Holy Logistics: A Deep Dive into Sermon Delivery

TJ Blackwell: 00:00:28

Second Timothy 2, 14, 17 in the Christian standard, Bible says, remind them of these things and charge them before God not to fight about words. This is useless and leads to the ruin of those who listen.

Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed. Correctly teaching the word of truth.

Avoid irreverent and empty speech, since those who engage in it will produce even more godlessness and their teaching will spread like gangrene. In the letter of two Timothy, St. Paul is mentoring Timothy as a church leader.

Here, Paul both warns about trivial words, telling us not to fight over them, and also emphasizes the importance of preaching the word in truth.

John Nolan, why do you think Paul may have paired together these ideas of teaching correctly with our words and avoiding quarrels over trivial language?

John Noel: 00:01:22

Well, if you study church history and a lot of people were taking Paul's letters and they would try to mimic them. And that's why in some of his letters you'll say, you see this written with my own signature.

And he also at times will have whoever is writing for them, they will mention, I'm writing this for Paul, and they'll specify.

So in those days, people were trying to spread false rumors as they do today, and they were using Paul's name to further that method of disrupting the Scripture and disrupting the word and movement of the church.

So Paul is letting Timothy know that there are going to come in times where people will try to bring in arguments and stray from the truth, which is a tactic of the enemy that he continues to use even today to get people focused on something else. So I think Paul looks at Timothy not just as a church leader, but he looked at Timothy as a son. He felt like, you know, I saw this as a young child.

I raised this boy up and he went with me on these missionary journeys. I know what he's capable of. I seen him, I worked with him, I've trained him, I've mentored him. So he had a lot invested in Timothy.

So he wanted to make sure that he kept his focus as well. You could see easily. I remember when I was in college, we tried to do a Bible study.

I went to a Baptist college in Kentucky and you could get caught up on doctrine.

And then instead of, we really was trying to reach other souls, but somebody would bring up a doctrinal issue and that would look, everything would go off the rails. Everybody would have their opinion of this and their opinion of that.

And what we're really, we're trying to do is reach Souls and save souls, but we get caught up in talking. That is useless. So, you know, if I don't want to get into any specifics, but any kind of doctrine, you know, if it's not.

If it's scriptural, and then it's just a basis on how you treat that scripture, that's one thing. But if it's. If it's heresy, then, yeah, you would say something.

But a lot of times you get into doctrinal issues, and it's just, here's one camp that thinks this way, like. Like the Tribulation. One thinks it might be pre tribulation, one might think it be mid tribulation, one might think it's post tribulation.

What does that do for a young person trying to learn about the Lord? You're trying to get saved. Do they really need to consider such a thing? No, they don't.

And Paul's trying to tell Timothy that we're trying to build a church. We're trying to reach souls, we're trying to get people into heaven.

Let's not quarrel about things that are going to derail others and they're never going to make it into heaven. Let's talk about the things that are going to secure their faith and get them moving in the right direction.

When they get rooted and grounded, then they can consider such things. But at the time being, when you're building a church, you're starting a church, you're reaching a soul, you know, just like a baby.

You don't feed a baby a piece of steak at the beginning, though. Josh, when he was a baby, he probably would have liked it. But you feed them milk and you.

You train them up, you get them to that place where they finally can get to that state. But you don't do that at the beginning. And this is what I think he's trying to teach Timothy.

Joshua Noel: 00:04:26

Yeah, yeah.

Also, you know, there's a difference of, like, when you're discussing doctrine and stuff, and you're enjoying it, and it's like iron sharpens iron and like, TJ and I both read the same thing differently.

And then people are arguing, like, minute details of should it be they or a in this sentence, and they legitimately get angry at each other and disavow one of them. You're like, dude, that really wasn't that important.

John Noel: 00:04:45

Yep.

Joshua Noel: 00:04:45

You just gotta learn how to. How to engage. Well. Yeah, it's good stuff. Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the Whole Church podcast, part of our Holy Logistics series, where we're discussing behind the scenes, how does the Church get made. What goes into a sermon? What goes into a worship service? Your children's church. How do pews get made? We're discussing all that in this series.

Having a lot of fun. Talked about organs once. That was cool. And today, very special episode to kick it off. We're starting off.

I forgot that this was the first episode because recording times are weird. Guys, we're here with my dad, John Knoll. Excited for this one. It's also why teacher had to do the verse.

I realized it's like having to address him by John is strange. I don't like it, so I won't be doing it the rest of this episode. Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:05:33

John is also my dad's name, so I get it.

Joshua Noel: 00:05:36

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:05:38

John Noel is ordained with the Church of God of Prophecy.

He's worked as a part time evangelist and he currently helps teach and occasionally preach at his home church in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Harvest Ministries. He also works as a senior lead analytics consultant for Wells Fargo or a senior.

So a little bit about him and you'll find out plenty about him as we go on. But as far as we go, you can go to our website to support us. Purchase one of our T shirts.

It helps promote the show, raises money for the podcast, and gets others to know about the importance and relevance of our mission to educate and unite the modern church. I like the TJ quote on the back shirt because it just has our logo on the front, nothing on the back. Super simple, easy to wear.

Joshua Noel: 00:06:21

Yeah, yeah. TJ's a man.

TJ Blackwell: 00:06:23

A few words still starts conversation. Yeah. But check out the Onazel podcast Network website for shows that are like ours or not like ours. Shows that we like to like.

Joshua Noel: 00:06:35

Yeah, yeah. And of course, before anything else, we do like to start off with my favorite form of unity, which of course is silliness. I may or may not.

I've got part of that from my parents. For those who don't know, my dad loves Despicable Me and the Minions, so I love the opportunity to.

I had to incorporate that into this segment somehow.

John Noel: 00:06:54

So.

Joshua Noel: 00:06:54

So nad tj. And I'll answer it first, give you a little bit of time to think about it.

But which church functions do you think would be the most entertaining with the Minions from Despicable Me being present? I have a few thoughts. I don't know if TJ wants to go first, but I will. Okay.

TJ Blackwell: 00:07:10

Yeah, I feel like that's normal. Yeah. So the easy answer is worship. We're not doing the easy answer. That's too easy. Of course it'd be funny. I'm thinking nursery.

Joshua Noel: 00:07:22

Yeah, yeah, that's fair. That's fair.

TJ Blackwell: 00:07:24

Yeah. Let them watch the kids. Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:07:27

Family fun night, I feel like is also kind of low hanging fruit, but I'm gonna go back with all reverence. So for those who are Pentecostal, don't understand that you can have energy and still be reverent sometimes.

Like, I feel like stoicism isn't the same thing as reverence. You know, our church camp, when we did baptisms, it got pretty wild a few times. In a good way, I think.

I think the Minions being present for a church camp baptism, you know, junior camp, Justin Vaughn, shout out one of our sponsors being there. That'd be fun. I think it'd be a good time.

TJ Blackwell: 00:07:56

That would be.

Joshua Noel: 00:07:56

That would be a great time. Yeah. Still reverence, but, you know. Yeah. All right, dad, take us home. What's the.

What would be the most entertaining church function with the Minions?

John Noel: 00:08:05

I think they would like being ushers because they could direct people the wrong way or send one here and one there. I think they'd have a lot of fun doing the ushers and the greetings.

Joshua Noel: 00:08:16

I just imagine going into church and being greeted with a banana.

John Noel: 00:08:20

Banana,.

Joshua Noel: 00:08:23

Yes. Yes. That sounds excellent. Actually. That's pretty good.

TJ Blackwell: 00:08:27

You know, who knows? Maybe they did at one point and we'll find out in the next Minions movie.

Joshua Noel: 00:08:32

Never know.

TJ Blackwell: 00:08:34

But before we get into the other fun stuff with this series, John, could you tell us some about how you first came to the faith and how you joined the Church of God of Prophecy?

John Noel: 00:08:42

Well, my mom was a Christian ever since I can remember, probably before I was born, I'm sure. And you know, so we were always reading the Bible, always going to church.

I remember going to a little Baptist church in Louisville, Kentucky, Metropolitan Baptist Church, and giving my heart to the Lord there. We had a younger sister, wasn't the youngest, but next to the youngest who was paralyzed.

And my mom, that's when she got interested in Pentecostal churches. She really liked Jimmy Swaggart.

She listened to his stuff all the time, tried to go see him, went to Evangel Tabernacle in Louisville just hoping that someone would pray for Susan and she would be healed. So that's how we got started in Pentecostal movement. We went to a small church later on, Church of Our Savior in Louisville.

I don't even know if it still exists or not.

But then when we moved to Bloomfield, Kentucky, we moved because Susan just really couldn't handle the pollution and the environment in Louisville, Kentucky. So they wanted to get to a place where little cleaner air, easier for her to be able to breathe and get around.

So she was crippled, so she didn't get around. But you know, it's easier for her to function.

ver since. So that was in the: 1970

TJ Blackwell: 00:10:12

Yeah. Which would have been like right after the split with the Church of God. So like since the beginning, y', all, y' all have been there.

You know, that would have been maybe 10 years after. I think, I don't quite remember.

Joshua Noel: 00:10:24

I think you might know church God of Prophecy history better than me because I don't, I don't remember when that happened. I know I read it a couple times, but yeah, I actually didn't know all of that. That's actually really interesting.

But I mean, I knew it was like Bloomfield when we started going Church of God Prophecy, but I didn't know any of the stuff before that. So, dad, some of what you do is a little different. So some people might not quite understand some of the concepts.

Different churches function differently. Obviously. When I was growing up, you did a lot of like you were a part time evangelist.

I think you still do this, but I think you did a little bit more often when I was like middle school and high school where you would go to a church, have a three or four day revival, you'd preach. Currently, sometimes you're preaching at the church or you're teaching different things, but you're not the head pastor.

I'm not sure if anyone calls you Pastor John or not, but like I think you're ordained, so I think technically, yeah, like I think technically, but I'm not a pastor. You're just not the head pastor or anything. But you don't.

John Noel: 00:11:17

I'm not a pastor, so I'm licensed as an evangelist in church prophecy.

Joshua Noel: 00:11:22

Could you explain what the difference is for people who aren't used to churches who function that way?

John Noel: 00:11:26

Well, it's kind of like if you go back to the New Testament, you look at Paul, Paul went around from church to church.

He didn't always stay at one church, he went around and he, especially on his second and third missionary journeys, he went around and encouraged the churches.

That's what a lot of times what evangelists are brought in for is to bring in some excitement, bring in some encouragement to the Church and for a few short sermons, a few. Few nights, sometimes three nights, sometimes seven nights. I did one last year. It was just two nights.

It's just a matter of going in and getting some excitement stirred up to get the people realizing, you know, sometimes we need to hear somebody different than our regular pastor because. And they need a break, too. They need to. They need encouragement themselves. So they bring in evangelists.

And it's just so to bring up reviving the Spirit as much as anything so that the church is excited and they can start refocusing at times. You know, you see, that said work functions a lot.

You might go for three, six months, and then the managers will come in and they want to pop everybody up, might have a special event, bring in special speakers, just get everyone excited about the work again. Same thing with the evangelist. Get everyone excited about the Lord again and just something a little different.

So as an evangelist, you're centering on. That's what I center on. What is it that the Lord wants for these people?

Or at least two or three days that would encourage them and keep them in the faith, get them excited about the church, get them excited about reaching others for the Lord and reaching souls. And that's what you're looking at. What can I do? What do you want me to say to these people, Lord, that would help them in this way?

Whereas a pastor is watching over them. We look at David as a shepherd, and he was constantly looking at the sheep. I recently did a study for the adult class, not.

Not the young people's class, but. And we talked about Psalms 23.

And the one writer brought up, and he talked about, you know, and he brought in, I think it was Psalms 43 or another, or 34, another scripture. And he talked about the sheep. At times they would lay down and they would. They just get tired. Their. Their hair would grow.

Their, you know, their coat would go so thick and be full of mud. We get wet way down. It just become hard on the sheep. And they would just lay down flat wherever they were.

A good shepherd would notice this and realize something's going on. So he would go to that sheep. First thing you do is get them on their feet.

If they don't get on their feet, then they'll build up gas, and that could kill them. They would actually die from that gas. Just sitting there too long. Much like a church. Churches, they just sit and they just stay stagnant.

The church will die.

But what he was saying in this is that the good shepherd will go to, that sheep will stand him up, get his feet, get the mobility moving, get some blood flowing through his legs. And then he would shear the sheep, he would wash the sheep, shear the sheep, get all that waste off, all that extra heavy coat off.

And he would be refreshed. So the sheep would become refreshed. And so the same thing with the pastor. It's a job of the pastor to notice the flock.

Where is the one that's laying down?

Where is the one that's a heavy burden from the ways of this world, who's got too much dirt of the world on them, too much things going on in their lives and needs that extra encouragement?

That's where a pastor comes in, because he knows the flock better, he knows the individual people, he knows what they're going through, the good shepherds, that's what they do. Good pastors.

Joshua Noel: 00:15:03

Yeah, good stuff.

TJ Blackwell: 00:15:06

Sweet. So for this series we have a special segment and we're calling it Fact or Fantasy.

So we're asking everybody a series of questions, preferably quickly just to start off, to help us get a sense of what is fact and what is fantasy concerning how the sausage of church, as it were, gets made. So, John, do you think you're ready?

John Noel: 00:15:27

Sure. Alright.

TJ Blackwell: 00:15:28

We do prefer to keep the answers as short as possible, but hey, that's not real life. So what monthly expenses does a church have that many people might not think of?

John Noel: 00:15:38

Well, I saw this on your site, so I think, I hate to call it an expense, but I would say benevolence fund, because there's always people coming to the church door, needing help, wanting things. Our church is very good about that and they set aside monies for that. So in that aspect, I would say it would be the benevolence fund.

Most people don't realize that, but I know our pastors get bombarded just about every day, even during service at times. Right.

TJ Blackwell: 00:16:08

So what is a struggle that church leadership faces regularly that people might be shocked to think about?

John Noel: 00:16:14

I still, I would still go back to the benevolence because the pastor has to determine whether this person is coming in or not.

Just the pastor, sometimes associate pastor, but they have to determine is this person coming in with a real need or they're just trying to get some money out of the church. And that's a hard decision.

You know, you really have to be tuned into the spirit to, you know, discern that and see whether or not this is a real need or not.

TJ Blackwell: 00:16:39

So, yeah, not a, not an enviable person position to be in. So what is the most interesting room in your church and how does the layout of the room serve the functionality of the room?

John Noel: 00:16:50

Well, our church is a pretty basic model, but I'm going to say the fellowship hall because, you know, I wish it was bigger, but it is set up to serve. Serve the people, serve meals to get people to come together and have some time of fellowship without necessarily learning.

And there's, you know, you will have meals in there and it's. They set it up U shape. Yep. Yep. Josh had his wedding reception there. So it's set up in like a U shape a lot of times so people can.

Can go from one table to the other and talk and, and fellowship. So I would say the fellowship hall.

TJ Blackwell: 00:17:27

And I do, I mean, I like the layout of Yalls church in general. I like it a lot. But how important is the layout of the work worship area in a church building?

John Noel: 00:17:36

Well, it's extremely important because you, you got to make sure, you know, some people might not realize this, but you got to make sure people are going to want to come to the altar at times. And you got to make sure that there's. It's. They have the ability to do that. You know, you're not just trying to.

It's not like an airplane where you're just trying to get people in the seats. You, you want people to. To feel this presence of the Lord.

You want people to experience the Lord and let the Lord be able to move and touch their hearts. But you, you got to realize that sometimes people going to want to come to the altar.

People are going to want to come up front and, and need to do things. So you have to pay attention to the layout. So I like our particular church because they have like four different walkways to the, to the pulpit area.

So it makes it easier for people to get up there. And even in the balcony, you have two. You have side. Got stairs on both sides. So it's not just like everybody would be crowning one side. So.

And then you have to consider the music. Is the music going to be able to reach.

I remember when I was in Tallahassee, this guy, we had a evangelist come, he did a great job, but he was telling the pastor, you know, the worship is what people first see about your church is what they're really going to take away. And he started pointing out to our pastor because they really wanted him to continue.

And he pointed out some things, things, you know, your lighting is not good. Some people are not going to stay. If they have to stay in the back corner in the start, they're not going to come and stay.

Some people are not going to come. If they see a stained tile, they're not going to want to send it under there because they might. Maybe there's a link, a leak or something, you know.

So you have to consider all these things as the worship is what's going to make them feel comfortable or make them feel like, well, they just shoved me over here in the corner and I don't want to go to this church. So you want to make sure it's welcoming, it's inviting and that you're easily able to move forward if the Lord so prompts to heart.

Joshua Noel: 00:19:26

Yeah, right.

TJ Blackwell: 00:19:27

I mean, as far as I'm concerned, that water from the tile, that's baptism.

Joshua Noel: 00:19:32

Yeah. But no two things at their church. It's really cool. We're talking about layout. Just quick because you know, I grew up there.

The room they have for baptism so you can discreetly go in and out because sometimes embarrassing stuff happens when you're getting ready for baptism. Super cool that they have that. Also we use that for our meet TJ and best man and my dad whenever we were doing my wedding. So it was cool.

Also the amount of time rooms they have with more than one entrance exit. Super convenient. Especially when one of them is closer to the restroom.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:00

Yeah. Yeah. Pretty nice. So in one or two word answers, could you explain who is responsible for each of the following areas at your local church?

You can always say that you don't know or there isn't one if you want. So landscaping.

John Noel: 00:20:17

I think they have a building committee that takes care of that. Budgeting, finance committee, hospital visits as pastoral.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:24

Staff, wedding and funeral arrangements.

John Noel: 00:20:28

I don't think they really have anyone that does that theological correction. That would be the head pastor.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:33

Building maintenance.

John Noel: 00:20:35

Again, the building committee, worship set lists. That'd be Pastor Mike. He's our worship leader.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:40

Teaching.

John Noel: 00:20:42

Depends on what area, but typically for the younger ones it'd be Sister Jeannie. She's the children's pastor. And then I think Pastor Mike takes care of some of the adult things. But the head pastor does his own.

And then the brother baker, he's another associate pastor. He does the young adults, college age students.

Joshua Noel: 00:21:01

So he does his own foreshadowing to next episode.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:05

Yeah, Brother Baker parking lot traffic.

John Noel: 00:21:09

That would be Brother Carl and brother.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:11

Baker greeting and welcoming people.

John Noel: 00:21:13

That's a brother baker. He handles. I believe he is the one who handles, which is whoever. I don't know if there's a head usher or head greeter, but he handles the ushers.

I don't know who handles the greeters, but I think it's him.

Joshua Noel: 00:21:25

Nice. Nice. Well, I think that's all for that. A factor fantasy. Trying to figure out what's going on with dj. Technical issues abound, usually India. Yeah.

So it's the life of podcasting until everyone listening can give like $3 and DJ and I can do this like full time, but that would be literally all of you. So, yeah, consider.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:47

And every time.

Joshua Noel: 00:21:48

Yeah, yeah, every week. Yeah, probably every month. I think we'd get by if everyone did it every month. I feel like $3 we give.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:55

Yeah, $12 a month.

Joshua Noel: 00:21:56

That works too. Anyway, so before getting to some of the specifics, just to help clarify, some churches have like a short homily with a liturgical calendar.

So a lot of you, more high liturgical churches, your Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox, his companions, I'm probably leaving people out so they kind of have like predetermined what you're going to preach about. Some churches use like a. What's called electionary.

So, like, everybody's learning the same thing that Sunday from all across the world, which is cool. It's kind of unifying. But every church does it differently.

I personally don't think there's like a right or wrong way, but I know your church dad's a little bit different. And a lot of churches, Baptist, Pentecostals, most Methodists, I think, are a little bit different.

In this where you aren't, it's not determined beforehand what you're supposed to preach. So just to kind of more general, how do you like, when you preach, teach, do revivals, how do you decide what you're going to teach from?

John Noel: 00:22:48

Well, I do a lot of praying up front. So, you know, I'm of the belief that Lord wants a particular message for that particular group of people at that time.

So I will search and pray and pray. You know, I read the Bible every day. So, you know, that's one thing you have to, like Paul says, you have to be instant in season and out of season.

And when you do that, when you're staying in the Word, you're staying in things, it's easier for the Lord to speak to you through the Word and to highlight things to you. Things come to, you know, of interest to you.

There's times where somebody will give you, you know, I'd like for you to, you know, I went to a senior's day and they wanted me to preach on a particular thing, on the armor of God. So you were given a particular topic.

But most of the time Even in, like, the adult teaching classes, I just tried to figure, well, Lord, what would you like for me to speak on? What would encourage most people? What would help the most people? And so that's in the back of my mind.

And then from there, I would just lay out and start thinking about, what can I say? What would be good to reach these people? The revival, the last revival I did, I did it around Elijah.

And when he went up on the mount and in the Lord, he just opened up scriptures to me and preached it. I had a gentleman, he said, I've been going to church for 50 years, and I never heard it preached this way before.

So the Lord knows how he wants to reach people. He knows how, who he wants to touch and who he wants to minister to. So I use that.

And I think Brother Baker said a long time ago, when he was the state overseer, he said that the Lord births sermons in you. He puts a plant. It might be a year or two later before he even comes to fruition, but he begins to put a thought in you.

And I have notes on my phone, I have notes in my Bible, notes all over the place, but he'll put a thought in there, and then the Lord will bring you back to that thought when the time comes. So that because he's laying that groundwork, he's setting it up so that you say, oh, let me go back and see if I can find this.

And I think that's how I go about it. And I believe that's what those that are listening to the Lord.

I think all ministers are wanting to reach people, wanting to touch people, wanting to be an encouragement to them. So they're relying on the Lord. Show me what. What you would have me to say.

Joshua Noel: 00:25:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:25:17

A lot of people do assume that preaching at a Pentecostal church is just reading the scripture and you say whatever you're feeling like, because that's who they see us as, that the happy clappy church. But you just covered it, really, how much prep work that it takes and that kind of thing. But what do you use to prepare?

You know, like old sermons, commentaries, lectionaries?

John Noel: 00:25:41

Well, you know, and I heard one minister talk about, you know, you can go to AI and you can get all kinds of stuff out of AI nowadays. But, you know, the AI is impersonal. God is a personal God. He wants to speak to people one on one.

He knows exactly what he wants to say to that person. So to me, it's your preparation is you don't want to ever tell anybody Something wrong, because Scripture brings that out.

You know, those who teach, those who preach, they're going to be held to a higher standard. They're going to be responsible for the words that they say. So you have to always be cognizant of that.

You don't want to get up and say something just because it sounds good. You got to know the scripture, you got to understand the scripture, you got to search out things.

And a lot of times it's not just Bible, it's history. What do you know about the history of things, how that came about, and how these different things happen. So you got to research and you find things.

Like when I did the message on the Armor of God, I actually did a full revival in Virginia. I think Josh, he went with me then. He was still in college then, or maybe high school. But I studied all the Armor of God.

I didn't read just the Bible. I read Roman history about how they developed their armor and why, the specific purpose of those armors.

And when you do those kind of things, Lord will reveal new things to you that you never knew about. For instance, the shoes that they wore, they weren't just regular army boots. These, these had what they called hobnails in them.

So they would use stone and nails, anything they could. And the reason that is is because when they put their foot down and they had to make their stand, they want to make sure they didn't slip.

You imagine you're sword fighting somebody and you slip. That's a dangerous move, right? So they. And this wasn't supplied by the army. Each soldier was responsible if they wanted the hobnails in their shoes.

They were responsible for finding the rocks and setting up their shoes the way they wanted them to be. That was their responsibility.

And it's much like as Christians today, it's our responsibility to know how we can become rooted and grounded in the Scriptures. What is it that I need? It might be different than what you need. There might be something that I hold on to.

onto all the time is Jeremiah: 17:14

Lord, if you heal me, then I'll be healed. It's plain and simple. I love that scripture because it just shows it. It's just so matter of fact. If you do it, Lord, it will be done.

And that's the kind of, those kind of things is what you have to shod your feet with with the Preparation of the gospel.

And when you're preaching the word or even if you're just talking to someone, administering to someone, you want it rooted and grounded in God and you want something firm that you can stand on. When you plant your foot, you want to plant it in the word of God and you want to stay true to the word of God.

Joshua Noel: 00:28:37

Yeah, yeah. It's kind of interesting that like one of your goes to's is if you heal me, I'll be healed. And one of my go to's is, it is for freedom.

He set us free. We know it's like the really straightforward verse, if he does it, it's going to be done. Yeah, no, I like that though. Yeah, so you kind of hit on it.

And it's kind of a difficult question to work because I've preached before too, and I know sometimes when you're preaching you do feel the spirit and you're like, oh, I need to say this, I need to actually change this a little bit and direct it this way. You know, whatever. Even like when you're preparing, you know, you feel the spirit certain moment.

But then there's like a studying like you mentioned, you, that goes into it as well.

How would you explain maybe the way that we balance this prayer, letting the Spirit lead with that, being prepared, studying so that, you know, you show yourself, approved, that kind of stuff. How do you balance the two so that you're not neglecting the spirit, but you're not neglecting study either.

John Noel: 00:29:32

Well, the Spirit expects you to study. The Spirit wants you to know the word of God and he will reveal things to you.

It's like, you know, my dad, when he was living, he wanted to understand the Bible more. And I would tell him, dad, you know who the author is? God is the author. You look to him and you ask him.

And so, you know, we got them things that would help them, but. But the main thing is you gotta listen to God. You gotta let God open up the scriptures to you.

My pastor always says you prove the scripture with the scriptures. So you go back to other scriptures and you study one scripture from the other.

We have it a lot easier for us today because even in the Bible on the iPhone, you can click on a little letter, A, B, C letter and it'll take you to other scriptures that does the same thing.

Old Bibles that, you know, the hard copies of the Bibles, you could, you got them over in the ledger that will take you to what scriptures you can go to. So we have a lot easier than they did when Paul and Peter and them were preaching. But you prove the scripture with the scripture.

And so you use the full Scripture, not just the New Testament, not just the Old Testament. You use all of the scripture and you let God bring it together to you. That's why I tried to read the Bible multiple times a year.

So that when I get to something in the New Testament, I can remember what happened in the Old Testament, and I can bring those two together.

Some people like to read some in the Old Testament, some in the New Testament, but you bring the whole Bible together and you balance that by the Spirit leads us. I've been in services. When we were at the detention center was one such instance. I had a shaman prepared.

But this young lady gets up and sings and these guys start laughing. And then it's just the Spirit moved upon me and I began to question those guys. Do you think you're brave? Do you think you're bold?

Why don't you come up here and sing? And these are convicted children. You know, they're in a juvenile detention center. Some of them for horrible reasons. But the Lord moved.

And because I followed the presence of the Lord, I think it was like 60 of that 90 kids got saved at that afternoon. Because the Lord knows what he wants to do.

The Lord opens the doors and if we're not listening to the Lord and following the Lord, then we'll miss that. You know, it's like when the disciples were on the water and they were.

The Bible says it's one of the few passages of scripture that are in all four gospels. But it talks about that they were on the rowing and towing, rowing and towing.

And sometimes in life we get so busy with rowing and towing that we're not paying attention to the environment around us. And the one scripture I think it was in, Luke says, and the Lord almost passed them by walking on the water. Can you imagine?

He almost walked by them because they were too busy worrying about what their circumstance was. Sometimes we have to pay attention, say, lord, open my eyes, show me what's going on. Help me to understand the environment.

Help me to understand what you're trying to accomplish here, not just what I'm trying to accomplish, because it can be about us at times we can make it about us. And you know, I want to do this sermon. You know, I want to get done by 9 o'. Clock. I want to be out the door, I want to be finished.

Or we could just say, lord, I want to be used by you. I want to be a vessel unto honor that you can Pour out for these people to minister however you want, however you choose.

I just want to be that vessel. And that's where it comes down to. So.

So if I'm studied in the Scripture, then doesn't it make sense that the Spirit can change, move my mind to a scripture that I just read? But if I haven't been reading it, how's he going to do that?

If I haven't been in the Word, how is he going to direct me to a passage that he wants spoken? Because I haven't paid attention to? The Scripture says he'll bring all things back to your remembrance.

That means you had to know it firsthand because how can he remind you of something you've never read, you never studied before? He is back to your remembrance because you have been in that Word, you have studied the Word, you have made yourself prepared.

And then he opens the door and he chooses at what time he wants to use it.

TJ Blackwell: 00:33:37

All right.

Joshua Noel: 00:33:37

Yeah, yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:33:38

Could you describe in detail what the process is like from the moment you decide or are asked to preach to the moment that servant gives delivered? Give us a step by step.

John Noel: 00:33:49

Well, like I said, I do a lot of praying.

I do a lot of praying because I really feel like the Lord knows if somebody wants needs to be healed during that time, if somebody just needs encouragement, if there's going to be people, you always want to see people get saved. That's always on the back of your mind as an evangelist or always on the back of my mind, I always love to see people get saved. And so.

But you always want that.

But you want people to leave encouraged, you want people to leave strengthened in the Lord, because that's one of your main goals as an evangelist, as we said earlier, is to stir these people up. So a lot of prayer goes in. Everything has to be seasoned with prayer. I start off with that and then I tried to.

Once the Lord gives me something, it's easier if you make kind of like a series and you stay on a particular topic. But you know, it depends.

Sometimes the Lord, he knows who's going to be there on Wednesday night, who's going to be there on Thursday night, who's going to be there on Friday night or Saturday night. So the Lord chooses, but I let him pick out the Scriptures.

I've been to revivals where I had the first night sermon, but I, for the life of me, I didn't have any idea what I was going to speak on the second night. I was just waiting for the Lord to give me inspiration. And he does that and sometimes, you know, the inspiration comes quickly. Sometimes it's.

Sometimes he wants to know, are you going to rely on me? Are you going to do this on your own? I don't never want to do it on my own. I always want to rely on him.

So I always wait till I feel like, yes, this is the inspiration that I have. You know, there's been times. It's not just one set thing that comes.

I remember one time, Matt was at the men's retreat in Virginia years ago, and I just happened to read the Scripture. And I believe it was in Isaiah. And it talks about, but don't go over here. The salt in the marshes it talks about.

And just a spirit of the Lord hit me. And I began to study that and began to read that.

And man, all the way up to go meet Matt and to pick him up, I thought about that scripture the whole way up there and whole way back in, I just said, man, I'm going to call Pastor Gary because I just feel like this needs to be preached tonight. And so I called him and he. He was so thrilled that I was.

Because he had something that happened the weekend before or the Saturday before he was wiped out, he said. But he said he was so thrilled to get my call. But the Lord knew. The Lord knew he needed a rest.

Lord wanted this message preached to touch people's lives, and he know that I needed to give it. So the Lord knows, and he knows how to touch each person. So we have to always rely on God. So like I said, I always read the Bible.

Always read the Bible. There's been. Sometimes when I get up in the middle of night and can't sleep, and I have a Smith's. I forget what it's called.

Encyclopedia of the Bible, I believe it is. And it's just a lot of interesting facts in it. So. And it's not all Bible. Some of it's history, some of it's archaeology.

Archaeology and different aspects. But I read these things and tried to understand them. You know, as a Christian, we should always have our focus on what is the Lord trying to do here.

Even at work, I was thinking the other day at work, I was doing some things and getting some code together, and I'm thinking about it and I got to thinking. You know, I asked AI because AI can give you quick answers to different things.

And it's like, you know, it's the same way when it comes to the Scripture. I can toil and I could struggle and I could read. I could read Matthew Henry, I could Read Robert's concordance.

I could read so and so's recorded concordance and all this other stuff.

I can struggle and I can struggle and I can struggle, but I could get on my knees and I lay that scripture before the Lord and say, lord, can you open this up to me? And he's just like, AI. He'll give you the answer just like that. And you all of a sudden, the.

The light shines and the spirit moves and the Spirit touches you, and you gain more from that. Now, that doesn't mean he can't use those other concordances.

But when you're struggling from that and you're not getting the answer you want, a lot of times the Lord just wants to speak to you one on one. He wants to give you that interpretation. He wants to help you with that Scripture. And he can't do that if you're not asking him.

So that's how I go about it. And I don't know. I think Brother Matthews, years ago, he was in the church, God of prophecy.

I think he went on to be with the Lord, but he always talked about, you need to plan every aspect of your sermon. You need to plan the introduction, you need to plan every outline. You know, and I wasn't so good at that when I first started.

And I know Brother Baker. He's one of the best because he'll write out his whole sermon. He knows exactly everything he's going to, you know, the Lord's put on him.

Now, that doesn't mean, you know, if, you know Brother Baker, that doesn't mean he's not going to. Well, I think he calls it chasers rabbits. But, you know, he feels the inspiration from the Lord.

He writes that down because he doesn't want to miss the inspiration that God gave him to share with others. Because that's why God gave it to him, is the ability to share that with other people. So he wants to make sure that it's not just for a soul.

Inspiration. He wants to share that inspiration with everyone. Sometimes I know how I am, I get a little more excited, and I don't like to stand still.

So if I try to write it all out, I won't be standing there reading it anyway. So everybody's a little different.

Joshua Noel: 00:39:10

Yeah.

John Noel: 00:39:10

Yeah.

Joshua Noel: 00:39:10

Well, it's funny. So you say all that, and it's why, you know, I didn't just have my dad on for convenience.

Believe it or not, listener, I think it's interesting if we're going to start this series, it wasn't convenient, mostly because of dj, though, yeah, it's my fault,.

TJ Blackwell: 00:39:25

But this is the most we've ever rescheduled anything.

Joshua Noel: 00:39:27

Yeah, yeah. But more on that later with the behind the Scenes. I thought it was interesting. It was a good place to start, was the sermon.

And I think it was really helpful to have someone who's got a Pentecostal background with this because sometimes it's. I think Pentecostals do a lot of this probably best because it's easier to let the spirit move when that's kind of what's prioritized in your church.

And it's easier, you know, and sometimes it is important to have the structure of the stuff. So I wanted to bring up two times that I most remember when you were preaching, evangelizing, revivals. And.

Yeah, just kind of see, like, if you remember these. What's really funny to me, the two times I most remember, one was kind of a longer series on the whole armor of God.

I think you brought that up earlier. And part of why I really remember it is I was going to school at a community college.

And while I was there, my dad was in the library using the books to study for this thing. And, man, it was studied out. It was so, like, detailed.

The stuff I learned, like, there was a lot of stuff I was like, man, I would have never known any of that. The other time I most remember probably was about a five minute sermon. This is all it was. It was part of an. He was evangelizing in Virginia.

They played the song, this is the year of Jubilee. And my dad stops them, the whole sermon. He stops the middle of the song.

He goes up, explains what the year of jubilee is, how it stands for freedom, what that meant for the people of Israel. And then he said, play that song again. And then we had an altar call. That was the whole thing.

And those were the two that I think most stood out to me. And one of them was, I would wager, I guess, that you're prepared. You probably had a whole sermon prepared that day and everything.

But you saw what the spirit was moving and said, okay, maybe this sermon isn't for today. What's for today is this song. And you had studied enough that you knew what jubilee was, so you were able to do that in that moment.

And then the other one was really studied, really well thought out. You know, you did the whole thing. And it's important to have that ballot.

So those are two that I most remember to surprise you that those are the two I remember the most.

John Noel: 00:41:19

Well, the second one, but not the first one.

Joshua Noel: 00:41:23

Yeah, fair enough.

TJ Blackwell: 00:41:24

So how do you know what to say to people to make them see the relevance of a message? Rather than just seeing the Scripture as like, you know, an old text or the Bible?

John Noel: 00:41:35

But, you know, when you're preaching, you're preaching to the whole congregation, so it's not just one person.

So when you're doing that again, you want to be led by the Spirit, so he's revealing things to you while you've studied, why you have prepared, and even while you're up there, you know, if you look at Christ's ministry, his eyes always looked about the room. You know, the person they brought in people just to see what he would do, the person with their hand.

You know, some people would have got up and not even paid any attention to that. But Christ was always looking. He's always looking. So before I get up, I like to pray and say, lord, let me have your eyes.

Let me see who you're reaching out to. Let me see who you're touching. Because he does want to touch.

Sometimes the sermon is for everybody, but a certain phrase might be for one person, might be for that, that. That person in the back corner might be that person on the front row.

It might be that person behind you, sometimes the people standing behind or sitting behind you. And. But the Lord knows. And so I want to go into the messages, I want to go into the sermons, and I want to go with the eyes of the Lord.

Who is that person, Lord, that special person you want to touch this morning? Who is that person you want to reach out to? And who's that person? You're speaking to their heart right now, Lord, that needs something.

And so you always got to be mindful of that when you're doing ministry one on one.

A lot of times when you get to that one on one, it's those experiment experiences that you've been through where the Lord has come in and done something for you and just. Just blew your mind, basically, that you didn't even know that God can do this. God can help, but. Because he's always there.

When Josh had his accident, he was laid up into the hospital and. And. But I still had to work because, you know, we had to have money. So I was working. The doctors came in, they were doing something.

They wanted me to leave. So I went on into the. I forget where it was, the waiting room. And I'm in there working. And this group of people comes in.

Their mom's on her deathbed, she's about to die. And they come in there, they had Some words, and they're upset their minister is not there yet. And then, well, who's going to do this?

And I just felt like the spirit said, you know, let them know who you are. So I put my computer to the side and said, you know, I didn't mean to intrude, but I did hear you all talking.

I am a minister in the church, God of prophecy, and it would be my pleasure to pray with you. It'd be my honor to pray with you. And you know, because Lord knows, he knew I needed to be in that waiting room.

He knew those people were coming to the waiting room. He knew those people need somebody who could pray and to reach the.

Like, you know, one pastor I had in Bloomfield, Kentucky, he would always sing ring the prayer bells of heaven. He knew that there was somebody, he needed me in there to come in and ring the prayer bells of heaven, to touch those people.

And who knows what might happen to them from that point on. Our part is to be the vessel, is to be the willing vessel, whether we're behind the pulpit or we're in a pew.

Because, you know, I've been there times in the pew and somebody else is preaching and somebody goes up to the altar and they need prayer. The Lord can't say, he doesn't want to interrupt the sermon. He'll say, john, I need you to go up there and pray.

And I have to be willing to listen to that and to go up and speak to that person, to pray with that person might be after the service, after service, go to this one and speak to him. Because the Lord knows he's a personal God. It's not, I'm just preaching to a congregation and that's it. He wants that one on one relationship.

And it's just like, you know, we talked about earlier, the good shepherd.

He sees the one he already knows, the one who's way down with the world, whose fur, whose coat has got too thick, who's got too much wet and dirt in it and is way down and is bogged down and is at the point that he could fall aside all the way. The Lord already knows.

He just needs a willing vessel, willing to go over, lift up a sheep, rub its legs, wash them down, shear the sheep, help them get rid of the excess weight, the excess hair, help them get back on track. That's our goal. Whether it's behind the pulpit or in the pew or wherever we're at, that's our goal, is to be a willing vessel. That's.

That's where we come into Play also,.

Joshua Noel: 00:45:48

I was gonna say kind of a fun, random, fun fact, though I didn't know your pastor used to do the Parables of Heaven. Have that played. I first remember Parables of Heaven when we visited when I was going to uncw. We visited a bunch of churches in the area.

One was this little old church, God of Prophecy Church, that mostly old people did a bunch of hymns. And I remember Parables of Heaven for that. Usually when I'm asked what my favorite hymn is, I'll say Prayer Bells of Heaven.

So it's kind of funny because I didn't know there was a Kentucky connection. That's kind of fun.

John Noel: 00:46:16

Henry Griffin Senior, he went on to be with the Lord many, many years ago, but he would sing that all the time. Prayer Bells of Heaven.

Joshua Noel: 00:46:23

It's a good one. Especially good banjo. Don't tell mom, but.

TJ Blackwell: 00:46:29

So, John, if you had to put it into one or two sentences, what is the calling to preach meant to you? And how does the work that you do influence the local congregation you're a part of?

John Noel: 00:46:38

Well, it's a. Anytime that you're speaking to anyone about the word of God, it's a daunting thing.

You always got to be cognizant in the back of your mind that you're representing Christ. So you want to tell the truth. You never want to say something that you don't know. So it always weighs on my mind.

Even as I work at Wells Fargo, I'm always cognizant of the people that I work with. How am I representing Christ? Am I going to represent in a way that is going to touch their lives? That's what we want to do.

We want to touch people's lives. As a minister, it's maybe a notch or two higher because you're there to serve. So how can I serve the people that I work with?

Somebody might say, I'm not feeling well today, and I could just blow it off, could not pay any attention to it. But I make it a point to reach out to them. Say, you know, I'll say a prayer for you.

Someone might have a family situation going through, and I will eye him on the side and let them know, you know, you're in my prayers. These are the responsibilities that we have.

And as ministers, you know, the scripture says we all ministers of God, we're all ministers of the Lord consuming fire he made us. And so I try to live that way. How is it, Lord, that I can reach someone today?

I like to think of the thought, and it's been Coming to my mind a lot more lately is that, Lord, what can I do today that would put a smile on your face? What is the one thing I could do today that would make you smile and be happy, man?

Wouldn't that be something exciting to put a smile on the Lord's face today? Wouldn't that be. That would just be awesome, wouldn't it?

And so if we lived our life that way, if we lived our lives like, Lord, how can I reach these people for you? What seed can I plant? What seed can I water today? What can I do, Lord, that would help these people?

So it's a responsibility, but it's also a joy because we're serving the Lord. We're serving the Creator of the universe, the creator of all things. And we're trying to reach people that would be lost and undone.

What kind of person would we be if we were on a ship and we're going somewhere and we see somebody fall overboard and we just waved at them and say, I hope you get. Hope you're okay. That wouldn't do them a lot of good. But if we threw out a life jacket or life.

What are those little rings, you know, to try to reach them and save them, to bring them to shore.

If we went and got the captain, we rang the bell on the side of the boat, you know, this person went overboard, person went overboard, then we're doing something. So we as Christians should live our lives. What can I do today, Lord, that I could reach somebody? Maybe I'm just watering today, Lord.

Maybe I'm just sowing a seed today, Lord. But whatever it is, can I do something that would put a smile on your face? That's the way that I like to do it. And that's. That's what it meant to me.

You know, when you see people get saved like that, when we at the juvenile detention center and those 60, 65 kids got saved, oh, man, that was an exciting moment. But it was just as exciting when I did my first thing at the juvenile detention center and two kids got saved.

It was just as exciting then because people gave their lives to God. You made a difference in somebody's life. Sometimes we might not even see.

I was, you know, growing up in high school, going to high school, who knows who I touched. But I remember going many years later when I was in college and I came home to visit and a guy came up to me that I knew somewhat.

You know, we didn't hang out together, didn't do a lot of talking or anything together, but he said, because you are always faithful. You always had that little New Testament, caring about reading it, he said, that made such an impression on my life.

I wanted you to know I gave my heart to God. I might not even witness to that guy. It was just the action.

And so that's what it means to us, that's what it should mean to all of us is what are the actions? What is something I could do, Lord, put a smile on your face and reach one of these lost souls.

Joshua Noel: 00:50:27

Which is a great segue to the last thing we do before wrapping up.

Because we do like to ask everyone who gets on the show, if you had to provide something, you could do something practical that would help engender church unity, what some of the practical people could do. And I tied in here especially because I'm made to think.

And we don't always mention all the time, but when Jesus talks about unity, he says, they're going to know me by the love you show one another. So, like, part of why unity is important to us is exactly what my dad was just talking about there.

Like, yeah, we might not always be the one who goes and says the word, but maybe they see the New Testament. Maybe they just see how much we love each other.

So, dad, what is one thing we could do that better help church unity right now that our listeners could just.

John Noel: 00:51:09

Stop and go, do you know, it's simple, but it's really. Prayer does a lot of things. You know, prayer goes a long way. I pray all the time, there's 8 billion plus souls in the world.

8 Billion plus souls in the world. And if it, it should weigh on us a little bit. That's a lot of people. And majority of those people are not saved.

So I pray all the time, lord, you know, 8 billion plus souls, please let somebody reach them. Today I had a pastor, Paul Sorrell, he's gone on to be with the Lord.

But he would meet, we would have all night prayer sessions and he would just lay prostrate before the Lord and you could hear him cry. And he would, he would cry out and say, lord, you know that one soul that's sliding into hell that Jude talks about.

Even his clothes are smelled with the flames of hell. He said, reach that soul, Lord, reach that soul. Pull him up out of the fire just to hear him pray. That and the sincerity that he had.

No telling how many times he prayed that and how many times the Lord reached down and brought a soul, brought them up out of that pit, brought them to a place where they could be saved, cleaned them up, washed them up and gave them a new life. Ministered to them because of his prayers. Imagine if we all did that, if we had that sincerity, not just a little whisper of prayer.

A lot of times we'll say, lord, touch mom and dad, touch brother and sister. Touch, touch my friend here and there. But he cried out. I mean, wouldn't just. Just.

He cried out, lord, you know that person who is sliding into hell right now? You know that person, Lord, you know that one. Please, Lord, and just.

Just cry out with all the sincerity in the world and grab that soul and bring them out of the pits of hell. Imagine if we all did that, what a different world would be.

Imagine if we prayed that way for some of these leaders that we have, not only in America, but in Russia and China. If we prayed and the Lord began to move.

I don't know if y' all have ever read the book In His Steps by Charles Sheldon, but he talks about how that this young man came in, he was lost and undone and this. And a lot of them ignored him. And it changed this pastor's life because he realized, you know, I should have reached out to this soul.

I should have reached out to this soul. And it goes on how he got on fire for the Lord. And then this woman who her dad had just lost everything, was rich.

He lost everything that she realized, you know, I need to be doing something for God. And she went to a tent revival and began to sing, had a beautiful voice. And how many souls came to the Lord because of that?

It ended up turning the world upside down. Much like 12 disciples years and years ago, you know, that had.

Had seen all that the Lord went through, had same kind of passion, that same kind of fire about him. And they went into an upper room and they began to pray. They began to ring those prayer bells of heaven. And what happened to the world after that?

We lost that passion in the church. At times, we lost that passion. And if we went to the throne room of God with that kind of passion. Save souls, not doctrine.

Don't care about doctrine, Lord. Don't care about. I care about souls. I care about your kingdom, Lord. Your kingdom comes first, Lord. What you want comes first, Lord.

And just rang those prayer bells of heaven. How many people's lives could be changed? How many people would come back to the Lord or give their hearts to the Lord for the first time?

That would make a difference, right?

TJ Blackwell: 00:54:24

What do you think would change in the world if everyone did that? Everyone that can hear this, listen to John.

John Noel: 00:54:28

No, I think it would Change a lot of people's lives if we got on our knees.

You know, there was a story of these lumberjacks years ago that I forget what state they were in, but they were up in the mountains all the time sawing wood and stuff. And then they decided, you know, we're here for three to six months at a time. We should just have moments of prayer after we get finished working.

And they laid out requests of family members, all the different family members that needed the Lord. And they would go and they would saw wood all day long, and they come back and they would spend 2, 3 hours on their knees before God.

Because you know what? No TVs, wasn't. No radio, was. No distractions, but they had a desire to see their family members saved. And they got on their knees and they prayed.

And it was not long. People began showing up at the cabin, going way out into the woods.

Come to the cabin, say, I don't know what's going on, but the Lord brought me here. The Lord brought me here. And they give their hearts to the Lord. That's what happens when we begin to pray.

That's what happens when we begin to pray with passion. We begin to pray, Lord, not my will, not my church's will, not my doctrine's will, but your will be done, Lord. Your will be done.

Reach these souls, Lord. Save these souls. Touch their hearts. Bring them back into the fold. Bring them to the fold for the first time. Let them know, Lord.

Bring a resurrection in their life.

TJ Blackwell: 00:55:46

Right, so before we start to wrap up, we'd like to ask everyone to share a moment where they saw God recently. Whether it be blessing, challenge, mode, worship, whatever it is, wherever you've seen God in your life recently, that's what we want to hear.

And I always make Josh go first to give the rest of us and plenty of time to think. So, Josh, do you have a God moment for us this week?

Joshua Noel: 00:56:08

Yeah, I'm gonna cop out. That's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to be really weird. I don't know if this has happened on the show before.

I feel like I got a word for myself and TJ during this episode, my dad mentioned one of the few passages that's in all four books of the Bible. And with the rowing and them on the waters, the rough waters. And I was recalled when I was doing studying once.

There's only two days of Jesus life that's in all four Gospels. The day he died and the day he learned that his cousin had died. And in the same Day, he tries to get alone, like, four different times.

And every time he does, these groups of people comes like, oh, we need you to preach. We need you to work. We need you to do this.

And then he finally gets alone, and his disciples are on the water and they're trying to call him into work because he's stuck on these hard things. He has to walk out and be like, guys, just chill. And it's just that word that Jesus was just as human as us and had all the same struggles.

And right now, I feel like TJ And I both kind of feel like we're in the middle of that day that Jesus had.

So it's kind of nice to remember that was the one day, other than his crucifixion, that all four gospel writers were like, yeah, people didn't know about that.

TJ Blackwell: 00:57:20

Yeah, yeah, it's a good one. That's a good one. So for me, it's because I'm working so much. That's my God moment.

Joshua Noel: 00:57:27

That's. Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:57:28

Yeah. But I did get at least most of this day off, and it's a challenge that I welcome. I will be going to work later,.

Joshua Noel: 00:57:37

Like, right after this, probably.

TJ Blackwell: 00:57:40

But I believe in the challenge and am confident that I will be fine because of God, so. Doesn't really worry me. It's not even really that concerning. It's just more work.

Joshua Noel: 00:57:52

You should find a way to, like, out of context work in that whole, I can do all things through Christ. Because, like, if you use out of context, it'll really bother Brandon.

TJ Blackwell: 00:58:00

Yeah, I don't.

Joshua Noel: 00:58:01

And he'll love that. Oh, okay. In context. Philippians 4, 3. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, dad, any. Any moments you want to share?

John Noel: 00:58:12

It wasn't this week, but we went to Shirley's sister's funeral, and, you know, you see the kind of labor that she put into her.

Her grandchildren, and when they got up and to speak, especially the one young boy, he's just speaking from his heart how much that she meant to him and how much that she sold into his life, Christ. And, oh, you could just.

You could feel the presence of the Lord when he was speaking and telling people that, you know, my grandmother, she made sure I knew about the Lord, and I just. It was just. It was a beautiful moment to see.

You know, you think about that your grandmother just recently passed away, but you're able to get up and to testify to 2, 300 people what God has done in your life because of your grandmother. That was. That was awesome.

TJ Blackwell: 00:59:03

Yeah. That is. We love seeing those.

Joshua Noel: 00:59:05

It is yeah, super cool.

TJ Blackwell: 00:59:07

So if you enjoyed this episode or if you really hated this episode, that's rude. But also please consider sharing it with a friend. Share with an enemy.

Joshua Noel: 00:59:16

Share with your cousins, especially your cousins. Usually you have more of those and they feel more obligated because you're related.

John Noel: 00:59:23

Yep.

TJ Blackwell: 00:59:24

Gotta share with your cousins. Go to our website. Purchase one of our T shirts to promote the show.

It helps us raise money for podcasting needs and to let others know about the importance of our mission to educate and unite the modern church. One of our other shirts that I do like a lot, and I literally never remember the name, but I really only wear two.

One is the TJ quote on the back and the other one is Diverse Church. Diverse Church.

Joshua Noel: 00:59:46

I've had to look it up enough for you that I finally remembered.

TJ Blackwell: 00:59:48

Yeah, it's really cool. Word map of the whole church cathedral, as it were, with fractures in it. It's a sick shirt.

Joshua Noel: 00:59:56

Yeah, yeah. You know, just some of the different things that we've split over in the past and how we're still one. I think that's a cool, cool design.

Anyway, I think they're all cool because I designed them and be kind of weird if I put stuff out there. I was. Guys, I hate my own designs, but please buy them anyway. So we do want you to check out some of the other shows on the Amazon podcast network.

I mentioned Brandon Knight, so check him out on My Seminary Life where he talks about what he learned in seminary, what he's continuing to learn. Check out Christian Ashley on Let Nothing Move you going through the whole Bible on the podcast.

And then TJ and I are also part of another show, Systematic Geekology, where we just. We talk about fandom stuff, pop culture from shared yet diverse Christian background. Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 01:00:35

Yeah. Well, we do hope you enjoyed it.

Coming up, we'll be talking with Brother Ken Baker of the Church of God of Prophecy and Pastor Ken Kenny Hibbert of Team Church about the actual construction of a local church building. And then we'll be talking with Will Burton Edwards of the Cornell Zimmer Organ Builders about how church organs are built and how they function.

Then we're going to be talking with a Pastor Ryan Green about the makings of children's church. And I don't even think that's it for this series, so buckle up. It's like going through David every couple of years.

John Noel: 01:01:05

You're going to be.

Joshua Noel: 01:01:06

Takes a long time.

TJ Blackwell: 01:01:08

Finally, at the end of season one, Francis Chan will be on the show.

Joshua Noel: 01:01:11

Probably someone tells him about it. Yeah, Someone does have to tell him, though.

TJ Blackwell: 01:01:14

Not me.