As The Leader Grows with Ken Joslin
As The Leader Grows with Ken Joslin
Brydon and Mina Brett | Building Love & Unity Across Faiths
What happens when two souls from distinct faiths and cultures meet on a Christmas Day in Germany and build a journey of love and unity? Join us for a heartfelt conversation with Brydon and Mina Brett, the vibrant voices behind the "Bretter Together" podcast. From Brydon's show business roots in Dallas and Branson to Mina's New York gospel choir experiences, discover how these two navigated the complexities of a long-distance relationship across continents, bound by humor, faith, and incredible eight-hour FaceTime calls.
Navigating the intricacies of love, Brydon and Mina share the pivotal role faith played in bridging their worldviews, from apostolic Pentecostal to Latter-day Saint perspectives. Despite cultural and racial differences, aligning their beliefs through divine confirmations and periods of fasting and prayer became the backbone of their connection. Listen to how they transformed these challenges into a shared commitment to faith, underscoring the significance of love as a universal language.
Celebrate the joy of unity with Bryden and Mina as they discuss their passion projects, from the King Will Come worship collective to their new podcast ventures, including a pre-marriage course and e-books. Their story is a testament to grace, music, and love's transformative power. Discover the joys of their family life with their three-year-old son, as they reflect on the liberating power of forgiveness and understanding God's unconditional love. This episode is a celebration of becoming more like Jesus, embracing family, and building bridges in every facet of life.
Welcome to the ATLG podcast I am your host Ken Joslin, former pastor turned coach & host of CREATE, the #1 Faith-based Entrepreneur conference in America. My mission is to help faith-based entrepreneurs become the best version of themselves by growing in our Core 5: Faith, Health, Relationships, Business & Finances. You can get more information as well as join our FREE Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/676347099851525
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it on social media and tag Ken Joslin.
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of as the Leader Grows. I was getting my white dad dance moves down over here with my guys. I got a treat for you guys. I've got two of my favorite people on the freaking planet On our podcast today Bryden and his amazing wife, Mina Breader. Together is the word that they keep giving me. Breader together, Right man, Mina. Welcome to our podcast. Hey, tell our audience real quick a little bit about who you guys are and what you've got going on, where you're at too, with the move and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, ken. Bro. We're so glad to be here, man, and it's just a blessing, bro. Um, so, breaded together, that's what we are. Together, it's our pod.
Speaker 1:We just started the podcast that's why we were laughing, going into the whole thing. We were talking about bad dad jokes and mina's the one that picked it out, I know it's catchy it is catchy, it definitely catchy.
Speaker 3:And our last name is Brett. I mean, how can you? You can't miss that.
Speaker 1:I get it Like it's Bretter together.
Speaker 3:Yes, baby, I love it.
Speaker 1:It's great man, so you guys have just moved to Salt Lake City. Tell everybody a little bit about what you guys have got going on and what you're a part of right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you, I grew up in show business. I'm from Dallas, texas. Grew up in show business in Branson, missouri. Mina's from New York. We met in Germany on Christmas Day 2013. Come- on.
Speaker 1:That's the best Christmas present you ever got.
Speaker 2:Bro yeah for sure. And 18 hours in the same city, like this crazy window God just opened up for us to meet. So we're kind of this. It took us like five years of long distance dating to kind of figure our relationship out, and so we're kind of this, this inter inter denominational inter ethnic couple.
Speaker 3:With a twist, with a musical twist.
Speaker 1:You're into everything, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:We are bridge builders. That's what our mandate is for. So we have built bridges in our own relationship and we go out into the world and we try to build bridges that will help ultimately bring the kingdom of God together. So that's what we do.
Speaker 1:Oh, so you guys met. You know both were in two different Christian kind of bands pop bands or worship bands.
Speaker 3:Well, he was singing with his family. I was touring gospel choir and we were in town for 18 hours and we met backstage. So that's how we met, and his family is in showbiz, so they've been doing shows on the Branson stages for about 20 something years, 24 years or something like that, and so that was what he was doing and what he continued to do throughout our dating and most of our so here's the most important question is how long did it take him to ask you out after he met you, mina?
Speaker 3:well, because we met backstage. He somehow wrangled my phone number out of me, which I I did do. I did not just give my phone number to people. He was trying to get to contact with me with Facebook or whatever, and I didn't have Facebook at the time. And he teased me about that. Yeah, because who?
Speaker 2:doesn't have Facebook.
Speaker 3:Whatever. What kind of person doesn't have Facebook? I said I was like well, I have Instagram, because Instagram had just started around then and I was more interested in that. So I said, well, I have Instagram, Do you have that? And he's like no. And I said, so, what kind of person doesn't have Instagram? So he kind of teased me at first.
Speaker 2:I was charming bro, I was charming.
Speaker 1:Did you give him the number before or after you heard him sing? Because the dude's talented I never heard him sing.
Speaker 3:I didn't hear him sing. He and his brother came to hear us sing, but I hadn't heard him sing.
Speaker 2:I was just.
Speaker 3:I guess I was charmed because I gave both of them my number. We were in the same group text for like a few text messages and then he broke off and started texting me individually and from there we started texting even more. He asked me if he could call me. We scheduled a phone call, which is so him, like, he put a phone call on the calendar. I thought that was so weird. I was like why don't you just call me? But anyway, we put a phone call on the calendar. I thought that was so weird. I was like why don't you just call me? But anyway, we scheduled a phone call and then from there we went to FaceTime. Our first FaceTime was eight hours long and yeah, from there we just kind of kept building the relationship.
Speaker 1:We had lots of hard conversations right from the gate, like what Tell our audience real quick, because relationships any relationships is hard. You guys are both entertainers and performers, both love Jesus, but walk me through some of those tough conversations. I want our audience to hear some of the conversations y'all had.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, and I know, Ken, you're all about alignment, right, and that's what we're all about. And so for me, coming from my background, we kind of come from different edges of the fringes of Christianity she comes from apostolic Pentecostal background, I come from Latter-day Saint background, so totally what appears to be opposites in this huge chasm that we had to bridge? And so we're talking everything from nature of God to spiritual gifts, tongues, biblical inerrancy, like deep stuff that is like foundational for both of us, and ultimately we had to get knocked over the head by God multiple times to where he said hey, this is what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to build a bridge between you so I can build bridges between others. I'm trying to get you off of your secondary sacred cows and get you focused on me and on love and build out from there, instead of building on what we have, that's different, building on what we have in common. And so it's. You know, he's kind of it took us a long time, bro Like, oh man, it was tough.
Speaker 3:Well, to answer your earlier question about how long it took him to ask me out, we didn't really have. We didn't really have our first date until like five months in, when we decided to finally like meet in person and he paid for me to fly to Nashville and he drove down to Nashville and pick me up from the airport, and that was five months in. So we didn't really have our first real date until about five months.
Speaker 2:So leading up to that. When did you know?
Speaker 3:When did I know that he was the one? Oh, I mean, I think there were clues along the way, but I think I think I really knew that he was the one for me during prayer. One time we were praying together and I used to work at a theater and I was kind of like the prayer officer at the time, and so I would go into the prayer room and pray over all the prayer requests that everyone had submitted for the day, and I was in this prayer room and we were together on the phone, and I was in this prayer room and we were together on the phone and we were praying and the Lord told me during that prayer that he had given me, he had given him his heart for me.
Speaker 3:He said I gave him my heart for you. And that's when I was like, oh, because he had never said that about anybody else I dated. So I was like, wow, this is important here.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you this In kind of your beginning, kind of relationship stages, you had a lot of deep conversations on theology, because you come from two different backgrounds You're white, she's black. There's that you guys have to bridge and I want to talk about that because you know, my grandbaby is mixed. My grand, my grand baby is, is mixed and she's so they. She just FaceTimed me. Well, she FaceTimed me and I was on the phone with you just a while ago. Yeah, my daughter I tell people all the time my daughter is ginger, she's as white as you can get. My son-in-law is as black as you can get.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I have the most beautiful grand baby in the world. So but talk to me real quick about your faith, like how important was your faith in navigating, because Mina just said God told me that he had given his heart to me. So walk me through, bryden, walk me through some of that with your faith, and how important that was in navigating the beginning of this relationship.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was man. It's so hard to consolidate. But I will say she prayed a prayer early on in her life that God would keep her so hidden in him that whoever married her would have to go through him to get to her. And I, before I met her, I had been chasing marriage, bro. Like I was chasing after marriage, I was chasing cause I just don't want to be single anymore.
Speaker 2:And about seven, seven days before I met her, I had prayed the price of God, I'm going to stop chasing after marriage, I'm going to chase after you. And seven days later he leads her into my life and he used her to shake up my entire belief system, to deconstruct the things that were wrong in my belief system, that were keeping me from him. And then I've been reconstructing ever since. And so it was a process of we would kind of date for a few months and then we'd go on a sabbatical and fast and pray for a month, and that pattern continued because it was so critical to us that we had alignment in our faith. But ultimately, when the Lord gave us both the green light, I think what ultimately did it for me was when I knew that he would follow her no matter what.
Speaker 3:That I would follow him.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, but I knew that she would follow God no matter what, that I would follow him oh yeah, but I knew that she would follow God no matter what, and she knew that I would follow God no matter what. We knew we had the same point that we're going toward and that, whatever you know falsehoods or you know false beliefs that we had to let go of, and whatever truth we had to receive, we would be willing to do that on that journey toward him. And she had demonstrated that over and over again and I demonstrated that to her and that was ultimately what gave us the confidence that we could move forward with the relationship. I love that.
Speaker 1:Walk me through. Walk me through, mina, from your perspective. First, had you guys dated interracial in the past, or was this?
Speaker 3:your first. You know what, for me I didn't really discriminate, you know, like I was just like if he was fine, he was fine, I was just. You know, I didn't really care too much about, you know, racial stuff like that. I had, I guess, what you would call a type, you know, which is generally a tall black guy, um, and so he definitely didn't fit that that mold. I always say nowadays I'm like I think our type is probably a decoy. You know what I mean, because a lot of women I've talked to who have like, really felt like they found their person, will say that he's not anything like what they would normally have dated. So I mean, I liked white guys, I like black guys, I like Spanish guys, like whatever. There wasn't really a limit to what I was attracted to, but as far as like actually dating a white person before, I'd never had.
Speaker 1:So to walk me through the journey with you guys, was that a thought? Were those conversations in the beginning of the relationship? Like I mean now, you, bro, you got some, you got flavor. Like you ain't your average white guy I mean I grew up in Detroit, You're not the average white guy. You got a little bit of sauce over there.
Speaker 3:He got some Lowry's. He got some seasoned salt in there?
Speaker 1:Yes, he does. He got some Tony Sash rays.
Speaker 2:I received that. I received that. Yeah, you know. I think I had always known that I was not going to marry a Caucasian woman, but I'd never dated anybody other than Caucasian women. It's really, you know. So that was weird. But I always had this inner knowing that I wasn't going to, and so I wasn't surprised. But she still wasn't. The packaging I was expecting and the religious bridge we had to build was much more difficult to build than the racial bridge.
Speaker 3:Because he has flavor, because he has swag like he knows more about like hip-hop and things like that r&b than even I do, so it's just really interesting like, and I like, country music. You know so a lot of the stereotypes that you might expect between us are really there, you know. So it wasn't really a question of the racial.
Speaker 1:Was it even a conversation that you guys had?
Speaker 3:For sure, yeah, we've had the conversation but, we found out pretty early that neither one of us really cared about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It was for, even for both of our families. It was the religious differences that was the bridge that the big.
Speaker 1:Thing. Yeah, yeah, well, talk to me.
Speaker 3:I probably will be for the rest of our relationship.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do I now say that again?
Speaker 3:I said, I think that one is probably still under construction. You know, I think it probably will be for the rest of our listen.
Speaker 1:this is a journey Like the moment you think you're there, you, you, you're nothing. It is a journey and I do believe it gets sweeter and I do believe marriage gets more intimate and I believe the more that you learn and you grow and you know each other and you're really asked because you got started, your let's talk about this for a minute because you started your relationship off the right way, because you're having hard conversations up front. So walk me, where did that come from in both of you guys?
Speaker 3:Well, that's such a good question. Well, long distance will do that for you If you want to keep the interest going. Long distance makes, it, forces you to talk and talk about things that aren't just superficial or, you know, on the surface. You know, and it takes it literally, removes the physical aspect of things so that you can only focus on the mental, emotional and spiritual aspect of the relationship. And so that was one of the major factors is just that we were long distance, and another major factor is that Bryden is painfully thorough and he has notes and charts for everything, and he was not about to like. I guess he sensed that this was important and he didn't want to allow anything to get in the way of us doing what God had for each of us, and so he was very thorough about the questions that he asked and he was very much a leader in this aspect of the relationship, just making sure that no stone was left unturned, that there was nothing that we didn't at least touch on in our conversations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Ken, I would say and I know you'll resonate with this because you're talking about the hard conversations I come from a much more passive communication style. Mina and her family and her culture come from much more direct, and so we had to learn how to communicate in that way. Henry and Taryn, who are amazing Henry's been so instrumental in my life recently just in talking about leading with radical honesty, radical truth, but with radical love as well. You have to have truth and love. They go together. You can't have truth without love and love without truth. And so, yes, bonds are created in tension. You cannot have bonds without tension, and so we had a lot of tension that had to be resolved, but the tension begs for resolve. So therefore, you have to. You have to build a bridge or you have to go separate ways.
Speaker 1:And then talk about as you guys build those bonds and strengthening that intimacy between the two of you guys, how much that's needed, facing just the everyday stuff that life throws at you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It was the. What we've developed in our relationship has become the model we use how we approach life, and so, now that God has shown us how to build a bridge between us, now we can take that same model and apply it to other organizations and groups and ethnicities and cultures and one-on-one. We learned how to have crucial conversations. We learned how to become unified on what really matters and not compromise, but collaborate towards something better. And that model continues to serve us every single day, and the work we're doing now with the King Will Come with the group that we're part of, you know, going out to the world and trying to show that to the world and just everything else. Man, it's, I don't know what. Did you say Anything to that?
Speaker 3:Oh, I think everything that you said is absolutely correct. What the Lord has taught us in our individual relationship has been it's been so needed for everything else that he's led us into Like we need to be able to have crucial conversations in order to build bridges. We need to be able to understand how to navigate tension and use it as a catalyst instead of allowing it to pull things apart. You know there are certain bridges that are called tension bridges. Tension is required in order to build the bridge, and so I don't think we would be able to go into the spaces that we go into now and be able to affect the change that we do if we didn't learn how to do it in our relationship first.
Speaker 1:I love that. What would you guys? Mina, what would you say to single girls? I have a ton of faith-based entrepreneurs that listen to this podcast thousands. What would you say to somebody a single faith-based entrepreneur that's listening to this podcast? What advice would you give her?
Speaker 3:Oh, I think I'd probably give two pieces of advice that helped me tremendously, especially when I was single and not even sure if I wanted to get married because of the drama and the trauma that comes from relationships sometimes. I would say delight thyself also in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Speaker 3:If you put all of your energy into being hidden in the Lord, anybody who is actually going to find you, the person who is supposed to find you will find you on his way through the Lord. If you allow the Lord to be the one. I love that verse because it says he'll give you the desires of your heart. It doesn't just mean that He'll give you what you want. It means He'll give you what to want, and if you have desires that don't align with His best for you, if you delight yourself in Him, he will tailor your desires and align your desires to what works for your life and for your journey and for your path, and I think that that is so often missed, especially when it comes to anybody who wants to be in a relationship, who is also of
Speaker 3:the faith. A lot of times we just twiddle our thumbs and say, well, the Lord knows my heart, or the Lord knows what I want, right, and we aren't specific with God. But I like to refer to our prayers as like going to the best search engine that there ever was. Like if you go to Google and you just type in one word, you're going to get thousands and thousands of pages. You know what I mean. But like, if you like, if you go to the, to the heavenly prayer search engine, and you say, lord, I want a husband, right? What's going to come out of that prayer search is all of the eligible men on the planet are going to flood the pipeline toward you.
Speaker 3:That is not what you want. You want what is for you, and so the more specific that you get with God and with your prayer so that's the second thing that I would say is you need to be specific with God. A lot of us are afraid to be specific with God because then we feel like we're telling God what to give us. But as we become more specific with him, we begin to understand our own desires and we are able to weed out the people who don't belong around us by just using our eyes and our ears and our hearts. You know what I mean. But a lot of times we're just like.
Speaker 1:sometimes with women specifically, we will give people chances who do not deserve them because, we aren't understanding our own specific desires, but I love that, but you circumvented that because you said God, I want you to hide me. So, and I love Proverbs 18, 22. I used to do a courtship series in my studio as a man a man who finds a wife finds a good thing.
Speaker 1:And so my whole, my whole big idea for that series I did every year was don't worry about finding Mr Mrs Right, worry about becoming Mr Mrs Right. And when you do that that scripture in Proverbs 18, as a man is on his way, god causes the path of a woman to intersect his path. You're chasing God and God will bring the right woman in your life. Preach Come on girl.
Speaker 3:Preach, preach, preach. That verse is my favorite favorite. I always tell women like it is your job to be found. You are not the finder. This is what messes up. Messes us up a lot of times is we go looking. Well, I'm looking for this type of man and I'm looking for uh-uh sis, hide yourself, be in jesus, going over there and talk to him, understand what, what traits about him appeal to you. And and then, when, when you are found, most of the time the traits that you need will present themselves in your spouse, in your husband, in your cultivator. It is our job to be found. It is our job to be cultivated. It is our job to be the womb of the person that finds us. And if we are not engaged in true relationship with God, a lot of times the enemy can, he can, mess with that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah. Yeah, he comes after. He comes after your insecurities, your identity or lack of identity, and gets you wrapped up in relationships that you don't need to be wrapped up in. So let's talk, let's fast forward. You guys just moved from Branson, missouri, which has been home for you for how long? 20 plus years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 20 plus years for me, about four or five years for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just transitioned to Salt Lake City. So you guys are a part of the King Will Come, which is a worship collective. Talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's such a blessing we have so many beautiful friends and family within the King Will Come. The King Will Come is a multi-denominational, multicultural collective of people who really try to come together around what we have in common and then go out and meet people exactly where they're at and show them that they are loved. I think Romans 8, 37, and 39, that there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God is our theme scripture, and we try to create spaces where they feel welcome. Anybody, no matter where they are in their journey with God or not, can come and feel his love. And then we call it the king will come, because then the king can come and show just how radical his love is for his children.
Speaker 2:So the music's great We've. You know the Lord has blessed us tremendously. He's the CEO of what we're doing and leading us and we have some beautiful music out and a lot more to come. And, uh, in a lot of ways it's it's kind of a bridge building group, just like we're a bridge building couple and we never thought, never saw ourselves living in Utah, bro.
Speaker 3:But we're here. It's one of the places he always said he wouldn't live.
Speaker 1:And so it's just so fun. Dude, I love I can't. We're going to be there in three weeks. I can't wait. I love Salt Lake City. It's absolutely stunning. So talk about that. Talk about breader together. That's kind of your thing that the two of you guys are doing. Talk, share with the audience a little bit about what's on the two of your hearts for that and what you're doing there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Breader together. We just launched a podcast where I as of the recording. We're on like episode eight, and so our topic is faith, relationships, bridge building and sharing our story and what the Lord has done through us in hopes it will inspire other people. And we're going to write books together. We're working on a pre-marriage online course right now to help people navigate those steps before marriage, and lots of e-books, and so we're really excited and honestly, just being obedient to the Lord what he's telling us to do. She also is a solo artist. I'm a solo artist. We do a ton of stuff outside, but when we get together, it's really powerful, and the Lord told us to get moving with it right away. So we did, and so far it's been really blessed.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. I love that. Tell me a little bit about so. You've got Brenner together. You've got the King Will Come. You guys are working on marriage courses and really just have a heart and you have done what you've done. Is rare to be able to do what you guys have done. Talk about your family. You've got a little boy. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, come on, I love baby. I don't know if you guys might have heard it earlier. He was not understanding why he couldn't come in during the recording and so he was like banging on the door, like mom, open the door. Because he even sometimes, when we do we used to do our talking head videos on YouTube we would just bring him with us. And so he's just like well, why can't I come in, you know? And so he's, he just turned three. Just like well, why can't I come in, you know? And so he's, he just turned three. He's a cute little, sweet and spicy nugget and and he's, he's already showing aptitude for music and for sports and and the things that we both do. So it's just really funny to to look at him and see ourselves in him that's awesome.
Speaker 3:He himself is a is a little bridge that we built and he's just the sweetest little thing. I mean, he's definitely, like I said, he's sweet and spicy, so he got some spice in there a little kick to him, but he's the best kid.
Speaker 1:I love that. What are you?
Speaker 2:guys excited about in the next chapter of your marriage, your family and your ministry? A lot of things. Bridge building happens in three phases. The first phase is underwater and nobody can tell what you're doing. And you can tell people all you want, but they don't get it. They just don't get it.
Speaker 2:And the second phase is right above the water, above the surface, and it's under construction. It's all chaos and it still doesn't make sense to people. They know something's going on. Then, finally, the third phase is when the bridge is built and everybody's like oh, I get it, and we've been underwater for so long and now we're just in that second phase, at the surface and it looks chaotic right now. But as we see this bridge, we know the Lord wants to do a lot of things through us and everything we've been building for so long as entrepreneurs is about to come into convergence with His will and we're really excited. Multiple projects that I have on the side, that she has as well, and it's all just for the building of the kingdom. Some of it's covert you know sneaky Jesus Some of it's overt directly from the body.
Speaker 2:But you know it's all for the kingdom. I love it, man.
Speaker 3:I'm excited about the music, yeah, yeah, because the music is going to be. I mean, it's going to be so good.
Speaker 3:We just did a writing camp with the King Will Come a few weeks ago and it was just like the songs that came out of that camp it was like three or four days maybe and it was just like, wow, we, we came out with like 16 different songs that were just like, so impactful to us, and the way we've noticed that the lord kind of ministers through us is by ministering to us, and so, like, the most recent song that the king will Come put out is called Rest In Me, and that is literally the message that every single one of the members of the group has needed to hear in this time and in this season, and so I'm just really excited to see the rest of the music come out and touch the world the way it first touches us.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. Best place to get in touch with you guys Absolutely Brettertogethercom to get in touch with you guys.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, brettertogethercom. That's where we're at.
Speaker 1:That's B-R-E-T-T-E-R. Brett is their last name, brettertogethercom. Or you can find Bryden at Bryden Brett on Instagram. Mina, you got an IG as well.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir, it is at Mina, thomas Brett.
Speaker 1:Come on, girl, mina, thomas, brett, guys, thank you. Last thoughts for our audience today.
Speaker 2:I love this quote from St Augustine. He said, in the essentials, unity. In the non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. And I just really believe that, as faith-based entrepreneurs, as people who are trying to live for God, it's just so important in this season of life and where we're at in society that we come together around what we have in common and that we have love for one another and that we have, we allow, liberty for people to be different. You know, and I just think that's the central message of bridge building and what we're all about, and I just see that being very important for where we're going, as you look, especially going into, you know, you know election cycles and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:I love that Mina last thoughts.
Speaker 3:Well, he shared a quote, so I'll share a quote. This is a quote by Ned Erickson that I love, and it says get to know Jesus well, because the more you know him, the more you'll love him. And the more you love him, the more you'll want to follow him. And the more you follow him, the more you'll become like him.
Speaker 3:The more you become like him, the more you'll become like yourself I think that, again, delighting ourselves in the lord and allowing him to align our desires with his, is the best advice that anyone could follow for anything that you need in your life.
Speaker 1:I love that and really what you're sharing about is the power of the gospel. And I just had a conversation with somebody yesterday. She was like well, you're religious. I said I hate religious people. She's like what, what do you mean? And I'm like do you realize the only people Jesus ever got pissed off at in the Bible were religious people? Do you realize the people that hung and nailed Jesus to the cross were religious people. Do you realize the people that hung and nailed Jesus to the cross were religious people? Then I had to go into the whole explanation of what's the difference.
Speaker 1:Religion is man's attempt to get to God. If I do A, b, c and D, okay, god and I are okay and I'm good. But the reality of it is is we can never measure up where we need to be with God. The gospel says, when you understand that Jesus is who he says he is, that he came and lived 33 years on earth and he died to take your place, so you didn't have to bear that punishment that you and I deserved. And I love Ephesians 1, 18 and 19, where Paul writes he says I pray that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened, that you would understand the riches of the inheritance that you have in Christ Jesus. The moment you have that aha moment, the Holy spirit shows you man, I'm never, I'm dude.
Speaker 1:August the 8th of 1993, two weeks before I got saved, first time I ever really heard the gospel and I was like I realized number one I wasn't right with God. And I realized number two and even more so was man. Jesus, you loved me Like you loved me that much to be able to give your life for me and you're willing to forgive me and put your spirit in me so that I can know the God who spoke everything into existence. Are you kidding me? Why would I not do that?
Speaker 1:And so I think the enemy's number one job and poor Christians or poor religious peoples, number one, I think, hurdle that they place in front of people to come to know God is. They make it difficult or they make it think like you've got to do A, b and C before you're got. No, no, he gave his life and you've you noticed you got. Saw this year at create. I have four stickers with my quotes all over the floor and the first two in the foyer every single year. Our God's love for you isn't predicated on your performance. He loves you because he created you as a son or a daughter, and when you understand that it is the foundation that everything else in your life can be built on.
Speaker 3:Oh, you are triggering some things.
Speaker 1:You better stop it, bro, oh girl I got a little bit of preach in me now A little bit.
Speaker 3:I think it's a lot more than a little bit.
Speaker 1:It's just you know. The thing is, is you know when you, when you've been forgiven? We had this conversation about forgiveness, when you've been forgiven, the way that I understand forgiveness. I was 25. I'd never been in church in my life maybe five times 25 years old when I heard the gospel for the very first time and I gave my life to Christ two weeks after that, august 8th, 15th, gave my life to Christ on the 22nd and had a second Corinthians 517 encounter and transformation with Jesus, and I've never had a problem forgiving people since that point, ever, because I understand what I've been forgiven of and that is the power of the gospel.
Speaker 2:Come on, bro. Come on, bro. James baker said jesus got what we deserve so we could get what he deserves. It's grace and it's scandalous and there's nothing we can do about it other than place a barrier between ourselves and him, but that he's made it free for us. And when I got the revelation of grace, it changed everything, literally cascaded through every single part of my belief system in my life, and you can't explain it, but you just know it's there.
Speaker 3:I love what you said about how his love is not predicated on our performance. It's so good because it's really predicated on his performance.
Speaker 1:That's exactly right.
Speaker 3:He watches over his words, to perform it Like he's the performer, and when we put ourselves in his shoes and in his place, we make ourselves God, and that is impossible. We can't take that pressure. So for you to say, like it's his, it's not our performance, that means it's his performance. We don't have to do anything but sit back and watch his performance. As a performer for me. Me like that word just triggered me. I was like oh, that's so good.
Speaker 1:That gave me something on a sunday one time and I just asked people. I said, how many of you parents in here have pictures of your kids on your refrigerator or artwork or a report card or something like that? And everybody's like, yeah, everybody's got one. Listen, how many of you guys if your kid says something like dumb that week, like that week, my 16-year-old, who then was probably two or three, had written on her sister's door with a Sharpie marker oh no, daddy, I didn't do it. I said, how many of you guys, when friends come over and your kid hasn't behaved that week, take the picture and slide it over on the side of the refrigerator because you're embarrassed of your child.
Speaker 1:None of you do that. Why do we think that's how God does us? Because that's not how he does us. You would never do that to your children and he would never do that to us, and he loves us in a deeper, more intimate way than we can even understand. Wow, yeah, amen, amen and listen. I want to invite you. You listen to this podcast. I've never done this before. I've recorded hundreds of episodes. If you're listening to this podcast today and you're like I don't know where I am at in my faith or my relationship with Jesus, I want to encourage you.
Speaker 1:I love Romans 10, 9. It says confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you shall be saved. It's easy. God forgive me. God, I've sinned and I've sinned against you and God, I pray, because here's the deal.
Speaker 1:Guys, listen, how old is your son? Three, three, three. Listen. Two-year-old, three-year-old. You don't have to tell them or teach them to jerk a toy out of another two or three-year-old's hands and go mine. Like it is something that's born is what the Bible teaches us. It's. But we're born into sin. We have a sin nature. Jesus, I've sinned and I'm sorry. I pray that you forgive me and I pray that you place your spirit on the inside of me and make me a new person. That's all it takes, guys. It doesn't take any more than that. It doesn't take church attendance, it doesn't take water, it doesn't take any of those things. All it takes confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you shall be saved, guys. Thank you, guys, for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Ken say Guys, thank you guys for joining us today.
Speaker 1:Ken. Thank you, brother. We love you man. Thank you so much. Guys, thanks for joining us on another episode of as the Leader Grows. This is the first of hundreds of episodes. This is the first Listen. What an amazing time. Thank you again for joining us. Thank you for helping us get to the top one and a half percent podcast in every podcast in America. Thousands and thousands of listeners. Man, we're honored that you spend your time with me on my coaching you with Ken episode that drops on Monday, and with my guests that drop every single Wednesday. We'll see you next week on as the leader grows.