Sharing Our Testimonies Pt. 2 - Episode 38

Meet The Hosts : Welcome to Part Two!

The Wise & the Wandering hosts Justin Olbrantz and Dr. Don Schaefer share part two of their personal testimonies. The discussion focuses on their transformative journeys through faith, emphasizing the rapid changes that belief and the baptism of the Holy Spirit can bring. They highlight the importance of heartfelt ministry, spreading love, and the significance of helping others without expecting anything in return. Justin also shares his personal journey of faith and recounts how his encounter with Don's genuine and lived-out representation of Jesus significantly impacted his life. The episode underscores the powerful role of what true unconditional love looks like and the importance of sharing personal testimonies to inspire and help others.

Transcript

Episode 38 - Sharing Our Testimonies - Part Two

[00:00:00] Justin: Hi everyone. This is Justin Olbrantz and this is Don Schaefer, and you are listening to the wise and the wandering podcast - for those who know “The Way” and for those who are led astray. And if you feel like you fall into either of those categories, then you're in the right place. So, let's dive in.

[00:00:30] Justin:  So Don, what are we going to talk about today?

[00:00:35] Don: Well, I think we're going to continue on with our testimonies, 

[00:00:38] Justin: Justin. Yes, yes, that was the goal. So, originally, I was going to do an episode, and we were going to do a testimony episode, but then it got so good, and I actually didn't get a chance to share mine as well.

[00:00:48] Justin: So, we're going to do this as a part two. And we're going to pick up where we last left off. Yes. So for anyone that was listening, uh last week, it was a good one. It's always a [00:01:00]good one, right? That is right. In uh, in this case, we were talking about your life, Don. We were talking about earlier parts of your life.

[00:01:10] Justin: Yes. Um, you know, when you were in your, around your 30s, I guess, even before, right before you were 30, and you had the baptism of the Holy Spirit and things that came upon you, but really in a, in a strong way, I mean, your belief went from like zero to a hundred very fast. Right. It did. It did. And all of a sudden your faith, likewise.

[00:01:31] Justin: Right. 

[00:01:32] Don: Right. So 

[00:01:33] Justin: I wanted to make. Okay. Um, just kind of knowing parts of that story beforehand, I wanted to make this episode to show people how this can happen and not only just how it happens in people's life, but how quickly it can happen. Right. You think you can't be saved, right? You think you're, life is just, Meaningless.

[00:01:52] Justin: You think that there's no chance of things changing or turning around for the better for you. You think that [00:02:00] everything is hopeless and you think that and because of that you see things in a very negative lens. You see the world negatively, but things can change so fast. They can. 

[00:02:10] Don: You're giving me ideas there, Justin.

[00:02:11] Don: Yeah. But I have a little bit more of life to live. To talk about, but, uh, 

[00:02:15] Justin: yeah. So, and I want you to talk about that. So I guess picking off where we'd last left off, I think we were kind of talking about some of the things. That you did in terms of how you wanted to really get the message out there to people, how you wanted to spread and minister to people.

[00:02:33] Justin: And, and I guess I just want to start with that. I just want to start with, you know, you're getting into Bible studies and you did marriage courses and you did, um, and you did build up , a great, Testimony of faith throughout the years. Yeah, but I guess when you first started ministering to people Yes, you ministered.

[00:02:54] Justin: Um, , were you ministering at a church? Were you ministering to people in their [00:03:00] homes? Or how, I guess, how did that look? Yeah, no, when we first got involved, you know, like you're saying, Justin, and, and I guess what was going through your mind at the time? Like, what were you feeling when you, before you were going to minister for the first time?

[00:03:12] Don: Yeah. No, when I, what you, you started off with here. I know, um, when I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you know, it seemed like, yeah. all the stuff became real to me. Right. And I started to see a purpose , and I was so thankful that of what I got because all of a sudden I seen life in a different way.

[00:03:29] both: Yeah. 

[00:03:29] Don: So I wanted to share that. And, uh, and that's where we put together Bible studies and a lot of the ministry we did cause I was going to churches. I was listening to different preachers. I was a sponge, you know, for whatever, taking it all in, trying to take everything in, trying to whatever. And I remember myself, um, I w I would preach to myself.

[00:03:49] Don: I remember I lived in a, in a house on the river, but I would stand out there at nighttime walking back and forth, just preaching to myself, you know, and, uh, it was just, [00:04:00] I wanted to share and I wanted to develop, , the skills of being able to do that. But I was fortunate enough. I had a lot of people like I worked in a place that there was a number of people through the years.

[00:04:11] Don: that, you know, I was in relationship with and they would take a Bible study, you know, so we, Shirley and I would go over and we'd do a Bible study with them. And, uh, you know, that was good. And some of them, you know, they got involved in some of the churches I was involved in at that time. But, uh, as time went on, we, we called it a cell group.

[00:04:29] Don: And, uh, it was a group We had a group of people that would meet once a week, and we would talk about the things of God. And myself, my brother in law, we got involved in putting this all together. And for a period of time, you know, it was great, but we had a number of people that didn't, weren't associated with any churches or whatever, so we decided that we would put together a non denominational church.

[00:04:53] Don: And that's what we did. We put a little church together, and it grew really well. You know, we probably had, you know, maybe a hundred [00:05:00] you know, 100 plus, you know, in this church. And, uh, we put on a lot of things, you know, we, we would have picnics, you know, we actually had what we call others day. We would try to find different projects where, uh, we would, uh,, where they couldn't pass back.

[00:05:16] Don: You know, we went to one house where every time it rained, they would have water running on their table in their dining room. 

[00:05:22] both: Yeah. 

[00:05:22] Don: So we spent the day, we went up there and we resheeted the roof. Oh wow. And put the roofing on. We were dead meat. And the roofing. Yeah, I was dead meat for about a week after that.

[00:05:33] Don: Your backs were right on after that. But, but you know, it was a blessing. It was a blessing and then we painted the house. We had this, uh, elderly lady that couldn't do anything And uh, she was living in this house and the house was a shambles as far as paint So we scraped and painted the house, but you know, we felt that you know When we started doing certain things for people, you know that can't pay you back That there was blessings in that so we did a lot of that and then you know We talked about the marriage [00:06:00] part of it.

[00:06:00] Justin: Yeah, and I just want to stop you just right there, Just to highlight what you were saying, because that really is the purpose of giving, is to give to somebody who can't pay you back. You know, Jesus never mentions religion at all. in his teachings. He never mentions religion at all. He does say though, however, if you're going to be religious, 

[00:06:23] both: if 

[00:06:23] Justin: you're going to be religious in anything, and he says that by serving the widows and the orphans, so you, and this is even in Luke, to, help those who cannot pay you back, give to those who cannot pay you back.

[00:06:36] Justin: So often we, we give. And we expect something in return. Yeah, and that's not the way that we're meant to give at all. 

[00:06:43] Don: No, that's true And that's where you develop a real love the way god wants you to develop it So we did that and as a body it's healthy for a group of people You know because there was a group of people involved and everybody was you know doing this With no monetary gain at all Because [00:07:00] God's 

[00:07:00] Justin: going to pay you back.

[00:07:00] Don: It's really 

[00:07:01] Justin: what's going to happen. Yes, 

[00:07:02] Don: yes. You know, and I know like this organization, we weren't about money. You know, we were about working with the people and that's what we did, because I know I had my full time job and did a lot of different things. You know, it wasn't about the money. It was just about having a love for the people and doing things.

[00:07:17] Don: So we did that and we put programs together. We had a marriage programs, which we talked about last time. And it was interesting with this marriage program, because in 1999, uh, a local. TV station gave us a half hour, , on their program. And for 20 years, they had a marriage program, had classes on TV that was free to us.

[00:07:39] Don: It was a cable access TV. So for 20 years, we were on TV every Sunday morning. You know talking about principles just principles and stuff. That was 

[00:07:48] Justin: date. You said daytime television. 

[00:07:50] Don: Yeah, okay daytime Yeah, it was daytime prime time, you know about sunday morning But uh, so it was good, you know, we 

[00:07:56] Justin: you were on right after family feud, right?

[00:07:58] Justin: Probably probably [00:08:00] But 

[00:08:00] Don: it was good, you know, they they did this, you know, and which was good and You know, then during a period of time, we, I started putting together different programs. Okay. And I know we had a parenting program, you know, it was a seven week, , course where we showed parents the different stages in a child's life and what was needed.

[00:08:18] Don: But we're always trying to help people better their lives. And I remember, In 2007, that's where I got the idea of The Better You. 

[00:08:27] Justin: The Better You. The Better 

[00:08:28] Don: You, you know, and we put together a group, and I called it The Better You. And it was all about putting together different programs to help people better themselves.

[00:08:36] Don: Because I realized that, you know, God gives us the equipment, you know, it isn't, he wants us to walk with him and to know him and to love him, but he also gave us the equipment, you know, he's equipping us to do things. So what we do is, you know, we put different programs together. Like I remember one was, uh, change your habits, change your life.

[00:08:56] Don: I spent the whole summer teaching that here in [00:09:00] Wisconsin. I've taught that at an RV park in Florida. I've taught that at a church in Florida. Oh, really? Yeah. You know, but it was impactful. You know, and that's where, like, what I liken it at is your bad habits are like sin in a person's life. 

[00:09:14] both: Yeah. You 

[00:09:14] Don: know, it's not doing things right.

[00:09:16] Don: You know, and that's where God wants us to have good habits. And uh, so we went and we put programs together. So every year I came up with different things. Uh different programs and i'm still doing that Uh, I was gonna 

[00:09:29] Justin: say I have a few binders that i'm collecting now off of these, uh programs now over the years And they're all great courses.

[00:09:37] Justin: I mean like you were saying you have a bunch of different uh, segments in this organization where you have one that could be touching on marriage, one that could be touching on parenting, one that could be touching on like self help kind of thing, discovering the champion in you.

[00:09:54] Justin: You have a business sided one, max profits. 

[00:09:58] Don: Yep, 

[00:09:59] Justin: so a lot of this [00:10:00] stuff Came from the inspiration of just wanting to help 

[00:10:02] Don: people right and and that that I did And then I had an opportunity one time. There was a course. It was a father's son course And I was asked to teach this To ministers and I had ministers that I would get on the phone with and I would you know every week It'd have a certain time, and I would get with the minister, but one part of it really hit me was there was a minister in San Diego, and he was a, um, he was Mexican origin, and he had a little broken English, but every week we'd meet with him, and it was interesting because he had six churches in Mexico that he would minister at, and I would sit there, you know, and I would teach him different principles.

[00:10:46] Don: I'd go through the principles, we had a good time and all that. And about halfway through the course I was teaching him, he was telling me that he was taking the stuff that I was teaching him, going to Mexico, and teaching it in [00:11:00] those churches in Mexico. So then I said, boy, you're really, uh, his name was Jose.

[00:11:04] Don: I says, Jose, you really humbled me, because hopefully I'm telling you the right things. But you know, but you don't realize, you know, it's moments like this, you don't realize. You become 

[00:11:12] Justin: very mindful of what you're saying. And 

[00:11:15] Don: you don't realize how. Things that you do can expand all over the place. And, uh, you know, and that's where It's like an electrical charge, you know.

[00:11:23] Don: It is, it is. Yeah. And I've been doing a newsletter for, um, you know, probably about, , 14 years. Every week I put out a, uh, I write up a, uh, you know, a different, uh, Principles different thoughts different understandings and stuff like that And I put this out to a mailing list and I send all that stuff out And so what i've been doing is and then marriage tip of the weeks.

[00:11:45] Don: I uh, I actually record, uh, For marriage as well as parenting different clips. I put them on facebook put them on instagram because they're all seeds They're all seeds of thoughts and a lot of times you don't see the [00:12:00] fruits of the seeds You know because you're you're not the one that's raising that seed god is the one that waters.

[00:12:05] Don: That's good God takes care of it and and lets it do whatever it wants to do, but somewhere along the line They need to get a seed in their life And that's where everything that we've been doing and are doing right now Even with this podcast is trying to plant some seeds out there. 

[00:12:21] Justin: Yeah, and we are planting seeds I think and uh, mean we see I see the continued success of planting seeds and I hear from people Um, Positive comments and stuff like that and people that are tuning in and listening and it definitely is helping So I guess I just wanted to go back to what I was, asking you before but I just want to go back to um at that point of ministering so like for the first time a lot of people have problems with speaking out about their faith, about speaking out about their relationship with Jesus.

[00:12:57] Justin: A lot of, even the early church, [00:13:00] even the axe church, they received the Spirit. Pentecost they received the spirit, but after that Peter, you know, and then they pray for boldness They say they pray for boldness to go out with the boldness to preach The gospel to preach about the life and ministry of Jesus, right?

[00:13:17] Justin: Resurrection they asked for boldness. So a lot of people A lot of the times it's hard for people to go out there and to be someone that they think they're not, right? It's hard to get the courage to go and maybe speak in front of people. Yes. It's it's hard to get rid of the You know, we have a podcast about getting rid of anxiety.

[00:13:37] Justin: It's hard sometimes to beat the anxiety that gets out before you start to minister. So I guess you had this church, , you and your, uh, close family and stuff built up a, a place of fellowship, right? A non denominational place. So when you started, Ministering what was going through your mind like before you knew you were going to [00:14:00] start speaking to people About the things of god.

[00:14:03] Justin: Was it the bible studies that really prepped you or I guess what what prepared you for the moment? of Speaking to people and with confidence and were you confident when you first started? Uh, probably 

[00:14:16] Don: not but uh, you know, everybody starts a little rough But the thing that i've learned and i'm going to share with all you guys Because it takes care of Everything you're talking about here.

[00:14:25] Don: This is the one ingredient that can allow it to happen because I've had I've spoken a lot of different places I've been in South Africa talking in churches and groups down there. I've been a lot of different places. I've did weddings I've had like, you know Governors and different people at weddings that I've been involved in had to speak It's stuff that would scare the socks off a person But what I had and what was told to me and taught to me is I had to learn how to love 

[00:14:52] both: Yeah, 

[00:14:53] Don: and what I would do is I would try to love the people and say, you know what?

[00:14:56] Don: I got something I can share 

[00:14:59] both: that 

[00:14:59] Don: I can [00:15:00] love these people and I know i've done Funerals ready to somewhere large, you know, and I and they can be scary, but I say to him I got something I want to give these people because I love them, you know And it seems like that cast out all the fear that involved in this because it's a it's a labor of love Whatever you're doing so it's not about Don anymore You know, it's not about that.

[00:15:19] Don: I just do what I do. And that's the same thing with ministering to people. A lot of times you're saying that people, they don't want to hear the truth and they don't want to, but everybody wants to be loved. That's so true. You know, and if you can find a way of loving them and we're putting love into your voice, you know, speaking love it, you know.

[00:15:37] Don: I care for you. You know, I care about you. I know like even going to grocery stores or anything that you, anybody you run into, it's how you say hello. It's how you hold the door for them. It's how you ask them how their day is. You, you know, this here is what opens them up. And I know as far as the things of God, a lot of them, they want to And once they get [00:16:00] one a part of you, then you can give them a part of you and that's, and that's the Bible.

[00:16:04] Don: That's Jesus Christ. That's everything that God would want. But that's the way I looked at it when I was doing different ministry stuff, because yeah, when you first start out, it's scary because it's all you see is you. 

[00:16:16] Justin: Yeah, and it's, and it's a little bit foreign to you. Yeah. Because what you're, what you're stepping into is different than what you were.

[00:16:23] Justin: Right. You're getting into something new. Yeah. For a lot of people change is hard, for a lot of people getting into new things is tough. Right. Because it comes with unfamiliar territory. It does. It does. And I think, When you, stepping out in faith, though, is exactly that. It is stepping out without knowing what's going to happen, but having the hope that it is going to go well, that you're going to be taken care of, that everything is going to be handled perfectly.

[00:16:48] Don: Yes. 

[00:16:49] Justin: And I think, What you're speaking on is you're saying that I think if I'm hearing you correctly, even from last week is that you have experienced love now yourself and you really feel loved by [00:17:00] someone, by something, whatever it was at that time, you gave him a year, right? You know, you gave him, you gave him the ultimatum, but you, 

[00:17:10] Justin: um, you were encountered by a real love in your life, and now you want to give that to people. And the Bible says, you know, we should freely give as we freely received. And because we receive freely, we should give freely. And I think that's, that kind of follows your train of thought here. So this is the way I'm going to go.

[00:17:28] Justin: Get to people is I'm going to break through all of that. I'm going to break through that guard and all of those barriers with love. Because like you were saying, everybody just wants to be loved. Everyone's just looking for love. When Jesus was here, he loved everybody. And he treated everybody with compassion.

[00:17:48] Justin: You know, there was times where, and we've talked about this before, but there's times where Jesus probably could have really just laid into people with the truth. Yeah, he would. You know, for somebody who says they are the truth, they're gonna get, they're gonna beat you with the [00:18:00] truth. But he always had compassion on them.

[00:18:02] Justin: Yeah, he did. He always communicated the passion that he had to people. Everything had its purpose. No words were empty. Everything had meaning. Everything was carefully thought out before it was said. So you know, a lot of us, if we really want to become like Jesus, if we really want to be love. We need to do those things.

[00:18:26] Justin: We need to take the time to think about what we say before we say it. We need to make our words count. We need to have, we need to put meaning in them. And we need to communicate our passion for people. We need to have compassion for people. 

[00:18:39] Don: That's for sure. And you're bringing up Jesus now. You know, you look at Him going to the cross.

[00:18:43] Don: You look what He endured. It had to be love. Because he was brought into the world just like everybody else. He probably had to be potty trained. You know, he had to go through everything just like us. Tempted, tempted. Terrible twos. Yes, tempted in all ways. But you know, [00:19:00] he had that love. That's where the Bible says God is love.

[00:19:04] Don: You know, so when you get God inside you that's what's inside you and when he went to the cross It was love that brought him to the cross because if reasoning got in the way He would have there was no I mean reasoning probably would have kept him away from all of that 

[00:19:19] Justin: Yeah, definitely would have talked him out of it Right, and it says that you know, we know that God is love from the Bible God is love and God created man and his image Yeah which , means we are to be loved.

[00:19:31] Justin: Not that we are to need love, or we are to be loved, but we are to be loved for other people. And that was, that was the way Jesus was communicating God's love. Was in flesh, He was doing it. And, I mean, as, Not to get too far off on this to just start talking about Jesus because we could interview Jesus every single week in this podcast.

[00:19:57] Justin: We could. Just let the spirit flow. [00:20:00] But getting, uh, just getting back into your story here. You've done everything from a place of love. Trying to. Right. Well, not everything, right? But you've tried to since receiving love. And I think that's kind of the goal that as believers, as followers of Jesus, that's what we're called to do.

[00:20:21] Justin: Right. And that's truly what we're called to do. And I think that if you let, if you really trust in the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is a person, the Holy Spirit is a person, is a persona, you know, it's, it's, he is a person, is going to guide you into all truth. He's going to lead you. So once, once you trust the Holy Spirit, I think, and you can start to see that just the same spirit that was in Jesus is in you.

[00:20:48] Justin: Right. Spirit of God. Exactly. And , that spirit, which is holy, which separates itself , from the world, it separates itself from the world. That's what it means. The [00:21:00] holy means separate. It is, , it's separated from the world. Once you have that in you, you are no longer of the world.

[00:21:07] Justin: And we're called to be not of the world not conformed to the world, but instead transformed, right? That's right by the renewing of our mind So it takes place the the process of the baptism of the Holy Spirit's, right? That takes place in the spirit But it then changes our soul and changes our mind, our will, emotions that that thing right?

[00:21:29] Justin: So it transforms our mind and it renews our mind and it transforms Gives us a different thinking I guess is what I'm saying So now you have when you when you have a new thinking you therefore have different ideas and thoughts and inspirations and before you're saved it's hard to do things out of love because You operate from a place of always wanting love and needing love you go throughout your life Looking for love in all these different things and all of these different people Right?

[00:21:58] Justin: Not realizing that you [00:22:00] already have it inside of you, right? So when you get saved, so to speak, that, you know, the term is saved. , you realize that. You come to that understanding. Right. And you want other people to feel like you felt. So I don't go to people telling them that I just want them to get out of hell.

[00:22:20] both2: Mm hmm. 

[00:22:21] Justin: I don't just tell them that they're going to be punished. Right. I go to them because of what I feel and what he did in my life. Yeah. And how saved I am, how free I am. Right. How forgiven I am. Yeah. And I want people to feel what I feel. That's right. And I think, just to say, Oftentimes, evangelicals and the evangelical ministry and even just witnessing is so misinterpreted because of the, because of the former, because of just preaching hell and fire and brimstone to people.

[00:22:59] Justin: And that's not what [00:23:00] it's about. I'm going to, Bring the good news to people. I'm bringing the gospel. I'm not bringing bad news. I'm not bringing fear of punishment to people that are suffering. , we're going to heal the brokenhearted. We are going to give recovery of sight to the blind.

[00:23:19] Justin: I'm going to set the captives free. I'm going to break the chains. That's what I'm bringing to people. So that's what gets this fire going that's what gets the spirit, you know, that's what gets the spirit leading That's what gets the spirit going and that's what gets the position of your heart to change Yeah, because a lot of the times if you live in bitterness and you live in these things We've talked about these things numerous times your heart is positioned a different way It's hardened when you lose the hardness of your heart You can now operate from a place of love because i've already been forgiven.

[00:23:50] Justin: So who am I to not forgive somebody? 

[00:23:53] Don: That's right. You know what i'm saying? 

[00:23:55] Justin: We have to exactly so it so it goes through your mind where you start to see these [00:24:00] things Like, , you you really start to understand the relationship you have with your creator and the savior that you now have because you're saved right and you start to see the The punishment that he went through right the you start to see the pain and stuff that he went through and I start to I start to look at this myself and I think you know my renewed mind I think what do I have to complain about in his life?

[00:24:23] Justin: I don't know and he went through that. Yes, you know, so I guess I empathize with this because I was somebody Who is contradictory to everything that I'm preaching right now I was once somebody who who didn't care at all about god and there was times where I felt like You know, I don't want to get too much into like a testimony of myself, but I do want to share some things.

[00:24:48] Justin: Yeah 

[00:24:49] Don: Please do 

[00:24:50] Justin: and just because in 2020 Well, actually i'll just start here. I mean I grew up kind of in and out of Non denominational [00:25:00] churches, but it wasn't really You It was just a, what do you call the, the one that just goes to church once a week, once every other week. And then I grew up in a very like angry home.

[00:25:11] Justin: So I didn't really see the representation of the church in my home. So 

[00:25:15] Don: I went to 

[00:25:16] Justin: this place that I was just kind of being forced to go to, but I didn't see what I thought I was supposed to be seeing in my home. Yeah. Right. Right. So I, I really., I mean I, I was fortunate I guess. I was fortunate enough to still get the lessons, still get the preachings.

[00:25:32] Justin: I've always had a fascination for people that just teach things, right? And I think that really carries into why I'm here today, why we have this podcast, and why, , you know, and us meeting and stuff like that. I think it really plays into that because I've always listened to I would listen to ministers.

[00:25:51] Justin: I would listen to pastors and stuff like that and pick up on what they're saying But I would always see there isn't a direct correlation to the people that i'm seeing [00:26:00] that claim to walk in this purity versus their actions and how they actually Treat me right so it kind of Pushed me away. I would say in 2020 around the year 2020 when things got really weird obviously 2020 was a it was a weird year for for the world, you know, and 2020, uh changed a lot of things for me because I started to I think Come to the end of my own self because I I was caught up in the fear of things.

[00:26:29] Justin: I was caught up in just The way that things were going I started getting a lot of like health problems and stuff in my life And I think at that point I started reaching out to God But it got worse than that because I was in a relationship That I had been in for a roughly four years at this time with my wife now, right at the time and We had lost her grandma in 2020 and her grandma Um, and megalina was a very big part of my wife's life.

[00:26:59] Justin: Her [00:27:00] grandma basically raised her So when we lost her there was just so many things going wrong in that year. , and Because after losing her grandma, um after losing her grandma, it actually took a toll on our own relationship and we We actually split up, I don't know, I think I've told you this before, but we actually split up temporarily.

[00:27:22] Justin: And when we split up, I remember, , just watching different sermons. I would watch different sermons on YouTube. And I started just getting into what was new to me, this Christian world. And that's kind of the way that God was speaking to me. I remember watching like, you know, this is controversial in some cases now, but like Stephen Furtick, and there was, you know, all these people that I would watch that.

[00:27:52] Justin: I would just focus on the message because I was in a tough spot. It wasn't that I wanted to learn about [00:28:00] God It was that i'm Like broken hearted and I need to get out of this spot. I'm not relying on myself dark spot Kind of like you like not that i'm going to give you a year but god, I need you to show up right now 

[00:28:12] both2: Like 

[00:28:12] Justin: i'm in a i'm in a tough spot.

[00:28:14] Justin: You know, like I this woman that I thought would possibly You know Be my wife. Uh, you know, we're, we're completely crumbling here. I'm losing, I'm losing who I am. I feel like I'm losing who I am. , I'm having all of these health problems. And then he just started speaking to me through these sermons. And I started really seeing, not just like, again, it was still people that are, you know, claiming to walk in purity, but he started speaking to me.

[00:28:41] Justin: I would start saying like, God show me this and it would be shown to me. Yeah, I would say to God God, just tell me if, , , if you are with me right now, just tell me the word relax. I would get so specific. I would, this is kind [00:29:00] of, kind of quirky, but I would get so specific. I would open my, uh, devotional that I bought that I still use actually from this day as a calendar one from Hobby Lobby.

[00:29:09] Justin: And the first word was relax. for that day. And I'm just thinking, you know, there's a lot of times like this. You start to realize, and I'm sure you know this, for many, many years, the way that you see that God speaks to you. Because people often wonder that. Just like you, that belief started growing in me.

[00:29:26] Justin: That belief started growing in me. I remember one time, um, , I was, uh, coming home. I was working at T Mobile actually, where I was working at , where we met, 

[00:29:35] Don: right. 

[00:29:35] Justin: Right. And I'll share that here in a little bit, but cause it, we'll get to that. But I remember I was coming home from T Mobile and I was actually so, I was so upset and I had a really bad day at work.

[00:29:46] Justin: And my faith was kind of down. I was I remember watching like a I went on my lunch break and I was watching like a sermon Because you know, like I was telling you before, you know, I was so into people I've always been into people like I like [00:30:00] learning. I like people teaching to me 

[00:30:01] both: Right, 

[00:30:01] Justin: so god's gonna choose that perfect way to reach you right because he knows you Yes, he created you.

[00:30:07] Justin: He formed you before you were born, right? So I remember going on my lunch break and I was listening to a sermon and I was just trying to get back into it. I went back into work and then I got crushed. I just got a bad, you know, there's management and stuff like that. So I was just, it was just a bad day.

[00:30:24] Justin: It was a lot of, uh, Upset customers, whatever the case was. And I remember thinking, Oh no, I'm not going to have any dinner when I get home. Cause I was running late. 

[00:30:35] both2: Yeah. 

[00:30:35] Justin: So I got home, I got to my apartment , Um, or actually this is on my way back.

[00:30:40] Justin: So before I got to my apartment, I went home and on my way back, I was thinking, this is very specific. I was like, I should go to noodles and company because I like the specific, you know, it's just fast. You know, I was like, I need fast food at this point, but I got caught up. I got distracted. Maybe I was listening to the sermon again.

[00:30:55] Justin: I don't know, but I got distracted anyways, I got home and I went to my [00:31:00]apartment and all of a sudden outside of my door was. Right outside my apartment door. So we actually had, we had a shared entry, so right outside, but this was right outside my like garage door.

[00:31:16] Justin: There was a noodles and company order and it was my exact order, like very specific, take out the mushroom substitute. I didn't order it. So, so that means that maybe somebody else ordered it and they just left it there. And that's what I thought at first. I was like, so I just thought that's not mine.

[00:31:37] Justin: Somebody just ordered, my neighbor ordered the same exact thing as me. I'll just leave it there. And I left it there and I left it there for another 10, 15 minutes. No one came and grabbed it. So I figured, okay, someone is. Someone's not actually taking this. So then I ate it, you know, I kind of felt bad at first, but I ate it.

[00:31:56] Justin: And at that point, I knew God was providing for [00:32:00] me in that moment. It was something so small, but I was, I was so frustrated. I was maybe starting to waver. And he didn't want me to waver at all. He said because you know, I'm growing in my faith and stuff like that and I can think of So many examples where stuff like that happened and it's just those little things where you know, he's directly speaking to you I mean it was like my order to the tea 

[00:32:22] both2: And 

[00:32:22] Justin: i'm a picky i'm a picky person.

[00:32:24] Justin: My wife knows that she's picky too, but She'll love me for saying that, but I'm a picky person. So when you get my order specifically, , you know, God knows exactly what you need when you need it. So I guess, fast forward here, Don, I just want to not to take too much time, but I just, so fast forward, it gets to 2021, 2021.

[00:32:46] Justin: We're in a new year and that's when you come into my store and you come into the store and I'm just needing to upgrade your phone. That's right. And you passed me a business card and I [00:33:00] still have that business card to this day in my wallet 

[00:33:05] Don: Oh, yeah 

[00:33:05] Justin: in my wallet. It says Yeah That's a different one. It says finding your passion and you said to me after we had a long chat about a lot of things , not so much about the things of God, but just about life You said to me you have the type of mind that I would like Uh that I think could benefit from this class The type of mind and you passed me this card Well after that moment you you passed me this card and then we kind of went our separate ways and you told me to come To a class that you were going to be teaching on it was, it was like a self help personal transformation as you will be, as you will be, that's what it was, as you will be in 2026, it was a five year plan for what we're going to be, right?

[00:33:53] Justin: I still got to work on that and I am working on it because we're, we're getting closer to 2026. [00:34:00] Ever since then, I listened to you, um, I listened to you talk about the things of God in these classes. And like I said, I have binders now. We have binders full of notes. I have binders full of information. I have,

[00:34:18] Justin: Invaluable documents, I like to call them, collected at home. And, what it comes down to is I listened to you preach the things of God, but I watched you live them. And, for somebody that always looked for that example of purity in their life, Religious people and pastors for someone that always looked for that correlation between what they were saying and what they were doing Yeah, I found it in you and that's what changed things for me really changed things I mean there was other ways trust me that god was was [00:35:00] moving in me, but I finally found an example 

[00:35:03] both2: I 

[00:35:03] Justin: really found, I found an example of Jesus, not the Jesus that I heard in these other places, not the like fictitious Jesus that I heard that was like unachievable, like a new kind of Jesus, like a new Jesus that was obtainable, achievable, that was possible, that was real, that was true.

[00:35:23] Justin: I found that Jesus and it made me, it made me locked in. And the more I read, sorry, the more that I read Your newsletters, the more that I went to these classes, the more that I watched, um, the more that I listened to lectures and watched the videos of these classes that you put on, the more it grew in me.

[00:35:50] Justin: The more that, like you were saying, that seed, it really grew. And I just want to say this because It's when you're sharing your [00:36:00] testimony. I just want to share a little bit just a little bit of my own I don't want to go too much, but I want to share how yours really affected my own 

[00:36:07] Don: Yeah, 

[00:36:07] Justin: and just how deeply grateful I am for you for that because Ever since then my life has taken a turn for the better ever since I would say that you showed me a Jesus that's so real and so, and, , not so mythical, you know, a Jesus that is, um, cooperative and a Jesus that is, is, who's willing to compromise, , a Jesus who is considerate, a Jesus who is genuine, a Jesus who is accepting, you know, a Jesus who is really, truly compassionate, a Jesus who is playful and humorful, right? Jesus who walks around with a certain kind of joy and a certain kind of peace [00:37:00] And up until then I hadn't really seen that lived out because , because here I am showing up for um,

[00:37:08] Justin: I stayed and I walked in but you know I could go into people's homes and I could see that they were not living the way that they claim to live So if anything I should be able to because now i'm in your house. So if you're not real And what you're saying isn't real. I should be able to find it in your home.

[00:37:24] Justin: I should be able to see that. Okay. This guy's just like all the others But you really changed things for me because I really felt like this was the first time , it's just important to note, this is the first time where I really saw a correlation of somebody who talks about the things of God and lives out the things of God.

[00:37:43] Justin: And to really give people the full context, I really wanted people to understand where you started from. Because for somebody that did that for me, Right. It wasn't always that way for them. Yeah. And you started from your own beginnings. I did. And as we will share the good news to other people, [00:38:00] so will they go on to be changed.

[00:38:03] Justin: So will they go on to be set free. So will they go on to be healed. And because of the good things that they receive, because of the goodness of God, they will go and want to share the same with others. They will. They will. And I 

[00:38:17] Don: want to interject. I want to interject. Justin said a lot of nice stuff, you know, and I appreciate that Justin Yeah, but you have been a blessing, you know, because Justin came to me hungry Yeah, you know you came hungry and I don't find hunger in a lot of people, you know You can share good things you can love them and do things or whatever But it takes something special inside and when you were saying that you were already preparing yourself You know listening to messages and all this sort of thing So by the time you came to me, you had a hunger going I did, you know And so that was a blessing and it also is good for me Because when you got people that are receiving 

[00:38:53] both2: yeah, because 

[00:38:54] Don: it's hard to give something out when nobody is receiving it It's like talking in front of a group and everybody's not [00:39:00] looking at you.

[00:39:00] Don: You know, it's hard to talk, you know Your back's turned. Yeah, but when you got somebody that's hungry and I think a lot of times with god, he he uses that He uses that type of hunger to allow things to flow and things really flowed and I and I know yourself just your excitement You know the spirit of god working in your life.

[00:39:20] Don: I know we've been in the water together. We've done a lot of things together Yeah, you baptized me. Yeah, you know, so god has been a blessing to the both of us and this podcast right now You know, this is this is this is all you justin, you know, justin You He put this whole thing together, , and he allowed me just to be a part of it, and so that's a good thing.

[00:39:38] Don: But I think God has got something good working here, and like you were saying about the love and all that, our lives are an example. And I think Jesus was that, you know, you're that right now, you're living that life. So everybody around, you know, they can't deny that. And I know you mentioned something about, you know, different organizations and stuff.

[00:39:56] Don: A lot of times you find organizations, they'll set up rules. They'll set [00:40:00] up, you know, this and that, where the love is not there. You know, so it's hard for people. Hard for people to really get into a relationship with the one that they're supposed to get in relationship with. You know, so if we can get into a place where we can continue to love, that's a good thing.

[00:40:13] Don: That's a beautiful place to be in. 

[00:40:15] Justin: Yeah, it really is. Yeah, Because that's really what it's about is sharing love and being love for people And that's that's the way that we need to witness to people. That's right. We need to be love for them Don't think about yourself Think about what they need.

[00:40:33] Justin: Think about doing stuff for people who cannot pay you back. Yes. Go out there, find the single moms, the single dads, right, the widows. Find these people who need help. Right. And this is what happens. , You help people and then you bring the good news upon them Yes, once as you're helping them as you're tipping them a lot of money, whatever the case is Because you're not expecting it in return.

[00:40:59] Justin: No, the [00:41:00] bible says that that true love does not seek its own, is what the Bible says. And when you love unconditionally, without expecting anything in return, that is the way, That's your father loves you, right?

[00:41:17] Justin: Really? That is the way and that's the way Jesus loved. So that is the true gospel That is the true good news it's not talking and telling people they're gonna go to hell and they're you know, and they need to repent right now of their sins cuz I'm not gonna say that's not true. That is true Repentance is a real thing, but Paul says Paul says it's the goodness of God that leads people to repentance Oh, yeah, right.

[00:41:37] Justin: So not the fear of punishment. So we need to get into the habit of Loving people and being focused on just loving people. And yes, you cannot love people until you love yourself. That's just truth. And the best way to love yourself is to realize that he already loves you. It's already in you. Right. You already have it.

[00:41:57] both2: Mm hmm. 

[00:41:58] Justin: We more so have to just [00:42:00] receive it. And to receive it, we have to believe it. And when you believe it, and I know that I'm, I believe that I'm forgiven. I know that I'm forgiven. And I believe I'm loved and I know I'm loved. Now it makes it easier for me to go out and help other people, but it puts a desire in me to want to go out and help the people, to help people.

[00:42:20] Justin: That was the motive, the inspiration of this podcast. This is God's way of speaking through two people. People who lived ordinary lives, but experienced supernatural things in their lives. And , they want to share these things, the things of God, with people. Right. And they want to do it through compassion.

[00:42:42] Justin: They want to do it through love. They want to do it with a little bit of humor as well. Right? That's right. But , they want people to feel the way that they felt and they want people to be free. Right? Yeah. That's And that's, that's the whole, that's just the whole purpose of sharing your testimony.

[00:42:56] Justin: Don't hide your testimony. Don't keep it from people. Don't think, Oh, [00:43:00]they might not. If, if he's did a good work in your life and he's really changed things for you, he wants you to be a witness to other people. That's right. Yeah, and that's 

[00:43:08] Don: the beauty of walking in the things of God. And I always say that the only time you can get a testimony is you got to be tested.

[00:43:15] Don: Yeah, you know, so I think that God is testing us all the time and he's given us a testimony and a lot of it is Doing some good things for the things of God and that's where we are about a labor of love 

[00:43:27] Justin: . Amen. Well, I think that wraps it up for today. This was a good one, Justin. I think so too. Hey, we're glad you guys found your way here today, and we hope you can join us again next week for another good word.

[00:43:41] Justin: Until then, stay blessed by the best. See you [00:44:00] guys.