2023 Year in Review | Ep. 121

As Patricia and I close the chapter of this year on Our Father's Heart podcast, we're filled with gratitude. Celebrate with us as we hit a remarkable 1,970 downloads across 35 countries, with the cities of Miami and Atlanta leading the charge in engagement. This episode is a heartfelt look back at the teachings and conversations that have deeply influenced our listeners' faith walk, from uncovering the divinely delegated responsibility of fatherhood to fortifying the family unit against society's shifting sands. 

Throughout the year, we've shared our hearts and insights on a host of topics that have resonated deeply with you. From reconciling our love for Jesus with the idols that vie for our attention, to the crucial role of family in our spiritual journey, each teaching has been a stepping stone towards a greater understanding of our purpose in the Kingdom. Our conversations have sparked a fire within, prompting us to reinforce the divine role of parenting and the responsibility of instilling a foundation of faith in our homes. As we revisit these core teachings, we're inspired to continue this path of guidance and support for families everywhere, reinforcing the call for parents to be the guiding light for their children's spiritual path and the primary educators in biblical principles.

Wrapping up this year is a testament to the power of sharing the gospel and the biblical teachings close to our hearts. Your feedback has been a beacon for us, affirming our mission to be a source of clarity and light in a world that often feels at odds with values taught to us by the Lord. We close out by sharing insights into the practice of personal Bible study and how it can transform your daily walk with Christ.  

As we bid you adieu for the year, we extend our deepest thanks for your unwavering support and encouragement. We invite you to become an even more active part of our community through prayer, sharing the podcast with others, connecting with us on social media, and subscribing to support the show. Together, let's carry the torch of faith into the new year, with Jesus at the helm guiding us to victory and spiritual assurance.

Transcript

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. Hello everyone and welcome to our Father's Heart here in review for 2023 podcast. This will be our last podcast of the year. I am your host, I guess people would say, or the teacher. Usually that's me, jay, and I do have my co-host here, my lovely wife Patricia. That's right, and we are here together to give you a year in the review. The last time we were together was a little bit before December 28th last year doing this very same thing, and that particular podcast that year in review that we gave on December 28th was an hour and 22 minutes. I don't know if that's going to be this long this time. I just want to let you know upfront. But that podcast became the 20th all-time listened to podcast out of all the podcasts that we've done in those three years. I don't know what was so special about it. We just took a brief look at what we did in 2022 for our new listeners. That's why we do the year in review. It's nice to get in touch before the end of the year with our listeners, but we put this out because we want new listeners to get a feel for what this podcast is about and what we've done.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:47

We counted down the 10 podcasts from the previous of the year and some notable mentions. We looked at our worldwide reach and the devices that were used. My wife and I ended up sharing some things that the Lord has been teaching us this past year and we'll kind of do the same thing this year. Let's just give my wife a heads up, if you will. But as of this morning, right before I got on this podcast that we are recording right now, we had 1,970 downloads. That's a lot, and we've only done 30 episodes this year, so that's kind of an average of about two per month, two and a half per month.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 2:35

We reached 35 countries. I don't know what we did last year to even compare, but I know this year we reached 35 countries and our average podcast was about 53 minutes per episode and I think I'd mention that to people so that they don't think oh my gosh, how long are these podcasts going to be. Some of them are short, some of them are long, but I have something interesting to point out as I looked at the statistics at the end of the year and there's an average of about 163 downloads per month. So I thought that was interesting. We had some popular cities, but before I kind of go down the countdown 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, what do you think our most popular cities were that we reached this past year?

Patricia: 3:20

I mean, I would be totally guessing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:23

That's what I want.

Patricia: 3:24

Yeah, okay. So I would say Atlanta would be one of them. Atlanta, okay, our area All right, maybe Miami, miami.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:33

Buenos.

Patricia: 3:34

Aires Argentina.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:38

Oh my gosh, I know I'm thinking of first Exotic Buenos Aires, argentina. Yeah, okay, are they in Buenos Aires, the people?

Patricia: 3:49

we know there. No, they're actually South of oh, okay, yeah, so I don't remember the name of the city there. Okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:55

Okay.

Patricia: 3:57

Brazil, but I don't know what city to say about Brazil. Wow, brazil, I'm kind of messing up because I know it's supposed to do cities. Yeah, brazil's the country, but that's okay, I would say Houston, Texas maybe.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:08

Houston, texas. Okay, you just gave me five. Okay, I can tell you that two of them are on the list.

Patricia: 4:13

Okay, well, that's good. Two of them are very bad, all right.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:18

So, counting down from five, the fifth city that is listening to our father's heart happens to be in Conyers, georgia.

Patricia: 4:28

Okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:29

Yeah, so the next one happens to be number four Loganville, Georgia.

Patricia: 4:36

Well, I wasn't guessing specific.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:37

Yeah, you kind of skipped a little area.

Patricia: 4:38

Okay, I know I wasn't guessing specific cities, I just thought Atlanta, okay, I was going for major cities, okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:44

Okay. So the third city was Lawrenceville, Georgia. Okay, got a batch of followers Saints that are listening from Lawrenceville, Georgia, or, yeah, followers, because we don't know whether they're saints, we're hoping that they will become or they are. But the number two city in the world was Atlanta, Georgia, okay, yeah, yeah, you got one, the second one and then you got the first one. Oh, Miami's number one. Yeah, Miami, our faithful listeners in Miami. That's kind of not a surprise.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 5:17

We moved up here to Georgia from Miami in 2006. So to find out that there are still many of our friends, loved ones and, hopefully, new listeners that are being introduced to our podcast through people we knew in Miami, I mean, we're just kind of speculating, hoping that that's probably what happened. But number one was Miami. So kudos to you. Thank you, guys for listening from Miami, thank you for sharing to your friends, your relatives from Miami. We are hoping and praying that these podcasts are a blessing to you, to help you along with your walk with our God, our great God and King Jesus. But we now come to countries. Last year we were pleasantly surprised at how many countries we had reached, some of them surprising to us, but we do have a top five list of countries. I could have, I guess, researched a little bit more to see what all the countries we hit this year, but it gave me the top five, so I'm going with the top five. Do you have a list of countries that you think we may have reached as the top five?

Patricia: 6:31

Not really, but I can guess US is at the top.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 6:34

US is at the top. Okay, we'll see if that's true.

Patricia: 6:37

Okay, and then I'm still sticking to Argentina, brazil.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 6:40

Argentina, brazil. Do you have a South American bent there?

Patricia: 6:44

Yeah, I do Excuse me Nigeria.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 6:48

Nigeria and France, France. Okay, so top five countries. Starting with number five is Canada. Oh, okay, Canada, yeah. And then the next one, this is a surprising one to me, because I don't think we know anybody from this country. It's a big island, south Pacific. I think, oh, why no? No, no, big island, it's a country.

Patricia: 7:17

Australia yeah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:20

Australia came out at number four.

Patricia: 7:22

I was trying to say it's not an island, but okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:24

Well, I mean, it's a huge continent that's surrounded completely by water, but it's a continent, not an island. All right, I guess I sit here corrected before you all. See, that can happen. Our third is I don't think we know anybody here. Well, we kind of know somebody from here, but it's kind of distant, but we still need to know somebody from here. And the third one is Alemania.

Patricia: 7:50

Oh, Germany, Germany yeah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:52

Germany is three. Number two you did mention.

Patricia: 7:58

Okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:59

Who's that?

Patricia: 8:00

I don't know.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:01

Don't remember Nigeria.

Patricia: 8:03

Oh, okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:04

Yeah, and I think they were on the list last year. Yeah, I'm pretty sure Nigeria was on the list. We have friends in Nigeria.

Patricia: 8:10

Praise the Lord, yeah, brothers in Christ.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:12

We met a brother several years ago in our previous fellowship who was he was a researcher in the University of Georgia and he was kind of a scientist kind of. He was a scientist that was trying to develop I think it was seeds to be able to nurture in dryness and arid temperatures and circumstances. So we know that he went back to his home country and he's doing stuff there. But we also met his son, because his son was with us and I think his son may be the reason why we're getting so many hits from Nigeria. So I hope that our brother, who I will not name but I know he knows exactly who he is I'll put the initials and the son.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:56

Actually his initials are II, now that I think about it.

Patricia: 8:59

Not AI. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not AI.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:02

No, I was thinking of JI, but then I said no, no, his name actually starts with I, so II. Hopefully you are sharing this with others and hopefully you are being blessed by them, but obviously not, as not a surprise here, our top nation in the world is the United States.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:20

Okay, so I got two out of five again Like, yes, exactly, I got two out of five. All right, so let's talk about out of the 30 episodes. We're going to kind of count down the top 10. I'm going to start with the notable mentions. That's why I started it with the 10. That, starting at number 10, was a teaching I think I gave in 2016 or 2017. And it's called leadership through humility and relationship. Now, that particular teaching was one hour 19 minutes. I was. I'm looking at my list. That was almost the longest one, but it made the top 10. So, you know, I'm always trying to be as thorough as possible, without being what's the word that you used a couple of days ago.

Patricia: 10:23

Long winded.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 10:25

I try to balance that out. Everyone, please hear me out. I do try to balance it out. I want to be thorough, but I definitely, please trust me my wife can testify. I hate long windedness, Kind of get to the point, get to the point. You know that's just me. So I try to be thorough because I don't want to, you know, throw out pieces of crumbs to you guys. I want to give you meat, I want to give you something you can really chew on and take your time to, to, to marinate on and meditate on. So this particular teaching was actually inspired by. I believe his name was David. Oh gosh, I forgot his last name Houston. No, no, no, no. The other David who was kind of we. Every month we would attend his little webinar because our child was going through soccer.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 11:18

David. Oh, wow, I totally forgot I can get it, but but anyways, he inspired me with this and he was. He was just teaching how we, as parents, needed to help harness our children's I guess, their affections, their desires for wanting to be great at sports, but to always channel that and measure that with you know, why is God placing you in this position? Why is he giving you this opportunity? And it's always to be Christ centered. It is always supposed to be light focused, to give testimony to the light of the world. And so if you want some counsel, advice on how to lead through humility, not through arrogance, not through power, not through strength, but as Jesus did, he led through humility, meekness and establishing relationships with those that he's ministering to, because that's how you disciple, that's the most effective leader. So that was top 10. That was number 10. Number nine we actually did a series. This one came out of a series. This is the only one that came out of a series that broke the top 10. And it was the first part of shepherding the child's heart. Now, that particular teaching was only 39 minutes, part one. So that one, reino broke the top 10.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:45

That was number nine, and it was tied actually with another teaching that I gave several years ago called hearing the Lord, from John, chapters nine through 11. That particular teaching was one hour and one minute, so I pretty much stuck to it to an hour. But I'm kind of surprised at some of the teachings because I always think people will kind of get tired hearing a teaching if it's too long. But I'm telling you that out of the top 10, seven of them were over an hour, and so that kind of encourages me to not be afraid to be thorough but not to be afraid to really give the information, the word of the Lord as he's given it to me, because I don't try to cookie cutter my teachings. I just want to give whatever the Lord has given me. And if I happen to be what some might consider long-winded, then I'm going to be long-winded because I'm going to go according to what the Lord is leading me. So you know, I say all that just to let you guys know that out of the top 10, seven were over an hour. So a lot of people are getting a lot of out of it and not caring how long the message is, because the content is beneficial to them. At least, that's how I'm interpreting some of these stats. So we go now to 10, 9, 8.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:12

Number seven was another teaching that went just a bit over an hour and it was called His Concern with Us Receiving His Spirit. That was the teaching. By the way, as I go through this I kind of missing a few details. The leadership through humility and relationship came out in April, so if you're kind of searching for it, it came out in April. Shepherding a child's heart came out in June. Hearing the Lord from John, chapters 9 through 11, came out in May and His Concern with Receiving His Spirit came out in March. So there the ones break in the top 10. And then we come to number six.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:50

Number six was an interesting one because this year I had the privilege and the opportunity to minister to the place that we're fellowshiping, at the meeting place, and this was a teaching that I gave in the middle of I think it was in the middle of May and of course in our fellowship sometimes we have technical difficulties. So that particular teaching supposedly should have been live streamed, should have been recorded, and for some reason it wasn't that day and I was kind of disappointed because I really wanted to use that to be able to release it as a podcast, and so when I found out that it wasn't recorded, I was like, oh man, I'm gonna have to do this again. And then I had to go in and change my mentality, because when I first thought of the message and envisioned it, I thought of doing it in front of the congregation, in front of our brothers and sisters, live. But when I did it alone and when I had to just sit down in my house, my mentality just had to change. And the first time I did it it was just like, oh my God, this is awful. And so I had to scratch it and I had to do it again. I had to change my. The way that I minister to you all that are listening is just different than the way that I would do live and public in front of a group of people. So but I was glad I did it because I thought it was a really, really important teaching about us needing to tear down our idols Because we, over time, even after we're born again, we can develop loves for other things, for other people, and those loves that we have can potentially interfere with your first love.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:48

And when it interferes with your first love, you know what Jesus said to the churches, or to the one church you have left your first love repent, because there's a dire consequence, because you've left me, and so that for me, what was an important teaching. That teaching was an hour and 11 minutes, but it was six. So we come down to our top five. Turning the tables, by the way, was released in May. But the fifth teaching was the wise man and wisdom. That was only 42 minutes but it made the top five and that was released in January. So that one had a long time, a long potential for people to God bless you, for people to listen to it, but it still made the top five.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 17:39

Now the others came out afterward because that one came out early I mean January is pretty early in the year. The other ones that made the top four came out after that, so they had less time to get into the top five and so they really performed better. But top four number four was inheritance and possession. That was released in February. That was only 49 minutes. For those of you that don't know what the teachings are about or how long they're going to be, just letting you know that was only 49 minutes.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 18:09

Our number three was a teaching that was an hour and 10 minutes and it actually made the top 25 of all time of all the episodes that have been released. It made the top three for this year. But in being the top three, it also came into the top 25 of all time and that was his word, his will, his ways and his works, and that was released in March and that was again a teaching that I had released several years ago. And I'm just, I'm mixing up new stuff that I'm receiving from the Lord now with stuff that I've received from the Lord years ago. Number two, by the way, I never asked you and I want men to ask you before I went to this, so now I've given the first eight. Did you have any top five of the teachings from this year?

Patricia: 19:00

I mean the ones you mentioned. I honestly I didn't remember, but I know I've enjoyed all those teachings and then, and they're probably going to be in the top, because I kind of took a peek at some things. But I did enjoy fathers and families and back to basics for parents, which was probably tied in with the series that we did on Shepherding and Child's Heart.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:22

Because that's my heart.

Patricia: 19:27

We have to focus on our families.

Patricia: 19:29

We have to focus on what we're doing at home with our children, then in the ministry, then out or Jesus said and I believe we talked about that, but we started in Jerusalem and Samaria, and then to all the outermost parts of the world, and I think I've been seeing my heart cry, has been watching how all the things that we have in our society going on detract from that very basic idea that God put in my heart, or bent that God put in my heart, to desire to raise our children in the faith and the truth and the word and build in the house and then, outward, instead of wanting the church to build our children, and or instead of letting society dictate the direction.

Patricia: 20:21

So, that's a heart cry for me, so I would hope that that was one in the top five for us.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 20:27

That's a hard one, it's a heart cry for us.

Patricia: 20:29

It's what we have done in our lives and what we try to impart to others in part to others is a good word.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 20:35

Yeah, yeah. Well, you actually brought up two teachings. You said fathers and families. And back to the basics. Those were actually not podcast releases. Oh, those were YouTube releases, which I'm going to get you later on. So that's fine, that's fine. But the top two from this year were actually two that I did live this year. So I'm kind of I appreciate that because that means that what I received of the Lord was important enough that it it was well received by others because they'd listen to it the most.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:12

So number two I remember why I came up with this teaching. We were having men's meetings in our church and the leader of the men's meeting wasn't able to make it that night. So I kind of took over. But I didn't want to take over. I had something in my heart that I wanted to share. I wanted to, but I held myself back because I wanted to hear from my brothers you know things that they were going through, and I wanted to just kind of open it up and minister as little as possible because I wanted to hear from them and have them, you know, minister to one another.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:48

And when I left the meeting I felt like I have so much to say about a lot of the things that we shared tonight. So I then went straight home and I just started putting it all down and that's what became rights versus responsibilities. That was the teaching. Because in America, in our culture, we are very patriotic, we're very about our rights, while we have the right to the freedom of speech and the right to the freedom of religion, the right to all of these things, and all these things are true and well and good, especially for humanity's sake in general. But just like there are laws of man, there's the law of God that always supersedes the laws of man, and so our responsibilities to God always supersede our rights as a human in this earth. And that's kind of the gist of that teaching for those of you that are interested. But that one was an hour and 21 minutes.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:53

I didn't hold anything back, and that became the second most popular podcast this year, but also became the sixth most popular podcast of all time, and that was released in March. So it's only been out what seven no, no, 10, nine to 10 months, and our podcasts have been released for three years. Now we're almost going on three years when we hit January. So that's remarkable, that that teaching has has, you know, climbed the notch. But the number one teaching this year, can you guess? No, okay, the number one teaching this year I'm going to. I'm going to give a little story before I share what that number one teaching was. I shared the title with my wife and she was like what.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 23:43

Are you serious? Oh, I don't think you should do that and I'm like, nah, I'm going to do that because the number one teaching for this past year was I do believe dot, dot, dot in the Trinity. And then it's got a, an emoji after it. So if you see it on on your podcast player, you'll, you'll see that, and it's a big smiley face. So the, the, the interest, the.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 24:09

The reason why I made that title is because I wanted to reach my brethren who, who already believe in our God the way that I do, because they would look at that title and they'd be like huh what? And they would want to listen to it. But then the reason why I made that title the way that I did was because I wanted to reach my other brethren that believe in our God differently and I wanted them to be attracted to the title and say, oh yeah, you know, he's in my camp, kind of thing, and so I think that's what it did. It drew a lot of interest from both parties At least that's my speculation, who actually goes? But that was released in April and that became the number one podcast this year listened to, downloaded, and it became the third most popular podcast of all time that we've, you know, released, and we've released. What did I say? How many podcasts have we released in total? Oh no, we're in 120.

Patricia: 25:14

We've in all time.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:15

We've released 120 podcasts and that became the third podcast of all time. So I hope that that peaks your curiosity as to some podcasts that you may have missed this past year. I didn't give really a summary of each one of them because this be really really long podcast and I'm trying to abbreviate as much as possible but peak your curiosity and your interest in what you may have missed this past year. Or maybe you have heard it and maybe you need to go back and re listen to it to kind of refresh your memory. Or maybe you need to realize, man, I remember that podcast. Wow, that was number one. Oh, that was number two. Let me go share it with my friend, or something like that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 26:00

Cause that, to me, the best way that you could bless us and honor you know, the ministry that we're embarking upon is for you to literally just share it with other people. That that's really the most important thing. We want the gospel to be spread throughout the corners of the earth and we want it to be spread all over. We don't want it to be hidden. We don't want to, you know, hide it under a bushel. No, we're going to let it shine. You know that old children's song you don't mind my wife's looking at me. Oh, you do remember. Oh, okay. Okay, she gave me that rough face Like oh, that was so corny.

Patricia: 26:39

But, anyways.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 26:41

So let me kind of share with you guys one in particular Now, being that the number one podcast this year was, I do believe, dot dot dot in the Trinity we. I received a particular feedback from it that I thought was worthy to share with you all, and I'm just going to give you initials. Won't give names because I haven't been given permission to give names publicly but I'm going to give initials. It was from A H and it was regarding episode 100, which was, I do believe, in the Trinity. This person said I was thoroughly blessed by this teaching on the Trinity verse, the one God, I particularly liked. The historical, the historical foundation laid regarding Trinity worldwide before your biblical explanation of who Jesus was, the pace by which you taught with all the scriptural support, made it easy to be understood as well. May God continue to guide and direct you in your endeavors. It melts me to hear that appreciation. I want to be understood as a teacher in high school. It makes no sense to be a great speaker or orator If you cannot reach the people you are listening to and give them understanding. You can talk over so many people's heads and all your doings giving glory to yourself. You are not really getting through them. You are not changing hearts. You are not changing minds. I appreciate that from that beloved sister that wrote that. I know who it was that did that. I know them personally.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:44

In May, we launched two accounts, one of them you are aware of because I created on your account. I am not on Facebook. We created a Facebook page that was called Our Father's Heart as well, it is @ Of athersh eart. We also created a Twitter account that is the same tag name. We started both of those in May. We launched those out. We are just trying to extend our reach. Social media is so in use today. I still hesitate to get on Instagram. I just don't want to get on Instagram. It is more about pictures. We are not about pictures. You could use it to market yourself. One of the other things we did this past year which is now what I want to get into that you brought up early on was the teachings that we released through YouTube. We do have a YouTube channel. That YouTube channel has been there for a while I think we created way before May of this year. We have had teachings there since definitely last year Because of the fellowship that we are in now, and they happen to video record a lot of the things that go on.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:01

I have not been able to do that, otherwise I would not be releasing video podcasts. It is too much for one person to be able to do. I can handle podcasts, but video is a different story. They have all the equipment set up. I use those to release. We have done three this year.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:19

You were right on the first one. The first one we released in January 30th that came out of me ministering in our fellowship in January at the Meeting Place. It was called Fathers and Families. In case you missed it or did not know that it was out there or you are interested in what it was about, I talked about it as Christians that are really pilgrims.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 30:42

We are sojourners in this land. We are passing through a world that I said was at war with itself, with all of the different conflicts that are happening on different levels in our society. There is a spiritual, moral wickedness, a sickness that is found in our society. It is found in the hearts of men. That sickness is slowly dissolving families. It is slowly tearing at the foundation of families, especially what we call the nuclear family In our country. The nuclear family is basically where the man went out, he did the work, he brought home the bacon. The wife or the mother stayed home, raised the kids, raised the home. Now we have both people out. Who is raising the kids public school system or daycares, or social media or TV, just so many other things. They are slowly dissolving the families. The problem with that is that the family is the foundational building block of all human societies. When you dissolve the family, you basically weaken and slowly destroy the nation as a whole. That is what we have been experiencing. That is what we have been seeing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 31:56

The same thing I said happens on a spiritual level Individuals and families. We grow up, we mature in the Lord, and so does the body of the Christ. The enemy knows this. What is he after? He is after your children, because that is the next generation that will slowly destroy families.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 32:20

As fathers and families, we have to take a stand. That is something that we have seen slowly. We have seen segments of our society start realizing that men need to take their place. Men have acquiesced and allowed this rise of what some may call the feminist spirit to rise up and change the established order from even Bible times. The patriarchy is what they call it, but they say it in a derogatory, demeaning term Like fathers should not be the head of their homes. It should be mothers or stuff like that. It is creating a lot of conflict. There are spiritual battles that need to be fought. We are the only ones that can do it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 33:09

We need to do it through prayer, but we also need to do it through our consecration to the Lord. In serving him, when we are consecrating ourselves to the Lord, we are also setting an example for others to follow around us as to how we need to walk out our lives If our lives are out of order. But the word I was looking for was compromised. If Hundefined have a compromised foundation where you don't have things settled and there are cracks and stuff, you can build upon that foundation, but that foundation is not going to hold it. We can't have those cracks. So we have to consecrate ourselves to the Lord and be fully devoted to Him, His ways and

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 34:18

If men are going to have a godly impact on the world, we must first have, as you said, a house in order. That has to be first, because our house is the foundation for the rest of our lives and outward ministry. Men need to take full responsibility for ourselves as individuals, but also for our families, for our wives and our children, because we are the ones that are the covering for them. I wanted to end with challenging the men in our fellowship to dedicate or rededicate ourselves to this commitment of fully devoting ourselves to the Lord and his ways.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:01

As we were thinking about this year in review and the videos that we've released, which is only three, but I looked at the first two and I'm like, wow, we have been tested in this area this year, me as a father being tested as the covering for my family and for you as my wife, for our children and the things that they've been doing. And we've really been tested aggressively in this area. And I find it interesting because I've heard it from other ministers you know, sometimes you give a teaching, you give a ministry about something and wham, the first thing is you get attacked in that very area that you were teaching on and we have. We've been pretty tested and are still being tested now, which leads us to the second teaching, back to the Bible for parents and that just focus. The reason why I gave that teaching was in August.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 36:04

We were going back to school and I was asked by my pastor, because I am a teacher in the public schools, to kind of give a, a, a I don't know, a teaching, a sermon or whatever at the church to kind of encourage parents, encourage children, encourage our administration, our staff and our schools. So that's why that teaching came out. But I really focused on the parents because I believe the parents are the key. I believe the parents are the key when we talk about what's happening in our generation and in our society. I don't look to the kids being at fault. I don't look to the corrupt systems out there at fault. I look to the parents because the parents are the first primary responsibility for what happens in families. If parents have given themselves over to other loves and wanting their career over their family, or wanting money over their family, or wanting materialism over their family, and their family is dissolving, as we've seen in many of our friends recently. Families just dissolve because of other things that have happened. That was on us and so it's not always on us.

Patricia: 37:30

No, but I would say it's preeminently on us, the comfort that we can have as biblical parents is that we follow the teachings of the Lord, and in Deuteronomy it was very clear that fathers were supposed to instruct their children and bind the law, that they would have the law bound in their hearts and then in the New Testament, the same. So it's very clear throughout the Bible that the patriarchs were supposed to make sure that their children never forgot what God said, because they were removed sometimes from witnessing what God had done in the lie. You know, the first generation saw and experienced, and then God wanted to make sure that that continued. So it was like you need to continually remind your children of these things.

Patricia: 38:18

Because in the Bible you see that as the generations move away from those that have had the first hand encounter with God, then they forgot and they got caught up in the compromises of their culture. God was always clear Don't mix, don't get involved, don't be part, don't partake of their ceremonies or traditions, their stuff. Because he knows our heart is bent to get caught up and tangled, entangled, and then, once we're entangled, we're blind, and so, and then you see, the Spirit of God is poured out right in. Joel prophesied that our young men would, our children would receive everyone would receive.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 39:00

That was prophesied by Joel Right.

Patricia: 39:02

But, and so we walk in that in the New Testament covenant, because Jesus came, died and poured out his Spirit on us, but we still have the responsibility of instructing and guiding and leading and teaching, and I think what I've seen and I'm sorry I said all this- no, please passionate cry in my heart is that we cannot rely on a church, we cannot rely on a Sunday school teaching.

Patricia: 39:27

We cannot rely on just messages that we hear. We need to be in the Word, we need to be seeking the Lord. We need to be guiding our children on how to do that. We need to instruct them, help them, because the challenges that they meet we see. On the other end, as teachers, we see the challenges in society. We see what's pulling and tugging at the kids and it's a. It's a battle. It's a battle for their for their soul.

Patricia: 39:53

And the problem is so, if there are people don't know the Lord or not, as vested an understanding God's mandates and what he says, well, okay, you're going to see a little bit more of that. But when you see it in the body, when you see it amongst brothers and sisters that understand what God said, it's heartbreaking Because you know, we can have the thoughts of the world that, oh, they're just going to grow up and grow out of stuff they're, you know, they're just being boys or they're just being girls or they're just just, just just. Every time you use the word just just as a word for justification.

Patricia: 40:29

We need to address and and and and. At a young age I teach, you know, the young kids in Sunday school. I watch the children from the heart of having parented myself and I don't think that we did it perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I have the peace. I do have the peace that we instilled in them. The word that we put, the we. They understood what the values were. We held them accountable when they were, you know, in in the, in the age that they were supposed to be in the home. We held them accountable to the word. And even if they're young adults now, we still bring the word back as the backbone and the principle that they have to stand on, Because, again, there's so many philosophies. They're not like evil, wicked opinion, they're not like obviously, oh, that's over.

Patricia: 41:22

They're not, but the insidious move and work to tear up families, as my husband was saying, is it's subtle. Why? Because the enemy is subtle. He's not going to come dressed in a red suit. He's going to be subtle and he's going to appeal to the lust of our flesh. That's how we're drawn away into sin. And so what?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:41

is so.

Patricia: 41:42

The enemy comes as an angel of light he does, he does and people think that they're hearing God on things that you know, that you know. You again. There's principles in place, parents. There's principles in place. There's things that God requires of us to do with our children, young, so that they will not depart from the word, and even if they do, we have a promise to hold on to when we pray for their souls that that was imparted and that is there and it's planted. But if we never plant it, you don't really have anything to hold on to.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 42:13

I mean.

Patricia: 42:13

God is faithful. He can still go out and and rescue and rescue, but it's harder when the when there isn't that in them, already tugging at them like, hmm, something's not right, like the prodigal son that did all the stuff he did and he had to get in dire straits. But what did he first think of his father's house and this? That even the servants, you know, lived in a better condition than what he was in?

Patricia: 42:38

he could be a servant. I mean, we want to instill that in our children, that they have that attitude, that they they want to come back to the father and we are an image of the father to them God created us as parents to be the fathers and the mothers to be the image, the express image of God, until they have their relationship with God until they can understand that we're the, we're the the front runner, where the what's the, not the front runners we're at the front front lines we're the front lines, we are the

Patricia: 43:10

front lines to the kids. We can be front lines to other kids, but if we, if we allow God to use us in our own families, it frees us up to be more so, to help others. But we've got to start with our families. We can't be out there reaching, you know, evangelizing not that I say there's anything wrong with that but we've got to start at home. It's got to start at home, it's got to be solid in our home so that when we go out, we there, there is a sure work going on.

Patricia: 43:41

And because the enemy will attack us, my husband said if you're out there ministering and trying to outreach people, guess where the attacks are going to come in your home with your kids. We've experienced that over and over again.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 43:52

The trials and the hardest trials and testings for me have always been my own children, things that we seasons, that we go through and applying the word to our own children, and I think that's been the minute when I, when I, when I talked about how parents, you know, it starts with them, and if it's preeminently with them, it's not to say that there's no other factors and it's only on them, because it's hard enough as it is. But I think the emphasis that I try to bring out in the two teachings of fathers and families and in this one back to the Bible for parents, is the emphasis for parents take responsibility. Yeah, because it's on you, you were selected by God to raise that child, that those children. It's up on you. So let me ask you a quick series of questions, because these are the things that I've brought series.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 44:44

Yeah, I just thought about them while you were talking. Do you believe that parenting is a divine role?

Patricia: 44:51

Yes.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 44:52

Yeah, okay, she's in very fatica that she her. Process that for a second. Is it delegated to us?

Patricia: 45:02

Delegated by the Lord? Yes, it's delegated by a creator.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:05

He's delegated to you, would you consider parenting not just simply being about providing or about a caregiving, but being a spiritual guardian?

Patricia: 45:14

Yes, you are the pastor of your children, the shepherd of their hearts.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:18

So would you say it's a sacred duty.

Patricia: 45:21

Yes, okay, first ministry.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:24

Okay, so to nurture your children in spiritual growth, do do we? Ultimately, are we the ones that ultimately have authority over our children, as the primary educators of our children.

Patricia: 45:36

Yes, you know, I emphatically believe that. Well, make it clear it starts with us, not the schools.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:43

But one of the things that I taught in that particular teaching of back to the Bible for parents was how, in the old covenant, I showed through the scriptures explicitly that parents, who are to teach our children at all times, throughout the day, from the morning they wake up, to the middle of the day, to the going down of the sun when they put them to bed. I showed in the scriptures how we are to demonstrate the spiritual biblical principles and they are to guide us throughout the day, not just in the morning when we pray, not just in the middle of the day when we go to work, not just at the end of the day, but all throughout the day. So the problem in our society because there's been this onslaught, wave, flood of excess responsibility in the hustle and bustle of our life, parents start grappling with striking a balance between imparting worldly wisdom and divine instruction, and that that gets that becomes a mix like oil and water don't go well together. And a spiritual guardians is crucial for us parents to guide our children meaningfully, engaging them and applying the word of God at all times, because parents are to guide their children in understanding and obeying God's commandments. And that was from Deuteronomy 6.1 through 7. That's where I went through. This is what parents are to do all throughout the day. It's not a part-time job, it is a full-time ministry and, as I said, it's a sacred duty. It's a divine role. It is delegated to our size, our creator. We can't just fluff it off as that's not that important. No, it's about most importance.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 47:27

And so parents should be teaching our children, by word and demonstration, the following prayer study of the word, fasting, praising the Lord, worshiping, hearing the Lord, discerning between truth and error, forgiving and loving. And so, in that teaching, I wanted to encourage parents to lead by example, not just talk about it, not just read it in the word, as oh, we got to read our verses for the day. No, show them how to put it into practice, show them how to apply to their everyday lives, because we did that, especially when our kids went to school. But even when they were at home and we had our co-ops and different conflicts rose up with different people and parents and team sports and all of these things, we were always trying to teach them. Okay, but what does the word say? What does the word tell us? How do we do it? Because in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So when we say what does the word say, we say what does God say and then apply it. And it may be hard, it may be difficult, it may not bring forth fruit immediately, but in God's eyes it's the right thing to do and that's what matters that you are pleasing to God, not pleasing to man.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 48:44

So if you're interested in hearing those teachings, they're on video. So you've got a plus. You can actually see and hear the teaching. They are found on YouTube. To be honest with you, there were only three videos put out this year.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 48:59

Fathers and family came out in January.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:00

Back to the Bible for parents came out in August and there were and in this short timeframe more people have listened and seen back to the Bible for parents.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:11

And then the first one that came out in January and it had more time. Now the last one just came out recently, the last teaching, and that was it kind of veers very differently or far off from the first two teachings that we talked about. That was kind of the main, I guess, for us that we needed to have that, because that became a main thrust for our whole year and it continues to be about parenting and our responsibility. But the last one in our fellowship, as in all fellowships, we have our ebbs and flows, our rises and falls of people coming, people going and different things happening. And so in our fellowship we kind of lost a few of the brothers and sisters for different reasons, but some of the reasons really mainly focused on doctrine. And so in our fellowship our pastor wanted to kind of solidify doctrine on a more public level, not that he didn't do it before, but I guess he wasn't aggressively doing it.

Patricia: 50:15

More explicit.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:16

More explicit. More explicit, no, yeah, yeah, more explicit.

Patricia: 50:20

More explicit yeah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:21

More implicit, definitely, definitely. So he started teaching on Godhead and he taught on it three weeks and he asked me to follow up and one of his conditions was don't use any of the material that I've already used. I'm like okay. And so I had to think about that. But he did that not just personally with me, he did it with other brothers that were going to also be teaching on it, and so that was all of our condition. But I was up next, and so one of the brothers that were in the thing, like don't take all the scriptures, jay. And so I put that in the teaching because I wanted everybody to know that I wear that as a badge of honor. I'm not ashamed of that. If I'm going to preach the word of God, I am going to preach the word of God with the word of God, and if it boggles it down, oh well that you can't preach the word of God straight. You know, outside the word, you want to use the word. So anyways, I continued with it, but I was trying to come up with a different angle. I wanted to support and emphasize what had already been stated, but show others that you can find supporting evidence and documentation, if you will, of what was said before. So I came at this through a historical perspective and so my idea was to let's talk about monotheism versus polytheism historically. And so in this teaching we looked at some aspects of the word Godhead. We looked at this weird KJV term. I mean, it's really used in the KJV. It's only used three times and I wanted to help people understand what that word means. So I get into that in the teaching.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:01

And then I wanted to change our perspective and look at through the eyes of history, which kind of coincides with the number one teaching from our father's heart this year, which was, I believe, in the Trinity. And so that's what I focused on historically, where the Trinity concept came from. And then I also talked about how our traditions, they color our understandings and interpretations of things and we have to readily acknowledge that history, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, influences us and we've got to always reflect on our history and our traditions and then line them up with the word of God. And if they don't line up with the word of God, you got to let it go, you got to give it up, you got to give it away. That's part of our tearing down idols, which was me teaching on turning the tables. That's some of the ways that happens.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:57

And so then we investigate, in the involvement of the Catholic Church in the fourth century, how it became the vehicle to propagate the belief of the Trinity in the Christian community for the last two millennia. And then we concluded we all have to be Bereans. We all have to study the word for ourselves and be fully persuaded in our own mind and stop listening to these great preachers and teachers and orders talk about things that are supposedly scriptural. But when you get digging into the scriptures yourself, you realize, oh, they took that out of context. Oh, wait a second, that's not what that meant. Wait a second. There's these other scriptures here. You know they're totally in conflict with that idea that was being ministered to. So we all have to take responsibility.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 53:42

So that was the third video this year that just came out in December. So if you're interested, you can find it on our YouTube channel, our Father's Heart. You can find it as soon as you search for it. Just search for our logo, because there's a lot of different Father's Heart ministries, different kinds, but you'll see our logo, the same one that's on the podcast, and so that's kind of what we've done this year for Our Father's Heart. We left out a lot of other details, but before I kind of close out, I want to give my wife a last opportunity if she has anything to share that she wants to say before I kind of end our little episode.

Patricia: 54:20

So I just wanted to say on the comment that you said, and listening to other people and reading devotionals, I don't think there's anything wrong with that and I don't think that's what he was saying. But just to clarify, we do need to be Bereans, we need to go and search out the things that we're hearing for ourselves. So if somebody gives a scripture and they give their 20 thoughts behind that scripture, because that often happens.

Patricia: 54:46

it's an easy thing to just read. You know I love reading devotionals. They help me, they're my, the way the Lord engines me to get in the Word. But that's also after reading through the Bible several times, many times myself and.

Patricia: 55:02

I love. I love sometimes how the devotionals take me to a scripture and it's like a little, it's like digging a diamond out. You know like, oh, I didn't see that part. And I sometimes comment to my husband and he's looking at me like I've got four heads on because it's like, yeah, obviously, but it might be something that I didn't catch in previous readings.

Patricia: 55:21

So I do encourage people to do that. However, we can spread ourselves thin and bring a lot of confusion to our lives when we're dipping into a lot of great teachers and preachers. And you know, I myself, when I read something that touches me, I share it with my family and sometimes I share it with friends. I try to be led of the Lord because I can get feeling very bombarded. It's one of my complaints with my husband. He listens to a lot of things and he shares everything and sometimes I'm like, can you just summarize what they said, because I don't want to spend 30 minutes trying to figure out what the point was of the deal. Time is hard in our society. We lose time. But the important thing and this was instilled in us by a previous pastor, I wouldn't even say instilled we already both both my husband and I when we met loved searching out the scriptures. That was something that I think for me during me to him. He challenged my faith.

Patricia: 56:18

He challenged me. You know I how much I did and yet I found someone that could speak. You know, give me more clarity on some stuff, but it was fostered or nurtured in the fellowship and with previous pastors that we've had that we should never to never take the word of a teaching. Go back and study it for yourself, with an open mind, allowing the Lord, because we can sometimes let our own, miss our own. What's the word? Paradigms? Our own paradigms shade what God might be trying to say.

Patricia: 56:53

We have to be very honest and say, lord, I don't want to hold on to anything that I've held on to for tradition, for culture, for, you know, ties, for things that are very important to me. I want to make sure that I am walking towards you Because, as my husband said, we are sojourners in this land and we really do need it. We have to work at this. I have to work at this I'm not saying anything I don't have to work at of making sure that I'm not holding on to anything in my life that is going to impede my growth with God, that's going to impede my hearing him better, my, my spiritual discerning of being more. I want to be more tuned in with the spirit than what's going on around me. So I just encourage the listeners to yes, listen to his podcast, because he is an amazing Bible teacher and he will give you scriptures. But go search out the scriptures for yourself.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 57:47

Amen. I didn't ask for that plug, that was kind of embarrassing, but amen. So I'm going to end right now this particular podcast with if you listen to any of the podcasts, you know I always end with three things that I'm asking the listeners. Number one I say pray for us. Yes, I'm not asking for money, please, I'm not asking for money. Number two I started this podcast with it. The most important thing that you can do if you want to bless us or support the ministry is just share the podcast with other people and and and I've said in some of my emails that I, that I send out that hey, if you can sit down and listen to it with them and then have a conversation about it, because that's going to be even more effective ministry. I, the podcast could just be used to catapult or to to, to press the button for a conversation to take place so that maybe, per, perhaps, per adventure, the Lord would actually be able to reach someone that he hasn't ministered to before. But sometimes it's better done live and in person. But the third thing you know I've always said you can always cash up, you can always Venmo, you can always PayPal. I'm going to get rid of that for next year. And the reason why is I'm really not asking for money but my brother from another mother taught me a lesson and he didn't. I don't think he even knows he taught it to me, but I use eSword.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 59:23

I've been using eSword for years. I remember over 20 years ago I would walk into a family Christian store and I would see this wonderful big box of study materials of the Bible and it was like $700. And I was like there's no way I can afford that. I would love to have that to study, but there's no way I can afford that. Somehow along the way in my life I ran into eSword and it gives you the Bible.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 59:53

If you've never heard about it eSwordnet search for it, you'll find it. It's the best Bible program out there and you can find all different kinds of versions of the Bible. It has all the study materials all in one place and it's so inexpensive in total because the program is actually free. But to get little tidbits that you want, like a certain Bible that they may charge you for or certain lexicon, dictionary stuff like that, you may have to pay for that. But for the most part it's free and it was such a blessing to me. So the point is I shared that with my friend, my other brother from another mother, and he was so grateful for eSword and what he was now capable of doing that he sent a donation contribution to bless Rick Myers who developed eSword.

Patricia: 1:00:49

Awesome, that's awesome.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:00:51

I didn't ask him to do that but he was so grateful and it hit me. It just hit me like man. That's true. I'm so grateful for this program. Why don't I contribute? Why don't I help support and ministry and be a financial? I don't even know who Rick Myers is, but I'm going to send him money because what he's done is such a blessing to me and to everyone else and that's how I feel about our ministry. I'm not asking anybody for money, but if you desire, if you're grateful, if you're thankful for what you're receiving, if you go to the description of every our Father's Heart podcast, you'll see a link that says support the show and there's a particular individual that we both know same initials, age, but not the same person that spoke about the episode 100. But this is another AH. She supports the show and she subscribes to the ministry and she donates $3 every month.

Patricia: 1:01:53

That's neat.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:01:54

And it helps us fund the company that we use to get these podcasts out. And it's not just for one podcast. They get it out to Apple, they get it out to Spotify, they get it out to iHeart, they get it out to all the major and non-major platforms so that this podcast can get out. I don't need it. I'm going to pay for it. But, gosh, if you're grateful and thankful and you want to support the ministry somehow, some way, that's a great way to do it. You just subscribe and you just say, yeah, I'll give $3 a month. It just charges into the credit card. I don't have to worry about it anymore.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:02:31

And a lot of us do that with different you know 501-3C organizations and the reason why we give to our church because we're so grateful and thankful to be a part of the ministry there. So, yes, our funds are going to go there, we're going to help support the ministry from where we're being fed. That's just. I mean it's common spiritual, common sense. But I mean you should want, you should desire to be able to bless those that are being a blessing to you, it's the Acts church.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:03:02

That's what they did, we try to make it.

Patricia: 1:03:04

I don't know. We try to get weird with not weird, but we try to get here in literal we get literal what it meant, but basically it is. They were, they became community, and so we know and we understand that what we have is not ours, it's God's, and we need to be led by God to bless wherever he's leading us, and so many times we're being, we're blessing others that are blessing us, and it's just a community thing going on.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:03:29

So yeah, so what I want to say is that all you need to do is, if you really are grateful and thankful and you want to help contribute financially to what we're doing and just getting out the podcast, you can subscribe to support the show, and I'm just going to leave it at that. You don't have to, but if you want to, there's a way to do that, and a particular individual has done it and I want to say it out loud A H, thank you. Thank you and your family. I know who you are, I know who your family is, and y'all have been a blessing to us in more ways than than than than we can describe, and this is just one way that you have, and we hope that we have been a blessing to you. So I want to thank you for your support.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:04:09

But for everyone else, share, like, subscribe, follow those are the four words. Share what we, what, what you've been receiving. Like it so that you know it has a positive rating. Subscribe that that I mean. I think that comes from YouTube. So if you want to subscribe to a channel, you could subscribe to a channel and then, whenever something is released, you'll get notified or follow, and that's usually the social media things. Follow this person, follow that person, follow that page. So that's that. That's all I wanted to end our podcast with.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:04:42

We hope that you have found your victory in Christ this past year and know that, no matter what trials and tribulations you're going through right now, presently, jesus is your answer. Jesus is the answer always. I don't know how, I don't know when, I don't know why you're going through what you're going through, but Jesus is the answer, and so that is our heart to you. Remember to keep your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face and acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make straight your paths. We love you, thank you, and we hope you have a great 2024 year in the Lord.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 1:05:26

If you were blessed and appreciate listening to this podcast and you would like to support us in our efforts, consider lifting us up in prayer first. Then remember these four social media buzzwords share, like, subscribe or follow. Share this podcast link with someone else by text, email or word of mouth in the hopes that they might be uplifted, as you were Like by leaving a positive rating or review with whomever you listen to our podcast. With Subscribe to support the show monetarily with the link in our podcast description. Follow us on all our social media platforms. May God bless you and make you prosperous in him as you listen and obey his voice.