Yeah.

Gosh, I'm trying to recall.

There was a moment at the top of 2020, this might have been right after, not the top I guess, a quarter of the way into 2020.

When did Chadwick Boseman pass away? But it was 2020.

I know it was 2020.

Yeah, it was 2020.

Because it was Kobe first, then it was Chadwick later.

They're

say, hey, Jessica.

Okay, I think she feels welcome now.

Thank you.

I am going to pray, and we'll get into God's Word.

Father, we come before you in Jesus' name.

There's nobody like you, God.

There's nobody as good, as strong, as powerful, as gracious.

find interesting about this man being carried every day

Right.

My body doesn't recharge like other people's bodies.

I don't know how many good hours I'll have in any given day.

I don't always know if I will at all.

And the only reason I use that kind of faulty charger thing is there's an unpredictability to it, how I feel and when.

There are also other symptoms that pop up that come and go.

There seems like there may be some extra autoimmune stuff going on in my body.

Yeah.

Just take, take, take, take some zinc and

B12.

Somebody told me like, oh, you need to forgive your father.

That's what that's why you're sick.

If you forgive you, I'm like me and my dad had a great relationship.

But, you know, me and him were talking and he was like, oh, I had a similar thing.

And I was like, OK, let's hear you cold one time.

Oh,

Let's welcome Tripp as he comes to preach today.

Good morning, how's everybody doing? Good, good.

Thank you so much for having me again.

It's a privilege to be here.

Thank you to Pastor Kyle for inviting me.

And yeah, and I was, I told him, you know, he texted me, told me that he was praying for me and I thanked him for trusting me enough to continue to ask me to come back and to open God's word.

It is a privilege for me.

others?

That is really true.

I, I don't want them to see me as that guy.

[laughs] But we all carried that, to your point, on our back as we started.

Yeah.

Like, "Nah, but I gotta be nice." Yes, bro.

I think that's why, at least fourth season, I felt like w- my friends who were my favorite elite Christian rappers seemed like better performers overall and better lyricists overall- Yeah, yeah ... than your average mainstream rappers- Yeah ... because it was like, "Nah, it's already two strikes against us." That's right.

That's right.

I agree.

starting to go good.

That's how I can feel for us sometimes, like things are just starting to go the way we want them to and new temptations pop up and new difficulties do.

And that can be very discouraging.

So then Joseph is left to decide things are going well.

Do I want to rock the boat by resisting? or move forward.

It had to be hard for him.

One thing it says is this wasn't a one-time offer.

Now let's look at what happens after

And, and even if they're saying insane things, you kinda like the fact that they're willing to say it.

Yeah.

It reminds me of what somebody said to me one day after the January...

I heard someone say after the January 6th riots, they were saying, "Man, honestly, I think that the January 6th riots was dope.

They, they, they, they stood on what they believed, and they, and they, and they, and they, they did what they, they did what they had to do.

I'm not saying that I agree with it, but I respect the fact that they, that this is what they believed, and they did what they thought they had to do." [laughs] And that's how, that's how some barbershop dudes ended up voting for Donald Trump.

That's exactly right.

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

And, uh, went to the doctor.

They're like, "Oh, you got a virus.

Here, take this, you'll be good." I wasn't good.

And so I kept maybe for, uh...

I was sleeping like 18 hours a day, and I was exhausted for the other six that I was awake.

And I'm like, something is obviously wrong.

Mm

Why is it so important to you?

Yeah.

I mean, we know that biblically worship is not just music.

That's one of the ways we worship God.

But, you know, worship is acknowledging God's greatness.

You know, Old Testament words for worship, there's one group of words is like bowing in reverence.

There's another that's like service.

So was it easy for you to write singing songs? No.

Mm.

Like, I think I'm getting in trouble for writing, for rapping all night.

Like, I don't think that's happening with any of my friends.

Um, and then I was part of a Christian hip hop group with me and some, some, some other dudes from, or two dudes and a girl from another church down the street, OCBF.

It was called Christian Coalition.

We was rapping, and then we would never do anything.

I was like, "I'm trying to make a album," figuring out how to make one.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, and I met some dudes.

I was like, "Wait, you went to a Bible college? Like, you can go to college and study the Bible?" They was like, "Yeah." So went to Bible college.

Um, coming back for my second year, uh, I just felt horrible.

I wasn't sure what was going on.

Uh, felt like I had, like, a virus or something.

I was starting to sleep, like, 18 hours a day, and I was still exhausted for the other six hours that I was awake.

Yes.