What happens when a child born into addiction, abandoned at four years old, surrounded by violence, drugs, and hopelessness encounters the life-changing power of Jesus Christ?

In this powerful episode of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel sits down with Arthur Smotherman to hear a testimony that can only be explained by the grace of God.

Arthur's early life was marked by brokenness. Raised in an environment filled with addiction, crime, and instability, he eventually found himself caught in a cycle of violence, drug activity, and multiple federal prison sentences. By all appearances, his future had already been written.

But God had a different plan.

While sitting in a county jail cell, Arthur met a volunteer chaplain who took the time to speak life, truth, and hope into a man many others had given up on. That encounter became the beginning of a journey that would forever change his life.

Today, Arthur serves as a pastor in Tampa, Florida, and is preparing for his third mission trip to Zambia, where he helps share the Gospel, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and bring the love of Christ to those in need.

This conversation is a powerful reminder that no one is too far gone, no past is too dark, and no mistake is too great for the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.

Whether you're battling addiction, carrying shame from your past, struggling with forgiveness, or simply need a reminder that God is still in the miracle-working business, this episode will encourage your heart and strengthen your faith.

To learn more about Arthur and his ministry, visit:

🌎 City of God Church

If Arthur's story has touched your life and you'd like to support his mission work and ministry efforts:

💚 Venmo: @arthur-smotherman

Please like, follow, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear that redemption is possible.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored.

This is The Lions for Christ.

The Ugly Truth About Abuse: Healing Through Faith with Diane Perez

In this powerful and deeply needed episode of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel sits down with Diane Perez, Christian Life Coach, mother of three, fur-baby mom, domestic violence survivor, and Founder/CEO of God’s Princess Life Coaching.

Diane helps women come out of domestic violence situations, rebuild their mindset, rediscover their identity, and begin the healing process so they don’t return to abuse. Through her work, she helps women recognize triggers, grow through accountability, and move toward the life God created them to live.

This conversation is honest, heavy, and full of hope.

Domestic violence is not just physical abuse. It can show up as fear, control, intimidation, manipulation, isolation, threats, financial control, emotional destruction, spiritual pressure, and constant walking on eggshells. Abuse does not just wound one person. It damages women, children, families, faith, trust, and future generations.

And men, this episode carries a clear warning.

Abuse is not leadership.

Control is not protection.

Fear is not respect.

A man cannot claim to be the spiritual leader of his home while destroying the people God called him to love, protect, and serve. Christlike leadership does not look like domination. It looks like humility, sacrifice, repentance, self-control, protection, patience, and love.

In this episode, Diane shares her heart, her mission, and the ugly truth about abuse. She also points toward healing through faith, renewed thinking, courage, boundaries, and the power of remembering who you are in Christ.

If you or someone you love is in danger, please reach out for help.

If you are in immediate danger, call 911 if it is safe to do so.

National Domestic Violence Hotline:

Please be careful. If someone is monitoring your phone, internet history, messages, email, or location, use a safer device if possible. Your safety comes first.

You can learn more about Diane Perez and God’s Princess Life Coaching here:

This episode is for the woman who feels trapped.

It is for the child who grew up afraid.

It is for the church that needs to stop looking away.

And it is for the man who needs to understand that a home ruled by fear is not a godly home.

God did not create you to live under terror.

God did not design the home to be a battlefield.

And God does not call abuse love.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored.

In this powerful episode of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel welcomes Jerry “J.” Higgins Jr., a former United States Marine, ordained Christian chaplain, author, husband, father, and founder of AnchorPoint Press.

J shares his story of walking through childhood trauma, PTSD, and seasons of running from God, only to discover that Jesus was still pursuing him with grace, healing, and purpose. What pain tried to destroy, Christ redeemed.

Together, Pastor Noel and J talk about trauma, identity, faith, chaplaincy, spiritual restoration, and what it means to let God use the hardest parts of your story for His glory. J also shares the heart behind his Christ-centered books and devotionals, including resources for athletes, men, and communities often misunderstood or overlooked.

This conversation is raw, honest, hopeful, and deeply Christ-centered. It’s a reminder that your wounds don’t have to be wasted, your past doesn’t have to define you, and Jesus still meets people in their darkest places.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored. This is The Lions for Christ.

What does it actually look like for a young married couple to put God first in a world constantly pulling marriages apart?

In this episode of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel sits down with Peyton and Chayton for a real and honest conversation about faith, marriage, work, sacrifice, and learning how to follow God together in everyday life. No fake perfection. No polished church answers. Just two young believers doing their best to build a marriage centered on Christ while navigating the pressures of modern life.

Peyton shares what it’s like working as an elementary school teacher while trying to represent Christ through patience, character, and quiet strength in today’s culture. Chayton opens up about life as a lineman, the physical demands of the job, the responsibility that comes with dangerous work, and how those experiences have strengthened his dependence on God.

Together, they talk about the reality of Christian marriage in their twenties. Communication. Stress. Spiritual growth. Disagreements. Sacrifice. Prayer. Learning how to support one another when life gets exhausting. They also discuss what being “Spirit-led” actually means outside of church on a random workday when emotions, fatigue, and distractions begin to creep in.

This episode dives into the importance of protecting a marriage from outside influences, staying grounded in biblical values, and intentionally choosing unity in a culture that often encourages division, selfishness, and temporary commitment. Peyton and Chayton also share encouragement for young couples navigating dating, marriage, faith, and the pressure to conform to the world around them.

If you’re married, preparing for marriage, dating, discouraged, or simply trying to keep Christ at the center of your life and relationships, this conversation will challenge you, encourage you, and remind you that strong marriages are not built by accident. They are built through faith, humility, prayer, sacrifice, and daily surrender to God.

This is a powerful conversation about what can happen when two people stop chasing the world’s definition of love and start building their relationship on something eternal.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored. This is...The Lions for Christ.

Have you ever said something and immediately thought, “Who said that?”

The words came out of your mouth. They had your voice, your tone, your attitude, and your fingerprints all over them. But the second they left your lips, you knew something deeper had taken over. Anger. Fear. Pride. Hurt. Shame. The old self grabbing the microphone.

In this episode of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel takes a powerful look at the battle within every man. Jesus said it isn’t what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, because what comes out reveals the heart. That means our words, reactions, tone, and attitude under pressure can expose what is really ruling inside us.

This episode connects modern understanding of the brain’s inner systems with New Testament teaching on the flesh versus the Spirit, the old self versus the new self, and fear versus faith. Brain science may help explain the battlefield, but Scripture tells us who must rule the man.

Pastor Noel challenges men to stop excusing destructive reactions, stop letting fear and flesh take the throne, and bring every part of themselves under the authority of Jesus Christ. The survival instinct, the craving for comfort, the wounds of memory, the pull of old habits, and the false stories of shame all have to bow before the King.

This is not an episode about blaming the brain.

This is an episode about surrendering the man.

If you’ve ever struggled with anger, temptation, anxiety, shame, old patterns, or words you wish you could take back, this message will hit home. The battle inside you is real, but it doesn’t get final authority. Jesus does.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored. This is...The Lions for Christ.

In episode 45 of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel takes an off-the-cuff but deeply meaningful look at the parable of the sower, found in Matthew 13.

Most of the time, this parable is taught by focusing on the four types of soil: the hard path, the rocky ground, the thorny ground, and the good soil. And that’s right. Jesus was showing us how the condition of the heart determines how the Word of God is received. Some hearts reject it immediately. Some receive it with excitement but have no root. Some allow the cares of the world to choke it out. But some receive the seed, hold onto it, grow, and produce fruit.

But this episode goes one step further.

What happens after the seed lands in good soil? What happens after it takes root? What happens when that life begins producing real fruit?

Pastor Noel expands the picture by looking at how healthy spiritual growth doesn’t stop with one person. When God’s Word takes root in a faithful heart, it begins to produce fruit. And inside that fruit is seed. That seed can be planted into the lives of others through our testimony, our teaching, our encouragement, our example, and the way we live out our faith in Jesus Christ.

This episode challenges believers not only to ask, “What kind of soil am I?” but also, “What am I producing?” Because good soil should lead to good fruit, and good fruit should carry seed that continues the work of the Kingdom.

Pastor Noel also talks about the responsibility we have to help others tend the soil of their own hearts. We can’t force growth. We can’t save anyone ourselves. But we can help remove rocks, pull weeds, water with truth, shine light through love, and point people back to Christ. And when that process continues, the seed doesn’t stop with us. It moves through families, friendships, churches, communities, and generations.

This message is a reminder that your faith was never meant to sit still. The Word planted in you is meant to grow. The fruit produced through you is meant to bless others. And the seed carried from your life may be exactly what God uses to reach someone else.

This is a powerful episode about spiritual growth, discipleship, influence, legacy, and the generational impact of a life rooted in Jesus Christ.

Visit thelionsforchrist.com, follow The Lions for Christ on social media, and consider supporting the ministry as we continue spreading the message of strength, redemption, and restored purpose through Jesus Christ.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored. This is...The Lions for Christ.

Good soil isn’t just where growth happens. It’s where legacy begins.

In Episode 44 of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel asks two hard but necessary questions: What has life without Jesus already cost you? And what has your own way produced?

This episode explores how a person’s faith can feel weak, dry, or distant not because God has failed them, but because the environment around them may be working against what God is trying to grow inside them. Using Jesus’ parable of the sower, Pastor Noel explains how the heart must be tended like soil: hardened ground must be broken, rocks must be removed, weeds must be pulled, and the seed of truth must be protected, watered, and exposed to the light.

The message also introduces the “law of faith dynamics,” showing how the people and environments around us can either strengthen our walk with God or slowly cool it down. Pastor Noel challenges listeners to examine not only who is shaping their faith, but also what kind of influence they are bringing into the lives of others.

This episode moves deeply into identity, reminding listeners that their past mistakes, struggles, and failures don’t define who they are in Christ. Real change begins when a person stops seeing themselves through shame and starts living from the truth of what Jesus has done.

With Scripture from Matthew 5, Matthew 6, Matthew 7, and Matthew 13, this message calls listeners to build their lives on Christ, make serious changes where needed, protect the seed God has planted, and become the kind of person who helps faith grow in others.

This is a powerful, practical, and deeply encouraging episode for anyone who feels stuck, spiritually dry, or ready to grow closer to God.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored.

In Episode 43 of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel takes on the Ninth and Tenth Commandments and exposes two sins that don’t always look dramatic on the surface, but can quietly rot a man from the inside out. This episode goes straight at false witness and coveting, not as small issues, but as deadly heart problems that wreck truth, poison relationships, and open the door to deeper rebellion.

This is not just a conversation about lying in court or wanting what somebody else has. This episode digs into gossip, slander, twisted storytelling, half-truths, envy, comparison, private resentment, and the kind of inner discontent that can slowly pull a believer away from gratitude, integrity, and obedience. Pastor Noel unpacks how the Ninth Commandment guards the truth coming out of our mouths, while the Tenth Commandment exposes the cravings living in our hearts.

He also leans into a powerful idea: that coveting may be the commandment that helps protect the other nine. Because when a man starts craving what God never gave him, he becomes easier to tempt, easier to deceive, and easier to justify sin he once knew was wrong.

This episode is a hard wake-up call for anyone who wants to stop playing games with hidden sin and start walking in truth, contentment, and real freedom through Jesus Christ. If you are tired of soft faith, shallow teaching, and polished religion that never gets to the heart, this one is for you.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored. This is...The Lions for Christ.

In Episode 42 of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel takes a hard look at the Seventh and Eighth Commandments and exposes a deeper truth many people miss. Adultery and theft are not just separate sins sitting in different corners of the Bible. They grow from the same poisoned root: a heart that wants to take what God never gave it. One reaches into covenant and grabs what was never offered. The other reaches into labor, property, and trust and grabs what was never earned. Different sins. Same rebellion.

This episode goes beyond the surface-level warnings of “don’t cheat” and “don’t steal” and gets to the real issue underneath both. Pastor Noel unpacks adultery as covenant invasion, showing how lust, drifting hearts, pornography, divorce, and wandering eyes all reveal a deeper contempt for what God has made holy. He also breaks down theft in a way that hits modern life head-on, from stealing supplies and time at work to the excuses people use to justify crooked behavior. “They can afford it.” “They don’t pay me enough.” “They won’t miss it.” The episode exposes those lines for what they are: theft dressed up in self-pity.

But this message doesn’t stop at condemnation. It also tackles the tension between justice and mercy. What do you do when someone steals out of real desperation? What does Scripture say about hunger, need, repayment, and the heart of the one being wronged? Pastor Noel shows how biblical truth doesn’t soften sin, but it also doesn’t require cold-hearted responses. In the middle of it all, this episode points listeners to Jesus Christ, the One who doesn’t just restrain sinners but remakes them. He turns takers into trustworthy men. He teaches men to stop reaching, stop justifying, and start walking in holiness, honesty, repentance, and strength.

If you have ever struggled with lust, compromise, resentment, dishonesty, or the quiet excuses that make sin sound reasonable, this episode will hit home. Episode 42 is a direct call for men to become trustworthy again, to honor covenant, to honor honest labor, and to fear God more than their own appetites.

Strength Redeemed. Purpose Restored. This is...The Lions for Christ.

In Episode 41 of The Lions for Christ, Pastor Noel takes a hard look at the fifth and sixth commandments and shows why they still cut straight through the confusion of modern culture. This episode digs into what it really means to honor your father and mother without twisting that command into lifelong parental control, emotional manipulation, or guilt-driven family bondage. Pastor Noel also confronts the cultural pressure that teaches children to distrust biblical parents, reject Christian truth, and treat God’s design for male and female as something flexible and self-defined. Then the episode turns to the sixth commandment with clarity and conviction, making the biblical distinction between murder and lawful self-defense, justice, and war, while also calling abortion what it is: the unjust taking of innocent human life. Most importantly, this episode shows how Jesus takes the issue deeper by exposing the hatred, contempt, and darkness that begin in the heart long before murder is ever carried out by the hand. This is a bold, Christ-centered message about truth, boundaries, life, leadership, family order, and the kind of men the church desperately needs right now: not wolves, not cowards, but sheepdogs under the authority of Jesus Christ. If you’re hungry for biblical conviction, spiritual strength, and clear teaching rooted in God’s Word, this episode is for you.