J.C. & Co

Whether you consider yourself a new Christian or not, shame is a feeling that we all have felt. Many of us who have turned our life over to God go through feelings of shame. We may be triggered and mentally go back to who we used to be pre-saving, and that can cause us a lot of shame. This week, me and Samantha were faced with the consequences of our old lives and felt our own feelings of shame. Many of us try to avoid shame, but it becomes apparent that shame is inevitable. The question is, "what do you do when you encounter that shame"? As Christians, it is important to remember that God heals all and when we face these feelings of shame, do not hide them from God, but face it with God. 

Each of us have churches that we attend or watch online. We can all name one or two pastors who have blew up from their sermons and are now considered popular amongst a certain group of us. Many people listen to these pastors religiously and consider them helpful. However, what is the difference between preaching and motivating? Many mega church pastors tip toe around certain topics or ignore them altogether which calls into question, "are you actually preaching?" They instead rely on motivating us to start new businesses and be better people. We like to call these pastors and their church motivating. Some call them false prophets; going as far as to call them sheep in wolves clothing. On this episode we address these motivational churches and give our opinion on the role that they play in the kingdom. Or, do they play a role at all? 

When you think about being married, what role do you see yourself playing as a husband or a wife? Do you see yourself following the guidelines set by God or do you hold onto the ideas set by culture? One of the most debated topics in Christianity is submission, with men believing it is biblical and some women calling it out for being sexist and lending support to patriarchy. If you are a woman who believes in submission, you have probably had to deal the label of a "pick-me". In this episode, we discuss the idea of submission and the role that God assigned to both husbands and wives in marriage. We each talk about our own views on submission and how we feel about the role God assigned to us as men and women in relationship. When reading parts of the word, it does leave you wondering, are wives secondary to their husbands? Well, let's discuss. 

In the wise words of TLC, "what about your friends?" Our friends make up a huge part of our lives. These are the people we call when times are tough because we trust them. While reading the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man in Mark, I was inspired by how dedicated his friends were to literally carry him to Jesus and make him known to Jesus. From this, the man on the mat was able to be healed. This story made me realize the importance of friendship and who is at our table. On today's episode, we discuss friendships and how our friends have encouraged us with our relationship with Christ and other areas of our lives. God has made it abundantly clear throughout the Bible that the company we keep is extremely important and should not be taken lightly. After listening to today's episode, we hope that you walk away asking, "what about your friends?" 

Stronghold-a defensive structure. As humans, we all carry different strongholds that we perceive as protection. We subconsciously hold onto these strongholds and feel the need to defend ourselves when we feel triggered, even if the defense is unnecessary. However, many of our strongholds can actually act against us. We feel offended without asking ourselves, "why am I offended?" There are times when our defensiveness is warranted, but when we are being directed by our strongholds, we can find ourselves holding onto resentment and thought processes that are not genuinely serving us. On this episode, we discuss strongholds and reveal our personal strongholds that have affected the way we perceived information from those around us. 

"Get to the bag", "team no sleep". We have all heard these mantras from social media or those in our personal life. We are surrounded by a constant pressure to "hustle" and "get the bag". However, what happens when the hustle interferes with our purpose? Many of us want to hold tight to the things that will bring instant gratification in spite of what God has for us. With COVID-19, there have been new businesses popping up and everyone is in a rush to prove that they've used their time wisely in quarantine. Sometimes God is calling us to go against everything we are hearing and seeing and seek Him for our purpose. In this episode, we discuss how the hustle can impact our purpose and the idea of being busy yet doing nothing at the same time. 

Come on now...y'all knew this episode was coming. It's hard to claim being a Christian and not talk about sex, especially when it's intertwined in everything we see and hear. As a believer, abstaining from sex tends to be one of the hardest feats we face. Many of us validate feeding our flesh with sexual impurity by believing that sex is a natural way of life, and God knows our heart. Well...sex is natural and was created by God, but many of us are confusing God's purpose for sex for culture's purpose. Music and other forms of entertainment are constantly telling us to "explore" and "it's you body so do what you want" without being honest about the spiritual consequences of living such a "fun" life. As young believers, we are familiar with the temptation and have been through our own journey of learning what sex means to us and how we are choosing to represent our temples/bodies. On this episode, we go into our rocky journey with sex and what led us to a life of celibacy. We also share some of our backslides and how we recovered. Giving up sex was not easy, and we all still have our weak moments, but with God by our side we have already answered the question of "Can we do it?" 

As a Christian, sin has always been a hot topic, with many believers confused on what sin is or what is considered a sin. In the past, people in the church scolded and warned us against sinning without giving in-depth reasons on how sin impacts us. As young Christians, we face learning more about sin while navigating through a world that tells us that sin is ambiguous and "God knows your heart." In this episode, we discuss sin and how as a community, many Christians are unaware of the importance of sin and how detrimental it can be to our walk with Christ. Before listening, ask yourself, "what does sin mean to me"? and "How do I treat sin in my walk with God?"

Heads-Up: Take out your notes because Junior is giving out verse gems.