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I Was a Dead Man Walking · Get The Hell Out of Your Life with Ron Meyers

0:01
Announcer: It's time now to get the hell out of your life.
0:04
Announcer: A weekly broadcast with real people, sharing real struggles, and offering real hope.
0:10
Announcer: Today's show will encourage, inspire, and empower you to face life's challenges with a bold confidence and renewed hope.
0:18
Announcer: Now let's join our host, Ron Myers, the promoter.
0:22
Ron Meyers: Are you feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and wondering if your life could ever really change?
0:28
Ron Meyers: Well, today it can.
0:29
Ron Meyers: Hello, my friends.
0:30
Ron Meyers: I'm Ron Myers, and the show is called Get the Hell Out of Your Life: Real Stories, Real Struggles, and Real Hope.
0:38
Ron Meyers: This show is for the non-churchgoer, for those who've been hurt.
0:42
Ron Meyers: Or maybe you just don't trust Christians anymore.
0:46
Ron Meyers: I'm so blessed and privileged to share these stories of God's amazing grace because every story we hear, it validates his love, his mercy, and his forgiveness.
0:57
Ron Meyers: And after talking with hundreds of guests, I can tell you this with confidence.
1:02
Ron Meyers: When you're in the middle of the worst moments of your life, God is right there.
1:06
Ron Meyers: His grace far exceeds our sins.
1:10
Ron Meyers: And today's story is living proof of that.
1:13
Ron Meyers: We're talking about a man who went from drug addiction, multiple felonies, manufacturing meth, and hurting the people closest to him to building a free rehabilitation ministry and stepping into the role of pastor in one of the toughest and poorest communities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
1:33
Ron Meyers: Let me say that again.
1:35
Ron Meyers: My guest went from drug dealer to ministry leader.
1:39
Ron Meyers: So wherever you are right now, driving, working, or just taking a moment to breathe, lean in because this story might just be the one that changes yours.
1:50
Ron Meyers: Let's jump into my conversation with Jared.
1:54
Jared Emerson: I couldn't just hit the off button once I turned it on.
1:57
Jared Emerson: So where that rave would go on for a night or a weekend, you know, for me the the bender would keep going for weeks.
2:05
Ron Meyers: Where were your parents with all this going on?
2:07
Ron Meyers: They didn't recognize something was wrong.
2:09
Jared Emerson: So it was again in the 90s and early 2000s, it was more free-range parenting.
2:14
Jared Emerson: They were starting a business, and at the time they were pretty consumed with that business.
2:19
Jared Emerson: You know, they were around, no doubt.
2:21
Jared Emerson: They were there.
2:22
Jared Emerson: But me and my brother were slick.
2:24
Jared Emerson: We were manipulators.
2:26
Jared Emerson: And so my brother was so slick that by the time they started realizing my addiction was popping up, they really tried to clamp down and control.
2:33
Jared Emerson: And and but the more that they would try to control my rebellious spirit would flare up and it would rebel out even worse.
2:40
Jared Emerson: So the more they would try to get a grip on the situation, the worse it would be.
2:44
Ron Meyers: Wow.
2:45
Ron Meyers: Well, what was the breaking point?
2:47
Jared Emerson: By the time I was 17, I got my first four felonies.
2:51
Jared Emerson: That was not the breaking point, but the for it it started it.
2:54
Jared Emerson: The um my attorney told me you can either go to read program at parchment or you can go to rehab, you know.
3:01
Jared Emerson: Okay, well, 18 years old, I picked up another felony of sale charge for three and a half grams of marijuana.
3:06
Jared Emerson: And so that's when he's the judge said you can go to read program or you go to parchment.
3:10
Jared Emerson: So I went to rehab, secular rehab for the first time in my life.
3:13
Jared Emerson: Um I didn't want to change, but I went to a 30-day rehab and a seed was planted in me that I could never go back and get high unashamed again after that.
3:23
Jared Emerson: So from 18 to 22, I got out, you know, I started using intravenously.
3:29
Jared Emerson: And next thing you know, I got me and my brother get linked up in Hattiesburg with these this criminal organization, I'll say.
3:36
Jared Emerson: And these guys were some really bad people, some uh importers of a lot of drugs, and they were giving them to us on the front for next to nothing.
3:44
Jared Emerson: So it was a a recipe for disaster for somebody with an addiction like mine.
3:48
Jared Emerson: The amount of money and drugs and damage I did to my brain and and damage I caused in other people's lives, and this this four-year window was just incredible.
3:56
Jared Emerson: So by the time I was 22 years old, I'd had enough.
4:00
Jared Emerson: I was done selling drugs.
4:02
Jared Emerson: I only wanted really to destroy myself, and I was really done doing that.
4:05
Jared Emerson: I was really tired, sick and tired of being sick and tired of that old cliche.
4:08
Jared Emerson: So I called my mom and I said, Mom, I need help.
4:11
Jared Emerson: Help me find a place.
4:12
Jared Emerson: And this was genuine.
4:13
Jared Emerson: I really wanted out at 22 years old.
4:16
Jared Emerson: And she found this place in California through Dr.
4:19
Jared Emerson: Dobson's focus on the family.
4:20
Ron Meyers: Yeah, yeah.
4:21
Jared Emerson: And uh, so my mom was the spiritual leader of my house.
4:24
Jared Emerson: Not that my dad wasn't a great dad and man, too, but um, but my mom was the one, this true spiritual leader of my house.
4:30
Jared Emerson: And so she implanted the word of God in me at a very young age.
4:32
Jared Emerson: Um, it just didn't take root till till later on.
4:35
Jared Emerson: I you know, I ran from God for a long, long time.
4:38
Jared Emerson: Knew of God, but didn't truly know him, you know, knew about him.
4:42
Jared Emerson: So I went to this place called a Sunrise Ranch in Riverside, and I got to my first 30 days, and I knew I was just scratching the surface on the work that needed to be done.
4:50
Jared Emerson: So I signed up for another seven months of their sober living program.
4:53
Jared Emerson: Well, I had FA'd three semesters of college.
4:55
Jared Emerson: Well, this pro sober living program offered to take you to college every day and pick you up, bring you and drop you off and pick you back up.
5:02
Jared Emerson: And so I chose to do that part of their program.
5:04
Jared Emerson: It was called Teach, was the acronym.
5:06
Jared Emerson: And um, so I completed my first semester of college and I felt like, wow, I could actually do something.
5:11
Jared Emerson: You know, and but I was working the 12 steps.
5:14
Jared Emerson: Now I was I was sold out, I was sponsored, 180 meetings, 90 days.
5:17
Jared Emerson: I was working the program, and that was it, you know, I had it.
5:21
Jared Emerson: And you know, I had seven months in in treatment, and then another three months of sobriety.
5:25
Jared Emerson: And me and my I met my wife in rehab out there in California, she's from Canada, and we met out there and we got apartments once we finished treatment.
5:34
Jared Emerson: She had an apartment right above mine.
5:36
Jared Emerson: I moved in with a roommate, and so and we had three months of sobriety, and then we started hanging around with some of the folks we were in treatment with that relapsed, and we just we went right back to our addiction.
5:46
Jared Emerson: Wow.
5:47
Jared Emerson: And so I introduced her to intravenous drug use and toted all the shame that came with that.
5:52
Jared Emerson: You know, she was there for riddling and alcohol and combining those two, which was a serious addiction for her, but I brought her to to deeper and darker places than she could she had ever been.
6:02
Jared Emerson: Of course, my addiction got worse as it all always gets progressively worse.
6:06
Jared Emerson: And so we ended up moving back there, back to Mississippi after about two years of running amok.
6:13
Jared Emerson: And we're we took a break in the relationship for about a year.
6:17
Jared Emerson: Now I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off cooking crystal meth.
6:22
Jared Emerson: I gotta back up now.
6:23
Jared Emerson: This is this is what happened, and this was a game changer for me.
6:27
Jared Emerson: And 20, 22 years old, I'm living in California.
6:30
Jared Emerson: We finished rehab, and I'm living, I'm at my wife's apartment, and I I got this meth, and I it scared me so bad it didn't have all the negative side effects.
6:40
Jared Emerson: And the negative side effects would keep me away from it for periods of time.
6:43
Jared Emerson: So I got this stuff and I put it up one night and I quit and I I got something to eat and I slept, which was incredible to do with that drug in the first place.
6:50
Jared Emerson: Woke up the next morning and I heard this voice.
6:52
Jared Emerson: And I said, flush it.
6:54
Jared Emerson: Flush it.
6:54
Jared Emerson: Well, I had like an eight ball left, and I I didn't even think about it.
6:58
Jared Emerson: It wasn't even a contemplation being had.
7:00
Jared Emerson: I just went and grabbed the bag of dope and I just flushed it.
7:02
Jared Emerson: And I went and sat on the couch.
7:04
Jared Emerson: And if I would have known what was fixing to happen, I would have flushed that dope years before.
7:08
Jared Emerson: But this was this was my time.
7:10
Jared Emerson: I sat on the couch and just waves of raw emotion and euphoria just started pulsating through my body, just like over and over, and just tears just started streaming down my face.
7:21
Jared Emerson: And I didn't even know why I was crying.
7:23
Jared Emerson: And this was about 10 minutes of this.
7:25
Jared Emerson: It was the best feeling I've ever felt in my life.
7:27
Jared Emerson: And I had been to some very artificial euphoric places before, but this was real, it was genuine.
7:33
Jared Emerson: And I looked over at my wife and she she was, I said, I don't know what's happening.
7:36
Jared Emerson: She said, I don't I don't know what's going on either.
7:39
Jared Emerson: I said, But it feels right, it feels cleansing, it feels like r purifying.
7:44
Jared Emerson: And so I went and stood in the kitchen and I was leaning up against the counter and and it was at that moment it dawned on me that I was in the presence of God.
7:53
Jared Emerson: And I felt these arms come and hug me, wrap around me, and just the tears started coming down even harder.
8:00
Jared Emerson: Like my visions, it was messy, like my visions all blurred up, and and I look down and I'm staring at that tile on the floor, and my tears come together and drip down.
8:10
Jared Emerson: And as my vision's clearing up, I'm staring at Jesus.
8:13
Jared Emerson: And his face was ambiguous, but it was clear as day in my heart that it was Jesus revealing himself to me, and that I was in his presence.
8:22
Jared Emerson: And so I pick up the phone and I call my mom and I said, Mom, you won't believe what just happened.
8:26
Jared Emerson: And she said, Son, you're 22 years old.
8:28
Jared Emerson: Most people won't have that in their lifetime.
8:30
Jared Emerson: She said, What are you gonna do with it?
8:32
Jared Emerson: And you think I would have just got it all together and sold it out to the Lord.
8:35
Jared Emerson: No, I I tried to run from the Lord for another two and a half years in my addiction, another six years in sobriety.
8:41
Jared Emerson: I tried to run for another eight and a half years like Jonah.
8:45
Jared Emerson: You can't run from the Lord.
8:46
Jared Emerson: He's you can't get He's everywhere.
8:48
Jared Emerson: You're not gonna get away from him, and he's gonna He's gonna hawk us down.
8:51
Jared Emerson: You know, he'll he's he's not gonna force himself, but he'll woo us, he'll pursue us, and he'll make it very awkward for us to to keep running from him.
8:59
Jared Emerson: And so, very uncomfortable, right?
9:01
Jared Emerson: And so at this time I got this calling put on my heart, rehab.
9:06
Jared Emerson: That's all I knew.
9:06
Jared Emerson: And I didn't know that the two were correlated.
9:08
Jared Emerson: I thought I was running the show still.
9:10
Jared Emerson: You have to have 22 years old, still not even lukewarm with my faith.
9:14
Jared Emerson: I had God revealed himself to me, think that I would have sold out.
9:17
Jared Emerson: No, not this stubborn, rebellious child.
9:19
Jared Emerson: So I I spend I I moved back to Mississippi and I'm I'm I I get into manufacturing methamphetamine and my addiction, you know, the end result.
9:29
Jared Emerson: I wasn't even selling it at the time.
9:30
Jared Emerson: I was just making it for myself, really.
9:33
Ron Meyers: Well, I just had to pause for a minute.
9:34
Ron Meyers: You see in a puddle of tears something that was Jesus, you felt Jesus, and you called your mom to me would stop me, but there was something that was still pulling you to the dark side.
9:49
Jared Emerson: Yeah.
9:50
Jared Emerson: Yeah.
9:50
Jared Emerson: Wow.
9:51
Jared Emerson: Enemy was after me at a very young age.
9:54
Jared Emerson: I could never really deny Jesus nor the devil because uh how prevalent he was.
10:00
Jared Emerson: I accidentally, about eight or nine years old, messed with a Ouija boy with my neighbor, and I opened up some portals to hell.
10:06
Jared Emerson: And I know that now.
10:07
Jared Emerson: God revealed that to me in my walk with him, that that's that's really when things got out of hand.
10:11
Ron Meyers: And so, what was the age where you finally said the party's over, Jesus?
10:16
Ron Meyers: Let's do life.
10:17
Jared Emerson: All right.
10:18
Jared Emerson: So 24 years old is when I got sober, and then I was in incarceration for manufacturing methamphetamine.
10:25
Jared Emerson: I was in that's what that's where it happened for me, a shift in mentality.
10:28
Jared Emerson: Now I didn't sell my heart out to the Lord for another six years after that.
10:31
Jared Emerson: I wanted it.
10:32
Jared Emerson: I started working out, I started doing Bible study in jail, still lukewarm, but I was doing Bible study, started writing.
10:37
Jared Emerson: I didn't know it was beginning in these addiction 101 classes I teach today, life skills, coping skills, and then couple that with the word of God.
10:44
Jared Emerson: So I started doing those things and I kept doing those things when I got out.
10:48
Jared Emerson: But I knew only a matter of time before I was going to go back out and get high again.
10:52
Jared Emerson: I knew it.
10:52
Jared Emerson: So we we decided to move to Canada, and that's where I started pursuing this calling that God had put on my heart years before.
11:00
Jared Emerson: And so, well, not initially.
11:01
Jared Emerson: For the first three years, I got into hockey, boxing, and I was working out five, six days a week.
11:07
Jared Emerson: I was just endorphin, I needed endorphins and massive amounts of them.
11:11
Jared Emerson: And so I was pretty much addicted to to hockey and boxing and working out.
11:16
Jared Emerson: And uh, but it was a, it was, uh, it wasn't destroying my life and my family.
11:20
Jared Emerson: So I was, you know, gung-ho with that for three years.
11:22
Jared Emerson: And I got three years into my sobriety, and I said, okay, you're you're physically tough, you're physically strong, but you're still emotionally and spiritually weak where it matters.
11:31
Jared Emerson: And you need to do something about that calling that God put on you.
11:35
Jared Emerson: And and so I said, okay, well, I'm gonna go back to school.
11:37
Jared Emerson: I'm gonna go to school for addiction counseling and finish this degree out.
11:40
Jared Emerson: So I got my trials college, I went to finish my addiction counseling degree, and then I interned with Salvation Army at a homeless shelter in Oakville, Ontario, and I fell in love with the work.
11:50
Jared Emerson: Still lukewarm, gotta imagine.
11:52
Jared Emerson: This is hard to imagine that I was still lukewarm through this.
11:54
Jared Emerson: But I knew that that it was a calling.
11:56
Jared Emerson: I knew it was more than just a nine to five, even though they ended up hiring me on and paying me.
12:01
Jared Emerson: So I ended up going to work for them for two and a half, three years, and then we moved back to, we decided to move to Tampa, Florida.
12:10
Jared Emerson: And I got a job in Tampa, Florida as an addiction counselor at a um at a at a methadonis of boxing clinic.
12:17
Jared Emerson: Now, keep in mind, I never agreed with that philosophy of recovery at all, but I wanted to work with addicts.
12:22
Jared Emerson: I wanted to counsel addicts.
12:24
Jared Emerson: So it was the first opportunity I could work in the States with addiction, so I jumped on it.
12:28
Jared Emerson: The FBI fingerprinted all the employees and decided to let me go.
12:32
Jared Emerson: My felony record was expunged.
12:34
Jared Emerson: I had 12 or 13 felonies racked up over the years.
12:36
Jared Emerson: Um, I was on a run from U.S.
12:38
Jared Emerson: Marshals at one point for five months.
12:40
Jared Emerson: They didn't like seeing then all those felonies on my FBI record, even though I was very forthright about my past with them.
12:47
Jared Emerson: Um and they fired me and it kind of crushed me and devastated me.
12:50
Jared Emerson: I was like, I really didn't agree with this philosophy, and now they fired me, you know.
12:53
Jared Emerson: I didn't stay defeated though.
12:56
Jared Emerson: I got up and I said, okay, I'm gonna go further my education with psychology.
12:59
Jared Emerson: You see, this is the this I was still thinking this route.
13:02
Jared Emerson: And so I'm glad the Lord was leading me this route for a lot of good reasons that I know now.
13:06
Jared Emerson: So I studied, I tried to do all the self-help gurus and the psychological avenues for healing to heal my brain.
13:13
Jared Emerson: The world told me that my brain needed healing.
13:15
Jared Emerson: And I finally found out when I sold out to the Lord that it was my heart that needed healing and that my brain would follow my heart.
13:21
Jared Emerson: And so all the worldly band-aids I was sold my whole life, they never worked.
13:25
Jared Emerson: And I had to find that out the long, hard route.
13:28
Jared Emerson: I finally surrendered.
13:30
Jared Emerson: I finally waved the white flag.
13:32
Ron Meyers: What age was this?
13:33
Jared Emerson: I was 30.
13:34
Jared Emerson: You were 30 years old.
13:35
Jared Emerson: 30 years old.
13:36
Ron Meyers: You know, and I met you last week.
13:38
Ron Meyers: Fit man, look good.
13:40
Ron Meyers: Never, never thinking a story like that.
13:43
Ron Meyers: But you know, it goes to show you that there are people out there walking around that just look like they should be on TV, but there's hurts in them.
13:52
Ron Meyers: And and today you are a counselor.
13:54
Ron Meyers: Tell tell the listeners what you're doing today.
13:56
Ron Meyers: You're helping people become free.
13:59
Jared Emerson: Yeah.
14:00
Jared Emerson: So all that was, you know, Genesis 50, 20 is one of my favorite scriptures.
14:05
Jared Emerson: I say favorite a lot when I talk about the word of God, but I have a lot of favorites in there.
14:09
Jared Emerson: But and you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to do what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
14:14
Jared Emerson: So you see, God had a plan and why he allowed all that.
14:17
Jared Emerson: So he rolled out some things for me.
14:19
Jared Emerson: I moved back from Tampa with my wife.
14:20
Jared Emerson: That was a miracle of God uh of God in itself that we could agree to move back here to Mississippi.
14:25
Jared Emerson: And I started escape addiction.
14:27
Jared Emerson: I started doing outpatient counseling.
14:29
Jared Emerson: And so that started out very slow and very much, you know, had the enemy in my ear the whole time telling me to quit, and had through people often telling me every reason why I should not be doing that.
14:40
Jared Emerson: And if I would have listened, we wouldn't be here talking today.
14:43
Jared Emerson: So escape addiction led me to 2020, started to formulate the Freedom Lighthouse, nonprofit.
14:50
Jared Emerson: So I was I was charging very low prices for outpatient counseling.
14:53
Jared Emerson: But the freedom lighthouse, I the Lord gave me a different vision.
14:55
Jared Emerson: We were gonna take guys in for free.
14:57
Jared Emerson: And it was gonna be once they we got them job.
15:00
Jared Emerson: A second phase is what the Lord led me to do.
15:02
Jared Emerson: And I'm I believe in inpatient, that's a necessary step for many, but I'm more concerned about what the Lord led me to a second phase in sober living, transitional living.
15:10
Jared Emerson: I'm more concerned about what they're gonna do when they have some freedoms and some money in their pocket and the ability to make a poor choice.
15:16
Jared Emerson: What are they gonna do then?
15:17
Jared Emerson: Because we're gonna separate, we're not gonna do it.
15:19
Jared Emerson: The Lord's gonna separate the wheat from the tares there in the second phase.
15:23
Jared Emerson: And so we started setting up the nonprofit of the Freedom Lighthouse, and we took our first official residence in in 21.
15:30
Jared Emerson: And so that's been quite the journey, and it's led to all kinds of connections and just bringing God glory all over and just meeting so many amazing people like yourself.
15:40
Jared Emerson: So, where is Freedom Lighthouse?
15:42
Jared Emerson: Freedom Light House is in Waveland, Mississippi.
15:44
Jared Emerson: Six months to a year long program, and most need the year.
15:47
Ron Meyers: Most I'm not very rarely you say you do this for free?
15:50
Jared Emerson: Well, I don't I don't get paid.
15:52
Ron Meyers: No, I mean for the clients out there.
15:54
Jared Emerson: The clients get to come in for free, but once they pass that grace period and they get acclimated and they're ready to start working, then they'll pitch in the pot.
16:02
Jared Emerson: But that's just to keep rent and the lights on and and the bills paid.
16:06
Jared Emerson: I don't make a dime as the director, nor do I ever want to.
16:09
Jared Emerson: The Lord doesn't He's given me other ways to make money with a clear conscience.
16:14
Jared Emerson: I don't believe in in uh monetizing the Word of God.
16:17
Ron Meyers: So how has business been in the last few years?
16:21
Jared Emerson: So it it's been awesome.
16:23
Jared Emerson: We've had we've had some amazing results.
16:25
Jared Emerson: So I'm gonna tell you the guys that stayed and finished the year, they're all doing amazing.
16:30
Jared Emerson: And and of course, we've had a lot, you know, we've had some that that haven't stayed and finished the year.
16:35
Ron Meyers: So it's never too late for anybody listening for a whole new beginning, is it?
16:40
Jared Emerson: No.
16:40
Jared Emerson: 17 year addiction, the last eight intravenous.
16:43
Jared Emerson: I've been in some dark and desperate places.
16:45
Jared Emerson: If the Lord could polish me up into something halfway decent, he can do it for anybody.
16:49
Ron Meyers: So right now you have the microphone.
16:51
Ron Meyers: Can you give someone hope that may be listening that is in an addiction stage of life?
16:56
Jared Emerson: Yeah, yeah.
16:57
Jared Emerson: I'll just add to one latest thing.
16:59
Jared Emerson: Just last October, the Lord birthed the church in Bayside Community.
17:03
Jared Emerson: It's one of the poorest communities, if not the poorest community in Hancock County, through us, through his body and and what we were doing with the Freedom Light House.
17:11
Jared Emerson: He birthed a a new church body for what I call church a church house or Sunday service, right?
17:16
Jared Emerson: We are the church body.
17:17
Jared Emerson: And so, and in and he made me the pastor of that.
17:20
Jared Emerson: I didn't do any of this.
17:21
Jared Emerson: How it all came together, I could not claim it.
17:23
Jared Emerson: I did not do it, I did not think about it, orchestrate it, it just all came together.
17:26
Jared Emerson: So let me tell you, if if somebody, if the Lord can take somebody like like me, just bottom of the barrel junkie, I was a bottom feeder, I was one of the most selfish individuals you'll ever meet, one of the most stubborn, just brawlers, fighters, just nasty individual, very lustful, very much a womanizer, misogynist.
17:43
Jared Emerson: I mean, it it whatever negative label the enemy can put on somebody, I owned it.
17:49
Jared Emerson: And and you know, owned it proudly.
17:51
Jared Emerson: And so if he could take somebody like me and humble me to the point, and that was what the addiction was about, bringing me to my knees.
17:58
Jared Emerson: You see, the addiction brought me to my knees, to the humility, but but it was the struggles in my marriage and the pain and my cousin's death that had me truly surrender.
18:08
Jared Emerson: And now I have to stay surrendered every day.
18:11
Jared Emerson: That's that's that's not a one and done born again, is not something you just do one time and you get dunked in that water and you're clean.
18:18
Jared Emerson: As a matter of fact, 1 Peter 4 says, baptism, not the removal of filth from the flesh, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.
18:24
Jared Emerson: And so we have to pledge that every day.
18:26
Jared Emerson: We have to die to ourself every day and pick up our cross and follow after him.
18:30
Jared Emerson: I know where my will got me.
18:32
Jared Emerson: It got me destruction, chaos, misery, and death.
18:36
Jared Emerson: Now, I should have been dead numerous times and didn't get in all those stories today, but I was dead inside.
18:41
Jared Emerson: I was a dead man walking.
18:43
Jared Emerson: And the Lord Christ came by one day and he said, It's time to get up out of that grave you built for yourself.
18:48
Jared Emerson: It's time to live.
18:49
Jared Emerson: I want to give you life.
18:51
Ron Meyers: Well, how do people get in touch with you or Freedom Lighthouse?
18:55
Jared Emerson: Oh, that's easy.
18:56
Jared Emerson: They can email me or they can go to the website freedom dash lighthouse.com.
19:01
Ron Meyers: Freedom Lighthouse.com.
19:03
Ron Meyers: We're just about out of time.
19:05
Ron Meyers: I would like you to have a nuclear prayer for our listeners out there listening right now.
19:10
Jared Emerson: All right.
19:11
Jared Emerson: Well, we invite the Holy Spirit in for that because He He's the one that prays through us.
19:15
Jared Emerson: All right, uh, thank you, Ron.
19:16
Jared Emerson: Lord Heavenly Father, we just come to your throne boldly to just praise you this morning and thank you for all that you're doing in our lives.
19:24
Jared Emerson: I thank you for my brother Ron and you giving him this platform, Lord, and given giving him these gifts that to use to promote your kingdom, Lord, and that he has sold out to his relationship with you, that he can spend the rest of his days lifting you up and glorifying you, magnifying your works, Lord.
19:40
Jared Emerson: So I ask you to continue to be the wind behind his sails and ours and everybody in the kingdom, Lord, that you just continue bringing your church body together.
19:48
Jared Emerson: We don't care about denominations, Lord.
19:51
Jared Emerson: We care about you and living in relationship with you, Lord.
19:54
Jared Emerson: That you can just keep freeing people from all forms of captivity and that's addiction, religious bondage, Lord, and legalism, and that you can uh bring them into relation with you and that intimacy, Lord, that close connection and fill them up with your Holy Spirit.
20:09
Jared Emerson: Lord, I believe that you are pouring your spirit out on all flesh, Lord, raising up an army right now.
20:15
Jared Emerson: And that you have chosen people like me, the least likely suspects, the black sheep, the round pegs and the square holes, Lord.
20:22
Jared Emerson: You have chosen people like us to make examples out of us so that people can see your miracle power flowing through our lives.
20:28
Jared Emerson: I ask for your will to be done.
20:30
Jared Emerson: And for every listener out there today, Lord, that you just bless them.
20:33
Jared Emerson: You come and meet them with your Holy Spirit and your presence right now, Lord, and just shower them so that they can just have the most amazing day, Lord, and they can keep having that and living for you from here on out.
20:43
Jared Emerson: We love you, Jesus, and we thank you so much for loving us that we could love you and one another.
20:47
Jared Emerson: And we lift all this up in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.
20:52
Ron Meyers: Wow, what a story.
20:54
Ron Meyers: Thank you, Jared, for being raw and real.
20:57
Ron Meyers: And his story wasn't a straight line.
20:59
Ron Meyers: This wasn't, oh, I had a moment with God and everything changed overnight.
21:04
Ron Meyers: No, his story was messy.
21:06
Ron Meyers: Years of running, years of resisting, years of trying everything else first.
21:11
Ron Meyers: And maybe that's where you see yourself.
21:14
Ron Meyers: But here's the truth: you can't miss a moment with God can change your direction.
21:21
Ron Meyers: And giving your life to God is what changes your life.
21:25
Ron Meyers: Because Jared tried everything, didn't he?
21:27
Ron Meyers: Fix the mind, fix the habits, fix the behavior.
21:31
Ron Meyers: But nothing worked.
21:32
Ron Meyers: Why?
21:33
Ron Meyers: Because the real issue wasn't the brain, it was the heart.
21:38
Ron Meyers: And when the heart changed, everything else followed.
21:42
Ron Meyers: Now look at the transformation.
21:45
Ron Meyers: A man who once took from people, now gives everything away.
21:50
Ron Meyers: A man who once destroyed lives now restores them.
21:55
Ron Meyers: A man who ran from purpose now walks in it daily.
21:59
Ron Meyers: That's not self-help, my friend.
22:02
Ron Meyers: That's transformation.
22:03
Ron Meyers: And I love this.
22:05
Ron Meyers: He doesn't charge for it because when you have been pulled out of that kind of darkness, you don't sell the light.
22:14
Ron Meyers: When I return, some final thoughts and a prayer for the week ahead.
22:19
Announcer: You're listening to Get the Hell Out of Your Life with your host, Ron Myers.
22:24
Announcer: Real stories, real struggles, and real hope.
22:29
Speaker 4: Here's a refreshing word from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 8.
22:33
Speaker 4: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
22:37
Speaker 4: Walk as children of light.
22:43
Announcer: What's your story?
22:45
Announcer: We're looking for stories of hope and overcoming life's struggles with God's grace.
22:51
Announcer: Your story validates God's love, mercy, restoration, and forgiveness.
22:56
Announcer: We want to help you share your story with the world.
23:00
Announcer: Visit our website, thepromoter.org, and click on the share your story link and submit your story.
23:06
Announcer: Your testimony of God's amazing grace will change a person's destiny for eternity.
23:13
Ron Meyers: If you need something more out of life than what you've already experienced.
23:17
Speaker 7: If you need a new start, a clean slate.
23:19
Speaker 4: If you want to live life forever, you need God in your life.
23:21
Speaker 4: If getting old has you depressed.
23:23
Speaker 7: Growing up sometimes scares the daylights out of you.
23:26
Speaker 7: If you want to know what the future holds, get in touch with the one who holds the future.
23:30
Speaker 4: Stop wasting time and get a hold of God.
23:32
Speaker 7: It's not about earning points by being good.
23:34
Speaker 7: It ain't about some born church.
23:36
Speaker 2: It's not about working your way to heaven.
23:37
Speaker 7: Finding God is not about following some group who claims to be the only way to God.
23:41
Speaker 7: It's not about being religious.
23:42
Speaker 7: It's not about religion.
23:44
Speaker 7: It's all about God's only Son.
23:46
Speaker 7: It's all about Jesus.
23:47
Speaker 2: It's all about Jesus.
23:48
Speaker 7: It's about Jesus Christ.
23:50
Speaker 2: It's all about you.
23:52
Speaker 2: It's all about you, Jesus.
23:56
Speaker 2: Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
24:00
Speaker 2: No one comes to the Father but by me.
24:03
Speaker 7: Well, someday when I stand before God and he asks me, Why should I let you into heaven?
24:06
Speaker 7: All that's gonna matter is if I knew Jesus or not, and that's what it's all about.
24:30
Speaker 8: Get the hell out of your life.
24:33
Speaker 8: Get the hell out of your life.
24:38
Ron Meyers: And maybe you're listening right now thinking, that's powerful, but that could never be me.
24:43
Ron Meyers: Yes, it can, my friend.
24:45
Ron Meyers: Because the same grace that changed his life is available to you.
24:49
Ron Meyers: We've heard it again today.
24:50
Ron Meyers: God's love is real, his mercy is real, and his forgiveness is bigger than anything you've done.
24:56
Ron Meyers: And when you're in the middle of your worst moment, God is right there with you, and his grace far exceeds your sins.
25:04
Ron Meyers: So don't wait.
25:05
Ron Meyers: Don't put it off.
25:06
Ron Meyers: Don't drift into someday because someday turns into never.
25:11
Ron Meyers: And before you know it, you're living on the island of regrets with villages called should have, would have, and could have.
25:19
Ron Meyers: Don't live there.
25:20
Ron Meyers: Today can be your turning point.
25:23
Ron Meyers: Not because you have everything figured out, so why not today?
25:26
Ron Meyers: Take the step of faith.
25:28
Ron Meyers: Let go.
25:29
Ron Meyers: Give your life to Jesus and then trust him.
25:32
Ron Meyers: Because what God has for you, no addiction, no pastor, no mistake can stop it.
25:38
Ron Meyers: My friends, why do you think you're listening today?
25:42
Ron Meyers: This isn't random.
25:43
Ron Meyers: God is sending you a message.
25:46
Ron Meyers: It's never too late for a new beginning.
25:50
Ron Meyers: Let's pray.
25:50
Ron Meyers: Father, I lift up the person listening right now.
25:53
Ron Meyers: You know where they are and what they're facing, what they've done, and what they're carrying.
25:59
Ron Meyers: And maybe they feel too far gone, too broken, too ashamed to even look your way.
26:04
Ron Meyers: But today I pray they feel something different.
26:08
Ron Meyers: Not pressure, not guilt, but your loving presence.
26:13
Ron Meyers: A peace that doesn't make sense, a love that they didn't earn, a grace that covers everything.
26:21
Ron Meyers: Remind them.
26:23
Ron Meyers: You're not waiting for them to clean themselves up.
26:26
Ron Meyers: You're right there in the middle of it.
26:28
Ron Meyers: Give them the courage to take that step of faith, to give their life to you, to trust, and to simply say, Jesus, I need you.
26:39
Ron Meyers: And for those battling addiction, shame, regret, break the chains, replace the lies with truth, replace the darkness with light, and begin something new today.
26:50
Ron Meyers: We thank you that no story is too far gone, no life is too broken, because your grace always has the final word.
27:02
Ron Meyers: In Jesus' name, amen.
27:04
Ron Meyers: Join me next week for another grace-filled episode of Get the Hell Out of Your Life, available wherever you listen to podcasts.
27:13
Ron Meyers: In the meantime, remember this that I love you, Jesus loves you, and when you give Jesus your heart, you not only get the hell out of your life, but life gets good.
27:36
Announcer: Today's show was produced by Ron Myers Ministries, a listener-supported ministry.
27:40
Announcer: For a copy of today's broadcast, please visit our website, thepromoter.org.
27:46
Announcer: And would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible donation so that we may continue to share stories of God's amazing grace with the world?
27:54
Announcer: And join us next week for another broadcast of Get the Hell Out of Your Life.
27:58
Announcer: Real people, sharing real struggles, and offering real hope.
28:03
Speaker 3: We would like to express our gratitude to Coffee News for their support of this program.
28:08
Speaker 3: Are you tired of scrolling through the same old news feeds every morning?
28:12
Speaker 3: Then switch things up with Coffee News.
28:15
Speaker 3: Our publication is filled with interesting stories, brain teasers, and uplifting quotes that are sure to brighten your day.
28:21
Speaker 3: And now you can access Coffee News anytime, anywhere by visiting our website.
28:25
Speaker 3: So whether you're sipping your morning coffee at your favorite cafe or browsing online from your desk, we've got you covered.
28:32
Speaker 3: Start your day off right with Coffee News at readcoffeewsonline.com.