WEBVTT 00:01.297 --> 00:05.585 [SPEAKER_00]: You are listening to Blessed and Boston, presented by Anchor DeMedia. 00:06.206 --> 00:12.258 [SPEAKER_00]: In entrepreneurship podcasts for Christians, all about how to make God the CEO of your business. 00:12.879 --> 00:20.233 [SPEAKER_00]: Get ready to be inspired, challenged, but, well equipped, to live and build your destiny, his way. 00:28.432 --> 00:32.021 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Blessed and Boston podcast. 00:32.382 --> 00:35.590 [SPEAKER_00]: We are continuing on our Bible on Business Series. 00:35.770 --> 00:39.119 [SPEAKER_00]: If you are new here, this is a series that we started last year. 00:39.159 --> 00:44.432 [SPEAKER_00]: The Lord gave me the revelation that in this advancement of Christian entrepreneurship. 00:44.412 --> 01:10.656 [SPEAKER_00]: that there are so many resources out there, so many coaches, classes, content, et cetera, about doing business the Lord's way, things that are supposed to be supplements, people are using as their main nutrition, and he wanted us to go on this journey of this Bible on Business series so that we can realize that the Bible is truly our daily bread, especially when it comes 01:10.636 --> 01:17.364 [SPEAKER_00]: the vision, the operations, the team, the marketing, the sales, finances, is all right here in the world. 01:17.705 --> 01:26.015 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we have spent almost a year now exploring what the Bible says about various aspects of business, and I'm excited for us to continue on. 01:26.676 --> 01:32.323 [SPEAKER_00]: Today we are going to be discussing 01:32.607 --> 01:34.389 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let me tell y'all how good God is. 01:34.830 --> 01:44.521 [SPEAKER_00]: Y'all know I've been trying to figure out what is our next book club pick going to be and it wasn't until and actually I told y'all last week I was looking for an apologetics book. 01:44.561 --> 01:54.413 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to really get back to or for us to read something that discusses the foundations of the faith and defending the faith and all of that. 01:54.393 --> 01:58.341 [SPEAKER_00]: and I was still just, you know, not sure which book to read just yet. 01:58.962 --> 02:03.531 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm just waiting for the Lord to reveal it to me as I continue my search. 02:03.931 --> 02:10.444 [SPEAKER_00]: But it wasn't until I was preparing this episode that it hit me that we have to read a book that I love. 02:10.424 --> 02:13.930 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, with a capital L-O-V-E exclamation point. 02:14.531 --> 02:22.403 [SPEAKER_00]: I love the book Spirit Field Life by Charles Stanley, and I actually referenced it a lot when I was first reading it. 02:22.764 --> 02:29.935 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't even remember how long ago that was, but this is a perfect opportunity I believe for us to 02:29.915 --> 02:39.207 [SPEAKER_00]: get to the foundations of the faith and a big part of the foundation of our faith is for us to live spirit-filled lives because it's the gift. 02:39.227 --> 02:47.457 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean in the timing it's perfect with us being in a book of acts, we've already discussed pinnacles, we're talking about Holy Spirit laid decisions and business here. 02:47.778 --> 02:54.226 [SPEAKER_00]: So I believe this is a perfect continuation on where we've already been in the context of the podcast. 02:54.526 --> 02:57.390 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited for myself because I have a 02:57.370 --> 02:59.453 [SPEAKER_00]: some major transitions coming up. 03:00.054 --> 03:09.170 [SPEAKER_00]: And this book is something that I personally need to revisit as a reminder to continue to trust the Holy Spirit and where he's leading me in the season. 03:09.250 --> 03:16.342 [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe that I also make for someone really good commentary that I can give as we go through this book together. 03:17.003 --> 03:22.011 [SPEAKER_00]: For those of you who aren't familiar again, the book title is called The Spirit 03:21.991 --> 03:25.599 [SPEAKER_00]: Discover the joy of surrendering to the Holy Spirit. 03:26.180 --> 03:32.253 [SPEAKER_00]: The summary says, A wise, measured, and deeply passionate invitation to a spirit feel like. 03:32.914 --> 03:37.384 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you trying your best to be a good Christian, but still feel something's missing? 03:37.364 --> 03:46.416 [SPEAKER_00]: Do the peace and joy you long for, saying to allude you, does following Christ sometimes feels like a lot of work, or like it's just not working very well? 03:47.077 --> 03:52.665 [SPEAKER_00]: Much has been written and spoken and argued about the Holy Spirit and what it means to be filled with the Spirit. 03:53.065 --> 04:01.937 [SPEAKER_00]: Charles Stanley cuts through the confusion and introduces you to a living person as real and active as God the Father and Christ the Son. 04:01.917 --> 04:15.902 [SPEAKER_00]: Through personal stories, biblical exploration and insightful explanation, he will help you discover who the spirit is and how to develop a relationship with him, who the spirit isn't and how to avoid damaging misconceptions. 04:16.784 --> 04:24.077 [SPEAKER_00]: How being filled with the spirit actually works, what the Bible really teaches about spiritual signs such as speaking in tongues, 04:24.057 --> 04:30.344 [SPEAKER_00]: How the Spirit can increase your capacity for faith, hope, love, and personal transformation. 04:30.845 --> 04:37.832 [SPEAKER_00]: What it means to hear the Spirit's voice, how to make the most of your unique spiritual gifting to build up Christ's body. 04:38.373 --> 04:46.142 [SPEAKER_00]: What happens when the Spirit's power is unleashed in your workplace, your family life, your friendships, and every other area of your life. 04:46.682 --> 04:49.305 [SPEAKER_00]: In the Spirit-filled life, Charles Stanley reveals, 04:49.285 --> 04:54.277 [SPEAKER_00]: how to recognize and begin to live with the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit. 04:55.079 --> 04:57.686 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I can, as I said, I can vouch for this book. 04:57.786 --> 05:02.438 [SPEAKER_00]: I could see on my Amazon right now, it's out of the reading that I purchased this book in 2023. 05:03.019 --> 05:06.568 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I am excited to revisit it. 05:06.548 --> 05:09.833 [SPEAKER_00]: And excited to revisit it with you all of course. 05:10.133 --> 05:11.575 [SPEAKER_00]: So go ahead and grab that book. 05:12.116 --> 05:16.222 [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you get your books, we will start next week with chapter one. 05:16.422 --> 05:19.727 [SPEAKER_00]: I know some of y'all may be like, girl, I just listened to this. 05:20.067 --> 05:21.089 [SPEAKER_00]: We're already starting. 05:21.549 --> 05:23.372 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm only going to do one chapter first. 05:23.692 --> 05:28.499 [SPEAKER_00]: So you'll have plenty of time to catch up if you don't listen to this episode in real time. 05:28.960 --> 05:30.121 [SPEAKER_00]: But go ahead and grab the book. 05:30.141 --> 05:31.804 [SPEAKER_00]: The link will be in the show notes. 05:31.904 --> 05:32.725 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm excited. 05:32.705 --> 05:46.422 [SPEAKER_00]: to reread it and to introduce it here on the podcast because us living a spirit feel like is a non-agosible and is definitely a non-agosible when it comes to our businesses. 05:47.263 --> 05:53.430 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's hop into today's episode on how to make spirit-led business decisions. 05:53.410 --> 06:06.270 [SPEAKER_00]: It is my goal for this episode that you guys will walk away, knowing how to hear God, how to recognize his promptings in your business, and how to fast and pray strategically when you need clarity for your business. 06:06.590 --> 06:20.532 [SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to walk through a few places in Acts, Acts 8, Acts 13, Acts 16 that is going to show us how decisions were made by the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to pull how this applies to us as entrepreneurs. 06:20.512 --> 06:25.639 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we go to the first text, I'm going to tell you guys something exciting that happened today. 06:25.679 --> 06:46.906 [SPEAKER_00]: Actually, before I recorded this podcast, we got an email for my business and current media studios saying that we received an award from peer space, which is a wildly popular platform that connects content studios, event spaces, production spaces, et cetera, with individuals that are looking to book. 06:46.926 --> 06:50.350 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like the number one platform for that 06:50.330 --> 06:57.444 [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, with the type of space that we have, it's in our best interest to be listed on there, and we've been on there from the beginning. 06:57.825 --> 07:05.740 [SPEAKER_00]: So we got an email from peer space saying that Anchor Media Studios is receiving what they call their open doors award. 07:05.720 --> 07:10.424 [SPEAKER_00]: which is the award that they give to top spaces on their platform. 07:10.725 --> 07:23.936 [SPEAKER_00]: So we got the email today that Anchor Media Studios was receiving one of their 2025 open doors award as a top 10 space in Washington, D.C. And of course, that's quite exciting. 07:24.016 --> 07:27.319 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, who doesn't like to receive awards? 07:27.339 --> 07:35.727 [SPEAKER_00]: My mind usually always goes to, okay, that's cool, but how was that going to result in money? 07:35.707 --> 07:52.872 [SPEAKER_00]: There's that mean we're going to continue to grow our bookings and increase the bottom line like that's where my mind goes of course as One of the owners of the business, but as I sat back though because I do have a bad habit of not taking time to really smell the roses 07:52.852 --> 07:56.317 [SPEAKER_00]: and trying to skip over things as if they're not that big of a deal. 07:56.898 --> 08:11.058 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a trait of mine that I have to keep in check because it robs me of the opportunity to glorify God the way that he needs to for everything that he does, whether it is results in the big account changing or not. 08:11.579 --> 08:14.944 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when I took a step back from or checked myself really, 08:14.924 --> 08:23.058 [SPEAKER_00]: from just dismissing it, or acting like it's not that big deal until I see certain financial metrics being made. 08:23.338 --> 08:28.967 [SPEAKER_00]: When I checked myself on that, I really sat and was just like in awe. 08:29.408 --> 08:35.358 [SPEAKER_00]: And it was my husband that really just drove it home because I had went and told him about it. 08:35.839 --> 08:37.161 [SPEAKER_00]: And he was so excited. 08:37.321 --> 08:38.904 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, oh yeah, they gave us a little war. 08:38.964 --> 08:40.847 [SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm acting like it's no big deal. 08:40.827 --> 08:51.305 [SPEAKER_00]: And he was so excited and proud of what we have been able to accomplish and it just reinforced as I sat there and just thought about what the Lord has done. 08:51.346 --> 08:57.857 [SPEAKER_00]: When I think about it and even on his show, I shared my journey and the difficulties 08:57.837 --> 09:00.561 [SPEAKER_00]: that have come with this new type of business. 09:00.601 --> 09:02.684 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been in the online space for a long time. 09:02.984 --> 09:06.650 [SPEAKER_00]: This was my first time building a business with the physical location. 09:06.770 --> 09:10.075 [SPEAKER_00]: And so it was a learning curve in so many different ways for me. 09:10.635 --> 09:15.422 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's also show me the goodness of God in so many different ways. 09:15.482 --> 09:19.728 [SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't listened to that testimony episode, I'll link it in the show notes. 09:19.909 --> 09:22.933 [SPEAKER_00]: Please go back and listen because I go into great detail. 09:22.913 --> 09:31.924 [SPEAKER_00]: about the challenges, the specific challenges that we faced, and the specific ways in which the Lord has continued to bless that business. 09:32.605 --> 09:51.688 [SPEAKER_00]: And I have to repent today because I went to dismiss it as opposed to really sitting in the accomplishment, yes, but just another example of the goodness of God that I can share with you all. 09:52.478 --> 10:04.665 [SPEAKER_00]: We, Anchor Media Studios, this God Center, Unapologetic God Center, Holy Spirit Lab Business, is top 10 in the DC area. 10:05.810 --> 10:15.241 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't tell me that the law will not make your business successful just because you choose to build it off biblical principles. 10:15.801 --> 10:26.133 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so passionate about this Bible on business series because I see the result in the fruit of living or doing business this way in my own businesses. 10:26.413 --> 10:32.340 [SPEAKER_00]: I see the fruit of it in other Christian businesses like the ones that we discussed last week like Hobby Lobby. 10:32.320 --> 10:38.287 [SPEAKER_00]: Chick-fil-A, day spring, the list goes on of successful Christian businesses. 10:38.667 --> 10:47.097 [SPEAKER_00]: So as we go through this episode today, and I talk about Holy Spirit laid decisions, don't just take it as something that sounds good, and theory. 10:47.637 --> 10:49.259 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to really apply it. 10:49.339 --> 10:52.543 [SPEAKER_00]: It's my goal that this episode breaks this down. 10:53.404 --> 11:00.572 [SPEAKER_00]: Simple enough to where you have accepted that this is the only way, but you also have the tools to apply it. 11:00.552 --> 11:05.757 [SPEAKER_00]: to how you operate and grow and make decisions as it relates to your business. 11:06.537 --> 11:09.560 [SPEAKER_00]: So the first place we're going to go is an X829. 11:09.900 --> 11:17.467 [SPEAKER_00]: To give you a little context, X8 takes place during a time of significant transition in the early church. 11:17.907 --> 11:29.698 [SPEAKER_00]: So after the stoning of Stephen and X7, persecution broke out in Jerusalem that called many believers including Philip to scatter and 11:30.438 --> 11:44.016 [SPEAKER_00]: Philip, who was one of the seven deacons chosen in Acts 6 to serve the church, had just finished evangelizing and Samaria where many people were healed and baptized and you'll see that in Acts 8, 4 to 13. 11:44.617 --> 11:54.450 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, let's start actually at Acts 8, 26 and then so I'll read a little bit before the main text of 29 and then we'll read a little bit after. 11:54.470 --> 11:58.335 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be reading 11:58.940 --> 12:06.072 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, as for Philip and Angel of the Lord said to him, go down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza. 12:06.453 --> 12:15.008 [SPEAKER_00]: So he started out and he met the treasure of Ethiopia, a unit of greatest authority under the conduct day, the queen of Ethiopia. 12:15.528 --> 12:21.494 [SPEAKER_00]: The unit had gone to Jerusalem to worship and he was now returning, seated in his carriage. 12:21.554 --> 12:24.458 [SPEAKER_00]: He was reading aloud from the book of the Prophet Isaiah. 12:24.678 --> 12:34.308 [SPEAKER_00]: So here's the text that I want to highlight in this verse 29, the Holy Spirit said to Philip go over and walk along beside the carriage. 12:34.829 --> 12:37.952 [SPEAKER_00]: Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the Prophet Isaiah. 12:38.352 --> 12:44.539 [SPEAKER_00]: Philip asked, do you understand what you're reading? 12:44.840 --> 12:47.924 [SPEAKER_00]: and he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. 12:48.765 --> 13:06.426 [SPEAKER_00]: The passage of scripture he had been reading was this, he was led like a sheet to the slaughter and as a lamb is silent before the shears, he did not open his mouth, he was humiliated and received no justice, who can speak of his descendants for his life was taken from the earth. 13:06.406 --> 13:11.178 [SPEAKER_00]: The Unic Acts Philip, tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else? 13:11.620 --> 13:16.753 [SPEAKER_00]: So, begin with the same scripture, Philip told him about the good news about Jesus. 13:17.037 --> 13:21.824 [SPEAKER_00]: As they wrote along, they came to some water, and the Unix said, look, there's some water. 13:22.204 --> 13:23.426 [SPEAKER_00]: Why can't I be baptized? 13:23.946 --> 13:28.272 [SPEAKER_00]: He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down to the water and Philip baptized him. 13:28.753 --> 13:32.518 [SPEAKER_00]: When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. 13:32.558 --> 13:37.645 [SPEAKER_00]: The Unix never saw him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 13:38.148 --> 13:43.759 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I read all of that and give that context because I want us to really understand the totality of what's happening here. 13:44.320 --> 13:52.996 [SPEAKER_00]: As I said earlier in Acts 7, that's when Stephen was strong and a lot of believers began to scatter and disperse because they were being persecuted. 13:53.337 --> 13:56.443 [SPEAKER_00]: But as they disperse, they began to evangelize. 13:56.423 --> 14:09.856 [SPEAKER_00]: So, something that the enemy may have met for evil with the persecution the Lord used for good, because they were able to effectively spread the gospel in places they may not have been, had they not been persecuted. 14:10.077 --> 14:17.304 [SPEAKER_00]: So, it's obvious and easy to kind of see the Holy Spirit's hand and the strategy behind this. 14:17.924 --> 14:21.248 [SPEAKER_00]: But it also makes what happened next, confusing. 14:21.768 --> 14:25.452 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sure it was 14:25.432 --> 14:33.743 [SPEAKER_00]: But he was out in Samaria with this powerful evangelism campaign and people were being healed and baptized. 14:33.823 --> 14:34.964 [SPEAKER_00]: It was so fruitful. 14:35.745 --> 14:42.354 [SPEAKER_00]: And you would think or assume in your natural mind that the Lord will just build off of this momentum. 14:42.834 --> 14:44.536 [SPEAKER_00]: But that's not what happened. 14:44.556 --> 14:52.907 [SPEAKER_00]: He gets sent to this desert road 14:52.887 --> 15:06.699 [SPEAKER_00]: down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza, and so he did, and this allowed him to have this encounter with the treasure of Ethiopia, which as we just read, led to him being baptized. 15:07.320 --> 15:21.612 [SPEAKER_00]: Now again, if you look at this chain of events and the circumstances, this may not make sense from a strategy standpoint, because how do you go from this massive impact in 15:21.592 --> 15:40.444 [SPEAKER_00]: So then going down this desert road and only talking to one person, that doesn't sound like building on momentum, that doesn't sound like glory to glory, because we love to add scripture to our natural understanding, that doesn't sound like what we would perceive going from glory to glory to be. 15:40.542 --> 15:55.504 [SPEAKER_00]: That isn't sound right, but it's what the Holy Spirit orchestrated, and you may be a bit more understanding where you're only looking at this from a ministry standpoint, because you may understand, like, well, you know, God cares about the one. 15:55.924 --> 16:03.175 [SPEAKER_00]: So the Lord has strategically 16:03.155 --> 16:05.582 [SPEAKER_00]: get him back ties and all of that, amen. 16:05.662 --> 16:06.324 [SPEAKER_00]: Glory to God. 16:06.364 --> 16:07.969 [SPEAKER_00]: We want another soul for the kingdom. 16:08.250 --> 16:12.261 [SPEAKER_00]: You may be understanding of it in this context, but what are the context of this? 16:12.562 --> 16:15.149 [SPEAKER_00]: What if this is applied in the business context? 16:15.189 --> 16:17.215 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you be just as understanding? 16:17.363 --> 16:26.338 [SPEAKER_00]: If you went from reaching millions or hundreds of thousands of people to 1, 10, 20, 30, would you be just as understanding? 16:27.180 --> 16:32.629 [SPEAKER_00]: Or would you stay at Stargette Anxious, Stargette and Worry, wondering, has God forgotten about me? 16:32.649 --> 16:37.397 [SPEAKER_00]: It's something wrong with me, is the Lord's hand no longer owe me what happened? 16:37.377 --> 16:50.118 [SPEAKER_00]: would you start looking for problems as opposed to having the posture of Philip of being just willing and obedient to do whatever the Lord said despite if it makes sense to you or not. 16:50.639 --> 16:52.201 [SPEAKER_00]: Philip here was flexible. 16:52.822 --> 16:56.949 [SPEAKER_00]: He didn't strategize or try to assume what was going to happen with this encounter. 16:57.270 --> 16:59.413 [SPEAKER_00]: The angel gave him instruction and he went. 16:59.714 --> 17:01.697 [SPEAKER_00]: He was simply available. 17:02.133 --> 17:10.605 [SPEAKER_00]: He was available in obedient to do what the Lord said and the Holy Spirit provided the opportunity and the instruction. 17:11.507 --> 17:29.473 [SPEAKER_00]: So are you going to be caught up and what you see when it comes to your the abs and flows of your business or are you going to be available in obedient to how the Holy Spirit wants to move at any given time, even if that moving feels like it's backwards. 17:30.702 --> 17:36.074 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've had to be checked in this area in business as well, especially when it's come to this podcast. 17:36.094 --> 17:44.513 [SPEAKER_00]: This podcast at its peak was reaching like fourth thing, the highest number that I've seen is 400,000 listings a month. 17:45.114 --> 17:47.580 [SPEAKER_00]: We are not at 400,000 listings a month. 17:48.775 --> 17:50.337 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's frustrating. 17:50.377 --> 17:56.946 [SPEAKER_00]: There have been seasons where, you know, that there have been peaks and then there have been decreases and more podcasts come out. 17:56.986 --> 18:04.416 [SPEAKER_00]: People's consumer habits change and I've seen abs and flows of lessons over the last eight years that I've been doing this. 18:04.677 --> 18:08.502 [SPEAKER_00]: But there have been a period where I'm like, God, what happened, like did I miss something? 18:08.842 --> 18:10.084 [SPEAKER_00]: What happened that I messed up? 18:10.444 --> 18:14.530 [SPEAKER_00]: It starts to mess with me internally because I'm like, 18:14.510 --> 18:44.432 [SPEAKER_00]: What was happening because to me doing something for the Lord means steady growth there might be roadblocks You might you know have some things that you have to overcome you might take some losses here and there I understand that but the trajectory though overall should be consistently going up in my opinion That's not true, but how I feel like it should go is it should be steadily moving upward 18:44.412 --> 18:48.135 [SPEAKER_00]: that is so consecrated and dedicated to the Lord. 18:48.155 --> 18:50.490 [SPEAKER_00]: It starts making me look at myself crazy. 18:51.095 --> 18:58.824 [SPEAKER_00]: And what where I landed at with that, because with that anxiety, let me to so many things, should I be doing this? 18:58.844 --> 18:59.644 [SPEAKER_00]: Should I be doing that? 18:59.705 --> 19:01.527 [SPEAKER_00]: These are the trends, should I do this? 19:01.547 --> 19:10.236 [SPEAKER_00]: Should I do that in the Lord has consistently said, no, just continue to fight the good fight, continue to do what I have called you to do. 19:10.537 --> 19:11.037 [SPEAKER_00]: That's it. 19:11.297 --> 19:12.839 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to do anything different. 19:12.859 --> 19:15.482 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to conform to the patterns of this world. 19:15.462 --> 19:19.848 [SPEAKER_00]: just focus on renewing your mind and casting those cares on to me. 19:20.189 --> 19:22.352 [SPEAKER_00]: And if I need you to do something different, I would. 19:22.412 --> 19:37.473 [SPEAKER_00]: And for me, the Lord telling me that just allowed me to real myself back in to be available in obedience as Philip was without the internal noise of my own perfectionism, my own achieving nature. 19:38.194 --> 19:40.778 [SPEAKER_00]: Being so loud, I can't hear God. 19:41.652 --> 19:51.021 [SPEAKER_00]: And so now my mindset with anything, business, this podcast, anything is like, you know what am I doing with the Lord said. 19:51.271 --> 19:55.838 [SPEAKER_00]: And my being pure is my heart rate and my truly living when I'm talking about it. 19:55.858 --> 20:19.152 [SPEAKER_00]: The answer is yes, the result is not my business and I have to rest in that and so do you because there's so many opportunities and business to get sucked right in to what you may see with the trends are what's going on and all that does is pull you farther and farther away from being available and flexible enough to be used by the Lord. 20:19.503 --> 20:39.638 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let me show you why us reading this Bible is so important because we get full stories when we go and we read the text that can then inform us on God's character and allow us to have peace on the way in which our story is going to end. 20:39.618 --> 20:47.251 [SPEAKER_00]: When we look at this encounter with Philip and the Ethiopian and Treasurer, we get the context of the outcome of that. 20:47.512 --> 21:00.073 [SPEAKER_00]: So that if you are in that position where you go from hundreds of thousands of listens to one, two, three, or you go from hundreds of thousands of dollars to just barely making it, 21:00.053 --> 21:13.322 [SPEAKER_00]: you can be encouraged because the same God who orchestrated this so strategically is the same God that's orchestrating your life just as strategically and you just have to be available in obedient. 21:13.342 --> 21:14.685 [SPEAKER_00]: So we go to the text. 21:14.825 --> 21:20.357 [SPEAKER_00]: First of all, this was just precise timing of the Lord. 21:20.337 --> 21:41.451 [SPEAKER_00]: where the Lord directed Philip exactly where this Ethiopian treasure was, who was reading the book of Isaiah, who had questions, and now he has someone who was able to appropriately minister to him and answer those questions, so much so to where he got baptized right there as soon as he saw some water. 21:42.713 --> 21:47.820 [SPEAKER_00]: The Lord divinely orchestrated that at the perfect time to win his soul. 21:48.141 --> 21:53.468 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, you may look at it as just one, but check out the global impact that came from this. 21:53.969 --> 21:56.232 [SPEAKER_00]: This encounter was not just about one man. 21:56.513 --> 21:57.895 [SPEAKER_00]: It was not just about him. 21:58.596 --> 22:07.168 [SPEAKER_00]: This marked the first recorded conversion of a Gentile from Africa and in early step in the global expansion of Christianity. 22:07.672 --> 22:13.820 [SPEAKER_00]: So this allowed Christianity to be taken into a whole, another continent. 22:14.621 --> 22:21.491 [SPEAKER_00]: Phillips saw one man, God saw and orchestrated an opportunity for nations to be reached. 22:22.352 --> 22:26.417 [SPEAKER_00]: And Philip ain't even have to go to Ethiopia. 22:26.838 --> 22:35.670 [SPEAKER_00]: The Lord just let him meet that one Ethiopian man allow him to get baptized and then he's going to take the gospel back to his land. 22:35.650 --> 22:43.342 [SPEAKER_00]: So imagine how much time and energy and resources and money that Philip was saved by not even half into go. 22:43.362 --> 22:53.979 [SPEAKER_00]: He just had to move when the angel of the Lord told him to move, meet that one man, and then that one man, go and take the gospel to his nation. 22:54.099 --> 22:57.625 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I have to calm myself down because 22:57.605 --> 22:59.430 [SPEAKER_00]: This is so exciting to me. 22:59.972 --> 23:04.606 [SPEAKER_00]: There is nothing at no third party source via a book, a podcast, a program, whatever. 23:04.646 --> 23:12.188 [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to tell me that it's more exciting, more encouraging, and more spot on than this text. 23:13.012 --> 23:30.126 [SPEAKER_00]: It's telling me right here because your flash will tell you only one person is listening to my show only one person's watching my YouTube video I only have one client so what I'm doing is a meaningful he talked to one person fill up in this instance talk to one person 23:31.523 --> 23:42.294 [SPEAKER_00]: that had global impact, that one listener, that one viewer, that one client, you never know the way in which the Lord is going to divinely orchestrate that. 23:42.574 --> 23:57.750 [SPEAKER_00]: So rejoice and be glad in the one and rejoice and be glad in the one who brought them to you because he always has more 23:59.333 --> 24:01.376 [SPEAKER_00]: and we can get excited about that. 24:03.498 --> 24:07.143 [SPEAKER_00]: This level of precision only comes from the Holy Spirit. 24:07.383 --> 24:27.349 [SPEAKER_00]: That's why our Lord strategy is in tactics and our education and all of that that we have, these skills that we take so much pride in and we poke our chest out about, they're cool, they'll get you some results, they'll get you some growth, but it will never multiply the way that an instruction from the Lord will never. 24:27.329 --> 24:38.541 [SPEAKER_00]: You will always be selling yourself short if the Holy Spirit is not instructing you on what decisions to make, or if you allow what you see to keep you from be flexible and willing to obey. 24:38.561 --> 24:52.797 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, before we move to the next piece of scripture, something I always think hard about when preparing the notes for this podcast, because it's again, it's my goal that this isn't just something that's gonna help you up, but this is something that will click. 24:52.777 --> 24:57.441 [SPEAKER_00]: and that you can apply so that you can see the Lord move in your life and business. 24:57.461 --> 25:08.231 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's not just about how great this episode work, but it now becomes experiential because by you applying what you've learned, you've seen the Lord move in your life and in your business firsthand. 25:08.592 --> 25:20.843 [SPEAKER_00]: So one thing that I like to do is really sit and think what it can potentially block this from being internalized and implied by the or applied by the listener. 25:20.823 --> 25:33.638 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when I thought about that for this, some of you, and I hear this often when I talk to you guys, whether it's online, DMs, emails, or in person, you may be thinking, okay, we'll tell you how do I know that it's God telling me to do this? 25:33.938 --> 25:39.544 [SPEAKER_00]: How do I know it's Him telling me to pivot and not my own thoughts or my own functions? 25:40.045 --> 25:48.855 [SPEAKER_00]: If that's you and you're not sure how to know if it's the Holy Spirit giving you this instruction or some other source, I want you to understand three things. 25:49.207 --> 25:51.494 [SPEAKER_00]: God's voice always aligns with Scripture. 25:52.477 --> 25:53.962 [SPEAKER_00]: You have to be in your word. 25:54.223 --> 25:59.379 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not talking about the little verse of the day that pop up on a Bible app that you're reading. 25:59.399 --> 26:00.904 [SPEAKER_00]: Keep it pushing, no. 26:01.070 --> 26:20.210 [SPEAKER_00]: If you use that, read it, and then open up a study Bible, read the full context of it, not just that, because pay attention to how we study it even here, to where the main text that I was trying to communicate was Acts 829, but I had to give you what happened in Acts 7, so you could know what's happening in Acts 8. 26:20.470 --> 26:25.255 [SPEAKER_00]: I had to start at verse 26, so you know where we at before we even get to verse 29. 26:25.235 --> 26:31.180 [SPEAKER_00]: and I had to read a little bit after so that you understand the result of what verse 28 I mean, it's talking about. 26:31.921 --> 26:33.703 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you have to do the same thing. 26:34.063 --> 26:49.938 [SPEAKER_00]: I have to research the cultural context and overview of what was happening in this time so that I could be able to tell you that, oh no, that Ethiopian then went and took that back to the continent of Africa and this was the impact of how the Holy Spirit moved there. 26:50.378 --> 26:52.660 [SPEAKER_00]: All of that comes from studying. 26:52.640 --> 27:00.168 [SPEAKER_00]: not just reading a line here and there, not just these bite-sized pieces, a stuff that sound like Christianity. 27:00.648 --> 27:11.179 [SPEAKER_00]: You have to be somebody who's open your word and is dedicated to studying it, where you're not using, I don't understand, as an excuse when you can figure everything else out. 27:11.540 --> 27:22.191 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't be somebody who makes excuses who procrastinate, who says that they wanna get closer to the Lord, but doesn't do anything to actually draw nearer 27:22.171 --> 27:24.474 [SPEAKER_00]: you have to pursue him. 27:24.514 --> 27:46.086 [SPEAKER_00]: He's always right there waiting with open arms, wanting to give you revelation, wanting to point you in a right direction and to organize your steps to get you the resources and the things that you will need to help you better digest the word, but are you going to be someone who is committed? 27:48.125 --> 27:49.250 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's the first thing. 27:49.370 --> 27:57.325 [SPEAKER_00]: If you don't know if this is your or this is God, get committed to getting to know God and you do that through his scripture. 27:57.642 --> 28:03.271 [SPEAKER_00]: His word that he left us with and the more you do that, the more you'll easily be able to identify. 28:03.591 --> 28:07.277 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll easily also be able to identify when there are other factors in play. 28:07.597 --> 28:15.349 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's emotions, maybe it's circumstances, maybe it's the enemy, but you'll know how to navigate and clear out the noise so that you can hear him. 28:15.850 --> 28:20.477 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll know how to recognize when it's the enemy playing tricks on you and not God. 28:20.744 --> 28:23.067 [SPEAKER_00]: I had a dream actually this week. 28:23.087 --> 28:25.129 [SPEAKER_00]: There's something I'm believing in God for right now. 28:25.550 --> 28:34.260 [SPEAKER_00]: And I had this dream that the worst case scenario that happened, that can happen, and what I'm believing in the Lord for happened. 28:35.382 --> 28:39.527 [SPEAKER_00]: And immediately in my dream life, I was getting frustrated and flustered. 28:39.547 --> 28:41.870 [SPEAKER_00]: Like God, I thought I heard you on this and all of that. 28:42.410 --> 28:46.255 [SPEAKER_00]: When I woke up, I woke up, I woke up myself up because I could tell that I was dreaming. 28:46.816 --> 28:50.380 [SPEAKER_00]: I woke myself up. 28:50.360 --> 28:54.750 [SPEAKER_00]: The devil is a liar and I'm going back to sleep and I slept well. 28:55.034 --> 29:04.923 [SPEAKER_00]: But if I wasn't someone who was in my word, who spent time with the Lord, who was committed to him, I could have been up all night like man, is that God giving me a sign? 29:05.644 --> 29:11.169 [SPEAKER_00]: Is that him showing me that, that wasn't him giving me the instruction before that, that this is going to happen to me. 29:11.249 --> 29:17.895 [SPEAKER_00]: It could spark so much fear and frustration and anxiety, but I immediately recognize that this is not my God. 29:18.175 --> 29:25.041 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the enemy trying to plant some seeds of doubt and I were built in a name of Jesus and I'm going back to bed. 29:25.021 --> 29:29.044 [SPEAKER_00]: So again, are you going to be committed? 29:31.135 --> 29:31.960 [SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, 29:33.003 --> 29:35.667 [SPEAKER_00]: When you hear from the Holy Spirit, it brings about peace. 29:36.388 --> 29:39.252 [SPEAKER_00]: I did an episode, man, I can't even remember. 29:39.653 --> 29:43.859 [SPEAKER_00]: If you ever went to reference an episode, I mean, we got eight years worth of content here. 29:44.440 --> 29:51.750 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you ever wanted to see if I talked about something on the show, you can always go to BlustinBossUp.com. 29:51.770 --> 30:01.845 [SPEAKER_00]: There is like a feed on the homepage of the show, and you could type in a word, and it'll pop up based off if it's like, in the show notes or something like that. 30:01.825 --> 30:03.388 [SPEAKER_00]: So go there and type in peace. 30:04.109 --> 30:04.951 [SPEAKER_00]: And it should pop up. 30:05.592 --> 30:06.634 [SPEAKER_00]: But I did an episode. 30:06.674 --> 30:15.191 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe it was last year some time talking about the peace that comes from the lore and how it's different than how we make perceived peace. 30:15.953 --> 30:22.365 [SPEAKER_00]: When the lore gives you a direction or an instruction, the peace that comes with that is an inner knowing. 30:22.345 --> 30:32.879 [SPEAKER_00]: an inner assurance that this is what I got to do despite how your flesh feels about it because your flesh won't always be at peace with what the Lord tells you to do. 30:33.159 --> 30:50.361 [SPEAKER_00]: You might be anxious, you might be a little stressed out, you might be sad and upset, you won't feel always the flesh physical peace when you hear from the Lord and if you're looking for that as a sign 30:50.341 --> 31:14.205 [SPEAKER_00]: There is an inner knowing in a in a insurance that comes, that's the piece that I'm talking about that comes from hearing from the Lord and again, that will come with a lot of times your flesh not being at peace, but that doesn't mean that that's not God, it just means it made you uncomfortable and that's okay so go back and listen to that episode because I went into a lot more detail that I'm willing to go into here. 31:14.624 --> 31:25.018 [SPEAKER_00]: And lastly, if you're that person struggling is this the Lord, most of the time when the Lord asks you to do something, it requires faith, it requires you to step out and trust him. 31:25.799 --> 31:35.773 [SPEAKER_00]: If you want some examples, go to Hebrews 11, the hall of faith at the bottom, give you a list of full lists of people that you can study who stepped out on faith. 31:37.075 --> 31:41.020 [SPEAKER_00]: Go look at, go study the scripture in Acts chapter 8. 31:41.455 --> 31:49.634 [SPEAKER_00]: We started at verse 26 and read to I want to say 30 or 31 and look at how Philip just did with the law say it wasn't no back and forth. 31:49.674 --> 31:58.114 [SPEAKER_00]: There wasn't no dialogue the angel and have to tell him be not afraid as you hear we've heard so be the other times when the angel of the law comes to speak. 31:58.094 --> 31:59.236 [SPEAKER_00]: but it requires faith. 31:59.316 --> 32:01.360 [SPEAKER_00]: So again, you're in that position. 32:01.400 --> 32:05.308 [SPEAKER_00]: You're struggling to know who is given the instruction. 32:05.729 --> 32:07.672 [SPEAKER_00]: God's voice always in lines with scripture. 32:08.113 --> 32:11.520 [SPEAKER_00]: It always carries peace in most of the time it requires faith. 32:12.381 --> 32:19.495 [SPEAKER_00]: As you're learning to discern and obey the voice of the Lord, something else that you could do is 32:19.880 --> 32:20.441 [SPEAKER_00]: journal. 32:20.861 --> 32:28.808 [SPEAKER_00]: I often suggest journaling because it allows you to really document and type into what the Lord is doing at any point in time. 32:29.308 --> 32:45.863 [SPEAKER_00]: Deciding a voice of the Holy Spirit, especially earlier on and as you're growing in your faith, and even as I wouldn't even say just early on, but even as your life gets busy and more noisy is that much more important for you to force yourself to be focused and present and type in so you could see how he moves. 32:46.344 --> 32:49.887 [SPEAKER_00]: We talked about 32:49.867 --> 33:06.306 [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked plenty of times when they show before about how, yes, the Lord comes and these grandiose manifestations of his presence, he comes in the earthquake, he comes in a fire, he comes in the storm, but he also comes in a still small voice. 33:07.450 --> 33:10.355 [SPEAKER_00]: gentleness is a fruit of this spirit. 33:10.775 --> 33:16.004 [SPEAKER_00]: And so sometimes you're going to knock you up to add your head and really it's going to be undeniable. 33:16.584 --> 33:23.856 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes he's going to be like, hey, daughter, hey, son, do this, do that. 33:23.836 --> 33:29.007 [SPEAKER_00]: and you have to be paying attention enough to hear him even when he's whispering. 33:29.728 --> 33:40.832 [SPEAKER_00]: In a great way to do that, I believe, as you're just getting into the flow of things is to journal and also when you're busy to journal because it forces you to tap in to what's going on. 33:40.812 --> 33:51.605 [SPEAKER_00]: Something that I did early on in my work as I was growing in my relationship with God is I would write down everything that I thought I heard the Lord say I would write down all my dreams. 33:51.666 --> 34:09.688 [SPEAKER_00]: I would have I would write down any downloads that I got in just any prayer requested I have like I would write everything down and then I will go back and record updates to where the Lord told me to do this and I don't know But I'm going to just do it and we'll see 34:10.529 --> 34:14.614 [SPEAKER_00]: And then I'll go do it, see the result of it, and it come back and update my journal. 34:14.894 --> 34:23.385 [SPEAKER_00]: And I will go as far as put like a sticky note on these individual pages so that they were easy for me to reference in all the 50 million other things. 34:23.886 --> 34:30.954 [SPEAKER_00]: I was journaling about, but I had these little sticky note tabs where I could go back and reference like, oh, the Lord came through here. 34:31.355 --> 34:32.556 [SPEAKER_00]: Man, the Lord came through there. 34:32.957 --> 34:34.038 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, that was God. 34:34.218 --> 34:35.380 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, that was not God. 34:35.921 --> 34:40.266 [SPEAKER_00]: Man, I can't tell you how many times I thought that I had met my husband. 34:40.246 --> 34:44.690 [SPEAKER_00]: And then Jarnos, I had to go back and be like, girl, that was not the Lord. 34:44.710 --> 34:51.416 [SPEAKER_00]: I had to go a day like a board, psych, that was not him, girl, that move on. 34:52.057 --> 34:58.102 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's great to be able to write it down into Jarnos. 34:58.122 --> 34:59.784 [SPEAKER_00]: So you can recognize when it is him. 35:00.084 --> 35:01.845 [SPEAKER_00]: And also recognize the pattern of the enemy. 35:01.865 --> 35:10.253 [SPEAKER_00]: Because the enemy is predictable to, he really is. 35:10.233 --> 35:24.369 [SPEAKER_00]: And so again, being aware and present and documenting is very helpful as you continue to build up your faith muscle of doing what the Lord says. 35:24.429 --> 35:29.755 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking at the time and we at 35 minutes. 35:30.816 --> 35:36.342 [SPEAKER_00]: That was only one of the texts that I wanted to discuss. 35:36.727 --> 35:49.266 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to say three or four total, but because of the time, this is going to be definitely a multi-part episode, because I'm not skipping over that then, so to say it's time. 35:49.286 --> 35:59.241 [SPEAKER_00]: Like we really want to take our time with this, because this is so important to our entrepreneurial journey and it is so, 35:59.221 --> 36:08.697 [SPEAKER_00]: obviously objected with all of the other voices that are tempting us to follow them as it relates to our business. 36:08.717 --> 36:18.613 [SPEAKER_00]: So I want us to be thorough and clear and truly applying following the Holy Spirit in business so that we don't fall into the trap. 36:18.593 --> 36:33.890 [SPEAKER_00]: So I pray that this episode has blessed you share it with a friend who needs to hear this Leave us a five-star review if this blessed you Thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of the blessed and boss the podcast. 36:33.951 --> 36:35.775 [SPEAKER_00]: I love you guys and I'll see you in the next one