Ronnie "Reconcile" Lillard has been a college football player, he’s a rapper, youth advocate, court case manager, and father of five. He wears a lot of hats, but one thing is for sure, he’s always doing it for the community. After leading ministry in Houston, he returned home to his native state of Florida where he is now a director at the non-profit organization Youth For Christ, where he leads outreach programs for at-risk youth. Join us as we talk to him about navigating family, ministry life, the joys, and even the pain of living out your calling.
Listen to Streets Is Suicide by Reconcile here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocTl6iOIU1s
Ronnie "Reconcile" Lillard has been a college football player, he’s a rapper, youth advocate, court case manager, and father of five. He wears a lot of hats, but one thing is for sure, he’s always doing it for the community. After leading ministry in Houston, he returned home to his native state of Florida where he is now a director at the non-profit organization Youth For Christ, where he leads outreach programs for at-risk youth. Join us as we talk to him about navigating family, ministry life, the joys, and even the pain of living out your calling.
Listen to Streets Is Suicide by Reconcile here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocTl6iOIU1s
What's up. Y'all how are y'all doing today? Hopefully you guys can hear me. I've got a very special guest that Sachs man. Thank you, Alicia, for the, uh, for the words of encouragement. Yeah, man, my, uh, ironically, it's the soundtrack for the, for the podcast. And today I get an opportunity to interview the guy who, who, uh, man sent me the beat and it's, it's what we use for the podcast. At least what's going on, man. You can hear me. I'm good. I'm good. Okay. Appreciate you. Appreciate you. Hey guys. Thank you guys for joining us and bearing with us. Uh, I've got a very special guests, man. We're going to have a great conversation, um, brother, by the name of reconcile, but let me, let me set this up real quick. After today's conversation, he is my hope. Uh, you're going to shake these pandemic blues and get out here and walk in the joy of your colleagues. I'm I guarantee you, after this conversation, you are going to shake them blues. You're going to get out here and do what God has called you to do. And so man, welcome to a live taping. This is a live taping of the kinfolk podcast show. We're going into season two and we're going to be dealing with calling season one. We dealt with in light of the, uh, man, the, the, the insurrection against black bodies from last year and the years past, where do we go from here in light of what happened to our brother, George Florida, season one and season two is about calling and, uh, man, we're, we're taping this thing live and our episodes will drop 10 starting, uh, the first week in April after Easter. And so we're doing this live. And so I also will do kinfolk the kinfolk key kinfolk key thought. I'll do that live as well. And so man, I'll brother reconcile will be on shortly. Uh, man, let me just, uh, just pray real quick for our time man, before we get into it, father, we're so thankful for all that you do. We're thankful Lord that you give us God, this opportunity, Lord, to speak to our brothers and sisters today. I pray Lord that as we have man, just to, uh, a, a conversation, God, I hope that helps each and every one of us, I know that it's going to be man weighty. It's going to be fun. Uh, it's going to be all of those things, Lord, but I pray Lord that most of all, we would all individually find out, uh, that we have a calling on our life is in Jesus name, pray. Amen. What's up reconcile man wreck was, uh, began dedicating his time and efforts towards struggling youth and incarcerated man. As back as 2009, I was there. I was, I was watching it all happen. Did outreach events with juvenile gang units, uh, in Houston and post-college football. He turned his focus over the making hip hop music that challenged the urban cores. Whereas for as well as forming a non-profit, uh, live frontline that helped to mentor at-risk youth on probation in the city of Houston, uh, man, he was rapping while he was doing that. Uh, he was serving as a juvenile court case manager, uh, for Harris County. And currently he is a director for a nonprofit in, uh, Miami Dade County and in 2020. And I'm reading all this cause cause we're going to talk about some of this. When we talk about calling in 2020 reconciled presented the mayor of Miami with an agenda to improve black life in the city of Miami reconcile advocates for the abolishment of the 13th amendment, juvenile justice reform, prison reform, major challenges to public housing as well as education reform. Man, ladies and gentlemen, let's give a warm welcome to our brother reconciled. All right, man. Um, man, before we get into, uh, today, we're going to be talking about calling and what it means to fulfill your calling with joy and like, you know, the term we always talk about people have a call in our life and we think that it has to do with like, uh, called a preaching call to a pulpit. But man, your life is, is emblematic of what it means to fulfill or fulfill the call that God gives all of us a call to the world. But before I get into that, man, I want to man, just want to pause for a second. Uh, you, you created a song that, uh, me and my wife play on replay called streets is suicide. And uh, you featured a brother named Obie Noah, who we all know, uh, he tragically plast, um, Sunday evening, I guess it would be Monday morning. And so man, I just want to give you the floor to kind of express yourself, man, and kind of tell us who he is, why'd you pick them and uh, what this loss means to his neighborhood, um, to our family. Uh, I met Obie back when I first started here, but OB back when he was eight boy, you know, as you know, we got off third
Speaker 2:World community is real tight knit, third ward, Houston, Texas, and, uh, OB, uh, you know, yeah, he's all the way thorough third ward, Jack Gates, um, state championship basketball team. Uh, he went off, uh, left, uh, left the area from, you know, living in the projects and went off to play college basketball, traveled overseas, um, really expanded his mind from that street mentality to, to a beautiful person who was well-rounded well versed and, and, and knowing people's issues and struggles and knowing how to speak to, you know, not only the community, but knowing how to speak to, uh, people, to help them understand the struggles of the community. And, um, you know, uh, you know, I was able to connect with him for some, for some different stuff that we were doing. Um, when music, because we had similar heartbeat, um, you know, he cared about the community, uh, messily accurate by the community that mislead. And, um, we had a mutual friend named Nigela, which is like my, my A1C since day one, I made the connection, you know, started, we started sharing music and going back and forth and it's like, you know, we really want to make a record that can impact the streets of Houston specifically on the third ward area for years to come. So anytime somebody moves their life, anytime, you know, the streets stuff is getting wild and you play this record and this record should be a reminder if you are what we, what we're getting away from the focus and, and how, how senseless, you know, some of the violences and, and how the violence is not the answer. Uh, even though the pain may be real, that violence is not the answer and that S is actually found in the cross. And so if you ever check that record, I, man, it's just a beautiful record. It's an old, the Georgia, Florida, uh, both of us, all of us on this call and him and, you know, we all knew George Floyd personally. And, um, you know, it was just a positive thing. And then, you know, do we just may just find out, man, I'll cry it out, bro. I just find out that he just was senselessly murdered. And I know you not about that. Not even that he he's dead life is not even in his path. He's such a for beautiful person. It's just senseless, man. I can't even, I can't even wrap my mind and my stomach around it. You know what I'm saying? Feel them a lot of phone calls, people crying. It's just crazy.
Speaker 1:And, uh, that, that, uh, that song, man just, just rings in my, my heart and my mind. Why did you, why did you pick him for streets, his suicide and what was it about him that, that you felt it was? I mean, first of all, describe streets as suicide. It was some of the lyrics. And then why'd you pick him
Speaker 2:Last night? I heard the bullets fly last night. I heard the hood cry, you know, anytime, you know, I just remember just living in third ward and you hear gunshots throughout the night. And then, you know, following them gunshots a lot of time is, is, you know, there's a phone somewhere where people are calling it and that phone was not yesterday. You know what I'm saying? And then there's a bunch of other phone calls that happen after that male what's going on, ladies, you hear such and such, such and such. And then it's like, simultaneously everybody who's connected to that person is crying. That was like last night I heard them bullets fly last night, I heard the hood cry, sweat. It's like, you know, the whole street mindset, a lot lifestyle is, is suicide. And, uh, you know, is this, you know, it's, it's just something we have to, as a community, we have to really wrestle with, you know, we really want to change and we really have to change the culture and that, and that just to change the culture, you really got to change. The circumstance of people are living in. And, uh, otherwise we're going to replay this, replay this, and replay this, and it'll be somebody else that breaks our heart, you know? Um, Oh, we was pig man. Like I said, you know, uh, OB has that heartbeat. Um, you know, he's the type of brother that's gone jump out of food truck and serve people, serve homeless, people serve. He's the type of brother that's going to rally people to vote. You know, he's the type of brother that's gonna, um, you know, talk down the street, ignorance, you know, he's the type of brother that take his shirt off his back flee, you know, I seen him support so many people, uh, you know, saying it just be a real one from the, from, from the, from the, from the mud, you know what I'm saying? So,
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, no, I, um, Venmo rotten me, man, when you told me and we, I mean, we've, we've had so many people, um, over the last year, year and a half just seems like they would, they would take taken from us. And man, I think this kind of mergers into our conversation about calling and I just want to set it up, uh, briefly, um, for those of you are listening, um, this, this idea of calling is so important, you know, way back when this old white guy named John Piper on this phrase, don't waste your life. And I think for so many of us, we, we are living at less than our capacity, less than I call it because we think our calling is to the American dream and to just go to church on Sunday. And so man, I want to set up this conversation. My, my boy rec has had a crazy, amazing life in packed into his 30 plus years, but I want to, I want to set the conversation up with, um, this idea of calling and where it comes from in the Bible. And so there's a, there's a passage of scripture Genesis one 26 through 28 and it's a crazy passage. And I always refer to it when I'm thinking about my calling because verse 26, isn't God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let him take dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds heaven and over the, uh, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps in the earth, um, he'll drink the sake. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female. He created them and in verse 28, he'll say, and God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. And here's the crazy thing he says, be fruitful and multiply and feel the earth and subdue it and, and feel the earth and subdue it. Um, man, let me, let me, um, before I make an appointment at Duardo seeing some stuff here, man, I want to make sure that we, we, we captured, uh, and waters says, may we be counted worthy of the calling? God has bestowed upon us. He also said, I said, man, life really is a vapor. And uh, okay, so man, so check this out. He says, be fruitful. Uh, you've been fruitful in, in, in your life. You got five kids, five beautiful kids. Uh, so we get the flavor of what it means to be fruitful and multiply, but then he says it's extra word, uh, and field the earth and subdue it. And you're like, well it can't, I mean have more kids because that's what be fruitful multiply. It means feel the earth has to deal with and has to do with, um, taking the, the, the tools and the raw material that God gave Adam in the garden, cultivating it and creating kingdom that is worth I'm worthy of the God that we serve and worthy of, uh, uh, um, um, it is, is saying well done. And so to fill the earth for Adam was to be somebody who takes what God put in his hand and man expanded to two. So that, so that the kingdom isn't just man, we, we talked about sermons in church services, but the kingdom is about every human being taken, what God, the raw materials God has given them and cultivating it and creating something beautiful. And so Adam's call, was it to preach in the pulpit Adam's call was to go out and feel the world to take, um, the, the, the raw material and make something beautiful out of it in that brought God praise and that expanded quote unquote God's kingdom. And so man, when we talk about calling, that means that every one of us has been given raw material and it is up to us to listen to God as he, as he tells us to feel the world and to do with what he's given us. And some of us got one tool and some of us got five tools like Rick here, but we all got something. And so man, I wanted to, I wanted to shift gears to kind of ask you, because I think since everybody has a call, regardless of whether it's accounting or archery or artistry, I mean, this is important. I mean, because I think so many people think you're called to do work in a church and that the other things that we do are just our job. And so I wanted to just kind of pitch to you. Do you feel called? And if you do,
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely feel cold. Uh, I feel cold. Um, and like, like, you know what I think about calling, I think most people, um, looking for the call and know what it, you know, what it is. I think you're calling a lot of times can be tied to, um, you know, uh, things in your life that that might be more challenging. You know what I'm saying? Like things that particularly, you know, let's say made it something that your life is like, man, I went through that and I have a heart for that. You know, like I remember when I was, uh, when I was a kid, a lot of people don't notice about me when I was a kid. I used to live with my grandfather. Now, my grandfather was really sick. He was very sick. My grandfather passed away when he was 59 years old. And uh, they told him like when he was like 40, 47 or something that he wasn't gonna make the year. So he made it like, he squeezed out like another 12 years, but it's very challenging for him. And I just remember, um, we couldn't do a lot for himself. I used to help him, you know, get out of bed, walk him to the car, help him get out of the car, you know, help take shower, like do everything for him, you know what I'm saying? And um, and, uh, he, he passed away of a heart attack. He had a heart attack. And, uh, I remember after he passed away, I was like, man, I want to be a cardiovascular surgeon because I want to, I wish I was, could have been the person that knew how to fix his heart. And I knew he couldn't afford the insurance and all this stuff that came with fixing his heart and all those issues that, Hey, it's so like it, my, I felt like that particular thing was something that I cared about and mislead. Now I got to college and figured out how long it was going to take to do that. And there was other things, there was other things on my heart data that were pressing as well. Like, uh, I, I feel that I felt I missed me to. I used to always, when I was a kid, I used to watch the airplanes, uh, gold black in the hood. I'd be sitting in the hood, you watched the airplane go over. And I used to always think like, like one day I'm going to jump on one of them airplanes and I'm never coming back. You can't pay them enough to ever come back here. You know what I'm saying? And um, but then you, you get on an airplane. I ended up getting a scholarship and getting on an airplane and going to play D one football at Houston. And you realize that I realized that I wasn't there for myself, but that getting back on that airplane and going back to places that needed that help and invest in my life and those types of people that I was trying to really run away from my own comfort and, and, you know, never experienced the pain and the poverty again. God's like, um, um, um, um, building up in you, uh, the resources to go back and make a difference in their poverty. And so when I think about just calling in general, you know, I think everybody needs to look at the things that are important. You know what I'm saying? Like, I think we live too much in America. It's just like, man, we just wanna, we live for the bad. We want to be caked up. We want the least path of resistance. So you know what I'm saying? We don't want no, uh, you know, we just, we just want everything to be sweet, easy, but that's, that's not living like, you know, get enough money to live on the weekend, go have a vacation. That's not living life. Isn't meant to be trying to be preserved. I look at Jesus Christ. Life is meant to be laid out. It's meant to be laid out, you know? And I don't think you need any pre-qualifications or you don't have to have all this certain perfect circumstances to do that. I look at you, this Christ again, this man was born in a manger. This man was born into poverty. This man was born into, you know, he had none of those things. You know, you would think that if God sent Jesus into creation and he needed all this stuff to do all this stuff, that he would have laced them up with like a good family that got bread, you know what I'm saying? You know, hurt can't man. But it just goes to show like, you don't need all these things. All you need is you need the passion and you need the, um, the vision from God. And, uh, you should, your business should be both,
Speaker 1:You know, do you, um, you know, you, you go, you're so passionate about this thing. Uh, and about your calling, have you ever wanted to give up
Speaker 2:There's times where I've, I've felt discouraged as if it's not work? Like if it's not making a dead, I think I ever wanted to just give up. I think there's times I felt like, man, am I even making a dent? Not, should I do something else? But you know, feeling like God, do you know God, what is, how does this work? How does this play out? You know? Cause it feels, you know, at times it feels pointless at times it's it's sorrowful, you know, like, you know, when you work with, you know, work with juveniles, you work with a kid, there was a particular kid. This just happened. Like last month I worked with this kid for like almost two years and we were waiting for the kid to come get out of, finally get out of residential. He had been locked up for like two birthdays. We're waiting for him to come home and they start really working on his life, you know, while he was out. And he, and he'd been out three days and he got murdered and a 16 year old. And uh, it just make you go like, God, what a, what are we, what do you do? You know? And, uh, but I think the answer is not to quit. Um, the answer is not definitely not to quit, but sometimes it, it, it does feel overwhelming. And you, and you wonder that guy, what is the point? Um, and so I think in those times, you know, that's why I appreciate God really mean back into things that are important. You know, I always think about the scripture says there's anything that you should think about, you know, think about what is good, you know, think about what is honorable was noble and, and, you know, take captive the thoughts of the enemy because the enemy, I think he would definitely want you to think it's pointless is few times. None of it makes a difference, you know? And, and to get you to think, you know, well, I'm wasting my time. And then like the scripture says, you know, Paul was like, you know, if all of this is few tiles, assume let's go ahead and go ahead, eat, drink, get the strip club, you know, let them shake a couple of them in them, in my face. And, and, um, let's go, you know what I'm saying? It's a little bit, but it does matter, you know, it doesn't matter. Do you, what did you do if anything, to prepare for, for your calling? I mean, can you prepare for it? I I'll know. I mean, I think life prepares you for it, but I think once you realize that there's a certain way that you want to go, let's, let's say, like you say, man, my on is, I'm just, I'm just using an example. Let's say you're like, man, I really want to fake legislation. Uh, that affects a large group of people. You know what I mean? Uh, to, to empower them and to, uh, improve the conditions in which they live. All right. So if you have you filled any of your heart, you might want to position yourself to put yourself in a position where you can learn and you can sharpen those tools so you can best do that. So I think that there is, uh, there is preparation. If you want to be a pastor or a preacher, I don't think you need a whole bunch of PhDs behind your name to preach the gospel, but you do need to study the word of God and you do need to submit yourself to accountability and a group of men that are going to continue to push you because that is a hard road. And you know, there's a lot that comes with whether it's church planting or anything, if you say, well, even if there's anything that, you know what I'm saying, I want to use, you know, I guess some talent as a entertainer or whatever those things are like you have to, you know,
Speaker 1:So, so many people see you do the things that you do. Um, artists, activists, entertainer, what was your period of preparation and, and what did you, what did you do to prepare yourself?
Speaker 2:I was learning as I was going. I think the biggest, the best thing that I could have did was just, I just, uh, uh, and I, I attributed to, to the Lord, I just happened to gravitate towards the right circles of where I felt like God wanted me to be. I knew what God didn't want me to be. There was circles that I felt were going to challenge me that were going to sharpen me, that we're relationships. And I thought that even though it might not be easy, it might be a more challenging path. I decided for whatever reason to continue to put myself in those circles or put myself in those spaces that grew me. And I think naturally, uh, you know, saying you fly with Eagles,
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to push you a little bit. Can I get, can I, I mean, let's say I got my accountability group. I, you know, got my 50 people. Can I get in the booth right now and, and develop a song like you can't, you see what I'm saying? Like
Speaker 2:You can't, you can't get in the booth. It just might not sound like that.
Speaker 1:And so that's what I, I pushed you a little bit, I would say, like prepared.
Speaker 2:The rule of thumb is 10,000 hours is what turns you into a profession. You know what I'm saying? You put 10,000 hours into whatever craft it is that you do, then that's what, you know, if you get up today and put four hours into it and then footer for the next year, you put four hours, it doesn't do the math real quick, four hours. Let's, let's say task five days a week. All right, you're getting 20 hours a week into your craft just by putting four hours a day into what you do. You know what I'm saying? You add that times four weeks in a month. Now you talking about you putting 80 hours of work into what you do, you know, saying that you add that there's 12 months in a year, 80 times 12, I do the math. Was that not 9,600 hours. You didn't put into it. So you just put in four hours in a day and about a year and a little change. You know what I'm saying? You have put your, you will be in a different place, uh, in regards to what you do and what you're pursuing. You know what I'm saying? It's, it's the work as an overtime and how many hours
Speaker 1:Do you, do you, would you estimate that you put in to being able to make those melodies, to be able to make those, put those words together
Speaker 2:From 2010 to, to nap rush. Now we probably put in a hundred thousand hours, you know,
Speaker 1:I've seen, I saw you in the beginning or towards the beginning, and I see you now, and I know man, you put in an inordinate amount of energy and I think people don't always appreciate that. Uh, you, you receive a call from God, but a call from God is also a call to prepare. Um, did you ever consider your calling to be from a pulpit? And if you did, what was going through your head at the time?
Speaker 2:I, I think I definitely feel a calling like a pool pit column, but I think there's, there's me specifically. I think there's different types of pools.
Speaker 1:Okay. Talk to us.
Speaker 2:I think there's a, but, and then I think there's other places where there's platforms, where you can be a Christian influencer and a leader of thought and, uh, keep people accountable and, um, and shepherd people. Um, I don't think that's always like the traditional church pulpit. I think there's even roles in the church where guys don't always have a pulpit role, but, um, but they, they have a pulpit responsibilities, uh, you know, set up anybody that accepts that responsibility to say, I'm going to lead that life, you know? Um, you know, it comes with other things, but yeah, uh, I, but one day, you know, who knows, maybe you might see me in a traditional pool pit. I, I definitely believe in a local church. And right now I think the local church, uh, is, you know, when we talk about a local church, we just talking about the church in your neighborhood is struggling and we need more motivated, encouraged pastors. You know, I think pastors are discouraged similar to what I was talking about earlier. Just feeling the discouragement and feeling like, you know, what's making the debt, they're looking at the finances, they're looking at the state of the, you know, everything that's going on. So, you know, pray, I pray fast as all the time.
Speaker 3:Oh man. Um,
Speaker 1:I've got some lightning round questions. These are, these are real light, uh, before we get to some more heavy stuff. All right. So you got to answer them real quick. Got 10 real quick scale of one to 10. How good are you at keeping secrets?
Speaker 2:Eight.
Speaker 1:Okay. Uh, Ariel, uh, Jasmine, Jasmine. Okay. First celebrity crush.
Speaker 2:Uh, Jennifer Lopez.
Speaker 1:Who is, uh, Dawn or dusk? Uh, Don. Don. Okay. Why Don this? When the sun go down, right? No, that's what it's all go up. So if you could travel back, if you could travel back in time, what period would you go to? A 1998. 1990. Okay. All right. And why, why the nineties? Uh, okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Do you snore, uh, I'm told you wouldn't know her. I wouldn't know the place you most want to travel? Uh, South Africa. Okay. Uh, favorite junk food? Hartley's hot wings. Okay. I, uh, favorite childhood TV show? Um, man, y'all remember, uh, he's
Speaker 3:A smart guy. Smart guy.
Speaker 1:You like smart guy? Smart guy was good. Smart guy was good. Uh, it was a spinoff off the, uh, what's the one the T and tomorrow. Yeah, my brother, me, my brother and me was over at two. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Uh, favorite season of small, you know, the, the, what is the spring fall, winter, summer favorite season? I like, uh, uh, like fall where you could start smelling the football at the end of the year. Okay. All right. Uh, last Halloween costume. I don't think I've done the Halloween costume. Ooh. Uh, the only one I can think of when I was at Git and we had, uh, we had, it was Halloween, but we was coming from practice. And so my sister, she got to be a cheerleader and I got to be a football player. Cause I already had my helmet for practice. What were you going to be? You were a football player. My favorite costume is an angry black man, but anyway, let's keep, uh, K K goodbye. Uh, shoot, neither. Oh, okay. Y'all no sweets for you? Not really sweet potato pie. Okay. Well, okay. All right. Uh, do you ever post inspirational posts on social media? That's you all the time? All right. So let's move to some,
Speaker 3:Uh, family and call it.
Speaker 1:What does family, when I say family, what does that mean to you?
Speaker 2:A man at nuclear unit. At the crib. Yeah. Um, and then also the people around you, the not so much the, uh, not so much the, cause. I mean, I, my, my, my upbringing, I never saw much had a strong, like a family unit of cousins and aunties and all that different stuff. Uh, but I've always, I've always said, uh, like that weird, like you start building relationships in the community and those people feel like family. And so I would say that First family has always been, uh, uh, my family.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like family is part of your calling or do you feel like family is separate from your fault your, your, your calling
Speaker 2:Are big, you can ever pull family from the car? Um, I think, uh, when you look at description, like,
Speaker 1:You know,
Speaker 2:Being about families and responsibility, it's not even, you know, it's always a part of what you, what you do.
Speaker 1:Uh, but do you sometimes like, feel that tension, you know, like I'm going hard and man, they over here, I know I've felt that
Speaker 2:I've been in that situation a lot of times where you feel like, you know what I'm saying? Like, do I need to reevaluate everything I'm doing? You know what I'm saying? You know, the family is most important.
Speaker 1:Um, how do you incorporate raising five beautiful children into your calling?
Speaker 2:The worst says, you know, uh, each child is like an arrow, you know, to get to shoot, you know what I'm saying? And, uh, you know, we shoot with the kids tonight and we was at the, I got them dribbling, catching footballs. You know what I'm saying? Um, you know, my son, he's so brilliant, man. He's a, he's so smart. He not even fully a school yet and is working to read and it just blows me away. Like he was reading, Oh, is his love sentences today? And I just looked at him, I just put your work down, come give me a hug, man. You're so smart, man. You know what I'm saying? Um, you know, but I think like, like the conversations I've had with my oldest, you know, about, you know, understanding the world and, you know, she's at a point now where like the concepts, the, these, these mature concepts about where we fit in a world and, and you know, how she has her worldview are starting to be formed and shape. And I think it's important to, you know, to have a voice in there from us in that, you know, um, because as you train up a child, that's the way they will go as well. They will come back to, and that's what they, those, we have moments with our children where we can, uh, you know, further, uh, God's kingdom, uh, you know, raising up children that are equipped to, to take, you know, make a difference in the world. So I take the heavy, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, man is my next question. But what what's, uh, maybe like the number one thing, you, you leave with your children that you hope that sticks with them, uh, when they grow up,
Speaker 2:Uh, their faith, you know, um, they, faith, I think that's the core of everything. You know, I, I hope that they would always, always, you know, know that, uh, God is enough and I hope that they will have the integrity of the Holy spirit, because I think that will take them a long way. Nina, terribly walking in the Holy spirit. Uh, and then lastly, I just, I hope they, they have their perseveres, you know, that they, they have strength to them. You know, when life is hard, you know, and hopefully they can see that through my life and see it in my life as they continue to watch me, you know, that when times get tough or things to challenge and you don't give up, you lean hard, wrong, God, and you clean to the spirit and that's, that's how you remain up. Right. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah. You've had, uh, various phrases phases in your life that, uh, you weren't always, you didn't always have five kids. And so does God call because there's some people here who don't listen that are probably S uh, single or single parents, um, or, you know, single, no kids, this God called them. And from your experience, what are some things they should be listening for if they are trying to hear his call?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Um, these, these calls and everybody, I think, um, I think people, they need to do some deep soul searching about who they are. I think the, the start of the calling is understanding your identity and an identity kind of shapes your perspective. You know, I talk with kids and they're locked up. I got a buddy, um, he's he said something profound, his name is angel, but, uh, you know, our, our identity is formed by our worldview. Our identity is formed by, uh, our influences and then our identity is formed by, um, our, our morals, what we think is right or wrong. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I think, um, you know, if identity is, is, is the beginning of where we can start to formulate where I call it is, you know, who am I, what's important to me, you know, where do I fit? What, what is the things that I believe are right wrong? And then what am I influences? Um, you know, I think that's the, the first question is a figure out those things, you know, uh, you know, it's harder to, I wrote a bar about it, like, uh, it's hard to discern right. And wrong, you know, grounded in our scripture, you know, the Bible says, it's like you swaying with the wind. You know what I'm saying? Uh, it's hard to, um, it's hard to move forward. Uh, you know, when you, don't, when you're influenced by the wrong things, you know what I mean? Thinking about what influences you. Um, I was influenced heavily by, uh, negative street culture. I was influenced by a toxic family traits. I was influenced by anger and my whole life. I was in seamless about negativity, ignorance, you know, and I didn't even see those things as bad, you know? Uh, and then I think, uh, so when you start to get those things, uh, where you can start to see those things, and then you start looking at, okay, God, who am I, where does my life molding makes sense in the same God, you know, you know, you've, you've, you've created me this this way, and you've given me these skills. You've given me this talents and you've made more heartbeat this way about certain things, you know? And then it's, you know, I think you asked this critical thing, which is a scary thing to ask God. We say, God, what is your will for my life? Not what can I, what is my cause? You know, this is a different thing. You're will guys will versus your ambition are two different things.
Speaker 1:And how do we, how do we, how do we separate those two?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Some people are chasing their will and putting in and forging God's signature on it. Something like this,
Speaker 1:Dang, that's a cold war, right? They're chasing their will and putting God's sickness.
Speaker 2:And that's not an every person. That's something I got to ask myself, is this, or is this about right? Or is this about God? Is this about your family? This is about you. And that's hard. Nobody wants to look in the mirror and say, nah, I've been going the wrong way. I'd made these mistakes. I'm off guard. I'm misguided. I've been influenced by my own ambition and my own lust of the things that I want or how I want my life to look. So I think the number one question is what is your Wilford for my life? And then when you exposed it to me, God gives me the strength to submit to it. Uh, knowing that you have was best for me. Yeah. You know, I think that's where it starts. You know, that's where the, those are the things that you have to be listening for when you're trying to discern what you're calling this.
Speaker 1:Well. I mean, how does your family fit in your calling and more specifically, what are some of the pressures that you face you face in trying to mix
Speaker 2:The two together? Because there's so many of us that, you know, are leading families, lean businesses working, you know, here, or trying to, and we jumping out there, investing in your family is going to go way further than anything else you can invest in. Like, yeah, elaborate on that man into your family one. And then not putting time in your family will be the number one thing that destroys your life. And that'll be, be the number one thing that causes you, the most pain investing in the nucleus at your crew and investing in the people that are important around you will take you further and it has more kingdom implications. Then you try and to build your own SHR. Correct? Yeah. Um, and I think it's a balance. The harder you go for that, it gives you more because you know, you go hard for whatever it is you're doing. You burn out, you need your F your family grounds, your family grounds, you, your families, your family keeps you accountable accountable to some degree your family. It keeps the, the what's in the Y at the fruit of it. You know what I mean? Okay. Why am I doing this? It makes you measure your, it makes you be more accountable with your talent and your, Oh, you shouldn't cheat your family. You shouldn't teach your family and time or finances. Um, that that's my experience of, cause I been a person who've made mistakes. In other words, you know, so no, I hear you and I have to as well. Um, I wanna, um, I want to shift to talking about pain, but before we do that, um, do you think people, God calls people to cities and neighborhoods, gee, Oh man, I don't know why we, this, it was like a whole movement of man, like no divorce, the idea of the American tree and especially not here in Miami, like in Miami, there's so much vanity, like it's people that live with their mom, but pay it$900 car note on a billion BMW. You ran around in a brand new 20, 20 rains road and you can't pay money to get bills. The only bill you pay is that one. And you, you know what I'm saying? So I think there's this idea in America was like, I got to get that thing. And, uh, and uh, we came from like, there was a moment we were coming up, me and you, and this, when we were planting searches and there was a whole synergy of, of these brothers going back into the inner city and trying to raise up a church of indigenous people, just meaning like churches that looked like the people in the community. And, um, and uh, you know, the idea was like, let's forsake the stuff. Let's move into hood. Like let's, let's go into the city, let's serve people. Let's use all your resources and our time and our treasures. And let's allocate them to the Lord as best he fits kind of like that X model where it's like your, everything I had, it's the churches like, you know, say, you know, is for the people, you know what I'm saying? And um, I just think slowly, like, like that idea died. Like it's like, it was like, he was like, now I care more about the stuff I need the house. We want the house, the plan, the thing I want the house in the fall over then the security. I don't want that other stuff. That was, that was revolutionary.
Speaker 1:What do you think your calling to the tray and specifically the CUNY Holmes was, you know, you're going to have to, uh, elaborate on the tray and CUNY homes. Cause some people don't. But, but, but, but, but tell us a little bit about what you thought your calling there was.
Speaker 2:Yes, I was, I was living in, in Houston. I was, you know, 18 years old. And, uh, while I was living on campus at rice university, which is like in the medical center, downtown Houston area and they kept calling the police on me, man. Nobody believed that I actually went to school there. So, um, man, I got a, you know, I got, uh, like, uh, apprehended by the police on campus multiple times because the police didn't believe the police didn't believe I went to school there. The students didn't believe I went to school that people felt threatened with me being on campus. I was like one of the very few black people on campus. Um, one time I, you got to, I got arrested in the shower, um, during like finals week because somebody didn't think that I was, uh, lived in that dorm. And so, uh, very quickly I was like, man, I, I don't feel comfortable living on campus. And so, uh, uh, I talked to my coach about it and then, uh, I said, Hey man, I want to move off campus. And at the time I hear like, uh, they would give like players to move off campus. You would get like an$800 stipend, right. Stipe is supposed to cover your rent. And they're like, Oh, you're the food. Cause once you move off campus, you lose like half of your meals. Right. So, so, um, we were try to split that hat was all right, cool. I need to move in with somebody I'm gonna spend$400 on rent. I'm gonna spend like a hundred dollars on gas. I'm gonna spend a hundred dollars on food and I gonna a hundred dollars on my phone. So I'm like that, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I moved on up. I realized quick races in the middle of, you know, very rich neighborhoods like the coral Gables, the Houston. So I realized very quick that, uh, uh, I couldn't afford to live around her. So, uh, what I did was I started living in, in the third water and I felt comfortable. Cause third wall reminded me very much about it reminded me of Fort Myers, Florida. And um, so, uh, you know, I started getting invested. I started plugging into church. Good hope I met. I met you. You know, we started adopting the CUNY homes projects. We started doing all kinds of ministry a Saturday and making valuable key relationships. I met a brother that's my brother today named name Harrow Harrow was managing cow Wayne and all these other up and coming Houston rappers. And he started managing me. We started like doing ministry in the tray every week, every day. You know what I'm saying? Boys at rice university was calling me, uh, they was like, man, uh, Ronnie, he's just Ronnie over here. Well, right across there, uh, two 88 that were turned into black. Jesus, you know what I'm saying? I just, I mean, I, I fell in love with making a difference out there and uh, we built so many relationships. We've not, we planted a church there. Um, we started, you know, doing church on a project courts. You know, we started like little small house groups and tax offices and bringing, you know, dope boys from the block into the fold of the, you know, missional communities. And it was just beautiful man relationships, hip hop, um, you know, uh, and there's, you know, so, so third war would admit to me, um, and our ministry at the time was it was ability that it was, uh, it was one, like we were experiencing it for ourself. It was the gospel tangibly changed in the community and tangibly, like with our eyes, seeing the gospel that Jesus Christ changed people's lives. So, Oh, go ahead. Yeah. So that's, that's, that's what it was to me at the time. It was, it was a journey of me growing as a man, the experiencing God, me seeing God doing amazing things and, and really learning in him and being taught, uh, you know, one, I was being discipled in that period. And then I started discipling people in that period. And then all the things that came from that, me growing in the music aspect, me growing up as a, as a professional, um, you know, learning the ins and outs of the court system and, and other systems that affect, um, did you just assist them? So it was a lot. So why
Speaker 1:Do you think God has you in Miami?
Speaker 2:Yeah. At the same time, I'm afforded worse, but the first 18 years of my life in South Florida and, um, you know, I had a buddy, um, who was planting a church in Miami, which is right in the back woods of where I grew up. And so, uh, you know, I felt that army kind of weighing, like at some point that you're going to go back to what's home. You know what I'm saying? And, uh, I saw I wanted to raise my kids around the family. Uh, but at the same time, man, I, I, I didn't want to leave you soon. It was so beautiful. Um, it was really, uh, a bunch of things happening. And then I had an opportunity to take what I was doing on a small scale and do it on a larger scale, um, through an organization called youth for Christ, which I'm now the director of juvenile justice. I had opportunity to take this, um, pilot of what I was doing in Harris County with our juvenile, um, youth and be able to expand it to a, uh, a larger scale and degree of, of, of life change, um, with, you know, essentially the element that I grew up in. And so I didn't see anybody else. I, you know, nobody else was going, was doing anything in Miami. Uh, it was these group of men and myself that were going to make the change, uh, uh, you know, so those, all those factors were playing into it,
Speaker 1:Man. That is crazy that you, you went into your work at, in Miami. Cause I want to ask you some questions about it. Um, uh, so, so explain a little bit about what you do and then I'll ask my next question.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Um, you know, um, um, politically involved in trying to change legislation and try to motivate, uh, influencing and share my life experience with, uh, legislators. And
Speaker 1:When you say legislation and change legislation, what does that mean? And yeah,
Speaker 2:I realized, I realized that when you do a program or when you do something like, cause I was working on a very micro level, when you even even doing your best, you have the opportunity to affect a small group, started affecting legislation when you started affecting how, how people are processed in the system that affects a state or a state affects a nation. Uh, you know, when you start affecting the resource at that data, you know, there's just a larger scale of a degree that you can change or impact a larger group life. And so I saw that very quickly. I had an opportunity. One day I sat down with the, uh, Florida, uh, housing representative member and, uh, this guy's name is Gus, a Hispanic, older, Hispanic fellow, uh, ex football player. And he was like, man, I did the, we did prison programs. She's like, this is beautiful work. It's life changing work. He's like, I just realize on a larger scale that we are putting a bandaid on on honor, you know, it's like, we're putting tape on a broken pipe, you know what I'm saying? And, uh, you know, w and it, and it's a broken pipe in a hundred different places, and it's just, you know, then you start realizing there's just a similar thing that I saw while I was at racial diversity. It's like, when I was at rice university, I realized very quick, I was the black representative for any issue or any time we talked about the black race. It was like, everybody's like, what is the black line? And I, you know, and I would obliged you feel me, but then I sat in that room and I think, I thought myself like, dang, bro, this room is going to be the people one day who make the decisions for people that they don't understand. And then as I got older, I started realizing, especially in this conversation, I'm having with Gus and house of representatives. He's like, bro, you getting it. He's like, I'm a house of representative member. And I realized these people couldn't be further away from the experience of these people up from the people that were the communities that we come from. Yeah. However, they are making legislative changes on their behalf. And, uh, and when it goes to what, just, whether it's in terms of housing, whether it's in terms of social services, whether it's in terms of policing, whether it's in terms of juvenile incarceration, juvenile justice, all these different things, there's people that are so far removed from what actually people are going through and experiencing. And a lot of times people like you or me never make it to those, uh, platforms of, of influence because at some point, you know, I don't know, but I just don't see a lot of our faces at those levels. Yeah. I see more Miami is a, it's a little different than makeup. The racial makeup that here is different than other places, but, you know, um, and it definitely, there's no young voices. There's definitely no in tune voices, you know what I'm saying? Um, so that, that's why legislation is important to me. And then also, um, you know, down here in Miami just had an opportunity to really influence, uh, juvenile justice, how it looks on a whole and how we can really bring along services that we think are crucial to kids. What's number one is reentry. So kid gets locked up, you know, how do we help him as he's coming back in the community? So he doesn't get really locked up. We feel like when we, when we don't serve that part of the community, like that crucial tender, because those kids who would come in and out of jail, they're the ones that have been, they're the ones that have been pooped on by the education assistant. They're the ones that been given up on. And they're the ones when we continue to ignore them, they're the ones that cause not cause, but become, you know, part of the challenge of fatherlessness and all this different stuff that stems, you know, so it's like, how can we serve them so we can cut the root or cut a part of the issue at right at the head. So I believe in that as well.
Speaker 1:So, and it's a great setup because look, you're a musician. Um, what do you think the difference would have been if you thought your calling was strictly to make music and you treated your job like a job, do you think you would be in the positions that you were in? If you didn't see your calling, even beyond music,
Speaker 2:Uh, man, shout out to people in my life that told me it was that, I mean, people like yourself, people like Bonnie Rodriguez, I'm a one time a month. Mum, the director of our organization, we had staff meeting and she walked in with like all the likes, reconciled shirts on and stuff. And I'm like, I usually try to dress up to the staff meeting. So she walked in there with a t-shirt and is my teacher. And I'm like, you know, and she pulled me aside and she was like, you need to run all your lanes and you need to merge the worlds because it's unique, you know? And it's powerful. And uh, you know, I used to try to keep everything separate, you know what I'm saying? But I realized like, I need to just fully be fully be me. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:Places. Yeah. You do. You see sometimes people who are gifted in one lane, maybe they have a job doing something else. Sometimes they cheat.
Speaker 2:Yeah. There was, uh, the, they tried to get on the Bronto. Who's the athlete that somebody is somebody from a different country. It was trying to say, you know, LeBron just stupid basketball. The brass son was more than an athlete. Yeah. You don't have an opinion on life in America, come from the projects. If I'm saying you can't use it as his wealth and his influence to make a change, he can't be a superintendent of the school. You know? Like what, what's the, you know, let's do this, you know? So I think that the things like that, I think this is a good point. It's like everybody has the opportunity to be a world changing influencer. And I think we use everything you guys put inside of us. And that's part of the fun. And you can't, you know, I don't think our calling is one specific thing. It's a merger of all the things that God's uniquely put in us.
Speaker 1:So let me, let me, let me, let me speak to somebody directly here. God, somebody is gifted musically, but uh, the nine to five is bagging, groceries, detention. They feel, they really feel passionate about this music, but, but they're at this nine to five. What would you say to them to challenge them, to push them?
Speaker 2:You really serious about this music. You going to keep that nine to five because the nap five funds and the music
Speaker 1:W w w talk to us about that. Cause you've been here, you you've been here
Speaker 2:Is the times I've had two, three jobs. You know, people don't know that you'll be there. When did you first jump out there and just do music by you all just do music solely. And I was like, Nope, I've had a job the entire time that I've done this whole day. You know what I'm saying? And not because like, you know, like, cause when you, when you start looking at, when people start asking the question, like how can I only do one thing, maybe you really start questioning you really asking this? How can I take the path of least resistance?
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, wait, you get too much at me. Uh,
Speaker 2:Yeah, somebody sent me, I just want to do this. I just want to do that. Who, who is you to think that life going to be so Kate, that you could just do that and it's you ain't gonna have to work and it's, you ain't gonna have to get up and you want to be privileged to do a certain thing, but you don't want to do the hard work associated with it. You feel what I'm saying? That's like a kid coming to me and say, I just want to play quarterback. It's like, well, there's three quarterbacks. So if you don't want to play North special teams and do some other stuff you just named don't might not touch the field. That's true. Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So w w so what would you say to him?
Speaker 2:I mean, you know, he got to evaluate his life, you know, and be, um, be humble. Don't let ambition override, um, responsibility. Um, he got to think about his family. You know what I'm saying? If he's working a nine to five and they're supporting his family and it doing what he, what he loves means that he's not taking care of responsibilities at the house they're near, you know, his priorities off, you know? Um, but I think, uh, you know, if there's a way which you can say, Hey, you know what, um, we'll continue to hold up on my responsibilities. I'm gonna keep this job because not only it keeps my bills paid. Um, but the music really took off like that. But I'm, I'm, uh, I'm a be very smart with my finances and I'm going to fund myself and I'm going to work hard and I'm going to stay up at night and I'm going to do all the things that I need to do in order to live out passion, live with passion and give myself a shot and not give up on my train. I remember my mom used to tell me, she was like, I had dreams to this, this, this, this, and that. And she's like, when you were born, I gave up on all my dreams. Like as if to say like, uh, uh, you being born was like, you know, I think what she was trying to say was positive. This you're trying to say you are more important than my dreams. And then I think a little bit of the inside of that was resentment as well. When you came my dream, I'm saying, and I heard that my deck communicates anything. I want to do this, this and this. But when you got, you know, when you were born, I had to like, almost like Sam, I had to like wrestle with reality that those things are, those are foolish. And I need to do the nine to five thing. I need to do what everybody else is doing. I just need to secure some money. Right. And my question was, why didn't you do both ends? Why did you sell yourself short? Because when you sold yourself short on your own dreams, then what you stopped, what you, what you, what you unconsciously did was now you can't tell me how to dream fully, because you gave up on that part. You can't tell me how to look over the edge of the Hill, because you never looked over the edge of the Hill, or you can tell me this. And, and that's not a shadow. Now, when does having a real deal of conversation, talking about purpose and stuff, my pop set me down. One time. He showed me the bills. This was like, me and him was fist fighting, getting stuff. And I was living with my grandparents and I came over to his house and he was, he is, he was crying. He has, since we're, since we came, the house lights was off different stuff, bills hadn't been paid. And then he showed me like a ATM receipt and ATM was like, it was negative bread and ATM, the account was negative. Right? And like, this is why I beat you. This is why I yell at you. This is why I cussed at you. This is why I don't accept you doing, you know what I'm saying? He's like, because I want more for you. Right. And what he was trying to communicate was, and then what he said was, you know, uh, you know, uh, I want, I want more for you than what I have for myself. I don't want this life for you. Right. But I couldn't necessarily tell you how to get other than just try to note, try to beat, and you don't do the wrong things. I don't know what the right things you need to do. Play football, make good grades. But if I see you doing the things that I know, he, right, I'm going to beat that out of you. So he knew how to, he knew how to discipline, but he didn't know how to encourage, because he had nothing to encourage with. He didn't, uh, he hadn't, he hadn't experienced ways to, to, to, um, to get somebody over that edge, you know? And, and to be honest, it's hard to do that. People gotta have a self drive. You know what I mean? At some point self-drive isn't is, is, you know, is, is, is crucial at that point.
Speaker 1:So last bank of questions dealing with pain, I told you, we get here. Um, do you ever ask God and maybe I'm, I'm leading a little bit. I think I do. Do you ever ask God, why am I called to pain? And if you ever do, what does he say?
Speaker 2:Oh, man, a tweet about this the other day. I said, man, my pain put me off my pain, put me off my pain. My pain has created opportunities for me to understand, uh, it's created opportunities for growth in my own life. It's given me perspective. Um, and then I look at Romans five, three through eight, you know, the Bible says, no, no, count it all joy. When you endorse certain trials and tribulations, knowing that those things tests your character, proven character, you know, builds your faith. And you know, if our faith is in Christ and when, you know, you know, uh, you know, we don't have nothing that we let you know what I'm saying. Like, cause he's the true hope. And uh, I think, you know, mistakes and pain, a masterful teachers, you know, so, uh, you know, nobody wants to go through it, why they're going through it, but like paint is growing us. And I think sometimes pain, pain sometimes is, is, um, necessary for growth. Um, and so I think without pain, uh, view, there's an immature perspective. There's your, you know, and your perseverance is weak. You know what I'm saying? But paint sucks. Paint is hard, you know, but, uh, I think there's this quote that I live my life by you. We willing to do a one or two pains in life. Uh, the pain of hard work and discipline or the pain of regret. Oh, you know, and uh, pain is, you know, we're not promising. And I thought about that, you know, I thought when I, when I accepted Christ that I wouldn't endure a certain types of pains and that certain things that happened to other people in life wouldn't happen to me just cause I got Jesus on my side, you know? And I think for the believer, the pain and the hardships in life, they mold us and they make us better. And they draw us closer to God, uh, for, for the person that doesn't know Christ. I think the pain in the hardships in life, I'm into the story and a meant to make life Horne and mid to make you feel crumbling meant to be crippling, crushing. Um, you know, but I think we have an opportunity to the Lord that we can use pain in a way that grows us and helps us change some shape and make this place or try to make the world a better place. And you know, I think pain is necessary.
Speaker 1:Um, Y Y you, you talked about, uh, the tweet about pain and which leads me to my next question. Why does pain and dealing with pain feel like it's so much a part of your work. I hear other artists that I'm a Christian and it's very, it's very, um, I mean, there's very stylistic differences. It's like party music or, you know, but so much of your music, it's, it feels like pain is a part of the fabric of it.
Speaker 2:You go pull up 62nd street and 13th Avenue in Miami right now. And the first five people that walk across you and ask, you know, Hey, what's going on in life. They going to talk about their pain because people in life are dealing with pain, maybe everybody. But, uh, from where we come from, it's a lot of pain and I'll, I wanted to speak hope into it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's almost, it's almost as if you, you don't, you don't want to cheat your audience by having them walk away and think that life is any less harsh than it is. Uh, because when you don't cheat them and tell them the truth, you can then pivot them to hope. Um, and then naked, you know, it's, it's kind of like that, you know, if the room is burning and I tell them NAS, everything's fine. And I walk out, I watch a burn. I'm not really helping them. But if I tell them the truth about what it is, this is what the situation is. Then when I say run and get out, you know, the doors open, there's a God has made away. They can appropriately appreciate the message of hope when they understand that we're living in brokenness and pain.
Speaker 2:It's like, uh, it's like, it's like sitting in the room and people know the room is burning and they feel like there's nothing they can do about them. And then you come in the room and you don't acknowledge that the room is burning. You try to get them to say, Aw, man, you in a sauna. And I'm saying, it's not, you know, uh, let's just smile and effect is like, I don't even know how, like, I think that's why people stop listening. A lot of times to, I hate to say this a little bit. Like, you know, certain, certain people doing, Oh, nothing, Jesus man. Cause it's like, bro, you couldn't be any more removed from what I'm actually experiencing. You know what I'm saying? You, you, on Sunday morning couldn't be any more removed and what feeling in my heart, you couldn't be any more removed of what you're speaking about in your theology, in your doctorate. And you trying to break down the, this and this in certain ways. It's like, man, bro, I just got my lights cut off. I just went through this situation. I can get access to my kids, speak to me. Yeah. And I think, I think man, people just be missing it. And I don't know if it's just, they're not around people enough. They live in on a, in a silos and people are experiencing hard things. And that's why I see it. And I think, I think stand so close to juveniles, stand so close to people that you know, to communities. And it helps me be grounded. I can't just go on and go to my house and you know, hang out with my kids. And everything's all Willy nilly when I know the world's not Willy nilly. You know what I'm saying, man? Um,
Speaker 1:I want to close on some hope. D can you, cause I know it's going to be people that watched it that are watching and we'll watch. Um, you know, we, we, I, I was going in with, uh, attributed to OB. We already kind of talked about that in the beginning, but I want to give you an opportunity to speak to some people, um, about the hope of the gospel. So I'm gonna just turn it over to you and give you a few minutes to do that as we close.
Speaker 2:No, the words is broken. It's the world is falling. I seen as creative, even a bigger gap between us and God. And we love to do the things that hurt us, ourselves and other people. And that's, that's pretty much what sin is. Things that destroy us and others and dishonor. God God says in his word says in Romans that even though we know what we're doing is ratchet. We put other people know to do it with our speed of swept, to save blood. We're all these negative things. And for the reason like we enjoy it. It's words deeply broken. Uh, again, God sent his son into creation. The Bible says John three 16, God sent his son into the world. Whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. A lot of people don't, you don't extend to the John three 17 says God did send his son into the world to condemn the world. He didn't send his son into the world to say, y'all, y'all ratchet on the son of God. Everybody bound me. But he sent his son into the world to save Jesus. You know, the Bible says that, you know, he submitted himself to God, to the point, even on a cross, you know, on a cross, he says, father, forgive them. They know not what they do. I came live the perfect righteous life, never sent, always deal with please the father. And I even took the cross, even me lady and see the Lord Jesus saying that God there's any other way, but this cross he says, but I will submit to you, God, your will not my own your will. I'm talking about purpose and your will not mine, even though your way is hard. And even cause for me to sacrifice my life, your will not my own. It gets on a cross. And he becomes the propitiation exchange, uh, his life for our sin. He's, you know, he takes all of God's wrath that should have been intended towards us. And he takes that wrath on the chin. He swallows death. None of us have been punished fully or punished adequately for the sin that we've lived in our life. None of us have been, have, have physically endured any ounce of hell other than the Hill that we've been doing on this earth, but not the Hill. The physical separation from God, the place that the Bible describes this place, where people, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, we haven't experienced that. But Jesus has. He took it three days later, he Rose, uh, in our power gas and I've given him the name above all names because he's done only the thing that nobody else was willing to do or even could do. And didn't live the life to be, be worthy to do. He's the perfect sacrifice. And because of this, I give him the name above all names. And if you believe in him, you shall not perish, but you shall have everlasting life just believing that he actually did this thing for you. Right? And because he Rose has great implications, that means that he has to feed his sin. It means that he does have the authority to forgive our sins. It means that he does have the ability to change our lives. And then Jesus says, if you believe in me, I will send you the help. And that helper as his Holy spirit, the Holy spirit of the Lord allows us to make, to live this life in the best way that we can, but we can't do it on us. On our own. We are wicked apart from God, anything that he's doing inside of our life. And he gives us the opportunity, uh, to live alongside his spirit and his spirit to consult us through life in that hopelessness, this impossible thing that is called life of the right way. And then he gives us the ministry of reconciliation to bring all things that were broken and destroyed by our sin, by agree, bar murder, bar racism, and to repair those things and bring them right towards before God. And that's the gospel, the good, the good news that God sent his son to repair this broken world. And, um, and we all have the opportunity, the ability to accept that into our lives. It's a walk in there and it's a, I made that decision in my life and it's been the most beautiful, life-changing most encouraging, most empowering. And the thing that's really saved me from myself and I invite anybody. Who's listening to walk on their journey. I'm not perfect as a human being me specifically. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. I make, I, you know, I've agreed my own self and the things that I've done, but you know, God doesn't judge me on that. He's already forgiving me on the cross for everything that I do. And I continue to do that don't mean that I can seem to, you know, do things that grieve him, you know, put his son back on the cross by my actions, but in the same way that, uh, you know, Bob says, you know, why would you continue to do the things that Jesus died for? And you know, so for me, the calling is everyday that I get up, I want to walk closer towards the Lord. I'm not perfect, but I'm, I'm trying to allow his spirit to work through me to be a better man everyday from my family and fluid, you know, the person that God's called me to be. And it's a beautiful thing I have actually on that journey. If you listen and you're like, bro, I'm looking at my life is ratchet. I'm from broken out, destroying myself. I don't know what to do. I would employ you to turn to God before it's too late. There's a song, uh, railroad cars be down the street. Third water used to sing. The song is bed. They know, and Jesus, it gets better as the days go by. You ought to know him, get to know him ride today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Listen, y'all um, uh, if you man reach out to rec reach out to me, if you, I think somebody is, uh, who's listening to, this is seriously considering making a decision to trust Jesus as their Lord and say, as their Lord and savior, he is your Lord. You just going to recognize him as Lord. And as the Lord who wants to save you, man, just reach out to us, req working, they reach you.
Speaker 2:Um, mean you can reach me right here on whatever platform you're looking at. Um, know Jackson. Okay. And I'll say it's probably somebody, you know, uh, in whatever local context was a pastor, somebody close, more close than we can be. Uh, they can really walk you through that decision and keep you accountable to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And, and, uh, man, if you just looking for some referrals or whatnot, man just hit us up. We more than happy to help, uh, push you towards, uh, some local body rec man, it's been a pleasure to have this conversation with you. Um, you drop some gyms that I think will bless some folk. Um, you, you drop some hope, um, and, and mean in some difficult times. And I know that we, um, we we've seen some death man, um, in this last year. So, uh, man, I, I also think that you cannot have a resurrection unless a death happens. Cause without a death, what you have is a revival, but you don't have a resurrection. And so man, I think that none of these people who have died and I, you know, our friends and our family have died in vain. Um, I think the harvest, we're going to see the harvest this year and believe in that. Um, and so, um, let me, let's uh, I'm I'm to lead out with some prayer. Why mys lead out with some praying we out, um, father, we thank you for all that you do. Lord. Um, my brothers and sisters in the tray, I brothers and sisters in Miami be with them. Lord, we pray God that as your gospel goes for a man just through the various channels that it does lower, we noticed we've heard it in the past. And some of these people have heard in the past, bring it back to their remembrance and law. When you reap the harvest of people coming into your kingdom, working out, they're calling with fear and trembling. We pray Lord that all these things, God, um, would be, um, we would remember them and we would glorify you and jump for joy because we know that even through the pain, uh, Jesus is Lord it's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen man. Peace bro. Love you too.
Speaker 2:[inaudible].