Podcast Transcripts

What can we learn from Gideon’s calling for such a time as this? It’s first in a three part series about knowing who you are and the importance of Bible Study. The first is focused on Gideon’s questioning the angel of the LORD. 

Please enjoy this podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Although efforts were made in editing, this transcript may include a few typos. It’s difficult to catch some minor errors. Enjoy! 

Introduction 

Saints, welcome to Hanging Out With Jesus Podcast for Believers who want to strategically Go and Do what God’s called you to, for such a time as this. How? By securing your foundation in Christ through practicing spiritual disciplines and being reminded of who you are and whose you are in order to live purposefully in a collapsing culture. 

For more resources, including the free Christian Blueprint, which helps you gauge where you are foundationally in Christ, now, and disciplines to practice for spiritual growth. Visit www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com. You can also subscribe to the Newsletter for twice a month reminders, podcast updates, challenges, spiritual disciplines to practice, and more. 

Hey Y’all, I’m Lyvita Brooks, Christian author, Bible teacher, founder of The Me Project Academy, and your host. 

Now on to the Intro … 

1:12 - This is episode 75 and I’m talking about Gideon. I started studying about Shalom and God sent me to learn about Gideon. This is Part one of a three part series where we will focus on Gideon’s calling and yours with an emphasis on how we use what we have learned during such a time as this. 

So the discussion is coming up soon... 

2:07 - In Christian News –  

I know you have heard this term and I’ve probably used it once or twice and that’s “Woke” culture. What is the definition of “woke”? 

Saints, let me start with this. As a fiction writer I am fascinated by the many ways I can manipulate this word, but as a Christian I find that it’s disturbing that the word “woke”, definition, changes depending on what group of people you ask and even then it can be different. 

3:08 - Here’s what I found and remember all links are in the show notes and on the transcript to the things I’m sharing: 

1.   The Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that the word “woke” was originally coined by progressive Black Americans and used in racial justice movements in the early to mid-1900’s. 

2.   ABCNews article written by Kiara Alfonseca writes that Lead Belly’s song “Scottosboro Boys” is one of the earliest historical recording protesting about staying aware of the potential for racist violence as a Black person in America. Being “woke”. Also listen to Lead Belly’s song, now that’s some old fashion singing. 

3.   Now during Black Lives Matter, 2014, it regain popularity. 

 

4.   Today its meaning is sketchy, unless you are in agreement with a particular group of people. Some Republicans define “woke” as a word which signifies the identity-based social justice issues that some Democrats and progressives push for. 

 

5.   But The Washington Post reported that the DeSantis administration, Republican defined “woke” as “the belief there are systemic injustices in America society and the need to address them. 

5:56 - I have to stop here. Saints, didn’t “the critical race theory”, “Black Lives Matter” and “the Woke movement” arrive around the same time? If you disagree please comment on [email protected]. To me and from what I can research I thought all of this was in response to the large number of black folks, especially black men being killed by the police. Therefore, my understanding of “woke” meant being aware, alert, awakening to the many different ways in which racism can be subtle and are killing us, Black folk. 

6:53 - Today or should I say, since President Biden got into office, I’ve heard that word more so. What about you? What I’m finding is that the “woke” movement or culture is a word that can be applied to a lot of things. Like it’s become a slang word to mean what you want it to when you want it to mean something. For example: 

Politicians can use it to mean “being aware of systemic biases”.  
Some political parties may use is to mean the “delegitimizing our history and institutions”. 
You can be walking down the street with your friends, turn up your nose and say, “They’re so woke.” 
LBGTQIA+ community can use it to mean “wake up to the new way of identifying who I am”. 

8:00 - It’s like this word, “woke” can mean anything. Now that’s a problem. If no one has the same meaning and this is a term birth from social injustice towards our political leaders, and yet all are defining it differently, well how do we know what to believe?  

8:52 - Saints, remember God is not about confusion. This is confusion and you know the devil is behind it, therefore, don’t get caught up in the hoop-la. Ask the one using the term “woke” what they mean by it before you agree with their statement. If not, you could be agreeing to something that is against God’s principles. 

So let’s stay woke to the wiles of the devil as we advance God’s kingdom.   

9:26 - Saints the 4th week in March, I was sick. Reaction to my medicine and bad food. It was so bad I just relaxed into the drama my body was going through so it could get it over and out. Then for the next four days, I was exhausted, lost my appetite, energy shot, thankful to the Lord and during the last 2 days, worrying about all the things that are going to accumulate on my calendar. For those who prayed for me during that time, thank you so much. God blessed and I am now back doing what I do best. Praising Him! 

10:45 - I’m attending this Bible study called Significant Woman at my church with my friend Linda Teel leading the class. Now she is a phenomenal woman. Saints, I’m learning so much about myself and my coach partner. Linda hooked us up with the right people because my coaching partner and I found out we have something in common that we didn’t know. For example, sewing. 

13:00 - Finally, I uploaded & updated Nuggets for Thought so it’s now available at bookstores and corrected a few mistakes that I’d made along the way in that first print. Saints, if you read the book, I’d appreciate it if you would write a review on the website of where you purchased Nuggets for Thought. That will help push up the book into another level of people buying it and bookstores wanting to shelf it. Y’all, readers look at reviews before we purchase things. I need your help. Thanks. 

By the way, thanks to everyone, who has requested topics for the podcast. Y’all, some of them are coming up so stay tune.  

14:12 - “You never know what the future holds until you let go of your safety fear, which holds you back and grab hold to your safety net, who is Jesus.” by Lyvita Brooks 

14:44 - Thank you to everyone for supporting this ministry which contains the podcast, academy, blog, books and purchasing journals, Bible studies on Pinterest, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.  

I enjoy receiving DM’s with comments and pictures on Instagram, podcast transcript, YouTube and through email in which everything can be found in the transcript or www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com. I’d love to hear from you because then it makes this feel more like a conversation. 

Now come walk with me where we intentionally and daily hang out with Jesus. 

15:44 - Let’s pray … 

Almighty God and Creator of All, thank you for allowing us to come together to learn how Gideon’s life is an example of how we can thrive in this collapsing world. Open our hearts to receive what is from you and unclog our ears from the clutter that is trying to crowd out Your voice and give us a courageous attitude about sharing what we learn with others. We pray that whatever we do and say that we do it to the glory of God, even if that means humbly asking questions in order to seek clarity. In Jesus name, Amen 

Transcript With Time Stamps 

17:30 - Hey Saints have you read the book Judges, specifically Judges 6 to 8 where it talks about Gideon? By the way, do you think it’s right to question God? Well, let’s take a look at what Gideon did and God’s response. 

18:04 - Saints, take some time to read Judges 6 to 8, you will be amazed at how similar the events that occurred back in B.C. days (Before the birth of Christ) are reflective of what we are going through now. And yet, there is a lesson in here, that shows us the pitfalls and how the path you take will affect the next generation, rather you want to believe it or not.  

18:36 - It’s our actions that will chart our destiny. Just as it did for Gideon who grew from a fearful man to a fearless man of God. 

18:52 - Chapter 6 opens with a picture of the Israelites being in an awful state because they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do, instead they were doing evil in the sight of God. So the LORD handed them over to the Midianites. And also the Amalekites and people of the East. They flew unto them like locust (the bible Says) and ate up their crops, taking their livestock and leaving them with nothing.  

19:29 - So the Israelites cried to the LORD. I wonder if repentance was a part of that crying out. I also wonder how many people were complaining, worrying, instead of praying and asking God, “Why?” Well God heard them and sent a prophet who said this: 

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.” 

20:32 - Now Saints, I’ve got to stop here. Do you see any similarities to what we are going through today? Saints arguing over who can and can’t preach, what to or not to wear, what version of the Bible is real, which denomination is preaching the truth or more political, and stuff like that. We are more interested in how we present ourselves to draw more people to our cause or church then we are in pushing forward the Gospel. We have “would be” churches fooling believers into being less than whom God’s called them to be and holding them in bondage. Saints, we are doing things that are evil in the sight of God like agreeing with the enemy, not standing up to what he’s influencing others to say in our face.  

21:49 - There are more Believers who are surrendering to the demands of the culture in order to stay afloat of alive and others trying to hide. And even in the mist of all this, there are Believers like you and me who say, “God help. Your servant is listening. Give me the boldness and strength to do what you have called me to do. Come Lord Jesus Come.” 

22:28 - And the Lord is saying that He took us out of darkness and brought us into His marvelous light through the death burial and resurrection of His Son, but you haven’t grasped that concept because you don’t take the time to study His Word and some don’t even read it, listen to, or watch it being read to them. In other words, you aren’t rooted and grounded in God’s.    

22:58 - If this is you, the solution is to set up a regular time to read the Bible, to begin. If you have reading the Bible down, next is to study it. The Bible App can help, I have The Me Project Who I Am and Whose I Am Bible study on my website, www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com, and there’s a link in the show notes. Also you can use Judges 6 to 8 to begin studying. There are many books on Gideon, such as Priscilla Shirer did one, gotquestions.org did a study on it. That’s just to help you get started because DVD’s, and eBooks are also available. 

24:42 - Let’s get back to Gideon’s story. An angel of the LORD visited Gideon while he was beating out wheat in the winepress which was hidden from the Midianites. Now Gideon, at his place of work and the angel of the LORD had a conversation that consisted of asking questions.  

25:09 - Here’s the conversation: 

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord[a] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” 

26:35 - Saints did you hear it. The angel called Gideon, “Mighty Man of Valor”. He saw Gideon greater than Gideon saw himself because he knew what the future held for him. Sometimes God calls us into our destiny, simply by calling us who we are. Saints, you/we are accepted, blessed, perfectly loved, chosen, and a mighty Priesthood now those are words to recite daily.   

27:56 - Next we have the question that we all ask or have asked at some time in our life due to life’s circumstances: 

“Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 

28:30 - In shorten terms, Lord why is this happening to us/me and what happened to all those miracles we read about in the Bible? 

28:55 - Now isn’t that the question? Is that questioning God? Can you relate? Now here’s what I want to share. Did you noticed that Gideon was faulting God, as if he didn’t believe who God said He was, simply because he and his people feel forsaken and have been given into the hand of the Midianites. Seriously, saints, how did he forget about the sins of the people who were doing evil in the sight of God? 

30:02 - Why is it that we remember one part of scripture, like the benefits, but forget the part where we are responsible for keeping God’s commandments? Are we so anal about having our rights and needs met until we question God about what he’s doing, while denying that we had a part in being in the state we are in? 

30:32 - Think about it Saints. Just because you are a believer doesn’t mean you are above the law, or better than everyone else. Just because you are a preacher or Bible teacher doesn’t mean everyone except your colleagues are beneath you. Just because you have a bunch of degree acronyms behind your name doesn’t mean you are better than everyone, like the character on Young Sheldon. Even that character has to be brought down to earth. 

31:12 - Do you get where I’m coming from? We can ask God questions but remember you had a hand in getting you where you are either by choice or the mire fact you were born into sin. Everyone isn’t going to be born looking like glamor girl or handsome dude. Some of us are coming out flawed according to the world’s standards or life experiences are going to change our perception of what is beauty. What we have to remember is that God makes everything beautiful. It’s man that keeps messing it up.  

32:00 - Believers you weren’t meant to look like the world’s people, or dress like them, or act like them, or battle like them or worship like them. You have a different destiny. Embrace all of who you are because God’s got a reason and mission for you to be here. My shoe size and wrinkles on my face are not to be hidden but embraced because it took a lot of living to get me here. I survived when I should have died, according to the world, because I didn’t fit their mold.  

32:49 - Saints, the only mold we are to fit into, isn’t a mold, but to become rooted and grounded into God’s word so He can transform you/us by the renewing of our mind. It’s not a mold but a mindset. It’s time to stop allowing the world to tell you who you are. Let God do that through his word. 

33:22 - I know we talked about a lot but let’s be clear on two things. We are at a state in history where we need to do more than just read our Bibles. The culture is collapsing around us telling lies about the truth and some of us are slowly buying in and falling into its trap. This is also why we don’t know rather we are questioning God, in arrogance or disbelief vs questioning God out of a sincere heart in order to make any correction needed to get right with God. 

34:15 - Secondly, Bible study is what we need to do. The show notes have links to different places to help you through that process. The other thing is that you will find out who you are from the Bible and then hold tight to that because God’s changing your mindset, first. Therein lies “the who”, of who you are and whose you are. 

Now until we meet again over the airwaves, intentionally and daily hang out with Jesus. Shalom 

Thanks for listening today you may also find it helpful to receive the Me Project Academy newsletter with episode updates, prayer-a-week, spiritual discipline tips and much more. All this and more can be found, including my contact information, on www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com or in the show notes. 

So until we meet again over the airwaves, intentionally and daily, hang out with Jesus. 

Lyvita: Shalom!