stop believing in Jesus. (start following Him)
38 min
•Dec 5, 20256 months agoSummary
Host Ally Yost discusses the distinction between believing in Jesus versus actively following him, emphasizing personal spiritual transformation through encountering God's Holy Spirit. She shares her testimony of living 27 years without following Jesus despite believing in him, and encourages listeners to seek a genuine relationship with Christ through reading scripture, prayer, and community engagement.
Insights
- The difference between intellectual belief in Jesus and active spiritual discipleship is fundamental to Christian practice and personal transformation
- Personal testimony and lived experience are powerful tools for spiritual evangelism, particularly when contrasting life before and after encountering God
- Community and local church involvement are critical components of sustained spiritual growth, not just personal faith practice
- Encountering the Holy Spirit requires openness, vulnerability, and a willingness to surrender personal control and decision-making to God's guidance
- Spiritual fulfillment comes from aligning personal free will with God's will, creating a collaborative relationship rather than forced obedience
Trends
Rise of personal testimony-driven religious content in digital media platformsEmphasis on experiential spirituality over institutional religion among younger Christian audiencesIntegration of mental health language (ADHD, anxiety, depression) into spiritual narratives and healing frameworksGrowing focus on inclusive, non-judgmental approaches to faith evangelism in podcast and social media formatsCommunity-based spiritual practice as antidote to digital-only religious engagementAuthenticity and vulnerability as core values in religious content creation and audience building
Topics
Christian discipleship and spiritual transformationPersonal testimony in religious evangelismHoly Spirit encounter and spiritual experienceFree will versus God's will in Christian theologyLocal church community and faith practiceBible study and scripture engagementHealing from trauma and spiritual restorationChristian identity and purposeRepentance and spiritual commitmentIntercessory prayer practicesChristmas theology and secular holiday observanceOvercoming skepticism about faithMental health and spiritual wellnessIron sharpening iron community principlePatreon monetization for faith-based content
Companies
Hosanna Revival
Bible retailer mentioned as source of host's NLT translation Bible; host has promotional code partnership
People
Quotes
"For 27 years, I lived a life without actually abiding with Jesus. What does that mean? Yielding to him and what he says in scripture and who he is and who he's called me to be, I actually am like choosing to follow him instead of just believe in him."
Ally Yost•~20 minutes
"He's obsessed with you. And I'm sorry if other people have told you otherwise, or if other people have showed you in the ways that they've acted, that you are not worthy of being obsessed over or being loved that deeply, but I'm telling you that you are."
Ally Yost•~45 minutes
"We love because he first loved us. That's just the truth. It says in 1st John 4:19."
Ally Yost•~50 minutes
"Iron sharpening iron, which basically means that when we are iron hanging out with other people who are also iron, we only sharpen each other."
Ally Yost•~65 minutes
"Can we show somebody how cool Jesus is? Can we walk more like Jesus, talk more like him, be more like Christ today?"
Ally Yost•~70 minutes
Full Transcript
Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host, Ally Yost. It is a joy and honor to be here with you guys today. Welcome everybody. Welcome to another episode. Happy Friday. I am so excited to be here with you guys. I am excited because I am ready to see the way that the Lord shows up in this episode today. Can I get a hallelujah? Amen. Okay. I think I heard a few of them. Hallelujah. Amen. I am so ready to see the way that God moves in this episode today. I am ready for him to save lives. Yep. I'm ready for him to give people hope. I'm ready for him to reveal to people who their actual creator is, who they've been made for, who they've been created to be loved by. And yeah, it's going to be a glorious day. It's going to be a really good day. But first and foremost, we are here. We have our Christ, obviously. We have our Jesus right here. To those of you who might just be listening, I am holding up my Bible, saved my life, literally saved my life. Word of God. Um, it says on the back of my Bible, he has planted eternity in the human heart, which is Ecclesiastes 311. I love that. Um, this is my holy Bible. I got it from Hosanna revival. I've talked enough about them. They're just the best. I actually haven't talked enough about them, but you guys still ask questions of what Bible I use this one. I use this one. Um, it is the NLT translation. Um, yeah, it's beautiful. And if you guys ever want to shop Hosanna revival, I have a code with them. It's aliyos to my first and last name. Um, so word of God, we have our Christ and we have our coffee on. Nice. I'm using my plastic tumbler today. You guys, uh, it's been a while since I've used my plastic tumbler, a little ASMR. It looks dark today. My coffee, my coffee looks a little dark. I typically, I mean, my coffee usually looks like chocolate milk, like it's ridiculous. I put so much creamer in it, so much milk in it. It's like, where's the coffee alley? I don't know. I like it to be a lighter latte color. It's a little dark for me today, but that's okay. Gorge. I used a, um, it's almost Christmas. No, it's not. Where are we in time right now? It Christmas is in a few weeks. Yes, it is. I know it's in a few weeks. Thank you, God. Do you know what Christmas means guys? It means that it's Jesus's birthday, which I know that there's arguments about like whether December 25th is actually Jesus's birthday or not. There's actually a lot of proof that maybe it's not actually his birthday, but you know what, whatever, he was born on a day, wasn't he? And if we're going to say it's December 25th, let's not that serious. Let's just celebrate his birth. Amen. Our savior was born into the world. Let's celebrate it and hang all the Christmas lights about it. Okay. That's a whole nother topic. Cause now I'm like, there's people who are like, no, it's a pagan holiday. I love Jesus and I love Christmas. Okay. And if we're going to say that all of this is his Christmas is his too. Okay. People may use it in a way that doesn't honor him, but that doesn't mean I, I'm going to honor Jesus on Christmas and I'm going to honor him every day and I'm going to do it while also enjoying my Christmas tree. I'm not idolizing the Christmas tree. I'm not believing that the Christmas tree can answer my prayers. Where did that come from? I don't know. Anyway, Merry Christmas. I don't know what day it is. Like I don't know when this episode goes. It's not Christmas yet. Um, what got me on that tangent? My coffee. I put a pumpkin oat milk with pumpkin in it. How did they do that? How did they make oat milk tastes like pumpkin? I don't know, but it was giving two and one for me where I was like, ooh, I can do oat milk and then I don't have to put a pumpkin creamer. It's like two and one, but without the creamer, it looks a little dark. It doesn't taste bad. It does have a hint of pumpkin for sure, but I could use a little more creamer. Anyway, okay. Guys, I am so felt. Can I scream? Hold on. Let me do it over here. Felt with the spirit of God today. I don't know what he did to me. I don't know what he did to me. He saved me. That's what he did. He saved me. He saved me and I will never leave his love. I had to remember the words for a second. Sing it with me. Everybody ready? He saved me. He saved me. Now we will never leave his love. Cause I'm in love. I can not remember what I was doing before I left. Oh, doing before I met you. I've been captivated by love. The save me cause I'm in love. I can not remember what I was doing before. Let why do I keep saying left you devil? I rebuke you. I never left Jesus. Well, okay. There's a lot of my life. I ignored him, but before I met you, I've been captivated by love. That saved me because he saved. He saved me. He saved me. Now I won't ever leave his love. Anyway, he saved me. Okay. What? Where did that come from? Guys, I'm going to be honest. It was so funny. I was with a friend this morning. I went to coffee with her. She's the sweetest ever. Her name is Sammy. Shout out, Sammy. If you're listening to this, love you girl. Okay. I went to coffee with my friend Sammy today and I can't tell stories. Like I, okay. No, I actually can't tell stories. Look what I just did. I interrupt my, I like have like a conversation with myself in my head. Like I combat mice. It is the most ridiculous thing. And I'm like, I think I'm unmedicated. Like I just, I may have a little bit of ADHD, something. I can't stop my brain. She just goes this way and that way and that way all at once. I'm probably actually just a genius. I think that's actually what it means is I'm actually just a genius. And my brain just goes at the speed of genius that my, my mouth can't keep up or something. Or something like that. Or that's what I just need to tell myself so I can sleep peacefully at night. But oh my, I will start something. That's why I actually think it's a miracle. That I have a podcast. How can people keep up with me? I don't know. I truly don't know how you guys keep up with me because I can barely keep up with myself. I'm trying to tell her a story at brunch. I'm like over here and then I'm over here. That would stress a lot of people out. I fear. And so if you are here today listening to this episode, well, if you're a first time listener, buckle up. If you're not a first time listener, though, you're a real one. And it probably means that you're type B. There's no way type A people who are like black, like they got their life. Listen, I respect type A. I do. Sometimes I wish I could channel a little bit of it because I am so not type A. It's like, I don't even think I could if I tried like order. I can't function in order. Why can I only function in chaos? Lord, do I need healing in that? OK, I'll talk to you later. But like, OK. I just forget why I start saying things, you know? You know what I mean? And if you came to this episode today expecting me to talk about Jesus, apparently I'm not because I'm 10 minutes in. Where's Jesus? Well, I sang. We were we worshipped. We worshipped for a little bit. He saved me. OK, we don't need to do it again. Also, guys, another side tangent. That's so fun. Hopefully I can finish this thought. I will ready. I want to have a Christmas album one day. I do. I want to sing Christmas songs, and then I want to put them out into the world. So don't know when I'm going to do that. That is a dream I'd love to accomplish in my life with the help of JC. My Jesus Christ, he's going to help me with that. But I think that could be so fun. Like, what do you think? I don't know if I'm writing a Christmas song, but I'd love to do covers of Christmas songs, like a short little Christmas EP or something. OK. Anyway, guys, welcome to this episode. Now that we are almost, I don't know, what, 15 minutes in, I'm really excited for today. Oh, I was just talking about how much the Lord filled me today. And I don't know why. And I said, oh, because he saved me and then we started singing. But I feel so filled today because I don't know why. I don't know what I did different today, actually. I mean, I spent time with him this morning. That typically helps. That'll help because his mercies are new every morning. And so receiving those mercies feels incredible. But I think he just baptized me and his spirit again today. I don't like I genuinely, I don't know what I did. I didn't really do anything different today. I just feel good. And I feel like I've been in the glory of God all day. I've been able to see some of the best people today. And I don't I mean, I've been like evangelizing a little bit lately. I've just been like speaking the truth of the gospel to people lately. And not that I'm not always doing that. But, you know, sometimes there's days where I'm like, wow, that was fun. Like there's actually nothing more rewarding than sharing the truth. And the truth has a capital T. But it also starts with a J. And it's Jesus. He's the truth. And it's so fun sharing the truth. It is so fun sharing Jesus with other people. And in a way that isn't shoving it down anyone's throat. But like what's so fun about sharing the truth of who Jesus is, is that I have history without him. Like I think that that's what really makes it so fun for me. Even though maybe there is a part of me that like Envy's people who have known him since the minute they were like, I hear people telling stories where like they literally experienced the love of God as a child. And I'm like, wow, that is so amazing. I wish I had that. But also like me being able to talk about the goodness of God, like the fact that I have like a testimony behind that, that's why it says in scripture that there's like nothing more powerful than the power of our testimonies. And we've talked about that on the podcast before, but I love it because I can testify and say, no, I can say this and I know that he's real because I lived a life without him. For 27 years, I lived a life without actually abiding with Jesus. What does that mean? Yielding to him and what he says in scripture and who he is and who he's called me to be, I actually am like choosing to follow him instead of just believe in him. There was a difference. It's not that I never believed in Jesus. It's not that I never believed that he was true, but I was not following him. Like I was not listening to what he had to say for my life because honestly, I wasn't asking. I wasn't asking. I made all the plans for my own life and then asked him to back it. Like my whole life, I was like, I'm going to do whatever feels right because, duh, of course I'm going to follow my feelings. What do you mean? That's my inner. Like I trusted my feelings. I trusted myself more than God and then I asked God to back me up. So now the difference is that I follow him and I say, God, what do you want for my life? And then I say, yes. And then I say, okay, God, you're right. I love that plan because you love that plan. And what's so sweet is that it's like a dance with God, you know, where it's like, it's not just like an I I captain. I have no choice in my life anymore. I give up all my free will, which is impossible, by the way, because God gave us the gift of free will. So like it doesn't make sense for him to give us free will to then rip it away from us, but he gives us free will to choose his will, which is like magic, by the way, like how it was always supposed to be that in our free will, we choose the will of God because we trust that he knows way more than we do. And so that's the difference of who I used to be in now, but I love sharing the truth of who Jesus is because of how I know my life was before him. And so I don't know if anyone else relates to that. I think that it also comes from remembering. If you've lost that fire or that like zeal or that excitement of sharing Jesus with other people, because that's, that's real. Like I think it is so real to get comfortable and to be like, yeah, Jesus is awesome. He's my bestie and like forget the truth of what our lives looked like before knowing him or let's say you've known Jesus your whole life, but there was a season that you were so desperate or maybe you felt really far away from him. Like think back to a season where it felt very void of God. And it's like not that he was actually ever void. He's, he's always present with us. But especially if you, if you once lived a lived a life without God and you've been walking with the Lord for, let's say you've been walking with Jesus for 40 years. I pray that my whole life I always have that zeal, but also if you don't, I think that's a simple prayer of being like, God, will you remind me of the pain and agony and confusion, lack of purpose, depression, anxiety, like the way that I wanted to literally not be here anymore. I wanted to die. Like whatever that testimony is, like it's so, it's so interesting because it's like we could either look back at that and say, God, why did you ever let me go through that? Like why didn't you come in and swoop me up sooner? Why did you let me go through all of that? I wish I never had to remember that. Like there's so much like pain and shame and regret and like you honestly don't want to feel it again, but y'all, if it wasn't for that, we could never testify and also have compassion for people who do not know Jesus. Like I think my compassion truly is rooted from a place of remembering. I wasn't walking with him. I wasn't following him. And so if you feel like you lack in that department of like having compassion for other people or, or having that fire of like, no, Jesus is literally everything. I think reading the word of God will ignite that fire in you. It's always the answer, but also a prayer of God remind me, remind me, actually give me a nightmare about my past so that I wake up praising you, thanking you for saving my life. I forgot how miserable it was. God, I forgot how tortured I was. God, I forgot how oppressed I was. Demonically oppressed. I was in misery. I had no purpose. Actually, yes. Let me remember those things so that you wake up that morning on your face saying, God, I can't believe that you delivered me from that life. And then trust me, you will have no problem testifying to the world about how good Jesus is. Like sometimes we forget. Okay. I don't know where that came from, but thank you, God. Um, and yeah, I just, Jesus is it. He's it. He's everything. It's funny. Like I feel like a lot of people can have a lot of opinions about Jesus on what he can and cannot do who have never actually encountered him. And so that's, that's my challenge to people who try to combat me like, oh, you just have a, like, okay, that's just like your thing. And like, that's just like your imaginary friend or like, that's your version of God that like gets you through things. But I'm like, no, because the version of who God was in my head before I actually met him still wasn't doing enough. Like again, I believed in Jesus, but I wasn't following him. I didn't know him personally. He was not my best friend. I didn't know the Holy spirit intimately. What is the Holy spirit? It is the spirit of God that was left here on earth after Jesus died, rose from the grave. He died and was brought back to life, went back to the father, but left his Holy spirit here. It is the spirit of God that hovers with us today. Father, son, Holy spirit, the Trinity, God, all one God. It wasn't until I met the spirit of God, I got a little excited for a second. I had to come back. Hey, it wasn't until I met the spirit of God until it all clicked for me and made sense. And so until you've met the spirit, the Holy spirit, the spirit of Jesus Christ, the true spirit of Jesus Christ, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear anybody tell me that I have an imaginary friend that I've made up and this is just the thing that works for me. No, because nothing else worked for me. And even my own like understanding of who God was before I actually truly met him. He met me. I met him. He found me. He chased me down. Did I actually understand that Jesus actually is the way truth in life? Another thing that I have been having conversations with people about in my life is not like the, I think that the thing that's so important. If you, if you haven't started a relationship with Jesus or haven't given him a chance or if you're skeptical or all of those things. Um, first off, I get it. Cause like anything new is we're going to be skeptical, you know? Um, especially if we have been let down before it makes sense. I think there were parts of me that was still skeptical about who Jesus was before I really met him. And I would say, I think the reason why I was able to like actually encounter him for the first time in my life was because I actually was like, okay, like, but gave him my full okay, like my full yes, I'm going to give you a chance. I'm going to apply myself. I'm going to read this Bible. I'm going to pray. I'm going to educate myself and I'm going to open my heart to the possibilities of who you are. And even if you just go to Jesus and you're like, okay, I don't even know if this is going to work. I don't even know. I don't even know what to expect, but I know that I'm desperate and I know that I need something that's bigger than myself. And so my heart is open. Like I think truly you will encounter the spirit of God. If you go to him with a complete open heart of being like, I'm open to see who you are and you really give him like a full yes. And what that means is like, okay, I'm not going to like dabble in a little bit of God stuff and then dabble in all these other things. Like give him a real fair shot and read the Bible. Read the New Testament. Read the gospels. Read about Jesus. Encounter his love. Read the words that it came out of his mouth. And I'm telling you that I'm telling you, you will, it actually will be impossible for you to not encounter the, now I'm not saying you will encounter him or you will. Actually, I rebuke that. Yes, you will. I have faith for that, that you will actually encounter the spirit of God. The minute you open your, yes, you will. The minute you open your heart to him, how about that? Yeah, you will because you were made for that. You were made to know Jesus, your soul, whether you believe it or not yet, that's okay. That's okay. I don't even know if I was fully sold. If you open your heart to him fully, fully, you will encounter his love. You will encounter his spirit. You will because it's exact, it's the thing that you were made for. Like, I know that it seems so crazy and out there because it's like, well, I haven't seen, like, how do we know? Like I'm telling you, I know that this is what I was made for because I have never felt anything else like this in my life and I don't think anything else will come close to it. Nothing has fulfilled me as much as it's, I've felt fulfilled knowing Jesus. Nothing has given me more purpose than being in relationship with Jesus and like knowing who I was created by and what I was created for, which is, by the way, the two most important commandments that God has given us as his children, which is to love God with all of our heart, mind and soul and to love others as we love ourselves. That's my job here on planet earth. There's my purpose is to love God with my entire being, like every fiber in my body, which I can do because I've experienced his love and his love is like sometimes I feel like I could just dissolve. His love is something I can't put words to. Like I wish I could tell you guys words that would actually help you understand if it's something you haven't felt before. Apparently this episode is about a bit like I'm just speaking to send this to your friend who need, I, okay, here we are. I don't know where we're going in this episode. I wish that I could pick words that would actively translate the love of God, but I can't, I can't, there aren't, okay, there are no words. You have to just experience it yourself. And I know you can. I have faith for you. I'd also actually really love to pray for you right now if that'd be okay. Um, that you will, because I know you will because you were made for him. Like if you are living and breathing and you're listening to this and you're a human being and you, and, and yes, you were, you're not excluded. You're not forgotten. He's obsessed with you. And I'm sorry if other people have told you otherwise, or if other people have showed you in the ways that they've acted, that you are not worthy of being obsessed over or being loved that deeply, but I'm telling you that you are, I'm telling you that you are. And I know that that's bold coming from like a stranger on the internet. I know you don't know me, but I'm telling you that you are. I know, I know it. I could bet my life on it that you are so deeply loved by Jesus. I would, I would literally bet my life on it that you are loved so deeply by Jesus. And if other people have treated you otherwise, I am so sorry. Actually, I am sorry on their behalf. Like if you've never received an I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Like if you've never received an I'm sorry from those people, if it was never acknowledged to you of how you were betrayed or left or how somebody's actions or maybe they even said it to you that you were not worthy of being loved so deeply. I am so sorry on that person's behalf. Like, if it's okay, I would love to step in for that person and say, I am so sorry. And you, you deserve that. I'm sorry. And you didn't deserve to be treated that way. You didn't deserve to be told that you aren't worthy of that kind of love. And I know that we have been made by God and we've been made in his image. But the ways that people have treated you poorly is not the character of God. It's not who God is. And I can say that because no one's told me to say that. No one's made me a puppet. Like I could have kept on going the life that I was going before, which was not knowing any of that, to be honest, not experiencing God's love, believing what people said about me, believing in the ways like, like truly internalizing the way that people treated me and believing that because they could treat me that way. It's because that's who I am. Like if this wasn't the truth right now, I would still be living that way. I would still be allowing people to tell me how lovable I am. Or how worthy I am. I am sitting here today telling you this because I am living proof that everything that I am saying is true about you too. I would bet my life on it. And a lot of this is going to sound like such a mystery. And, and here's the thing. Here's the thing. I am sitting here as an active believer of Jesus. I would give my life for him. I have given my life for him. I have given up everything for him. My life is for Jesus. Why? Because I would give my life to somebody who has loved me as deeply as Jesus loves me, just as he gave his life for me first. I can only love because of how he loved me first. And, and that's just the truth. It says in 1st John 419, we love because he first loved us, which is a passage from the New Testament. And this verse highlights a central theme in Christian theology. The source of human love is the prior unconditional love that God has shown humanity. It suggests that our capacity to love others is a reflection of and a response to God's initial love for us. I would love to pray for you. I might just do it right now. Jesus, I pray for my friend on the other end of this podcast. God, I thank you for their curiosity to know you. I thank you that you have brought them to this episode for a reason, that it is not a coincidence that they are here right now. And so Lord, I actually pray for a supernatural encounter with your Holy Spirit right now. I pray that through the comfort of my voice, God, that your Holy Spirit is tangibly on my voice right now, comforting them and letting them know that everything that has happened in their life. God, you were there the whole time. You have been with them through all of it. And it might be hard to understand how you would allow the things to happen that have happened, but God, I thank you that you were there with them. And you are still with them today, that you are not done with them yet. You have not given up on them, that you love them so deeply. And so Jesus, I just bless them. I bless them in Jesus' name. I pray for a restoration of just their confidence in who they've been created to be. God, I pray for restoration of identity in Jesus' name. I proclaim the good, the good news of the gospel, God, that their sins have been forgiven by your blood. Jesus, that your blood covers all of it. Lord, I actually pray that they give their life to you right now, that they say in Jesus' name, God, I want to know you. I am done running away. I'm done running away from you. I'm done making my own decisions. I'm done living life without you. I don't want to do it alone anymore. And so, God, I just pray for a repentive heart from them, like that they just go, God, I am so sorry for doing life without you. I want to know you. I want to know you. So Lord, I pray, God, bless them, bless their life. Bless the calling on their life. God, I thank you that Jeremiah 29.11 was written for them. God, I thank you that this Bible, the Bible and these verses that I say at them, they're not just verses and it's not just a Bible. That's just like, it is a personal story. It is a personal. It is personal between them and you. Like that scripture was written for them. Jeremiah 29.11 that says that God has given them hope and a future. The Lord has given you hope and a future. That is the truth. And so Lord, I thank you that they get to walk in that truth. And Lord, I just ask that you are with them in every step of their life. God, continue to show them the way. And Lord, I lastly just pray a protection over them. God, protect them from anything that is not of you. Any thoughts that come through their minds, like anything that is not of you, God, will you please cancel it out in Jesus' name? I pray just the protection of God, Lord, send angels around them. And I just pray that from now on, from today on, this moment on, they will learn to know who you are. And then through that, they will actually learn to know who they are and who they've truly been made to be. Thank you, Jesus. We love you, God. We bless you, Lord. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for never giving up on us, God. Thank you that we are not too far gone. Thank you that we are not too damaged. Lord, thank you that we are not damaged goods in your eyes. We are not too far gone. We are not too damaged for you. Thank you, Lord, that you love us even in the mess. Thank you, God, that you love us even in the messes we've created for ourselves. And so I just pray all these things and I bless my friend on the other end in Jesus' name. Amen. And here's the thing. This is the other thing I'm going to encourage you to do. If you're somebody who's like, I don't know, or you're like, yes, I want to give them a chance, but I don't know how. Don't take it too seriously. Like, I think the other thing is that when I went into this, I was like so naive, kind of naive. I just didn't know what to expect. I think I was just like, I just wanted hope. Like I just wanted relief from what I was feeling and the pain that I was feeling and the loneliness and just feeling so lost and purposeless. Like, I think I just wanted relief and everything else that I was trying that would that I thought would give me relief would give me relief temporarily, but like it wouldn't last. And so I think that was my motive, obviously, but I didn't realize like all that all the restoration and the healing and just like the love that I got to encounter that alone is like, Oh, I want nothing else in this world. But I think because of that kind of like, I had low ish expectations. I think my expectations were like, I just wanted relief. And so because of that, I went into it kind of like, yeah, just like open to anything. And my expectations, like I wasn't putting a bunch of pressure on myself to be like, you know, super naturally transformed and to have like this insane, I think I just went into it kind of like a child. And I think of that's how you I would really encourage you to do that. Like go into this like a child and just be curious. Like, I just think just going into this openhearted and just curious about who he could be is the best thing that you could do. And the rest will really follow. It's that scripture that says seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all else will follow. What does that mean? Just seek God. Seek God, like out of pure curiosity and be like, I want to learn more about you, God. And I want to learn more about who you've created me to be. And I want to know what it means to actually have a relationship with you because I don't know. I don't know any. I don't know how that I don't know, but I want to know. If you are seriously considering following Jesus after this episode, I don't make commission off of this. Like, it's not like I get like, like this isn't like an MLM type of thing. Right. Like, I'm like, if you subscribe to Jesus, I get nothing from this other than fulfillment of. Purpose. Like I just feel I'm like, it gives me so much purpose to share the freedom that I've received through Christ with other people, and that in itself is my reward. Like I don't, there is nothing. I have no, I have no motive here. There's like truly nothing in it for me other than just pleasing God and knowing that I did the right thing and sharing the truth of who he is and encouraging people to experience a love that is like, duh, like, why wouldn't I want other people to experience this love? It's radical, amazing, offensive, but beautiful and the best thing ever. But if you have given your life to Jesus, if you've decided at this point that you want to give your life to Jesus, hallelujah, thank you, the Lord. I'm so grateful that you're here. Thank you, Jesus. But I will put some, maybe some resources and things that you could follow in the description or in the comments here on this episode. I can share links of, you know, Bibles, other podcast episodes that would help you of like, okay, now what? Um, and yeah, just other resources and things that I believe could help you. Also, please get plugged into a local church. I know that that's like the most cliche Christian sentence ever, but go to a local church and find really incredible people that you relate to and start surrounding yourself with people who believe in Jesus, because that was the other thing that transformed my life was that I got to watch and witness people live for Jesus. Cause I think there's a difference between obviously walking alone with Jesus and like having that personal relationship with him, which is all great and amazing, but there is something so powerful of like watching people demonstrate what it actually means to walk with Jesus. And it's just really great to have examples in front of us. Um, I think obviously like this podcast is a great, sure, but it's still virtual. And I just think, and even if you are a Christian listening to this and you haven't prioritized community, I could not emphasize enough how important it is to be in community and to be around people who are like minded and love Jesus and like really, truly faithfully follow him, like really actually follow Jesus. You know, you're going to see things that people do in their life for Jesus and with Jesus and it's going to make you go, Oh, whoa, I, I don't do that, but I really want to do that. There's a scripture in the Bible that says iron sharpening iron, which basically means that when we are iron hanging out with other people who are also iron, we only sharpen each other. Like we only help each other more and like encourage each other to be more godly and to be more like Christ and to love Jesus more. So I would encourage you to do that too, is to just find community around you. And if that's hard, pray about it. Like, like truly I believe that that is what God would, I mean, that's what he's made all of us for is to love him, but then also love others, right? It goes back to the first two import, most important commandments. And so you are meant for community. And I believe that. And I know that that's for you. And I'm going to tell you, it's like one of the most healing things to be in a community of people who love like Jesus. Now they're not going to be perfect. And that's a whole nother podcast episode. People are still broken and we are still flawed, but to experience the love of Jesus, not only directly from him and through his spirit, but then through his spirit, through other people, who it's so healing. It's so beautiful. So, um, yeah. Anyway, I love you. I'm so proud of you. You're welcome to stick around. If you want to continue to learn about Jesus with this podcast, I guess I spoke to the, to the new listeners, which is fun. You are welcome here. You are loved here. You are accepted here. Jesus adores you and loves you. And I hope that you know that this is a safe space and also like, if anyone wants to chit chat in the comment section and love on each other and pray for each other, I will always encourage that too. Guys, I, I love seeing the way that you guys show up for each other in the comment section and just like within this community, it is beautiful and I couldn't be more proud. Um, but I love you guys. Hey guys, can we actually do something really cool before we leave today? Can we do something cool today? Can we show somebody how cool Jesus is? Can we walk more like Jesus, talk more like him, be more like Christ today? Uh, oh my gosh, I love Jesus. Thank you God for today. What a gift. Um, I love y'all. I'll see you next Friday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Enjoy your week and I will see you next time. Bye. Are some of y'all still listening? Okay. 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