You were created for relationship with God. Through daily prayer and listening to His voice, you can experience the love and guidance He has for you.
What is up, Real Church? David John Phillips here. I have the honor and joy of being a pastor at Real Church. No place I'd rather be, and I'm so honored that you would spend your time listening to this podcast today. I guarantee you're gonna walk away number 1, encouraged.
Number 2, with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. Today's special, we're continuing the I Love You series. We're in part 5 of the I Love You series. We're gonna hear from a couple different people, a few different people actually, some stories of I love you. Stories of how both God has told us he loved us, those big moments in the past, but also how he's shown his love through us.
It's gonna be amazing. It's gonna be impactful. Check it out. Well, good morning, Real Church. You look great today.
Good morning. Did you guys have a good week? Yeah. Yeah. Praise the Lord.
Thank you, Jesus, that you're here, and you you just have given us life. Let's just pray real quick. Let's pray. Father, I thank you that you love us. Lord, I thank you for that worship service.
Lord, thank you for for the people that are in this room. Thank you for those that are watching online. Father, I pray the product of today, what people walk away with from today is that that you love us. That you love us. That you've impacted us.
I pray that you remind people of how you love them, Lord, over their lifetime. I pray you remind people of that goodness and that you wanna show your love through them. Lord, we give you this service. We give you every aspect of it. Lord, this service will not impact anybody if if you're not moving.
And we thank you that you are here. Lord, we thank you that you love us and you drew everybody here that's here today in order to to receive your goodness and your love and also those that are watching online. Thank you so much, Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. Okay. So, my name is David John Phillips. I get to be the pastor here. There is no place that I would rather be.
And, so thankful that you guys chose to spend your Sunday here with us today. It's just an honor and I'm so thankful to our dream team as well. Could we give our dream team a big old hand? The dream team is the greeters, the ushers, the the the production, the worship team, the the kids team, which is awesome. Thankful for what they're doing back there.
Just everybody, our our our wrecking crew, which sets up and tears down. So, super thankful for our dream team and for what God's doing in that. Have you guys enjoyed the I love you series so far? Yeah. It's it's been awesome.
The premise of the I Love You series is this. *1 John-4:9* says, this is how God showed his love among us. He sent his 1 and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an **atoning sacrifice** for our sin. 1 John-4:9 and 10.
The heavenly father has forever declared his love for you. Forever in sending his son. That is love. Father, for the for God so loved the world that he sent his only son. He paid the price for your sin, for your past, your present, and your future mistakes.
Not only just to forgive you of your sin, but to restore your value. Right? We lost our value in the beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned, we were we were meant to walk in relationship with the king of the universe, hand in hand with our heavenly father, hearing his voice. And, because of sin, we were separated from him.
And, God showed his love for us to restore our value, so we could walk in relationship with the creator of the universe again, day after day, forgiven and clean, so the Holy Spirit can come live on the inside of us. That's a big deal. God has forever declared his love for you. So, we have no reason to doubt his love for us. The only reason that we have to doubt his love for us would either be ignorance, which is not knowing, not knowing what God has done, which you know now, I just told you.
Or number 2, it would be unbelief. So many times, we look at the circumstances, we look at what happens, and and this and that and the other. We say, "but God", but this, but that. And, as Heidi has most famously said, God's not but God. He's not a but God.
Take all your doubts, put them at the feet of the cross and realize he's already declared his love for you. And, *1 John-4:9* says, we love because he first loved us. So, when we see his love for us, we receive his love for us. Now, we overflow with his love out of us for others. So, in this series, we've talked a lot about communicating with God.
We talked about a lot about prayer. We've talked about fasting. We're in the middle of a fast. You're welcome to join us. We have about 1 week left, which is awesome.
We also gather here on Saturdays from 5 to 6 to pray. Welcome to do that. We've talked about worship. John, our our worship leader, who's pastoring the worship team so well, preached an amazing message on worship last week, which was awesome. Today, we're gonna talk about stories of I love you.
I just thought it would be really good to just hear a couple of stories of how God has shown His love to people, but not only that, how He has shown His love through people. Because, if we receive His love, we love because He first loved us. If we receive His love, we're not the stop gap. We don't just receive his love and say, I'm good and go about our lives. Right?
We receive his love in order to love, to become that love so other people see his love and his goodness in and through us. Amen? So, I have mentioned to a couple of people that we're gonna do this, and we're gonna start with my beautiful wife, Courtney Michelle Phillips. Would you come up here? She she she is the love of my life.
She's also carrying my fourth child, our fourth child. Praise the Lord. And Is it is it is it Wadley? Oh, no. Okay.
So, in this, 1 of the things also that you guys gotta know, 1 of our core values at Real Church is "communicate transparently". Meaning, you can ask us you can ask me anything. I mean, there's nothing to hide. In that too, you know, Courtney and and those others that that that get up here. You know, we communicate transparently because it shows Jesus.
It shows it shows every sometimes in our our faults and in our failures, you're able to see how God can overcome, which is awesome. And, sometimes, showing how God has loved us. He loved us despite our faults and failures, which is awesome. So, communicate transparently, beautiful. Okay?
Okay. So, my question to you is, what is a time maybe the first thing that comes to your mind, and I know I've already told you this, so you've already know what you're saying on this 1. But, what is something when you think about how God has shown his love to you in your lifetime? What's the most powerful thing that comes to your mind?
So, yeah. He told me like 2 weeks ago that I'm gonna ask you this question. I was like, alright, I'm gonna be ready. But I asked permission, was like, okay, the time God showed me he loved me the most, which was the most impactful was a really ugly time in our marriage. Can I can I share?
And he was like, yeah, communicate transparently. So just to preface, God has transformed both of us. We are completely new creations from the story that I'm going to tell you. I'm probably gonna let you tell some of the story because I don't wanna give all your business.
No. Go ahead.
Okay.
Praise the Lord. I'm a new I'm a new creation.
That's what freedom will do y'all. So we got married young, were he he I'm older than him. I'm I was 21, he was 20. And before we entered into our marriage, if any of you guys have have dated for a while, you've gotten married, you're getting married, you're really getting to know somebody, like, you you get to know the ugly. It's just a part of part of relationships with people.
So we had a lot of ugly in our relationship. In our marriage, you know, sometimes he'll say, you know, it wasn't all bad. And I was like, yeah, but all the good was overshadowed by all the bad. So for me, it kinda sucked for a long time. You told me I could tell.
So so just waiting on the next explosion or the next moment of weakness where, you know, the enemy was was using him to throw darts at me, and his weakness was was strengthened by my weakness, which was made for a mess. So we'd been married about 6 or so years. I had Trip was 3 and a half months old. David deployed. He was in the Navy and you know, when you watch on TV and you see somebody get deployed, you know, they can FaceTime with their family and sometimes that's the case and praise God for that, but he was on a submarine, so there was no communication.
And so I was this new mom with this 3 and a half month old baby figuring out how to do things, trying to lose the 85 pounds of baby weight that I had gained. Yes, I gained a lot of weight. And 1 of his weaknesses in that season was the expectations for me to look a certain way or to be a certain way. So I worked really hard during I'm gonna cry and I'm not a crier, but since I've been pregnant, I cry at everything. About
Good job,
honey. So he deployed I'm good. I'm okay right now. Thank you. Good job, baby.
So he got back, he was gone about 90 to 95 days. It was, you know, 3 months or so. So when Tripp when he got back, Tripp was older. He was 7 ish, 7 and a half months old. I had worked really hard to lose a lot of the baby weight and when I saw him at first, it's, oh my gosh, you're home.
I'm so happy you're home. And about, I would say, like, 2 days later, it was right back to the same old junk of of, you know, why haven't you lost more? And I was it defeated me because I had a real issue. It sounds like he was the bad guy, but really, I let my weakness of putting him on this pedestal that I had to like, was my God in that season and God got me on that a little later. I'll tell you all about that another day, but this is about the time God showed me he loved me.
So we started going back and forth fighting. I was brokenhearted. The more I cried, the meaner he was. He's not the same person. It's so weird because it's like I'm looking at somebody complacent.
It's like it's like when God makes a new creation, like it's really a new creation. Right? So I said, I wanna go to counseling. I wanna talk about this. I wanna figure out what God needs to do in me.
I wanna figure out all the stuff God needs to do in you because you know, that's that's how I felt. And he would not go to counseling, and so I said, well, there's a marriage retreat at our church and it's it's like a safe place. It's like a whole bunch of people and so you don't have to like bear everything and he was like, we'll go to that. So we went and the last day on the way home, he was I tell the longest intros and the shortest stories ever, just so you all know. He he did not like something that was said at the marriage retreat and I knew it was from God.
And so, was like
Which is probably why I didn't like it because it was poking on something that I was holding on to.
So I told him, I said that was the most impactful for me. Well, that ticked him off a lot. So so we had an awful fight. I I was really weak in that season because it was like so much peace while he was gone because I was just I was literally just me, the Lord, and my baby. That's it for 3 months.
And and then it felt like so much turmoil when he got back, and after this last ditch, know, like, I I don't know how I can live with someone who is this cruel to me. We're headed home and he said 1 last thing, and I honestly can't remember what it was, but he said 1 last thing to me that was so cruel, and then he got out of the car trip. My son was asleep in the back seat in his car seat, and I realized nothing has changed in him, and this is the rest of my life. And when I said marriage, meant it for forever, but I can't be 80 years old and still not measuring up to what he wants me to be. So I decided in my heart, in my mind, lying in the sand, I'm I'm leaving him.
I can't do this. I'm divorcing him. I'm not going to my son, I can't let my son see him treat me like this. So, I figured out all of the things I needed to get done to get out, to get the money I needed because I knew he would shut everything off and and not let me go. Now, just so you know, he never laid his hands on me, this was all verbal, verbal and emotional.
But, I decided I'm going, and then I decided to consult God, like, after I'd already made this decision, who I need to call, what I need to do, and I was like before I got out of the car, I was just so emotional and I was like, God, I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm leaving him. And in my spirit You know how God didn't have to talk out loud to me right here. You know how when you're a kid and your mama looks at you and you're like, she's telling you, heck no, this is not gonna happen and you're like, yes ma'am. God did that to me.
He was like, no. And I was so upset because it was 1 of those no's where I was like, if I do this, I'm literally just ignoring what I know that my heavenly father is telling me, and he was clear and I knew it and I was mad. I was so mad and when I get mad, I don't like yell, I cry and so I just cried to God. I'm sitting there in the garage crying to God. So I went to get out of my car and I was like, I can't God, you don't understand.
Like, I and I was going through all of the things that I had done right. I was like, I was pure for him. I was I I have spent the last 3 months just on my face before you, not just about him, but about me and and you're, you know, you're doing all these amazing things in these other people, why not him? Like, almost kinda telling him, you owe me. I don't think God likes that.
I got out. It's 1 of those moments that was so pivotal in my life. I got out of the vehicle and my knees were so weak, I hit my knees on the concrete floor and I remember the sand on the concrete, like digging in to my knees. You know those moments that like you remember like the smell of the air? And I just like hit my face on the floor.
Was grateful my baby was asleep in the back seat still. He was inside somewhere, had no idea what was going on and I'm just like, okay God, I'll I'll do whatever you ask me to do, but you've gotta do something here. And so, I get out, I get tripped out of the car seat. I was so broken, I didn't even take him out of the car seat, I just threw his car seat in his crib. And like, I went to talk to David because I was like, this is 1 of those moments that we have to do something.
And he was asleep y'all. And I was somebody was like, oh gosh. Like, I was so upset. I was so mad. And so then I'm just going through, oh, okay.
So okay. Oh, that's how it is. Like, you're be mean to me and then you're gonna go take a nap. So we're still good. We're still you're married to me.
Communicate transparently.
You're you're
good to go.
So I went in. So I was mad. I went in the office and I have wrestled for 2 weeks over sharing this. This stuff I've shared to people individually, I've never show pub share publicly. I wrestle actually with God because God was saying they need to hear when when something like this happens.
And I was like, no, God. Like, I think I know more than you. But I went into the office and I sat on this butt ugly chair we had in there, and I just I just cried and I cried and I cried and I I was like, I want him to hear me sobbing, like, I want and we had a really big house at the time with like this winding hallway and I was like, I'm a cry aloud and make him hear me because he's gonna feel bad cause he knows he did wrong. If he went and took a nap after that, you know, he was just tired because God was talking to him. Like, I had all this in my head.
And then I started thinking, just crying out to God, like, God, where are you? Like, why aren't you in my marriage? Like, I'm doing things right here. I'm faithful. I'm praying for him every day.
I'm praying for myself. I was in a season where God was was growing me. It was a season when he had just broke me of some stuff just not too long before he deployed. Like, where are you? I need you.
Why aren't you here? Why aren't you in my marriage? Because this does not feel like a godly marriage. Although to every single and a lot of y'all are watching online and haven't heard this, a lot of family who was family and friends who were like, oh, they're the perfect couple. We were not the perfect couple behind closed doors.
We were so broken and I cried out to God. And you know on movies, and this is the only way I can describe it and this is what I'm gonna share that how God showed me he loved me when there was no other way that I could hear him say he loved me. On movies when like all of the sound sucks out of the room and something really pivotal happens, God spoke to me out loud and all he said was, I am here. That's all I needed. You know?
And then I thought about Moses when he's like, I am. Like, he's whatever you need. Like, when he said, I am, I'm like, why is your name I am? That's the weirdest name. And he's like, I'm everything.
But what I needed right there and what stopped me from leaving him was I am here, and it was I can't there's I could try and explain. I went so I went back there and I think I was like talking to him or something and I was like, David, God spoke to me. Like, had forgotten all the stuff that had happened. I was like, God spoke to me. Remember I told you and you were like, what did it sound like?
And I was like, it was loud but it was soft and it was strong but it was so sweet and it was and I was like trying to my God, that was a moment that changed my life. It's 1 that I will never forget and it's when I needed love the most, when I wasn't being loved well by my husband. And what I wanna tell you is that God is here. He is there. He's in the midst of the situation when you feel like you're not loved, when you feel so broken, when you feel like everybody has failed you, he won't.
And that's Yay.
Don't get up yet. Okay. You guys have heard some of my testimony if if if you've been here for a while or if you're you're new. I used to struggle with pornography. You know, I struggled with pornography starting in college and and then, you know, I thought it would go away when we got married and it didn't, you know.
And and because of that, I held her to a standard that I saw, And you so, you know, you think it doesn't affect your marriage, you think it doesn't affect your relationships, it does. Guys or girls. Men or women, it does. And, and, the standard is is Jesus and he gave you a gift and we're to be thankful for it, you know. Not to compare and contrast, but to say, thank you Jesus.
And, so, because of that, you know, in the midst of this, by his crazy grace, I'm still doing ministry, but yet, there's 1 area of darkness in my heart that that is affecting her and it's ugly, you know?
At that time.
At that
At that time.
At that time. Yeah. At that time, which was about, I don't know, 8 years ago now when God began to shift it, 8, 9 years ago. And, man, the the bible says, if you love darkness, you know, you'll you'll hate the light. Well, you heard that in the story.
I love I didn't want to give up this picture of what I thought I should have. Right? When God had given me everything that I needed. And so, I loved that more than I loved repentance in that area. That's why I didn't want counseling.
I wanted to hide that. Right? Because it was mine and I was going to control it. And, that's *selfishness* and really, we we learned that selfishness is satanism. That's what it was.
*Selfishness* is is I love, but exactly what Satan did in in in heaven. He said, you know, I want me to rule, not you God. That's why Lucifer was kicked out. So, there you go. God set me free when he set her free because God's love to her in that changed her heart.
Now, instead of just praying for me to change, so that she could have a better day, so that she could have a better marriage, she began to pray that she would be the wife that God's created her to be despite my Yeah. Right. Egocentrism. That's a word. Right?
Despite my junk. And, you know, correct me if I get any this wrong, but, in her praying that, for her to be, instead of shifting to the selfish prayer of, God, change my husband so I can have a better day, and I can better have a better life or better marriage. God helped me to lay my life down to love him despite of him. And in that, God loved me through her. Yeah.
See, God's love to us is always God's love through
us. Yeah.
In that, God loved me through her. And God's love, through her, without her even trying, changed my heart to where I laid down pornography and never went back. To where God began to shift my mindset to, wait a second, thank you God. And, God began to renew my transform my life by renewing my mind through God's love through her. God's love to you, is always God's love through you, and it always impacts the world around you.
Did I get that right?
Yeah.
Yeah. And, now, it's transformed. And, now, we encourage 1 another in Christ. Right? We do.
Yeah. It's it's In the mic, so people
Oh, I'm sorry. And, it's fun. Like, we challenge 1 another but we don't challenge 1 another to be better for ourselves because even by praying like about my marriage, like me, me, me, You know, I'd said, you know, he sounds like the bad guy, but really, I was trying to make my life better. And, on the surface, I kinda I mean, I knew that he was miserable, but but deep down, I was like, God's gotta it was I like, that was another moment, which I'm not gonna go into. But, it was October and I remember God changed me.
So, we're gonna have to save some of that because part of the I love you series, next week I'm preaching on covenant. What it looks like, what I love you looks like in covenant with our God, but also in covenant with relationship with 1 another, which is a big deal. And then, the next week, we're we're we're talking about I love you too, what that looks like in marriage. And so, this is a prequel, if you will, to what that looks like. Thank you, beautiful.
It's amazing. And, can I have a kiss? Alright. Hopefully, that encouraged you and helped you to see how God can love, show his love to you. And, maybe, if you're in the middle of of a messy relationship, knowing that he's here, knowing Did you did you did you hear how when God said I'm here and she realized he was here, she forgot about everything
else? That's good.
You know? In the middle of your circumstance, when you realize that he's here, he's enough, that's all you need. All of the circumstance falls away. Now, that's faith. Faith is comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
The focus on the circumstance and the fear and the worry and the doubt, that's not faith. The the muster no. We just put our focus and our ears on him until we hear his voice. Then, the other fails falls away. Amen?
Alright. So, number 2. Next story of I love you. Mister Gabriel Mullens. Come on.
I have no idea oh, wait. Wait. Let me see that. I have no idea what Disney Princess is gonna say.
Alright. That's a good segue. Oh, wait.
Wait. His wife preached a couple of weeks ago and she called him a Disney princess because the animals you'll you'll I may is is it gonna be about this?
Have a Disney princess story actually.
Oh. So we go. So, you'll see why I said that.
What I'm talking about is if you'd How many of hear from my wife preaching 2 weeks ago? Alright. Good amount of you. Yeah. So, you remember the squirrel peed on me story.
And, she told you that she was gonna She told me that she was gonna say that, but she didn't tell me she was gonna tell you about the Disney princess thing.
So, so now Alright. Well, hold on. Let me set it up. Well, they already know the question, but I'm gonna do it anyway. So Gabe, what is a story when you think back of God saying I love you?
Yeah. So when I was Yeah. I think I was about 9 years old, probably like trips age. I had this huge heart for animals. So, like, when I was growing up, I had a huge huge heart for animals.
Like, I would cry about animals as a boy. Disney princess. So, maybe I was Disney princess. So and, what I'm saying with the Disney princess thing is that a lot of times, God would speak to me through animals and through nature and like weird things would happen in nature and and I'll be like, that was the Lord, like, very clearly. And and so, is another example.
So, I was up north fishing, up north meaning up North Michigan where where I'm from and I was fishing in a lake. 9 years old, I get a bite. I'm reeling. I'm the only 1 out there. I pull this little fish in and it's like, you know, this microphone is way longer than that fish.
It was very small. It had swallowed the hook and I was like, crap. And so, I always try, you know, get the hook out quick, throw him back in the water so he can live and and I just couldn't get the hook out and I had no tools and and he's like biting my fingers and I'm like, and finally, I'm like, I pull it hard and it's it's been like a minute, 2, 3 minutes. I pull it hard enough, I kinda rip some things out of this fish and I'm like, oh god. I get that hook out, I throw him in the water and he just like immediate belly up and I'm like
cry Did again?
Like, I'm like, no. I I didn't cry, I'm like I'm like, I felt immediately terrible. Like, in my soul, I'm like, was fishing that important? Mhmm. Was it so fun that I just killed it?
Like, this fish had a life and I just killed it. And, I just felt horrible. And my mom comes out and I just tell her and I'm like, it just sucks, know, this fish is dead or whatever. And I'm really sad. And my mom is like, well, let's pray about it.
And I'm like, okay, you know. And I gotta give my mom so much credit in this because for reason, I am gonna cry too. It must be the seat. Thank you, buddy. Always there for me.
And but I gotta give her credit because to me and I'm realizing in hindsight too that she had faith in that moment even because a lot of parents will try to explain for God and it's our temptation to try to explain life for God or why like, especially to kids. And she didn't try to say, oh, well, he'll he went to fish heaven. You know what I mean? She just said, let's pray about it. Let's pray let's ask God and let God take care of me, you know, rather than her trying to fix it.
And so, she prayed, we prayed, God, Lord, I pray that you'd, you know, comfort Gabe in this and show him that you're with them and da da da da da. Amen. And I kid you, we not said amen, and a bird comes out of nowhere, swings down, swallows that fish up and flies off. And you gotta understand, like, at first, you might think, well, that just sounds terrible or I would be more sad. No.
I was immediately wrapped in love because I because it it made perfect sense to me. Hey, man. That bird got to eat and survive another day. Like, he got a meal out of that. And I'm like, it it was like a nice circle of life thing, but it just hit me with the same kind of impactful, like, when the voice of God touches you or when when God just when you know something was the Lord, there's something about it that just wraps you in love.
And it's like, my whole spirit just changed, and I'm like, if I didn't go fishing, that bird wouldn't have ate. You know? It was like and I I never forgot that moment of just like, God interacting with my life and he was there, you know.
I love it. So, God interacting with your life, so you saw his love in all of that. And and and, you know, the the big things, but also the little things. I don't know that was a big thing to you as a as a 9 year old. Mhmm.
But, man, he impacts every aspect. So, my next question to you is, it's always God's love to us, God's love through us. So, in your life, when you think about God showing his love through you to impact people around you that maybe even surprised you, what's the first thing you think of?
Yeah. I had I was thinking about this. I had a story where This was maybe 3 years ago. I went to We were on our way home back to Michigan from Florida at the time and went to We stopped at the subway and I went in for to pick up the food went and we had been listening to a a book, The Authority of the Believer. And I was just, like, thinking about the Lord and listening to the Lord and praying.
And I went into this subway and I I just felt like, man, the Lord is with me right now and I feel like he wants to say something to somebody. And I don't know what or I don't know how or when. And I just I felt like love welling up in me and just like his presence. It's kind of a long line and and people are sort of waiting and this lady in front of me is like I can't remember. She's like ordering this and ordering that and everybody's kinda waiting.
This guy behind the counter that's making her sub is like just really kind and really like attentive and really like doing just doing an amazing job and I'm just kinda watching him and we're moving along and and he says he gets down with the wine and he says, Yeah, sorry sorry about that. And I'm like and I like loudly am like, Don't worry about it, man. Like, think people were mad about it. And I was like, We're not in a hurry. Nobody's in a hurry.
You're doing great, man. And I just like spoke for everybody in the line. I just dictate the atmosphere. But he said, Wow, that's great, man. Thank you.
Or he he said something, thank you, like I'm not doing a good job telling this story because I don't remember all the details. But I said he said something and I said I said, yeah, man. Because that because you have the love of God in you. That's that was the the crux of what I had said to him. I just noticed that he was so good with making these subs and with, like, being patient with people and caring enough to be like, yeah, you're you're patient.
And I say I just bounced a compliment right behind him, like, dude, you have the love of God in you. And he goes, thank you. He's like and he said and he said, I always am trying to to to be like that with people. And then the next thing you know, he's he's he's saying, like, he's like, you know, someone had told me at 1 time that I was to preach to thousands. Somebody said that I was gonna be preaching to thousands.
And that was like 8 or 9 years ago, man. It hasn't happened. I just don't understand. You know? And I'm like I'm like, dude, it'll happen.
In the meantime, these people around me are like and 1 old lady is like, it's so nice to hear young people talking about the Lord. And I'm
like, yeah.
And I was like, it's just a weird it's just a funny atmosphere. And and I said something next to him that I know the Lord spoke to me and it was really funny because I said I said, dude, you know what you need to do? You need to preach to yourself. And I don't even know what I was saying. I just said it.
And and he said and he he's like, oh, okay. Yeah. Preached to myself. Yes. So what do you mean by that?
And I'm like, you need to get in the word and you need to start preaching. And the funniest thing was, for me, this was, like, 2, 3 years ago, I had known I'm gonna be preaching someday. I I had known the same thing that somebody had spoke to to him was, like, in my heart. And it was funny because when he said that, I was like, I'm gonna be preaching. Like, I know exactly what you're talking about.
And and the word came from me. You need to preach to yourself, and it was a word for me too and for him. And it encouraged us both to go home and get in the word and have a message to preach. You know? You wanna be a preacher?
Have a message to preach. And and so, anyway, I ended up praying for this guy and all this stuff. It was extremely encouraging to him and being an instrument for the Lord is an extremely encouraging thing to me too. And in fact, it's like when God speaks another thing about when God speaks through you or to you, it's almost like fivefold. It's like a next dimension because it can mean 1000000 it can mean like something to you and something for someone else.
He he's he has a way of just making a tapestry out of 1 word, you know. And
so, powerful, man. I love it, dude. Thank you. And, does he ever preach? He gets to do the encouraging word and he's preached here a couple times and and, a lot more in the future.
Super thankful for Gabriel Mullens. Have you guys you guys heard him preach before? Yeah. Yeah. Amazing.
Right? Praise the Lord. Let's go with number 3, miss Mo Mullens, Gabriel's wife. I think is her mom calls her Rue. Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you. You guys enjoy miss Mo, getting to do the encouraging word, and leading worship, and
I appreciate you.
She just she overflows Jesus everywhere she goes. And, so, we're super thankful to have her on the team as well. And, in the same way, we'll just start off with that. What is a time in your life, stories of God's love, what's a story in your life where when you think back, man, you just think about God showing your love his love to you.
Yeah. Yeah. There's been quite a few times, honestly. And, I was told to tell this story. So, if this is for you, I hope you really run with it because I did not want to tell it.
Who told you who told you to
tell this story? The Holy Spirit told me to tell this story. What's then, I talked to Gabe, my husband. I'm like, so, do you really think I should tell this story? He's like, yep.
And, I Yeah. So, confirmation. I wanna tell a story of when I ended up feeling the love of God so powerfully that I was on a long car ride ending up to get pizza and I'm bawling in the car getting pizza. Like, just the most beautiful time to feel loved by the Lord is picking up pizza. That makes sense, of course.
Amen. But, it starts way back before I met Gabe, my husband, the year before and I was not doing things the way I was supposed to. So, I had dated throughout college and moved pretty quickly throughout dating. I would date somebody and then be like, Oh, the Lord said no, and I'd move on and it was no big deal. It was just like, I'm not supposed to be with that person, I'm not for that person, they're not for me.
And, some girlfriends of mine started joking with me. They said, I think you're scared of commitment. I think you're scared of it. And, they're, like, laughing and joking and I took it seriously. And, I thought to myself, maybe I am scared of commitment.
Maybe I'm just not giving this relationship thing all that I should. Maybe I don't know how to date. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. So, I committed to someone, I dated somebody that God did not have for me. And, it wasn't okay.
It wasn't okay. I felt like the beginning of the relationship was fine, but as it went, it got worse and worse. And, the reason that is is because we were not equal in our morals and our standards and in some of our foundational beliefs. And because of that, when you're in a relationship with somebody where you're not equal in some of those ways, you have to compromise. And, when you compromise on things that you're that are foundational to you because because I was like, oh, I'm gonna commit to this relationship, you end up not committing to God because that's where my beliefs and my morals came from.
That's powerful.
So, almost a full year of my life, I start to say no to that voice. And, I grew up in church. I've always known the voice of God. From a young age, I know what he sounds like, not in an audible way like Courtney was talking about, but I've known the still small voice of God in my head at all times. I know what that is.
And, when I started rejecting that, it got easier and easier and easier to reject that. So, I found myself in situations that I would never have found myself in. And, I found myself saying and doing things I would never have done, compromising physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. In every aspect of my life. This year was terrible.
This almost year was terrible. And, in *2 Peter-2*, I think it's '21, it talks about it'd be better to not know righteousness than to know it and reject it. And, it equates that to a dog going back to its vomit. That's a perfect example. That's exactly what that was.
Wow.
Going back to my vomit over and over again, thinking, I've committed to this so much more. I've committed to this person more than I've committed to God. And, I finally, after that year, said, I'm gonna be obedient. And, by the end of that relationship, I felt unworthy. I felt dirty.
I felt terrible. I felt like like I I'm not even worthy to be his servant, much less his friend at this point. And, I said, I'm gonna be obedient to the Lord and and break this off. And, I did it the really, like, easy, no guts way and I was like, let's take a week break. So, I took a week break in this *relationship* and the Lord snuck in hard and I hadn't felt free like that in a year.
I hadn't felt freedom like that in forever, still feeling unworthy. I hadn't felt so much joy and just freedom. And, in that week's time, I met Gabe. And, 3 months after that, we got married. And, 7 months oh, sorry.
3 months after that, we got engaged. 7 months after that, we got married. That's the process. And, a year after we got married, we're in that long car ride, stopping by to pick up pizza and we're listening to a TD Jakes message called, Saul's Suicide. It's a powerful message and the Holy Spirit just started telling me the most lovely things.
And, when I first said, I'm gonna go on a break, that first, how many years ago, my heart started to turn and by the end of that message, my heart clicked into place and my eyes were opened completely and I saw that the Lord had grabbed me, plucked me out like a lost sheep and he placed me where I was supposed to be. And, I said, but Lord, I'm unworthy. He said, that doesn't matter. I made you worthy and I made you pure and I made you beautiful and I made you holy.
Amen.
It was so good.
Thank you. Yes.
I'm good at my job.
Yeah. Yeah. And and now, telling this story back back from how long ago, telling this story, I don't even know that person anymore. That person is so dead and I'm so I just introduced you to a dead person. That whole story is I don't know that person.
I don't belong to that person. He set me free to such an extent that I I can't describe it fully but that person that I'm talking about is dead. Amen. And, I am so completely free. And, when he made me worthy and he said, hey, you felt unworthy for a long time now, but I put a ring and a robe on you from the beginning.
Yeah. He really loves me.
God is good. Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church podcast. I pray that you walk away from today encouraged with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you. You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect.
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