ARE YOU TRAPPED IN RELIGION OR DWELLING IN RELATIONSHIP? // S07E04

Are you falling into religion or chasing the relationship, putting in check what you’re fixating on or focusing on can be one of the most challenging things you’ll do in your Christian walk. Sometimes the answers can offend you, but letting God lead can deliver you from a lot of deeply rooted struggles. We’re talking with our good friend, Christian rapper, Tik Tok-er, and Pastor Victor Vela about how he’s leading believers into a Renaissance within Christianity.

CONNECT WITH VICTOR

QUESTIONS TOUCHED ON IN RENAISSANCE WITH VICTOR VELA:

• Can you lose your salvation?
• What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
• What is meant by religion versus relationship?
• Has the church gotten distracted from what’s important?
• How can you use TikTok and social media for ministry?

ANOTATED TRANSCRIPT:

EPISODE INTRO:

Shea: Are you falling into religion or chasing the relationship, putting in check what you’re fixating on or focusing on can be one of the most challenging things you’ll do in your Christian walk. Sometimes the answers can offend you, but letting God lead can deliver you from a lot of deeply rooted struggles. We’re talking with our good friend, Christian rapper, Tik Tok-er, and Pastor Victor Vela about how he’s leading believers into a Renaissance within Christianity.

SEASON INTRO:

Shea: Hey, I’m Shea.

Michelle: And I’m Michelle.

Shea: Are you equipped for the real battle in the spiritual? It’s not just about your weaponry, it’s about what you consume and who’s calling the shots in your life. You are listening to The Pantry Podcast, Season 7: God Intentions, where we look at the way we live and ask is this from God or do I just think this is good?

Michelle: Help us fuel 59 countries with spiritual nutrition donate on Patreon or ThePantryPodcast.com.

Shea: And now let’s dig into the meal.

RENAISSANCE WITH VICTOR VELA:

Shea: Hey.

Michelle: Hi.

Shea: And I’m excited.

Michelle: I know this one’s, this one’s special in a special, the connections you make in the platforms that we roll through are just amazing.

Shea: This episode, Renaissance? By the end of this episode, you will definitely understand why that title exists. But, you know, I was thinking about this and I’m thinking about all the things that we do in life as, as believers. Uh, there’s two things that came to my mind, the two, the two greatest commandments courses, you know, love the Lord, your God with all your heart and all your mind, all your soul and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Right? And I’m thinking about that. I’m thinking like, how do I love my neighbor? How do I love people around me?

Speaker 0 00:01:49 How do I, I bring this, this love and reflect this love that God is talking about to people. And it kind of drove me over to the commission. It’s like the greatest, the great commission. It’s like, okay, Matthew, a 28, right? We’re talking about the great commission around verse 18, 16, somewhere in there. You’re gonna look at that. But he just says, you know, everybody, I think people sit around sometimes and they’re like, well, I don’t know what the plan that God has in my life. And then they just sit around and, and I don’t know the plan that God has in my life and they just sit around. They don’t just jump. And he’s given us one plan. He’s given us one thing that we are supposed to do. And I think that when we do that, it unlocks everything else that we do go out. Yeah, right. Go out into the world, share the gospel, teach disciple, watch this. He even says, lo you are not alone. I’m with you. And he’s commanding this. And it’s beautiful. And I think that when we do that, and when you, when we talk with our guests tonight, you will see God doing a mighty work. When he simply just answered the call to go.
Speaker 2 00:02:44 That’s very true. And yeah, we met our guest on Tik TOK this time around because Shay does an amazing job with Arctic talk and he’s met some really passionate people for the Lord. So we have Victor velar with us today. He wraps to ignite a fire in the hearts of those who already have faith in Jesus Christ so that they to pursue the great commission with more devotion. And he also pastors, a virtual ministry known as Renaissance Christianity, revolution, revival, peeling back the layers of worldly tradition that distracts us from the freedom of God’s word. So we are so happy to have you here in the pantry. Welcome.
Speaker 3 00:03:16 Yeah. Welcome bro. Thank you guys for having me. And this was anticipated from even people that had listened to you guys before I even knew about you guys. Um, and I think y’all know who I’m talking about. So it has been something that’s been hyped up. So when I saw y’all’s page on Tik TOK, y’all were already hood famous to me. You know what I mean? So,
Speaker 2 00:03:34 Which is like mad, humbling, considering how many people know you onto exotic versus how many people know us. And that’s just the way God is. He’s like no respecter of persons. He’s like what numbers, whatever, move it, just do it. Right. Right. So, yeah. So just start us off. So this episode is called Renaissance, like we said, and that’s inspired from some of the stuff you’ve said in interviews about why you’re doing what you’re doing. So can you just initially walk us through how you define Renaissance in respect to your ministry?
Speaker 3 00:04:00 If you look up the definition of Renaissance, you actually, first of all, you’ll find a reference back to Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. But if you look at the second definition, you’ll see that it’s referred to as a renewal of interest in a particular thing or a revival, if you will. And uh, everyone wants to revival. Everyone’s talking about revival. It’s crazy how God even brought me to this vision and stuff like that. But really what I’m trying to do is call the church, call Christians back to Christianity. I want us to have a renewed interest in the faith and solely, purely in Jesus Christ and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And you know, the beauty in it, the beauty in this walk and in him. So I’m really just trying to get us to renew our vision and take out all the junk and just walk on fire man, with a pure holy spirit vision. I guess you can say
Speaker 0 00:04:49 The fact that we throw in the holy spirit on that. I like the fact that, you know, he becomes like a center point. Now he’s the conduit. And we understand that, you know, we understand that that is the conduit to Jesus. You know, Jesus is reflecting what he, you know, he says, I’ll never put out anything that you haven’t heard. You know, that whatever words I put out, that’s what you’re going to hear. And the holy spirit though, it brings in this aspect, I heard a pastor the other day, sit there and say like, he goes the difference between, you know, a person who’s just walking around and a person who is filled with the spirit, right? Like a person who is filled with spirit has the defenses up a person who is walking around in the spirit, filled with the spirit, like in the spirit, Hey, we all receive it. It’s cool. Right. But walking around filled with the spirit means you have this passion for Christ. You have this passion to like bring everything back down to him. And so when you, when you started this ministry, I mean, okay, holy spirit guided it, correct? Yes,
Speaker 3 00:05:34 Definitely men. Um, it was something that he had put them on heart since probably a couple of months into me being saved, man. Um, and it was something that I had hesitated with because I always been outspoken. I was on Facebook, uh, for those of us dinosaurs, you know, uh, I was on Facebook for the longest time, you know, and I would just get on there and share and everything like that. But you know, there was a time where I just became more focused on my, my sphere of influence because I picture my job as a, as my mission field, you know? Well now I do this full-time, but I was in the oil field for the longest time. I, I started, when I first got saved, I started working at a hotel. Then I went to a gas station, went to pipeline work. I hit in the face with a pipe and then I, you know, all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 00:06:14 I was everywhere and I was there in the ministry. And I remember my wife just telling me, like, you know, you always talk to me how you feel led to do these things. And you just, you know, you’re a pastor, you just need to do this. And I’m like, I don’t know. I was real hesitant. Um, but man, that was a point where I just kind of like the holy Spirit’s always leading me to do this. I’m so hesitant. Um, because I feel the Lord and I want to make sure I’m in the right. So I finally asked the Lord for a sign and I don’t like that. Like signs are good. That’s cool. But I’ve always been huge on faith. And I don’t wanna be like, you know, the people that were scolded by the Lord himself, you know, you wicked generation always looking for a sign, but I was like, well, I just need to know.
Speaker 3 00:06:51 I need to know for sure, because we’re in this place, a pandemic just kicked off oil field crashed. Um, I don’t know, man, there’s a lot in, into the whole situation, but I remember asking him, Lord, I need you to let me know that this is something that you want me to do. And not just something that I aspire to do in my own ambition. You know, like I have skills, I have talents, we have dreams, but that’s a difference between the calling that God has in our life, according to his will. So, I mean, I literally prayed this man and like a few minutes later, I posted this video and uh, long story short, I actually checked on this video not long ago. And that that video has reached millions and millions and millions of people, man. And I didn’t even know because I thought it went viral on my end.
Speaker 3 00:07:34 See, cause that evening I woke up. I mean, I woke up in the middle of the night and I thought it went viral. It turns out somebody actually took that sound posted a video. And that sound went super duper viral, man. It’s got like almost 4,000 videos I’ve created with that sound. And all I’m doing is literally calling the body of Christ to come together to be simple. And I just, um, I mean that for me was like, okay, that’s confirmation. All right, I’ll go ahead and jump on this Lord. So yeah, it was definitely holy spirit led man. And I mean, it just, the way God has led me to do this has been in a way that I completely trust in him and he’s just blown us away every single time. You know,
Speaker 2 00:08:12 I love what you said. There’s a difference between our own dreams, our goals, our ambitions, and what God actually wants for us, which goes right back to good versus God intentions. I only had access to the worldly view of Christianity when I came to Christ. So what I saw was what Pinterest and Instagram Christianity looked like, and I’m not even criticizing the people who put some of it out, but I only was gauging it without worldly lens because I had not dove into the word enough to be able to discern the difference. And so I would go on there and be like, oh, I want to be like a Christian influencer making money as a Christian influencer. And it means my life will be this nice, crisp, bright looking thing. And you know that, and I’ll, if I do it right, I’ll be able to get in front of all of the big Christian names.
Speaker 2 00:08:57 And you know, what’s funny is you start reading the word of God and discernment kicks in and he also transforms your heart. And so the thing that you start aspiring to is, oh God, what do you want? You start asking that more and more. And sometimes there’s that morning in the sense of man. I really wish that that thing I had wanted aligns or aligned with what you have for me. But other times you’re like, whoa, I haven’t asked for that specific thing for a long time because he’s changed the desires of my heart and that aligns, you know?
Speaker 3 00:09:29 Yeah, definitely. Um, and really discerning what it is that he wants. It all centers in comes back to the simplicity of the gospel. If anybody has heard me for any amount of time on Tik TOK, um, that’s really what I’m centered in on. And that’s the simplicity of the gospel. I feel like there’s so much extra stuff going on within the Christian influence. And it’s crazy because me and my wife were talking about this yesterday and I was just telling her how, before we even started this, I had a moment with the Lord one time where I came to this realization, that many people, rather very few people would actually wholeheartedly receive the message that I’m trying to get out there and how I’m actually going to ruffle a lot of people’s feathers in regards to their traditions and stuff, because we’re actually going against grain even within the Christian culture.
Speaker 3 00:10:16 Um, and so many people don’t know what to make of me because I believe in healing, I believe in, in, you know, all that stuff. But at the same time, I’m very balanced theologically. And I don’t like, I like to think about things rationally. So like Stephen’s almost some people as if I’m going against everybody, but at the same time, the throw it off because we fellowship so greatly. You know what I mean? And I’m just like, man, it’s because you know, when we come down to seeing the simplicity of the gospel, you begin to ask yourself why all this extra stuff is necessary. When all that we need is found in Christ, Jesus, every answer that we seek is in him. And that’s one of the favorite, my favorite phrases in the Bible is in Christ. Um, but when you’re in him and you go by it in the spirit and you understand the cross, you lay down your life and you realize that trying to achieve your own desires is not even worth it.
Speaker 3 00:11:06 You’ve done that. The more you understand about the gospel, you realize like, man, this is why I need him because there’s a way that seems right to a man. But it’s in his destruction, you know? So anything less than denying myself, picking up my cross and understanding what that means is really few tile. There’s no use in it. You know, there’s no eternal value in it. So you begin to get excited about actually seeking first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and pursuing that, which is desired of God. And that’s really calling people to be free from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin. And when you see how great he is and his identity in the fear of the Lord, you can’t help but be excited and you can’t help, but tell people what the passion, every time they ask you, how are you say I’m blessed, not like I’m good.
Speaker 3 00:11:50 I’m all right. I guess I’m good. I’m above. No, it’s like, I’m blessed. Well, why man, because I didn’t a flash came down and, and this is so cliche for Christians, but one of them, the goals were Renaissance. Christianity is for me to communicate, yo, he came in the flesh like the living God who created everything. Like he came in the flesh and he died. Like we owed him everything. He did not ask anything of us. Like there is nothing that we could give him. And yet he laid his life down for our sake, obviously for his glory in the end. But that just blows me away. And just understanding that just camping here all day, it just really just blows me away. And it gives me that fire to keep preaching this simplicity of the gospel. So from here, we begin to cherish putting aside our desires, putting aside our dreams or ambitions and realizing that the true, um, success, if you will, is to really lay your life down and, and live this opposite life compared to the value systems or anything that’s deemed worthy of praise or worthy of impact or worthy of being labeled as impactful in this world.
Speaker 3 00:13:00 Especially when we ask ourselves like Shea, you were saying, what’s my purpose. What’s my calling. And you see that we were called to a holy calling to be set apart. A lot of people think set apart means, oh, like, you know, religious stuff and just keep the Sabbath and stuff. What I’m talking about. Like everything, your motives, your expectations on people. I mean, everything is completely different and not of this world, you know, um, you understand your purpose and you understand that you shouldn’t be asking yourself, what does God want me to do? Rather you ask yourself, what is it? What is it that God has made me to beat? And when you understand it’s about being redeemed, being his being born again and everything that that entails, everything becomes so much more clear. You begin to get filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Speaker 3 00:13:53 You begin to get blown away as you have this lens or this paradigm, as you read the scriptures and everything just unlocks in every single moment, whether you’re at the grocery store or whether you’re doing community service like me the other day, um, you begin to just minister to people and you don’t even think about the pressure because in this place and the simplicity of the gospel, you begin to look at people for their creative value, the same way that Christ looked at you. Because when you see the amazing love that it’s in the gospel, you know how much God loves you. You love him. And you just love other people because you are redeemed. You know, you live there all day and you don’t even think twice about reaching out. You know, you guys tell me, I’ll pray for people in the streets and stuff.
Speaker 3 00:14:32 And that’s amazing. And I know y’all do that out of the love that God has placed in your heart. You don’t even like you don’t even get intimidated. This is dude, there was a sadness I saw the other day and he was blown away. I prayed for him and he was stuck. Like he didn’t even understand cause I’m not even intimidated. I’m like, bro, you have no clue. You think you’re flexing on me bro. But I’m smiling at you and looking into your eyeballs. I dude, you have no idea how God can change a person. Like I used to be straight up almost schizophrenia in my head and look at me now, you know? And they’re like scared. You know, you disarm all the powers and principalities as you walk in the spirit because when you walk in the spirit, you walk according to the reality of the cross and you understand that Colossians, that is how Jesus disarmed the powers and principalities of this world. I feel like I’m just like hogging the whole pot star guys. But I just get this stuff, man. It’s just,
Speaker 0 00:15:23 And you know what that’s, that’s what this is about is about the passion. This is about the paradigm. I, you don’t want to go back to that word paradigm. I really like that word. Um, because I mean it’s used in all kinds of things. I mean, science uses it and, and then when you get into science, you have like 900 different paradigms just on how old the earth is. Right. It’s like, okay, so which paradigm do I choose? Uh, but if we were to take this and take this biblical truth and we make this our paradigm and we put everything against the Bible, we start to learn something like you’re saying this, this love that God has for us, this Scarlet thread that runs throughout the Bible, you know, Christ his grace, his mercy, um, has been there since the beginning. It’s not something that, oh, well let me just put this afterthought in.
Speaker 0 00:16:03 Okay. Let’s throw Jesus into the mix. Now, every walk of life that you see throughout the Bible shows the same thing. It shows a person who was like the Satanist, you know, it’s like the Satanist on the street, staring down love, you know? It’s like, what do you do when you stare down? Love? You know, you look at Steven, you know what happened when, when hate and, and the Luciferian ism ideas would look down on him, right? It was like, or, or, or the however you want to look at that y’all they were, they were farracies, they weren’t right. They were falling like the wrong things, doing the wrong things. But they’re looking down on him like that. They’re they’re, they’re puffed up. They’re beefed up. They’re like, what? Who are you? And he’s just sitting there with a face of an angel, right? Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:16:38 Cause he’s has this love of Christ in him and what you’re doing. It’s amazing. I’m going to say something here to the social media world is ugly. Like what you experience on the social media side of people buffed up Pell puffed up behind their computer with their little keyboards. And what you face on the street are completely different. Those people that walk by you on the street with maybe a little under bred, light creepers, or just walk by you online, they come after you on the street, they kind of just float. And it’s like, it’s amazing. But, and I also, and I also attribute that to the holy spirit when I’m standing people, what he’s given us, what he’s put into us, what he’s, how he’s positioned us, you know, the body, our temple, the holy spirit resides within us. When we stand, we stand on holy ground.
Speaker 0 00:17:21 Now you can do this in social media at sea. I think people also get that confused. Hey, I’ve been shadow banned or this or that. No claim that space that is now his space, whoever God wants to hear the message, he’s going to hear the message because that is the power that he has. And so when, as we stand there in this idea, you know, this paradigm, when I sit there in this paradigm of Christ of the Trinity of God, the father, Jesus, the son, the holy spirit, man, I’m, I’m like power brother. I’m like you I’m like, I mean, I’ve lived in the world. I know the world I’ve been of the world. And now I’m like, whoa, I’m of Christ. And man, what I thought I was back then this military stud running around doing all these kinds of things or, or hanging out on the street, bumping on people or whatever, back in the day. And I look at it now and I’m like, yo, I love people on calmer.
Speaker 3 00:18:07 And I have more power, you know, it’s crazy. I just picture this whole thing. Um, I don’t know where I saw it. Maybe it was illustration on the Bible project few years ago that I had seen, but it was like Jesus, his hand was reaching into the darkness and the darkness was running away or no, it was a leprosy where he touches the man and the leprosy flees from him. And that’s just how I see it all. And this is the Christianity I’m trying to call others too, because you just look around and you see, everyone’s struggling with 10. Everyone thinks they’re oppressed by demons. I mean, there’s just so many things that are keeping people oppressed. And I’m just like, like what are we doing? Like what I thought we followed the Messiah, you know? And we were a victory exactly that we had victory and here we are oppressed all the time.
Speaker 3 00:18:53 Everyone is so focused and studying in on the lie. That’s keeping them in bondage instead of getting to know the truth that sets them free. And I’m over here, like, yo, the truth sets you free. If you know the truth and the truth will set you free. So how about let’s know the truth? Like I know there’s all this stuff going on in your mind and your life and everything around you, but if you just knew him, it would change you. And you know, there are some people that when I first got saved, um, that I had linked up with, and I’m not going to mention them because it’s really, I guess he’s a point of controversy. Excuse me. He’s, uh, he’s a point of controversy nowadays. Um, and, and it’s not even something I’m trying to get into right now. But one thing I did learn from this man is that we need to be on fire, man.
Speaker 3 00:19:36 We, we don’t need to be afraid to get out there and stare in the face of darkness because when you flip that light switch, the, the darkness flees, man, there’s a man named Abraham Hamilton who runs the Hamilton quarter. Shout out, bro, if you hear this, I would love to be on your show. No, I’m just kidding. But anyways, he says this thing and part of his, um, uh, part of his, uh, um, his introduction, he says, darkness is not an affirmative force. It is simply re occupies the space vacated by the light. And I’m trying to communicate that to the, my generation or everybody in a less, you know, toned down vocabulary. You know what I mean? Um, to everybody, man, because that’s it, that’s it right there. And there’s so much more to it. It’s, it’s not just about outreach. It’s not just about, you know, sharing the gospel.
Speaker 3 00:20:25 It’s about like your life abiding in him and having freedom and understanding the very tactics that Satan tries to hit you up with. Um, I actually posted a video not long ago. I posted it a few times and he goes by what? Every time and I loved it, that one does. I remember telling my wife, if this one, the fact that this one went viral, I could get banned from Tik TOK. And I’ll be cool about it. Cause I know it’s actually like destroy a bunch of strongholds of people’s minds, but it’s pretty much about how, um, as like, this is why you feel like you’ve lost the fire, the holy spirit. And I pretty much just preach the blood and how we come to the Lord on the basis of the blood every single time. And it’s there that we see his beauty, his love, and you get excited about reading, about praying and you understand that it’s not reading and praying and fasting.
Speaker 3 00:21:13 That gets you super say in to we’re booked up like fajita rather than it gets you focused. Like we read and we pray and we fast. So we are more reliant, independent the zoned in on the truth that sets us free because that is what it’s about. And unfortunately, so many people are falling into that category where Jesus grills the Pharisees and said, you search the scriptures because in them you think that, that you have eternal life, but they wrote about me and here I am before you, and you’re projecting me, you know, I’m trying to get us to see the scriptures in a way that’s alive and active. The way that the scripture describes the scripture. So it actually right. Circumcised is our hearts. Excuse me for that language. I think I’m allowed to use it since Paul used it. You know, that’s off all the access and we are so alive in him.
Speaker 3 00:21:59 We’re sensitive to his presence and his truth every second, every moment of our lives. So we’re even when we slip up and fall, as I pause, I’m appraised of the Lord because this is just transformational every single moment. And it’s from here. When you, when you clean to the truth, through the fire, through the waves and all these types of things, that’s when you see the growth, that’s whenever you, when you remain true to the substance that you are now, which is a child of God, a Saint, someone who’s been redeemed through the fire, that’s when you’re refined. But if you remain true to the substance that you wore, which is corruptible through the fire, what’s going to happen. You’re going to just fade away like Ash. And so many of us are stuck in who we used to be in this false humility, thinking that, oh, I’m just glorifying God by saying, I’m a sinner saved by grace.
Speaker 3 00:22:47 I just want to slap him in the face. You know, like Batman, Robin meme, and just be like, no, like we are saying, it’s like, I get it. We fall, you know, we’re going to have battles, but what good is claiming those battles. If you’re not going to grow through them. So let’s, let’s, let’s grab the truth and let’s grow through them in a practical way. So I just want to say this and I’ll shut up. Um, we want to change the world. We want to change the culture. You know, we want to change politics. Everyone’s talking about politics, Trump and Biden and all this other junk. And it’s like, I get it. There’s a problem. But man, I love how a bunch of people are woke and they’re seeking the truth. But I see a bunch of conservative influencers who know all these facts, but they don’t know the truth that sets them free. So they were really in as much bondage as the liberals. They’re always grilling. So I’m like, yo, if we really want to change this nation, we need to change the culture because politics flows downward from culture. And the only way we’re going to change the culture is by renewing the hearts of the co of the collective masses. So each individual that we reach, we introduce them to Christ and then they go on and do the same over and over and over again. And then we ended up seeing the nation change.
Speaker 2 00:23:56 You know, it reminds me of X 15 when the Jerusalem council met and it’s after Paul and it’s, it’s like a super team meeting because Peter and Paul and many of the apostles are all there. Silas Barnabas. And they’re reporting on the situation because you’ve got two different. Um, and I mean, this is simplifying a lot, but you’ve got two different groups, very different groups of people. You’ve got the Jews who are coming to Christ that had all this bondage on them, right? All these laws, not just given by the Lord, but given by the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the people that were overseeing even them. And then you’ve got the Gentiles from many different nations, all coming with a lot less bondage in the sense of, if you were to bullet it all out, they might’ve done some certain things with their fake gods, but they’re coming like, oh, there’s some boundaries here.
Speaker 2 00:24:40 And then when the two meet, they’re like, oh no, you have to do this, this, this, this and this. Even though you’re a Gentile. Cause that’s what it means. And what’s so refreshing about the Jerusalem council and the Jerusalem decree that comes out of it is at the very end, after explaining you, don’t gotta be circumcised like that. You don’t get like it’s about the heart, not the other stuff, you know, and all this other stuff at the end, this is how Peter ends it for. It seemed good to the holy spirit and to us to lay upon you, no greater burden than these necessary things that you abstain from. Things offered to idols from blood, from things strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well for things. And so when they, when people go back and forth, cause they, like you said, there’s so many people that are, that are bound up with like, okay, I got to keep this day.
Speaker 2 00:25:23 I got to let this go. I got, and, and they’re even though they started out with the freedom of God, they’re starting to add in all these check boxes. But when you sit in the word and you start clinging to Christ and you start just letting him transform your heart and mind, these things become natural. They’re not checkboxes. You don’t have to run through your house in a panic because you’re still doing all these things that he looks down on because you start the mind and the heart starts to transform it. And they start naturally going away. The things that we have turned from it continues, but it’s not that we’re sitting there every day, hunting down everything, picking ourselves apart of what we’re doing. We’re letting him work. And it’s so much more powerful. Like you said, when you allow God to work in you, then you try to fix your
Speaker 3 00:26:04 Right. You begin to live in such a way like Paul. And he says, I live my life trusting in the son of God. And for us many in the church today, think that that trust means I’m going to get a promotion. I’m going to make you know, enough for rent this month. And I forget all that stuff. I know that when I get tempted, one of the biggest vices in my life that I dealt with for years was pornography. So when I get tempted with those things, I can recognize them as an absolute lie in contrast to the truth that is in God’s word. It says that I have died to those things. Like I am dead according to those things. So even frustrations. So like all these things, we begin to set it, recognizing that we have died and that we are alive in Christ.
Speaker 3 00:26:47 Like he lives his life in us. So no matter what we feel see or anything like that. So here we are, we walk in a spirit and then like you said, Michelle, all of these things begin to come out from this place of the spirit. The fruits of the holy spirit began to usher out when you rest in the truth. And that’s why Jesus was like abide in the vine, abide in the vine. And this is what I cry out for people to grab. Man, I can’t tell you how many times I get on social media and see stuff that just grieves my heart from well, meaning people who actually have some great stuff going on. And I hold my tongue a lot. Cause I don’t want to seem like the guy that’s like always trying to correct everybody. But it’s crazy because I feel that way all to show people that it’s so much more simple than that, like I’m actually about to come against a lot of this whole deliverance ministry stuff.
Speaker 3 00:27:38 I mentioned that in a live stream with the brother the other day, and I just saw his whole countenance changed. I was like, bro, hold on, like, don’t get me wrong here. I already know what you’re thinking. I was like, I believe in deliverance, like I’ve, I’ve seen demons come out in the name of Jesus. God has done that through me. I’ve seen it, don’t get me wrong. But it all comes back to the same thing. Like the simplicity of the gospel at this free, from the power of sin and the penalty of sin, you know, like that’s the battle in the basis of all of our battle, whether it’s an outreach or within ourselves, it’s deception. Like th the, the basis of our battle is deception because these demons are always trying to get us to focus on the lie because they know we’ll buy it.
Speaker 3 00:28:19 Oh, he feels it. If he feels this, he’s gonna identify with it. And EV every level of it. But that’s why I was saying like in Colassians we see that Christ disarmed the powers and principalities through the blood, through his death, through his resurrection. So if we can live there, we too can disarm them as well. And we’ll truly see freedom. You know, we don’t have to be focused on demons oppression. None of that, the only reason people are under demonic oppression is because they’re believing the lie and walking in the flesh. It’s not because they have these demons putting things on them and forcing them to do things. If you’re a Saint, you’re a Saint, but if you don’t see that, you’re never going to walk in it. We need to walk in it, you know? Right.
Speaker 0 00:29:02 Yeah. I sit here and I think like, so will, as I unpack what I’ve got on, I got in my mind right now, um, how you say, going back to the simplicity of the gospel, seeing Christ as what he was, as he walked this earth to be with us, this, this, this, this depth, you know, it’s like more depth. It’s simple, but it’s more depth. It’s like understanding that, like this happened, I’m not just reading this. And so on that note, as we walk out there, as we start to share the word of God, see some of us, like, you know, we like to sit in charge, get fed and be like, oh, Hey, look, I got you that it’s good to be fed. It’s good to be fed by a podcast. You know what the best to be fed by as the word of God.
Speaker 0 00:29:36 But we’ll just leave that there. Um, you know, you don’t read your Bible, but, um, as we as start to learn it, though, and, and we have it in us because he’s downloaded this, I just want this known. When we started to believe we were downloaded, we were definitely downloaded it. It’s not something that I, I gained through my works. It’s like, I, but through works, you know, faith without works is dead. But through these works, I start to unpack it. I start to understand it as I’m out there, as I’m sharing, as I’m sharing the word of God is I start to walk that life. As I start to see that it’s no longer I, but Christ inside of me. And I start to walk this life and I start to walk this path and I start to walk and follow Christ and be a part of Christ because I want that.
Speaker 0 00:30:13 That’s where I want to be, man. I start to unpack this word. I start to understand this word. Now, imagine if you never walk out and disciple, now, imagine if you go out and you never share the word of God, how do you even comprehend what the disciples were going through? How do you even comprehend this, this walk or this direction? You don’t, you don’t, you sit there and the provision. And you’re like, okay, I’m here. Give me, give me, but how do you understand that? And so that, on that note, it’s like, so I always tell our life group. I’m like, Hey, look, it’s nice to come on Tuesday, be together. I love it. I love being with you. I love you guys coming in here, sharing in the word of God. You know, but you need to turn out this can’t be, this can’t be your, it can be your re renewal, but not your trough.
Speaker 0 00:31:00 You know, it’s like, turn out, start give, you know, start sharing this word. And I’m not saying go out and beat people up. You know, we’re very, I just like sharing where God, I will find a way to, to love on people without throwing John this, or mark this or Colossians this, or, you know, it’s like, you, you, you, you start to, to, to, to just give them the word of God in ways that they’ll understand it. Cause they’re B understands it differently. Uh, I’m sure you run it. The same thing. You run into different people. I can’t talk to everybody. Like I’m talking right now. You know, some people hear this be like, oh yeah. And then, you know, what’s cool about this though. Michelle says it one way. You’re saying it one way. I’m saying it one way, but we’re all saying it the same way.
Speaker 0 00:31:34 It’s the same message. It’s this message that Christ is the rock. He is the foundation, you know, up on this rock. I will build my church. I’m not talking about four walls. I’m talking about eight emboldened group of people who have chosen to try and walk like Christ, hypocrite, look, I’m looking at you, I’m a hypocrite. I’m going to say it. And I want it out of the way, because that is the biggest thing. People come all the time. You’re hit you’re right. I am, but I want to change. I want to change. You know what I do today? I don’t want to do tomorrow. But you know, I think that holds people back too. They’re like, well, so hypocritical. I, you know, like I, I’m trying, I say one truth, but you know what? The Bible is, the truth. Share the truth. And let me tell you some, as you walk in that truth, he refines you. He takes them, cracks the Potter and the clay, and he starts to mold you. And I love what I’m hearing. I just say like, oh, pack it up. I’m taking notes, man. I’m like, what?
Speaker 3 00:32:25 I, I just want to stop there for a second. Because like this all kind of leads back to what James talks about. He says faith without works is dead. And when I preach the simplicity of the gospel, so many people get stumbled by the averse and I’ve had to break it down. And I’m like, look, emphasis is not on the works in this passage, guys. The emphasis is on the condition of the faith. If your faith is not healthy, how do you expect to break out of that? Um, hypocrisy, you know, and the reason people don’t get it is because the reason people never move past that hypocrisy is because they’re looking at their hypocrisy instead of looking at Christ Jesus and grabbing hold of it with their faith, healthy, single eye, body flip flooded with light. You know, if my, I have two eyeballs, I mean, we’re here on the video.
Speaker 3 00:33:11 I don’t know if people on the podcast will be able to see this, but both of my eyes are straight looking at the screen right now. If one of them goes outward, I’m blurred. My depth perception is off. I can see, you know, we have to understand that when our are actually eyeballs are two, but they work as one on one focal point. And that’s when our eyes are healthy. So if we are constantly beholding the truth that is in Christ, we then can grab it. We can grab it and we can put our faith in it. And that is where the words come from. Because when you see what we are to believe in, we believe it. And when we believe it, the holy spirit brings fruit of it. So people will actually, oh, faith without works is dead. And they’re always focused on the words.
Speaker 3 00:33:53 And if you actually look at the entire book of James, he’s grilling, useless religion, he’s actually calling them out. Like, man, don’t be a hypocrite. There’s people come in with better status than the lowly man do not show partiality. Like he’s, he’s talking to them like Jesus did. And then they see this one little thing, you know about works. And they’re like, oh, we got to do works. Then you know, you’ve worked towards work. So they’re always focused and they identify themselves. But how well they do, that’s why they can’t move past that place on the hypocrite. Oh, well, no, you’re not. You’re actually going to faith. I mean, you’re actually, I’m a Saint, but if you put your faith in it, you’d be able to walk in it. That’s one of the things that I’m trying to bring forth in Renaissance Christianity, and here it is, here it is.
Speaker 3 00:34:33 What we’re talking about is the faith. The simplicity of the gospel is all, it is all that it is about. And I’m trying to bring the church back here. Well, you know, and that’s why the renewal of interest, the Renaissance that we need is a revolutionary revival. It’s not just a revival that we associate with, with Billy Graham and forget Billy Graham, you know, all respect to the guy, but Hey, let’s get him out of our head already. You don’t get the church conferences out of your head already. Church service, get that out of your head and start thinking about true revival. What was that? What did that look like? Look at acts. They saw the gospel. They literally, we forget that the apostles in the first couple of chapters, the book of acts literally just spent 40 days with the risen Christ. They saw it clearly.
Speaker 3 00:35:19 And that’s the revolutionary revival that I’m trying to help people see that we all have already. It’s not about bringing it. It’s about seeing it and grabbing hold of it and living in it. We have been made new. We have all that we need in Christ Jesus, but how can we ever attain it if we don’t see it? You know, if your eye is unhealthy and all you see is darkness, how great is that darkness? You know? So it’s just like this back to the paradigm. It shifts. I always say faith is a perspective. So let’s get our perspective on Christ alone. And it’s from here. I understand there’s a place for apologetics. There’s a place for, I mean, all kinds of stuff nowadays, but we will never truly learn it with godly wisdom unless we get this right first, you know, and I’m calling us to get this right first.
Speaker 3 00:36:06 And then we can truly walk in purpose and like y’all’s theme. You know, the season that we’re in is God intentions. You know, how can we even come close to living intentionally for the kingdom of God? If we don’t identify with his finished work, if we still are hoarding our own life, we will lose it. We will not gain it. We overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb, by associating ourselves with his blood, by putting our faith in it, as the means by which we come in and actually have fellowship with him, the blood, every time, the word of our testimony, we testify at it. We believe it. This is it right here and loving, not our own life unto death. Everyone wants to leave that one out. I don’t know why it’s crazy. It’s kind of creepy. Honestly, even in songs and all this stuff, it was here, you know, oh, the blood of the land or whatever testimony.
Speaker 3 00:36:58 And I’m here waiting for the last part. And I don’t hear it. I’m like, yeah, that’s where it’s at. You need to love not your own life unto death because your life is what brings about corruption. That’s why we need Jesus in the first place, but we will never come to this place of God intentions if we never lay our life aside and consider ourselves dead unto sin and alive on the Christ. And then he’s our reason for being, we wake up in the morning, not to clock in, right? Oh, like, man, can we stop saying, oh, I’ve got to go to work today, man. You get to go and preach the gospel because you’ve been made at noon. So when, when you are his and you understand that you were bought with the price, everything flows through this place seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness because that’s life.
Speaker 3 00:37:44 And it’s the only life you have anything outside of that is not the gospel and is not lined up with true life. So it’s either every day you make a choice. You either live in life in Christ. Are you walking death in the flesh? And this is crazy because it’s like the mind of the spirit leads to life. And the mind of the flesh leads to death and more corruption. And it’s here. I just want to add one more thing and I’ll shut up. I promise, but I’m right here, guys. This is what it’s about. When you present yourself as instruments of righteousness, it leads to sanctification. When, what does that even mean? How do we even have righteousness? Jesus, we know that, right? So when we present ourselves to God as an instrument of righteousness, we are saying, God, I’m here before you, because of him because of your finished work Lord.
Speaker 3 00:38:31 And I am an instrument of righteousness because I trust in you forget everything else here I am. I’m trusting in you. I’m living my life, trusting in the son of God. And this is who I am because of you. It’s all about you, Lord. It’s all about you. And then I’m affected. And it actually leads to sanctification in our whole mind is renewed. According to the knowledge of our creator, as we become formed like him, like, you know, guys, I don’t know about you, but I’m just seeing the scripture all come together in this place right here. You know what I’m saying? Colossians, Ephesians. I mean, everything is right here, but um, and I see this then you guys, that’s why I love talking to y’all man. Um, I just, I love it, man. I love it.
Speaker 0 00:39:07 We, uh, I, I love that, you know, because the positional sanctification versus the experiential sanctification, um, of course ultimate sanctification that there’s that death part right until death. I’m cool with that too. Let me just go up there and just be perfected. Uh, but, uh, it’s, it’s just been a eye opener for me. Cause I’m all about what you’re talking about this whole, this whole identity, you know, I think that the world doesn’t have an identity. You see? Cause you don’t have God when you have God, you have this access, like you’re saying to this identity. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 00:39:42 What I love is how everyone can hear it. They can see it if they’re watching this on our YouTube channel, but the passion that comes when you trust and you invest what you have your time into the word of God, because when you invest your time into the word of God, you have everything you’d ever need there, but it’s not necessarily sewn together. So perfectly for you. That one read through, we put it all together. But as you start to just invest and go after it, it comes together right in front of you. Like you said, you start rattling it off. This happened to me during evangelism, someone coming to me and saying, you know, if you’re not of this race, you can’t go into heaven. And you know, saying so many things and I was just in a mood for conversation. But what was amazing is that verses just started to flow as promised they come out because they’re living there in us, they’re branded into us and they, they live. And it was amazing because on so many levels you just experienced the life-giving, the knowledge, the wisdom, the you’re just reaffirmed in that truth. So unless you have an alibi,
Speaker 0 00:40:54 I wanted to ask one thing. I don’t know if he does freestyle, but what’s the one thing y’all don’t maybe. Okay. Yeah. If you know him then, you know, and if he didn’t know him, I’m hoping he can just throw a few lines down. Maybe.
Speaker 3 00:41:08 Oh man, I haven’t freestyle in the longest time. It’s crazy because people ask me if I speak in tongues and I’m like, I don’t, but if there’s anything that comes close to it, when I got saved, I, I lost my ability to like freestyle like that. But I come over. So all my songs, like I literally turned the mic on and I’m just like saying some stuff that sounds like gibberish. And then I come back over it and the holy spirit gives me lyrics that fit perfectly with all of these things. Um, but I guess I can, I can,
Speaker 0 00:41:35 When I say, when I say freestyle and I’m the, I’m the guy on this side, I’m like, I know you got some stuff, so just throw some down.
Speaker 3 00:41:41 Yeah. Um, well there’s a song I wrote. It’s called new creation. It’s actually out right now. Um, it’s kind of like, it talks about everything. Um, I’m out here trying to push, you know, um, and it starts off saying that God didn’t say me just to get to heaven. I’m a truly sanctified new creation, a history represented for the king. I’m the light of the world. And I’m a shine to the end of the age of time. Love and not my life on the death overcoming the enemy because I would walk in the spirit. This is my reality. Not something limited to a topic of lyric. How can anybody believe the gospel? Ain’t just a book or an Easter story. If they don’t ever see a wall passed down, it’s only through believers living in and breathing glory. The hope of glory Christ in us rivers that are live in water, springing up contagious. When I rejoice in the Lord, not as so can resist when they meet his love. I’m honestly surprised. I’ve remembered that I have so many songs guys. I’m telling you love it is so rich, man. I should check it out for sure.
Speaker 2 00:42:32 Oh yeah. We’re going to link to your Spotify channel in the show notes, but can you do us a solid and let everyone know where you can connect with them and where they can reach?
Speaker 3 00:42:41 Well, you can definitely follow me on six hocket revolution dot revival, our website, um, which is a revolution, revival.org knocking, uh, find us there or add me on Instagram. So we’d love to connect with you on, on Instagram. Um, but the website is where it’s at because the church is where it’s at, you know, meeting on Wednesdays and Saturdays and you know, having zoom, meeting churches, revolutionizing them. Um, and I just want to say we’re really focused on discipleship. I love that God allows me to reach, you know, millions of people and stuff through social media, but there’s only a handful of people that are really connected with the church. And we’re really focused on spending countless hours of our day, sowing into you and helping you break down the scriptures, helping you work through a lot of things. The world we’ll call it counseling, but I’m literally making myself available for people to connect with me in that way. You know? So I just want to put that out there, know that we are real people and we really love you. If we have the means, we’ll show up on you. We’ll give you a big old hug that ties you if it’s necessary, but you know,
Speaker 0 00:43:47 Well brother, we try, we try to get closer. I don’t think we’re gonna make it all the way to you, but we’re going to get closer. We’re going to get closer. But, but yeah, so on that, just remember, like we’ve heard in this episode, man, Jesus is the additive, you know, and when it says, seek ye first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and he will add all of these things. Amen.
Speaker 2 00:44:06 Okay. So this week’s question of the week is what was the moment that ignited you in deeper into faith and relationship with Christ? Or maybe it hasn’t happened yet and either way we want to know. So go to the pantry podcast.com where you can record an audio soundbite or send us a message and we will feature you on a future episode. So until
Speaker 0 00:44:25 Bye. Hey brother. Loved happy. Bye-bye yeah, you guys cool?
Speaker 3 00:44:34 Yeah, no, no glory to me, man. It’s just Jesus man.

KEYWORDS: Religion or relationship, How do you have a relationship with Jesus, Christian rapper, Revolution Revival, Renaissance Christianity, church focus.