Stepping In Faith

The Greatest Love Story

• Stepping In Faith • Season 1 • Episode 6

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How does an ancient garden scene reveal the greatest love story ever told? Join us, Walter and Shanea, as we take you on a soulful exploration of Jesus Christ's unparalleled love, starting from His moments of deep anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane. We reflect on His prayer's emotional and spiritual weight in Matthew 26:36-44, contemplating the profound sacrifice that underscores an unending, unconditional love. This narrative is not just a recounting of events but an invitation for you to embrace the agape love that challenges and enriches our human relationships.

In this heartfelt episode, we venture into the heart of ultimate sacrifice and agape love, where Jesus' selfless act becomes a guiding light for understanding divine love. Through powerful examples, including the story of the Garden of Eden, we illuminate the concept of God's unconditional love intertwined with the divine pro-choice He offers us. As we explore this love, we unravel how God desires our freedom to choose, mirroring a parent's unwavering love for their child, regardless of their choices. Join us on this contemplative journey as we reflect on the freedom, responsibility, and boundless love we are invited to experience and share.

Ready to dive deeper? 🎧 Join us on YouTube for the full video podcast where we explore faith, love, and relationships through a Christian lens. Whether married, single, or seeking spiritual growth, our episodes offer practical advice and profound insights to strengthen your walk with Jesus. Don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you never miss a powerful episode. Let’s grow together in faith and purpose!
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Walter:

Welcome back to another episode of Stepping in Faith, where, together, we explore the importance of having a relationship with God and how that relationship will impact the relationship you have with others. I'm your host, walter, joined by my lovely wife.

Shanea:

Shanea.

Walter:

And this is episode six. I believe it's episode six. Yeah, this week's episode title is what. What is it entitled?

Shanea:

The Greatest Love Story.

Walter:

The Greatest Love Story. It's making me all warm and mushy inside and, in case you're wondering, we're not talking about ourselves.

Shanea:

No, eventually we will.

Walter:

We will eventually Share our greatest love story.

Shanea:

Why?

Walter:

are you doing that the?

Shanea:

greatest love story. Why are you doing that? The greatest love story of all time.

Walter:

Yes, eventually we will, but we're not talking about ourselves.

Shanea:

No, this is not about us.

Walter:

No, we are referring to the love of Jesus Christ. So with this week's episode, were we both in prayer, or what? Was I in prayer first and then you joined me?

Shanea:

you were, you were in prayer okay, but you act, you. You questioned what we were going to be yeah, I asked you what the lord said we were going to talk about yeah, and then immediately wood dropped in my spirit.

Walter:

It's just, jesus, was like I want you to talk about me and my love, and so that led to me. Well, before we go any further, let's pray.

Shanea:

Okay, I prayed last time, so it's your turn all right, all right, let's do it heavenly father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for all of our viewers and our followers. We thank you, father God, for providing us with your spirit of wisdom, your spirit, your special spirit of knowledge. Father God, I thank you for everyone watching and I pray that this message today will bless them, that you will use us, that you will speak through us to them so that they may be able to get a rhema word today, father God, or whatever day it is that they are listening and watching this. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Walter:

Amen Amen.

Shanea:

You getting like me. Huh, it wasn't that long. It could have been longer. I cut it short.

Walter:

It was there. Let the lord use you, though. So, um, we, you know, you asked. You asked me what we were going to discuss this week and immediately I just heard talk about him, jesus talk about me.

Shanea:

Well, I think he he's been dealing with us, that we need to talk about him. Yes, because the last post I did on instagram I was like, lord, which one you want me to post?

Walter:

he was like, uh, post this one that talks about him it talks about me yes, and, and so it was so interesting because we went into like a deep time of prayer and um, um, I just, it was just I don't know, it was just overwhelming like the love of Christ, and I was just praying, um, not for any reason in particular, I just felt the urge to pray. And so, as I was praying and as we were speaking in tongues or heavenly language, I heard start with the Garden of Gethsemane, start there, as far as where he wanted us to read, and what ended up taking place is I began to see the Olive Garden. I had a vision of the Olive Garden. I've never seen an Olive Garden a day in my life outside the restaurant.

Walter:

Olive Garden Plenty of times, but it's not the same thing.

Shanea:

It's just trash.

Walter:

It is absolutely trash. Some people like Olive Garden. It's trash. You put me on the carabas. Carabas wasn't bad it wasn't, it wasn't, but we're not gonna lose focus, so I I it's like I start. I saw all of these. Uh, what would you say?

Shanea:

cluster of trees cluster cluster.

Walter:

I'm sorry cluster of trees. Now, I knew it was the um. I knew it was the olive garden or the Garden of Gethsemane. It was an Olive. Garden.

Walter:

And just taken over by sorrow, joy, love, all of those different things. And later, when I was looking, I'm like, okay, what is the olive tree? And it looked exactly like what I saw. When I saw like the pictures of the garden of gethsemane, because this is an actual place and so, um, that's what we're going to start the garden of gethsemane. So anything you want to add before we jump into this, no. Okay, so this is at this. Starts at where's my phone? I'd rather read that Matthews 26, 38 through verse 44.

Shanea:

And you want to read that or you want me to read it Matthew 26.

Walter:

Verse 30, starting at verse 38.

Shanea:

Verse 38 through 44. He told them my soul is crushed.

Walter:

Matter of fact, start at 36,. I'm sorry 36?

Shanea:

Yeah, jesus prays in Gethsemane. Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane and he said sit here while I go over there to pray. He took Peter and Zebedee's two sons, james and John, and he became anguished and distressed, and we'll read an NLT version. He told them my soul is crushed with grief to the and distressed, and we'll read an NLT version. He told them my soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.

Shanea:

He went on, a little father, and bowed with his face to the ground, praying my father, if it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. Then he turned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said, peter, couldn't you watch with me even one hour? Keep watching, pray so that you will not give into temptation, for the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Then Jesus left them a second and prayed my father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done. When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn't keep their eyes open. So he went to pray a third time, saying the same thing. You want me to keep going? Oh, then he came to the disciples and said go ahead and sleep, have your rest. But look, the time has come. The son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up, let's be going.

Walter:

look, my betrayer is here yeah, that was my fault, because it should be the verse 46 okay um, he wanted us to start here.

Walter:

I think the thing that really sticks out to me is verse 38. It states that he told them my soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Verse 39,. He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying my father, if it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter couldn't you watch with me even one hour? Keep watching, pray so that you will not give into temptation, for the spirit is willing but the body is weak. Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed my father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done. When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn't keep their eyes open. So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. Then he came to the disciples and said go ahead and sleep, have your rest, but look, the time has come. The son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up, let's be going. Look, my betrayer is here.

Walter:

There's so much to unpack from those few verses. We know that Jesus flowed in season and out of season. We know that he existed both within time and outside of time, and so we know that God exists outside of time. We know with God there's no thing as time. Time is. We've said this before. Time is only something that's been set in place to keep this earth, keep the universe going, but outside of that, that's what God exists. He exists in eternity. So Jesus also existed in eternity, which is why, when you read the gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John, he consistently made mention to what was to come and why he was brought here on earth and why he came to earth. Because we know Jesus, the Son of God, existed prior. We see that in John when it talks about how or Hebrews, I'm sorry when it discusses how. He was there during the beginning, when God created everything. He created everything through him, understand the importance of who he is, and then, in the midst of who he is, he still made a decision to lay everything down, to take this cup of suffering. So the first place that we can start right take this cup of suffering. So the first place that we can start right is agape love or unconditional love? Because, as I was, I'm like okay, god, what do you want me to say? What is this? What do you want me to say to the people? And it said what I heard the Spirit of God say is there is no greater way to understand how to approach relationships outside of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. By pursuing him as he's pursued us, we gain insight into how to love unconditionally. And what Christ did at the Garden of Gethsemane is made a decision to step outside of the confinements of what the world describes love to be and provide for us an example of unconditional love or an agape love.

Walter:

We saw Jesus in that moment in time. We saw him literally knowing or grappling with the fact, or dealing with the fact, that he was about to have to take on the weight of the world prior to him, during him and to come. He was going to have to take on the sins of the world. He knew everything that he was going to have to deal with. He knew this suffering that he was going to have to go through, everything that he was going to have to deal with. He knew this suffering that he was going to have to go through and he was like yo, this is a lot, this is a lot to carry. And within the flesh of himself he's like I don't know if I can carry this. I don't know if I can carry this.

Shanea:

Yes, a lot.

Walter:

So, father, can you take this away from me? Is there any other way that we can do this? Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done, because we just think on the fact or we think of it from this perspective. Thank you, holy Spirit. We think of it from this perspective, thank you, holy Spirit. We think of it from the perspective of saying that we see the natural, we don't see the spiritual, we don't see the spiritual weight that he brought upon himself.

Walter:

What do you mean? It's not just him dying on the cross, it's not just him being beaten. It's not just him being beaten beyond recognition, it's not just him taking those lashes. It goes beyond all of that, to the fact that he became a sacrifice for us, all of us. So that means he took on all of our sins, every single sin that we may commit, every single sin that we ever would commit. He took on the weight of that. From a spiritual perspective, he literally became filthy and unclean beyond anything that we could ever imagine. So from a spiritual perspective, it was a heavy load to bear.

Walter:

No man could ever take on the weight or deal with what he took on, wait or deal with what he took on, you know. So that's why I say it's. It's not just the natural perspective of him dying, which was, as we know, beyond anything that we could ever imagine.

Walter:

We talked about this before he was punched in the face, consistently beat in the face consistently he was spat on like over and over again and then after that the Bible says he was beaten beyond recognition. After he was beaten beyond recognition, he was still flogged. So he was still beaten even more by the Romans. And as the whip would hit his back, it was not a typical whip as it would hit his back, it would pull back his flesh and everything revealing his bone. Then after that he went through the process of having to walk up to the cross. He could not even carry his own cross, which was custom back then.

Walter:

They would carry their own cross, but they had beaten him so much and took him through so much that he it was impossible for him to carry his his own cross or someone else had to carry it for him. Then when he got on the cross, they nailed him to the cross. So all of that from a natural perspective. One could never imagine what it is to go through that. But then we don't even dig into the spiritual, because for God to turn away from him it's not just him being on the cross.

Walter:

It's not just oh, he's on the cross and he's taken on the sins of the world from a natural perspective.

Shanea:

No, he became a sinner.

Walter:

He became a sinner, literally, spiritually, spiritually. He became a sinner Spiritually, spiritually, he became a sinner Spiritually. So, as he sat in the Garden of Gethsemane, he sat understanding that this is everything that he was about to have to face, spiritually and naturally. And we start there, and that's why, when I was listening, he said this is the greatest love story ever. This is literally the greatest love story ever. So we know, with Agape Love, I think Agape Love is, is it, um, a matter of fact?

Shanea:

I'll let you read that, babe what agape love um the beginning agape love is a greek word that describes a type of unconditional, selfless love that is often considered the highest form of love in Christianity. The definition of agape is a Greek word that means brotherly love, charity. It is often used to describe the love of God for humans and the love of humans for God.

Walter:

So we can start right there and we will touch on the characteristics of agape love, the selflessness, sacrifice, empathy, unconditional. And so selflessness love is basically a love that is freely given without expecting anything in return. Sacrificial love is a love that is sacrificial, that involves putting the needs of others before yourself. Empathy is a love. Agape love is filled with kindness and empathy for others. Unconditional love is it basically accepts others without expectations. This solidifies and of course we know that agape is basically the Greek word and this is what it was referring to as far as what Jesus did.

Shanea:

Yeah, unconditional love.

Walter:

Exactly and referring to John 3, 16, which states what For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever will believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Walter:

And LT says that, for this is how God loved the world he gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. So we see two things taking place here we see the love of God for mankind and we see the love of Jesus Christ, christ for us as our lord and savior and the love of his father so, as we, as we are discussing this, what comes to mind with you?

Shanea:

um, I think the thing with me is just how much Jesus loved his father and how much the father loved his son that he would well. How much God loves us, his creation, that he would send his only son as a sacrifice, a pure sacrifice to save us, and Jesus' love for his father that he would go through the things that he went through, because God's love is obedience. Yeah.

Shanea:

And so, through Jesus' obedience to the father, it showed how much he loved God, and we are to follow as an example. If Jesus, the son of man, had to be obedient to the father to show love, then we also have to do the same thing and being obedient.

Walter:

Yeah, I think that's good, because that's great. You said it is a reflection of God's love for his son and the son's love for his father, and I would add even in that it also is a reflection of both their love for us and God's love language being obedience which extends to Jesus' love language being what Obedience? Yeah.

Walter:

That is the greatest way that you can show that you love him, love him. And so, even when we dig into just what took place at the Garden of Gethsemane, jesus showed, through his obedience to the Father, how much he loved him. Yeah.

Walter:

He also showed, through his willingness to become a sacrificial offering for us, how much he loves us, Even to the point to where he was on the cross and they were mocking him. He looked up to the Father and said forgive them, for they know not what they do. Even if you don't accept it, he still died for you. Even if you don't accept it, he still died for you. That is so. It's so much to take in, but it's just the reality of how much he loves us, and so I would, as you were saying that, what came to mind is Hebrews 11. Right, and so verse all of Hebrews is good. I would say he read Hebrews one is really good Hebrews 11.

Walter:

We know that's the chapter of faith, but starting at verse 5, it says For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus you are my son. Today I have become your father. God also said I will be his father and he will be my son. And when he brought his supreme son into the world, God said let all of God's angels worship him. Regarding the angels, he say he sends his angels like the winds, his servants like flame of fire.

Walter:

But to the son he says your throne, O God endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than anyone else. He also says to the son in the beginning, the Lord in the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands. They will perish, but you will remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing. We saw. Hebrews 11 is just really witnessing a moment of God glorifying the Son. And God looked at the son and called him God, and he glorified him and showed how much he loves his son. Yet he showed how much he loved us because he knew, based on what Adam and Eve did in the beginning, we needed a redemptive plan to reconcile man back to God.

Shanea:

Yeah, the animals was not enough.

Walter:

Nope, Nope. It was not Because we are. Incense wasn't enough. We're imperfect people.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

And he knows that. Yet he loves us so much that he's like, all right, I got you.

Shanea:

And he needed a human sacrifice Because, while animals were pure, right, they didn't sin technically. So they were a great sacrifice, but the ultimate sacrifice.

Walter:

Is a human, is a human being. His son, who was, was because no man could be perfect. Matter of fact, he's like okay, I have to send my own son, who literally never sinned, became the ultimate imperfect sacrifice, offering himself, offering himself. Animals don't offer themselves no, they don't.

Walter:

He offered himself for us, taken upon the sins of the world, even though he never sinned himself. And so, when I think about it being the greatest love story ever, it really is. It really is the greatest love story ever. John 15, 13 through 7. It states and this is jesus speaking uh, 15, 13. He says there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. Friends, you are my friends if you do what I command. There we go again. Obedience. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn't choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the Father would give you whatever you ask for using my name. This is my command Love each other. That touched on what you talked about his love language being obedience. Yeah, that came from Micah when he was asking him what his love language was.

Shanea:

It's obedience.

Walter:

It's obedience. Everything is centered around obedience. It even shifts you from being a servant to being his friend. Yeah.

Walter:

Showing how much you love him by being obedient. Even there's a there's a place in the gospels where it touches on how Jesus spoke and said that he shows how much he loves the Father by being obedient to the Father himself. So once again he's letting us know. He subjects ourselves to the same thing that he asked of us. He's the perfect example of how we should move. He shows us how much he loves us. He shows us how much he cares for us. He teaches us and then he says I want you to do the same.

Shanea:

Yeah, and more.

Walter:

And so it's so much that we can take away from this right. And I think one of the things that I would say. First, I was asking God. I'm like, okay, is there anything that you want to say to the people? And he said his love knows no bounds. So, babe, what does that mean to you, even within your personal walk?

Shanea:

that God loves. Love knows no bounds. Jesus, love knows no bounds for you. I mean it. It means that, because he chose me, that it doesn't matter what I do, what I've done, it doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't matter what I've done, it doesn't matter where I go, it doesn't matter even if I serve another God, he's still going to love me. Now that doesn't mean that he's going to accept me into heaven.

Shanea:

His consequences If I go and you know, serve another God. But he loves me enough to accept me into heaven if I consequences if I go and you know, serve another god. But he loves me enough to give me a choice to choose what I want to do.

Walter:

No different than a parent who loves a child I think that's key because, um, he loves us enough to give us the choice to choose yeah, just like when you love your child or you know, you know where they're going to go and how they're going to move.

Shanea:

You love them anyway and it's an unconditional love. You're going to love them and you're going to be them for them, be there for them if they call back out to you.

Walter:

I think that's a good point, because what I would say is that we have all of these different debates going on right now, right, and we hear everybody saying what God says and what Jesus stands for, and he's this, he's that, he's against this, he's against that, and example after example within the Bible shows us that God is all about you making the decision.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

That, jesus, is all about you making the decisions.

Shanea:

Yeah, and he's always with you, even when you make those decisions. Now he doesn't agree with you.

Walter:

He might not agree with your decision but he leaves it open for you to make. Yeah, yeah, he.

Shanea:

This is going to be very controversial because he's already given us guidelines on what to follow, what rules we should follow and what we should and should not do. Yet he's there when we make these decisions.

Walter:

So here's the thing.

Shanea:

What.

Walter:

God is pro-choice.

Shanea:

I knew you was going there.

Walter:

In everything, God is pro-choice.

Shanea:

He's pro-choice.

Walter:

Because in the beginning, when we looked at, I just wanted to get permission before I said something. Um, in the beginning, in the garden of eden, we saw god put two trees up right.

Shanea:

We saw him put out the tree of life and then in the tree of knowledge, of good and evil he told adam, don't eat from the tree of knowledge and good and evil, because if you do, you will surely die.

Walter:

He left Adam and Eve to make the decision Right If God was not for you making the choice.

Shanea:

If he didn't love you, he wouldn't even told you.

Walter:

No.

Shanea:

Which tree you shouldn't eat from.

Walter:

If he was not for you making the choice, he wouldn't have even put the tree there. He would have given you only one choice God choice. He wouldn't have even put the tree there.

Shanea:

Right.

Speaker 3:

He would have given you only one choice God is not a dictator. God is not a dictator Jesus is not a dictator.

Walter:

Jesus is not a dictator, because that's not love.

Shanea:

No.

Walter:

It's a greater love when we make the decision to love him, not when he forces us to love him.

Shanea:

Right.

Walter:

Even with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he made a decision.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

God didn't force him to do anything. He made a decision.

Shanea:

No, he said not my will, but your will.

Walter:

He showed God I love you so much, through partaking in the ultimate act of obedience to you, the ultimate act of taking upon this cup of suffering.

Shanea:

Anyone who lays down their life for you loves you so much, just like a parent and a child.

Walter:

You will lay down a light or a husband and a wife one of the key things, though agape love characteristics right unconditional and we can dig into um first corinthians, the love chapter, but unconditional Agape. Love is unconditional and accepts others without expectations. Yeah, that was Jesus looking up to heaven when they were sinning and it was mocking him. He said Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And he still chose to stay on that cross and finish that work.

Shanea:

Because Jesus is God. He has access to all type of supernatural powers. He is the ultimate superhero.

Walter:

He is the ultimate superhero. All these movies, Marvels, DC, all that. He is the ultimate superhero. There is none greater than him.

Shanea:

He's walked on water and he chose to sacrifice all of of that.

Walter:

he gave up all of his inheritance he, he put constraints on himself, yeah he put constraints on himself to walk in flesh. He constraint himself, constrain himself to flesh, to man, because after everything was said and done, we saw him move and go in his true form and there was no longer any constraints, he just flowed no, he had a new body he just flowed.

Walter:

He's like all right, I did my work, let me show you all my real glory. And so, with that being the case, that's why I say we have to understand what a part of seeing the love of god, a part of seeing the love of God, a part of seeing the love of Christ is. He never forces it upon you. We see that with the rich, young ruler.

Shanea:

No, but there are consequences when you don't.

Walter:

Yeah, there are consequences, there's consequences yeah his love is so amazing that if he's called you and you are part of the people he's chosen that he was Peter. Right, he knew Peter was going to deny him, yet he still went and found Peter and he told Peter afterwards because Peter didn't want to, he didn't want to see Christ, he was ashamed that he denied him, he lied and said he didn't know him three times, like Jesus said he would. And he said Peter, do you love me? At the end he said yeah. He said feed my flock, peter, do you love me? Yes, feed my flock. What's that scripture? What's that scripture? Feed my sheep? Yes. That is John 21, 17. Because it's such an amazing moment and anyone that knows essentially the reason they had this moment is because Jesus told Peter that he was going to deny him three times before the rooster crowed right and after he denied him. Peter was ashamed and so let me pull it up. What are you looking up over there, babe?

Shanea:

um, I was just looking at um, at the rich man. Um went because there's. There's a part where um, when the rich man asked jesus, I've obeyed all your commandments since I was young. And then jesus looked at the man and he felt genuine love for him and he said there's still one thing you haven't done. And he told him to go sell all your stuff. And the man's face fell and he was so sad.

Walter:

Because he knew he couldn't do it.

Shanea:

He couldn't do it.

Walter:

And Jesus was essentially saying to him there's still one thing you haven't done. What he was essentially saying is you haven't given me all of you, so give me all of you. You haven't put me first. Yes.

Shanea:

Because I'm worth way more than what you have than what you have.

Walter:

But you can't see that, so you've been because you idolize money you've been doing all of these things, but there's still a part of you that you've kept away from me.

Shanea:

It's like I love you, but how much do you love me?

Walter:

you don't love me enough to sacrifice money, fame, fortune it goes right back to that sacrificial love that he requires you literally have to lay down your life and die. He became the example. We lay our life down and we die. That means whatever things, whatever we have, whatever we desire. We lay it down for him because he showed us. He became the perfect example. That's why it digs back into, even as leaders, as husbands.

Shanea:

As husbands. Yeah, I was about to go back into because this is a relationship podcast.

Walter:

As husbands. You can't be, controlling as husbands, you can't be a dictator. As husbands. You can't be abusive because it's not who he is. He's become the perfect example as husbands. You supposed to lay down your life.

Walter:

Ephesians four, ephesians five I think it's Ephesians four, jesus became the example right, and so I think that is so important. And John 21,. I love John 21 because it just shows an example of how much he loves us. The Bible says this is John 21, verse 7. It says then the disciples, jesus loved, said to Peter it's the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic for he has stripped for work jumped into the water and headed to shore. The other stayed with the boat and pulled the low loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. So Peter had felt so bad about what he did. He went back to fishing I'm serious, because he denied Christ three times. So he's like there's no way I could continue to be a disciple, there's no way I could continue to be an apostle, so I just have to go back to what I was doing I. He was so ashamed of what he did that he went back and said it's no way that he would want to have me be a part of this anymore. And so the Bible says verse nine when they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them, fish cooking over a charcoal fire and some bread. Bring some of the fish you've just caught. Jesus said so.

Walter:

Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish and yet the net hadn't torn. Now come and have some breakfast, jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.

Walter:

After breakfast, jesus asked Simon Peter, simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, lord Peter replied you know I love you. Then feed my lambs, jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yes, lord Peter said you know I love you. Then take care of my sheep, jesus said A third time. He asked him Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said then feed my sheep.

Walter:

I tell you the truth when you were young, you were able to do as you liked. You dress yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and others would dress you and take you where you don't want to go. Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him follow me. Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple. Jesus loved the one who had leaned over to Jesus during the supper and asked Lord, who will betray you? So there's interesting. Jesus asked him three times. He denied Jesus three times. Literally, jesus showed him I've let that go. I still love you. Feed my sheep, do what I've called you to do. I've come here to restore you. I knew you were going to deny me, yet my love knows no bounds.

Shanea:

His love is greater. I knew you were going to deny me, but I died on the cross for you anyway, so that you can come back to me and do what I've called you to do, because you're tied to other people, like I care about you, but I care about these people too. But I need you to help these other people, and without you, how are these other people going to be helped? How am I going to be able to use you? How am I going to be able to use you? So it's walking in obedience, because your obedience is tied to other people's lives. It's not just. It's like you have all these new age or spiritualists and stuff. Right, you have a purpose. Everybody knows they have a purpose. But it's like your purpose isn't just tied to yourself. Your purpose is tied to other people, just like purpose isn't just tied to yourself.

Walter:

your purpose is tied to other people, just like jesus's purpose was tied to other people, it was tied to us all of us, everything, everything that we have, the being able to dream and have visions and being able to move within the spirit, being able to heal the sick, being able to uh walk with authority, being able to uh battle things within the spirit, having the able to heal the sick, being able to walk with authority, being able to battle things within the spirit, having the wisdom of God, having access to God, having the relationships we have. It's all tied back to what Christ did at the cross.

Shanea:

Yeah, even us doing this podcast, we're doing this out of obedience, because we know that it's that some people need a word. There are people out there that need to get to know who Christ is.

Walter:

And you get to a point of becoming like Moses, and it's just for me. I knew how life was outside of Christ.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

And I don't ever want to go back there again. Right Christ. Yes, and I don't ever want to go back there again. Right, there's nothing greater that you can experience outside of the love of Christ that he will meet you where you are. No matter how many times you deny him, no matter how many times you turn your back on him, he's such an amazing. He's such an amazing, he's such an amazing being that he never turns his back on you no he even said, and I I wouldn't recommend it.

Walter:

The scripture tells us. He said you can speak against me, you can even speak against god, but never blaspheme the holy spirit, because if you blaspheme the holy spirit you, because if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you will never be forgiven.

Shanea:

No.

Walter:

And people have said some very cruel things about Jesus, and so for me I think that's the powerful part it's no way possible that you can experience him and go back to living life without him. So obedience to me is so important, because I don't want to lose his presence.

Shanea:

No, and I think it's important for people to know that, because a lot of people don't experience God, they don't experience Jesus, so it's so easy for them. To what do they call it Backslide? There's no backsliding over here.

Walter:

That's what Paul said. I don't understand how you experience him to turn away.

Shanea:

There's no backsliding Now, will you make mistakes.

Walter:

Yes.

Shanea:

But backsliding, that means you've completely turned away what Catherine Kluge said. But backsliding, that means you've completely turned away what katherine cool is like. You never had him in the first place. If you're backsliding, you never had jesus in the first place katherine coolman said what she said.

Walter:

You literally can, um, you could take everything away from me. You can have, I'll live on the street, but don't take the holy spirit away. I can't live without the holy spirit. The holy spirit being what jesus? Yeah, we have the holy spirit.

Shanea:

The holy spirit is jesus your comforter, your provider, your redeemer, your protector, jesus so to translate what she said don't take jesus away from me.

Walter:

Take anything else, but don't take jesus. Don't take him. And from me, take anything else, but don't take Jesus.

Shanea:

Don't take him and so especially because we know what it was like to live without him.

Walter:

And I will say this for those who think oh well, peter backslid, peter didn't backslide.

Shanea:

He didn't.

Walter:

Peter didn't backslide, which is why, when Jesus came, he went straight to him. He did not backslide. Now, he stopped doing what he was doing because he felt he wasn't worthy of doing it. That's first. Second of all, we're talking about a moment in time when all of the power and all of the things the apostles and them did, they did not have the Holy Spirit.

Shanea:

It was upon them.

Walter:

Yeah, they didn't have the Holy.

Shanea:

Spirit Jesus was with them. He sent them Right.

Walter:

But the Holy Spirit didn't dwell inside them. So now, if you have Jesus, if you experience Jesus, if you encounter Jesus, yeah, the disciples did not leave Jesus aside. No.

Shanea:

When Jesus was right there and present with them, they didn't go anywhere.

Walter:

Now, after Jesus, they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Shanea:

Was it after a couple of days, though?

Walter:

I believe so.

Shanea:

It wasn't immediately right after.

Walter:

No, it wasn't immediately right after.

Shanea:

That's why Peter went back to doing what he was doing. They had to wait Because Jesus wasn't there.

Walter:

No, they had to wait for him to come, and I believe that was during the. That was in Acts. That was the day of Pentecost that, that took place, and so, with that being the case, what the scripture is saying is that there's no way, and what my wife was referring to, what you're referring to, babe is that if you experience Jesus Christ, part of experiencing him, there should be a change in your life.

Shanea:

There's a transformation that takes place when you truly accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And if you don't truly accept him as your Lord and Savior, you will backslide.

Walter:

And that's believing in your heart and accepting him.

Shanea:

And doing what he says do because Jesus' love, God's love, is obedience.

Walter:

And I can speak. I can attest to that because, once again, I grew up in church. I grew up in church, so I considered myself a Christian.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

But I had no relationship with God.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

None whatsoever.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

It was all based on religion. It was all based on works. I had no understanding of what was taking place.

Shanea:

Yeah, and that's why it's so important to have a supernatural encounter. It's not just reading your Bible, but knowing who God is.

Walter:

And supernatural, because through the supernatural being changed, because I had supernatural experiences that took place with me. So I had, I encountered things that I can't speak on, but that would make you think that, oh, I'm doing something right, there are certain things I can't speak on. But that would make you think that, oh, I'm doing something right, there are certain things I can't speak on. But then, of course, I was dreaming. I was having visions, encountering God in supernatural ways.

Shanea:

Right.

Walter:

But I never really had a relationship with God. It wasn't until my encounter with him once again in 2022 that I truly encountered him, because what happened? I changed. He removed desires. There was a transformation that took place in my life. There are things that I always struggle with, that just.

Shanea:

Right, but it was supernatural because not anything that you could have done. No have done. No, because you've tried to do all those things before to stop, you know, with um being angry, depressed um masturbation pornography, you tried stopping doing all suicidal thoughts. Yeah, tried stopping that with therapy.

Walter:

Um other modalities you use, but none of it worked it's not until I truly encountered jesus and accepted him as my Lord and Savior, and that's why you backslide.

Shanea:

It's because you're doing all these things by yourself. You're becoming your own God and you're not allowing him to do what he.

Walter:

Well, here's a dangerous thing that the Holy Spirit gave to me 2023, I believe, the beginning of 2023. He said that and we talked about this. There are many in the church that confessed with their mouth. Right, but they never, believed in their heart that he was their Lord and Savior, and what he was saying is that when you believe in your heart, what takes place is transformation.

Shanea:

Yeah, when you believe in your heart, it's doing what God commands you to do. Yeah, it's a when you truly believe. Yes, when you believe in your heart, it's doing what God commands you to do.

Walter:

Yeah, it's a when you truly believe it's faith you follow him. It's faith that bring forth the transformation to be able to do what he's telling you to do, because it's only through the power of the Holy Spirit that you're able to operate within that level of obedience.

Shanea:

It's only through the power of the Holy Spirit that transformation is truly able to take place. Yeah, and just like we were talking we were talking about last night is when you love God. We're created in his image, and so you can't possibly love yourself, do the things that you need to do for yourself, because you don't know what love is without loving Jesus Christ, first, knowing his love.

Walter:

Or even touching on that. We talked about this because this came to me last night and it was so good and it says what the Holy Spirit dropped in my spirit is that, as people, we go to people who don't know God.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

Seeking their advice on how to make a system work that was designed by God. Yeah, seeking their advice on how to make a system work that was designed by God.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

And this is how we approach relationships.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

Premarital counseling, post-marital counseling. This is also how we approach our relationship with God. We are going to people who don't have a relationship with God. Yeah. Trying to get them to teach us how to get a system to work that you can only understand how to work within by actually knowing him.

Shanea:

The creator, mm-hmm, the one who created.

Walter:

Connected to him? Yeah, and outside of that connection, I can't teach you this.

Shanea:

No, Otherwise you'll have a counterfeit system that you're operating in.

Walter:

You'll operate all under religion. Mm religion. And it's the very thing and we have to be very careful because religion is the very thing that basically, even though they felt like they destroyed? They didn't. It was all in the part of his plan, but it's the very thing that killed Jesus.

Shanea:

Yeah, religion killed Jesus. Religion killed Jesus, pharisees killed Jesus.

Walter:

Jesus came and he was teaching relationship. Right, he was teaching relationship by way of the spirit. He taught relationship. The Pharisees hated it because they said no, this is not religion and we supposed to partake in religion? You are going against the religious practices. And Jesus said no, god is spirit, you're the. Worship him in spirit and truth and everything that Jesus did. It pointed us back to having a relationship with the father right.

Shanea:

What's the point of following all these religious laws if it doesn't bring any?

Shanea:

for it doesn't bring forth any change you're just doing this, you're just going through the same cycles, and that's where we get culture, that's where we get generational curses. You're doing the same things over and over and over again, but you're not consulting with your creator. You're consulting with these rules, and as long as you follow these rules, things aren't going to change. And so things don't change. You don't have any transformation. You're going to keep dealing with the same things, the same cycles, over and over and over.

Walter:

Not realizing that Jesus wants you to experience all of his glory. That's why he said in the Bible listen, because the disciples did not want him to go away. But he said I have to go. I have to go in order to send you the helper, and there's others that's going to need the helper as well the spirit of truth.

Shanea:

Yes, like I have to go, because, while you're following me and needing me, other people need me too, and they will need me even after you're gone. Other people need me too.

Walter:

And they will need me even after you're gone, so I can't stay here, which is why, once again, we have to get to a point of teaching people relationship. We have to move away from being in a place where we teach people to follow us instead of following Christ, people to follow us instead of following Christ, because when you follow me and you have your eyes on me, man you have your eyes on man. You can't experience God in all his glory.

Shanea:

No, you're experiencing God through someone else which is why you don't experience him.

Walter:

No because that man has become your guide, unknowingly and unfortunately. We have leaders. We have relationship gurus who are even Christians, relationship coaches or whatever the case may be that they live off the fact of trying to teach people to follow them.

Shanea:

Yeah, that's why and there's nothing wrong with going to church every Sunday, but it's like people have to like that, have to be in church Sunday, Otherwise my week's just going to be horrible and it's like, no, you should go to church every Sunday. But going to church every Sunday to listen to your pastor shouldn't be who you're consulting with for your week.

Walter:

You should be consulting with God.

Shanea:

You should be consulting with God every day, if anything, when you get to church, if your pastor is on point with what he's teaching you should have already had a moment with God, what God already explained to you, or been dealing with you on those things, exactly Before you went to church, and that man of God or a woman of. God is just going to confirm what it is that God has been speaking to you.

Walter:

Which is why you have to have your own alone time, own alone time, but it, it, it goes back to the fact of us having a relationship with god us having a relationship with christ us understanding this the greatest love in our lives should be christ yeah it should be him it should be, because how are you going to operate in this world saying that I love myself and giving love to others and you don't know the one who laid down his life for you.

Shanea:

You don't actually truly know what love is, and a lot of us go through life and like I don't really. I don't really know what love is no, even when we came together, I had no idea what love was. Love to me was abuse. Love to me was heartbreak, even from a child. Love to me was abuse. Love to me was heartbreak. Love to me was emotional abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse.

Walter:

Well see, the thing is though.

Shanea:

Trauma that was my love language.

Walter:

It's because, first and foremost, we don't have an understanding of relationships, yeah, and then men, they don't understand Ephesians 5.

Shanea:

Yeah, ephesians 5.

Walter:

Ephesians 5. Yeah, ephesians, 5. Ephesians 5, 25. For husbands, this means love your wives just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church, without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish.

Walter:

Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies, For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body, but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church and we are members of his body as the scripture says, a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united into one.

Walter:

This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way christ and the church are one. So again I say each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Yet what we don't understand and we say this all the time, but we don't understand the power within it is that our marriage should be a reflection of the church.

Shanea:

Exactly.

Walter:

The relationship that Christ has with the church.

Shanea:

So the man should have the relationship with Jesus as Christ, so he will learn how to love his wife. First love himself and then love his wife.

Walter:

Apart from Christ, you can't do it.

Shanea:

Because if you're made in an image of God, you can't possibly love yourself if you don't love him first.

Walter:

Apart from Christ you can't do it.

Shanea:

Apart from Christ is impossible, you could try and people out here in the world say this is love, this is love.

Walter:

It's not love, it's selfish.

Shanea:

It's selfishness, it's abuse.

Walter:

But it's not love.

Shanea:

It's not love.

Walter:

We see the greatest example of love in what he did, in what Christ did at the cross. We see the greatest example of love at the beginning, even the beginning stages of what took place in the garden of Gethsemane.

Shanea:

Yeah, it's unconditional. And it's not to say that women who are married or about to get married to treat your husband horrible and he's going to love you. Yeah, love you any kind of way. There's consequences for sure.

Walter:

Ideally, you both should have a relationship with God. As men, we become the ultimate example on how we are to love our wives, and it's impossible to love your wife outside of God, outside of Christ.

Shanea:

No, because you get frustrated, you get angry Because you have to die to yourself, and that is not an easy thing to do. It's not easy.

Walter:

It's not easy dying to yourself. It's not easy to die to your own wants, especially when we live in a world that is so self-based. It teaches us to be selfish. It teaches us to approach love selfishly. So, outside of Christ, that's impossible. So, even as we're about to come to an end and I think we talked about a lot of stuff is there anything, any thoughts that you would like to leave the people with Anything that God is placing on your spirit? Um, is there anything, any any thoughts that you would like to leave the people with anything that God is placing on your spirit?

Walter:

Um not to put you on the spot.

Shanea:

You are putting me on the spot.

Walter:

You might as well be used to it at this point.

Shanea:

Yeah, no, I was just reading this um, um, this passage by cs lewis, and he was talking about how, um, when he first got into ministry, um, there were two men one was with his wife for like 50 years and the other one was with his wife for like four months and they both had said they loved their wives but now they don't want to be with them anymore. And he was just so intrigued by that, like how can you say you love God and you love Jesus Christ, but you don't love your wife anymore? And he was saying that he believed that the nature of real love is that it will be patterned after the way that Jesus loved the church and gave himself for her. Husbands are to love their wives with the same kind of love Ephesians 5, 22 through 23. And he defined this kind of love as an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person, because the church is imperfect and that's not easy to do and I know a lot of relationship experts and you know they're just like I can't.

Shanea:

I can't explain it because I'm not a dude, right, but I know that it's hard for you to have to die to yourself every day because you're the leader, and so I'm not perfect, and so I'm going to make mistakes, I'm going to say things, I'm going to do things that you're not going to like, but you, being in a relationship with God, with the Holy Spirit, with Jesus, and you'll know how to help me rewire my brain and rewire the way that I think, renewing my mind, helping me do that through your relationship so that we can have a better relationship with each other.

Walter:

Yeah Well, I think what the world will teach you, and even the church teach you, about community and community is good, don't get me wrong. It's good to have other brothers in the faith who are on this walk, but I believe the greatest, what's greater with me and allows me to kind of move, is I have the Holy Spirit that dwells within me. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. So a lot of times I'm directly connected to the Father, and when I'm speaking to the Father, I'm speaking to Christ. When I'm speaking to Christ, I'm speaking to the Father.

Walter:

And so there'll be times as stuff takes place and my flesh wants to get in the way, and the Holy Spirit will let me know now, or if I do something or say something, he'll let me know you should not have said that and you need to apologize.

Walter:

Or you know I have dreams or visions of things that's taking place, or just recognizing that something is going on and praying without you even knowing it. And so that's why I believe, as men, it's really important that we have a relationship with God, because outside of that, it's impossible for you to be everything God has called you to be within the context of marriage, because it is not easy dying to self, and it's not even to say that you are a horrible person. It's to say that, just as much as you are imperfect, I'm imperfect as well. That's the challenge. The challenge is that I'm imperfect as well. That's the challenge. The challenge is that I'm imperfect. Yeah, and because I am imperfect, if I try to love you from an imperfect place, it will literally destroy this marriage. Yeah, because you literally birth for things. If I give you something, all you're doing is birthing that fourth. Yeah, and men don't realize that, as you are pouring into your wife, you're getting mad about what's coming out, but it's because of what you're pouring into her.

Shanea:

Exactly.

Walter:

But then at the same time, I birth forth things too, from a spiritual perspective.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

So whatever I'm pouring into you is based on what I'm allowing to be poured into me, and so we are going to places, whether it be our church, whether it be a podcast that we're listening to. We know we have this whole men's I don't know what you call it the movement, I don't know what it is.

Shanea:

Red pill, yeah that. Thing.

Walter:

We have this whole situation going on. You're listening to this mess and you're pumping this into your wife Right, and you wonder why your marriage is failing.

Shanea:

Right.

Walter:

Once we get past, okay, because we can dig into. Is she where God has called you to be Right? Are you with who God has called?

Shanea:

you to be Right.

Walter:

First thing First thing Do you have a relationship with God? Do you know God? All of these things are important before we get there, but let's say you have all that together it it's still important after the relationship with God, after knowing for sure that you're where God has called you to be, that you have God. You have Jesus Christ pouring into you so that you can love your wife through him.

Walter:

Because, outside of him. It's impossible to do that. It's not possible. It's just the reality of what it is. This system is such as it's a system that outside of Christ you will fail. The enemy knows that which is why he set up an alternative system. I know this is. I know that the enemy is like. I know that's hard. Let me give you something that's easier. She should, as you love her. She should be loving you back, right she?

Shanea:

should be doing this for you. You give 100%.

Walter:

She should give 100% All the time. She should be matching your energy.

Shanea:

Right, yeah, she need to match your energy. She need to match your energy.

Walter:

What you bringing to the table. No, what she bring to the table Exactly what she doing Right. And that's not God, oh man, and it's bad. That's not God. And once again, it's not to say that it's okay for women to do stuff themselves, because you still have to answer to God too.

Shanea:

No, but you have to place yourself under subjection of your husband. That is being submissive. It's allowing him to go to God, to come back to you and say, hey, this is not right.

Walter:

But submission is not control. No, because just as much as you subject yourself to your husband, your husband, not only does he subject himself to God, but he also subjects himself to you.

Shanea:

Right. So you subjecting yourself to your husband? Isn't your husband not subjecting himself to Jesus? The leadership of Jesus Christ? If he's not under the leadership of Jesus Christ, first of all, you shouldn't be with him. No, if you are, you might want to pray.

Walter:

That's the only thing we would tell you If you are, you might want to pray. That's why you need to be mindful of who you marry and know that they're where God has called you to be and know that he has an actual relationship with God. So, to those that are single, don't rush this. Do not rush this because you will mess yourself up.

Shanea:

You will mess yourself up, you will mess your kids up, you will mess generations after generation, after generation.

Walter:

Because God is not about controlling you which is why we talked about God being pro-choice. There's a lot of things going on, even politically, that we listen to, and I know what God has said about it and he ain't in it.

Shanea:

No because he don't care which way you decide to choose.

Walter:

No as long as it's we are ambassadors, we are kingdom citizens, so we don't put ourselves on either side of anything. No, the biggest thing is right is right, wrong is wrong.

Shanea:

Yet at the end of the day, he still gives you a choice to choose right and you should give other people the choice to choose what they want to do with their lives because, just like everyone else in the Bible has a story, paul was Saul before he was Paul he was a murderer. Literally. So imagine, imagine, imagine. You know, just killing him we wouldn't even have what we have.

Walter:

Prime example and the kids listen to her all the time. Jenny Weaver, jenny Weaver, she used to deal with.

Shanea:

Yeah, she used to be a witch or did witchcraft and stuff New age witchcraft and everything, but she's now a powerful woman of God.

Walter:

Yeah, imagine if she would have been judged and like oh, do this to stone her, do this no.

Shanea:

Yeah, and there's plenty of people who were warlocks, who were witches, who were all these horrible things prior to them, their relationship with God, and now they've brought so many people into the faith, they've brought so many people closer to Jesus. And so we can't sit here and say, oh, you know, these people are bad because they want, they want these children, they want, they want to, they're, they're for abortions and it's just like so what are? So? What if they're all with that? What does that have to do with you?

Walter:

you meet them where you meet them where they are.

Shanea:

You teach them the love of jesus. That's what jesus, because jesus is right there in that, in that room, when that lady is having that abortion, she's right there, he's right there in that room and they need to experience the love of christ.

Walter:

That's what brings change.

Shanea:

That's what brings people away from the church is that they're not accepting like.

Walter:

Jesus is Now accepting does not mean that you co-sign on what they do. No, you can tell them, no, this isn't right what you're doing. But you know what God loves you so much that he's going to let you make the decision.

Shanea:

Right, so you make the decision. Now there's consequences. Of course. And then there's consequences, of course.

Walter:

To every decision we make, there's always consequences there's consequences, just like when jesus went right, when the rich man went to jesus and was like, hey, what can I do? But at the end of the day, it's still a situation where god is about allowing people to make a decision. Yeah, he's not.

Shanea:

He's not a dictator, he's not so moving in a way that dictates whether people should and should not do things. We're not to judge.

Walter:

No, especially as believers, especially as believers, we're not to judge. We're not to judge.

Shanea:

We should not enforce rules that affect people's lives?

Walter:

No, we shouldn't, because that's not God. No, it's not God, that's not God.

Shanea:

We teach them what's right and what's wrong. And we let them make the decision and if they choose not to, we let them make that decision. Just like when you do things, you choose to make the decision whether or not you're going to go to heaven, whether you're going to hell, whether you're going to serve the kingdom of God or whether you're going to serve the kingdom of darkness.

Walter:

Yeah. So I will say I agree with that.

Shanea:

That's love, that's real, and it's not easy.

Walter:

No, and it's not easy, and I wanted to read this and then we went over. So 1 Corinthians 13, 4. Love is patient and kind Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.

Walter:

It does not demand its own way, it is not irritable and it keeps no record of being wrong. It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance. So here's what I would say in all regards to everything the greatest thing you can do for anybody is lead them to Christ and allow Christ to do the work in them. Yeah, Whatever it is they may be struggling with whether it's addiction whether it's the issues that are plaguing us, our society.

Walter:

Now the best thing you can do for them is lead them to Christ and allow them to develop a relationship with Christ. And as they develop their relationship with Christ, christ will begin to remove all of those things out of them. That is not of him, but he tells us to come to him as we are. And a lot of times, matter of fact, christ says come to me as you are. Religion says you're not good enough. Right.

Walter:

Christ says come to me as you are. Religion says you are not good enough. You're not good enough, right? Christ says come to me as you are. Religion says you are not good, you're not good enough. It's like a club christ, surrounded him with what people consider the rejects of society he did.

Shanea:

They're like jesus. Why you got this lady next to you? Do you know what she did? Exactly he's like, but she loves me more than you do.

Walter:

And she needs me because she's sick, she needs me. She needs me. So the church. Once again, truth be told they persecuted Christ. Yeah. He went to the world, he surrounded himself with imperfect people. Yeah. And as they walked with him, they learned to do life through his power and through his strength. And that is the gospel. The gospel is knowing that you are imperfect, but in him you find everything you need, to be free of everything else.

Shanea:

And you never go back.

Walter:

And you never go back. But this is how you bring forth change. Outside of that, change won't happen. You can judge as much as you want to. You can criticize as much as you want to. You can judge as much as you want to. You can criticize as much as you want to. You can down as much as you want to. It's not going to change anything. The only being that can change, that is the power of Christ, the power of Jesus Christ. The power of Jesus Christ, the love of Jesus Christ the love, not religion, but the love of Jesus Christ.

Walter:

The love is what brings forth change. That's how we would, that's what I would say. So, babies, anything else you want to add?

Shanea:

No, because I don't want to go over. We already went over.

Walter:

But thank you everyone for tuning in this week.

Shanea:

Yeah thank you guys.

Walter:

We pray that this has been a blessing to you.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

And yeah, I think that's it.

Shanea:

Oh, is this the new year?

Walter:

It is Happy.

Shanea:

New Year, happy New.

Walter:

Year, so yeah, yeah, this is the first episode we're posting.

Shanea:

Yeah, in 2025.

Walter:

Right, yeah, I think so. Yeah, OK, cool. Well, Happy New Year everyone. We pray. This is a blessing. We look forward to continuing this journey with you and we'll see you next week.

Shanea:

All right Peace.