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It's Only Up From Here | The Upgrade w Joe Adevai #001
57 Plays3 months ago
In the very first episode of The Upgrade, Pastor Joe Adevai introduces you to the heart behind the podcast and the life behind the pastor. A high school dropout, former drug dealer, and cocaine addict who was ready to end it all at 27, Joe shares how a Bible he never wanted to open and a verse in John 3 changed the trajectory of his life forever. Now a retired Wall Street SVP, founder of Grace Church of North Brunswick, and father of six, Pastor Joe is on a mission: to provoke you to stop burying your talents and start walking in your calling. If you've been living at 30% of your potential, this is your reboot. It's only up from here.
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Transcript
Finding Hope Through Faith
00:00:00
Speaker
The time when I was going to take my own life, the time I didn't want to live anymore, is when God gave me a glimmer of hope. And I'm here to tell you, if you have a glimmer of hope, and there's no telling what you can do in this life, it's only up from here.
00:00:22
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome to the upgrade. It's only up from here. This is the first episode of our podcast. I'm very excited. have an amazing production team. We have Joe, my son. He's Joe. He was once Joey as a child. You know, then when they grow up, they get to be Joe and then You know, I'm Joseph, but I am Joseph Attevie, pastor of g Grace Church of North Brunswick.
00:00:50
Speaker
And I want to mention the other guy on our production team. That would be Stephen George, who is also the ghostwriter on my second book. So I have some really talented people working here with me.
Joseph's Transformation Journey
00:01:01
Speaker
ah You'll get to meet them over time. They might ah throw a few questions or keep me on track during the podcast, but ah I'm really excited about this.
00:01:12
Speaker
And the reason we're doing a podcast or I'm doing a podcast called The Upgrade is because an upgrade is to improve, to advance, to make progress, to get a better version of something.
00:01:31
Speaker
Some of us are in version 1.0. It's time to get to 2.0 and 3.0 and 4.0. It's always bothered me that people have these gifts and talents that God has given them, and they're not using them to the full extent because everybody is uniquely gifted and talented.
00:01:51
Speaker
And it's always bothered me. And yeah that's part of the reason I became a pastor. You know, the first 27 years of my life were really bad. I was a high school dropout from a broken family, suicidal.
00:02:05
Speaker
So at the age of 27, was about done with this world, but that's when God found me. You know, people will say they found God. None of us found really find God.
00:02:15
Speaker
He finds us. But in our reality, we feel that we found him, and that's a theological question for another day. But the point is, is that God found me, and You know, I had to turn my life around with him and it's been a long journey.
00:02:35
Speaker
I ended up on Wall Street. um I did retire after 28 years on Wall Street. That was 2008. In the midst of that time, ah Grace Church had begun.
00:02:47
Speaker
We have an amazing church, and you're going to meet some of the people that make the church so amazing, and including the two guys that are with me here today. Getting back to why the upgrade, I truly believe that whatever it is that bothers you, things that you want to correct, that's what your ministry is. And One of the things I really want to correct is the fact that people aren't living up to their full potential.
00:03:15
Speaker
It just
Utilizing Unique Gifts for God's Work
00:03:16
Speaker
bothers me. i can't tell you how much it bothers me. And in 2000, when the church started, I remember saying to my wife, God, people are the greatest resource.
00:03:27
Speaker
So we want people to come to the church so we can help them to be a great resource. I'll be a resource to them as a pastor, and then they can be a resource to the church and and to God, because God created people to solve problems.
00:03:43
Speaker
Every one of you is designed to solve a problem. I like to say the answer to every problem is a person. Now, the ultimate answer to all of our problems was Jesus. He died on the cross for our sins, for forgiveness for us. And Can never forget that.
00:04:01
Speaker
But people are, God has put people in your life to make a difference and he's put you in other people's lives to make a difference. And when you have a unique gift, something in you to help solve a problem, that's going to bless somebody else.
Podcast Goals and Family Involvement
00:04:16
Speaker
And that's why we're doing this podcast called The Upgrade. And the tagline is, it's only up from here. Because with God... It can only get better. Your best is yet to come.
00:04:29
Speaker
My answering machine on my phone says, I've got a word for you. Something good, something God is coming your way. We have to have hope in this life. We have to be moving forward because if we're not moving forward, we're not moving.
00:04:45
Speaker
If we're looking back, we're wasting our time. So this podcast is going to help you to be the you that God wants you to be. And really, i see people in our church, in my life, I see their lives changing. I see their lives improving.
00:05:02
Speaker
And that's what brings me joy. And, you know, maybe that's you. Maybe that brings you joy. Well, maybe you should be a pastor. But pray about that
Mentoring and Wisdom Acquisition
00:05:12
Speaker
first. Some of the podcasts we're going to have are going to involve my wife, my kids.
00:05:18
Speaker
We've been through a lot. As a matter of fact, we've been through through so much. I've written a book called a Reason to Live. And you get that on Amazon. You get it from our church. I'm not here to sell books because, frankly, to sell I'm blessed financially from my time on Wall Street, from what happened during COVID, which I'm going to share in another podcast.
00:05:38
Speaker
But um God has been good to me. and And I want to teach people to prosper financially because you know what? when you When you're prospering financially, at least to the point where you're not worried about it all the time, you could do those things that you want to do.
00:05:55
Speaker
And it doesn't matter how old you are. You know, I started Grace Church when I was 40. Okay. I'm doing my first podcast episode at the young age of 65. Yeah. That's real funny, right, guys? But let me tell you something. you're Let me tell you something.
00:06:11
Speaker
These younger generations, you need our wisdom. You need our wisdom.
Financial Stability and Legacy
00:06:18
Speaker
You know, these young people think they don't need us. They need us.
00:06:22
Speaker
And, i you know, I mentor close to 20 guys once a month, all these young guys, and it's working because they need wisdom. Wisdom, it says in the Bible, get it.
00:06:35
Speaker
Get as much wisdom as you can. So I hope to impart wisdom. I hope to impart some practical things for to improve your life. I'm going to talk to you about the markets.
00:06:47
Speaker
I have taught classes in the past called Inside the Markets. If you like markets, I'm going to do a podcast about that. I worked there for 28 years. Believe me, I know it inside and out.
00:06:59
Speaker
I have a lot of really cool friends from the ministry world, the sports world, from the business world. So I want to bring them on because I love talking to people. And we're going have a lot of fun.
00:07:13
Speaker
ah Listen, I'm doing this because I want to help people. This is what it's all about. I mean, what else, what other legacy can you leave that It's not going to be about how rich you were or how famous you were. It was what kind of influence did you have on other people?
00:07:36
Speaker
We're about to sell. We're actually celebrating our 25 year anniversary of Grace Church. And I went and I looked back on our 15 year anniversary. We had a video.
00:07:48
Speaker
And the video had voiceovers of people talking about how Grace Church had changed their life. I was crying baby tears because really that's all that matters in the end.
00:08:00
Speaker
You know, our time on this earth is so short. I can't tell you young people how quickly time goes by.
Embracing Change and Personal Upgrades
00:08:10
Speaker
Make the most out of every moment.
00:08:13
Speaker
Be all you can be. It's time for an upgrade. Some of you need to hit that reboot button. and upgrade the system, okay? Whatever that thing is called on Apple, I don't know, Mojave Desert, whatever these things are called, you guys wouldn't know, but there's always like a new name. It's time for a new name. It's time for a new life, a better life, an upgraded life.
00:08:37
Speaker
Stop living at 30% and 60% and your potential. Let's get close to
00:08:45
Speaker
And I promise you, that's gonna be a better life for you. I'm striving constantly to do better in my life. And you know, sometimes you just need a reboot.
00:08:57
Speaker
The beginning of this year, I just needed to hit reboot because my content was getting a little stale, okay? I needed to hit the reboot button. So I'm adding a few chapters to my old book, revising it. I'm working with Steven here. We're writing this new book that's about to drop this year.
00:09:16
Speaker
And, you know, whatever it is that you've been thinking about doing, it's time to get busy doing. So you've been a pastor for how long now have you been preaching for?
00:09:31
Speaker
25 years. Yeah, it's a long time. So doing this podcast now, what's this um this other avenue? What are you looking to do with this other avenue? Because you've been speaking on stage for a long time now.
00:09:45
Speaker
Is there something different that you're trying to do through the avenue of a podcast rather than preaching on stage on the altar rather? Well, it's just the way things are now. You know, you can reach hundreds of people every Sunday, but potentially you could reach thousands of
Roles and Possibilities with Faith
00:10:03
Speaker
people. And people are always saying, Pastor Joe, we want more information. We want to know more.
00:10:08
Speaker
Well, this is an opportunity to do that. And, you know, living the life I have lived, I have a ah vault of information And there's a lot of people that I believe can be reached that maybe outside of the Christian circle, you know. I want to reach real people that have real problems because I know what that's like.
00:10:33
Speaker
And, you know, and I want to show you that with God, all things really are possible. I mean, the fact that I'm doing a podcast, the fact that I'm a pastor, the fact that I the fact that i was a CEO of a rehab for eight years, the fact that I was a senior vice president of a now $75 billion dollars company, the fact that I'm even here doing these things shows you That with God, all things really are possible.
00:11:05
Speaker
So that's part of the reason. And son, you told me I should do a podcast, so that's why I'm doing it. And listen, i let people speak into my life.
00:11:18
Speaker
You need to let people speak into your life, no matter how how young or how old they are.
Revival at Grace Church
00:11:23
Speaker
One of my mottos is this, I know nothing. doesn't mean that I know nothing, but it means that there's always somebody that knows something more about something than me.
00:11:36
Speaker
I mean, you came back from Hillsong College. And it's funny, I was on the internet the other day and I picked up an article from BBC News. It was ah an article about Hillsong. And I'm reading down and and there's my son's name. I'm like, you didn't tell me you got interviewed for this article about Hillsong.
00:11:55
Speaker
Well, he came back from Hillsong and he learned a lot there about church. and helped us to get our vision, which is to see people saved, set free, and empowered to walk in the calling. He brought structure to our church, and structure has allowed the Holy Spirit to really work.
00:12:16
Speaker
And it's that's part of the reason we're having such a revival at our church right now. I mean, we're really having a revival. So I felt like, wow, Holy Spirit, what's going on? We need to get this message out. Something amazing is going on.
00:12:29
Speaker
We're seeing anywhere from six to 20 people get saved every week. were we're it' It's amazing what's happening. So I guess this was the time. you know you when when When the Holy Spirit moves, you got to move with him because he's not going wait for you.
00:12:46
Speaker
He's going to keep moving. So you're starting up this podcast called The Upgrade um because you really want people to start walking out their calling.
00:12:57
Speaker
And you mentioned earlier on that, you believe that people's calling is linked to what bothers them or what they want to see changed in the world. And why why do you have that viewpoint? Why do you think that way?
00:13:11
Speaker
I mean, it's not just, I mean, some people, it bothers them that they're last in line and or bothers them when people cut them off on the highway. But it's more of a bothering of something that hits you in your gut.
Finding One's Calling Through Struggles
00:13:25
Speaker
I mean, we have this youth shelter ministry every month where we go to the North Brunswick youth shelter and minister those kids. And we have so many people that want to volunteer. And, you know, I used to be involved in that ministry. I can't do everything. But I did it because it bothered me that these kids were out of their home with nowhere to go.
00:13:49
Speaker
had no place to go, had no hope. And, you know, it bothered me because when I was a teen, I was in that situation, but I had nobody speaking hope to me. So we go there and we speak hope to them.
00:14:00
Speaker
Or, as you know, as you guys know, in the church, everybody's got an idea. And everybody comes in with, we should be doing this. And what they're really saying is, you should be doing this. And I always say, listen, if it's on your heart,
00:14:17
Speaker
start it, you know, and we'll support you. I mean, it's our job to equip you for the ministry. So sometimes that really works. And sometimes the person realized, well, it doesn't bother me enough that I want to do something about it. But if it's something that moves you, you know, when Jesus would come upon a crowd of people He came upon sheep without a shepherd. It says that he was moved from his bowels. He was moved with compassion. If something moves you like that, I truly believe it means you're supposed to do something about it.
00:14:54
Speaker
And it moved me to a point when I had six kids, I was out of work, I was in debt, a quarter million dollars, and I was moved to start a church, which people were not in agreement with, especially my wife, even my closest friends,
00:15:09
Speaker
But I was so moved by what I saw, where I saw so many people that just needed to be encouraged and empowered and uplifted and to be saved that I just did it because I was overwhelmed with that compassion to do it.
00:15:27
Speaker
And it ended up being my calling, you know? um and so many people, they have something inside. They have something.
00:15:39
Speaker
Usually it's that thing that you're afraid to even talk about. You know, I was afraid to even talk about being a preacher, even though when I guess preached before I became a pastor, I was just a youth leader, church elder.
00:15:54
Speaker
Few places I preached at when I saw the response, I kind of knew in my heart, wow, I'm probably supposed to be doing this, but it's scary.
00:16:07
Speaker
You know, you could fail.
00:16:10
Speaker
Fear has kept so many people from doing what they're called to do. And I want to hear, I'm here to tell you, listen, don't be afraid. And if you fail, just fail forward. How'd you overcome that fear?
00:16:24
Speaker
By not looking back, not looking to the right or the left. Proverbs 28, 20, I remember that scripture, and I'll always remember. It says, the faithful man shall abound with blessing.
00:16:39
Speaker
And my name just happens to be Joseph, and I'm half Jewish, half Italian, so I'm Yosef, or as some people will call me, Joey.
00:16:52
Speaker
But I look to the life of Yosef or Joseph in the Bible, and God had a plan for him, but he had to go through the pit, through Potiphar's house, through the prison before he got to the palace.
Transformative Power of Care and Hope
00:17:08
Speaker
And so you got to start your journey somewhere. And there has to be something that pushes you to the point of faith where nothing's going to stop you.
00:17:19
Speaker
And that's where I got to. And that's what pushed me. And that's what motivated me. And, You know, the greatest feats that you're going to do in faith are going to be alone. Peter got out of the boat.
00:17:31
Speaker
Nobody went with him.
00:17:34
Speaker
Of course, a lot of Grace Church people will tune in and hopefully listen to this first episode. They better. But for all the people that aren't Grace Church alumni, um you've shared a lot of little tidbits about your past and about what you do.
00:17:50
Speaker
But if there's, you know, just a couple things that you'd want a listener for this first episode to go away with about Pastor Joseph Attevi from North Brunswick of New Jersey, what would you want them to know?
00:18:03
Speaker
Well, first of all, that I care about people and I believe people are the world's greatest resource. I believe that the answer to every problem is a person.
00:18:16
Speaker
Of course, I mentioned about Jesus being the ultimate answer, but I can give you wisdom and information and hope just from what I've been through in my life.
00:18:31
Speaker
And when I tell you where I've come from and where I've gotten to, you'll see the power of God. You'll see
00:18:43
Speaker
the power of the Holy Spirit, you'll see that nothing's impossible with God.
00:18:51
Speaker
You know, I wrote a book just to give people hope because hopelessness
00:18:59
Speaker
is the scourge of life. If you don't feel like there's a chance for a better tomorrow, how are you going to make it through today? If you think that your past decides your future, how can you move on?
00:19:12
Speaker
If you believe you're stuck in a situation that can never change, then why would you listen to this podcast? I'm here to tell you that it's only up from here.
00:19:27
Speaker
It's only up from here. If you've hit bottom, good, because it's only up from there. If you are in your greatest valley, then you can climb a mountain.
00:19:39
Speaker
I've found that it's the lowest point of life that God's power is the greatest. It is at the lowest point of my Christian life.
00:19:51
Speaker
that Grace Church was started. It is the lowest point of my Christian life where learned to prosper financially. It was the lowest point of my ultimate, of my life, the time when I was going to take my own life, the time I didn't want to live anymore, is when God gave me a glimmer of hope.
00:20:13
Speaker
And I'm here to tell you, if you have a glimmer of hope,
00:20:19
Speaker
And there's no telling what you can do in this life.
Testimony of Transformation and Spiritual Awakening
00:20:23
Speaker
It's only up from here. We all really know your testimony, of course. and Being your son, i I know it really well. um But you're about to go into that when you were talking about how you almost took your life and how in that moment you ah had an experience with Jesus. So go into that a little bit for for people that don't know.
00:20:44
Speaker
Well, I was 27 years old, high school dropout. was a drug dealer, drug user.
00:20:54
Speaker
Long story short, because this is a long story. ah My family, I was kidnapped with my younger brother and sister by my mom, taken away from my older brother, sister, and father, lived under a different name,
00:21:11
Speaker
um We were very poor, always moving, so it was it was very difficult to have any roots. I had no education.
00:21:24
Speaker
All I had ever done was rob. I spent time in Rikers Island, was arrested three times a matter of two weeks at the age of 16.
00:21:35
Speaker
ah just a really dark, dark time, the first 27 years of my life. Instead of the upgrade, everything seemed to be a downgrade. I mean, it wasn't always up from here. It was always down from here until I reached rock bottom.
00:21:52
Speaker
Miraculously, through a string of events, I got reunited with my older the brother. Now, he was a rocket scientist, a physicist, and he had spent a year and a half trying to prove that there was no God, he ends up becoming a Christian.
00:22:09
Speaker
He ends up becoming now a theologian.
00:22:16
Speaker
And here we meet again, and he's a Christian, and I'm like, really? You're kidding me. He gives me a Bible.
00:22:27
Speaker
You know, he didn't live in New Jersey, so he was kind of far away, but he was trying to talk to me about God. I was listening, but it really wasn't resonating. He had given me a Bible.
00:22:38
Speaker
I never even looked in this Bible. At the time, I was living in an apartment in New York, and I just threw it somewhere. I just wasn't paying attention to it. and I went on one of my drug binges, which lasted for four days, without eating, without sleeping.
00:22:58
Speaker
And you can imagine the kind of shape. Now, if you've ever done cocaine, you know what I'm talking about. But if you haven't, please don't try it.
00:23:08
Speaker
But when you come down from cocaine, you literally become so depressed. If you can't get a hold of any more, and you'll do anything to get a hold of it,
00:23:23
Speaker
That's why I ended up with a rehab, by the way, but that's another story, another podcast for another day. But you can become so depressed that you just you just want to go into a bed and curl up and die. Well, I was to the point in my life where I really just wanted to die.
00:23:43
Speaker
It was like 2 in the morning, and I was like, I'm going to take my life tonight. I can't do this anymore. I'm going to OD. I'm going to get some pills and just end this thing. And i I talked to God that night and said, if you were real, you know, you would help me.
00:24:01
Speaker
And, you know, you know i was just thinking to myself, yeah, my brother talks about it, but there's nothing, there's no help. It's just me. And this world, i just want out.
00:24:12
Speaker
I had remembered what my mother had told me when the numerous times she wanted me to commit suicide with her as a as a preteen and as a teen, she said, listen, just take these pills with me and it'll be over. You won't have to feel this pain anymore.
00:24:36
Speaker
So I thought, that's not such a bad idea. You die and it's over. No more pain. So I was ready to do it. And as I was saying that at 2 in the morning, I kind of glanced over and I saw that Bible.
00:24:56
Speaker
So I picked up that Bible and I opened it up and my brother David said, Joe, if you get this far, turn to the book of John and start reading. So I opened up the Bible to the book of John and I'm reading through it and not really understanding what's going on until I come to chapter three. That's when Jesus is having a conversation with a guy named Nicodemus. I mean, that I can understand.
00:25:24
Speaker
Conversation. And it comes to the point where Jesus said, light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light. I'm like, oh boy, that's me.
00:25:39
Speaker
I live in the dark. I sleep all day. I'm a vampire. I'm at Studio 54. I'm at clubs when people are sleeping. Men love darkness instead of light. And then it said, because their deeds were evil. And I'm like, yeah, that's me.
00:25:55
Speaker
He knows me.
00:25:59
Speaker
He said, this is the verdict. Light has come into the world. Men love darkness instead of light. And I thought to myself, wow.
00:26:12
Speaker
He really knows me. And the letters where Jesus spoke were in red and they start jumping off the page and I'm like, either I'm hallucinating on a drug right now or this is God showing me some
00:26:31
Speaker
it said, men love darkness instead of light. And then it said, but that people who do love God, they bring their deeds into the light.
00:26:46
Speaker
And really, that's what happened from that moment forward.
Addiction and the Journey to Healing
00:26:52
Speaker
I believe I got saved that night. I called my brother the next day, told him what happened, and he explained to me what I did and that my sins were forgiven. And from that moment on, I said, you know what? From now on, I'm not hiding anything.
00:27:15
Speaker
Whatever's going on, um it's getting revealed. And I come now, here I am 30-some-odd years later, and I'm telling everybody at our church, if it's not revealed, it can't be healed.
00:27:28
Speaker
And I realized that all that stuff, all those things that I was doing in the dark, if I could bring it into the light, God could heal it. So I've been getting healed ever since.
00:27:42
Speaker
And so you stopped doing cocaine ever since that moment? No. ah You know that. Listeners don't. trapped him with though You know full well, son.
00:27:54
Speaker
Not because you were alive. Well, that's good. Some people think it's ah some people have a radical um experience. I did. ah But some people. Yes, you did. Some people have a process.
00:28:06
Speaker
So you could share about that. in fact, I'll just tag on to that. Some people even feel that if they don't do a complete 180, the second they become saved, they're not really Christians, or Jesus doesn't really love them, or they've never really they didn't really accept God. you know But what would you say to those people?
00:28:22
Speaker
I would say, look at me. I was still hooked on coke, even into my second child, after being a youth leader and almost an elder in the first real established church I was in.
00:28:38
Speaker
how old were you?
00:28:41
Speaker
let's say second child, that would be Victoria. She was born in 1990, so I was 31. I one
00:28:51
Speaker
i had been saved for approximately three and a half years.
00:28:57
Speaker
Now, I had gone to Wall Street and gotten a job. My first job was in the basement of a bank called Thompson McKinnon, which I don't even think exists anymore.
00:29:08
Speaker
was making $90 a week, which is the amount of money I used to make on half a drug transaction. So it was a very difficult transition. But, you know, by the time i met my beautiful wife, Alicia,
00:29:27
Speaker
I was doing okay on Wall Street. I mean, it was just an amazing, that's another story for another day. But God opened doors for me, even though i was still struggling here and there with cocaine, i had become what they call an occasional weekend warrior, where I would tell my wife, you know, go hang out with my friends and tell them about Jesus on a Friday night and not show up till, you know.
00:29:56
Speaker
back home at sunday tensive and uh came to the point where my wife called the pastors i was like i wouldn't have cared if she called the dea the fbi please don't call the pastors because i was so ashamed and that shame That shame is what kept me in the addiction.
00:30:21
Speaker
It was the shame and the guilt. It's a trap. It's a trap from the devil. And for those of you who don't believe there's a devil, well, that's the biggest trap.
00:30:33
Speaker
Because the world has us thinking that he's a guy who dresses up on Halloween or something, you know, a redheaded, horned, whatever. And we laugh at it.
00:30:43
Speaker
But he is real.
00:30:47
Speaker
He wants to steal, kill, and destroy our lives. And, you know, he had me. He had me trapped.
00:30:58
Speaker
even though if I would have known, I'd have easily victory over We have an easily victory over him. he He cannot prevail against us, but he can trap us in our mind. And he had me trapped in this thought that I needed this drug to feel good, to feel secure, to feel worthy.
00:31:20
Speaker
So what happened was she told the pastors, and one of the pastors came to the house, Now, I haven't slept in days. I'm exhausted.
00:31:31
Speaker
I have to go back to work. And this pastor comes to the house with his Bible, opens it up to Psalm 91, and starts telling me that God loves me and I am forgiven.
00:31:45
Speaker
The last thing I'm expecting. I'm expecting. This is what you're doing wrong. That's what you're doing wrong. Stop hanging out with those people. Stop, stop, stop. He's giving me love.
00:31:57
Speaker
And Grace, I'm crying my eyes out.
00:32:04
Speaker
But I still had the pulse. So it was a couple weeks later. Got in my car. I'm heading to the club where I know I'm going to get the Coke.
00:32:16
Speaker
I come to this place on Staten Island.
00:32:20
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called Rockland Avenue. And it just so happens that there was a ah house of Jesus freaks that lived on the corner of Rockland at Richmond, which by the way, is where one of my associate pastors who you'll meet soon, he was a part of this ministry.
00:32:40
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We call them Jesus freaks. So I passed the house of the Jesus freaks and I head into the area in the middle where the devil worshipers were. And everybody knew there were devil worshipers in these woods.
00:32:52
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It was a known thing. I'm in between the Jesus freaks and the devil worshipers. I pull over my car and I just feel like God speaks to me like, son, i love you.
00:33:10
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And you can go and get these drugs. And I'm still going to love you.
00:33:18
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And I went, wait, you love me. Even if I go, even if you go, I just want you to know that I love you
00:33:33
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because love covers over a multitude of sins. And Romans says it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. And repentance is just a Christian word that means change your direction.
00:33:49
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So I turned the car around. That's repentance. I changed my direction. I went back home.
00:34:01
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And I never did cocaine again.
00:34:08
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Now that doesn't always work that way. Some people need rehab. I was the CEO of a rehab called Serenity Springs Recovery. It's in Edgewater, Florida. It's still there. It's a great place.
00:34:22
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And some people, yes, can miraculously be changed. My son's conversion was miraculous. It took me a year to believe it. My wife's conversion was a miraculous.
00:34:35
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It was overnight. Me, it was a process, but the addiction was miraculous.
00:34:44
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But the key is, is I had a relationship with God, and when I needed him most, he was there.
Future Podcast Vision and Authenticity
00:34:50
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So if you just got saved, you just started this relationship, know this.
00:34:55
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He'll never leave you nor forsake you. No matter which mess you get into, he's still there. He'll still talk to you. So that's my answer, son.
00:35:08
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I love these guys. That's my answer, Steven. I love you guys with these questions. This is what's going to make this podcast great feedback interaction, hopefully to a point where people can ask questions.
00:35:23
Speaker
Well, there anything else you'd like to say or give the listeners and viewers out there?
00:35:33
Speaker
Well, I can promise you this. If you keep tuning into this podcast, you're going to get an upgrade in your life. It'll be only up from here. And it's going to be fun. And it's going to be interesting.
00:35:46
Speaker
And I'm going to have some crazy people on here that you're going to learn a lot of things from. and I can just promise you this. It'll be real and raw.
00:35:58
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It won't be religious. Real and raw. I'm talk more about my past and it's going inspire you about your future.
00:36:10
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And I just look forward to continuing to impart the upgrade. I believe it's from God.
00:36:20
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I did a whole sermon series the beginning of 2023 called the upgrade. And That's where the whole idea for this came from. And I just look forward to sharing the upgrade with you.
00:36:34
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Remember, it's only up from here. Your best is yet to come. It's gonna get better.