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Episode 5 of the Relentless Hope Podcast

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Episode 5 of the Relentless Hope Podcast

The Relentless Hope Podcast, hosted by Steve Gatena, founder of PRAY.COM shares vulnerable testimonies from the world's most passionate Christian leaders who overcame extreme trials through God's faithfulness.

In this episode, pastor Jeremiah Jones teaches us how to make the right choices to live a remarkable life. We learn about his childhood in Chicago, dealing with loss, and growing up in a household with the respect for God. He gives us the structure to leave a memorable and meaningful legacy and leaves us with the question, “How will you not let your legacy die?”

Listen to this episode and read the full transcript below. Subscribe to Relentless Hope and you'll receive weekly summaries when new episodes are released.

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Beating Stage 4 Cancer while being Pregnant - Jeremiah Jones

[00:00:00] Steve Gatena: God granted us free will to live our lives as we choose. It's one of the greatest gifts He has given to us. So how do you choose to live? Do you make decisions based on your desires or do you make decisions based on God's will and purpose for your life? Sometimes it's hard to know the difference between our desires versus God's true purpose for our lives.

[00:00:32] And sometimes we choose wrong. Sometimes we make poor decisions. Still. God loves us and Jesus still walks beside us so that every moment we know we can choose differently, and in every moment we can seek the Lord's good counsel. There are times when we'll make the right decisions, but they lead to outcomes and situations that we would've never wanted.

[00:01:07] In those moments it's hard to understand how our right decisions led us to such agony, whether it's emotional agony, physical agony, even spiritual agony. But as Pastor Jeremiah Jones teaches us this week in relentless hope, when we put the decision into our hearts that we will live for God regardless of what happens on this earthly plane, then God will never allow us to lose more than he will give back.

[00:01:44] As Pastor Jeremiah says, if we choose to put God first, he will never put us last. We must trust in the Lord, trust in God's purpose, trust in the purpose that God has for our lives. Pastor Jeremiah helps us understand that all of our choices, even the right ones, will come with a consequence or a challenge, and we hear how Pastor Jeremiah faced moments of agony, strife, and sorrow in his life when he learned that his wife had stage four breast cancer while seven months pregnant with their fourth child, pastor Jeremiah shares how at the time he was uninsured and how his wife had to have emergency surgery. He talks about how his daughter was born addicted to painkillers and how she had to have multiple surgeries.

[00:02:46] He also tells us about how the doctors told Pastor Jeremiah that his daughter would never fully develop as a human. In the leadership portion of Pastor Jeremiah's testimony, we hear how his faith was under fire, how he heard the enemy's voice taunting him, telling him that he had made the wrong decisions in his life by choosing to live for God, who still allowed this to happen to Pastor Jeremiah, and how Pastor Jeremiah's faith ignited. We hear how Pastor Jeremiah turned to prayer and how he turned to the Lord in his moments of agony.

[00:03:31] From Pastor Jeremiah we learn that every one of us is a leader. It doesn't matter whether we have an official title or not, and we learn from Pastor Jeremiah that leadership is all about influence.

[00:03:47] We may have no idea who is watching us or who we're influencing, but we are influencing people with every action that we take. People are watching our choices, and Pastor Jeremiah hits on this throughout his leadership episode, how we make decisions, how we face struggles and hardships, and how we live through the good times, these all matter, and Pastor Jeremiah urges us to use our influence to engage others to become better. This will allow them to go beyond where they are right now, and if we're being great leaders, it will allow them to go beyond where we are.

[00:04:34] It's important for Pastor Jeremiah to fulfill a legacy, and impacting someone else's life with our experiences and with our influence is the ultimate legacy that we can leave behind. In Pastor Jeremiah's opinion, pastor Jeremiah reveals to us that God has a purpose to be fulfilled in us, and we must choose to live our lives for the kingdom of God and let his purpose be fulfilled in us.

[00:05:07] Every day we face decisions both big and small, but the biggest choice we make is to decide whether or not we'll trust in God, whether or not we'll trust in his plan for us and whether or not we will choose to serve God while here on earth.

[00:05:32] During his wife's fourth pregnancy, pastor Jeremiah Jones noticed something strange about his wife after a service he was giving

[00:05:42] Jeremiah Jones: We are literally happy. We're in seven months and, and I'm up in, in and, uh, Wichita, Kansas. And I preached, uh, for a service and it was Sunday morning and I finished a service and we got back home to the hotel and we're waiting for the next day because we were taking our travel back and, and we're relaxing, chilling.

[00:05:58] And we came back home and my wife we're literally laid down on the bed and threw her arm up and to rest her head on her arm. It's, it's a position she normally is never in. She just laying back on the bed, she threw her arm up behind her head and when she did that, this bulging, uh, part of her skin just came out this, this huge knot.

[00:06:14] I said, what is that? Did you pull a muscle or something? She says, I, I don't know what that is. And I said, well, let's, let's go get it checked out when we get back to the city. So two days later, we're in the city and we, we go into her doctor pcp and doctor says, lemme take a look at it, and, and, and wanted to do a biopsy on it.

[00:06:28] When they did a biopsy on it, they found out that here it is. My wife is diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.

[00:06:43] Steve Gatena: In part one of this three part series on relentless. Pastor Jeremiah Jones from New Direction Ministries in Oklahoma teaches us how to make the right choices to live a remarkable life. We learn about his childhood in Chicago, dealing with loss and growing up in a household with the respect for God.

[00:07:15] Jeremiah Jones: Life is a opportunity which God has entrusted each and every one of us to have to impact lives across the length and breadth of this world. Life is something that we all have at this exact moment, at this exact second that we are in existence of, that we can cause others to life in their own play, to change their lives, to impact their lives, and to empower them to be the best person they can be in their life, having this gift called existence.

[00:07:51] So let me give you a little bit about myself. I am the baby of eight. And my life journey starts out in the great city of Chicago, Illinois. I was born and raised in the city of Chicago, in the culture of Chicago, in the love of Chicago. And even to this day, I still have nothing but love for one of the greatest cities ever, uh, created, and that is Chicago. By me being the baby of eight, uh, life taught me some things early . Uh, I always had to have a contingency or a contentment about my life. I always had to have a fight and challenge in my life so that I can have the attention. Life growing up in the city of Chicago was great. That's where my foundation comes from.

[00:08:37] That's where a lot of things that I've learned in life and that I even still to this day, practice and operate in, is because I learned these things from growing up in the city of Chicago. I was listening to my pediatrician, my daughter's pediatrician, and she was telling me something that impacted my life, that made sense to me.

[00:08:57] About six years ago, six, seven years ago, she said a statement to me, and I never thought about life until she said it, and she said, Mr. Jones, a baby learns all that a baby's going to learn by the time they are three years old, and for the rest of their life after three, they will be reacquainted with what they already were introduced to.

[00:09:23] And I, it kind of took me a moment to catch that concept, to catch that understanding. But what she absolutely said was absolutely true. And here's why, how she explained it to me. She says, every child from the time they're birthed into the earth, until they're the age of three in existence upon the earth, has learned everything.

[00:09:43] About the whole earth and what life itself has to offer to it. And for the rest of their life, they're being reacquainted with it. So by the time they were born to the time they were three, they learned what a window is. They learned what a door, a light bulb, light switch, a car, a bus, a bike, uh, the park.

[00:10:02] They've learned the street, the walk, the hotel, the vacation. They learned everything. Bed, covers, toys. They've learned everything about life, milk, food. The things they were going to learn. And so for the rest of their lives, they're being reacquainted with it. And I chose to tell you that because the importance of what I'm going to share with you about life and the decisions that you make in it is going to let you know that everything about life from the time you were birthed on this earth until whatever age you are right now, you're still being reacquainted with things that you learned even from back when.

[00:10:39] And that, that's what brings me to this next point, is that your life is a, um, literally an experience that is really inserted into other people's lives to help benefit their journey while they are living. What do I mean by that? Your experiences in life should be the benefit of someone else's life journey.

[00:11:01] So what you've gone through in your life, you ought to be able to help someone else out during their life journey. Hence, why am I on this podcast today? I'm on this podcast today to tell you that some of my experiences in life should help you and benefit you to where your journey could become a whole lot easier to where your journey in life would be a whole lot more understandable.

[00:11:26] I don't come with a perfect life. I don't come with the perfect decision that I made every day. I didn't come with the perfect understanding and all the wisdom. I only simply come on this podcast simply to say that I've had some experiences that hopefully you can draw strength from that. Hopefully it can alleviate some of the stresses and some of the challenges you may face.

[00:11:47] Knowing that I face something similar or something kind of exactly to what you may be going through, that even through my experiences in me overcoming, it's going to give you the strength, you, the joy, the encouragement for you to overcome the challenges that you're facing. Beloved brother, beloved

[00:12:03] sister, my listeners on this podcast, we all will have some great days in this journey we call life.

[00:12:11] We all are gonna have some bad days. We're gonna have some challenging days. We're gonna have some days where we just don't want to do it. But the reality is, as long as you are living, as long as you are above the ground, as long as you still have the gift called life, God has lended you a favor to say that you can keep pursuing after what he's given you to do. To say that you can overcome any obstacle. To say you can face any challenge and conquer it, it's

[00:12:41] gonna be some days you're gonna fail, but it's gonna be more days that you succeed. There's gonna be some more days that you're gonna feel down, but it's gonna be some more days that you're gonna be up.

[00:12:50] And the reality of it is this, as long as you live, you never know what life is gonna throw at you, but you always should have the resolve that God still intends for me to live another day to conquer another thing, to create some more success and some more re acquaintances of things I've already learned. I've already been introduced to.

[00:13:13] So let me give you a story about myself. I've learned in my journey called life that I had to have a certain tenacity in being the baby of eight. Not saying my childhood was horrible because it wasn't. I had both loving parents in the home. I had both, uh, uh, uh, brother and sister as siblings.

[00:13:31] Uh, and I, I just had great experiences in my life, in my family, but I had challenges within my family because I'm the baby of eight. I'm the baby, so I'll automatically get the, all the attention put on me. And I had to fight for challenge, uh, for in times of my family, just because of who I was. The baby.

[00:13:50] And in that regard, it taught me some things. It taught me to be, uh, resilient. It taught me to put up or shut up. It taught me to really, um, govern my life in a capacity to some disciplines. My mom and my father, uh, made the greatest decision they could ever make for my family, my siblings, and for all that came and to live at our house.

[00:14:11] And that was to prioritize our life by having honor and respect for God, they introduced us to some of the greatest discipleship that we could ever be. And that's to be a child of the King. And, and in that it helped us be a mindful of what honor, what respect means, what integrity means, what consistency means, what commitment means in life.

[00:14:34] It taught us some great things as children that I even now look at and still operate in, um, today in the state of Oklahoma. I had some great upbringings in Chicago. I had some great challenges. I had some great life lessons in Chicago that now I literally learned from, and I'm living in those results today.

[00:14:57] One of the greatest, um, uh, times of my life that I knew that choices made such a great impact in one's life was when my childhood friend was murdered. Uh, what do you mean by, that it helped you. It helped me in my choices to make, because the Bible had a principle that says, honor thy mother and thy father, uh, in the law for this is right. And this is the, uh, for your days will be long upon the earth. This is the first promise, first commandment with the promise. My mom and dad taught us to honor and respect their decisions. Taught us to honor and respect them as parents and grandparents and peers and elder people that were older than us, uh, siblings who were older than us, aunties, uncles, the adults. They taught us this in the aspect of respect and honor, because the Bible gives us, they'll bathe them to have rule over you. Not stating that's just on the job, but those that have the experience in life who are adults, they taught us respect, they taught us honor.

[00:15:58] And one of my, literally childhood memories, uh, was when my good friend, uh, died or was murdered, uh, was killed due to a, a bad decision.

[00:16:08] But believe it or not, your life comes with decisions. Your life comes with choices and how you choose or how you decide to do things today will impact your next moment.

[00:16:21] Will impact your next hour. Will impact your next day. Will impact your next week. Will impact your next month, next year, next decade. It will impact what you do right now, impacts what you will do later on, impacts how you receive later on. And I took that as a early life lesson.

[00:16:40] We had, of course, a friend of mine grew up in the same neighborhood, grew up in the same city, but didn't grow up in the same home.

[00:16:48] And what was practiced in our home, the disciplines that was instilled in us, in our home, the respect that under was instilled in us, in our home, uh, made a difference in how I lived now and made a difference in how of the time he short-lived on the earth. I'll never forget the date that he passed away, uh, was, was killed.

[00:17:05] Was that, uh, his parents and grandparents and uncle was trying to get him to do something and, and do be at a certain place at a certain time, and he rebelled against that. He decided to buck up against and be disrespectful, dishonorable. And this wasn't the only time that he did it. He had a pattern. And when he made that pattern, it became a habit for him.

[00:17:27] And some of our choices and some of our decisions creates patterns, creates, um, lifestyles. It creates, uh, uh, behaviors that we normally don't realize or can cognitively understand why we do certain things. It's because it's a pattern, it's a behavior, it's a habit. and he was in this habit of dishonor and disrespect.

[00:17:48] He was in this habit of just being disobedient. And of course we know, uh, those of us that are, uh, scripturally sound that disobedience is a form of just literal disrespect, dishonor and witchcraft. So within that capacity, he was supposed to be in one location, and he rebelled against the instruction that his parents gave, and he ended up getting shot and killed. The result that struck me at an early age was that I had to be one who to eulogize him at his, at his funeral. I had to speak well of him and I, one of the greatest challenges that I had was to speaking well of him, of someone who didn't have the same principles. And in that moment, I chose to dis... I, I chose to speak on the integrity and the power of choice.

[00:18:34] I'll never forget it as a 12 year old young man, first accepting his call in ministry, having to stand up and tell my peers that the power of your choice can impact what you do long term, how you choose and who you decide to live your life. And lend your gift of life to do and in life for will impact how long term it'll affect your life.

[00:18:56] And so I told them on that day, you need to choose. Choose the Lord. You need to choose to live for the lord. You need to choose to have your life, have meaning of value, substance to impact other people's life. And grateful to God I have my choice to live for god through the dec decisions of my parents' choice impacted my life for that moment to help someone else out. And hopefully today is gonna help you out.

[00:19:18] In my life choice to live for God down through the years I've had many re acquaintances with life. I have re acquaintances with disappointment. I have re acquaintances with challenges. I happy acquaintances of not enough money for bills and happy acquaintances of hunger, happy acquaintances of all experiences that I first was introduced to when I was a child, up to three years old.

[00:19:40] I'll never forget one of the greatest moments of my life, uh, uh, um, was being able to be around my grandma, my grandfather, and just family choosing to be around, choosing not to harbor and hold unforgiveness in my heart and bitterness, choosing to be free, choosing to live my best life for the Lord. That was a choice that I made, and sometimes the choices that we make are the greatest choices that we make, but sometimes it comes with challenges and every challenge is going to come, is gonna accompany a choice.

[00:20:12] Oh yes, you're gonna have some challenges in your life based off the choices that you made, even if they were good, even if they were bad, you're still gonna have some challenges because challenges are not, uh, there to harm you or to, to, to break you or to make you have a demise. But sometimes some challenges are there just for you to be more validated and solidified in the choice that you made in the first place.

[00:20:35] And beloved, the reality is you have to make a choice. Every day you gotta make a choice, whether you want to make 'em or not, you're still gonna have to make them. You can choose not to choose, but you still chose to do something or not to do something. It's still a choice. Every day about your life, you got to make a choice.

[00:20:54] And all I'm telling you to do in today's podcast is to let you know that your choice that you make will impact your life and someone else's life that you're connected to. If you choose to call into work, you're going to impact somebody else's life. Who's your coworker?

[00:21:11] If you choose not to show up a church, you're gonna choose to impact the life of somebody else who's trying to worship with you.

[00:21:16] If you choose to, to stay in the house, you're choosing not to be open and have other people encounter your presence and your life decisions. Either way, you're going to choose and your choice is going to come with a consequence or a challenging. It's more for you to choose the best thing for your life and reality.

[00:21:36] That choice I can't make for you. That choice nobody else can make for you. You gotta choose that decision for your life and your life only. I'm only telling you about my life experiences. So go back to what I was telling you before my pediatrician, child's pediatrician said to us:

[00:21:53] Every child is going to be introduced to everything in life, to the time they're three years old after three for the rest of their life, they're being reacquainted to what they've already been introduced to.

[00:22:03] I'll tell you further more about that, why that struck such a powerful chord with me. My grandmother, I told you one of the greatest decisions was being around my family. My grandmother and grandfather, uh, loved them dearly. They're no longer on this earth. And, uh, the reason why I brought them up was to give you, have an understanding as to why the pediatrician, what she said to me, made so much great sense.

[00:22:25] I remember, uh, my grandparents and us being so lovely being around them. And, uh, and that time of us being around them, they, they always shared a whole lot of, like, they always shared a whole lot of love and joy with us. And, uh, I just loved being around them. Although we lived about 700 miles away from each other, my father and mother would sometimes on the weekend pack up the car when we get outta school and go down and spend the weekend in Oklahoma, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

[00:22:52] And while we were there, we were just really being engulfed in just family time. And I didn't understand back then why my grandma would cough so much. Didn't understand back then why my granddad had to feed her, or why she had to be tinted to by some of my aunts and, and, and didn't understand the whole reality of it.

[00:23:07] And this is just me calling back in memory. Didn't understand it, but I was always, I was introduced to her condition. Uh, my, my grandmother, uh, uh, died of cancer and didn't realize why, uh, she died. I just knew she wasn't on the earth. No, I didn't realize why granddad had to do certain things for her. I didn't realize, fully understand why granddad was around helping her out, getting food.

[00:23:29] Just, just, just as a child, just thought, hey, that's a great model for a husband to always take care of the wife and always be around the family. Didn't know why my father wanted to make so many trips on the weekends down to grandma. Hey, I didn't complain about it. I thought it was a great choice cuz I get to see cousins, I get to hang out with aunties and uncles.

[00:23:46] So all that happened, grandma died of cancer and, uh, I didn't, didn't, didn't pay no attention. Uh, I, I grew up with my sister, one of my siblings, um, on the story goals is that she was, uh, uh, out playing in the, in the alley, one of my older sisters. And she was hit by a car. And when she was hit by a car, I think she was at three years old, three or four years old, hit by a car.

[00:24:05] Uh, somebody that stole a car was trying to get away, hit by a car, and my sister was almost killed to where she literally had an impediment impairment for her, uh, in her life because of this accident. And I, I didn't understand why mom would always, you know, hold her and, and just be around. And everybody paid special attention.

[00:24:24] Didn't, didn't realize that that all this was happening, but I just knew that was my sister. You know, we always had to love her, always had to look out for her. That's what was taught to us. We always had to make sure she was okay. Didn't have no idea as to what was going on and, and all that was happening and why she was shaken, doing certain things, just, just didn't understand, I'm just a child. But I chose to accept life because I couldn't change it. And that was just a family. That was just the rule of the house. We all stuck together because of choice, that mom and dad had made for our family, and we followed in their choices and embodied their choices as our own choices and saw the principles and the love and the joy behind those choices.

[00:25:00] So we just decided to always do it. So until about six years ago, um, we, we, I chose to live for God and I, I live for God. I pastor two churches here in the state of Oklahoma. And, uh, I always had a love for God and, and always was committed to him and his, his, his ways and his practicalities and, and his expectations of my life and my life decisions that I've always chose to seek him first. I've always put God first. I've always chose to do, uh, the will of the Lord, to, to, to, to feed the hungry, to visit the sick, you know, visit those incarcerated, pray for the sick, and just clothe those that are naked. Just, I, I always engulf myself in the mission and the ministry of the kingdom work in God.

[00:25:39] And little did I know in me choosing God to be the priority of my life, that I would be challenged in the capacity I was gonna be challenged in.

[00:25:48] Six years ago, um, uh, during, uh, my wife's fourth pregnancy, uh, for our family. We are literally happy. We're in seven months and, and I'm up in, in and, uh, Wichita, Kansas.

[00:26:00] And I preached, uh, for a service and it was Sunday morning and I finished the service and we got back home to the hotel and we're waiting for the next day because we we're taking our travel back and, and we're relaxing, chilling. And we came back home and my wife will literally lay down on the bed and threw her arm up and to rest her head onto her arm. It's, it's a position she normally is never in. She's just laying back on the bed, she threw her arm up behind her head and when she did that, this bulging, uh, part of her skin just came out this, this huge knot. I said, what is that? Did you pull a muscle or something? She says, I, I don't know what that is. And I said, well, let's, let's go get it checked out when we get back to the city.

[00:26:33] So two days later, we're in the city and we, we go to her doctor, a pcp, and doctors says, lemme take a look at it. And, and, and wanted to do a biopsy on it. When they did a biopsy on it, they found out that here it is. My wife is diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Say that again.

[00:26:57] My wife is diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. Knot that we saw was the tumor that was massively big, the size of a grapefruit.

[00:27:10] And, and, and, and I, I can remember at this moment, even right now as I'm saying this on the podcast, the, the, the, the, the hurt, disbelief, the pain that I was in. I said, wait a minute. What do you mean stage four? Not, not, no, no, no, not, not me. Life threw me a challenge. It threw me a curve ball. It threw me something I was not expecting.

[00:27:37] Wait a minute, you're telling me at seven months, my wife is diagnosed with stage four breast cancer at seven months pregnant?

[00:27:47] She, wait, wait. No, no, no. You, you made a mistake.

[00:27:49] That's, that's just a, a muscle spasm. That's something different. Didn't wanna make that decision, didn't wanna accept that diagnosis because in my life, I chose to live for God. In my life, I said, God, you, you, you're my all. And, and that can't be, not me. I, I, I, I made the right decisions in life. I, I made the right choices in life.

[00:28:07] And Beloved, sometimes somebody on this podcast, you made the right decision, but sometimes life throws you something based off the decisions that you made. Sometimes God uses those decisions, your trust and your faith in him to throw something in your way and allow the inner to bring something in your way to see if you still gonna choose him.

[00:28:24] Above all that happens in your life.

[00:28:26] And guess what? It's not going to be easy. It's gonna be challenging because here it is.

[00:28:31] Now my wife is pregnant seven months, and here she has breast cancer. And here it is. I'm a preacher. I'm a pastor. I'm going through the living, the breath of this earth, preaching the gospel, saving souls.

[00:28:40] But here it is. My home is impacted by something that happened in life. I'll never forget. I'll never forget.

[00:28:47] My faith was under the, under the under fire. I'll never forget I began to cry. I'll never forget, I'm hearing the hearing enemy's voice saying, haha, you chose him over all this that you have did for him.

[00:28:58] He, He, He still allowed this to happen. You made the wrong decision. You made the wrong choice. And I'll never forget if I could be honest with you, I'll never forget how frustrated I was. I'll never forget how my heart began to turn emotional and how my mind began to turn psychological. And I began to say, wait a minute, I've done this for you and I've been faced with this challenge and I just don't know what to do. How could you let this happen to me?

[00:29:22] Now, forget, beloved, it was a rough time for me. I didn't have insurance and we didn't have, uh, uh, adequate income, uh, be out on a circle of job. And so we, we were living and being dependent upon the church and for financial support.

[00:29:34] And, and I'll never forget, we didn't have the proper insurance to do what we need to do. And we had favor for the surgeon to bless us with the surgery for free. I'll never forget we had to be in life living decisions out day by day. A month later, she goes in, a couple weeks later she goes in having emergency surgery.

[00:29:55] After that, 30 days later she goes back for checkup and find out 30 days, which is now May 17th. She literally has to, June 17, she has to, I'm sorry, has to now have an emergency surgery cuz she has staph infection. Trying to figure out what's going on. We go back and when she has a surgery, emergency surgery, she packed.

[00:30:23] I pack her, have to help her heal and have to be doctor, something I'm not privy to do, but it's a part of life. Life will take you through some paths you never are prepared for. And oh, while I'm going through this, I'm, I'm, I'm

[00:30:37] seeing this challenge is something great. I'm seeing this challenge, something crazy and I'm like, Lord, how do I, how do I handle this?

[00:30:41] This is something you've allowed me to go through. I'll never forget after going through that, having to pack her, my baby's born and guess what? My baby's born now, she's born with an addiction to the pain medication from my wife.

[00:30:56] I can't believe it. I can't understand it. I'm trying to figure out what's going on next.

[00:31:00] But let me tell you, the doctor pediatrician told me a few years, a few months before my wife is diagnosed, she says, Hey, Mr. Jones, remember, your child is gonna go through everything. She's gonna be introduced to everything up to three. And from the age of three on, for the rest of the life, they're being reacquainted with it.

[00:31:15] Now it makes sense why my father had to go visit my grandfather and grandmother all the time because she had cancer. And, and I have to see how to treat a, a, a wife, how to see how to treat a mother, how to handle cancer. And the last stage of cancer, she died on stage four cancer. So it's between her and the baby.

[00:31:32] My wife is between her and the baby who's gonna live. And so I had to see how to treat a wife who had a sickness. I had to see from my mama's experience and my father's experience how to handle a child who doesn't have an a hundred percent. I was faced with challenges in my life based off the choices that I lived for God.

[00:31:52] Now, here it is, a test comes. A test, comes to me through my wife having cancer. Test come through, through my daughter being birthed out, going through two surgeries, and now having the addiction of the pain medicine in her system. What am I gonna do? The devil wanted me to quit. The devil wanted me to stop, but I remember what something said in my spirit.

[00:32:11] I remember my faith, igniting and reminding me men have to always pray, men have to always pray and have faith. I remember something igniting in me and telling me the effectual, fervent prayers of a righteous man available much. I remember something igniting in me that says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivered them out of them all.

[00:32:28] And here's what I'm saying to you now, beloved is on this, on this podcast for you to understand that life is gonna come with some choices, but if you put it in your heart, if you put it in your mind, if you make your discipleship come to God, things when life combs me through with some very heavy situations, God will always be right there.

[00:32:49] If you put that decision in you, that I'm gonna live for God regardless, that I'm gonna choose to, to have God on my side, that I'm gonna choose to seek God first, and His kingdom and His righteousness, He will never allow you to lose more than what He's going to give you back.

[00:33:04] Beloved, hear me. If you put God first, He'll never put you last. That's what life is gonna be made of. What do you choose to do with your life? How will you choose to impact?

[00:33:13] Let me fast forward six years. Remember I told you it was a decision between my wife and my child. Six years ago, my pediatrician said your life was gonna be reacquainted with things that you already introduced to.

[00:33:26] Here it is now, six years later, my wife is healthy, cancer free. Six years later, my child, she just started first grade and guess what? She's already reading on the second and third grade level. The doctor says she wouldn't have to be able to operate normally, but I chose in my life. I chose this gift of life that God gave me to trust him in every way that I've gone through. Trust in the name of the Lord, of my God.

[00:33:49] You have to be able to know that your prayers, that this podcast, is based off God answering your prayer. Hear this podcast and hear this experience called life so that on your journey of life it can be alleviated. You don't have to be stressful. Listen, you have not the only one that going through what you're going through, you're not the only one that's faced with the challenges that you're faced with.

[00:34:09] But I'm here to tell you this. Your life matters.

[00:34:14] And your experiences matters at somebody else's life journey. My experience in overcoming the challenges of being, uh, losing my house behind cancer, losing my cars behind cancer, having to pay for my wife's treatments and losing everything I got, then I'm here to let you know in life it's not always gonna be easy, but life with God will be worth it.

[00:34:35] I never thought my experiences will be to me what they are to me now. They're my greatest testimonies. Beloved, I hope you, hope you take, listen to what you've heard and know that your life experiences are based off your choices. How you choose to live your life determines how you gonna read from it. As for me in my house, I chose to live for God as for me in my life.

[00:35:05] I chose to let God be the priority. Has it always been easy? Absolutely not. Has it always been stress free? Absolutely not. Has it always did what you expected? Absolutely not. But I'll leave you with this last promise. Romans 8:28 says,

[00:35:22] "All things work together for the good to them that love God, and to them that are called according to his purpose."

[00:35:32] Beloved, your life has a purpose for God to be fulfilled in. I'm just asking you today. Pray.com is asking you today, choose to live your life for the kingdom of God and let his purpose be fulfilled in it. Take care of your gift called life, impact somebody else's life, with your journey, with your experiences, so that journey can be better.

[00:35:57] God bless you. I love you and I pray that this podcast brought you to a place of peace in your life journey.

[00:36:09] Of the greatest lessons I ever had to learn, uh, was to always think ahead. I have, uh, a saying that keeps me grounded, uh, in my preparation. Um, I found out that expectation, um, is a great thing to have, but proper execution is when you have preparation with your expectation. In other words, when you prepare for your intentional success, then you are executing something great.

[00:36:39] The expectation of leadership is something powerful. When you are prepared to live and in you're preparing to live, you're gonna have experiences.

[00:36:52] Steve Gatena: In part two of this three part series on Relentless Hope, pastor Jeremiah Jones teaches us how to gain the integrity and discipline to become an influential leader. We learn how to take on all responsibility and lead properly because someone is always following your leadership.

[00:37:21] Jeremiah Jones: Leadership is something that we are all a part of. Whether we have acknowledged it or not, we possess the one most important thing about leadership, and that is the word influence. Influence is something that we embody. Whether we may carry influence in our home, we may carry influence in our jobs. We may carry influence in our churches, we may carry influence in our schools or wherever we may go.

[00:37:49] We all have the ability to influence someone to either do good or to do bad. And so today I wanna challenge us in our thinking and in our assessment of about this reward leadership that we possess the right thing to do, how to use our influence to engage others to become better beyond what they are right now.

[00:38:10] As far as me, I'm a leader. I am a young leader. I'm a young 38 years old, uh, hailing from the great state of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City to be exact. And I am a leader who possesses the influence and learned early in life that the influence that I have in my life, it can be cultivated into a powerful tune that will result in a powerful leadership level.

[00:38:33] How I manifest in my leadership is I had to grow in my experiences as a leader. I had to grow in my experiences as understanding how powerful my influence was. Influence is something that you and I both adhere to, uh, because we have a leader in our life that impacts us and empowers us to do something beyond we thought we could do in our normal capacity.

[00:38:58] That is what influence does. Influence is literally a powerful tool in which every leader can change the concept, change the responsibility, and of course the action of everyone that is following them. How am I a leader? How am I more effective as a leader? Um, nine times outta 10 as a leader, I reflect how I followed.

[00:39:22] So my followship is determined or what shaped my leadership. How I followed someone else, how I mimic them, how I, uh, understood their process of living life. My followship determined how I lead in leadership. Leadership has the ability to pull something out of me, uh, that I normally didn't think was there. And it is because of responsibility that I have to lead others into something greater, causes me to be more disciplined in what I do on a day-to-day basis.

[00:39:57] As a leader, I currently serve as senior pastor of two particularly great churches here in the state of Oklahoma. And in my serving as the servant leader of those two facilities and the bodies of believers, I have a responsibility to maintain a certain level of discipline as well as integrity to be an effective leader.

[00:40:19] I have the practices that I do, it's practices that, uh, that I do on a daily basis. Some of my disciplines that I practice on a daily basis, and one as priority is to maintain integrity, to maintain the integrity of which I lead in, how I lead, why I lead. And as I define those things on a regular basis, it creates a discipline about myself that causes me to be consistent in my leadership to those that are watching me.

[00:40:46] Whether you believe it or not, you may not carry the title of a leader. You may not carry the title of a dignitary, but you may have the responsibility. Absolutely 100% of the time that someone, I can guarantee you, is following your leadership. They're following how you take on life. They're following how you handle important decisions.

[00:41:09] They're following you and how you make important decisions, how you live through the good times, through the bad times, through the challenging times, through the successful times, through the failing times they are following you. That may be your spouse, that may be your parents, that may be your children, that may be your siblings, coworkers, friends.

[00:41:31] Steve Gatena: It doesn't matter. Someone is watching you to see how are you handling your life decisions as a leader and in your decisions to do right and or to do wrong. Within that, you are carrying an influence and you are shaping them oftentimes to make sure that they mimic your decision or do something through the influence that you shown.

[00:41:56] To have their life to have a better outcome. So Beloved, don't take it lightly. You are a leader. You are a leader who has overcome some failing opportunities who have come overcome some failing experiences. I'll never forget one of the greatest, uh, lessons I had to learn in leadership was through my followship.

[00:42:19] One of the greatest lessons I ever had to learn, uh, was to always think ahead. I have, uh, a saying that keeps me grounded, uh, in my preparation. Um, I found out that expectation, um, is a great thing to have, but proper execution is when you have preparation with your expectation. In other words, when you prepare for your intentional success, then you are executing something great.

[00:42:47] The expectation of leadership is something powerful. When you are prepared to leave and in you're preparing to leave, you're gonna have experiences. What do you mean by that? In you preparing to lead, you're going to have some failing points in your life. In which your leadership or your influence didn't go the way that you expected it to go.

[00:43:09] Um, you have to overcome the failing points. Learn from those experiences and for the next time, say, I'm going to prepare myself for a, a, a intentional success. Uh, I will never forget I was served in the hospitality industry, and in me serving in the hospitality industry, uh, more so in the banquet food and beverage area, I had to become, uh, what was called a banquet captain.

[00:43:36] And the banquet captain had to have the responsibility in overseeing or supervising an event at the hotel. And in my supervising the event at the hotel, I, in my expectation, thought all of the workers would understand, uh, what their role and responsibility was in helping the function, uh, become a success.

[00:43:58] And so in my ill experience as a leader, I just expected for everyone to come to the facility at a greater appointed time for them to, uh, be prepared to work. And so hence my ill experience, they come, they come for the event. There's a, uh, actually a, a luncheon that we're having at the hotel. . And as the luncheon is beginning to happen, uh, or closer to the time that the luncheon is supposed to start, the workers show up prior, um, 30 minutes and in my ill experience as a leader, I did not have direction for them to go in specifically. So I had a whole lot of people ready to work, but did not have the proper preparation to give them direction in which they were supposed to work in, because again, my expectation was they knew what they were supposed to do.

[00:44:54] And so that was one of the most biggest failing experiences in my leadership as a captain, a banquet captain. Just starting out, not knowing that I should be preparing the staff for what's to be expected of them, what's to be expected of the event, and sharing the information, and by my ill experience in preparation, I did not fulfill my expectation, and neither was the event successful because I had the ill experience of a leader, and so what I did, I had to learn from that experience and prepare for the next time. For the next event on the next day or the next week or the next month.

[00:45:36] The next event I had an experience of failure.

[00:45:40] And I'll never forget the embarrassment. I'll never forget the feeling of just shame and complete failure that I felt about my leadership. And I felt that I couldn't do it. I felt that I, uh, I wasn't cut out to continue in that leadership capacity until I had my leader, my banquet manager, my assistant food and beverage director, to come up to me and to help me realize that because I was ill prepared.

[00:46:09] I gave them those who were expecting for me to leave them a bad experience, and I was not prepared to empower them to do better than what I was, to empower them to make a success out of the event. So from that day forward, I developed something that causes me. To even now be at a place, a position to where I prior properly plan.

[00:46:36] In order for you to be an effective leader, you have to know where you are going. You have to prior properly plan the pathway, the course, the designed facet of way you're going to approach what you're trying to succeed in. So as a leader, I had to develop something, uh, and it was a saying that said, prior proper planning prevents poor performance, which means if I prior properly plan things out, I prevent the performance so poorly. I cause myself to be intentionally successful. I cause myself to overcome and plan out every obstacle. Now, I'm not saying that everything will go a hundred percent correct.

[00:47:19] Now, don't get me wrong, there will be times where you will plan and priorly properly plan. But there will also be some challenges within your prior planning that will cause you to even fine tune even more your leadership.

[00:47:36] And in those times, you have to know that if I stick with the plan, if I have expectation, I can always adjust how I handle the in the moment decisions as a leader. Having a prior plan causes you to be one step ahead of the game. It causes you in every area of your life to anticipate mistakes, to anticipate potential challenges, to anticipate opportunities so that you can always learn and be better than the time before.

[00:48:10] So in the time of me preparing for the next event, I set down, I put together, uh, procedures, I put together expectations. I allotted time in my scheduling personally to create this plan for the team successfully. If I am the leader, I can never lead from the back. If I am the leader, I must take the precedent position in being in the front and showing them whoever is following, whoever I have influence over, whomever I am leading.

[00:48:42] I have the responsibility to show them that they have a leader who is invested in the team accomplishing what we are assigned to do. And so in this banquet event, I'll never forget it, we had over 500 people that we had to feed, we have over 500 people that we had, or guests that we had to fulfill a planned out, uh, success for.

[00:49:06] And so in that I was able to priorly properly plan that this person or this group of people will focus on that, this group of people will focus on this, this group of people will focus on that. And as I strategically in my leadership planned out success, it calls me to have a better grip and anticipation of what could possibly go wrong.

[00:49:33] Sometimes in leadership, you have to know in your influence that you must delegate responsibilities to maintain the integrity of your leadership. Just because you are a leader it does not necessarily mean that you have to be deeply engulfed into everything about the event or about the assignment. You have to be able to reduplicate who you are as a leader.

[00:50:00] Your influence, part of the responsibility is to help cultivate the person who will share the same mentality and the same understanding in the task that is set up in front of you all as a group. So your leadership empowers, your leadership cultivates. Your leadership teaches, and in your leadership, you have to be willing to express your failures, to help encourage someone else as they failed or as they are at the beginning stages of their leadership, remember, your leadership was determined by your followship.

[00:50:37] How you followed your leader. You should be able to mimic the same behavior, but in a better way to those that are following you. You have to be engaged with your followers.

[00:50:48] You have to have conversation with your followers. You have to be able to be one in the same, a leader as well as a follower in mentality, and so that you can lead your team to the next level. What does that mean? Uh, pastor Jeremiah, I'm saying this in the capacity of this, I have to be at a place to where I am able to lead, lead them, the followers, those who I have influence over.

[00:51:14] I have to have the ability to lead them in a place in life, whether it be church, whether it be family, whether it be in my home, whether it be on my job, whether it be in the community. I have to have a place in my life to where I can understand their frustration as a follower or potential frustration as a follower, but yet at the same time, maintain the vigilance as a leader, maintain the integrity of a leader, maintain the consistency of a leader.

[00:51:46] All leaders and all followers have to have one cons, uh, uh, characteristic. That must be intercepted or inter involved with each other, and that is integrity. You cannot be an effective leader without having integrity. What do you mean? You have to be consistent. Your word has to be your bond, and in leadership today, you cannot be privately one person while publicly being something else.

[00:52:15] You have to contain your consistency. Leadership must have integrity, must have inconsistency, and must have understanding and must have peace about it. When you are leading and you are responsible for others that are following you, you have to be at a point to where you are in this walk together, you're leading them down a path.

[00:52:37] You're leading them to a particular goal. You set these goals up. You're probably properly planned for success. You're intentional about what you're doing and when you are doing that, beloved friend, when you are consistent in those roles, it speaks to truly the integrity of your leader. You as a leader, you're not a master.

[00:53:00] You as a leader, you're not a boss. You as a leader, you're not a dictator, but you as a leader, you are a person who literally understands the thoughts and the emotion of every follower, while also maintaining the integrity and consistency. As a leader, you have to be able to meet them, your followers, where they are in their understanding, and pull the best out of them and use your influence to pull the best out of them.

[00:53:32] Use your influences. Let them see there's a different way about how you're following or how you could follow. Let them know that you as a leader, share the frustration that they have, have shared the emotions that they have, have shared the stress that they have gone through and what you're doing in that you are using your influence to impact their lives, to impact where they are, uh, experiencing any negative influences.

[00:54:00] Now, not to say that you will never have any negative influences, because guess what? Experiences come with that. Your experiences, you're gonna have some negative influence, you're gonna have some negative challenges, but how do you respond to those as a leader is totally different than how you respond to those as a following.

[00:54:18] And as a leader, you have to show every person that is following you the best possible result. That you as a leader and them as a person to being a future leader or actually a current leader in their lives, how they should respond. Some of my greatest lessons came from the food and beverage field. Some of my greatest lessons, again, came from me pastoring and leading two churches.

[00:54:44] You have to understand, as a leader, you have to be versatile, but yet be consistent in the integrity of what you're supposed to be operating in. I said all of that to let you know that leadership is something powerful. Again, you are the leader. You are leading someone at the same time, you are following someone, but never let the follower show up in your leadership postion.

[00:55:11] Never let the follower show up In your leadership position, when you are a leader, when you are influencing someone, you are the leader. You have to be able to be on your best display of leadership because someone's following you and you don't want to be the cause of someone missing their mark because you were the follower when you were supposed to be the leader.

[00:55:36] What we oftentimes do as leaders, and I wanna speak to this because I feel in my heart that there's someone's out here that's facing this. Sometimes we get frustrated with leaders, as leaders we're frustrated. Because no one's following us because they're not catching onto it the way they should be catching onto it.

[00:55:55] They're not mimicking and doing what we supposed to be doing correctly. And sometimes that's very hard and difficult, especially when you have a vision, especially when you have a plan, especially when you have purpose that you're trying to accomplish and fulfill. Beloved brother, brother, sister, whomever you may be, wherever you are, wherever time zone you're in, whatever state you're in, whatever part of the world that you are in, there's a universal rule.

[00:56:19] A leader, no matter what, can't quit being a leader because the vision and the passion that they have with inside of them is gonna burn into the tasks. So what do I do? What do I do when quit looks good? What do I do when I want to give it all up? I have to go back to why as a leader, frustration comes and, and pain comes, and disappointment comes and, and challenges comes and, and stress.

[00:56:48] And I want to quit. I want to give up. I want to do everything, to say: forget about it. Whenever you reach that point as a leader, you have to go back to the reason why you did it in the first place. What is your why in leadership? What is your why in accomplishing this particular task? When you define your why, it's gonna lead you to the next question. Who?

[00:57:15] Who are you doing it for? Your why? It may be your family. Who, who are you influencing? Who are you doing it for? Once you define what your why is, why did you accept this? It could have been for whoever you wanted to do it for. It could be for the greater good. It could be for the next empowering moment of someone else's life.

[00:57:36] And if that is true about you, if that is true, if you can define what your why is, if you can define against all the odds going up and stacking up against you, against the lack of support from resources, that promise that they would do with the, the, the attitude change and, and the challenges that people are facing, that know your heart, that know your mind, that know your understanding, and they're facing you and you're facing all of this great, uh, challenge, you have to rely on the inner reasoning as to why you did it.

[00:58:08] What is your why? And today, hopefully this podcast is challenging you not to give up. I know that failure looks so horrible. I know the guilt. I know the shame. I know the emotional stress behind it. I can understand it, but you still have a why. You still have a purpose to fulfill. You still have a responsibility to make sure whatever the assignment on your life is, you have a responsibility to make sure it comes to a pass.

[00:58:41] It may not be with all the glamor lights. It may not be with all the accolades, but the truth of the matter is, there's someone out there that's watching you and you're influencing them.

[00:58:54] There's someone out there that's following you and you're influencing them, and their tough times that they're gonna face, they can remember that when you wanted to quit, you kept pressing.

[00:59:05] They can remember when they, when, when you wanted to stop, how to keep going on, how to overcome the negative and remember the positive. Here's something that I've learned from one of the great leaders that I, I, I followed down and, and he says something to me that was so profound. He says, you can never give your time, your space, or your mind, give time to your mind to think about what didn't work.

[00:59:29] You have to go onto the next one. You have to keep pushing for the next challenge. You have to keep pushing for the next assignment. You have to keep pushing for the next goal to hit because you're gonna face some challenges. You're gonna face some opportunities, uh, that of people just coming towards you to, to fight you.

[00:59:46] And it seem like everything is against you. You know what you do then in those moments? You gotta remember your why. Not only do you remember your why, but you gotta stop and say, Lord, hey God, need your help.

[00:59:57] Take a little time out to pray. Seek you first.

[01:00:00] Matthew 6:33, the kingdom of heaven and it's righteousness and all these things shall be added onto you when you have the kingdom of God priority in your life.

[01:00:08] When you have a consistent prayer life, when you have a opportunity to talk and and commune with God, he'll remind you of your why. He'll give you promise. He'll give you hope. He'll remind you of the word that says, be not weary and well doing for induced season, you gonna reap if you faint, no, you don't have time to faint and leadership, you take some blows, yes. In leadership you're gonna cry, yes. In leadership you're gonna be very challenged, yes.

[01:00:34] But you have to have confidence. When you have your why, you can be confident in things. You gotta be confident in the talents and the, and the gift that God has given you. You gotta be confident in the task that God has placed in your hands. God has placed in your heart, God has placed in your mind, God has given you in your influence to lead others. You have a responsibility. And when you accept that, you now have confidence. Paul says, you have to be confident in this very thing. He, which has begun to good work and you shall perform until the day of Jesus Christ.

[01:01:09] And today I hope this leadership, uh, podcast is literally helping someone to remember you still have a why. That your leadership matters. Your leadership impacts others. Your influence over your life literally will help captivate people in a capacity that you never thought it would be. But you have to be the leader that God chose you to be.

[01:01:35] Hey, my brother, beloved brother, beloved sister, hey, it's our opportunity. Maintain our leadership. Leadership is powerful. Remember, someone's following your lead where you lead, that's where they're gonna follow. And I tax you, I challenge you. Step your leadership up prior, properly planned for what your leadership is requiring of you for what the task the job is before you.

[01:02:03] Don't be frustrated. Don't be emotional. Don't be stressed out. I know you want it bad. I know you want to create the success immediately, but sometimes we have to go through certain learning curves. To cultivate a better leader out of us and a better leader out of the ones that are following us. Just remember, your leadership matters.

[01:02:24] What you do in your leadership is going to impact and impart into others that are following you. God bless you today. Maintain your prayer life. Thank you for taking out time to listen to this podcast. May God be with you and maintain your leadership because someone's following you.

[01:02:45] He says, live your life so, that even the funeral director, the undertaker who has to prepare your body, has to stop and cry and mourn for you. Now, that may fool over some of you guys' head. You may not understood that in the capacity in which I understood, and hopefully I'll give you the proper explanation as to what he was saying to me.

[01:03:06] He said to me, my business is an undertaker. My business is a funeral home director. My business is, I'm the one to embalm the body so I can get so used to embalming bodies. I can get so used to the business of undertaking and of the funeral home that I can be disconnected to the person that I'm, uh, working on.

[01:03:25] He says, live your life so have such an impact on some, uh, in the world that even the undertaker has a problem preparing you for your final resting place

[01:03:44] In part three of this three part series on Relentless Hope, pastor Jeremiah Jones tells us that we always need to maintain a level of commitment to leave an impact on this. He gives us the structure to leave a memorable and meaningful legacy, and he leaves us with one question. How will you not let your legacy die?

[01:04:17] Legacy is something that we all will have a part of. It is something that we will be leaving behind on the earth for our loved ones, family, friends, and others. To literally have a remembrance of us by legacy is something that will, is often defined as something from the past that will impact the present and the future.

[01:04:40] And as long as you are living on this earth, you right now at this very moment, even while listening to this podcast, your day-to-day aspect of life is leaving a legacy for someone else to remember you by. So today I'm gonna challenge you in your everyday walk, in your everyday thoughts and your everyday actions as to what legacy are you leaving behind.

[01:05:03] If you were to die today in this posing question, how would people remember you? Would they remember you as just a lovely, um, person with a bubbly personality, one who laughed, one who brought laughs, one who cried, one who brought tears, or will they remember you for something so powerful and significant, my stripe, my friend, your life carries legacy. Your life literally will be the ones who actually, uh, imparted to others long after your off this dear Earth. And so in that, my question's open to you, what legacy are you? What legacy are you leaving behind for others to remember you by? How in your everyday life have you impacted and imparted into their lives?

[01:05:52] Something to empower them to be better. So let's take a look. Let's take a look about my own life, my own legacy that I'm aspiring to leave behind for my children, behind, for my friends, behind, for my family, behind, for people who may have never heard of me, who may have never met me personally, but how I am I going to impact their lives?

[01:06:15] Beloved, I'm the baby of eight years of eight children, and, uh, I had to learn from day one that my life has to come with challenges. I had to learn that I had to fight for what I truly believed in. I had to learn that I was a part of a village. I had to learn that in my household. I had an in powerful role for the success of my overall family.

[01:06:37] My legacy began with, as a child having to clean up, having to take my share load of responsibility for the home that I grew up in. . So with that being stated, I then early began to carry on my father and the legacy. He began to live out in front of me. I'm grateful enough to have my father still in the land of the living at the time of this recording, and I'm still at the point to where I still learn for him.

[01:07:04] I'm still learning to create my own legacy, but it comes from the legacy that he lived out before me, which he gained from his mother, his fathers, and others within his life. And one of the things that he taught me was to always maintain a level of commitment. One thing people always know about me in my own life is that I'm committed.

[01:07:26] I'm committed to a task, I'm committed to a purpose. I'm committed to a cause. And in my commitment to that task, that purpose and that cause, I have a responsibility to not allow certain things to break my commitment. And the same within you. If you have a legacy that you wanna leave behind and it has anything to deal with greatness, then there has to be a foundational tool of commitment.

[01:07:53] There has to be a characteristic called commitment, consistency, integrity. There has to be something that is your driving force, that is your driving factor, that is your driving passion to being committed. What is the legacy that you are living and living out in front of everyone now? That will impact someone else's life later.

[01:08:15] Um, legends are those, um, who have already gone on, um, um, or who have already concealed or ended their impact in that particular field. And so, in other words, legends are ones who can't, who don't have to prove anything else, who doesn't have to try to accomplish anything else, especially when they have to fill their passion in one particular area.

[01:08:42] Uh, there's a big debate going on right now within the sports arena, particularly basketball, as to who is the greatest of all time, what they would call the goat, the greatest of all time. In the conversations come up that, is it Michael Jordan? Is it LeBron James? Is it Kobe Bryant? Is it Dr. J? Is it Will Chamberlain?

[01:09:01] And, and a lot of people have, have alluded to the only finalist being, um, Michael Jordan and LeBron James, which are two great, powerful, uh, in their prime players, NBA basketball players who trans literally sended the game to a different level of competition, to a different level of understanding, to a different level of integrity.

[01:09:23] And in that they asking who's the greatest of all time when reality is they're the greatest of their time. They both possess a skillset that literally impacted so many children who impacted so many young people, who impacted so many of their peers. To be better, to do the same thing, to to go beyond, to create a pathway of greatness.

[01:09:47] And that, my friend, you have what? The embodiment of, embodiment of what it is to be a legend. Michael Jordan is a living legend. LeBron James is a living legend. They are, are, are literally, LeBron is still creating even more powerful legacy with his day-to-day acts and walks as well as Michael Jordan. But in the aspect of Michael Jordan playing in the basketball career again, it won't.

[01:10:12] It won't happen. Not saying that he doesn't have the ability to, but the reality is he does not have to do it. He has nothing else to prove. Bill Russell, living Legend, he has accomplished everything he could have accomplished in a time while he was impacting the league. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird. You have different living legends who literally impacted and imparted certain disciplines and levels of commitments in their own craft, how to become the best that they could be, and it has inspired, impacted, and imparted so much into the generation after them.

[01:10:47] So by that being an example, what are you doing day-to-day to create a powerful legacy?

[01:10:54] Who can stand up and speak on your regard, on your behalf to say what you have done has impacted them, has empowered them, has caused them to be so great in their life, has caused them to be beyond what their own limitations were, who don't want to let those principles, those rules, those characteristics, those uh, uh, nuggets that you've given them not to die. That my friend is a true legacy that my friend something that will always live on my father, whether he may be with us for a thousand years or more, a thousand more hours. Uh, my father has left such a strong impact in my life that he's given me a legacy to continue on.

[01:11:39] Not only his name by being Jones and the lineage of my grandfather and his grandfather, and the beginning lineages of my own family bloodline. But I'm talking about beyond that. I'm talking about in the capacity of what practices, what principles, what nuggets has he instilled in me? What character behavior patterns has he instilled in me?

[01:12:01] What things, what causes did he fight for, he believe in that he instilled into me to allow me to do the same thing. One of the greatest things he put into me is commitment. Another great thing he put into me is consistency. Speaks within the parameters of commitment, but to remain consistent. Another thing he's put into me to be organized, to be disciplined, to have integrity.

[01:12:25] These are the things that he instilled into me and that legacy is living on. I see some of the Cain same characteristics and traits that my father instilled in me, that now I'm instilling in my children. I'm now starting to see the benefits of the legacy of the Jones lineage that he placed in me, and the characteristics that I'm seeing in my son, I'm seeing in my daughters, and that, my friend, is what's causing us to live and be better.

[01:12:53] Someone is always watching you. Someone is always taking notes off of your decisions. Someone is always literally trying to mimic and embody what you believe in, especially if you carry influence in their life, especially if you imparting into their life and you are impacting their lives. You want to live your life so that the legacy of your name, the legacy of your actions will live on for centuries.

[01:13:21] Think about it. Uh uh, Albert Einstein created something that we are still benefiting from today. You have to remember history and those great people in history. Did something, created a legacy, created an idea, created an invention, invented some things, creative thoughts, creative process that's still impacting us to this day, that my friend is a great legacy.

[01:13:46] So when you die, what will be left behind you?

[01:13:51] Who will carry on your work? What would you do that will be greater than your predecessor? What would you do that will leave us long lasting legacy that whomever can connect to you and connect to your passion, connect to your belief system that can connect to what's next, that they can pick it up and say,

[01:14:11] I will not let this legacy die.

[01:14:14] Legacy is something that is ageless. Legacy doesn't have a birthdate or a death date. Legacy doesn't have something that will cause others to be in a place to where they forget about you.

[01:14:27] A true legend, a true legacy never dies. A true legacy creates influential experiences in our lives that helps us be better. True legacy causes us to not to have to repeat hard lessons.

[01:14:43] Yeah, see, legacy leaves nuggets as, as other people would say. Another famous saying says, success leaves clues, success leaves clues, legacy leaves nuggets. What are you leaving behind for the next person that they won't have to go through some of the hard things that you've been through?

[01:14:59] What are some of the hard lessons that you have endured that you can pass on the experience to alleviate some of the things that show predecessors, or not really predecessors, but the ones that are gonna come after you?

[01:15:14] How are they not gonna walk down the same path? I'll never forget one time I'm, I'm playing with my son and, and, uh, uh, , we're outside and, and we're having the water gun and, and my son goes up and he, he tries to see, um, how far, uh, this water gun can shoot and how powerful it is.

[01:15:32] And so as he's playing with his water gun and he, he shakes down because somehow it gets clogged. It's not pushing right, and he, he literally takes the eye of the gun. Well, the water comes out and he's trying to squeeze the trigger. And I had to say, stop, son, stop. Son, stop son. Don't do that. And, and at that moment he didn't realize, he thought I was trying to take away his fun when reality I was saying, don't pull that trigger because that eye, that water can shoot in your eye. And if you're not expecting that water to shoot in your eye, if you're not prepared for that water to shoot in your eye, it could potentially hurt. .

[01:16:05] And so while I'm trying to protect him, he's thinking I'm taking his fun away and I had to show him, no, son, it's not me trying to eliminate your fun. It's me trying to preserve you from a bad experience. I found out that sometimes a interpretation of legacy can make a difference of the embodiment of it. Once I explained to him what I was done and I showed him what could potentially happen to him, he then embraced the lesson. He then embraced the instruction. He then embraced what I was trying to do to him.

[01:16:40] And what I was putting parting into him was to son, help someone else out and create an explanation so that they can understand what you were doing. See, there was two different sections of times that was going on.

[01:16:55] Uh, uh, my son, he was eager, he was zealous, he was wanting to learn. He was on the play, but I had to take that moment from him to impart into him that you always gotta, when you know something can be gold, wrong or be bad for a person, always, especially if you have a relationship with them, sit them down, talk to them and tell them, I'm not trying to do this to be mean to you.

[01:17:16] I'm trying to do this so I won't, so you won't be hurt by this.

[01:17:20] And guess what? Your experiences, your life experiences is not for you to benefit from. It's for someone else to benefit on while they're on their journey. Hope I, I hope it didn't take you too fast, but let me say it again. Your life experiences is for the benefit of someone else on their life journey, which means all the stuff that you've been through, good, bad, happy, sad.

[01:17:44] If you see a person that's going through something similar, you ought to be able to have confidence enough to share your experiences with them while they're on their life journey to help prevent them from going through worse things, to help prevent them not to go through some of the same challenges, to, to help them along their way.

[01:18:03] Don't be so afraid to be, uh, uh, negatively impacted or, or understood to where you can allow your experiences to help someone else out. That's legacy, my friend. A legacy of helping, a legacy, of empowering a legacy, of literally being on the side of someone else's success.

[01:18:22] One of my biggest prayers, I pray every day, every morning when I get up. And I, I say this to God in a repetitive man notion in a repetitive matter, I say to God, I say, God today, help me be the platform to expose someone else greatness. Help me be the foundation that somebody else can stand on so that they won't have to go through certain things that I've been through. Help me to have opportunity to give to someone else that they'll help their struggle be alleviated to help their success be more immediate.

[01:18:52] God helped me through my experiences, not to allow certain tears of pain and hurt and vindication and, and hardness through, through certain other people's lives so they won't have bad experiences.

[01:19:04] God help my, uh, my overcoming negative stuff create positive opportunities for others.

[01:19:13] That's the legacy that I'm living for.

[01:19:15] That's the legacy that I'm living out now for my children, for others around me, that is not about what happened yesterday. My legacy is pick yourself up.

[01:19:25] My legacy is to keep going. My legacy that I wanna impart into empower, into others is that as long as you are above the ground, there's another opportunity for you to be great.

[01:19:35] As long as you're above the ground, that means you are not finished with your purpose or your assignment on this life. As long as you are above the ground, you have another opportunity to impact someone else.

[01:19:48] Beloved friend, beloved sister, beloved brother. I'm here to ask you. What is your legacy? What will people remember about you?

[01:20:00] Ask yourself that question in your head.

[01:20:03] Write it down. Bullet. Point it out. Say your name. What is people expecting from me? What will people remember about me?

[01:20:14] How will I impact other people's lives? What will be my legacy is your legacy to loves. It's your legacy to to give hope. It's your legacy to be a joyous person.

[01:20:27] Whatever your legacy is, write it out. What do you want 'em to say? Cuz your life has to be bigger than on your tombstone, the dash that reports your birthdate and your death. It gotta be more than that dash. It has to be more. You can't, will your life be summed up as a a, a, a, a, a block of concrete with, with carvings in it, with your name and, and some numbers.

[01:20:56] What is gonna be your legacy? If you die today, watch this question. If you die today, will the, will the impact of your exit off this earth? Will it cause others to pause and

[01:21:15] think, what can I remember about you that passed away? I, I, I was listening to, to this undertaker one time, and, and, uh, he, he was preparing a body that he knew very well, and he said something to me, um, in this story that, that blew me away.

[01:21:37] I was talking to him about how, you know, does he deal with bodies and how does he really, um, have the, you know, the nerve and the, the guts and the mentality to deal with the dead? And, and as we were talking, um, I, I, I posed a question to him. I said, have you ever buried someone that you love? That you really knew.

[01:21:56] And he said, yes. He said it was one of the hardest things he ever had to do. And I said, really? I said, wow, I can only imagine. And he says, you know what, um, I even cried as I was preparing the body, and, and I was taken back by it, which I, I understood. You know, emotional, you connect to that person. I can understand that the value of that person, whether it would mean to them and, and have a stop.

[01:22:18] Because I said, wow, that was something very great. But then what he post spoke to me and proposed to me how to live my life is, is I'm gonna put the same challenge to you. And here's what he said. And this one statement, it just blew me away, rocked my world. And it just said, wow, that's a goal that I'm going to accomplish.

[01:22:37] Here's what he says. He says, he says, pastor Jones, you gotta live your life so that you make the undertaker. I said, what he says, live your life so that even the funeral director, the undertaker who has to prepare your body, has to stop and cry and mourn for you. Now, that may fall over some of you guys' head.

[01:23:02] You may not understood that in the capacity, which I understood, and hopefully I'll give you the proper explanation as to what he was saying to me. He said to me, my business is a undertaken. My business is a federal home director. My business is, I'm the one to embalm the bodies so I can get so used to embalming bodies.

[01:23:20] I can get so used to the business of undertaking and of the funeral home that I can be disconnected to the person that I'm, I'm working on. He says, live your life soul. Have such an impact on some, uh, in the world that even the undertaker has a problem preparing you for your final resting place. That's, that was the goal of mine.

[01:23:45] That's a goal of mine so that I live my life. So that impacts other people's lives to where they have to step back and say, wow, this is a new reality. This person is gone. How am I gonna remember them? What is it gonna be your legacy? That's my question to you. What is your legacy now? How are you going to impact the legacy?

[01:24:07] How are you going to impact someone else's life? What legacy do you have? What legacy are you building towards? Is it to be the greatest public speaker? Be it, is it to be the greatest supporter? Be it, is it to be the greatest father? Be it whatever you are going to do, be the greatest person that field has ever seen.

[01:24:32] And behind that, leave a legacy that will last for generations. Let them remember who you are. If you're gonna be the best prayer, be the best prayer so that your legacy will be. He's always, she's always committed with the prayer. They will always praying. If you're gonna be the best singer, be the best singer.

[01:24:50] They always had a voice that literally never cause any bad notes to come out of their mouth. If you're gonna be the. Porter, be the best supporter so that everyone that will know you, whether, what continent you're on, whether you are in America, whether you're in Asia, it doesn't matter where you are, what time zone you are on, what color, what creed, what culture you come from.

[01:25:10] All I'm asking right now, what is your legacy? Because your legacy is not race bound. Your legacy is not age bound. Your legacy is not gender bound. Your legacy is purpose bound. How will you purpose your life to impact others? That's what you gotta do, my beloved friend. Your legacy. Your legacy, your legacy.

[01:25:31] Never be afraid to pay it forward in your legacy. Never be afraid to learn from others' legacy. Never be afraid to let your legacy impact people that you never will meet. Never be afraid to let your legacy be great, cuz reality is you are here for a purpose. You're here for a purpose. You're here to fulfill some great things on this earth.

[01:25:59] And while god is long this time to you to walk up on the earth, to breathe the air that you're breathing, to have the activities of your limbs, to have the influence that you have, why don't you use it to empower someone else? Be a legend. Not only a legend, be a living legend. Let your legacy, let the works that you've done speak for you.

[01:26:23] Let the opportunities that came to your lap, you seized them with greatness. Let everything you're designed to do, let everything that your life holds, carry meaning to someone else who's watching you, to someone else who's impacted by your words, someone else who literally you imparted to them. Through your actions, through everything of your life, you're creating a more powerful legacy.

[01:26:47] My beloved, my beloved brother and brother, beloved sister, whomever, you are listening. On this podcast, wherever you are, you have an assignment for a great legacy. I hope that I challenge you in a different way, that every decision you make impacts your leg legacy. Every choice you make empowers your legacy.

[01:27:11] It's not just for you. Well, I may not have a big family. I may be single. I may be divorced, I may be old, I may be young. It doesn't matter if you're hearing this podcast, you have the opportunity to make your legacy great. It's not about female, male, boy, girl, young, old. It's about the now. You may not have done it before.

[01:27:39] You may have not thought about it before, but right now, you are creating a legacy that's gonna touch people that you know that you don't know. That you literally may meet and you may never meet, but it's all on you. What will your legacy be? Look at the greatest legacy of all. Greatest legacy of all. John 3:16 tells us for gospel:

[01:28:07] "Love the world that he gave his only begotten son that who suffer believed in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life."

[01:28:17] That's a legacy for God. Sin not his son until the world to condemn the world. But if the world threw him, might be saved. That's a legacy.

[01:28:25] That's a impactful legacy. That's a generational legacy. That's a worldwide legacy. One man sacrifice, create an impactment and a movement and an empowerment for people beyond his wildest dreams.

[01:28:43] You have the same ability. You don't know what you do. You're one decision away. You're one choice of way. And creating a legacy that nobody can take from you. My beloved brother, my beloved sister. Listen, I'm just here to tell you, you have a legacy. I hope today during this podcast. It empowered you. I hope today you heard something.

[01:29:05] I hope today something tugged on your heart. I hope today that something really cause you to realize that I still can impact some lives. It's not about my bad choices, you know, and you could have had some bad choices, but guess what? Now you can reduce those bad choices as experiences to help you become better.

[01:29:23] Now you can use those bad choices and experience to help someone else live their life. Remember, your experiences is for the benefit of someone else during their life journey. I hope today you're blessed by this. I hope today you will literally be remembered when you die and even while you're living, legend, that even when you die, someone can say, not just one person, but some people can stand up and say, I knew that person and this was their legacy, and we're gonna continue to keep their legacy on.

[01:29:57] God bless you today. I hope again you create a more powerful legacy.

[01:30:06] Thank you for listening to Pray.com's Relentless Hope podcast. I'm your host, Steve Gatena, and I'm here to help you love your life, lead with purpose, and leave a legacy of helping others. If you enjoyed this episode of Pray.com's Relentless Hope podcast, be sure to share it with someone in your life. You never know the impact you can make on someone's life by sharing one piece of inspiring content.

[01:30:35] Until next time, always remember to give hope a voice.