Inspiration Station: The Signs Were Always There

Have you ever considered the true finality of our last breath? The All Purpose Pod brings a sobering yet inspiring conversation as we reflect on the impermanence of life and the immense value of living with purpose. Join me as I recount my journey from being a published author to grappling with the weighty responsibility of impactful teaching. Together, we’ll uncover the powerful realization that our time on this earth is finite and that each day is an opportunity to align our actions with our deepest principles.

In this episode, we confront the uncomfortable truth that once we leave this earthly realm, there are no do-overs. We discuss how our conduct, character, speech, and lifestyle serve as reflections of our values and purpose. Whether you’re a spiritual seeker or simply someone striving for a meaningful life, this episode offers profound insights that challenge us to live with intentionality. Engage with us on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform as we explore how to make every moment count and ensure our legacy is one of integrity and faithfulness. Everybody wants a sign but many won't do anything with it when it shows up!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:34

I Welcome back to the All Purpose Pod for an all-purpose life. Wherever you are and however you're listening to the Call Me Mr U the podcast we thank you again for making us a part of your week. To the Call Me Mr you the podcast, we thank you again for making us a part of your week. We are excited about hearing from you guys and all of the comments and questions that you have for our show. Please keep that coming. If you're watching us on video, of course our YouTube channel has much content. Our interview shows, our one-on-ones, our teachings and inspirations are found there on video. Youtubecom, at thecallmemisteru and, of course, if you're listening, only we have so many audio-only listeners and we love and value you guys so much. You can find our show on Apple Podcasts, theycallmemisteru the podcast. Of course you can find us there, also on Stitcher. Those are the only two places you can subscribe to our show, so please hit the follow button and download our show and even all the new episodes. There's about four seasons worth. Definitely want you to catch up and kind of hear how we got from there to here. It's an incredible story, if I do say so myself, but thank you again for supporting our show and we'll go ahead and get into the meat of our episode for today.

Speaker 1: 1:43

Now, many of you guys know I've been a published author once in my life. I have several books that I've written that are in progress to be published, but they're ready to go. But I had a bit of an epiphany recently and I want to share it with you guys. You know I used to teach something every time I had the opportunity to get before God's people or teach in any kind of capacity, and the result of the teaching was normally complete silence and listeners with their head down, refusing to make eye contact. It's not what you want as a public speaker. You want people to stand up and cheer. It's not what you want as a public speaker. You want people to stand up and cheer. It makes you feel good inside. But I was more concerned about the impact that I was making.

Speaker 1: 2:34

I made it a point after any message or Sunday school. I believe it was the leading of the Holy Spirit when I did it to remind the audience that while we're alive, we have the opportunity to make adjustments, corrections and move toward our purposes, be good to all men, serve faithfully, etc. Etc. I talked about being examples of the word of God and action through our conduct and character, our speech, which is our words and our lifestyle. And also, this is the part that people got lost. This is the part where I felt like people started to tune me out, because this was a very uncomfortable part of the teachings. Everything else seemed to be fine, but when I got to this part, it felt as though some people left me. Hopefully, when I sit and share with you today on this episode, you won't leave me too. Hope you stick in and buckle down with me, because I think it's going to be important to anybody that's listening, no matter where you are in life as a matter of fact, especially if you're not in the places that we would call religious or spiritual circles, especially, then this is even more important to you. But here's a point I made in those opportunities that I still make today when I teach Once the breath we breathe leaves our body, our earthly account is closed. Once the breath we breathe leaves our body, our earthly account is closed. There's no further opportunity for a last minute withdrawal or a quick deposit. If you want to call it the day of the Lord, go right ahead, but for you that's the day of the Lord, because there's no backseas. When that happens, you don't get a chance to hit the reset button and get a do-over. Once the breath we breathe leaves our bodies, our earthly account is closed. There's no further opportunity for a last-minute withdrawal or a quick deposit. We can't hit a reset button and restart a really bad day where we didn't exemplify who the Lord was in our life. When it's over, that account is closed and everything must be tallied up. That account is closed and everything must be tallied up. If you've been involved with bookkeeping or anything like that, you know that when the books are closed, then it's time for the assessment. Then it's time to assess. There's no new entries being put in. It's time to assess what's in the books and if everything lines up, if everything calculates to a point where there is on the right side in your assets and liabilities, everything matches up the way it's supposed to and it all makes sense. If there's any kind of improprieties, any kind of irregularities, that's going to be a problem. But when the book is closed, the assessment is done, the assessment begins and there's no further entries to be done. We can't reach back into the land of the living and take away the hurt we inflicted. We can't have the rock come back like a boomerang so it doesn't hit somebody that we threw the rock at. We can't fix what we broke. The account is permanently closed. This is the kind of thing that makes folks uncomfortable, and you know what. To be honest with you, to be totally transparent, I get why. Because we walk around here in this life and I say we have talked about me and many of us that may be able to relate we walk around this life Like we got time, like we got nothing but time, and we do things and we often don't care about the result or the consequences. We say things to people and we don't care what the impact is of it. We say it and we just leave. We throw the rock back into the old saying we throw the rock and we hide our hand. We don't care the impact that the rock has made, but we threw it though we're ill intent and we have the audacity and immorality to not even care about where the rock landed. Once we breathe that last breath, our earthly account is closed. The account is permanently closed. It's not reopened. It's being assessed. The master of the account will now do his reconciliations, weighing, checks and balances. The result is determined by the master's findings and he's fully within his rights to make a judgment based on what he finds in the book the ultimate judgment, if you will. You've been tricked by cinematic license and movies and television into thinking that perhaps we can make a last minute reprieve from the great beyond, so to speak. Can we ask for a do-over? Let me go back so I can fix this. But it's not how it works. The Bible says that it's a point unto man all men to die, and then the judgment. Here's a passage from scripture that illustrates this kind of thought. I think it might be helpful to you. I'm going to read the whole thing. I think it's worth reading luke 16, verse 19 to 31. Check it out luke 16, 19 to 31 there. Check it out Luke 16, 19 to 31. There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores Gross. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried In Hades where he was in torment. He looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tongue of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. But Abraham replied Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone, cross over from there to us. He answered. Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. Abraham replied they will not also come to this place of torment. Abraham replied they have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them. No, father Abraham, he said. But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. He said to him. If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead, understand the thought and what's happening here. There's a lot going on here. The audacity of the rich man showed even in his torment. He still didn't change his mindset. He still thought Lazarus was as good as a slave to come and perform a service for him, even while he's in a place of torment. That's astounding and it tells you that people don't often change their ways as simple as just their word and their decision or their vow. There needs to be real change to make it legitimate. But that's just another story that we can talk about at a later time. But in this scenario we see that the rich man was asking for a sign to be given to his relatives although there were plenty, and Abraham even stated that they already had Moses and the prophets, they already had the law, they already had the word of God as much of a sign as you can want. But apparently it feels as though that they ignored the signs that they saw, or viewed them as optional, and it did no good for them. Nothing changed, there was no adjustments. Once the breath we breathe leaves our body, our earthly account is closed. The account is closed. The account is permanently closed. The master of the account will now do his reconciliations, weighing, checks and balances. The result is determined by the master's findings and he was fully within his right to make the ultimate judgment. In the midst of this incredibly heavy mindset, I just want to encourage you guys because I feel as though as a whole, just generally speaking, I'm including myself in most of what I say. Most every episode I've talked about myself and where I'm at and where I can do better and grow and change, and hopefully it's encouraging to you guys. So maybe you got it all together, but I don't. But what I'm realizing here is that we spend a lot of time not thinking about the impact of tomorrow by what we do today. Wow, that's a problem. That's really problematic. I know that we talked about on a recent episode about how we take today's investments and invest them into yesterday, living in the past, in effect, not growing up and maturing and dealing with those issues so that we can move forward and have a bright future, like God wants for us. In this case, it's almost the reverse. We don't take what we have right now the ability and the resources and tools we have right now and invest them into the future so that we have something great Every time somebody asks for a sign. It's almost comical because it happened in Scripture many times where the religious leaders of the day asked Jesus for a sign so that they would believe that he was the Messiah. But they had no intention of believing. They saw signs almost as entertainment. Show me a sign just as entertainment for them. They had no intention of changing, they had no desire to change, same way as the rich man's family. They're wealthy, they have everything they want in life, probably have no desire to change, and sending Lazarus there as a sign wouldn't have changed anything, and Abraham was spot on about that. Signs don't change people. They're there to be a directive. If we honor the signs and obey the signs that we see and not treat them as optional, they can direct us to some bright, incredible and astounding things If we allow the signs to do what the signs are supposed to do. If you're driving down a road and a sign says bridge out, I would not. I would encourage you to not treat that as optional, because not only would a bridge be out, but you also be out as well, out of time, out of luck, out of luck Out of this whole thing called life. The signs aren't optional. I mean, if you get on ethyl phosphate and you know it's true and get on I-26, you see that people think that this 60-mile-per-hour speed limit sign is optional. They'll get angry, honk their horn and buzz you because you're doing 60 or less and they desire to do 70 or 80 so they can get downtown, to the airport. So they buzz past you and you can almost feel your car shake because they're driving past you so quickly. They view that 60 mile per hour speed limit sign as optional and it's not. If they crash into somebody and have a really bad accident and hurt themselves, what do they say? They show disrespect to the sign and it cause injury or harm. Every sign that we're so blessed and privileged to receive and have in front of us is a way to help us. It's not there to limit us. It's not there to put us in a box. It's there to help us. And the sign says detour. It's there to help you. You don't waste time driving down this road and you'll run into a one-way sign or a brick wall. The detour sign is there to help you to get back on the course you're trying to get to, but you're taking a different route. The signs are there to help us. That's what the point is. The signs are there to help us and I wonder if we understand that. In today's times, it feels as though we are at a place where we don't think about the fact that our account can be permanently closed at a time that you didn't predict. People think that you know what. I got 60 years, I got 80, I got 100 years. I'm going to live long life. These are not determined by you. I love the enthusiasm and I got 100 years. I'm going to live a long life. These are not determined by you. I love the enthusiasm and the self-confidence. It's great, but it's not determined by you. You don't determine it, you don't decide this, and you have to understand that there's a time that's set. Your years are numbered on this earth. There's a number. I'm almost glad that we don't know what the number is sometimes, because it could be so much stress to know what the number is. But there's a number for everyone. Everyone has a number and I just wonder if we care enough to use this breath in our bodies and make good in every way that we can, whether it be serving in every way that we can, whether it be serving, loving, living, developing, duplicating ourselves, growing, making the world at large better than it was before we got there, making our world that we live in, our bubble, our sphere, our cultural and geographical region better than it was before we got there. I wonder if we care enough to do that, because sometimes it feels as though it doesn't matter to us and I don't know why that is. But what I do understand is that a time will have to come when we have to come face-to-face with the reality of all that we've done, all that we haven't done, and face with the reality of all that we've done, all that we haven't done and recognize that there were signs all along. We just didn't see it. Now it's an admirable thing when somebody sees a sign and they obey it and make adjustments and make changes. That is very rare in our time. It's not normal, it's very, very unique. I want to read one example of that from my description so you can kind of get an idea of what's going on there, so you can see that it not only is is a unique, but it's also attainable. It's possible for you, where you are, check this out. Acts, chapter nine, verse one to nine. Check it out New Living Translation and it reads Meanwhile, saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers. Obviously, saul was not a good dude, so he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the way he found there. He wanted to bring them, both men and women, back to Jerusalem in chains. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul, saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, lord? Saul asked and a voice replied I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you'll be told what you must do. I'm going to stop here for a second. Now hear what happened. Jesus spoke because he said that Saul was persecuting him Just by attacking his people, by touching his people. Think about that. We talk about touch not my anointed, do my prophet no harm. Think about that part right there, because whatever you do to the children of God, to the people of God, whatever you level that could be a hurtful false accusation, physical harm, whatever it may be, you're actually impacting Jesus. It says it right here the men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone's voice but saw no one. Saul picked himself up off the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was blind, so his companion led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there, blind, for three days and did not eat or drink. It's Acts 9, 1-9. Now I don't know how you view what just took place, but if you take some time to review the history of this man prior to this exchange between Saul and Christ Jesus, you will understand this for all intents and purposes worldly authority coming face to face with authentic spiritual authority. Paul had worldly authority, but he came face to face with real authority, authentic spiritual real power. The creation coming face to face with his creator. All the things that represent signs in our life are to keep us so that this exchange goes well. When it happens, the influential leader with a mandate to destroy the people of God comes face to face with God, happens. The influential leader with a mandate to destroy the people of God comes face to face with God himself. The influential leader with a mandate to destroy the people of God comes face to face with God himself. Wow, what an encounter. Perhaps this is what it looks like to carry a certain belief all your life and one day find out that you were heading in the wrong direction all this time, because Saul was heading in the wrong direction for a very long time. Ask yourself this question Are you totally sure that you're carrying a proper belief and a certain correct belief, the correct mindset, all of these years? Do you need to have an encounter like this to change your mind? Or will you be willing to evaluate it and meditate on it right now and ask am I in the right place? I thank God for grace and redirection. It means so much. There's so many places where I personally it's not like Saul, but there's some comparisons there, where I was doing some things. I was in some places. Many of you may have heard a story I won't get into it on this episode. There's plenty of episodes that talk about it In our first three seasons of the they Call Me Mr U podcast. But many of you may know that I was in Islamic faith For several years and because there was 73 different sects at the time, they all vary in different ways. They do different things. None of them are alike, but they all have roots in idolatry and a lot of other things that are anti-Bible. But one of the things I was able to experience in this time was that the sect that I was a part of definitely against a lot of American values, definitely against Christian values, and, as a representative in that faith, I was asked to do things and be in opposition to things that right now I would give my life for. And what I learned is that and I wasn't I'm not comparing myself to Saul, I'm just saying it. There's some similarities there, because when I had an encounter with Jesus a face to face, if you will it changed everything, my life radically changed. I've never gone back to anything that was against the, the, the faith of Jesus Christ and the word of God. I've been walking with him for almost 29 years now and I said it just to say that. You know the mindset that I had. I thought it was right. I thought I was doing God's will by doing what I was doing. It's just like Saul. He thought he was doing God's will by killing believers. It's crazy, but that's what he thought and he lived his life like that. What belief do you hold? That's questionable. What belief you've been carrying for all this time. That you think is true, but maybe it's not. Is it a belief about someone of a different skin color? Is it belief about someone who comes from a certain part of the country, maybe from the north? Maybe, as a southerner, you think there's something wrong with them, or they have this thing and they need to be checked and corrected Because they're from the north and they're not as good or hospitable as you are from the south. What kind of belief do you have? That perhaps is not the right belief. I challenge you to check yourself in these areas. I want to just say to you again that once the breath we breathe leaves our body, our earthly account is closed. There's no further opportunity for a last minute withdrawal or a quick deposit, like the rich man found out. Once you're in that place, there's no going back. You can't go back and tell everybody avoid this place. This is not good. Good, don't do what I was doing. There's no chance to do that. You have an impact or the ability to impact and influence right now. Take advantage of that. Do it the right way, because the master of the account is going to do his reconciliation when the account is permanently closed. He's going to weigh, checks and balances and the result is going to be what he uses to determine and which is well within his rights and ultimate judgment. Hear me on that. I hope that you take a set, a second to kind of take a beat, to step back and look at where things are in your life right now and do the right evaluations. Check you where you are. There's no last minute reprieve. Once that breath leaves your body, you have the opportunity right now to be what the word of God says in conduct, in character, lifestyle and speech. Do it now while you have the chance. Thanks for listening. Have a great day. Like, share and subscribe.