Host Rochelle Jones is joined by guest Pastor James Funches of Blessed Hope Tabernacle to discuss having faith to never give up, "if you build it right you won't go wrong", Matthew 7:24-29, not being afraid to ask for help or pull yourself up, avoiding outside influences, & more!
WBCA Podcasts
Never Give Up "Where Giving Up Is Not An Option"
Host Rochelle Jones is joined by guest Pastor James Funches of Blessed Hope Tabernacle to discuss having faith to never give up, "if you build it right you won't go wrong", Matthew 7:24-29, not being afraid to ask for help or pull yourself up, avoiding outside influences, & more!
- Duration:
- 25m
- Broadcast on:
- 11 Aug 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
- Hello, hello, you're listening to Never Give Up. We're giving up as not an option. I'm your host, Rochelle Jones. It is, I just want to greet you, amen, in the name of the Lord, and I thank you for listening in. I'm excited about what God is doing, and guess what? I'm training myself to not have to see what he's doing. Just walking in it, walking in what he said, walking in his promises. Well, I have a surprise to you. I have my favorite guest, singer, not an author yet, but working on it. Speaker, evangelist, Pastor James Funches from Blessed Hope, Tabernacle. He's all the way out there at ADL Street in South Boston. If you're in the area, it'll be great to just happen in. Pass the Funches, how are you doing? Greet the people, amen. - I'm so big. - Holly Lou, yeah. - Love the day of evangelists, but that's from the day. - Yes, yes. Man, I just want to ask you what the quote was, it's from Sunday, amen. Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool, pretty neat, and see how we can kind of talk about that. Once again, our show is never give up. We want to address the doubt in you. We want to address those areas and issues that make you just want to throw in the towel and say, that's it, I'm sick of it. I'm not doing it no more, and we want to speak to that voice, that person, that mood, amen. We want to speak to that so that you can get up again. The Bible says that a just man may fall seven times, but he'll get up again. And it's so funny, when I came into the radio station, you know how they ask you to like check in, and so he said, okay, say something, talk into the mic so they can get your levels. And I started saying, well, the Eenci-Weenci spider went up the water sprout, down came the rain, the storms, and washed the spider out, but out came the sun that dried up all the rain, and the Eenci-Weenci spider went up the sprout again. And I said, check that out. If that's not a can-do, never give up attitude, where giving up is an option. I mean, he was halfway up the sprout, all the way up the sprout, we don't know, but he was washed down, washed away, right? But then the sun, and you could say, "S-U-N," but I'm gonna say, "S-O-N." The sun came out and dried up all the rain, but guess what, he started back on his journey. And that's what we wanna address. You might've fallen off, you might've given up, you might have animosity, hatred, hurt in your heart, but we wanna say, get up and get in walking up that sprout again so you can get to your destination that you can walk in your destiny. Amen. - Come on. - Pass the punches. Come on, I'm tagging you. - Amen. Well, you talked about Sunday. Sunday, my thought for Sunday, which was, if you build it right, you won't go wrong. - Yes. - And my text was, tear it down and start all over again. - That's right. - Come on now. - That's right. - I believe that we have to tear down some things and restart again. 'Cause when you talk about the easy, busy spider, remember my scripture came from Matthew 7 and 24. And Matthew 7 and 24 talks about the house and the rain. You know, it says, let me give it to him, right, with your mind. - No, no, amen. Yeah, Matthew 7. - And we'll read it. Matthew 7, 24 to 29. - Oh, amen. All right. - Matthew 7 is the devil who shortly hears these things of mine and does them. - Yeah. - I will liken him to be a wise man who builds his house on a rock. - Yes, yes. - When you said that this is busy spider, when you talked about the sand, you don't make me think about that. And it says, and it says, and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on the house and it did not fall. - Amen. - It founded on a rock. Amen. - Yes, right. - Come on though. - That's right. - And the other scripture says, but he who does it is like the man who builds it on sink and sand. - Yes. - And, you know, when we talked on Sunday, we talked about, you know, God wants to trust us. But in order for us to trust him, we got to build our house on a solid rock. - Yes. - Amen. - That's right. - And that's hard for some people. But I think right now is the time for people to really start getting back to the Lord events. - It's the time. - I think this is, I feel it in my spirit. Even on Sunday, you know, without friends and family Sunday, it was, to me, it was a great turnout. And I thank God for what he's doing. But you know, I heard the Lord say to me today, every Sunday is gonna be like friends and family. - Amen. - Come on now. - Every day. - Every Sunday is gonna be like friends and family. - That's right. - I just, I just begin to thank God, you know, 'cause, you know, like you said, there are people who are involved in what people think, but I'm involved with what God thinks. - That's right. - Amen. - That's gotta be the greater message. - I remember, like I said, I remember baptizing 300 people. And then I remember going down to one person, but I'll continue to fight. I'll continue to fight. The race is not given to the swip no stronger. He's not enduring to the end. - That's right. - Amen. - Just build your house on the rock. - It's like there's 1,000 doing this one first. - That's right. - Amen. - Yeah. - And you know what I told God, I said God, as long as I can pay the rent, I'll keep the doors open. - Amen. - Amen. - That's what I meant. - And even if you're outside, guess what? You still preach the word. Amen. - You know that. - That's right. So yeah, yeah. God is doing something great. But I like the scripture 'cause it's talking about it. Where are you putting your investment? Where are you building? What are you doing? What does that look like? Is it a wise man or a foolish man? And here we wanna remove any doubt so that you know where you're standing. 'Cause I know Pastor Funds is a lot of foolish people who think they're wise or think they're getting over. And they very well could be. The Bible says don't fret not worrying about what evil men are doing. And you know what I'm saying? He said because soon they'll be cut down like the grass. So yeah, they may temporarily look like it's a rock. But when that rain comes and that storm comes, guess what? They don't get back up. And they definitely don't make that descending journey again. And they normally collapse and fall and the Bible says, and it was a great fall. And if you look around your household, look around your neighborhood, look around, look at those who have fallen, right? - Come on. - And it's funny because I have a thought that God lets us know that you will know them by their fruit, you know? So they can sing great songs and they can know the songs of Zion. They can even know the scriptures and they can even have been in church 'cause that parent told them. But if you were just sitting there and not building and listening and allowing your heart to be penetrated by the Word of God, then guess what? Then that's all you did with siptheal. Like a stuffed animal just sitting there. But listen, you've got to glean to the words and then you got to trust the words and then you got to kind of experiment. It's like, you know, if you're trying to experiment with cooking, well, you're going to have to get some flour and egg and see what happens. You can't just bake a cake in your head. You got to literally get some ingredients and begin to start mixing things. And the first time you may say, wow, it tastes a little bitter. So then you'll know, hey, add sugar next time. You may say my cake is a little flat. Add some bacon soda, but it's trial and error, but you got to start the journey. And I think a lot of people have Christianity ideas and views and values, but it's in their head, you know? It's definitely... So you just have to begin your journey. You can't be afraid to get going. I have a student who, you know, she's learning how to read. And everything she needs to know to begin to read is already in her. You know the alphabet, you know the sounds, you blended, you know the rules. You just got to open your mouth. You just can't be afraid to make the noise the sounds. And it's going to sound a little awkward and a little funny in the beginning, but you got to press through what you think it sounds like and feels like because you're trying to get to the other side. You're trying to get to the place where you are making the words, you know? And words are made up of letters and letters are made up of sounds. But if you don't get to that place of sounds, if you don't get to that place of pouring in the ingredients, then you're never going to get to the cake. You're never going to get to the word and you're never going to begin to read. And so that's the thing. What are you holding back on? What are you reframing from completing? You know what I'm saying? 'Cause of hesitation or fear. And so I, back to the story of the insu-insi spider, you know what, he began his journey up. He began his journey even in spite of the rain. The rain came and washed him down. He could have said, man, I ain't going back up that sprout again. I'm not going to try again and he could have just went home or went wherever he was, you know, came back from. But no, he was determined and when the sun, S-O-N came out and dried up the rain, he started his journey again. And so some of you got to get up again. You got to do it again, amen. Sometimes you may have to do it afraid. You're going to have to just do it. And so my student, we had to work on her confidence. We had to work on just reassuring her that she knew it and then, you know, making a game out of it, you know, and then it became familiar and got more comfortable for her. And, you know, now she's reading with fluency and now her journey has begun in terms of reading. And so I'm just excited about it. You know, God's word works. We just got to work it, right? We got to be steadfast, unmovable. We've got to keep abounding in the things of God, amen. And I'm telling you, I know you and I, we both know people who profess a lot of things. They may profess that. They're Christians. They may profess. They love God and I'm never going to debate it or question what they feel. But at the same time, he said, we'll know them by their fruits, right? At the same time, amen. You could have the appearance of something just because I wear a Red Sox uniform in Jersey. Don't mean I'm on the actual team. And so we have to be aware and not get sidetracked or sidewiped that people who are still on the fence and people who are still pretending. Don't get mad at me. I'm trying to shake some people loose here. We've been bound too long and it's time to get up, right? We have been questioning God who said he was the way, the truth and the life, amen. And we question it, hallelujah. And so somebody who's already gone, who's already been through, who's already had to encounter the enemy and prevailed. And he said, okay, I've done it. When I fasted 40 days, I was up there on the mountain. Hallelujah. The enemy came and tempt me and I overcame him, amen. But how did he do it? He did it through the word. He said it is written, amen. And so sometimes we just have to go back to the basics. Sometimes we have to just go back to we can't try to make something up, you know? Make something appear, you know? That's really, that's not there. We can't, in other words, we don't wanna lie to ourselves. I get the fact that he said speak those things that are not as though they were, amen? We want the manifestation of it. But when it comes from healing and deliverance, you gotta get set free. So it's almost like you have to do it doily. You have to do it at the same time. You have to be speaking those things that are not as though they were. I am the head and not the tail. I am above and not beneath. I am more than a conqueror. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Hallelujah. That I'm gonna rest in the Lord because he said so. And at the same time, you gotta let go of the things that are not benefiting you, that are not getting you closer to the goal and the destiny of the plan that God has for your life. You gotta let it go. You gotta let the person go. You gotta let the addiction go. You gotta let it go, you know? And sometimes we do need help. We do need support. We might need support groups. We might need therapy, I get it. But are we taking responsibility? When we're not willing to go and get the help that we need, are we gonna stay in our pain longer than need be? Because we refuse to just raise our hand and say, I need help. He came to help us. He came to set us free. He came that we would have life and have more abundantly. I kind of think like sometimes, right? On a side note, that sometimes, are we offending God? Can you imagine, I know you have. I know you have helped people and continue to help them until you can't even, you scratch your head. You don't understand why won't they receive and take my help? Why won't they listen? I've already explained to them the better way or the way of breakthrough, the way out, amen? Hallelujah. And so, and yet they won't take heed, they won't listen. They continue to run and finances according to the world, according to their flesh, which is contrary to the word. 'Cause he said, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. We've gotta get to that place of transformation. It doesn't come overnight, but it does come and it does come with consistency and may come with struggle and may come with fight and may come with being uncomfortable for a while, but it will come and we will stand. And I'm to the point, I don't wanna hear people talking about other preachers, because let me tell you this, the every preacher, amen, is designed the way God put it in them. They're speaking out of their passion and what God put in them. And I've come to the place and to the conclusion that we cannot be like somebody else. Amen, and they can't be like us because he created us with our own set of fingerprints, with our own personality, with our own. So we're unique, amen, but he loves us. But how can we serve God in our uniqueness? How can we continue to serve God the way he made us, the way he, and what happens when we stop to try to be somebody else or something there we're not, we begin to collapse, right? We begin to, 'cause we can't hold together that fakeness, man. And I get, you know, there's all kind of things out here and to enhance. I get it, to enhance your eyelashes, enhance eyebrows. I tell you, my eyebrows are like bushes, amen? So I sometimes have to get them like trimmed down and reshaped, yes, those things are all great. But don't let these enhancements take the place of the real thing and who you are and who you created to be is nothing from the outside. Everybody's trying to take care and groom the outside appearance and not look at their heart. But he said, "They praise me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." He said, "The heart is despitefully wicked, who could know it?" He said, "Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life." There's something about the heart that God wants to get to the heart, transformation starts there. He changes us from the inside out, hallelujah. And so therefore, you know, we're in this invisible war, of course, right? That we're not fighting against flesh and blood. We're not fighting against people. You're not fighting against your neighbor and your spouse or your boss or your children. Is when we open the doors to evil, we open the doors to flesh, then enemy comes in. Wow, the enemy comes in, he wants to steal your peace. He wants to steal your joy. He wants to keep you from what's starting again. He wants to keep you from getting up, going up the sprout again. Yes, storms have come in our life. And yes, it's been a painful sometimes journey, but there's been some good times too. My good days outweigh my bad days, hallelujah. 'Cause if it had not been for God, where would we be? Amen? Whoo, it's time to get up. It's time to come alive. It's time to be who God called you to be, amen. And even in this show, you may hear like, what happened to passive functions? Like where's his voice at? Well, you know what? The power went off. We were talking, the power went off, went completely, just everything shut down. The whole building was dark. The whole block went dark, right? So we waited around, you know, 15 minutes, then it jumped on again. So we started the podcast again to, you know, we were just gonna add on, right? That's what they do, they fuse it together. And boom, it went up, the internet went down. And so after another 10, 15 minutes, the passive functions had to go. And then we lost the backup. So we lost all that information. And what I'm saying to you is this, things are gonna happen. And we may have to piece some things together in order to get a one show out. But guess what? You gotta go along with the flow, you just can't give up. I said, I tell you what, I'm gonna come back and we're gonna have to conclude and end this segment. And so we began by saying, yes, you can start on a journey. You can have a plan and things come and interrupted. There are interruptions that come sometimes our way. Storms, rain, oh, glory. But we're gonna get up again, right? We're gonna hold our head up. We're not gonna be dismayed. We're not gonna fall apart and fall to pieces. We're gonna trust what God has said in this word, hallelujah. Let's talk about outside influences for a moment. How you beginning to recognize when the stimulants are from the outside, right, are trying to get in. You know, I was walking my property and I started walking and I noticed I was seeing some like gravel chip cement, you know, and I'm like, well, that's strange. I'll just swept it up, didn't think nothing of it. A few months later, I kept seeing more. And I'm like, it's almost like something is chipping away at it. And I just couldn't explain it. Until one day, I was having a random conversation and the woman said, I think my so rats are trying to get in my place 'cause I keep seeing cement chips. And I was like, hmm, and I started thinking about it. So I had the exterminator come and they said, yep, because normally these little holes are starting to come, right? Something is trying to chip at it. They haven't made their way in yet, but you can see the evidence of the consistent biting away trying to get in. Whoo! I started thinking, boy, I tell you, that's just like the enemy, right? Yeah, now, the enemy, the devil, the enemy people, the enemy mice, chipmunks, whatever you wanna say, trying to get into the house. I'm like, we're gonna have to resubmit these holes. We're gonna have to secure the perimeter to make sure that nothing unwanted can get in. And I said, if I have to do this for a physical house, what do I need to do about the enemy or the negative thoughts or the sneaky put downs trying to get in to what God has said? Do you notice that sometimes when you're on a roll, you're feeling passionate again that God is working some things through for you. And all of a sudden you see some holes, some chips, some daggers. But I like what it said and infeasions and how it begins to talk about the purpose of faith and what faith does. He said, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, "wherewith you shall be able to quench "all of the fiery dots of the wicked one." That's how we stop the holes, chipping away. Faith, faith quenches the negativity. It stops what the enemy's trying to do. Now, yeah, I might have to go to Home Depot, get some cement and get someone to re-point the wall of where something is trying to get in. But what do we do to our spirit, to our soul realm? Faith, that thing we do not see, thing that we are hoping for with no evidence, insight of it coming to pass, we stand. Stand for your children that don't seem like they're gonna be staved. Stand for the destiny that the enemy is trying to chip away at. Stand for your health that all these byproducts and produce and pesticides and chemicals stand for a government that doesn't seem like they are united in the principles of God. We've got to stand. We have to use our shield of faith. Hallelujah. 'Cause without faith, we can't please God. Without faith, we cannot grow. Without faith, where's our mind and our thoughts and our heart? I hear the Lord say, God, card your hearts, your minds, your thoughts, watch what thoughts you allowed to come in. Don't let those negative thoughts keep chipping, chipping away until they penetrate and get inside. I'm stopping them mice, them rats, them insects, whatever it is, I'm gonna put cement and I'm gonna stop them. And if I'm willing to do that for my house, I'm willing to do it for my spirit's house, my mind, my heart, I'm gonna guard it. 'Cause out of it, we'll flow the issues of life. I've got to guard it because God said so. I've got to do it because there's something that He created you for and you've got to get it out. Amen, our time is up. I'm thank God that we were able to finish our podcast in spite of all the challenges we pressed on. And remember, greatness is on the inside of you. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy is coming in the morning. You have been listening to Never Give Up where giving up is not an option. I'm your host, Rachelle Jones. Have a good night.