LIFE Podcast Show

[00:01] Dez: Welcome to the Life podcast where we offer real hope to real people dealing with real life. We filter our thoughts through God's thoughts and our ways. Through God's ways, we pray your blessed by this podcast. Enjoy the show. Welcome back. This is the life podcast. Living intentionally for eternity. People, we are back live from our office, and I'm joined by my guy, the creepy crawler himself, the man who levitates when he walks, the smoothest man in the land, Mr. Dave OOTS. What's up, my brother?

[01:08] Dave: Good morning, Dave.

[01:10] Eric: Again, that introduction humbles me. I guess so, but hey, how you doing, man?

[01:16] Dez: I'm good, man, I'm good. We had a good discussion to talk about today. We have a very special guest with us, mr. Eric Talbert, the author of Fear Not, available on Apple, Bonds and Noble and Amazon. About 69 pages. Get through it in about an hour. Men in the page, you a little bit over an hour. My dad has read the book, I've read excerpts, and it's been amazing to read so far. What you have? A man full of wisdom, a man full of grace, elder father, husband, grandfather, best friend of my dad, David. And we're just excited to have him here to talk about, manhood, how we overcome grief and how God walks with us through those times. So we are excited. We gonna jump straight into it because we have been gone for so long. So I'm excited. I'm excited that we're back.

[02:14] Eric: Yeah, I'm excited too.

[02:15] Dez: Dad, do you want to introduce Mr. Eric and just talk about your relationship?

[02:20] Eric: Oh, yeah, man. This is my brother, one of my brothers from another mother, but most importantly, he's a brother in Christ. Then I lean on heavily for accountability, support, and just friendship, man. Built on nothing but mutual respect and love, man. And to be to be able to tell other men that you love them and really mean it, man, is almost unheard of to a lot of people. But I have some friends in my life, man, that I truly love, and Eric's one of them. Me and Eric have known each of each other over 20 years, met on the job, kindred spirits, quiet guys that mean what we say and say what we mean and urge has just been a blessing to my life. And I'm just so proud of his brother because of the things that he's accomplished, in spite of some of the things that he's went through in his life. So not only is he I'm proud of him, but I'm inspired by him also with a lot of things that he's been able to do and the things that he's been able to just maintain through his faith. So, Eric, man, if I haven't told you before, I'm proud of you, man, and you inspire me. And I'm excited about talking with you today about your book and some other things. So welcome.

[03:44] Dave: Thank you. Hey, man, I'm humbled by that introduction. I really am, man. And thanks for having me on here, fellas. I'm looking forward to it. We don't have a good time.

[03:56] Dez: Real good time. You want to tell the people our life point for today?

[04:01] Eric: Yeah, our life point comes from Eric's book. Let me read it real quick. As we present Jesus to the world and others receive him and pursue relationships with Him, we will fulfill the salt of the earth mandate. Jesus mentioned having a saved and fearless doctor praying for God's divine healing in Jesus name before surgery or diagnosis can change the trajectory of someone's life. Even having a saved and fearless lawyer. When a young person gets in trouble, pulling them aside to pray, the blood of Jesus to COVID them can give them the strength and courage they need to change their lives too. The saved and fearless police officer who sits outside a troubled neighborhood or drives around on his or her beat praying over its wellbeing, well, how about this one? A saved and fearless president that not only says, in God we trust, but names the mighty name of Jesus and gives other leaders of the free world words of truth rather than lies and empty promises. This is how we fearlessly advance the kingdom of God. The word of God tells us that not only do we have the power to conquer our fears, but declares, yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. That's from Romans 837. And that's from the book. Fear not, Mr. Eric Tower.

[05:27] Dez: Mr. Eric Towber.

[05:28] Dave: Yeah.

[05:30] Dez: When you listen to that, do you ever think, did I really write that?

[05:35] Dave: After you go through some of the things you go through, it's like, okay, that came out. But no. Yeah, I do at times, man. I really do believe that too. I believe we don't change things through a political affiliation or groups and so forth, but we are mandated to bring the kingdom of Earth. He said, I will be done on Earth as it is my kingdom comes. I will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. So we ought to advance the kingdom that way as individuals standing out for the body of Christ. The church is not just a building.

[06:10] Dez: Come on.

[06:10] Dave: It's people who have been saved and who have the grace of Jesus Christ on their life, affecting one another in every aspect of our lives. That's how we change it. And that's what I wanted to do. That's what I wanted to show.

[06:22] Dez: My dad always talks about the ripple effect. Pebble, right? You push the pebble into the puzzle and it just ripples all the way across.

[06:30] Dave: That's it.

[06:31] Dez: And I think that's the same way that someone calls some people call it Christianity. Jesus kingdom upside down kingdom. It starts with the lowly.

[06:40] Dave: There you go.

[06:41] Dez: He exhausts the lowly and humbles the great. It's upside down, right? Because this world isn't like this. We look for prestige and beauty and youthfulness power, influence, and you just like in Corinthians, eight minutes, nothing. People god call you doing an herb. You wasn't anything special. You wasn't special.

[06:59] Dave: That's it.

[07:00] Dez: But look what God has done.

[07:01] Dave: That's it.

[07:01] Dez: He takes the things that's foolishness to the world.

[07:04] Dave: Yeah.

[07:05] Dez: Things that they look at is like.

[07:07] Dave: You your answer, right?

[07:09] Dez: Really? Wasn't that the first problem? This is the person we posted exactly. Don't have a house. And you just like, with these random people, you got prostitutes following you. Really? Am not doing that.

[07:20] Dave: There you go.

[07:21] Dez: But the cross is foolishness to those who are parishing.

[07:23] Dave: There you go.

[07:24] Dez: That's real, man.

[07:25] Dave: Actually, I experienced this when I was 18. I just did a service for a woman that I consider my spiritual mom. And we worked together at Citizens Bank. And I was 18 years old, and I was coming to work, and that morning, one morning, and my car spent off on the side of the road and went into a tree. The tree was sitting in my back seat. I don't even know how the Lord kept me from that, but I thank God for his grace and mercy and I get to work later on, I went in, you know, I was young, so you go to work. And when I got to work, this lady, Pastor Melody Brown, she said, Son, are you okay? I said, I was in an accident. She said, you know what? The Holy Spirit spoke to me this morning, said, Pray directly for you. Didn't know what you were going through, but he said, Pray for you. And I got right there to that moment that the church came out of the walls. It came to my job and it manifested itself in my life. And I believe that because the Bible says the prayer of the righteous is very much and I believe her being there in that setting was ordered by God to bring forth some help from me when I needed, and I couldn't help myself. Come on. So I learned early what that was all about. I learned early what that was all about. So. Thank God for that. That's where that came from, too, those kind of experiences.

[08:48] Eric: Amen.

[08:49] Dez: That just fixes.

[08:53] Eric: I love to see the Bible come alive. And that's what we pray for.

[08:58] Dave: That's it.

[08:59] Eric: We pray for the Word to come alive in our lives as well as others that we see struggling. And one thing that you said, Eric, that was so fitting for the time is political affiliation is not going to change anything. And as Christians, we have to believe what you wrote in this book. We have to believe that Scripture, Romans 817, that we can't fear. We can't let fear quiet us down.

[09:30] Dave: That's it.

[09:31] Eric: We have to continue this is a great commission. We have to continue to do that.

[09:35] Dave: Because think about it. That's what both of them push be very afraid if this group doesn't be very afraid. So they're pushing the fear mindset. And that's not what we're called to live by. We don't live by fear, we live by faith. Paul says the just shall live by faith. So I need God's faith to accomplish the things in earth so I can't succumb to that fear mongering by whoever. It doesn't matter which side or who does it, where it comes from, right? That's not the way I'm supposed to be commissioned and cabel through the fear, but the faith and the grace in God that I can do all things in Christ. So we have to have that.

[10:14] Eric: So tell me more about your inspiration for the book. I know that, of course, it was inspired by God, but tell us how you were inspired personally and the title, how you come up with the title.

[10:27] Dave: Because remember, Jesus told his disciples on many occasions, fear not. And I believe that he did that because he understood there would be many things that they would be facing, many things that would come against them, that would challenge their life. And so I wanted to encourage the believer to know that you have faith without works is dead. So you have to operate in faith and work it. But just to encourage the believer to remember that you do have the faith and the unbeliever to have enough of belief in God and faith in God to trust God and to give your life to God so that he can do a work in your life. So I just wanted to encourage people, because a lot of times we want to preach a sermon or whatever, but a word, fear not. Just a simple statement could really change a person's life, moment, day or whatever. And most people do things in a reactive mode of what they're experiencing at the time. But that's not the way we're supposed to live reactive, but we're supposed to be intentional. So I wanted to write something that would help knock out that reactive mode. I want to take my life because I'm having a bad moment. No, if you're not, tomorrow will come. His mercy is new every day. Hold on. So I wanted to write something that.

[11:49] Dez: Would encourage people to do that was it. That's the most repeated phrase in the Bible, don't be afraid in all the Bible, that one, jesus talked about it in some way. Fortune I heard somebody say, I think Tony Evans says, you can break the Bible down into God his in the Old Testament, God the Father is forefront. In the New Testament, you get Jesus and the Gospels and then our last days in our age, we have the Holy Spirit. So you can kind of break the Bible down in those three and every single one. Paul says in Acts or Corinthians, he says the Spirit told him, don't fear the people in Corinthians. There's many people I need to save here.

[12:31] Dave: There you go.

[12:31] Dez: It's the spirit telling them. It said the spirit set apart Paul and Bonabis. There you go, right? He's like, front and center, God. They all saying, do not fear. Jesus told me, do not fear. Casual cares will meet. God telling Joshua, do not fear.

[12:44] Dave: There you go.

[12:45] Dez: Do not fear. Go on the land and conquer it. Do not fear. So, like, you was on or something. I'm just intrigued. What year did you start? Did you write that? But when it was published, I started.

[12:57] Dave: Writing around, actually, 2015, believe it or not.

[13:01] Dez: Okay.

[13:02] Dave: But when you preach or when you teach or when you write or you do anything for the Lord, you're going to be the first participant of the challenge of it.

[13:12] Dez: The challenge comes to you.

[13:13] Dave: Yeah. It comes to you first. And so the fear of the book being legitimate or people wanting to hear it or whether I should do it or not, those things crept in. Life crept in so it would sit on the shelf. And then when we went through the pandemic, I think it pushed that whole notion, because we were all under fear. No matter how much faith you had, to a degree, we were dealing with concern, fear, whatever you want to call it, but the reality of it, we were facing it head on. So it compelled me to even push further to get it out. I had it done, but it pushed me further to get it out. I think I said this before, I put a computer and the Lord will push you, too. I put my computer in the shop to get fixed, and I had already written most of it and had it in the computer. And the technician looked at it and he said, I saw that book you wrote, your author. I said, yeah, hadn't done it yet. Yeah, he said, I enjoyed it. Man, that was good. So I felt like that was God saying, Keep pushing, keep pushing. Finish it. Go to the finish line. Don't stop. So that's what got it out.

[14:28] Dez: So covet happened. 2020, you get the riot, like 2021, obviously, President Trump comes in. All that stuff was happening which would create fear. They got health, politics, anarchy, all those things knocking on the door in the church. And we're frail human beings. I don't care how strong you think you are, we're frail. The smallest infliction deters us, right? You know what I mean? God constantly talking about famine, disease, death. That's humanity, you know what I mean? We're frail. Any little thing shakes us up. And that's why we need a big God to trust in, because he can overcome all those things and help us in the midst of it. Give us the strength in the midst of it. And the hardest thing with fear or not, is trusting God in the dark. He's not responding.

[15:23] Dave: There you go.

[15:25] Dez: That's hard, right? Joe prayed for a long time. God got the last two chapters. And when God usually responds, when we mumbling and complaining and growing in our quietness, one response is humbleness. Your face hits the ground and you worship. Because he knew he was there the whole time. I've had moments of like, the Lord literally just taking my mind. It is kind of super natural. Ain't trying to go like stupid super mystical, but times of like the Lord literally taking me through my mind of just like, everything, like a split second and knowing he was there the whole time and reassuring me he's there. And that's the beautiful thing about our God. He's so patient and he knows when he needs to step in, but he's also teaching us how to grow up. A moment. When I first became a Christian, I feel like every prayer I was asked to anticipate God, just like and the more I'm walking with them, I'm like, oh, yeah, I got to learn the trust, not feelings, but what God says. And that's true faith. You believe what God says and you act on it.

[16:31] Dave: Yeah.

[16:31] Dez: Fear, courage. Definition of courage. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is doing what you're supposed to do. Even though there's fear.

[16:41] Dave: Yeah.

[16:42] Dez: Still leading courageous. Even though it's fear, you're not letting the fear control you.

[16:46] Dave: There you go. That's it. I talk about that a few places in the Bible, in the book as well. There's a chapter in there that says, is this the same person? And I talk about in Kings when they talk about Elijah, because Elijah called down fire from heaven and did a wonderful, great thing and killed over 450 prophets and did a great thing. The very next chapter, Jezebel says, I'm going to do the same thing to you. He's under a tree crying and pining and so afraid. And God, I want to die, all to the point of wanting to die a suicidal type mindset, right? And there's no doubt he was God's man. There's no doubt God used him. No doubt he was a mighty man of God.

[17:51] Dez: Come on.

[17:52] Dave: But he had a mighty low moment and that moment was ushered in by a threat that caused them to be afraid. And so I talk about that because sometimes you can be mighty in the boardroom, mighty in the church, or mighty in different areas, but at home with your own family or your own wife or your own children, if certain things are said that are personal, it could cause you to retreat and cause you to be upset. And so I wanted to write something that lets people know, just because I'm mighty in this one area, I can have these other, doesn't mean I'm not a child, it doesn't mean you're not saved, it doesn't mean any of that. It just means in certain settings, I may be able to be this bold guy, but in another setting, I could be this guy. Oh, my God. I'm afraid most of us handle fear differently. You know, some may do drugs, some may do alcohol, some may do just sex and running around. Whatever the case, child of God shouldn't. But, hey, come on. When you get pushed to certain settings, you don't know what you would do. Remember, Peter said, I would never deny you, but when the situation changed I talked about that in the book, too. When the situation changed and Jesus wasn't there and he was by himself, what did he do? Just what he said he wouldn't do. So we have to be mindful of that, our frailty. Like you said, we need God all the time. I need God just as much I want to say to perform or to do what he needs me to do on a large scale, just as much in my home, in my daily personal life. Because both we're his, we belong to Him, and he needs to be there. So that's in the book, too. I got to go buy it. I'm not going to tell you the whole book. Everybody is not that big. Okay?

[19:44] Dez: I think just contemplate on that. The Lord showed me a couple of nights ago, success everywhere else, but where it matters is not success to be a successful teacher, which I am, to be a successful supervisor, which you are. Be a successful preacher, as you are. And to fail to love your wife the way God calls. Peter says, God's not even listening to your prayers if you're not treating her right. And we know what God wants from a marriage. Godly, children. This means quantity of time, a lot of time spent, ladies and gentlemen, that's listening. Right before, I was talking to these gentlemen about how I'm struggling with life and dealing with children and realizing, wait a second, I don't have no time to myself. It's all about them all the time. It's all about my wife and my kids. All the time struggling with that day boy. But by faith, life as you knew it is over. I really got to die. I really got to put in the practice. Your life is not your own price. I should have been practicing it with Christianity.

[20:53] Dave: That was the rehearsal?

[20:54] Dez: Yeah.

[20:56] Dave: Charles purge.

[20:57] Dez: It says, anything that makes you pray is a blessing. So with that being said, I think that anything that gets you to bend your need to God's will, because God will do it. Speaking of Romans eight, right before those passages, I think at 24 said, god's will is to conform you to the image of his son. How will you be conformed to the image of your son? Trials tribulation. No one enters the heaven without great tribulation. Charles Burton said, no one goes to heaven on a pillow.

[21:25] Dave: There you go. That's it.

[21:27] Dez: You go to heaven through a cross.

[21:28] Dave: There you go.

[21:29] Dez: If you want to follow me. If any man wants to follow me, deny himself, pick up his crossing. Follow Christ. Cross equals death. We don't talk like that, bro.

[21:39] Dave: Right.

[21:40] Dez: And this fear that comes with if I say this, this person may never talk to me or can do bodily harm to me. And God said, that's the path I want you to walk. Nobody would do that.

[21:51] Dave: No.

[21:52] Dez: Everybody wants comfort, ease, convenience.

[21:55] Dave: That's it.

[21:56] Dez: And fear makes you creep into those things even more. I just not do nothing. Yeah, god, I know what you're doing. I don't want to participate. I don't want to participate because I know what you're about to do. I don't want to play there you go.

[22:14] Dave: To not leave Elijah in a fearful state.

[22:17] Dez: Come on.

[22:18] Dave: God did love him enough to meet Him where he was.

[22:22] Dez: Eat, boys.

[22:22] Dave: And I think that's important. He dealt with his natural as well as his spiritual.

[22:28] Dez: Come on.

[22:28] Dave: And so he said, eat, sleep. And he restored his faith. And God meets us right where we are because we knew we were going to be there before we got there. That's the key thing. He already knew he was going to be there. It was just a matter of us recognizing where we were. That's why he said to Adam, he said, where are thou? I know where you are, but do you even know where you are? You know what?

[22:48] Dez: Don't.

[22:50] Dave: So I think that's a key thing. He's not going to leave us stuck. We just have to be willing to embrace Him no matter where we are, and he can pull us out of whatever it is.

[23:02] Eric: Amen. I believe that a lot of us, as my brother has told me over time, a lot of people believe in God. As Christians, we believe in God, but how many of us truly trust it? And that's the difference. And everything that we're talking about right now, it comes down to, do you trust Him? Do I trust God enough to continue to go through this storm knowing that on the other side, he's going to be faithful? Thou will be done. Right? That's the trust part. Right? We pray that most of all, God, thou will be done. Let your will be done. How much do we really believe it? You know, how much do we really, in our hearts, accept what his will really is for our lives? And are we willing to just be obedient through the whole thing? Fear can be paralyzing in a lot of situations, man, especially for somebody like myself. I'm an introvert. A lot of people don't believe I'm intro, but I am. I'm truly fearful of a lot of things. And the only thing that got me really comfortable with public speaking was church. That's where I was pushed and given responsibilities to really just step out of my comfort zone and become more outspoken or just being in public speaking and helped me in so many other ways in my life, especially in my career. People who really trust God and see things in you that helps you overcome those fears. Man is truly from God. Eric is one of those people from me, and I'm going to be that alone.

[24:57] Dave: I want to say this to you too, Dave, because even extroverts have fears, too. Sometimes we miss that because we admire their ability to go forward, but we never know people's alone times. And I talk about that, too. When you get by yourself, that's when the true you has to deal with the true you.

[25:22] Eric: The true you.

[25:25] Dave: I think it was Shakespeare says, first to thine own self be true.

[25:28] Eric: Amen.

[25:29] Dave: Because you have to live with you. So all of us are dealing with certain fears in some way, shape, form, or fashion. Amen.

[25:38] Eric: No doubt. So we touched on overcoming your fear about writing the book. How has the book impacted your life, and what type of feedback have you gotten about your book?

[25:50] Dave: Actually, it's been good, and some people have been using it on me when they see certain things that I did well. You know, your book says I get that a lot. When you do something publicly trust, it's coming back to you, especially with family.

[26:10] Dez: Price down shaking over.

[26:11] Dave: There you go. Yeah. The humanity piece is still there until we get to having that new body. So there are certain things that people have just told me that it changed their life. I had a cousin of mine, his wife was going through some major problems. She had a stroke. And he said, man, my wife hasn't read a book in six years. And she read your book after years, and she used to read a lot.

[26:42] Dez: Amen.

[26:42] Dave: She read your book, and she got so much inspiration off of that book. And so it's things like that I've gotten that really just make me look up to Him and say, thank you, God, because I don't take no glory for nothing, because I'm just Eric Joe. I don't take no glory for anything that I do. I give all the glory to God, and I try to do that at all times. But just to hear those kind of inspirational things, it caused me to move forward. It caused me to do something I hadn't done for a while. That's the purpose of it. Thank God. To God, be the glory.

[27:13] Dez: Mr. Eric, I'm thinking about I read this the other day. This is like a Dutch reform theologian name is Thomas Keppitt, okay. And this theologian is talking about having a humble opinion of self. And I think that you were just talking about it, and Mr. EU was just talking about as well. Just want to read a portion of it to talk about. Just listen. If you wish to learn and appreciate something worthwhile, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly know and despise self. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in a good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself. Knowing thyself is what God calls us to do.

[28:18] Eric: A lot of Bible to that.

[28:20] Dez: Yeah, he's a Dutch old school dude. I'm starting to gain strength by older men. And Jeremiah says, no, ISIS is go back and look at the ancient ways. Go back and see the good streets, the good paths. So I'm finding a lot of wisdom in these old guys that come before me and walk with Christ faithfully. I think the more and more I see that, like, God exalts the humble, but he brings down the proud. He gives grace to the humble, but he puts down the proud. And I think all of our issues is pride, even fear. You have too much pride in yourself that you think you can't do something or you can't do this and like, Nah, bro, who are you to say that? But I think I read that because of what you were talking about, Dan, and what you were talking about, Mr. We are frail. But I think the biggest problem with man is that they think too highly in themselves. Wow, that's our nation. People think they all that, right. When you come to God, you'll see you're nothing and that thank God He loves dust. Because from the dust you came, and from the dust you going back.

[29:26] Dave: Ain't taking that.

[29:27] Dez: That's what you are. Tony Ever says, on your best day, you work about $0.06. On your best day, you work about on your best day. But God has given you immense value. You're made in his image. Because of what sin is done to us, we're quick to it comes down to love you of God have you self. High view of God, low view of self. Because God shows you exactly who you are. James says, look through the mirror, the perfect wisdom and the perfect law, and you'll see, oh, I fall short. God why we were still sinners. The Son had died for us. We redeemed us. It's amazing. Like a beach is two one. It tells us who we are dead in our sins and trespassing. And you get the phone and it says, but God, this wisdom is love and his mercy wow.

[30:21] Dave: Yes.

[30:22] Dez: Died for us.

[30:23] Dave: Yes.

[30:23] Dez: It puts things in perspective. And I love that. You're just like, man, I'm desired.

[30:27] Dave: That's it, man.

[30:28] Dez: End of the day, this podcast can take off. We can be all around the world. I'm dead. Lord, keep me there because. I owe him. Lord, keep me near the cross.

[30:36] Dave: That's it.

[30:37] Dez: Keep me there because when I look up I see my sin. Put him there.

[30:42] Dave: Amen. What's the middle letter of pride? What's the middle letter of sin? There you go. So whenever we get there, that's when we know we're wrong. That's when we know we're off, when it's all about us. I me and I'm so self conscious about what I can do, what I can't do. I don't want God to humble me. I've had enough challenges in this life. That's why it says humble thyself. Come on in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up because if you do it, you're going to be all right. If you don't, he will show you who is really boss.

[31:25] Dez: Some people like he let's just go down that path. Some says that some people he just let them run their course of life and never okay. You keep exoting yourself. You keep stiff on and past his exit. You keep stiff arm the holy spirit, it's not going to lead to death. Romans one, right. And it's three trinities in this world. I like to say it's three trinities, one true, two falses. Obviously you have the father, Son, the holy spirit and you have the world, the flesh and the devil, but this one is the killer. Me, myself.

[31:56] Dave: That'S the scary one. I like this guy.

[32:05] Eric: That's something meditate on that's. It definitely something to meditate.

[32:09] Dave: You levitate.

[32:12] Eric: Know, right?

[32:22] Dez: Yeah.

[32:22] Eric: Because like Eric said shortly ago, man, when you get with you, when you got those moments when you're behind closed doors and it's just you and you know the truth, we know what we're struggling with. We know what we're trying to keep from God, those things that we think that we hiding from God and then we want to figure out our own or we just don't want to give up on our own. Yeah, man, those are things that we have to deal with that should humble, you know, knowing that even though you have these accomplishments in your life and people talk lofty of you that you still have to depend on God to stay feel and obedient. That's the thing you need God to be obedient.

[33:24] Dave: Can I say to the other side because I do believe that this is important too. The number one commandment he left was love thy neighbor as thyself. And there is a need for us to start to value and appreciate what he has made us to be, not based on what somebody else is. And there's many people that love their pastor, they love their church, they love their job, they love everything else around them, but they don't love themselves. And there are things about us that God has given us to value and to love yourself because it's hard. I can't love you if I don't love me.

[34:08] Dez: Yeah.

[34:09] Dave: I can't love my neighbor if I don't love me. And that's not a selfish worldly love, that's a Godly love that he's talking about. But that is supposed to be there because we will walk around and kick ourselves too low and we'll be walking around with condemnation before you know it. And the Scripture says there is now, therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So you got to be careful with that. The enemy will play your head and have you walking around thinking you less than. So I'm not going to say nothing because I'm not anything. No, I'm fearful and wonderfully man. God created me with things that I should see the value in them through Him, that I can do these things because God may be that way. So that's the other side of it too. And I think that needs to be taught more to especially our young boys, but that needs to be taught more to appreciating who God has made you to be and the places he needs you to be and what he wants to do with your life. Of course I'm not with what they say I am. No good. You dumb, you're stupid. You ain't going to never be nothing. You hold on to that stuff too long, that runs your head, runs loops in your head and you won't try things. And fear can get even stronger if I hold on to those things that the devil tell us that are like that. So we do have to grow in grace and understand that I'm okay in certain areas. There are some things I do well because of the grace of God. Not because of me, but because of the grace of God. So I think that's important to remember.

[35:49] Dez: The images are still there. My pastor talks about when you go to the circus and you go to those rooms with the mirrors that make your body like this form and it look weird, like if you're really tall or you're really big or one part of your body, it's one of those trick mirrors. And you say that's kind of how it is with us. The glorious part of us is we made an image of God. It's something magnificent about human beings.

[36:15] Dave: The.

[36:15] Dez: Initiative, how innovative we are, the way we can create the giftings, the talent, the way we think and ration, the way we can relate to one another. We can have children, and it's just a difference. We're different from the animals. We're different from everything creation. And God says he waited to the 6th day to create the greatest thing that he did someone made of his own image. So that image is still there and that's a glorious thing. But sin has come in and perverted us and it's like going to that circus. You see, it's something good about you, but it's something else that's so it's like putting polluted pollution in water. The water is good, but once you pollute it, it's like you can't drink. That not the way it is. You got to refine that thing. What's totally corrupt and it needs to be taken out and totally revamped. And that's what God does. Well, he takes out our oath, his stubby hearts, like as he was saying, and gives us new heart. So that's the thing.

[37:13] Dave: We are new creation.

[37:14] Dez: So we knew, behold, all things are new. If anyone has put his faith in Christ, he's a new creation. Behold the oldest God, behold, the new has become. And that's the glorious part of loving yourself, you know what I mean? But obviously, I guess I'm passionate about the other side because you have these false pastors and teachers out here. That kind of elevates, man. It's all about motivational speaking. Like now, bro, man needs to know who they really are. And then you can really start to embrace man in spite of who I am. The Lord saved me. He redeemed me, and now I cannot know that I'm fearfully want to be made. You know what I mean? I think that's the beauty of what you're saying as well. So I think that's good. I think it's been you shine a lot of light. I'm so glad you brought up the other side. I think Uncle Lonzo was at Quinoa near one time. He said, humbleness. Humbleness is not walking around kind of head down, toss into and fro. He said that's not humbleness. Humbleness is not thinking too little yourself. Humbleness is not thinking yourself at all. And I thought that was a good definition. You're so freed up to just serve because you know how much you love, you know how much you value by God. I mean, he knows every hair that's on your head. He knows your thoughts from fall off. Jesus, look at the lilies. Look how beautiful God has made those. And they here today, gone tomorrow. How much more does he love you? How much more does he care about you?

[38:48] Dave: Amen.

[38:48] Dez: If God can make these mountains beautiful and give you art and all this creation, how much more you think he care about you? That stuff gone today, here today, gone tomorrow. He cared that much about that. How much more you think he cared about you. Man is his image. Who he's redeemed.

[39:01] Dave: There you go.

[39:01] Dez: So I'm so glad you pointed that out to those listening. I know I said we want to talk about grief and walk through that. So we're going to do a part two where Mr. Eric will come back and talk about how God walked him through grief with a tragedy that happened in his life. But for now, I think we cover his book really well. Again. It's available on Amazon. It's available by Bonds and Noble and on Apple. So please check out the book Fear Not by Eric Howbert Jr. 69 pages, 1 hour. Read 1 hour. Fear not again. That's on Amazon and Bars. And noble and apple. So, dad, do you want to close out with Mr. Eric?

[39:47] Eric: Now, one thing that just not really a funny story, but you hear Eric saying the flip side of that, right? He said that a lot. And a lot of times when we're together, me, him, and other buddy Rob Shackleford, me and Rob get on this horse talking about how terrible people are and how terrible things are being really self righteous. And it's the Google calm over here, though. But on the flip side of that, let me throw this out here. And then when he's finished, we just kind of look at it like, man, he does that all the time. And that's a gift that he has to help you realize that, as the Bible says, we shouldn't look at ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We should think soberly about ourselves. And Eric helps you stay there. So I know that's something that he practiced in his personal life.

[40:53] Dave: Yeah, definitely.

[40:54] Eric: But again, man, like I said before, I'm proud of you. It's been a pleasure. I can't wait to have you back, to continue to talk to you about other things that I know you're passionate about and other things that I know that people will be blessed by hearing you talk about. So again, thank you for coming, and we're going to let you have these last couple of minutes.

[41:13] Dave: Hey, man, thank you all for having me. Man, this has been fun. It really has. Any chance I get just to encourage brothers, man, that's what I want to do. So at the end of the day and the end of it all, we talked about sin, pride and many different things and fear and anything that we have. I just like to end and recognize the fact that Christ died on the cross for all of it. And if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and let Him come in our lives, he handles and takes care of all of that. He died for all of that. So I encourage anybody that's listening that doesn't know Jesus, just give Jesus and give Him a try. Give him a try. He will work it all out. All right? So I just want to encourage you all with that and thanks again. And he's right when he said that the other side of it, I just like to look at all sides, that's all. Thank you all for having me. Man, I am so honored to be on this podcast.

[42:10] Dez: I am really thank you for coming on and helping us out.

[42:13] Eric: No doubt.

[42:14] Dez: I appreciate it. This has been the Life podcast, where we filter our thoughts through God's thoughts and we filter our views through God's views. It's been an amazing time. Please subscribe to the show on Apple podcast spotify. I am your host, Dash Oot. So I'm with the Creepy Creepy Crawler, the one who levitates, beat, never touches ground the smoothest man in the way say bad, say bad.