Dr. Byron
Hello, everyone. This is Dr Byron L. Benton. And before we start our first episode, this podcast, I just want to take a moment and express my gratitude and appreciation to a number of people who made this possible. And we would not be able to even record this episode without their hard work and support. I first want to thank all of the Mount Mariah Missionary Baptist family for believing in this encouraging me supporting me and just really pushing me to bring to pass exactly what the Lord had deposited in my spirit, I really believe that this podcast is a viable way to spread the gospel and will reach people and a unique, unique path right where they are. And so I want to thank you. Hold the Mount Mariah family for everything that they’ve done specifically. I want to thank Brother Felix Room who labored so diligently he put together this immaculate podcast studio that we’re sitting in right now. He helped me put together the mikes and just worked. He painted. He put the florian. I mean, you can’t see it because this is, you know, a podcast that’s only audio, but just know it’s beautiful And he did all this work. I want to thank all of our sponsors who have jumped in just believing in this without having any other information or doubt other than just believing in us Believing in me believing in the vision story Marsh, who put together our theme song You couldn’t read his witness, His musical genius. Ah, so Tory Marsh, a k a mad Max, My cold steel brother from North Carolina A and T State University, The Aggies I want to send a shout out to you Thank you so much to Reverend Michael Thomas from Michael Thomas Creative, who put together our logo and our website and so many other things that you’re able to view in order to even have tuned in to all the other sponsors who have have come on board to just support this vision. Support this dream. Just know how much we appreciate you. And I thank God for you last night. At least I want to thank you listeners who are tuning into this. Maybe you were expecting it and you’re excited to tune in. Maybe you stumbled on this and you said, Hey, that’s give it a try. and see if there’s something here that could be helpful, Whatever reason. And however the Lord led you here, I want to thank you for giving us a chance. And we are just starting out. We hope to get better. But, ah, we ask for your prayers and believe that there is something that will be here that can be helpful for you own your journey. And so, with nothing else to say, I want to thank you and welcome you to the first episode of Mountaintop manner. Hello and welcome to Mountain Top Manor, where we address issues of faith, family, finance and fitness with tons of fun mixed into each and every episode. I am so excited to be with you today. I’m your host, Dr Byron L. Benton, coming to you from the beautiful, beautiful city of North Charleston, South Carolina, and the Immaculate campus of D Mount Mariah Missionary Baptist Church. Thank you for tuning in. I am extremely excited and delighted and I’m happy to have with me for this first episode a co host like none other. The one the only Reverend Tammy Revenue, a k a reb t. How you doing today? Brevity
Rev. Tammy
I’m doing great Awesome Pastor. So excited about this episode Mountaintop Manna.
Dr. Byron
It’s so great to be starting 2020 in this way and so welcome. Thank you for being here, and we’re just going to kind of use today to give you an introduction to the mountaintop manna. Each episode would have three different segments. We start off of what we call the real, which is getting into what is the issue. What is it that we’re dealing with? What is the struggle? Then we’ll move into the climb. That’s the work that we have to put in an order. Climb the mountain to climb whatever the obstacles are in order to get to your place of transformation, healing, messaging, whatever it is. And then there’s a take away. What is it that you need to take away from the mountaintop and take it back to you in your value life? Take it back into your daily life. What we want to do today, though, is just take a moment in unpacked with you why we came up with the name mountaintop manner. How God deposited that into my heart into my spirit and and kind of give the origin story, if you will, from a biblical standpoint, because this will set the foundation this obstruct, Um, this will help us and understanding what is required of us in order to fully reach for and achieved all that God has for us. There are several places in the Bible that you’ll see. You’ll see it spread out where mountains were really important, and the Old Testament in the New Testament mountains have a prominent place in key moments. It was believe in the Old Testament that mountains were closer to the heavens, which means that they were closer to God. And so if you climb the mountain, you automatically got closer to God, one of things that every mountaintop experience entails. Based on what we just mentioned, how it was understood, the belief that we get closer to God is that in order to deal with any of the situations that are going on in your life, whether it is your family, whether is your finances, whether it’s a struggle within your faith, you’ve got to get closer to God, yeah, in order to deal with it, which means that requires having to address certain things in your life that maybe hindering you from that climb, hindering you from getting closer to God. And there’s work that goes into each of them.
Rev. Tammy
Mountaintops are very important, very pivotal moments in Bible, but also in our lives. Also, mountains really put us in a place to be real. Rather we know God or not, um, in the mountain experience, it requires a level of nakedness where you have to be real to see yourself, and you have to be willing to put the work in to do the climb. So we have to first look within ourselves and realized the areas that were unstable in. We have to realize the areas that we don’t have full self control. And then, even in the midst of all of that, believe God that he will bring us to the mountaintop where we get closer to him.
Dr. Byron
Absolutely. It amazes me how so many of us come to church, but we’re not real. And what I mean by that is we’re not saying that you’re fronting. What we’re saying is you’re not dealing with the real stuff and being honest about what’s really going on in your life. We’re coming. We’re getting our shout on we’re getting our praise on was singing in a choir were preaching our sermons, But we’re not really dealing with the nitty gritty, the struggles that air going back on in our households. In many ways, sometimes church can become your drug. It becomes your high, it becomes something that you do in order to escape your reality, escape your situation when God wants us to be empowered, transformed in order to deal with our situation So that guy could get the glory God can, can we can we can shout from the mountaintops. Look at what I’ve been through. Look at what I was stuck in But look at how God brought me out of it.
Rev. Tammy
And as we look at all these different mountaintop experiences that we will share about, we will realize that the people are the individual person that was involved in the climbing of the mountain. They were in perfect, just like me and you. They had struggles just like me and you. But because we serve a great god that has given us purpose, were able to climb it to see the promises of God. So I’m excited about mountaintop manner I’m excited for the challenge. I
Dr. Byron
am excited as well. And with that said, I think we should just jump right on in tow, our first mountaintop experience and Noah with Mount Arah. Rhett.
Rev. Tammy
That is correct, sir, and everybody knows the story of Noah. But the part about this story that we studied is before all of this. Everything for Noah wasn’t so good, but yet because he saw God’s hand at work and trust got enough, he was able to obey the instructions and, at the end, able to see God promises. So do we have any? No one’s out there where you may not have seen nothing but doom and gloom and death and this and that. But yet still you believe that God has a promise for your life.
Dr. Byron
And what’s interesting about Noah to is he had to put a lot of work into his climb, so to speak, the reality of the situation. Waas. There was so much evil going on in the world that God said, the Bible says that every imagination of every thought was
Rev. Tammy
wow, that’s good.
Dr. Byron
Men literally gotten such into a spiral of evil ways that every fault the thought behind every thought The thought behind that felt was Evil E. And when thinking becomes such that it is so evil that there’s no good that even comes from a felt life. Wow, It put God in a position where he agreed Because God said, I’ve got to essentially reboot man.
Rev. Tammy
Correct. I’ve got a complete with lord. I’ve got to
Dr. Byron
get rid like it. We have gone such into disarray that I’ve got to wipe it out. And he found favor with Noah because Noah, for whatever reason, and however had held on to God and held on to the principle of God. Not that no one was perfect, right, Because we see what happened after after the flood of meat out of the flood. One of things that no it does, is he plants him a vineyard, you know, he makes him a bar. He becomes his own bartender. He creates raises the grapes, you know, And then he gets drunk off his own stuff that he made that he made passes out naked. Wow, He gets something. I realize that some of you who are listening to this, that you are really, really saved and love the Lord. And so what? I’m getting ready to mention to You may be completely, completely far in that that this happens. But Noah Noah, who was so righteous that God saved him from the judgment in the Old Testament from the flood and his family know where this righteous man got slat out toe drone inebriated, bit messed up from the flow up. We’ll make it Wow past that. So he was not a perfect man, that’s all. That’s all I’m saying. He was not a perfect man, but he was a man pursuing God.
Rev. Tammy
That’s it. You’ve got to stay in the pursuit.
Dr. Byron
You’ve got to stay in the pursuit and what ends up happening. You know the story in Genesis after they built the ark and the work that he had to put in and just believing, even though they had not seen rain for 100 years still building what God had envisioned him to do, which right there that goes to show. A lot of times we stopped building what God told us to do. Wow. We grow weary somewhere along the journey. Maybe it was in year 50 out. Although of his year 50 I think many of us. If it’s me, you get really a year, Mom,
Rev. Tammy
about this a week. Our But
Dr. Byron
you get tired because God has given you a vision and told you to do something. But what God has told you to do, a division God has given you takes a long time. Yeah, and Noah stays on it. He stays on it. Then he has to deal with actually getting art built the flood happening. Let’s not even get into what it would have required to get all those animals up home hit and into that art. All that happens, the floodwaters may subside. And now you’re given this rainbow Wow, symbolizing the grace of God that that God is with you now think about all he had to go through just to get a message of grace. They just went through extreme judgment. Just went through death where everything they knew before the flood was gone. The life they knew was gone. The people they grew up with, we’re gone. It’s all gone. Wow. And now here they are. And now there is a sign of grace that happens, which means out of the gate we have to understand that not every mountaintop experience is a pleasant journey to get there.
Rev. Tammy
That’s it, That’s it. And you have to be willing. And one of the prayers that I say every day is God’s strength in my hand for the work because we get tired even though we know we’ve heard God’s voice. He’s given us the instructions, but not only the work is great, but also the time frame. It does not make sense to us. And so even while we’re waiting, we still got to continue to do the work to see the promise as no one did. He saw the promise, but he had to continue in the process to do the work. And I love it. How Pastor stated he wasn’t perfect, just like me and you. We’re not perfect, but we’re in the pursuit after God.
Dr. Byron
That’s right. And here is the big piece that I believe that all of us struggle with. It’s Are you willing to put in the work?
Rev. Tammy
Yeah, it’s hard, sir. It’s hard. This flesh is this less is something else, sir, it’s hard to put in the work. I don’t have control over this mouth. All the time. I don’t have control over all these thoughts all the time. So how do I do that? How do I get to that at that place where I am completely surrendered for the climb? I, you know, and to be brutally honest, I think we all struggle in some area. The most anointed person, some in some season, some mountain climbs. Things just don’t make no sense. And so we begin to question God, is it really you? But I love the God that we serve because he has a way of making sense out of nonsense.
Dr. Byron
God are will always give you the rainbow.
Rev. Tammy
Wow, that’s good, sir.
Dr. Byron
God will always show up in some kind of ways as we walk through the mountaintop experiences over and over again. It’s God’s showing up in a way that we were not expecting God to show up. No, I didn’t ask for Rainbow.
Rev. Tammy
He showed it.
Dr. Byron
God gave it to
Rev. Tammy
him. Low extra
Dr. Byron
not said you need to see
Rev. Tammy
this, that so you cannot be mistaken. That is me.
Dr. Byron
You cannot be mistaken that it’s me. And it needs to be in such a way that you know that I’m with you. Wow, that I’ve got you that I’ve got you covered. Why? Because whatever you’re going through, you’re gonna need God to get through it most definite. Whatever you’re going through it it will become so overwhelming and over burdensome that you need a power greater than your own in order to walk through it, sustain it, make that climb. If you try to climb the mountain in your own strength, you gonna fail, you’re going to fail. And even if you make it to the top, you’ll be so exhausted you won’t be able to receive the message God has for you. Like no one would have slept through the rainbow. Yes, yes, they would have told him about it. There was a rainbow. What? There was room Bo. What’s that?
Rev. Tammy
Yeah, Been part acres of the blessing. Had we wait, you know, not done our part. But I’m glad because you cannot do this thing called life without Jesus.
Dr. Byron
We learned from the word that there are circumstances that calls us to need a sign of grace and that there’s work even even to get to that sign of grace. Another, uh, that’s really near and dear to us because the name of our churches Mount Mariah. What we experience in Genesis 22 with Abraham taken his son Isaac, to basically offer him up as a sacrifice. This was something was unheard of. The Israel ice did not practice, you know, sacrificing their own Children and things of that nature. This was not a part of their religious beliefs, but But here Abraham he is. And he’s told to go to a specific place. He’s told to go to how, Mariah and to offer up his son as a sacrifice. And the story goes that he basically has to put together and get the materials together and pack up. And he brings some people with him. And then what he tells them as right before he goes to the mountain top is to wait here. He’s talking to the servants that took with him. Wait here with the donkeys and my son, and I was the guy. We’re gonna go over there and we’re gonna worship. Wow. And he never mentions to them that there’s gonna be a sacrifice. He says we’re going up there to worship. Yeah, and I think there’s something about going to the understanding that your plight to the mountaintop is one of going toe worship.
Rev. Tammy
Wow, That’s good, sir. That’s good. It’s goingto worship. Wow. But what do you do when God asks you for something of that value to sacrifice your son and doesn’t really give you a whole bunch of details? But God asks us for the most precious things in our lives And what I love about this Without question, you know, Abraham went toe work. He begin to gather the supplies to prepare for this great sacrifice. So let that ponder their What do you do when God asked you for such a great sacrifice as a mom? You know somebody full of my Children, you understand, But here it is. You want me to sacrifice my son? And in that moment alone, it kind of just had me speechless because I don’t know how I would have respond because of the love that I have for my child. But Abraham, like Noah, they were hooked on this savior on Jesus. And I think that’s what prompted him to still follow the command. But when you said go worship, things happen when you worship.
Dr. Byron
Oh, my
Rev. Tammy
g situations Turn around when you worship. Yeah. For real. For real. Go ahead.
Dr. Byron
No, I think you’re right on it. You know what? What Abraham had was a trust in the Almighty
Rev. Tammy
that
Dr. Byron
extended far beyond what he could understand And that because God’s gonna put us in situations where based on what you know, this makes no sense what God’s requiring you to do what God’s expecting you to do. It makes no sense. How am I going to start this business? I don’t have the means. This makes no sense. You know why? Why are you asking me to get involved with this ministry? This makes no sense with this season of life that I mean, I don’t feel adequate. I don’t feel equipped. God calls it calls and someone’s whom God wants to with with purpose and with provisions and everything else that is needed. And what we have to do is have a willing heart of trust independence to say God, Yes, I will do it. Even though this makes no sense to me now,
Rev. Tammy
Total dependency told in quiet to climb the mountain
Dr. Byron
to climb the mountain.
Rev. Tammy
I’ve got to trust him beyond my own logic Mountains thought I’ve got to know that he is the true and living God. So that was very powerful to study and understand what God would ask of us at certain seasons in our lives to make us trust him or and to get to the mountains so we can get closer to him.
Dr. Byron
Absolutely. Because worship is an act of love. Yes, And what Abraham was doing is saying whatever I do, it has to be an act of love to God on act of love and act of obedience to God. Wow. And so when I do this, this is this is worship. Now everybody’s not going to understand your worship. I believe that’s one reason why he did not explain the details of how he was getting ready to worship God on the mountain. He said, you all stay here with the donkeys were going over here to worship. But I’m not gonna waste time trying to explain my worship to you because you’ll never understand it. And you may try to prevent me or hinder me from worshipping God and being obedient to God. And so you’ve gotta You’ve gotta watch who you allow to try and climb the mountain with you because not everybody’s ready for mountaintop experience. Not everybody’s ready for the labor in the worship in the way that you want to go in and worship. I’ve heard many people say, You know, I started crying and worship and people wouldn’t leave me alone. They want to know what’s wrong, and there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m just experiencing the presence of God, you know. My reaction was one that confused them. And so now they’re messing with my worship. Leave me alone. Let let me let me have my time with the Holy Spirit. Let me have my time in this experience. And even though you don’t understand it, leave me be because I don’t know what’s happening right now. I know I don’t fully understand it either, but I know is God and that something is happening and I want to let
Rev. Tammy
it happen. And that’s good that you pointed that out, sir, that everybody won’t understand. And even some may even try and talk you out of what? You know. You heard God say to you from years ago, many when you were a child. And so you have to stay focused on. I know God called me to do this, and I don’t know how he gonna do it, but I know he’s going to do it. So in my worship, I’m going to give him my best worship my best freeze. Because in that I know he’s gonna release the revelation that I need to keep working this thing out and walk in my purpose. That’s good right there.
Dr. Byron
Oh, my, my, my. So one of the big morals of the story here in the climb is that everybody can climb the mountain with you. Come on. Some people you’ve got to leave with the donkeys. I preached the sermon about along that some people they just can’t handle found a mountain that you don’t live on the mountain top. You’re going up there to be obedient, to worship, to get the message that God has for you. You’re gonna come back down and and you’re gonna come back down. Change based on the experience that you had so in many ways, with many people, you can reconnect with them. There’s just certain places they can’t go with you.
Rev. Tammy
So you got to be good during the times of isolation. I think it was said before that the isolation has just got insulating you as you begin to walk out your purpose. And And don’t get frustrated in that when you don’t have the whole crew, you don’t have the click. You don’t have the bam. But as long as you and Jesus, I was gonna be Well,
Dr. Byron
that’s right. That’s good, sir. Many times we want we want a party to celebrate what God has done for us. Wow. When many times, everybody at the party, they can’t even fully comprehend what the Lord has done. Anyway. That’s why nobody can shout for you.
Rev. Tammy
Hey, your own praying
Dr. Byron
that nobody knows my story like I know my story. And and even if nobody can tell it hey, like I can tell
Rev. Tammy
Hey, hey, that’s good, sir. We getting happy in here? We apologize.
Dr. Byron
We are, but I think on the goodness. Oh,
Rev. Tammy
my, I don’t.
Dr. Byron
But that’s it reminds me of the rich young ruler, right. We see this week we have an old testament example of a man who had something that was most precious to him, that God said, Give to me. Wow, right then we have the rich young ruler in the New Testament says I’ve done everything you know, I want to be your disciple And he said, I got one thing for you know that you need to do Wow, sell all your possessions Wow. And then come follow me And he walks away cry. Hey, wasn’t willing to trust God enough decline. He loved his stuff, Maur than he loved his God. Wow. And God’s gonna mess with your stuff. He’s gonna he’s gonna put us in situations to see if I love for God is more than I love for whatever else it is Now what I’m not saying is I’m not saying Go sell your house. Go sell your stuff. Don’t give it to the church, That is that is not what I’m saying. What I am saying is, God is going to test us and put us in situations that reveal to us the true nature of our own hearts. Wow, what’s in them And what in our hearts are keeping us from getting closer to God.
Rev. Tammy
Here’s the nakedness again.
Dr. Byron
Here’s the naked vulnerability again. The truth, the real,
Rev. Tammy
the raw, the good, the bad and the you understand.
Dr. Byron
Yes, I understand.
Rev. Tammy
We got to look at it all. That’s good, sir. That’s good, right?
Dr. Byron
That’s good. And with that, I think it’s a good time for us to take our first break. Look, thank you for tuning in. Stay tuned. We got more mountains to climb, and we’ll be back with you soon.
Rev. Tammy
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Dr. Byron
If you like the mountaintop manner, theme music and you are interested in music production for your podcasts, commercial or musical album did look no further mad Max Music has you covered. Check him out on all social media platforms. AT T, March 799 That’s T M A R S H the numbers 799 That’s Mad Max Music at T Marsh 799 All right. And we’re back. Thank you for hanging in here with us. Um, we’re gonna pick right back up before we left We talked about what happened in the Book of Genesis with Noah and Mount a Rat. We talked about Mount Mariah with Abraham as well in the Book of Genesis. And we do realize that these texts are just completely field with so many nuggets and revelation. And we’re breezing through them just to give you a little bit of why the mountaintop experience is so important. And so we encourage you please read, study, uh, send us email us the revelations that God gives you. And the key is that you are climbing the mountain. And with that said, we’re going to jump right back in and we’re going to go now to Mount Sinai. This brings us tow Moses, one of my favorite texts. We pick up here where Moses has already experienced God in miraculous ways. Moses is sent back to deliver his people from the oppression of pharaohs Grip where they were slaves. We’ve seen all these plagues happen. We’ve seen the parting of the Red Sea. They’ve come out on the other side. You name it. God has already moved and done enough to show Moses and show all the Israel lights that God is God, God is almighty. God is all powerful. God will provide for you. God will protect you. God will deliver you. God has done all that for them. And now they’re on the other side of this Red Sea experience. The other side of the oppression that they were experiencing and what they quickly realize is that even though they’re delivered from the system that was oppressing them, they were not delivered from the mentality. Wow. And they’re in need of government. They’re in need of organization. They’re in need of leadership there in need of instruction, from God of how to live, how to be governed, how to exist. And God gives an assignment that would end in Moses climbing up Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments, which would be a structure in which they would govern themselves and how they would live and into me. One of things reality that came off to me. And this is that you’ve got to climb the mountain sometimes just to get the revelation on what to do with your situation.
Rev. Tammy
That’s good, sir. That’s very good. And
Dr. Byron
it doesn’t even matter that God has brought you through all these different things. You still need new revelation. Even though you’ve seen him part The Red Sea, even though you seen him deliver you from a situation even though you’ve seen him operate by a cloud and a pillar. Even though he’s done all these things, you still have to climb the mountain and get rid of revelation Riel Revelation on how to deal with your situation.
Rev. Tammy
Wow, We all confined ourselves right here in many areas of our lives because you said something very important. You said they were delivered out of save slavery, but their minds were still in bondage. And it’s amazing because many of us got has physically brought us out of some things. But our mindset has not changed. But in order for me to get the revelation I’ve got to do to climb yeah, and if I do the climb, then God is going to give me the instructions I need from me to fulfill the purpose he’s called me to do. You would think I would have ever I came out of slavery. I would be looking for some big party or whatever else. And here it is. God says, I’m gonna give you instructions So sometimes, even when you come out of a thing, God still has to speak to you in the most unique ways. Maybe in ways you don’t expect him to do. God, I don’t want you to tell me other things I shouldn’t should not do. I want you to tell me everything. You gonna bless me with what? God says. No. I need you tow love better. I need you not to put my mouth on your sister or your brother. And you’re looking like Lord. Why? So I love this Because it reminds us that God is yet Ah, good God, Yes. Even when we don’t think it feels good and he knows what’s best for our lives. And so this this particular story in the Bible excites me because there was so much that was required to trust God. I don’t have any more chains on my hands and feet, but my mind is still captive. So how do I break that? I need the word of the Lord in order for me to understand what’s going on in my life.
Dr. Byron
So when you’ve been living in the bondage of an unhealthy relationship, that’s goods and you get delivered from that unhealthy relationship. If you just rush into another relationship without instructions on how to one deal with yourself in the mentality that was developed while you were in bondage, then you’ll just recreate in your new relationship in a new space. The same bondage that you experience while you were in Egypt. Relationship.
Rev. Tammy
Wow! Wow!
Dr. Byron
And so you’ve got to get closer to God and get the instruction, the information and everything. You need to make sure that you’re just not delivered physically, but they’re also delivered mentally and delivered. You don’t same thing with your finances.
Rev. Tammy
Wow, that’s good. So, you know, look at how
Dr. Byron
many people win the lottery, how many people make it to the NFL or make it to the N b A and find themselves broke. Wow, They no longer had the physical bondage of poverty or the physical bondage of not having enough economically. But mentally they were still poor, correct, and their mental pour nous recreated physically the same poverty that they had before they received the great blessing.
Rev. Tammy
Wow, that’s good
Dr. Byron
insult. There’s instructions there, things that that you have to do. Let’s make it real practical, right you’ve got to know how to respond to an email.
Rev. Tammy
Yes, that’s good.
Dr. Byron
What to put in there? What? To not put in there to be careful that you do not do the infamous reply? Oh, yes. All these different things. Just because God has brought you out of a situation doesn’t mean that your mind has been delivered. The mind has to be renewed. The mind has to go on the journey. The mind has to get closer to God so that transformation can truly happen. Otherwise, you would just re create the same situation. And so you have all these people who were present in this moment to receive the 10 Commandments would never enter the promise.
Rev. Tammy
Hey, sir, you bought the rock into the next mountain, sir, you’re about to walk in the next mountain
Dr. Byron
and they wouldn’t exact and they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t reach the promise because their mentality couldn’t handle it.
Rev. Tammy
Wow. And that’s why it’s good that you gotta admit that you need healing. You’re emotionally, physically and mentally, because any time you’ve been through any type of trauma, whether it’s financial, rather it’s in our bodies are any state you have to have the time of healing and and then I don’t know who this is for, but if you’re single, listen. You’ve got to be healthy and whole before the meat arrived before Boaz, before your Naomi your router. Whoever shows up, you’ve got to be physically, mentally, emotionally healthy and in a good place with God before you can even entertain being connected with somebody else.
Dr. Byron
Absolutely. And just because you’ve been delivered from your Egypt does not mean you’re ready for your cane.
Rev. Tammy
Yes, sir. All right.
Dr. Byron
Just because God brought you out doesn’t mean you’re ready to go in. Yeah, to whatever God has for you. Just because God saved you and has called you to preach That mean that you ready to preach next week?
Rev. Tammy
Come on, sir.
Dr. Byron
You know we could go over this in every area. There is work that we must do to climb the mountain just to get revelation. Yes, for the information that we need in order to make the journey to the promise that’s good. And the information is preparation for you to be able to handle the promise. And here’s the other fact about it. It has to be bigger than us. Wow. This was a transgenerational word. This was a word that was so powerful that even though the people who received it would not be able to achieve the promise that descendants still cool Yes, it’s gotta be bigger than us. It’s gotta be beyond you If the revelation that God has given you on a mountain is just about you. You’re on the wrong mountain and you’re not getting a revelation. Forgot. It’s It’s because God sees things systemically. God did not just die for you. He died for us. He did not just come for you. He came for all of us. He saw all of us, the the tapestry of humanity all intertwined together, saying I want to redeem it all. Wow! And and so the revelation that we are seeking when we climb the mountain is one that should transform or than just us is one. The transform the communities we are involved in the church is that we evolved in our Children,
Rev. Tammy
our Children’s Children. Yeah, that’s Bible right there.
Dr. Byron
That is the word
Rev. Tammy
is the word of the Lord. And you said those four little letters when everybody hear the word work, the everything. Don’t come easy. You gotta put in the work. So the question is, how bad do you want to get to the doc? You got to be willing to do the work.
Dr. Byron
And God will meet you in the work.
Rev. Tammy
Yes, he will.
Dr. Byron
God will help you climb. If you take one step, God’s gonna help you take two more steps. God is in it. But But what we have to do is by faith take the steps.
Rev. Tammy
That’s it. That’s it.
Dr. Byron
By faith, you’ve got to put some skin in the game.
Rev. Tammy
Faith without works
Dr. Byron
is dead. So what ends up happening? I mean, this takes us right to the next mountaintop. We want to talk about what ends up happening with Moses is he gets to see the Promised Land and he gets to see it from a mountain. And he gets to see it from Mt. Pisgah. He gets the sea where the Lord will take his people at. I believe I’m always reminded of Doc Martin Luther King’s mountaintop sermon that he preached the night before he was assassinated, where he tells the listeners that he’s already been to the mountain and that he may not get there with us, but that his eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord. Thank you. Sometimes I believe, just to keep us believing and hoping that God will allow us to see where are people are going. Wow, because if you get stuck, I keep listening to all the negative statistics there are out there, the suicide rates of black team and how statistically it’s on the incline in the increase in how that’s abnormal. When you look at other ethnic groups, I keep looking at how we’re making less money now. Yeah, as African American households, the median income has gone down over the last 10 years. And there’s no other ethnic group within America that has that statistic, you know. You name it, we’re dealing with it to steal the institutionalized racism. Still how separated we are. The the level of violence is happening within so many communities. Everything you name it with this police brutality, etcetera. It seems that we have two strikes against us out of the gate when we’re stepping up to the plate, which adds, emits pressure. And when you see all of these things and you see how it’s continually portrayed and media continually portrayed. And everywhere you look and you can’t get away from it, you need to be able to see something else. Wow, You need to be able to get to a place where God can say, despite everything you’re experiencing right now in your wilderness, there is still a promise. And I’m in the same promise I gave you. I still give to your people. You will get to the promised land. And I believe in so many ways. That’s where Dr King was that night. You know, obviously he saw his incoming. Obviously, he saw that things were not well. But somehow he saw beyond that. Yeah, somehow he solved that despite what his reality was and what they were facing in that moment, that there was still a promised land that could be achieved. And that was still a promise. And I think that sometimes I ask God t give me a glimpse, give me a glimpse so that it can allow me to hold it together in my right now that’s it. Give me a glimpse of what my finances are gonna look like five years from now. If I stay on this journey. So it helps me right now while they’re falling apart. Give me a glimpse of who my Children are going to be in the future. Give me that mountaintop experience while I’m dealing with them. Talking back right now would be a glimpse of what my career is going to look like down the road so that I can have something to aspire to because my boss is driving me crazy. The people that my job. I don’t know. Oh, my God. You know, you know the stories. You need to be able to see it because vision gives you inspiration for your right now with Moses. Even it put him in a position where he could die at peace, knowing that he would never get to the promise. But the promise was still promised.
Rev. Tammy
That’s good. That’s good. Right there, sir. And many of us, we ask God most of the time on the stern he got. If you just give me just a sneak preview of what is to come, it excites us and gives us that extra oomph to keep going on to stay in the press to continuously believe God. You know, we’ve got to believe God for great things. And sometimes when you really can’t see it because it’s a little cloudy or there may be some darkness around you. I thank God for the sermon Pastor preached the guiding light because if you could keep your eyes on the light, he’ll guide you. He will guide you in the midst of all the darkness you will be able to see your way through. So this one right here bless my life too, sir.
Dr. Byron
So what’s interesting about this is this entire mountaintop experience was about vision. It is about receiving a vision of the promise. So you would know that even though you can’t enter into it, that the people you love, the people you worked so hard for, the people you’ve sacrificed for the people you’ve been on this journey with, that they would inherit it. That’s when you parallel this, though, too, What kept them from entering into the promised land when you when you parallel it too, When spies were sitting in to look at the Promise Land and there were giants in it and they came back in the report waas that we were like grasshoppers Yeah, in their site because we were, like, in our sight, really, is what they said. It’s about vision, too. Uh, how they saw themselves, the way they saw themselves, kept them from being able to achieve the promise.
Rev. Tammy
Would has. Good
Dr. Byron
God at the end here is showing Moses a vision of the promise. The Israel ites vision of how they saw themselves kept them from achieving the promise, Which means your vision of how you see yourself must shift in order for you to achieve the vision that God has given you.
Rev. Tammy
E
Dr. Byron
If you still see yourself as a grass hopper, then all you’re gonna get is a little metal grab. Wow. But if you see yourself as the head and not the tail, if you see yourself as coming out as breaking free as deserving ahh love from a from a good man or a good woman. If you see yourself, you have to change how you see yourself. Otherwise you’ll never achieve what promise God has given you. Wow. Even if you saw the promise.
Rev. Tammy
Wow. So no matter what other people see, I got to see myself. Yeah, as God sees me, yeah, that’s good, sir.
Dr. Byron
You’ve got to see yourself. What’s so good about this is that is what helps us to prepare to walk in to the promise
Rev. Tammy
E
Dr. Byron
r perspective that God wants to change your perspective. How you view things I think about over my life. How different I view money now. Then I did my perspective change with my perspective. Change what I did with money changed when what I did with money changed my reality
Rev. Tammy
changed. Yes, you had to work. I had
Dr. Byron
to work and so many things I had to be delivered from
Rev. Tammy
what had
Dr. Byron
to be delivered from therapy through buying stuff, shopping therapy.
Rev. Tammy
So these mountaintop experiences I’m getting happy all by myself.
Dr. Byron
God wants us to climb the mountain. God, God wants us to experience life differently. And where we currently are in each in every area God consistently wants to move us from blessing the blessings to glory to glory. God wants to show us over and over again God’s glory. And when God does that, it draws even more people to God. I mean, we see that again, um, in a more intimate setting with Jesus Christ, we see that in this setting, whether was Mount Hermon or Mount Tabor? We see it where Jesus takes a select few, which means sometimes God wants us to climb a mountain so that we can see God differently and in a new way than even we saw God before. That’s good. We often limit God to whoever, and, however, got his revealed God’s self to us in our past. When really God is bigger than that, God is bigger than you can imagine. God is bigger than your thoughts can comprehend and God will take you. Even though the disciples had gone through a place that seeing Jesus hell, they had seen cheeses, blind eyes pop open through Jesus. They seen deaf ears open through Jesus and they’re hearing again. They’ve seen those who were dead rise again with the power of Jesus Christ. But yet in this moment, Jesus is saying, I’m going to show you a whole another side of me that you haven’t seen before and notice that Jesus does not show everybody this side. This is not something open toe. All the disciples everybody in the church does not get to get this revelation.
Rev. Tammy
And it was a revealing sir of heaven on Earth. That’s where God begin to show himself. And just as you said, what I love about God is he has no respect of persons, so he can use whomever he wants to. He can reveal himself to whomever he wants to in here. Out of all 12 disciples, he would choose the ones that we probably would not have quite on our team, but chose Peter. You know, James and John and toe look at that really says, Well, hey, I qualified to see his glory when you think about it. So God has a way of showing you himself not for everybody else to see, but for you to see his glory
Dr. Byron
for you to see. And I find it interesting because he knew that Peter he chose Peter. And he knew that Peter would later deny even being with him. Yes, that did not disqualify him from receiving an invitation for the transfiguration. I mean, what kind of credentials you need tohave thio be here? What? What kind of experiences did you have to produce and show what would kind of see resume in, You know what did you have? You know the Truth is, God chooses whom God wants to
Rev. Tammy
show me may so no one can disqualify you.
Dr. Byron
No one can disqualify you. That’s good that the question is, are you willing to take the class? Are you really to journeyed with Jesus? They They had to go with Jesus to see the transfiguration. They didn’t sit and say, You know what? I’m tired. I don’t want to go tonight. If they would have done that, which have a disciple would have been, they would have missed their transfiguration moment. They had to be willing to be obedient. When Jesus said, Let’s go, I want to go. I want to show you something. They had to be obedient to go. And here’s the thing, guys, Not going to tell you what God’s gonna show you on the mountain. Wow, you’ve got to go and receive
Rev. Tammy
the That’s good
Dr. Byron
because of the truth. Be told, If God told you what it was, you probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend it anyway. Many of these mountaintop experiences it’s about buying into the journey, buying into what this one step takes. I’ve hurt many people get completely discouraged because they needed to know what the next 10 steps were going to be when really it’s about being obedient over this first step.
Rev. Tammy
Wow, it was that the obedient
Dr. Byron
it’s about the obedience. You know, we’re gonna in the episodes that calm, we’re gonna unpack real situations. But just to give you an example and where we’re moving into in the next episode, you know, many of us want to see you know, all the steps to financial freedom. And God is saying, I need you to just start with the budget. Just one I need I need you to start with just knowing how much money you’re spending versus how much money you’re saving on. He I need you to just start. There are Many of us were like, Oh, man, I want to go into investing and I want to do all these other things. That’s great. But how about we start? We’re just saving some money. So you have an emergency fund, you know, you’ve got to take and be obedient over the first step when you’re beating or the first step gotta say Oh, well done. My good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over the first step. Little, I’ll make you ruler over the much gotta say you took that first step. Now I’m gonna move your tent, but you’ve got to be faithful over the first step and don’t allow the discouragement and not knowing what the next 20 steps are going to be to keep you from taking the first step.
Rev. Tammy
That’s good. So we got to keep moving, keep moving, keep climbing, keep climbing, keep doing the work,
Dr. Byron
keep doing the work
Rev. Tammy
to get to the mountains.
Dr. Byron
And with that said, we’re gonna take a quick break. We’ll be back soon, and we’ll conclude our first episode of Mountain Top manner.
Rev. Tammy
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Dr. Byron
If you like the mountain top man, a theme music and you are interested in music production for your podcasts commercial or musical album did look no further mad Max Music has you covered. Check him out on all social media platforms. AT T March 799 That’s T M A R S h the numbers 799 That’s Mad Max Music at T Marsh 799 and we’re back. Thank you for tuning in today to Mountain Top Man. A very first episode. I’m still here with the one the only REV t
Rev. Tammy
Hey, everyone.
Dr. Byron
And we’re gonna move now into our concluding moments and talk about the last mountaintop experience was really more at the base of the mountain with our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. And that is the very familiar story of Jesus and gas Emini, where he prayed, he prayed and prayed unto the Lord that if it be thy will let this cup has from me. There are certain experiences that is so difficult that we don’t even want to face them, just like Jesus. We find ourselves saying, God, look, this is too much. It is too heavy. It is way above what I want to endure and what I want to go through. And so please, let this cup pass from me. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that here we are back at a mountain. Yeah, and this time at the base of a mountain, which is the Mount of Olives. And this is where they would press the olive see literally. Yosemite means oil press. It’s the place where, whether it’s the circumstances or God or whatever press the anointing out of you. Jesus is in such an intense moment that the Bible declares he prayed as a blood fail from his brow like sweat. He’s got anxiety. He’s yelling at his boys, saying, Why can’t Charlie least light? You can’t roll with me for an hour. You can’t stay up and just pray with me. It is a place where you feel isolated and alone with God. But that isolation is preparation for the assignment that God has for you. And it’s a place that even though you have people and people who love you around you, they will not be able to fully understand you and it’s in that place. Where are wheel must surrender to God’s will?
Rev. Tammy
Wow. And that’s a lot right there, sir, because there’s a song that says that in the pressing God is making new wine. So when we’re pressed, there’s a greater anointing. There’s a greater revelation. There’s just the greater that God is doing in our lives. And even in those moments of isolation as I studied the mountains, I realize that when you get to the top, the air climate is a little different. So you don’t need people draining you. You don’t need to exhaust energy on people and stuff. But if I stay focused on the purpose and if I keep God right there at the center, this is gonna be some good mountain climbing in and out of it. I’m going to reach the promise. So mountaintop manner has truly fed us toe. Understand the work that’s required in the mountain and just like Jesus, Our prayers should always be not my will, but yours Lord be done in our lives
Dr. Byron
not my will, but yours. And in each of these experiences, as we talk through faith issues. As we talked through financial issues, family issues as we talked through all the issues that in the coming weeks and months and year, we’re going to unpack. There will be a moment for each of us where we have to come face to face and say God, not my will, that’s it. Nine will be done where the pressure maybe pushing stuff out of us. Yes, where people have gotten on our last nerves because we’ve asked them to at least stay up and watching. Their flesh has fallen short and they’re they’re sleeping on the job. And here we are saying God nonetheless, not my wheel, That’s it, But your will be done. That’s good. The takeaway today, hopefully is this that God has a mountaintop experience for you. A mountaintop experience for your faith, a mountaintop experience with your finances or your family, a mountain top experience for your health, your fitness. It’s good God wants you to be. All that God created are detained and purposed and you to be. But there there’s work much. Work is work that we must do. There’s information in revelation that must be given. There’s vision in perspective that has to shift and change in order for you to achieve it. And in the days to come, we’re going to dig deep. We’re gonna invite Guest only experts, and we’re gonna do really try and figure out What is it that we need to do to carry our cross because most Jesus better cross alone and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone and there’s a cross for me and we’ve got Thio. Just have Argus enmity moments as well, so that we can say nonetheless, not my will be done, but mine will be done. It’s our prayer that you’ll stay with us, that you emailed us questions and things of that nature as we continue to unpack these issues that are very real and pertinent to the lives of God’s people. Drop us a line. Let us hear from you. You can reach us at Mountain Top man a dot com. You’ll see information there on our Web site in order to communicate with us. It’s our hope that you would be empowered to live the very best life in Christ that you possibly can. And so with each of us, we’ve we’ve got to climb on mountains. But the hope is that what you received from this podcast is mana. The manor was the supernatural food that the Israel lights received while they win the desert in the wilderness and it’s sustained them. It’s a saying them and kept them until they were able to make it to the land flowing in milk and honey, we hope each and every time you tune in, so the information that you get it’s food for your soul. Food for your spirit that will help food feed you, sustain you and keep you as you reach and push ahead to your promise until next time.
Rev. Tammy
Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep working.
Dr. Byron
Keep working.
Rev. Tammy
Keep climbing.
Dr. Byron
Keep climbing. In Jesus name, Amen. We’ll see you real soon. God bless.
