in the Bible is not just enough, it's more than enough. It's like we don't need to add in, like I've heard talks on strippers and in the past. Just like constant ideas and just money in terms of In terms of, not necessarily like prosperity of preachers is more so.
Speaker 2:So it's like there's nothing wrong with being prosperous.
Speaker 1:God calls us to be prosperous, and yeah, but it's just to be cautious of you know What, some of those things that you may be listening to.
Speaker 2:It's not to say like because you know what a turn church into a business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's that's the hard, i think, part being a human and just having these human fleshly desires, because we all like I mean it's the Bible where stay. You know, we're called to live in freedom, like he gave us the freedom, but it isn't too Indulged in our own fleshly desires, but to serve one another in love, right um.
Speaker 1:So when you just think of that, yeah, we weren't meant to. we were granted free choice and free speech and the freedom to make whatever choices we want, but it's not so that we can, just, you know, ruin ourselves, which is very easy to do, but he won't. There's no welfare.
Speaker 2:But he'll also let you do that.
Speaker 1:There's.
Speaker 2:no, I don't get you He'll never he'll pull you out when it's when you're in too deep and it's too late, but you will. You will reap the consequences of your choices, as any father would do for his kids. And but he loves us so much that he does give us free, free choice and free, free reign over our lives to make decisions and make mistakes and things like that. And I think that's like another big question that a lot of some new Christians and some non-Christians will have was just like well, if God is so loving and he's so all powerful and he's so all good, why does bad things happen? You know, why do kids get sex trafficked and why do you know people get raped and you know why is there a tsunami in this part of the world that killed 10,000 people? And it's just like he loves us so much that he gives, he's given us all free will. Does he know exactly how our life has been? a plan out to the T, 100%. Does he have a say in what happens in our lives? 100%. But he also gives us free will within that whole game plan.
Speaker 2:And I know it sounds like contradicting, but God doesn't live in our small human mind where it's black and white. God lives in an all encompassing, omnipresent kind of perspective where anything can be true and everything can be true at all at once, right, and that leads into a new segment that we're going to that I want to start doing. It's going to be called Unconfried Ace And it's just a play on Unconformed which kind of a brand that we're starting and that we've started, but it's basically just going to be small short videos of how we can help new believers basically get a jumpstart on their life, because the last thing that I want to do with this platform is to be a guru, and more so just to have this platform as a guide to help people get closer to God, give them resources, give them tools, because I feel like we really don't have that a lot. I know the Bible app is a big one, but I love for our platform to be some sort of tool or guide for Christians all around the world, and that's what we want to go with that.
Speaker 2:So first episode was going to come out this Friday after this episode, and we're really excited for that. So just want to drop that in there real quick, shameless plug. Sorry, but yeah, did you have anything else you wanted to add? Maybe we could wrap up.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, i just really was just kind of asking you on your journey and stuff like that, and so I appreciate you for sharing.
Speaker 2:My guest.
Speaker 1:Thank you. But yeah that and really I don't know if you had anything that you wanted to add.
Speaker 2:No, we just appreciate you guys. We promise we'll be more consistent. We know how much it means to everybody who does watch our podcast to have new episodes. I get messages all the time of when we're going to come out with more stuff and people reach it out to us saying you know how helpful these have been to us and we don't take that lightly at all And we understand that this is God's calling for us. Man, as much as we want to sometimes deny it and we want to, you know, maybe do something else with our lives I think God gave us this path to pursue and help his sheep, help his people, help his people come home. So we appreciate you guys If you want to add anything. Oh yeah, what's our podcast?
Speaker 1:We're extend 21 and 1 through 30. We love you guys. Thank you always for a little thing And I'm pretty much appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Anyway, we appreciate you guys Look up on. We're going to be here every Wednesday Now, instead of Tuesday, every Wednesday.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:So we appreciate you Bye.