Pastor Justice Coleman on Exploring Faith, Community and Connection

Pastor Justice Coleman joins the We're Out of Time podcast. You've got to have a strong mindset. And I think that comes from knowing who you are. So when things go bad, you can fall back on that. You've got to be in community. That's right. You've got to have people. And I think you can get through just about anything in life if you have the right people around you. Love is grace and truth. Then the next thing you know, I'm baptizing them in apartment pools outside. I told one of them, like, oh, let's eat it. We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our listeners. Because of your incredible support, We're Out of Time has reached number one on Apple's mental health podcast chart, number two on the health and fitness chart, and number 20 overall. We couldn't have done this without you. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Thank you for listening to the We're Out of Time podcast with Richard Tate. If you haven't already, please follow the podcast, Rate and Review. And if you're getting value out of We're Out of Time, share it with someone else you know. Want to say a prayer? If you want to say a prayer, we'll say a prayer. Yeah, of course. Got a little bit what you said about how Richard said, like, Jesus on his right, Moses on his left, and you're kind of calling us to things. And while we would love to just get to be a part of something that helps people today, would you really help us? In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, God, I love you, amen. All right, about a month and a half ago, I attended a service at Freedom Church. And it really stuck with me. Today, I'm sitting down with Pastor Justice Coleman, the founding pastor of Freedom Church in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Maria, started it in 2011, which has seven people in their apartment, people who didn't go to church. Weren't sure if God was real, but we're searching for something more. Since then, freedom has grown into a community that meets people where they are, whether broken, skeptical, addicted, burned out, and gives them a place to truly experience God. Pastor, thanks for joining me. What an intro! That was a great summary. Thanks, man. I don't think to do with it. Dude, it was a good heart, though. I got good people. Yeah, man. It's good to finally sit down with you, bro. Yeah, no, the pleasure's all mine. So the first thing I wanna start off is with an apology, because I saw your talk. It was magnificent. I love the way you speak to the under generation. Okay, it's very... You're speaking to the masses in a very relatable way, with specific instructions on how to make your life better. That is very practical. I love that. But I owe you an apology, because afterwards, because I've got an AA background, we thank the speaker after the talk. So it's muscle memory. I'm walking up to you, I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna wait in line, and I'm gonna... Oh, like in recovery meeting. When somebody gets up there, they're vulnerable, they're share, and then you go thank them. Absolutely. So that's a muscle I've already got. So I'm running to you to thank you for your talk. And you said to me, would you like a blessing? I think that's those are the... Is that what you said? Maybe I said, can I pray for you? Or is that something like that? And I looked at you and I smiled, and I said, I swear to God, I'm good. Save it for the next guy. And you looked at me, you were like put off by that. And I was like, yeah, he didn't understand what I was saying. And it was, I should have just said, yes, thank you. Or just thank you. Like anything normal, right? Which is why I'm not built for public consumption. Hey, you told me, and I'm supposed to say this, you edited it out, but you said you had been to church in 20 years. That's, oh, well, don't worry. I've got a checkered past. Everybody knows that. Yeah, so I'm just so glad you dropped in. People don't go to church for 20 years for a reason. I mean, something was bugging you, right? No, nothing was bugging me. Just couldn't find something connected? No, I'm always connected. I love God more than anything in the world. We're gonna have the church of rich. There we go. Yeah. Dude, I watched your podcast with your guest about, it was a, what's the technical word for autism disorder, spectrum disorder? I learned so much from your podcast. Oh, with Maya. That was an incredible episode. I watched the whole thing. With Maya? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause I was like, man, do I have ADHD? Am I self-diagnosed? Cause I have a story similar to that. I have, you know, I came to Christ because my closest friend overdosed. And so all that stuff's kind of tied in. Okay. Let me get to these questions. Dylan, you do not let me get past that one. Okay, but- I'm the worst podcast guest, bro. Cause I have my own podcast. I'm used to controlling the conversation. So sorry. That's okay. That's okay. You're the one with the cards. Sorry, I'm the one with the- Dude, this is- There we go. This is so easy for us. We're just gonna, we're just, it's just us girls talking. Okay. All right. You launched Freedom Church in your own apartment with just seven people. Yep. What was the vision then? And how has it evolved into the movement you are leading today? Okay. So, well, nature calling the movement. I just, when I was 20, my best friend overdosed and kind of like a lot of people that come to God when they hit rock bottom, you know? And that kind of woke me up. And after, you know, really starting to see what it looks like when you give your life over to God, I wanted to start a church, but I was a part of a great church, but my friends didn't want to come to that church. So it was just kind of, I don't know how to say it respectfully because it was my father-in-law's church. It was just- It was still your father-in-law? He works with me now. He passed through a great church, but I would invite my friends to church and they wouldn't want to come to that church. And I loved it, but it just wasn't for them. You know, I'd just leave it at that. And so we just started thinking about it and praying about it. Richard, like what would it look like if we just started our own church? And, you know, I had graduated Bible college. You know, I had plenty of training. You went to Bible college? I did. I did. And- Was your father religious? My parents were like leaders and they hosted home groups, you know? So they were like legit Christians, but- Got it. I don't know your story, but I didn't really commit to the whole thing. So I was like old enough to, you know, I was 20. That's right. So, but yeah, so we said, what would it look like to just start, you know, something for my friends? That's how the whole thing kind of started. That's how it started every business. Yeah, it was just, I wanted to add value. I guess you'd say to my friends life. So I called my friends who were, you know, would never go to church. You know, one was a really successful DJ. So he was out all night on Saturday. There's no way he's going on Sunday morning. He didn't want to hear it. Couple of them were, you know, in street pharmaceuticals, you know, they were, they just, they're not gonna walk into a church, you know? A couple of them, they're living with their boyfriends or their girlfriends. They feel very jazzed. So I said, what if we just did dinner and we just, you know, we went through Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, the stories of Jesus. And God just, God did the rest of that. I mean, the fact that they came was amazing. But then next thing you know, I'm like, baptizing them in like apartment pools outside. That's so funny. You know, I told one of them like, oh, it's heated. You know? Like to this day, like I read it. So he's like, right time you baptized me, he told me it was heated and we got in there as cold as. You put him in an ice flunk. But then we started doing this thing called laundry love where we would go into a laundry mat once a month and we would pay for everybody's laundry in the building, no strings attached. So it was like a kind of a, it was a pretty rough area in the San Fernando Valley. And there was like section eight, section eight apartments next door. So like we did flyers, I said free laundry night and that would just pay for everybody's laundry with this group of people for an hour. You know, the whole thing is like, don't tell people about God because then they're gonna feel uncomfortable. Like you're holding their laundry hostage or something while you try to proselytize them or something like that. So I was just trying to train people just how to, you know, add value. Be an attraction rather than a promotion. Love your neighbor. Being an attraction rather than a promotion. Yeah. It's a great way to say it. Yeah. That's not mine. That's an AA thing. So yeah, we did that for months and months. And then that, that one grew. And then one of the guys who we were doing laundry for comes to me and he's like, hey, how about I start one of these at the same time down the street because the line's out the door. And I'm like, bro, you're not a Christian. He's like, I know I'm not a Christian, but look at all these people that, you know, and I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna vouch for you, but you gotta let me start a Bible study in your house. So I just had dinner with that guy, believe it or not last night. That was 15 years ago, him and his son. But anyways, that, that, that started into two and then into three. So before we ever had like a church, we were doing like hundreds of lo, thousands of loads of laundry for people for free every month. That's a madness. And then, then we rented out an Irish pub because it was a bar that wasn't being used on Sunday morning and they had screens and they had, you know, sound system. And so we started in a bar. That's awesome. And it was super fun. And like people who would, I mean, there's so many great churches. So it's like, this is an alternative for people. Like there's a great church that's already out there. So this is one for people who really didn't feel comfortable being in a regular, I guess you'd say. In a regular church. In a traditional church, yeah. So it was just a wild crowd. It was super fun. We did that and it just really started, people's lives started changing. So let me ask you a question that, that leads into the next question. Some churches preach prosperity. Others preach punishment. How do you preach grace in a way that truly changes lives instead of just filling seats? What an awesome question. Right. Yeah. I mean, I think even in the midst of, I don't know if we're supposed to talk about this, but some of the Charlie Kirk things, that stuff that's happening and just the political divide, like a lot of people are arguing about what love is. You know, there's great people on both sides trying to say, well, it's more loving to push this issue. No, it's more loving to push this issue. And what happens is, is we can start parsing out love. And so I love what you said, grace, because love is grace and truth. Right. It's not just what you say, it's how you say it. Right. The reason why Jesus can say the things he says about me and to me is because he was willing to live a life for me and then die for me. So he's kind of earned the right to say some really tough things to me and I listened to him differently. So there's grace and truth. Right. It's not just, you know, grace is when we get what we don't deserve. Right. But truth, you know, Joel Osteen, right? Yeah, yeah. He is what I call the prosperity preacher. Sure. Okay. How do you do it? Well, are you talking about like wealth? Well, it's like, yeah. So it's like either, it's either like follow God. Yeah. Right. You're going to be punished if you don't. Or no, God wants you to have all these blessings. This is what God wants for you. Yeah. Right. God wants you to have abundance. What's your, what's your, or do you not even go there? I mean, when it comes to like God wanting to bless your life, I think you have to look at your, I think the only healthy way to look at religion for lack of a better word is, is like a father and his kids. Okay. So like God could reveal himself anyway he wants for us to understand him. But his primary way of doing that other than the person of Jesus is that he is a father. Right. So he like, he wants that dynamic. He wants Richard to go to him like a father. So I have kids, I have three kids. And so I understand what it's like to, to have that relationship with them where I want to bless them. But a lot of times they're not living in a position that I want to bless them. Right. Right. It's like, you know, it's the story of the, the old kid who finally gets a driver's license, but he's a drive and drunk every night. And he crashes his car and he's like, dad buy me a car. I want a sports car. And dad's like, I would love for you to have a car, but I can't bless this. You haven't positioned yourself, you know, to be blessed. Get out of my head. That was me at 16. Yeah. Exact story. I think it's the same with our life though. I think God wants to take care of us and bless us. And sometimes he's like, it's not in your best interest to give you this right now. Right now. We'll get there. You were, you were going to get there. Yeah. Did I answer your question? Okay. Of course you do. Okay. Cause that's a good question, man. Now that let's have an agreement right now. Yeah. I get to ask any question I want and you get to answer it any way you want. Solid. There it is. All right. You communicate from the pulpit and online. How do you reach people who say they're spiritual but not religious? The ones who may never walk into a church but are still searching. That's a great question. I feel like a lot of people say that I'm spiritual but I'm not religious. I'm one of them. I was, where was I the other day? I saw a guy hit a shirt that said spiritual gangster. And I was like, that's a great shirt. But I think spiritual is what everybody feels that frequency we all sense that there's something more going on. So I think spiritual is a word that a lot of people can use to say, I believe there's more to this life. Right. I believe I'm made for something more. I believe there's something more going on, you know? But I think spiritual realm involves light and dark. It drives me nuts. The semantics of it. Like if I say I'm spiritual and not religious, it's something different. To every single person I said it to. Okay, but I don't do that. What I do is I just love God. If I say I'm Christian, that means something to everybody else too. That's right. Depending on what generation I'm talking to, what part of the world I'm in, who's president. What part of the valley? I'm trying to even find the right language to describe something that's so personal to me that is not gonna miscommunicate something. I just say I love God. Yeah. You know, argue with that one. Yeah. It's easy. It's like I love God, whatever that means to you. That's why when you walked in here, I said let's go God up. You were like, what the hell is that? And then started doing push-ups. And I was like, this is what it looks like to God up. I was like, all right, fine. I'm just getting a pump. Yeah, we... That just means we get around it and we just tell the truth. And we're heart centered, very heart centered. When someone walks into your church carrying depression or anxiety, what is the first thing you want them to know? Okay, if a thousand people walk into my church, how many of them have depression and anxiety? Nine out of 10. Right? Right. You struggle with depression and anxiety? Me? Yeah. Oh yeah. Me too. And I've got them number one mental health, again, number one mental health podcast in the country. Way to go. I mean, that's the conversation. Well, I mean, tell me God's not blessing this. I've never seen a podcast. I've never watched a podcast. I've never listened to one. Okay. And I've got a pastor on my thing. Of course, I've got the number one mental health podcast in the country. All right. If I were to say, hey guys, we're gonna do a series of talks every weekend about anxiety and mental health, it'd be packed wall to wall. I mean, everybody is going through this, right? And there's another reasons for that. But I mean, isn't that what's really going on? You talk about being spiritual, but how much of this spiritual stuff is just going on in our mind? Hey, can we switch gears for a second? Yeah. Cause I spent three hours the other night with my AI, Alex, he's named as Alex. Hmm. Okay. And I was asking him about the Messiah. Yeah. Right? And I think there's eight or nine things that it says in the Old Testament, what the Messiah is going to be. Yeah. Right? Now, he met all those things, right? Now, I think that Jews believe that there was going to be a king that came in, okay, and made everything better in this world. But what actually happened was a guy was born modestly and made everything okay, not in this world, but in the afterlife. Yeah. Right? Do I have that right? Yeah, that sounds great. Okay. Do you know what we call the, and if you're a Jew who believes that Jesus was the Messiah, do you know what you are? Messianic? I don't know. Messianic Jew? Is that what they call it? Yeah. Oh. A lot of Messianic Jews. I didn't know that. Yeah. He said, my guy said, no, babe, you're a fully realized Jew. That would make sense too. Yeah. Okay. Messianic Jews, there's a thing. Yeah. And there's Jews for Jesus. Is that what Messianic Jews? Yeah. I mean, if you're Jewish and then out of your people comes the Messiah, you don't stop being Jewish. No, no, no. Right? It's incredible that you get to be a part of this, you know, original story that goes through the whole Bible. Is that why so many born again Jews, born again Christians love Jews that accept Jesus in their lives? Of course. And that's why I spent seven years in college studying Hebrew culture and all that because it makes the Bible come to life. This is the people group that tells the whole story. Yeah. That's why they call it Judeo-Christian. Yeah. That's so good. Yeah. So we're over here talking about anxiety and then all of a sudden you just went straight to like whole testing of prophetic. Because I spent literally three hours the other night I could sleep. I came down here to my office and I just started working. Dude, how dope is AI studying the Bible? It's the best. Every day, man. It's the best. Would you call your AI Alex? Alex. I call mine Chattie Patty. I just chat GPT, Chattie Patty. I just say Chattie Patty. Tell me 10 interesting things about the culture of this verse and the inferences to other verses and the things in the original language to 10 different and unique things about whatever I was reading the Bible. Just incredible. You can give your talk. You can prepare your talk now in five minutes. And then it's just about practicing. Little bias though. I feel like Chattie Patty's kind of telling me what I want to hear half the time. So I kind of have to push back a little bit. Your girl gasses you up. Little bit. I'm like, hey, you're just saying that because you think that's what I want to hear. Busted. When I asked my guy, I go, who is Richard Tate? Yeah. He gave me, like he gassed me up. Yeah. I'm like, hey buddy, that's really good. Is that what you tell everybody else in the world where that's who I am? And he's like, no way. Well, somebody told me the day they came to our church because they said, hey, I'm looking for a church. What's a good one? And AI Chattie Patty told me to go to our church. So they're like, this is a church. There's a lot of work in the community and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's great. And so I was like, there we go. Ally, AI Ally. That's nice. What were you talking about? Mental health though. I love that subject. Yeah, let's get in it. And I had OCD as a kid. I had ADED. I was dyslexic. I mean... When could you, so you could read early, but you couldn't comprehend what you were reading. Is that... So I have a wild story that I'm more comfortable sharing publicly lately, but I mean, I was a mess, dude. I was a mess. I was like in second grade, I couldn't read. I mean, it's like, don't call on me in class because I don't want to sound this word out in front of everybody. That's right. I remember like taking the dyslexic, the dyslexia test and like, they write these words down on it, write them down backwards. So they took me to, do you remember Sylvan Learning Center? Yes. Okay. But I don't know what it is. I remember it. Well, the one I went to was over on Matura Boulevard and I went there in like second grade and they're like, are we gonna hold him back in school? What are we gonna do? And so how old are you in second grade? Like eight or nine years old, things like that. So I take this like gauntlet of tests. I remember it was like two and a half hours of tests, maybe three hours. And then at the end of it, they go to my parents and they have like the sit down. Like your kid is a first grade reading level. He doesn't understand math. He's dyslexic. They already knew I had OCD because I would have panic attacks, right? They already knew I had the little things like my dad would go to work and I would be so nervous. He was gonna, I have to do all those little like ceremonies and things and rituals to like calm myself down. So I already had like, you know, all these symptoms or whatever. So they finally get Sylvan Learning Center to give me like this diagnosis, at least like academically where I'm at. My parents, like I said, they had a small group of Christians that would come to their house and they would do like Bible study once a week and they fasted and prayed. And this is a wild story. So like a lot of people don't believe me when I say this. So it's like, but you told me I can say anything. They fasted for three days. They prayed over me like every night. I didn't even know they were doing this. And on the third day, they took me back into Sylvan Learning Center and had me retake all the tests. Bro, I have the print out. Like justice can read third grade six month reading level. He understands math. He's no longer dyslexic. Like just a full flip. And so they didn't put me on Ritalin anymore. I was off all the meds. I never had another panic attack. I have a story like that. And so, you know, and then I go into, I wound up doing just years of college and I study for a living and I have to, you know, there's so much about my life that has to be locked in, which was I could never lock in before. That's right. It's not to say that God didn't make me the way he wanted to make me, but it was just, when we talk about mental health and anxiety, it would feel like such a compromise for me not to talk about like a miracle working God. Listen, you know. God does bank shots just to show. God does bank shots just to show. Just to show off. He does. So I've got stories like that too, man. Yeah. What are your stories? I was in a sober living and I was smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. And I asked God to help me stay off drugs. And then as a separate aside, I said, oh yeah, and by the way, I'm having trouble breathing. I was hoping I could stop smoking cigarettes. Help me with that. Thank you God, I love you, amen. Right? And then I wake up the next morning early, like we always did in that place. And at about, I always smoke a cigarette. First thing in the morning. But I didn't, right? This is 20 years ago. You're at a treatment center? 25 years ago. At a sober living. Okay, yeah. And I wake up in the morning and I don't smoke. And then at 11 o'clock, I have my first cigarette. And I take a couple of drags, it tastes like poison. So then at 1.30, I take another cigarette. Okay, I'm smoking four packs a day. It's now 1.30. This is my second cigarette. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it tastes like poison. Yeah. I remember my prayer and I look up and I go, shut up. No way. Right? Another one. But see, hold on, that's Grace. Right? So like you didn't deserve that. Okay. He's just a father. Let's unpack that. If I got what I deserved, I'd be living in a two bedroom apartment in Culver City. Okay? If I got what I deserved, I'd be going to hell. Okay, that's horseshit. There's no way. Yeah, man. Why? I'm a sinner. Okay, stop. Okay? So Grace is that God would first have mercy on us. Not mercy is getting what you don't deserve. How about if you've always grown up loving God like you and me? Okay, you think we're going to hell? You think God creates a game he can't win? No, I think God's just. So I think people have hurt you, Rich, and I think people have hurt his kids, and I think he has a way of reconciling all that. That's exactly right, but it's going to be done the way he wants it. And just because I don't understand it is that's none of my business. I think part of my, when you say I'd be living in a two bedroom house, or two bedroom apartment, I just think the closer I get to God though, I've been following them for 20 years now, the more I realize how big is Grace is. Like I just feel even more undeserving. I just feel lucky. I just feel lucky. Okay, in this respect, I feel like I always thought I was going to do well in the world, but I never thought I would have a life like I have today. And it's just, if you think about it too long, you just start crying. Yeah. It doesn't make any sense at all, none. And does that grow with you? Like the longer you're living, the more you're appreciating and seeing the Grace. It comes with age, man. You get less aggressive, you're right. You have done more living and you just mellow. You just realize the struggle is just, can you just let go of the rope? All right, so something personal. I was in Costa Rica a couple of months ago with my family, and we had this great boat and this wonderful sunset all to ourself. And I'm like looking away from the sunset, and I have three kids. And my daughter picks up on the fact that I'm like looking this way because I'm ulterioried. And she's like, dad, why are you crying? And I was like, I'm just thinking about, like at the end of this life, first of all, I don't deserve all this, but I'm also just thinking about like, at the end of my life, if I stand before God, you know, we always have that imagination of like, what if God showed us our full potential? Like, here's what would have happened if you would have done everything. Oh, you don't think he's gonna do it? I do, but I had this, which is scary, but then I had this really wild thought for the first time, Richard. I was like, what if God doesn't just show me the potential? What if he shows me, I'm gonna get to you right now, what if he shows me all the times he had mercy on me and I didn't even see it? What about all the things he spared me from? So what if he just shows me my life and I was looking out for you right here? You can still, your muscles built, you can still in real time recognize, okay, that was a gift. Yeah, of course. Yeah, I do that all the time. Yeah, but what about the ones we don't even see? What about all the things he was protecting you from and looking you out for? You get cut off by somebody and you miss the light and then you go down and there's a huge accident and you would have been in. Exactly, but also people that could have steered you wrong. That's right. Times you forgave somebody when they didn't deserve it and how that would have, what just all the little times that God has looked out for you and for me? Cause we always have that question, why does God let bad things happen to good people? But I think I wanna look at the other way too, is like, what about all the things that I didn't deserve that he did for me? You know? And it just made me so emotional. It's a gratitude list. It's like what it's a built in gratitude list and you can't be grateful and depressed at the same time it's work. Yes. Okay, here we come. Mental health isn't just an individual issue, it's families, marriages, whole communities. What have you seen it do to relationships? To relationships, specifically in marriage, specifically in like being a father to kids and feeling the weight of that pressure. Maybe if you're the sole provider or if you feel like the whole world's on your shoulders. I think you gotta have a strong mindset. You've gotta have a strong mindset. And I think that comes from knowing who you are, right? And so much of the scriptures is about just telling you who you are. So when things go bad, you can fall back on that. Or when you have to do something challenging, you have something to pull from, right? I was talking to my son's football team the other day. They had their first game coming up, right? You pumped up your son's football team. How sick is that? Full of God. They called me. They're like, hey, will you give a pet rock to the team before their first game? So I roll in hot, Richard. I'm like, I'm gonna rally these dudes, you know? And they didn't have the confidence that I thought they were gonna have. So I go over to the coach and I don't know them and I'm like, hey, are you the kind of coach who says like, it doesn't matter if you win or lose. It's like how you play the game. And he's like looking at me, I'm like, cause I kind of wanna talk to these guys about winning in a mindset, you know? Cause I'm a highly competitive person. You're competitive? Very. Dude, I compete in jujitsu every month. Like, I love it. So I know what it's like to be locked in. I'm like, these guys gotta be locked in for this game. And Richard, I was like, I was like, hey, I come in hot like, who's gonna win the first game of this season tomorrow? And then the kids I'm thinking are gonna be like, ah, and they're like, we're gonna win. Like it was such a weird vibe. I was like, hold on, hold on, hold on, you know? It's the social media thing. Yeah. And so I'm like, I gotta switch this talk. And I was like, hey, do you guys know the word Nike is in the Bible? And they're like, what? And I'm like, yeah. So it says in Romans eight that you who are in Christ are more than conquerors. And that word is hyper Nike. So we know Nike means victory, right? In Greek. So hyper Nike is the word in the original language. And you have God reminding people in their toughest time that they're not just winners. They're more than winners. They're hyper Nike. They're dominant. It's a mindset he wants people to carry that they are. Dude, I wanna kick somebody's ass right now. That's right now. All right, go on. So I was just hyping him up. And I was talking about, you know, not just for sports, but in life to keep that mindset. So yeah. And I asked you a question about relationships. You have to have the right mindset. And that flows from, you know, who you are. It's beautiful. It's a great story. And they won. Of course they won. My son's first game playing tonight. He's been injured, but tonight's his first game to actually play. Really? So excited. What's he playing? So excited. He's a receiver, but he hasn't been on the field yet. He's on the varsity team. So tonight's the night. Really? Yeah. You got a varsity age kid. He's 15, yeah. 10th grade. Oh yeah. He made the varsity team at 10th grade. I guess. I didn't play football, did you? Oh yeah. Yeah. See, I'm watching this. I'm just. Oh man. That's so great. Listen, let me just tell you something. Your kid's going to get cracked. Yeah. Okay. Now, there's two things that can go through a kid's mind. Right. The first time he gets cracked, really, really hard. Yeah. Either, all right, let's go. Yeah. Let's dance. Or I better start studying. Yeah. Okay. My second, that was my second. That's how I felt. What do you mean better start studying? You mean like getting better at this? Like get the hell out of football. Oh. Like you better. This isn't for me. Like you better be a lawyer or a doctor or somebody. I thought you meant like you're going to learn today. No. No, no, no, no. I better go to school. Yeah. Sure, because it really, when you get stuck for the first time, really badly, it hurts. Yeah. When that happened, if your son look at him and say, hey, it's never going to be worse than that. Yeah. Not ever. Yeah. You just got that out of the way. Yeah. Now you can go. Now you can go. That's a good advice. Now you can go beat the world down. Yeah. Because nobody's better than you. That's a good advice. Yeah. He's used to contact. I mean, he's been a martial arts since he was a kid. My kids used to do it too. It's different when you get cracked. Like blindsided, yeah. Dude, he's going to be up, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's going to be exposed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're going to get cracked real hard with a helmet and your ribs or in your solar plexus. I fell on a ball. I got sacked one time. And I fell on the ball. And the point of the ball hit me right here. And I swear to God, I couldn't breathe for a minute and a half. And the only thing I'm thinking while I'm on the ground is, I can't believe I'm going to die in front of all these people. I can't breathe. I thought I was literally going to die right there. Okay, that happens to everybody at some point. That's a man-maker sport. It is. It is. I didn't get there. But it worked out. All right, loneliness might be the biggest mental health epidemic of all. Yeah. How do you create belonging in a city as isolating as Los Angeles? Man, that's a great question. You know, I keep my worldviews Christian. So I keep going back to this book that I've been getting all this guidance from for 20 years. And the first thing that goes wrong, so God creates the world good, right? He's like, this is good, this is good, this is good, this is good, boom. But then he says something is not good. And the first thing that he says is not good. The apple. He says, not good for man to be alone. That's the first thing he says, right? And so he gives Adam a partner. Before, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's not speaking to marriage, that's speaking to relationships in general. That's right. It's not just saying everybody needs to be married because that's not what the Bible says. But he's saying this idea of you gotta be in community. That's right. You gotta have people, right? And so I think that the greatest gift of the church is that spiritual community that people have and they have that rhythm. Every week we come together on a Sunday or we do, and we just continue to invest in people's lives and we listen to what's going on in their life. I pray for them, they pray for me. You just keep making space and room for people. People are seen, people are heard. So I think the idea of community is huge. During COVID, when all the churches were shutting down, this was rough. We had a huge parking lot, we did a big tent. So it was like we were able to do some gymnastics around all the rules and then put everything else online. But like people were going crazy being at home, making bad decisions or losing their mind. The mental health has got, it became an epidemic. So I've saw the gift of what it means to have the right people in your life. I think the best gifts God's ever given me are the people he's put in my life. How about you? The greatest gift God ever gave me was meeting a woman that I would have children with. So a relationship. Yeah. And I think you can get through just about anything in life if you have the right people around you. So relationships are crucial. And the other, and the flip side of that is, if there's someone in your life that isn't creating value, you can run the other way. Well, decide, I would push back on that because I would say decide why you're in their life to begin with. Because there's people in my life that don't give value to me, but I serve them. So it's like, this is not an ice scratch, you're a back, you scratch mind situation. Of course not. Remember Christ, he- If somebody's negative, if somebody's negative in your life, if somebody's not an asset, if somebody's constantly being a bad influence, that's what I'm referring to in your life, you have to cut those people loose. If it's impacting you, yeah. And you can't handle it. So there's like this illustration in the Bible. Sorry to keep going to the Bible, but there's like- Don't be sorry to go to the Bible, that's why you're here. Okay. So you've seen like yolks that go over oxen, like the big wooden handcuffs that go on the backs of their necks. And they yolk two oxen together to pull for grain and for farming, you've seen that? Okay. There's this language that's used over and over again about not being unequally yoked. That's right. This idea like you're an ox and you're going this direction, but if you put somebody who's weaker than you and you yoke to them, you'll have to do even more work and you can't go the same direction. You'll just start going in circles because you'll be stronger. That's right. But if you have another ox that's as strong as you, the weight is not double. It's- So that's why they say equally yoked Christians, married Christians. Yeah. And I think just in fact relationships, like there's people that you spend time with who are going the same direction as you, you're going to go faster and further with them. Maybe not faster, but you'll be further and stronger with them, right? They're going to keep you in the same direction. I'm all about building- And there's people that drag you down. No. And pull you into patterns and circles. And you're like, here I go again with the same person and I've already been through this before with them. And here it is. It's like, so yeah, I think that's a kind of a cool illustration that like whoever we yoke ourselves to is going to determine our direction and our strengths. Okay. This is a tough one. Give me the tough one. Oh, it's tough for me. Suicide is tragically common now. Yeah. What do you say to a parent who has lost a child to that kind of despair? Have you had that experience yet? Yes. Yes. Tell me about that. Well, since I'm just sharing all the stuff with you, I don't know if I've ever talked to about this publicly, but my grandmother committed suicide. So my dad was greatly impacted by that at 12 years old. You're lucky to be here. Parents, kids that have parents that kill themselves, kill themselves. Yeah. And so sometimes I wonder if the struggles I've had with depression and whatnot have come from some sort of biochemical passing down of, you know, sure it's possible. But, you know, I'll be at the lobby in church on Sunday, and right before service is gonna start, and someone will push me against the wall and say, hey, my sister, you know, unalived herself. Dude, is she in heaven or is she in hell? You know, like I get these questions all the time. And there are some people that are more comfortable. Like, what do you tell them? My Catholic friends kind of, my Catholic friends have like a statement from like the Pope. Basically they have like a, this means you've ended your life, this means you go to hell, right? They're comfortable saying that. But my authority like really doesn't come from the Pope. Like I'm just looking at the Bible and the teachings of Jesus and saying this is what I'm really confident in. Not that I would disagree with what the Pope says necessarily, but I'm not gonna go, well, because he said so I'm gonna pass that on. And I did a whole podcast episode on this because people would write these questions into us all the time. And then answer your question. I don't see anywhere in scripture where God would hold somebody responsible for the last thing they did like that. And that doesn't line up with a father, right? So I would never tell someone that this person, you know, my best, I have so many of these stories in my life. What do you tell them? I tell them God's just. I tell them I'm trying to trust God all the time when I don't understand, you know? I mean, That's exactly right. That is exactly right. Okay. The Bible talks about the body as a temple. How do you connect that to mental health and the dangers of putting poison like fentanyl or meth into your system? Man, these questions. I got smart people, pal. Okay, so the Bible does say our body is a temple. And I think a lot of times people look at the body as like a shell and the spirit as like the sacred thing. That's how I look at it. And it's wrong. So your spirit is sacred, but so is your body. You are two parts, your body and spirit, right? So even like when Christ comes back after he's dead to his disciples, he's in a body. Remember? He's like, put your finger in my hand, put your hand in my side. He's in a body. I mean, it's a glorified body, but we don't wanna treat our body like it's just some sort of temporary shell that we can treat like garbage because the spirit is the real thing. Because Christ gave us... I always thought that by the way. I always did. And in treatment, we completely debunked that and you're exactly right. I'm sorry, I interrupted. If you think about it for 30 seconds, you go, you can't look at just physical things and say they're spiritual. I mean, say they're not spiritual, right? So like sex is not just a physical thing. We know that's a spiritual thing. We know that. So when you, you know, there's a lot, it says in that same passage about the body being the temple, it says, your body is not your own. You were bought at a price. So honor God with your body. And the way I help people see that is, you know, when a kid started to be graphic, but he's taken advantage of by someone older and it's a sexual sin or it's a sexual thing that happens to him. Right. That jacks that kid up for the rest of his life. Yes. Because that wasn't just physical. No, of course. So that passage says sexual stuff is the only thing that happens inside the body. So that's why it's worse than anything else. It says that. What do you mean? It says sexual sin is the only sin inside of you and everything else affects the outside of you. So he's saying that sexual sin actually is not just physical, it's spiritual. Like it hurts the person, right? So I thought I was saying if a kid is molested, right? If a rape victim, she'll go take a shower. Let's say it's a woman and she'll take a shower again. She'll still feel dirty. She'll take a shower again. She'll still feel dirty, right? It's my fault. I can't tell anybody. They're gonna look at me differently. All the- It feels like it's inside. Yeah. Yeah. So it may have happened to her body, but it feels like it happened to her spirit. That's right. Because you can't really separate those two things. If you eat light crap today, how are you gonna feel? Horrible. Right. That's a spiritual thing. Because you weren't taking care of your body and your body is designed to work like that with your spirit. That makes so much sense. So we gotta be careful just saying one is more important than the other and- Oh, God gave you the body, so take care of it. That's how I look at it in my head. Yeah. Also, God gave you his son's body. And so that takes care of that. Right. Okay. I think that's the place to end. What do you think? All right. See you next Tuesday.