Pivotal People
Join us in conversations with inspiring people doing amazing things. Their insights and experiences help motivate all of us to find our purpose that fits with our abilities, gifts and life situation. Get a "behind the scenes" look at successful people making a difference in the world and benefit from their advice for the rest of us. Our guests include authors, artists, leaders, coaches, pastors, business people and speakers.
Pivotal People
The Power of Faith to Transform Lives with Jay Lowder
Listen to a fascinating and inspiring story from national speaker and author, Jay Lowder. His Crossroads assembly program for students has been presented to over 2 million students and he has participated in over 450 conferences across the country. He's authentic, humble, and an inspiring follower of Jesus. I thoroughly enjoyed the time with him and you will too.
Jay Lowder, founder of Harvest Ministries, candidly shares his journey from a double life steeped in personal turmoil to a mission dedicated to spreading hope and faith worldwide. Raised in a church-going family, Jay found himself grappling with depression and suicidal thoughts, only to be saved by an unexpected intervention that led him to a life of purpose.
Throughout our conversation, Jay recounts pivotal moments that propelled him toward a transformative encounter with Jesus. Jay's experience challenges common misconceptions within faith communities, urging listeners to embrace their imperfections and find strength in their brokenness. This episode underscores the importance of authenticity and transparency, highlighting how personal struggles can become platforms for helping others.
Jay’s journey is a testament to the idea that past scars and traumas do not limit one's potential for purpose but can instead be sources of hope and strength. Jay’s story offers a compelling reminder of the transformative power of faith and the profound impact of embracing one’s true self.
Connect with Jay and learn more about Harvest Ministries at
JayLowder.com
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I'd like to welcome Jay Lauder to the Pivotal People podcast. Jay is an evangelist, I'll give him that title. He started in 1989. He's actually the founder of an organization called Harvest Ministries. It's dedicated to reaching diverse groups of people with the message of Jesus Christ and through his ministry he travels the globe to football stadiums, schools, churches and coliseums to provide a message of hope to the hurting. And he has a nationally acclaimed school assembly program called Crossroads. It's been presented to 2 million students nationwide, wow. He's been involved in more than 450 citywide outreaches and conferences. He has a couple of books. He's written two books. One is Navigate and one is Midnight on Aisle 7. He's also the creator and producer of the Darkest Hour, which has been aired nationwide on the Discovery Channel, tbn and Freedom. He has been on CNN, abc, fox News. He has written for the Washington Post, fox News and more so.
Speaker 1:I am just thankful, Jay, that you were willing to spend some time with us on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Well, what an introduction. I mean it makes me sound a whole lot busier and a whole lot more important than I really am. I'm just a normal, average everyday guy that just had a big life change. So we're good.
Speaker 1:Which is why you are effectively reaching so many people for Jesus, because that's your attitude. So I'm not going to tell Jay's story because it is so powerful. Before we started, I asked Jay what he wanted to talk about. I so want people to hear his story and he's willing to share that. So could you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, just current day where you live, who you do life with, and let's talk about your story.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, current day, I'm married and I have been for I'm not going to say the exact number of years because my wife would kill me, but I've been married for several decades. I got three kids 31 years.
Speaker 1:I did the math.
Speaker 2:Okay, there you go 31 years, got three kids I'm a full-time evangelist. Of course, a lot of people have a misconception about what a full-time evangelist is. They think it's a guy that's on TV that begs for money, and that's not what an evangelist is. That word, televangelist, has been abused, but basically an evangelist is a person that goes, travels itinerantly, who shares the gospel message and so the life, death, burial, resurrection of Christ to give people an opportunity, if they so choose, to start or begin a relationship with Christ. So that's my family two boys, one girl. And then you kind of hit the rest of it. You know I do some writing, I do a lot of speaking, a lot of traveling from churches to prisons to NFL football teams and everything in between. So that's who I am.
Speaker 1:And your story starts when you were young. You were kind of take us back to maybe your childhood, your teen years and kind of where you landed when you had this big change in your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I live in Texas. I've lived in Texas, I've lived in Kansas, but I grew up in Texas and so when you grow up in the South, church is kind of a staple, it's a way of life, and I know that's not the way it is for many people in other states. But you go to church in the South it doesn't mean you're a believer, it doesn't mean you have a relationship with Christ, just what you do. That's again, it's just part of our culture. And so my father was a successful businessman. My father, like me, married to one woman, three kids, just a middle-class family Went to church on Sundays. When I was young I walked an aisle, I was baptized in a Baptist church and kind of thought, I'm good, I really had no idea what that meant or really even what I was doing. It's just something that you did. And so grew up going to church every Sunday and then got into my older years in high school and began to I mean, quite frankly do a lot of things that everybody else I say everybody, many other students do, got involved in things that I shouldn't get involved in, still going to church on Sundays. But there was really no life change, you know, for me.
Speaker 2:Once I graduated from high school, I went off to college and kind of continued this crazy lifestyle that I was living, and after about one semester I ended up moving back home to Wated, to a place where I was without a job. I was living on government unemployment and part of it was because of my addiction and there was mental health issues, a lot of situational depression that stemmed from really stemmed from the life that I was living. By the time I was 21, I'd lost what I thought were the most important things in life, which would have been my pickup, my girlfriend and my job. You can imagine a 21-year-old guy it's kind of the premise of everything. And so, anyway, after losing what I deemed to be the most important thing in my life, or things in my life, I contemplated suicide and a lot of suicidal tendencies, a lot of depression. Didn't really know how to deal with it, and that day and time was a little bit different than now, because now there are a lot of mental health issues that are discussed.
Speaker 2:Depression is. People are a lot more willing to discuss that, I think, in this current culture than they were back then. That's just something you didn't talk about and oftentimes for people that have suicidal ideologies. They tend to withdraw, to isolate, because there's a degree of embarrassment, there's a degree of shame, not wanting people to know. And so I thought about taking my life for quite some time, just because of the ditch, really, that I was in. I didn't know how to escape it. Eventually, at 21 years of age, woke up one afternoon. I was living with this roommate friend of mine and I mean again no job, no car, no girlfriend. Everybody else is either in college or they're working. And you know, I came from a successful family. I mean, my dad was a great businessman and to be. You know, I really felt like a failure because of where I'd ended up, and so I decided to take my life, and that's what I attempted to do at 21 years of age.
Speaker 1:Well, I listened to you, actually on a podcast, and you told some more details of the story and I immediately shared it with my husband because it moved me so much. Do you mind taking us through that actual day and what actually happened with your roommate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would normally wake up around noon from again my alcohol addiction. For some reason that day I would commonly wake up and I would go. We lived in a little duplex. It was like an $80 a month duplex. I mean I lived on a sofa. I mean it was bachelor to the extreme and I would usually go into the bathroom and fill the sink with cold water to try to sober up to begin the day.
Speaker 2:For some reason that day, when I did that and looked in my reflection in the mirror I don't know, it was like the mask came off in some way. It was just the realization that I came from a good family. I came from a good upbringing. I was somebody who I thought I would follow in my father's footsteps and be somebody successful in business. And here I am an alcoholic forging government documents to get unemployment. I mean it was just a realization of where I'd ended up in my life and I began to scream at my own reflection I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. And I put my fist through the mirror in my bathroom and again I had been thinking about ending my life. And so I went back to the sofa that I slept on, took out a 22 caliber pistol and decided that this was it. And it's kind of ironic because I never really thought much. I mean, even though going to church when I was younger, I never really gave any thought to heaven or hell. I mean, I was told about heaven or hell but just never really gave any thought to it. And I began to reason in my mind when I end my life, will I go to heaven or will I go to hell? And I thought, well, I'm not even for sure I believe in either one of them. But if heaven is real, if God is real since you know, when I was young I'd walked an aisle, my mom taught Sunday school I'll be fine, so I decided to. I cocked back the hammer and raised it to my head and put my finger on the trigger.
Speaker 2:Sitting there, I mean it's just, you know, looking back on it, to think about being 21 years old and living in that duplex, sitting in my underwear with a gun to my head. It's, I mean now being so far removed from it. It seems so normal at the time. But now, you know, being a grown man with wife and kids and years, looking in retrospect and thinking about what I would have missed out on had it have culminated. At the moment it felt like things can never get better. And not only can things never get better, there was also a thought that I don't know that things can even get worse either. And I'm stuck in this rut and I don't know how to get out of it and I don't know how to live with who I am and I don't even know who I want to be. And two, looking back on that day, it's really hard to describe so seldomly do I talk about it, but there was a real presence of evil and I can't pinpoint nor really explain that. And when I say I heard voices, I don't mean I heard an audible voice, the way that you would hear my voice, but it was almost as if it was audible. It was like there was a thought that kept going through my mind Just do it, just do it. Sometimes I liken it to you.
Speaker 2:Remember in 9-11, when the people were jumping out of the World Trade Center towers. Those people that were jumping were not jumping because they wanted to die. They were jumping because they didn't want to live in the pain that they were currently experiencing. And that's the best way I know to kind of explain where I was at that moment. I really didn't want to die. I just I couldn't imagine continuing to live the way that I was living and feeling kind of maybe in some similar ways that there's a fire behind me that's burning and I don't know how to get out of it. That's where I came to the point of deciding to end my life.
Speaker 2:And so, sitting there on the sofa, my finger on the trigger, I mean, I literally remember putting pressure on the trigger and I heard we had a gravel driveway and I heard somebody pull up, which of course caught my attention because no one came to our home that time of day, and my roommate certainly didn't. He worked for his father and he worked about 20 minutes from where we lived. He had a 30-minute lunch break, so he never came home. But it startled me just enough because of the anomaly of it, that it just caught me off guard. So I took the gun down, set it on the sofa and walked over and looked out the blinds to see who would be coming to our duplex at this time of day, and it was my roommate's green Nissan 240. So I rushed back to the sofa and put the gun underneath the sofa, turned on the TV to try to pretend that everything was okay. Now my roommate knew that my life was a wreck.
Speaker 2:He was the one that was trying to get me to go to Alcoholics Anonymous. In fact, he's the first person that ever told me I was an alcoholic and at the time I was in denial and said oh, I'm not an alcoholic, I can quit anytime that I want to quit. Anyway, he walked in and I was in denial and said oh, I'm not an alcoholic, I can quit anytime that I want to quit. Anyway, he walked in and I was watching TV and I said what are you doing home? And he said man, it's the weirdest thing.
Speaker 2:He said you know my dad and I did know his dad. I knew his dad well and his dad was a hard man to work for. And he said my dad walked up to me and said why don't you take the rest of the day off and I'm going to pay you for a full day? And I said why would your? That didn't even make sense. Why would your dad do that? He said I don't know. He and I are still friends to this day. He works in Austin at Dell Computer and he would tell you gosh, I don't know how many years he worked for his dad five, six and he would tell you, in all the years he worked for his dad, it happened one time, and it was the day that I sat on the sofa. So, yeah, it really began a Ferris wheel of this circular motion of wondering was this a coincidence, or was this by design, or was God trying to spare my life? And I really didn't know at the time.
Speaker 1:So what did you think on that day? Did you think, well, I'll try this tomorrow, or did it just? I mean, I've heard a couple of times that people who jump off the Golden Gate Bridge to kill themselves that there have only been, I think, 18 survivors out of a few hundred who've successfully done it. And when they interviewed those 18 survivors, every single one said that the second they jumped they regretted it. And that breaks your heart because it is like you said, it wasn't about wanting to die, it was about wanting to end the pain, and I know you're committed to understanding and helping and speaking. This is why you've reached 2 million students. How do we, as believers especially, love people well enough to be able to recognize that they might be experiencing this kind of pain? That's the hard part, you know, when so many times you hear the story that someone took their life and and those of us who are left behind say, oh my gosh, had I only known I would have done anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know, your roommate didn't know. I mean, I gosh, I can only say that's a miracle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, you asked me if I regretted it or what my thought was going forward, and I really didn't know Because of the way it had unfolded. It really put my I don't want to say it put my desire in my life to an end, but it put my willingness temporarily to an end Because I was so caught off guard. And again, I think part of this goes back to growing up in church and hearing about God. It was enough that it made me question was this God? I wasn't certain that it was God because I wasn't certain that God was even real. But it created enough confusion of maybe maybe God is trying to spare my life and if that's the case, maybe God is trying to spare my life and if that's the case. So again, you know it was, I really oscillated back and forth, but it was just enough to keep me from doing it.
Speaker 2:I hadn't decided that I wasn't going to end my life, but it put it on hold long enough for the next huge thing to happen, which became the big turnaround, and so it got the wheels turning, you know, for the next few weeks. You know, sometimes for people who have suicidal ideologies, if there's a tipping point of some kind that can derail the attempt long enough. There can be whether it be a person, or whether it be divine, or whether it be medicinal intervention that can prevent the suicide. And that's really what it did for me. It stopped everything long enough because I thought if it's God, maybe there is a better life for me. And if I come to the conclusion that it's not God, well then I can still do what I was going to do anyway. Because even though my family knows my life is messed up, my roommate knows I've got issues, but nobody knows how desperate I really am, nobody knows how dark of a hole I'm really in.
Speaker 1:So what were the next steps? Because, clearly, how do you go from that point to reaching millions of people as a faithful follower of Jesus? There's a little gap here, jay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there is. The gap is a few weeks later. I went to my parents' home to wash clothes Of course we didn't have a washer and dryer and I was washing clothes and I heard my mom call my name. My mom was sitting in the den. My mom's a great lady, matter of fact, I was on the phone with her right before today's podcast. I love her dearly and really a great lady, great mother. But anyway, I heard her call my name.
Speaker 2:My mother knew that my life was messed up, but she didn't know I was suicidal. But she had seen a television commercial about a guy that was coming to our hometown. There was a bunch of churches that were getting together and doing this big rally and she had seen this commercial. And so she called my name and I walked in. She just pointed towards the television and I caught just a few seconds of it, but I caught enough to hear that the guy that was going to be speaking was a guy that attempted suicide and my mom said you ought to come hear him. Well, that set off a couple of alarm bells. First of all, she's my mom. Moms always have a tendency to know things that you don't want them to know and you don't know how they know. And I thought does she know that I'm suicidal? Of course I dare not say that. And then it also created enough interest that, well, this guy attempted suicide and I was just sitting on the sofa with a gun to my head. So maybe he could give me, because I mean, I dared not ask anybody how to deal with my depression and my addiction. So maybe if I went and heard him I could find out how to escape this mental torment. And so I actually told my mom you know, hey, thanks, but no thanks. Been there, done that. You know that's church, that kind of thing is not my gig. So I decided he was coming to town a couple of weeks later and so I thought, well, maybe I'll just go and hear what he has to say. Well, by the time, two weeks rolled by it was the furthest thing from my mind Me and a buddy were supposed to go out. He no-showed me and I thought, well, why not? You know, I'll go hear what he has to say. And so I went to where this event was, walked in about 20 minutes late, and when I got there, and he was kind of a cool guy, he was a younger guy. He was somebody I could relate to. I didn't look at him. He actually was an evangelist. I didn't know what an evangelist was, but he was just somebody that was cool. He seemed like an ordinary, normal guy.
Speaker 2:I went to hear about his suicide attempt and how he escaped it, but it's not what I heard. He never said a word about it. He, I mean, I grew up hearing Jesus died. I looked at it. Yeah, whatever Big deal. Jesus died, rose from the grave. Okay, so what?
Speaker 2:But I never heard the way he told it, because he told great detail. He told about how Judas had betrayed him and how he had been beaten with a cat of nine toes and they had ripped the beard off of his face and how the religious leaders had spit in his face and the false trial and how they'd driven spikes to his hands and his feet. And I mean it was this incredible in-depth story of everything that he had went through and it really captured my attention that I mean he had gone through all of this and that I mean no one had to convince me that I was a sinner. I knew that. Nobody had to convince me that I had done a lot of wrong. I knew that and he explained that Jesus had done all this because somebody had to pay the price for sin and that he had taken my place.
Speaker 2:And after all the beating and being crucified and the cross dropped in a hole, and the thing that really was revolting was this comment that he said to God that he wanted those people forgiven. And I'm like that doesn't make sense. I mean, I felt anger towards the people that had done this to him and he's wanting them to be forgiven. And so it started creating this mindset of maybe I could be forgiven. I mean, I didn't think I could because the way I live my life, but I thought, well, if he could forgive the people that just executed him, then maybe he could forgive me. And it wasn't even just the physical torture that captivated me, because the speaker also talked about. He made some comment. I can't remember exactly what it was, but he made some comment about think about how many sins have been committed just by the amount of people in this room. And he took all that upon himself and I've looked over my own life, thought, oh man. And to think that he had taken all of that sin on him and had gone through this beating and gone through this execution so that I could be adopted in his family. I mean, again, I had heard these things, but never like this. I don't know, it was just my eyes and my ears were opened in a way they never had been.
Speaker 2:And then he gets to the end and he says he quotes this verse in John 3, 36. It says he that has the son, the son being Jesus, he that has the son has life. He who doesn't have the son doesn't have life. And when he said it, my mind's blown because that's me. I don't have a life. I exist, yes, I'm breathing, but I'm not living. I'm a walking dead man. And maybe the reason I don't have life is because I don't have him. I mean, I've heard about him, I grew up hearing about him, but I don't know him.
Speaker 2:I know about him and he had kind of explained that there was a difference in knowing somebody intimately and knowing about somebody. And then he gets to the very end and then he says this and then this was the clincher for me. He said some of you you know, you grew up in church and you believe in God and you may have been baptized or confirmed or sprinkled or went to catechism or whatever, and you may even be able to quote John 3, 16 and sing amazing grace, but one day you're going to stand before Jesus and he's going to say I never knew you. And you're going to wake up in eternity, separated from God, singing Amazing Grace, wishing that you would have given your life to Christ. And he said for some of you, this could be the last opportunity you ever have. And I'm telling you when he said that I knew that.
Speaker 2:I knew that I knew about two or three things. I knew number one, that he was talking about me. I knew about Jesus, but I didn't know him intimately. I also knew that, again growing up in a Christian home, that Jesus would say to me I never knew you. You may have known about me, but I never knew you personally.
Speaker 2:At that moment, I can honestly say that I've never before or since wanted anything the way I wanted to have this, this person that I'm hearing about that offers this kind of forgiveness and this kind of love, this kind of person that would want somebody like me and his family, a God that would allow his son to be executed so I could be adopted. I got to have this. I don't care what I've got to have this, I don't care what I've got to give up, I don't care whatever. I don't know how you get to know Jesus, but whatever that is, I want that. And so he invited people to. He said I'm going to invite you if you want to know Christ. I'm going to ask you to get out of your seat and come forward and then I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And he said it's not a prayer that saves you, but it's your way of calling on Christ and if you're willing to turn your back on your sin and invite Jesus in your life, he'll forgive you and he'll come in your life. To me, it was more than just a ticket to heaven. It was forgiveness, it was a new beginning, it was hope, it was purpose, it was to.
Speaker 2:I'm 6'6" and I saw a guy I used to play basketball with. I was in the balcony and I saw this guy on the main floor get up and go forward and I'm like because I mean I was at the point, I didn't care if nobody, I'm going to give my life to the Lord. At night, man, I dropped to my knees and you know it was nothing fancy, you know I don't even remember what I said. I mean, it wasn't some eloquent, beautiful prayer. It basically boiled down to this God, you know I'm a wreck, you know I'm a sinner.
Speaker 2:I believe you're the Savior, I believe you died for me. Will you please, please, come into my life and I just tell you that April 5th night, even though I may have prayed stuff in the past, when I got in trouble that night, I meant it from the core of who I was. When I prayed that simple, this basic, childlike prayer that I meant with all of my heart, I can say honestly, it's the first time in my life I ever had peace. I can't explain that, I can't articulate that or put words to it, but it was more than a feeling. It was saturated, everything that I was, and I wasn't sure I could live the life. I wasn't sure I could get clean, I wasn't sure that I could escape suicidal thoughts, but I knew something happened in that moment.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that is so beautiful and I'm sitting here listening to you thinking how could anybody not believe this? You have such a beautiful way of explaining it, Jay.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you.
Speaker 1:In such a non-threatening way. I am so glad you have decided to commit your life to talking to you, said diverse people, to students, especially now more than ever. One of the things you said that really caught me was the whole idea that Christians feel reluctant to admit emotional or mental struggles. You know Christians like you've already accepted Christ and you believe and you do quiet times and you go to Bible study. And if I admit that I have mental and emotional struggles, does that mean that I really don't have real faith? And yet you pointed out that the Bible is filled with people, stories of real people with real struggles. So why do we think that as Christians we can't be authentic and honest about being human and having struggles?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you are correct, A lot of people are hesitant and reluctant and again, I was for a long time but I think part of it if we're to be honest, I think part of that is so many people have experienced judgment from other people who claim to be Christians. So many people have experienced judgment from other people who claim to be Christians, and I think that's part of it. They're fearful of being judged, and I think another part of it is this misconception that if you know Jesus, then you shouldn't have problems, you can't have an addiction. And the truth of it is Christian people have a lot of the same struggles, and sometimes even more so than people who are nonbelievers. I mean, I've been married for over three decades. I still have to go to marriage counseling. Sometimes I still have marriage problems. Sometimes, while I know that I'm going to heaven and I know that Jesus lives in my life, I mean I can still be hateful, I can be lustful, I can be sinful. I'm not a perfect man, I'm just be hateful, I can be lustful, I can be sinful. I'm not a perfect man, I'm just a forgiven man.
Speaker 2:And so I think part of it is the judgment that people have experienced and I think part of it too is a church culture where people we feel like everybody else has it together and the truth of it is they don't have it together any more than we do, but they're afraid to share that and I'm hoping that and I think it's better than it used to be, because I know that, like I say, I know even my wife my wife takes an antidepressant every single day. We're not ashamed of it. We say, hey, you know, we pray for healing. Maybe one day it'll come, but if not, we utilize the medicinal things that God has provided to take care of it. That's right and I think part of it is is there needs to be transparency and the truth of it is other people that are in church need to know that they aren't the only ones that are struggling. That just because you love Jesus doesn't mean that you don't have money problems or financial problems or faith problems. I mean I have a daughter that has an incurable disease and I have been through some real bouts in the last few years of anger at God and bitterness at God. I've said things to God. I'm not proud that. I have said and felt things towards God and I've been very public about that and I thought people would judge me. You know it's funny. I get more response from people that appreciate the authenticity and the transparency than any pretense that I could give that we have it all together. People appreciate that. You know what Jay's.
Speaker 2:A preacher travels the world preaching the gospel and he has problems and he has times that he doubts God and he has times he's angry with God. And you know I look at it this way. That day that Christ came in my life, that April 5th night and you know I look at it this way that day that Christ came in my life, that April 5th night, didn't make me perfect. It made me forgiven. It made me adopted into the family. But the promises are not for this life, they're for the next. And it doesn't mean that I'm immune from problems. There's no spiritual immunization shot that I got. That means I don't have trouble. It just means that I have somebody that walks with me through the trouble.
Speaker 1:That's what it means oh man, that's so beautiful. So I am sitting here thinking, okay, I've gone over time, oh sorry. But, it's not no, no, no, because I'm like I told him that I would only take a certain amount of time and I'm being selfish because I could listen to you speak all day, jay. So we have to find. You talked about your Crossroads program. Is there a place where people could see this online?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can. You can go to my website. It's jayloudercom. I'm easy to track down A lot of people spell my last name. They think it's L-O-U-D-E-R, like speaking louder, but it's L-O? -w. But yeah, you can Google my name. You can find anything from some of the different articles that we've written, to TV appearances, to our website, to me speaking to me, I'm very easy to track down my books, whatever.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to put this in the show notes, but importantly, it's jloudercom. Like chowder jloudercom, I'm going to sit down with my family. I have two sons and they're 20s and 30s and I'd love to listen to your Crossroads program that you do for students in addition to other stuff. But you have a new fan here and what I love is your authenticity, your sincerity and your permission to people to just be human, because God has given us that permission. Why do we think that in order to be Christians, we somehow have to be perfect? Nobody is, so then we just cover up and we don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:We want to support each other and love each other, and accept each other and allow each other to be authentic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the great thing is is Jesus made this statement one time and I love it, and I guess the reason I love it is because my life has been broken in so many ways and, by the way, sometimes God can't use somebody until they've first been broken. But Jesus made this statement where he said I've not come to call the righteous. I came to call sinners. And in essence, jesus was saying I've not come to call the righteous, I came to call sinners. And in essence, jesus was saying I came for broken people. And so people that are listening to this podcast maybe that's you. Maybe you're going through a divorce, maybe you are losing your health, maybe your mom or dad walked out on you, maybe you're facing addiction, maybe you have thoughts of suicidal tendencies. Jesus came for you. If you're listening today and you go, well, I've got it all together. Well, you know what. You don't need Jesus and he won't come to help you. But he came for broken people. And so if you're listening to this and you feel broken and you feel like, well, maybe your brokenness is the very thing that would drive Jesus away from you, let me just tell you your brokenness is the very thing that would drive Jesus away from you. Let me just tell you your brokenness is the very thing that will drive Jesus to you.
Speaker 2:He runs towards broken people, and one of my favorite verses is in Psalms 147, verse 3. It says he heals the brokenhearted and he binds up their wounds. And even if you read the New Testament Matthew, mark, luke and John the people that had it all together and they didn't have struggles they didn't need Jesus because they thought they didn't need him. They didn't want Jesus because they didn't think they needed him. But the people that were broken and that were struggling and that were hurting, they were the ones that experienced his power and his grace and his mercy and his forgiveness. And so I just want to offer hope to people that are listening to this or watching this, to let you know if you're broken, he's chasing you, he wants you and you don't have to run from him. You can fall into his arms because you're the very person that he came for.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, you can see why it's hard for me to say goodbye to Jay, so thank you so much. You are such an incredible blessing. You have just absolutely made my day, and anyone listening to this feels the same. I appreciate being able to meet you and now I'm following you on Instagram. Follow him on Instagram A bazillion people do. You can see why and I just thank you so much for what you're doing for God, for the kingdom, for all of the broken people this side of heaven. You're never going to know the impact you've had on people's lives, but I know it's incredible and I just thank you for it. I'm sure our listeners are saying the same thing. So thank you so much.
Speaker 2:If I may say one last thing, because of what you said, I thought for a long time that my brokenness would be an inhibitor to God being able to use me, and maybe also for your listeners.
Speaker 2:You know again, I don't know people have gone through emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, so many different things, and you may think that, because of what you've been through, god can't use you, and I'm a living proof that sometimes your greatest scars, your, your greatest bruises, are your greatest platform and and maybe those things that have happened in your life that I don't know why God allowed them. Some of the things happen in our life are because of things we've done, and sometimes it's what other people have done. But I want you to know that maybe that scar that you think is a roadblock to God using you is the very thing that the Lord wants to use, the very most, that he wants to use you to help other people, and so, anyway, I just hope that people that are listening that they have that hope and then, if I may and I know we're already over time, oh no, no, it's your time.
Speaker 1:I could be here all day.
Speaker 2:But I want to say one last thing. Maybe it's possible that people who are watching might have a story like mine and they might say you know, I grew up whatever the Baptist Methodist Catholic Presbyterian Church. I was sprinkled, confirmed, baptized, whatever. Maybe they even prayed a prayer like I did when they were young and they'd say but I went through all that, but I'm not really sure that Christ lives in me. Well, let me say this there's nothing more important in this world than having a relationship with Jesus. As I said earlier, it's way more than just a ticket to heaven and me going living my life any old way. That's not true relationship with Christ.
Speaker 2:The Bible says something very simple. It says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. It says in Romans, chapter 10, verse 9, and I'm quoting verbatim, this isn't my paraphrase that if you would confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart not your head, but your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Saved means forgiven, accepted, adopted into the family. And so if you're watching, listening today, and you go, you know I don't know that I know about God. Maybe you know about God the way you know about a former president, but you don't know him. Know him. He wants a relationship with you and it's as simple as your willingness to call out to him Again.
Speaker 2:It doesn't have to be anything beautiful, but if you would be willing to say, jesus, I do believe you died on the cross, I believe you rose from the grave and I'm putting my faith in you to accept you as my Lord and my savior, christ would come into your life. He would make all things new. I didn't say all things perfect, I didn't say all things carefree, but you can begin a relationship with him and that matters more than anything. It's the greatest gift in this world and if you're willing to put your faith in Christ, that means your trust. You're willing to accept him and you can.
Speaker 2:Literally right now, you can get on your knees and just again. It doesn't have to be, it has to be sincere, and you could say Jesus, would you come in my life? Would you forgive me? He would do that and I hope that your listeners would do that. If you listen to this podcast today for no other reason than for that reason, it's worth everything and you could stand on the authority of God's word that he wants everybody to know him, and that includes you, I'm done.
Speaker 1:Amen, and it's so beautiful. Thank you so much. Wow, so jloudercom, everyone find them. I just want to thank you so much for this incredible episode.
Speaker 2:Well, it's been a privilege and a pleasure. I appreciate you having me on. Thank you.
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