Mark Osbourne Ep 51

David W Ebel: Welcome to the God Says Yes podcast. You are welcome here. ⁓ this is God says yes. This is the podcast of encouragement. My name is David Ebel, and I've been in ministry for over fifty years. And my mission and my purpose in life is to encourage people, to reach them where they are and to make a difference in their lives. Doesn't matter how you get where we get, but sometimes we get wounded or hurt or betrayed or belittled or somehow hurt hurt or to the we we're we don't even want to try anymore. We pull back. Whether it's somebody who says something wrong or a boss treats you bad or a family member that's d that's hurt you or maybe church hurt where you've been at church and well, you've seen the emergency room. People come in and they're all kicking and screaming because they don't want to be there. When the church is the emergency room of the care of the body of Christ. Sometimes when they come in to they're they're coming in wounded and they don't realize how how they're splashing off their ugly onto those of us who've been forgiven. We're not better than, but we're wounded by. And we but see, God didn't fail. God's still there and never changed. It's the people that failed. And that's what we're here about is to get our eyes on to God who never fails, who created you to love, custom made you to love, built you from the inside out. That's why we don't look like the same on the outside, because that's not the important piece. The important piece is who who God made us for the before we were born, all the way through our entire lives in eternity. He he created us to love. You can't Run from his love, be you can't betray his love, you can't run from his love. No matter which way you turn, the love is always there, like a like a wonderful parent would be. And that's why we're here. We're here for you. Because we want you to to realize how much God loves you and how much that God wants to do something amazing in your life, no matter how bad it has been before. We bring in guests all the time, w amazing people, people who really love God and really have had a life change. And today I want to introduce you to Mark Osborne. Mark is a a friend of mine, and he's a podcast host as well. But the key is that Mark's got a story to tell and we're here to hear that story. Mark, welcome. We're glad you're here. David, thank you for having me. I've been looking forward to this. Well can you tell us a little bit about you? ⁓ my name is Mark Osborne. I am a father, grandfather. I'm a men's director at my church and I'm a machinist by trade, but I am a podcast host, which is my mission to help men around the world, whoever hears this, to level up and grow stronger in their faith so they can become closer to God so that they can help advance the kingdom. Excellent. So ⁓ how many kids? Two kids, grown grown kids. How many grandkids four grandchildren I just just recently had ⁓ the fourth one. He's less than a month old right now. ⁓ I bet you're spoiling him already. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. As God blesses us, we learn to love and bless. And we get better at it all the time. Well, ⁓ Mark, ⁓ we're so glad you're here and this is important to us. I've been waiting for this interview as well and ⁓ it it seemed like months and months and months before it happened, but it's now it's here and we're so excited about it. I think our friends are our viewers are gonna enjoy this this story as well because you're being transparent and honest and genuine and man to find people who are willing to be that in this world is is kinda hunt a hunt and a rarity. ⁓ it's it shouldn't be, but it is. So we're really glad you're here and you're willing to tell your story. So first question out of our our questions will be, Who were you before Jesus? Before Jesus. It my it's a little interesting how this happened. I had two experiences as a child with Jesus. The first one I I accepted Jesus, but I didn't really completely understand it. It was when I was about nine years old. We got sent to this of my my parents. My mom went to church for a little while and then stopped going to church and she wanted to continue sending us kids to church. So they sent us to churches here and there, and there was a Baptist church. It was a big Baptist church that was in the Midwestern area, and they would have buses come in and pick up kids and take them to the class. And I remember going to this, I was kind of excited about it. I could heard about God all my life and I wanted to learn more. There was all this entertainment going on on the bus. They were swallowing goldfish and popping balloons and Just the swallowing the goldfish like kinda traumatized me 'cause it's like, Why are you why are you eating live fish? This is weird. Then we go into the class, and all I remember about the lesson, the guy had a red bucket with a blue index card that said lake of fire on it. And he had drawn some lines to make it look like it was fire. And he started reading the scripture in Revelation where it says all liars have their part in the lake of fire, and he would take a index card with whatever sin he was naming on it, light it with a lighter and throw it into the bucket. That was his salvation message. I had lied about my brother that morning. So I was like, I'm going to hell. Then he gave the salvation call and I raised my hand. I'd raise both hands. Not right. Not because not because I realized all that Jesus did for me and that he loved me. I did it because I don't want to go to hell. So I I barely remember what happened, you know, if I had any salvation moments after that or I'd had no follow up, no discipleship. So that was when I was ten. And then time goes on, my parents, their their lifestyle had gotten worse. My mom had backslid from church many years before this, as she'd try to get my dad to go and he wouldn't go. As time goes on, they became alcoholics and my mom had a moment where she got really, really drunk and sick and she I remember this moment vividly. My mom looking at my dad and said, If I survive this, I'm going back to church. And I would love for you to go with me. And my dad said, I'll go with you, but I'm not gonna live that Jesus lifestyle. I remember it so vividly. Mm-hmm. The next Sunday we were at church and my ⁓ it was a few weeks that had gone by and I remember my dad talking a little bit about things that were preached. I didn't even know my dad knew anything about the Bible. The fact that he was even commenting was a shock to me. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna I'm gonna leave a little space here. I have to tell my dad's part of the story to get to my salvation story because it it it matters. You have any questions here or I just w w let's let's do let's we got that beginning piece. Yeah. Now now the second i is in the the the is is what happens when you meet Jesus. So you're right on the mark. Tell k keep going, but now this is about ⁓ the meeting of Jesus, the experience of Jesus, because that's yeah that's what everybody wants to find out about. Yeah. So my my dad, I mean really my dad's Salvation story is amazing. So my dad gone to church for a few times and I remember one evening there was an altar call. There was a singing going on. It wasn't even preaching, but there was a the he there was an altar call made. I saw my dad put his jacket on and start heading towards the back door. And I saw this lady who us kids knew her as Granny. She was an older lady in the church. She stopped him at the door. And I didn't hear the conversation. I was sitting in my seat. But I was told about the conversation later. What I didn't know was where my mom was going to church when I was when we were babies. My dad would go with her once in a while, like he was now. And he felt the salvation call back then and w ran away from it. The lady at the back door stopped him and said, If you walk away from this call right now. You felt this twenty years ago, you may never feel it again. And from my seat, I didn't know the conversation, but my father had his jacket half on, and I saw him run towards the altar and fall on his knees, and I'd have this vivid memory of my dad on his knees at the altar with his jacket ha on one arm and not on the other arm, and tears coming down his face like from where I was sitting, I could see water drops. Wow. Hitting the altar. And the next morning I woke up. My dad was not a a bad guy. He was a little bit more aggressive when he when he was drunk. But he wasn't a real smiley, happy guy either. You know, he's from that old school of hard knocks where where men are men and you just do what you need to do. That morning I woke up, my dad's sitting at the table. He never got up before us ever before, that I could remember. Sitting at the table with a Bible in front of him, huge smile on his face, calls me over and gives me this big hug and tells me he loves me. That moment I knew this Jesus thing was real. Mm-hmm. Because to see my my father make that change in his life and throughout the week, like he threw out alcohol. He stopped smoking the first night he stopped so he had been smoking for years. Stopped smoking, stopped drinking, just quit it all cold turkey, didn't have to go to rehab, anything. Changed his friendships around. Stopped swearing. Mike, my dad would swear on a regular basis. I'd never heard him swear again since that moment. I don't know. You know, I'm not around him all the time. I haven't been around I I highly doubt that he's ever swore again. My dad understood what it meant to fear the Lord. Mm-hmm. Because My dad knew Proverbs. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And from my dad's perspective, the fear of the Lord wasn't reverence and awe. It was don't sin, or you know, this it's an older school perspective. It's not I've learned later in life that that's not exactly how it works. But he understood fearing God. So like sinning to him. Yeah. Yeah. So now But how does that apply to you? I I'm yeah, the the foundation's great, but I want to know about you. Well, I'm I'm getting there. So I that week I I watched I watched my dad change. And the next week, and there was a Friday night, there was a a singing. It was a country church in the heart of the city of Chicago. A lot of the people that had started this church all came from Kentucky and West Virginia and Tennessee. And this was a straight up country church. There was a singing going on and I loved the music. This guy gave the altar call and I was kinda squirming in my seat, but I felt something pull me. I went up and prayed, gave my life to Jesus, and I had this amazing feeling like I'd never felt before. I was I was only fourteen at the time, so hadn't experienced a lot of life really. That I went out I woke up the next day feeling amazing. I went out to the neighborhood kids, started telling them all about Jesus. You know, Jesus is amazing. I gave my life to Jesus last night. I've never felt like this. You need to give your life to Jesus too. All those kids in the neighborhood, they knew me, so they accepted it. They didn't I don't remember if any of them ever accepted Jesus, but they're they were okay with how I was being. And that happened throughout the entire weekend. Monday came around and I I was going to a Chicago public school, a little bit more rough. Monday came around and I started telling the kids about Jesus and what happened to me over the weekend. It was a different reaction. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I literally got shoved and was told that I was a Bible thumper and don't ever bring that kind of talk to me again. Now I was always a shy, kind of quiet kid, and for that mere moment I was bold for a second and I remember going home, crying, walking home and crying, saying, Nah I I can't I can't be bold about this. I'm already I was always a short, skinny, runti kid who got picked on a lot even even before that moment. It's like I can't I can't afford to give people more reasons to pick on me. So I was quiet about my salvation since that moment. I didn't stop. Loving Jesus, I continued serving Jesus, but I wa didn't have a strong relationship with him because I had that shame. Mm-hmm. You know. Then what happened next? You know, w what when you Jesus got a grip on you, you didn't you you you know, you're you have I know your story has some ups and downs in it, but tell us how how you how you came to the point your life was changed. Well, I I continued going to church and I would I started learning I learned to sing a little, learn to play guitar, and my dad my dad became an evangelist. We started going out on the streets and my dad would preach and I would play guitar for him then and then my dad started preaching in church. I continued going to church. I just didn't read the Bible. I didn't really pray much. I and this is no ⁓ discredit to the church at the time. They they were a little different. I didn't get discipled in any way, other than a little bit from my dad. My dad didn't really understand what discipling people meant either. He just told me you need to go to church. You need what's that? No one discipled him, so he wouldn't know. Right, exactly. Yeah. That's what I said. It's no discredit against anybody. It's just if you don't know any better, you don't you don't do like you said. But when I was seventeen, there was this girl in my high school who she was living a rough life, but her mom would come to our church. In high school, she was one of my bullies. She literally would make fun of me, throw fries at me, call me four eyes, all the things that a bully does. Did not like her in any way. One Tuesday night, my dad is preaching and he had me come up and play guitar while he's giving that altar call. I knew she was there, but I didn't think she was interested in in Jesus at all. And I wasn't interested in her So I just kind of just didn't think about it. And I had my head down, I'm playing a guitar, and heard my dad praying for somebody and I couldn't see. There was a large crowd around. He'd given an altar call. And I look up and it it's this girl that had been making fun of me for the last three years. And when my eyes met her, Jesus said, That's gonna be your wife. I didn't hear an audible voice. It's just a thought popped in my head, You're gonna marry that girl. And I was like No, not her. I mean, she was pretty. I remember that specific moment, her beautiful green eyes, the purple dress she was wearing. Like I remember ever every moment of that. But I didn't like her personality. But then we talked afterwards. She was a different person. She never apologized for bullying me, even to this day. I'm gonna have to talk to her about that. We always we always just kinda laugh and joke about it at this point. We talked for a little bit and I fell in love at that moment. It was it wasn't the smartest thing to do, 'cause like a year later, two years later, we were married. Wasn't ready for marriage, but I knew she was the one and she knew I was the one, so we just went ahead and did it. Unwise. And it I'm telling that part for a reason, because it wasn't the right thing to do. So we continued. We continued going to church. Same. I served in church. I went on some mission trips, but I never really read the Bible much. I would only pray once in a while. And I you know, we had some kids, and I knew this this is really what kept me in church. My daughters had to see what a godly man looks like. I had enough training from other men. And I I remember being told this from another man who was at my work. Your daughters will marry what they see. So I modeled the Christian life for my daughters. Because I knew I wanted them to have good men when they got older. That's how I lived my life for so my daughter moved out. My youngest daughter moved out. Okay. And when when you're now that that gets that gets us all the way to the point you're living right, you're doing right, you're ⁓ you're even b working on on investing in your kids biblically, which is honorable. Not every dad will g gets gets that part. ⁓ you know, I wasn't discipled. God just used me anyhow. ⁓ the church I got saved in didn't even talk about that word. That was not even a word in in the church vocabulary. There was you know, the the words mentor or discipleship th those were things that they preached on on the pulpit, but they weren't anything any they weren't applied in any form. So, you know, ⁓ when my wife and I got married, ⁓ her father was abusive verbally and my mom was more than that. And ⁓ so we we both started the our relationship with this idea that we'd have no idea what we're doing, but we're gonna try it for Jesus. Yeah. And fortunately there were people in the church who stepped up And taught us how to do the pieces that were missing. And ⁓ and it worked, and here I am. But I gotta tell you, mm I would would have loved and known now how to do all those discipleship things for kids when I had mine. Because I we we winged it. It's it our kids love us and treat us really well. But ⁓ being a preacher's kid and you know and and not knowing how to be discipled at the same time. It was hard for them. Yeah. Yeah, I mean and that's this really why I love podcasts. There were no podcasts around at the time. ⁓ no. Part part of what I'm doing, you know, the reason that I podcast is not because I like being a podcaster, 'cause I really don't. Even right now, I'm excited and happy to be a guest on your show. But being in front of people, being on a mic, it's not something I'm comfortable with. I do it because it may help somebody who's listening. And it you know, people like, ⁓ you want to come on and share your story? It's not really my story. It's God's story. Exactly. I want people to hear God's story so they can see how it can apply to their life and it may help them. I'm probably jumping ahead of the the golden nugget a little bit, but ⁓ no, you're fine. Well, so so now we we the the the four we've hit almost all the the topic points, but we still got less of room to talk. So you gave your life to Jesus. There's plenty of plenty to sell still. Yeah. He gave you g a family. He's given you a career. He he's done all these things. But what sets you on fire? What what really charged you up? Those those 40 years. Forty I'm pretty sure I kind of figured it out before. It was about 40 years that I was going to church. I felt like I was that Christian in Matthew that Jesus talks about. Didn't we do all these things in your name? But he'll say, Lord, I never knew you. Lord, didn't we do all these things in your name? But I never knew you. Because I was going to church and I was doing all the right things. But I didn't have that relationship with Jesus. The key word in that scripture is I never knew you. Knowing someone talks about relationship. So when you're a Christian and you pray once in a while, I mean God's grace is amazing. He will cover you even though it could be better. And I did I prayed once in a while. I would read my Bible once in a while. When you have a relationship with somebody, if you just talk to them once in a while, if you just study them once in a while, that's not a true relationship. If have that kind of relationship with your wife, it's not going to be a great marriage. No. It's probably not going to last. Wives and husbands aren't as graceful as Jesus. Like he he kept me no matter what. So being the guy who always stayed in the background after that moment where I got bullied, and I'm like, I'm not I can't be bold about this. When my youngest daughter moved out, I was forty seven years old. I had kinda let myself go, wasn't I never paid attention to what I would eat, never really did exercise. I just worked, went to church, and loved my kids. And I never took care of myself in any way. And after my youngest daughter moved out, I didn't really know what was next in life. And that started stressing me out. During that I I had a mild heart attack at the age of forty seven. December forty seven. And I went to the doctor and he's like, You need to make some changes in your life. I started eating a little bit better and I started walking a little bit more and it it kinda started making me a little bit more self aware of some things about myself that needed to change. But they were I still made some subtle changes. In May of the next year, May nineteenth, I woke up that morning May nineteenth is my birthday, and I wasn't even thinking about it that day. I didn't even remember the date. That's how disconnected and apathetic I was from life at that point. My wife and I's relationship had kind of We we had become roommates. And I woke up that morning. Even though I made some subtle changes in my diet, I still was a creature of habit. I had eaten processed food, like processed cereal, every morning for since I was a kid. So I got up that morning, poured myself some Captain Crunch like I always did, turned on the news, and they they mentioned the date. I was like, ⁓ today's my birthday. And then I sat there for a moment thinking, why why would I not know it's my birthday? Like even my wife wasn't even asking me, What are you gonna do? What do you want to do for your birthday? You know, those kind of conversations happen around your birthday. But there was none of that. And I I that was one of those rare moments that I prayed and asked God, What's wrong with me? How am I so disconnected that I didn't even realize it was my birthday? Why aren't I happy? What is wrong? I had no real Problems in life. My my finances were okay. I had a decent job. I just wasn't happy and I didn't know why. That day I'm I'm driving to work and I saw this new gym that was opening up. And I got inspired. I'm gonna join a gym. Start changing my life, start changing who I am. I was two hundred and five pounds at that point, and I'm I'm five three. So I I on my way home from work, I stopped in that gym, signed up and got myself a membership card. I didn't really ever post anything, hardly ever, on social media. I put that membership card on my Facebook and I got all kinds of comments and likes and people saying, ⁓ this is so inspiring. I want to follow your journey. When you learn stuff, I want you to teach me. I ate that up. My ego. The guy that hid for the last forty years, the guy that didn't have a strong relationship with Jesus, I ate that up and I let that turn me into somebody who was more about himself than about Jesus. And I was even saying at the time that God told me to start a fitness journey. But I it was it wa it was God. I did need to get in shape. But where I was it connected to Jesus. My ego, I let my ego affect who I was. It affected my identity in Christ. And it turned me into something that I never thought I could become. I started a business, fitness business on Instagram. And you know, on Instagram you start getting messages and it starts out innocent. I got a met we were there was a message thread that had gone on for a couple of years. And this woman and I had talked about way too many personal things and it turned into an emotional affair. It never got physical, but it it could have. If God didn't step in. Good, but got God stepped in. I'm never was never really happy about the way that it happened, that it got found out, but I left my phone open one day. I go to the bathroom and I come out, and my wife's holding my phone in her hand with tears in her eyes, and she had discovered the affair. And she's like, What are we doing? That was thirty five years of marriage at that point. She's like, What are we doing? Who have you become? I've been praying for you. bit I've been watching, but I've seen you get a newfound purpose. It looks like you're happy. So I didn't want to say anything. But I've seen you drift away from God. You've drifted further away from me. Are you gonna leave me for this new life you're building? Or or what, you know? At that moment, and I talk about this all the time on my podcast, 'cause for a true man, that's true strength. Isn't how much you can lift, it isn't how well you do jujitsu, it isn't, you know, having big muscles, it's surrendering to God. At that moment, I fell on my knees, I repented to my wife, and then I repented to God. We started doing some counseling, and that's when things started changing. That's when I really developed that relationship with Jesus. So it's never too late to get started, no matter what you ch choices you've made, no matter how many times you've even made left turns in the middle of a straight freeway. You no matter what's gone on, you still can come to Jesus and he'll he'll he'll pick you up where you where you're left off and keep you moving forward. Yep. That's how amazing his grace is. You know, that song Amazing Grace, it it truly is amazing. I agree. So so now the now now we're talking about heading toward victory. Yeah. Tell tell us tell us ⁓ from there till now, how come how has God changed you? Well, a lot of the disciplines I learned through fitness, I started applying to spiritual life. 'Cause I had learned through through counseling and starting g I actually got discipled with a pastor. He he's the one who told me about the relationship where Jesus said, I never knew you and in order to know somebody you need to spend time with them. I was never a disciplined person before I started the fitness journey. Then I became disciplined for the wrong reason. And then I started applying those disciplines towards getting closer to God. That started changing me. Because I started just reading a few scriptures in the morning. And then it turned into a full on Bible study. I just I started reading something. I'm like, ⁓ I want to know more about this. And I got more into this. And then all of a sudden I started giving getting revelation and insights about the story. And I one moment when I was praying. I felt the presence of God in the room. Like you can pray and and feel something, but w that there is sometimes that tangible presence that you feel. And I feel way more often now than I ever did. Yes. I knew something was changing within me, not for me, but I felt like God wants to start using me for something. Something that I avoided my whole life was God using me, God put me in front and center in front of people because I never wanted that. But I felt God calling me towards something deeper. Time goes on, I became a worship leader because I had to, because it was during COVID time. Someone stepped down. I was the only singer the church had. So I was like, I'm not just gonna get up there and sing. This is leading worship. It's not leading songs. It's bringing people into the presence of God. I have to take this seriously. Started developed my relationship with God even stronger because I didn't want, I knew how important that role of carrying the presence of God and bringing people into it was. That developed my relationship with Jesus more. I got little, I had to be bold because I had to sing in front of people. Then God started bringing men, asking me questions. They didn't even know. The only people in my church who ever knew about the struggle that my wife and I went through was my pastor. My kids didn't even know at this point. And these men would come up to me and ask me questions. Hey, I'm struggling with something. It was stuff that I had gone through. And I would just start as I just started answering the question, I would pray and ask God, how do I help this guy? Just in my head. Mm-hmm. Stuff started coming out of my mouth that I didn't know were there. It was stuff that I had read in the Bible that just stayed in my spirit. I never learned this stuff. And as time went on, I started helping more and more men. Then my pastor came and said, How do you feel about being the men's director of the church? And I'm like, I don't know. And I at at that point had been feeling led to start a podcast. Like, I don't know. Even even when I led worship, I would I just mostly sing. I didn't hardly ever talk on the mic. I didn't like to talk in front of people. But now I'm feeling like I should start a podcast. Then my pastor said, ⁓ that's a great idea. You should start a podcast. And I was like, No, I I think this is just a silly idea. It's too hard. There's too many people doing it already. The the usual excuses. I don't know what kind of mic to buy. I don't know how to start all this. He bought me a mic, sent it in my mail through Amazon. With a little card in there it says start your podcast. I still, even at that point, was making excuses. I was on a run one day and I'm I'm praying and talking to God and I that thought, you need to start a podcast. Used to listen to podcasts all the time when you were into fitness. And I still listened to podcasts. I was like, I can't I can't do it. I don't know what to say. I can't talk. Then this thought popped in my head, and I know it was the Holy Spirit. The people that you're meant to reach are waiting for you to figure it out. And that's I heard nothing else. I stopped in my tracks, wrote that down in my phone, went home and started researching. How do I start a podcast? I figured out how to use the microphone that my pastor sent me, how to find a host, and started the podcast. And now it's two and a half years now and many men have been helped through this podcast. Not From anything that I've said, but from things that have been said through the Holy Spirit. Just I'm just a vessel. So this shy kid that couldn't hardly speak, through the through God's process of loving you into the where you are now, now he's speaking through you and talking to people all over the world. Yep. That means God is in charge because he only God can do the impossible and do it regularly. Yeah. Yes. Amen. ⁓ it's so funny. I've had people say, Well, that's just coincidence. No, I used to carry a card in my wallet for years, so it finally disintegrated from where and tear. It's a coincidence when God moves and doesn't get credit. Amen. And in there's no coincidence in your life or in mine. God is just waiting for us to say, All right I'm surrendered. Here I am. I'm available. Do something with me. I don't know what I got to give you, but I'll give you what I got. Yeah. And then but the Bible tells us that He prepares us before He sends us. So He equips us before He asks us to do it because He won't deny Himself any good thing. So the fact that you were open and you were willing and you're and you and you were already studying. And then you practiced but the with the music and got that guy gave you some boldness. Each of those steps was a step toward where you are now. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And you got a godly wife that that that stayed with you and prayed with you and is encouraging you still. Yeah. Amen. Yeah. That was ⁓ five years ago at this point. We just just this month crossed our forty year anniversary and it it was extremely happy. It still is. We get fifty two this year. Awesome. And the the key is that it's this at forty and at fifty two they're the same. If you do it right now, do it right now, do it right now, and you live it right now, then there's gonna be fine. Yep. Just have to live in the present world for the Lord and with your your mate, and God will use you. Amen. And you know, I talk I talk to people all the time who say, But it's too late, I've already divorced. That doesn't mean you the you're off the hook. Who you are still has to live for God. Yes. Who you are still got to be available for God to use. And he still forgives everything. You know, he he I I prayed with a guy that was in in death row waiting for the weeks until he was going to be executed. And he gave his heart to Jesus and wept deep, deeply. And they said, Well, you know, doesn't he get get off free now? No, no, he he knew he still had to face the the consequences of his bad choices. Right. And he knew he was forgiven and he knew he was loved and he knew that God was going to do something with his life. So before he died he let someone interview him. And and there was a ⁓ a story on the news about the about the the killer who became the king's kid. Wow. Who knew? God doesn't tell us what he's going to do with our lives. But he loves us enough to not not deny himself a good thing when he starts it in you. That's why that's what's so exciting about that's why we do this podcast, is so people will discover that it's not too late to get off the curb and get back into life and move forward. All it takes is faith, which God built into you, hope, which God entrusts to you, and opportunity, which is how he leads through his Holy Spirit, and that's how how he gets our attention. And that and then he uses people like you and like me. And like everybody else you know that loves God. And that's how you you you get glimpses of the love of God through those people until you give your heart to him and then you get to see see him for who he really is in your heart. Amen. So at this point, I'm going to ask you for the famous golden nugget. That's the piece in the puzzle that ⁓ you would like us to take with you from the interview. Take and and and pray with, pray with, pray about, mull over, meditate on. However you process in the next weeks, what would you like us to take with you from the mess that God has given you for our our our viewers and listeners today? Well, you've touched on it a little bit already. And I have a lot of men come and ask me questions. A lot of people are around my age. I'm I'm fifty nine and they'll say, you know, it's I've I've lived a lot of my life. I don't know if I can really do this. It's you know, trying to to live for God and and do things and advance the kingdom, the things that you talk about all the time. That seems like a young man's game. I was forty-eight when I started the fitness joint journey. Now I I'm mentioning this for a reason. I don't want to talk about the fitness journey too much, but I I stepped up at forty eight. And my my thing that I used to say all the time during that, because I was trying to inspire people to change their fitness. It wasn't as much about God. I would say it's never too old to change your life. That was one of my catchphrases. Now I said it from more of a fleshly standpoint. I went from sixty pounds overweight to barely wa able to walk up four flights of stairs to within a year I ran a half marathon, lost sixty pounds and put on a bunch of muscle. Blah blah blah. I made changes at forty eight. That was nine years ago at this point. Five years ago, God stepped in, and I realized I was fifty two at that point, that it was never too late for God to change my life. I didn't change my life. God changed my life. So no matter who you are, no matter how old you are, no matter what you've done, God's grace. Will be there for you, and it's never too late. Moses was 80 years old when he went to Pharaoh and said, Let the people go. So for anybody to say that it's too late, I've lived a lot of my life, there's not much I can do for God at this point. It's never too late. You you have to make the decision to change. That's the only place where you matter is you make the decision and you start. Developing your relationship, your true relationship, where you spend time with him, you talk to him, you let him talk to you through his word or through prayer. ⁓ a lot of things that I something I teach men is when you pray, you ask God for things, and then you wait and sit in silence and let him talk to you. If if you and I have a conversation and I do all the talking, then I get up and walk away. That's not a conversation. That's me talking to you. So when you go to pray and you pray to God and you say, God, you know, give me this, I need help with this, blah, blah, blah. And then you walk away, you don't have a relationship with God. God listens, but you want to hear from him. So you have to wait and listen. Let God speak to you. Make that decision. The choices you make towards God and to live with God, God can completely change your life. No matter how old you are, it's never too late. Amen. That is so true. And ⁓ having been in ministry over fifty years, I've I've not run only run into young people who don't know what to do with their life. I run into middle aged people who and I've run into older people and then even people my age who are who are just discovering God for the first time personally. I if you go to the Grand Canyon If before you go, you see the picture and go, Wow, that is beautiful. I can't wait to see that. Then you go and you stand at the edge of it and you lean out and look at it. That picture looks like nothing like it. It's just a it's a shadow of what you're actually seeing. Many of us live our whole lives with a picture of God in our head. We have an idea, we have a a captured ⁓ little hint of who God is and what he wants to do in our lives. But when we finally open our hearts, when we finally ask Jesus to come in our hearts, and we say, I give you my life, do what you will. I'm choosing to serve you. I give you room to move in my life. Forgive me, change me, clean me from the inside out, make me new inside, and I promise to serve you if you'll help me. That's going to change everything. That's going to begin you new again. The blood that Jesus shed will wash away your sins. That'll make you new inside. The Bible says without the shedding of innocent blood, there's no forgiveness for sin for anyone. That's why they used to take lambs and sacrifice them so the innocent blood could hide the sin. Well, man got a little bit ⁓ calloused, and he would go on his way to doing bad, he'd buy the lamb so he could go do the bad things and then go bring the lamb to get it s sacrificed, hoping that that would wash it away. God God forgive me for what I'm about to do, kind of thing. But the reality of it is Jesus came. As the Son of God became a man, lived a sin less life, not just sinning less, but he lived a pure life. Then at the end of his life, he allowed himself, fully God and fully man, to be crucified, the electric chair of that day, so that we could be forgiven for our sins. So by the shedding of his innocent blood, when God looks at us, he doesn't see our checklist. He doesn't see our failure rate. He doesn't see our stats. He sees his son's blood and that washes away all that. And we start fresh and new with a brand new life. And everything changes from the inside out. And that's why we do this podcast is so people like Mark and I can share with you how amazing God is when we finally give him room. So I want to challenge you and encourage you. To trust him. Trust him now. Now, Mark, you have a you have a website for us that we need to know about. Yep. The ValiantForge.com. Just tell us. Say it against the Lord. The ValiantForge, all one word.com. That way the people on Spotify have time to write it too. Yeah. Yes. And the Valiant the Valiant Forge is a great name because God would like us to be valiant, like in the old days where Men were men and they stood up and and they defended what's right. And the forge is what what the the the blacksmith used to use to hammer that raw metal into something, shape it into something good. So if God uses this ⁓ that that that to shape us up so we could be valiant and honorable before God, that's a phenomenal thing. And I I would hope that you guys had look it up. You'd go and you'd see and w look at his episodes and and follow him, because Mark's done a tremendous job as God works through him. And I want to encourage you to to be a part of Mark's life any way you can. But now it's time to pray, and this is my privilege to do, and so I'm going to invite you to join me in prayer. And if you don't pray, just let me pray with you anyhow. Heavenly Father, we love you. We come in Jesus' name. You said ask anything in your name, and that you'll do the Father will be glorified in the Son. We ask in in your name that you will touch the hearts of those that have been wounded, those that have been betrayed or hurt or cheated or Or whatever whatever has caused them to not want to go forward and trust you. Lord, help help them to forgive the wounds that have happened because man has misbehaved. Take the blood that you shed and w and heal us from the inside out and replace the damage with your Holy Spirit and fill us full. Lord, I pray that you'll work in each life, that you'll reveal your love, that you'll do something precious. So that since it's a personal relationship we develop with you, you will know us independently and individually, and you'll change us independently and individually. So we're custom made by you from our birth all the way through our life to the life we live today. Bless my viewers and and listeners, and bless Mark and his family and all that they do for you. And Lord, I pray that you'll that you'll speak to the hearts of everyone. And do a mighty work of love and grace in their lives so that they can fall in love with you and understand why God does say yes. Well, the final piece to this puzzle is my challenge. It's simple. Seek after God, he will be found. You want to know him more? Seek Jesus. Jesus said he was the way to God. So don't wait, don't find excuses, don't find justification. Reach out and trust God through Jesus. Seek after God you'll be found, and God will find you beautiful in his sight. Seek after God. This has been the God Says Yes podcast with David Evil. With says yes podcast is You can get his latest book, When the Doctors Say No, God Says Yes, at Amazon.com.