This podcast is a conversation with entrepreneur James Pelton. James emphasizes the importance of generating value, balancing faith and work, the significance of generosity, and the influence of Christian faith on personal and professional life.
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We have James Pelton here. He's an entrepreneur, an influencer and investor. He's a graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He's a computer engineer an accomplished entrepreneur. And today we're gonna have a conversation about what he has seen in his journey and what we would like to share to everybody who has the ears to listen.
So, James, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for the invite. I'm always humbled and just excited when I get invited to speak about my journey and speak about what the Lord's done in my life. Amen. So James, you are a very unique, so you were a pastor in 2011 and you solved the problem in the church that turned into a multimillion dollar solution.
Now that's just mind-blowing. So I know that the company was sending mass text messages as it was a problem that you were trying to solve when, you know, you was having small group meetings and trying to disseminate information. And now it is like you can't register for any software, any company, anything at all without getting these mass text messages.
So how do you feel as being somebody that contributed to that phenomenon? Well, a part of me felt, feels a little guilty because as I see it's, you know, whatever we build the enemy will use it for evil. So I've seen, you know one of our biggest challenges was we had spammers and things like that, that we were constantly trying to fight against.
But yeah, it's been a, it's been a great tool and it really taught me to, you know, if you solve your own problems, if you have a problem, chances are other people have the same problem. So you can solve your own problems and then that can be a solution for other people. So that's been a, that's been a great lesson that I've learned that's helped me in a lot of different businesses going forward.
Yeah, it, it, it really opened my eyes. 'cause you know, I've, I've started some things I've. Unstarted some things and just to, to think that you can find gold in your own backyard. Like that's just something that I, it resonated with me and it just opened my eyes to kind of look around me and solve problems of friends and family members and not try to, you know, tackle the biggest issues outside of your lawn and, you know, kind of look within and see how you can help the person next to you.
Yeah, I think that's, that's totally true. And that's one of the things I've found in business, and I would tell any aspiring entrepreneurs, whether or not you're a Christian, but especially if you're a Christian, don't seek to make money, seek to provide value. And then what inevitably ends up happening is as you provide value, money follows that.
So, but if you aim at the money, you don't usually hit it. But if you aim at just providing value, help other people solve other people's problems, that's really the key to, to business being successful. And it kind of reminds me what you know, Jesus says. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. All these things will be added unto you.
So if you're aiming at those other things, you won't get them. But if you aim at what God has created us to aim at, which is serving others then inevitably a lot of other things come along with that. That's been a, a huge lesson. It's kind of counterintuitive. It throws people for a loop. But definitely one of the big lessons I've learned, I think it's a, a very important lesson.
And you know, I'm an options trader, so my day-to-Day job is, you know, I'm on Wall Street trying to make as much money as possible in a sense, and I find a lot of balance in ministry. I'm also a pastor, you know, and I like, that's why your story story resonated with me because. On one hand, I'm trying to bless the souls of men and I'm trying to teach people and I'm trying to show people that there is something greater.
And then on the other hand, it's like I'm trying to make as much money as possible. Right. So it's like this contention between the faith and reason or the faith and your work. How were you able to balance that life and, you know, do you have any insights from that experience? Yeah, it was very difficult, especially at first.
You know, there's something in us and especially as a young man, that we want to be rich, right? Like, there's something in us that I wanted a big house, I wanted a nice car. I wanted nice clothes and all, and all these things. And so when I first started to get wealthy that was a huge struggle for me.
Like I built my, I built a really big house. And then I was excited. I'd bring people over and I was like, oh man, they're gonna think I'm so successful. It's gonna be amazing. And I don't know, just over time God really rubbed at that with me in my heart. He brought a lot of one, Timothy six was a huge part of my journey where he says Instruct those who are rich in this present age, not to put their hope in riches.
And don't be conceited, but put your hope in God who richly supplies us with all good things. Be generous, ready to share, thus storing up a secure treasure for the future so that you can take hold of that, which is life. Indeed. And just over time, God showed me, yeah, this wealth is not. Eternal. This is, this, wealth is temporary.
And so you actually, if you're a good investor I always tell people that in investing is delayed gratification, right? You're putting off things now for future, and we think of a good investor as, okay, you're putting off, you know, you're saving for retirement, so you're putting off now for bigger gains in 40 years, but the real, the best investments are actually putting off now for 10 trillion years of joy.
And so God really started to show me, Hey, I want you to turn your temporal wealth into eternal wealth. And that, that, it's just been a huge, huge journey for me. But yeah, it is, it's very tough. There's not a lot of people in the church. There's not a lot of Christians who were comfortable talking about money.
A lot of Christians thought were supposed to be poor and things like that. I am not poor. I don't what, what do I do? What do I do? Help me out. Help me out. And that's one of the things I wanna help be a mentor for entrepreneurs who are kind of walking through that journey and teach, making money is good, but it's more blessed to give than to receive.
You know, John Piper's been a big influence for me as well. He always said, God gives us more money not to increase the standard of our living, but to increase the standard of our giving. And that's, that's opened up a whole world of possibilities for me, where if you're using your money to help other people, then yeah, you can have unlimited money and there's always things to do with it.
Yeah, I think that's a, I think that's really profound. And that concept of. Eternal wealth. I, I, I think it, it's really hard to position your mindset for that, especially in the day of instant gratification, right? Like even, you know, and you're, you're very into the, the cryptocurrency markets, and I'm sure you've seen traders in that market always chasing the next move, right?
Always looking for the next uptick, always looking for the next rally. And they can't really zoom out and look at the bigger picture, right? Like there's a, there's this meme that goes around that if you wanna look at the best investment strategy, look at the S&P 500 over the last 20 years, right?
That's your investment strategy. So how, how do you zoom out while you're in the nitty gritty on a day-to-day basis? Well, it, it wasn't easy. And I mean, I've gotten caught up in the crypto, you know, make a million dollars in a few days. I've gotten caught up in that. You get dollar signs in your eyes and you kind of throw all reason out the window.
And actually, Proverbs Proverbs 1311, the book of Proverbs has been super valuable for me and just this is wisdom, you know, and Psalm Proverbs 1311 is one of the verses that really helped shape my investment strategy. And it says, wealth gained. Hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.
And so that really helped me kind of stop chasing the get rich quick. Which is a real temptation I think is, especially for young men, is we don't, and don't hard quickly, really fast, cryptocurrency has some of those promises for you. But wealth obtained quickly. It goes away quickly. Whereas if you gather little by little and you're, you're disciplined.
I was just reading Proverbs twenty-one today, that it says the plans of the diligent will make you rich, but those who are reckless will end up poor. And so some of those Proverbs and you know, the school of hard knocks as well, you know, you, you put some money into a cryptocurrency and it goes to zero, you get rug pulled and so then you kind of mesh the, the school of hard knocks with God's word.
And it's just taught some really valuable lessons about. Increase little by little, work hard, you know, hard work brings a profit. Mere talk leads only to poverty is another proverb that's been really important to me. So, but yeah, it's definitely been a, been a learning experience. I didn't, I didn't know it.
I had to learn the lessons through losses a lot of times through failure has been the big best teacher for me. How, how didn't you compromise? Like, I've seen successful people. I have some of them at friends and, you know, even on a micro level, right? I know you played in the mirror football at Nebraska.
I played football for the University of Illinois and even that little bit of success, right? Oh, I'm a college. I'm a D one college football player. I've made it. I, and this was something that I had to overcome in my walk, right? Being a college football player, getting all the attention, having all the parties, even that little bit of success you can see, like people bend the knee, people compromise.
How were you able to maintain your integrity when you've essentially made it? I, you know, I think it's, it's honestly what you said is just the grace of God. It's just you know, God has given me there, there's a lot of things that I wanted when I was younger and a lot of people don't get the things that they want and so they spend their whole life just chasing certain things, whether it be wealth or fame or, you know, sexual experiences or whatever.
They spend their whole life chasing it, never really getting it. And God kind of did it differently with me. He gave me a lot of the things that I was desiring that I thought would make me happy and just really showed me, I. The emptiness of them that it is, it's like Ecclesiastes says, it's like chasing the wind.
So like wealth, I thought, you know, building my dream house was gonna be like the peak of my life. And I'm like, okay, that's what I want to do. That's what I wanna accomplish. And then I got it when I was, you know, 30 years old and it was maybe a week later where I was sitting in my house and I was like, this was what my life was aimed at.
And this is like, this is not gonna sustain me. This is, it's just a house. You know, it's and only the joy of it really only lasted for about a week. I need something that lasts longer and I need greater joy that lasts longer. And Psalm 1611 has been one of my life verses. But it says, you make known to me the path of life.
Your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forever. And so that's what I, and I read Psalm 1611. I'm like, that's what I want. I don't want these temporal small joys that go away for after a week. I want joys that are full and that lasts for eternity. And I just know from God's word, I believe it a hundred percent, that only in Christ and pursuing him, that's the only place you're gonna find joy like that.
It, it sorry to monologue for too long, but the woman at the well in John chapter four, Jesus said, whoever drinks of this water is gonna thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst, but will have a fountain in him springing up to eternal life. And I read those promises from, from Jesus and from the Book of Psalms, and I said.
That's what I want. You know what? And, and then I, I just wanna transmit that message to other people. 'cause I know there's a lot of people probably that are gonna listen to this, who think that Riches are gonna be the key to happiness, or that fame is gonna be the key to happiness. And I just, I can't say it any loud, more loudly than I am, but it will not make you happy.
Those are vain pursuits. You know, Solomon said it in the book of Ecclesiastes pursue Christ. And if you're gonna make money, use it to serve Christ. If you're gonna get fame, use it to serve Christ. 'cause that's the only place that there, that there's life and that there's hope. You know, and I feel like no matter how much we may drum this message is never really going to hear because I, I, I was similar to you, right?
Like you I love your analogy from when you were younger about the Chuck E cheese tokens and how after you spent all the tokens, all you ever wanted was more tokens. Right. And that desire, it, it, it doesn't go away until you come to the realization that more tokens is not the answer. And I'm not super wealthy, but I was able to get my house, you know, buy a car, and me and my wife we're, we're very comfortable.
And I realized the, the more I come to, you know, the experiences of this life, the, the shorter my prayer points go, right? Like my, my prayer list doesn't increase. It starts to decrease and decrease and decrease to the point where it's like, I, I really don't want more. Like I, I. I joke with my wife about this, it's just like, I, I kind of want less, like I, I kind of wanna downsize like I kind of want to, and, and I don't, and I wish there was a way to come to this understanding without being like Solomon and having to experience everything until you realize that if God is not in it, it's not worth having.
But if there, if, is there a particular way that you think that we can kind of get this message across so people don't have to get over a certain hurdle or that six-figure mark is what everybody think is the silver bullet. And if anybody was willing to listen, I let you know. It's not the silver bullet, but what would you say?
Some people that need some, some extra help to, to get this point. Yeah. You know, I don't, I don't have super clever words or anything like that. It's really just, you know what I, what I would tell a younger me is believe God's word. Like believe God's word. Like just believe what it says. Even if it doesn't seem like it's true.
Because I think that was my problem when I was younger, is people told me Jesus is better than a million dollars. I, people would tell me that, and I would say, amen. Amen. Amen. But then in my heart, I was what? I really, I didn't believe that at all. What I really wanted was a million dollars. Or sex or, you know, something, all these other things like I would kind of give lip service to.
Yeah. Amen. Jesus is better. You know, I long for your word more than thousands of gold pieces. It says in Psalm one 19, but then in reality in my heart, I did not believe that I wasn't submitting myself to that. So what I would want to tell my younger self is it's just believe God's word, believe that Jesus is better.
Believe that those eternal riches are more satisfying. Like there is a foundation that you can lay up. Like when you know that your, that your eternity is set and you know that the things you're doing now are improving your eternity. Like I believe that I am storing up treasure for heaven. Matthew six says, don't store up treasure here on earth where moth and rust destroy thieves, breaking and steal.
Store up treasure in heaven where moth and rust can't destroy. Thieves can't break in and steal. And so, you know, like even doing this podcast, I believe that doing this podcast. I am storing up treasure in heaven. I'm proclaiming Jesus Christ, and I believe people are gonna hear that, and I'm gonna be rewarded for this time spent, you know, on, on a Sunday afternoon.
Some people might say, oh no, I'm not going to spend, are you gonna pay me for this podcast? I'm not gonna get, unless you're gonna pay me or something like that. That's how a lot of influencers are. But I believe, Hey, there's treasures awaiting me and I'm excited for that. So that's, I don't think there's any magic bullet.
It's just believe God's word. It's true. A hundred percent. I I definitely appreciate that charity because you know, one of your points that you've made over and over again is that giving away a thousand dollars always feels better than making a thousand dollars and Amen. I, I, I feel like a lot of people don't understand that it's because there's not a really a heart to give.
And my wife always jokes with me because I like. I, For example, one of my friends, he's trying to grow his worship ministry and I was like, okay I'm gonna donate a Shure microphone. I'm gonna donate you know, a stand. I'm gonna help you build this studio. I'm gonna help you with your lighting.
And for spend time and time and time wanting nothing back other than to see somebody else edified. So you are somebody that loves to give and you are passionate about giving. What are some of the ways that you have grown in your giving and how can you encourage other people to, to really be a blessing to, to someone else?
Yeah. No, that's a great question. I think. One thing that we don't do a great job of, at least in this in America, is giving Sacrificially, giving, trusting that it's gonna be God who takes care of us. Like what I see a lot of Christians doing is they do their budget and then they kind of see, okay, after I do my budget, I have this amount left over.
Okay. So I'll give you know, a little bit out of what's left over. And that, that's how I see most Americans do it. I call it responsible giving. But when I look at the scriptures, I don't see that that's not the type of giving God calls people to. I actually keep two old mites the widow's mites, if you remember that story.
But Jesus is looking in the temple and there's all these people that give, are given money and then a widow comes in, gives two pennies, and people look at the two pennies and say, oh, that's nothing. That's not gonna help anybody. But Jesus says she gave more than all the rest because they all gave out of their excess, but she just trusting God gave everything she had to live on.
And so really stretching yourself, giving wise, like giving rather than giving what you think you can afford, giving to the needs that you see has been something where I just open my hands and I say, Hey, God. I'm gonna just give, and then I'll worry about how my bills are all gonna get paid after my giving rather than before my giving.
And it's very, very difficult to kind of make, take that leap of faith because we're, we're so used, especially as entrepreneurs, we're so used to being so careful with our money. And, you know, I have tons of spreadsheets like, okay, are, are my finances gonna work out? Is my budget gonna work out? But stepping out in faith and, you know, really putting myself in a position where if God doesn't come through, I'm gonna be in big, big trouble.
Like I'm gonna wreck my life if God doesn't come through. And I, I'll say that too, that I think a lot of Christians don't ever trust God in a way where if God isn't faithful, their life is affected negatively in a, in a, in a way. And so that's something that I, God's really challenged to me to, is putting myself in positions where if man, if God's not faithful, if God's not real, if God if it's not true, that seek versus kingdom in his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you, then I've ruined my life.
And I, I see Paul saying things like, you know, if there's no resurrection from the dead, if Christ wasn't raised, then we're of men most to be pitied. Like Paul lived his life in a way where if he, if Christianity ended up not being true, Christ isn't God. He didn't rise from the dead. Paul, Paul says, people will look at me and say, you are an idiot.
And I want people to look at my life and say the same thing where, man, if Christ is not real, and if there's not an eternity, and if you're not gonna die and be raised from the dead and have this treasure in heaven that you're storing up I want people to look at my life and say, man, if, if Christ is not real, he is a fool.
But if Christ is real, then he lived his life, how, how he should live. So I would challenge people get outta your comfort zone with giving. Don't budget. And then see, okay, I've got $200 left over, so I'll give a hundred dollars. But look for the needs first. Give where you see the needs and then say, God, I'm sowing and I am trusting that you will bring in a harvest.
I, I don't think you have. Gotten to this place in your life by accident. Right. And you know, one, one of the reasons why I I love to give is, you know, growing up, for example, I'd see people have certain shoes that we can never afford. And I would ask my mom for it, and it, it will almost always be a no.
But one time, somehow there was enough money to buy me these shoes. And the moment I got these shoes, I began to realize, man, this money could have went towards so much else. It could have went towards bills, it could have went towards food. And now that kind of stuck with me for the rest of my life that if I can lack so that somebody else can have.
I will be better off. So in your journey, like what was instrumental in you becoming who you are, who was instrumental, who kind of taught you some of these principles to help you be such a, a big blessing to others? Well one, I'd have to give a lot of credit to my wife in a lot of ways. You know, she's never really, we haven't done our finances the way a lot, you know, a lot of couples say, oh, we wanna do the finances together, or whatever.
Just the way that it's worked out is I've just kind of always handled the finances and she's taken care of the house. We've always home schooled our kids and so she's kind of taken care of that. And over time, like when I first quit my job to become an entrepreneur, she was like, why do you, why, why are you so weird?
Why don't you just have a normal nine-to-five job like everybody else? Because I've always kind of just been different. Like, I always look at the way everyone else is doing things and said, you know what? I don't wanna do it that way. I don't like. Working nine to five. I, I like, I hate it. I don't wanna do that.
And so she was eventually, she kinda just threw up her hands and said, you know what? I will just trust you to bring the finances in and I'll take care of the house. So just please make sure our bills are paid for. And so I've always handled the finances. And then over time she just started finding people.
She said, oh, by the way, I committed to this person that we would give them $5,000. And I'm like, oh, you should talk with me about that first. So like, make sure we have $5,000 to give. And she said, well, don't you think the Lord will provide. And I'm like, well, yeah, I do think the Lord will provide. But like I, you know, at the time especially, I was like, but I wanna do the spreadsheets and make sure $5,000, you know, that's a lot of money to be giving away.
And she just kept doing it. And then as the Lord provided, she would just keep doing it more and more and more. She'd tell me, oh, by the way, I committed to pay for this person's entire college. And I'm like, well, you did what? And then she started, she invited people to live with us and things like that.
And each time it was a huge, you know, I couldn't like get upset with her because I'm like. Okay. I think that's what God would want us to do. And over time I've kind of, we let's, maybe we could talk about it and pray about it first, the two of us before making these commitments. But really she kept just pushing me.
She just kept committing more and more and more. And then we would see, okay, we committed to this. God took care of it. We committed to this. God took care of it. We committed to this. And after that happens 20, 30 times, you start to just, okay, that's gonna be the pattern for our life, is we're gonna give first.
We're gonna trust the Lord to take care of it. And I'm gonna work hard. 'cause I, you know, there was a time where I kind of, we can get, I started trusting the Lord, but then I'm like, okay, then I'll just sit around and you know, God will take care of things. And he didn't bless that time because no, he says what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna bless your hard work.
That's what I'm gonna do. And so over time we've just kind of gotten to this groove where she commits to give and then I work hard and God blesses it and he's taking care of us up to this point. That's awesome. It's always a woman. That's one thing I've noticed, like, oh man, I thank God for the institution of marriage because it, I don't know where I would be without my wife.
I mean, I have, I don't even want to think about that. Like, those are, those are not happy thoughts. But one, one of the things that I, I do want to hint on in, in what you just spoke about was giving first, right? And as as we and both of you are in America imagine if God was like the IRS.
He didn't have the grace to allow us to give. Right before you even see your check, they get theirs. And if you don't give them theirs, then they will go into your account and garnish your wages. Right? Right. Like that's, but God gives us all this grace and this mercy and the requirement that he gives us is to, to just give with joy, to give with a, with, with, with love to give Sacrificially.
And I just wanted to kind of riffed on that because our God is not a tyrant, but he definitely deserves what it, what is his and it's never, it's never really for him. Right. God does not need $10. He doesn't. And to your other point about blessing your hard work, I think, I think the church needs a radical transformation in that regard.
It there, it's always, I'm gonna pray to become a millionaire and not, I'm going to pray for a skill. I'm gonna pray for an idea. I'm gonna pray for a, a, a degree, something. And something that I've just been talking about over and over and over again now is that though that God decided to use Noah, he still had to build the ark.
Like they still had to build the tabernacle. Imagine if Noah was just like, you know what? I'm gonna just wait for God to build this ark. You know, I'm gonna just, we would not be here like that would've been it. Yep. That's. Let me, let me jump in there. 'cause that's, that's really good. I think that's really, really important to your point, those, those two things you said, I think go hand-in-hand, 'cause God does not need our money.
Sometimes I think we, we start to fall into that where, oh, there's a widow that's in need. There's orphans that are in need. Oh God needs me. But Psalm 50, which has been really big for me, is God says, I own the cattle on a thousand hills. If I was hungry, I would not ask you for it. I would just go take care of my need.
Like I, you know acts 17 says, God is not a man that he needs anyone to serve him for or anything like, he doesn't need us for anything. So then why does he use us? And the reason is because he wants us to be co laborers with him. So he could just go do everything on his own. But he's created us to.
Work with him. And so then we get the joy and the fulfillment of working because that's what he's created us to do, especially as, as men. I think he's created us to build things. He's created us to, to take care of people. And those are what fill you up. That's what satisfies you. Building things. If you're a young man and you're not building anything in your life, whether it be skills or education or a career or a family, whether, if you're not building anything in your life, I guarantee you you're miserable.
Okay? Because God has designed us to build things, and so God kind of comes along and he says, I want to take care of this. I wanna build a, build an arc. Noah and your sons, you build the ark and I will bless you. I'll give you the strength to do it. I'll provide all of your needs. Right? That's a, that's a promise he gives us in Ephesians.
He says, I will give you above and beyond what you can ask or even think, I will give you complete strength. You won't lack anything, but you are gonna be the one to go do the work. You're not gonna sit on your couch and wa watch Netflix all day. Trust me, when I sold my business, I sold my business in 2020 for millions of dollars.
And I thought, okay, I'm retired now. I don't have to work for the rest of my life. And then I kind of started to think, okay, what do retired people do? And I think what I thought of when I thought of retirement is I thought of, okay, now you just sit around. You can go to the beach, you can, you know, watch net.
I loved watching TV shows and so I was like, okay, I'll watch movies. I love movies. I'll read books. And after about a day of watching TV, sitting on my couch. I was like, I gotta build something else. And it was, it was one day of retirement before I was like, God, what's next in my life? This isn't gonna be my fulfillment.
So I think what you said is God wants to use us. Paul says we are co-laborers with Christ, so he's him working in us, but we are the ones moving our hands, moving our feet, you know, on the computer doing, working our craft learning. It's our brain that God opens up to do these things. So yeah, I think what, what you said is totally true.
I, I really enjoy this conversation. I think, you know, being able to expose some of these sentiments, hopefully will bless somebody similar to you. Like I have, I have like this passion for young people and this passion kind of stems from a, a, a need that was not fulfilled in my adolescence. It was not fulfilled in my youth.
And, one, one of those things is like the lack of responsible godly men in the world. Mm. And even when you look at, you know, TV shows, right? Once you look at sitcoms, the, the way that men are shown and expressed is kind of like an incompetent person who sits around and are unable to meet the needs of his household.
And it's, it's a joke. It's, it's, it, it causes many people to laugh, but unfortunately, like that's the reality for many people. And there's not a sitcom. These are, these are, this is families who are in need of somebody to be a priest and the provider and a protector. So, as you are a father, right, as you are raising up three Godly children, what, what, what are some things that you make sure that you fulfill in your role as a father?
Yeah, that's a great question. I think you're totally right. I think the state of men in our society is, is not good. That's, there's a lot of young men that are broken. In fact, most of the young men I, I talk to, that's actually why I've kind of made a shift in my YouTube channel a little bit, is because I started as just, Hey, I wanna show these crazy investments that I'm doing, this crazy cryptocurrency I'm in.
But then I had all these young men flocking to me, and then when I would meet with them and I'd talk with them, I found out. They're super broken. They have no idea what they're doing in life. They don't know what they're living for. They have no purpose. And so yeah, that's, that's why my attention's really gone to, to young men here over the years.
But I think the number one thing that I want to do for my children is young men in their pain. Start to look to other people to fill them up. So a lot of times it's their wives. I see a lot of young men who are using their wives to fill themselves up, and then it puts a strain on the relationship because that's not what you're intended.
That's not how that relationship's meant to be. The relationship's meant to be that you fill yourself up with Christ and you're completely full in him. So then you're not going around to other people looking for, okay, I need this from you, and I need this from you, and I need this from you, and I need this from you, but you're full in Christ, and then you can just pour to people.
Then you become a rock in your family, and you're not going to your kids to fill you up with anything. I see lots of dads who are getting from their kids, they're getting all sorts of different things, and if their kids don't meet it or their wife doesn't meet their, their needs that they have, then they freak out and they, you know, it doesn't work.
We're intended to get everything from Christ, then we can be a rock. People can come to us, our families can learn that we can come to you and you're filled up in Christ. You're not gonna need anything from me, and you're gonna just be a poorer. And then that just provides a whole level of stability for the family that I, that I think makes it function the way that it's supposed to be.
And really, the ultimate example of that is Jesus, right? You don't see Jesus. He's the man's man. And I think a lot of people look at, at Jesus and, oh, he's weak or whatever. But the reality was he needed nothing from anyone. He never went to his disciples and said, you know what? I need this from you guys.
You, you really need to be there for me, or anything like that. He said, my food is to do the will of him who sent me. And then he spent his whole life just pouring to other people. And then when he needed refreshment, what did he do? He went by himself into the mountains to pray, right? I'm gonna get filled up in God.
Then I'm gonna go and pour myself into the crowds, pour myself into the disciples, pour myself even into my mother. Things like that. And so that's what I really want to teach men is stop looking to your wife to fill you up. Stop looking to your children to fill you up. I've seen so many marriages that are in trouble because the husband is looking to the wife to fill him up, like he's going to his wife.
And then, you know, she at some point doesn't measure up to what he's looking for. And then there's this conflict because then maybe he starts looking other places or, you know sexually maybe he starts going to pornography and maybe I'll get filled up there. Maybe I'll get filled up, you know, with, with pride or whatever the case might be.
But God intended, go to Christ, get filled up, then you can be a rock for your family. I, I, I think this is, this is good. Me and my wife had this conversation very early in our relationship and you know, I had come to the realization that she was looking for things in me that I, I just couldn't provide.
Like I even pray this prayer all the time that. I don't know how to be a husband. I don't have what it takes. I don't have the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. And if it's not for God, I will fail in every single one of my responsibilities. Yes. And I, I see a lot of people trying to, trying to see their spouses play a God-sized role in their life.
You know, like, oh, I need this comfort, I need this stability. I need this direction. I need this in anybody who is Pitted up against an omnipotent God, I'm the silent God and I'm the present. God will always fail. Like imagine that. It's just like, it's kind of like, all right, I'm about to go against LeBron James in basketball.
Like you, you're doing a draft, like, are you gonna Dr. Draft me or are you gonna draft LeBron? Like we really need to make sure in all that we do that God is our number one pick, our first round, our last round, our only round. Like, like let's make sure that he is our all-in-all. Yep. Absolutely. And you know, the woman at the well is a good example of that too, I mentioned earlier, but she had had four husbands and the man she was with now was not her husband.
Right. So she was doing that. She was looking to the world, to relationships, to, to sex and saying, �Hey, that�s gonna fill me up.�. But inevitably, like you said, people just let you down. And We�re seeing that in society where �Okay, this person�s not working for me. Okay, I�m gonna get divorced and I�ll find somebody else.
Okay, now that Person�s not working, now I'm gonna, the reality is no person. Except for Jesus Christ is ever going to be that for you. Because we're all sinners. We all fall short. We're all have flaws. And so yeah, if you're not going to Jesus Christ to be filled up, you will be empty. And I'm pretty confident, I talk to unbelievers sometimes and I tell 'em sometimes.
I'm like, I know that you feel broken and empty. And they go, how did, how did you know that? And I'm like, because you don't have Christ. And I know, I know. He's the only place that you can go. And I've had many people tell me, how did you, I put on such a front, how did you know that I actually feel broken inside?
I'm like, because I, the Bible tells me I believe that Jesus is the only way, and I know you don't have him. That's good. I really I was just telling some of our young, young men in, in church service today and I asked him this question, you know, I was like, let's look, let's role play. I'm an atheist.
How would you talk to me about God? And nobody has an answer. Nobody has a witness. And you know, one Peter chapter three, verse 15 says that we should always be able to defend, to give an answer for the, for to defend the hope that it's within us. And you know, one of the reasons why I wanted to build this platform is that I believe there are ways that we can witness to people by our actions, right?
By dialogues, absolutely. By how we do business. Like I was telling the young adults, if you are the most successful person in your place of employment, they will want to, they, they're gonna have questions for you. Hmm. Like, how, how are you? So how are you so good? How did you do this? How? And then you just turn around and say to God, be the glory.
Right? Amen, that's a powerful witness. So in, in your walk, in your work, even as an engineer, I. There was one, one engineer in my workplace said that the reason why he's a believer is because he just looked at the math and I'm like, great. He, he got his, his bachelor's in mathematics and he was just like, it's just mathematically impossible for all of this to come to be from nothing.
And I'm like, I'm not a math guy, but I agree. So you as an engineer, right, like how, how are you, how have you able to balance like your infatuation with systems and logic and you know, a lot of the things that people think are incompatible with the faith? How are you able to reconcile that? Yeah, that's a great question.
So one thing I've seen, what I used to think is that the way that we stood out from the world was like. Making sure we don't cuss, you know, and making sure that we don't do this and that, and making sure other people know that, oh yeah, I'm, I'm against homosexuality, or whatever the case might be. It's kind of like a show people that I'm holier than you are was how I used to.
And I used to think, okay, I'm, you know, doing what Matthew six says, I'm letting my light shine before men in such a way they see my good deeds and glorify a father in heaven. But the reality, but what it never worked. Nobody was looking at me and saying, oh man, to God be the glory. I wanna follow you.
What's the reason for the hope that's in you? And so over time, the Holy Spirit worked in me and I started to just care about people. And I'm amazed at the number of people who are shocked just to have someone that cares about 'em. There's a, a number of unbelievers who have never had anyone just care about them, who's been interested in them not trying to get anything out of it.
In fact, they're skeptical at first. Like, I'll be like, oh, tell me about, you know, your journey and like, how are you doing right now? And they'll be like. What are you trying to get out of this? And I'm like, no, I'm, I just, honestly, I just care about you. Can I pray with you? And I've had some people in tears, atheists who are in tears because they're like, I've never had someone genuinely just care about me.
And I can tell 'em, Hey, this is the love of Christ and I don't need to get anything from you because I have everything I need in God. Again, it goes back to that same thing where if, if you are not filled up in God, you do need things from all the people you interact with. You're going to, every relationship with a take-take-take.
What can I get outta this? What can I get outta this? What financial gain can I get out of this? But when you're filled up in God. You can become just a fountain and that shines in the world. There's not many people who can, in their workplace be a fountain who are just pouring and not trying to take from everyone around them.
And what I've seen is then that starts to stand out. And my goal, you know, first Peter 3 15, 1 of my favorite verses that you, that you quoted there, but it implies that people are gonna see your life and they're gonna notice your hope is different. Then their hope. 'cause it says, you know, always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that's in you.
But that implies that it's pretty obvious it's shining out there. Your hope is not the same as your neighbor's hope. And you know, a lot of times that I've found that my witness can be greater during the bear market when returns were not as good. You know, during the bull market, everybody's making tons of money.
Everybody's happy. I'm getting everybody's on their live streams. Like I just made, you know, $10,000 today. But in the bear market, I feel like my testimony was able to shine brighter because most people were pretty depressed. Most people, I lost a lot of their money. I had, you know, have had big losses during the bear market too, but people said.
Your joy is the same during the bear market. It was during the bull market. And that shown out to people. And I, I had people, I had a Atheist, another atheist friend who said, there's something different about you. Can you come stay? He invited me to come live with his family for a few weeks just to like, I, there's something different about you.
And I'm like, Hey, I'd love to stay with you, but I can tell you it's, it's Jesus. And he said, well, I thought you might say that, but can you just come stay with us? And I just wanna see, I wanna make sure my kids have whatever it is that you have. And it's like, man, what a tremendous, you know, we, we talk about going out to evangelize, but this was him coming to me for evangelism.
Oh, wow. That is, man, when the Bible says that he would draw all men unto him, like, this is just a perfect example of that, right? Like you being lifted up in what you do. And you know, like we're, we're both in the markets and the markets can. Eat you up and spit you back out. And what you just said really resonated with me because like, it, it, it is cyclical and I don't think, I think we're lucky in a way to be in this field because I don't, I don't think an average person will ever experience the amount of highs and lows than anybody that's in the market.
Yep. Like, agreed. Like we, we almost have a leg up because we, we now are able to build that resolve to know I'm never gonna, this is what my wife always say, never ride the lows too low or the highs too high. And when you're making money and things is coming easy and the ideas are in abundance, and you think, like, I'm, I'm top trader.
I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give Ray Dalio a run for his money. I'm gonna give Warren Buffett a run. But the moment that that cycle turns and you can't find a dollar or somebody put it in front of you and it humbles you. Right? One of the things that I appreciate about the market is that it humbled me. I used to think that I was so smart, but then once you're sitting next to Harvard graduates on the desk who are just like quoting math proofs off memory, and you're just like I just pray and God tells me to buy and he tells me to sell.
I just listen and I go home. And you know, I wanna kind of peek a little bit into your philosophy when it comes to markets. Like, for example, a a, a young man that I'm gonna talk to soon on the platform, he prays and re Psalms every day before the market open, and that's one of his regimens.
He's just like. I, I really need God in my work. How much did you need, God, when you were building your business when you were selling it, when you were transitioning into different investment assets. You were in VC, you were in real estate, you were in so many things. How did you find your way into where you are now basically?
Yeah, that's a, that's a great question. So. Yeah, there's a lot. There's so many things that God wants to work in our hearts. Like he wants us to learn how to be content when we have a little, he wants us to learn how to be content. When I, when you have a lot, remember Paul says, I learned the secret of having a little, I also learned the secret of having a lot because there's different lessons, different, you know, trusting in God skill sets for both of those times.
Like you said, pride is something when you're just, you know, success, success, success, pride starts to creep in. And so then God, you know, even Paul it says that God sent a, a messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh to keep him from exalting himself. So there's all these different things that God's trying to work into our lives.
So it's, from my experience, it's never just this straight up. There's a song that we sing at church every day with you, Lord, is sweeter than the day before. Which I understand the sentiment of that song, but that's not really. That's not really the the life of a Christian from, from what I can see for, for most people.
And so, yeah, it's just learning the lessons as God brings 'em and just trusting him in the good times, trusting him in the bad times. I like what you said, not getting when, when things are down, believing that is from the Lord. Just as much as when things are up that God, you have a plan in this.
Because our flesh is not gonna say that our flesh, when we go down is gonna say, the world's falling apart. God's not taking care of you. And then when things go up, Hey, God didn't help you with that. You did that on your own, your flesh is always gonna be there talking to you. And so to me it's just constantly going, going back to the Lord, filling up in him.
I've, I've gotten in a habit of when I feel empty, which is often, I, I wake up most mornings I wake up. Just think, oh man, I don't know if I can go through a day to day. Like I just, I'm, I don't wanna do it. But I've just gotten in the habit. Okay. I know what that means. I know my soul is hungry and I know my daily bread is God's word.
So I've just learned when I feel that emptiness, I used to go to, oh, I'm, I'm gonna work out to get rid of this emptiness. I'm gonna jump right into the markets or jump right into business. And then that will fill me up. I'm gonna go to, you know, pornography that's gonna fill me up. I'm gonna, you know, try to find one of my kids and give 'em a hug and that will fill me up.
And not that hugging your kids is bad or anything like that, but I've just learned. That emptiness. I've gotten in the habit of that emptiness means go to God, and it's just through the day. Then it's not like a, I I'm kind of against, you know, there's a popular thing in Christianity, make sure you read your Bible every day.
Which is true, you know, make sure you read your Bible every day. But I think is, you know, what if we only ate a little bit for 30, you know, once a day? I think that we need to be going to God all through the day. First, Thessalonians four says, like, it's just, I'm empty. God fill me up. I'm empty. God, fill me up.
And that's the only way that, that I can live life. That's the only way I can make it through the day. I, I think I'd be severely depressed. And it wouldn't, wouldn't have, nearly the ministry that I've been able to have wouldn't be the testimony to people. If it wasn't just a, a dependence on God.
Twenty-four-seven Psalm one, you know his delight. The blessed man, his delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law, he meditates day and night. And I think we sometimes, I don't think we call Christians to enough. Reliance on God. We're, we're content with just, Hey, did you read your proverb for the day?
Or something like that. Instead of, man, this is my daily bread. Jesus. Again, my food is to do the will of him who sent me. And it's, it's been a lifesaver for me. I, you know, I don't want to come across as like, wow, what a godly man, because it's really just, it's a, a complete emptiness in me, a depression in me.
I like this, these terrible things in me. But I've just learned to go to God in those. And that's been my strength for, for everything, man. I, I, I mean, you know, I, I just turned 30 in November, so I, I I, I always consider myself fairly young and new in all of this. And what you just said is, it's been my meditations for the last several month is I, I, I need you, like, I need water.
I need you, like I need oxygen. It's just like. If I don't have you, it's as if somebody is suffocating me and depriving me from that, that I need to survive. Like, I, I, I, it's, it's kind of like a, I don't know where this came from, but it's like a, a survivor's instinct was placed in me that like, in order for me to survive, I need to go study.
I need to go pray. I like, we're doing 21 days prayer and fasting right now, and it's just like, I need God more than I need food. You know? Like, what, what do you need the most? Like, let's start with that. What do you need the most? Need? God more than that. Start there and see how that kind of just manifests itself into so many areas of your life.
Amen. And yeah. I want to just to, I wanna mention to people what I kind of grew up in. I grew up in a kind of a fundamentalist conservative church, and it was always presented to me as, you need to do this. You need to make sure you read your Bible every day. You need to make sure you pray through decisions.
But it was always presented kind of as a law, right? It was always presented as this is what you need to do to be a Christian. But then I, when I read First Peter chapter two, I was always taught this verse. It says like, newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.
If you've tasted that the Lord is good. And I would, people, even my pastors, would preach that passage and say, this means you need to read your Bible. But that's not what it says. It doesn't say, make sure to read your Bible every day. It says like, newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word. So it's not, you know, you don't have to force babies to eat their food, right?
They're hungry for it, they're longing for it. And I think that's what a lot of, that's what my teaching growing up was missing. And that's what a lot of Christians are missing is they're trying to, oh, I've gotta do all these things. And I mean, there are things you have to discipline yourself to do, but what we really need is we need to call out to God and say, God, I love entertainment more than I love your word.
I need you to do a miracle in my heart. I cannot force my heart to love God's word more than entertainment. We just got done. We just got back from church before I hopped on here. My kids, through the sermon, they keep Dad, can we get on your phone and do games? Like, that's by nature. Our heart doesn't want God's word by nature.
Our heart wants entertainment. Everyone's pleasure. You know, those are what our heart want by default. So we have to ask God. You will never discipline yourself into wanting God's word more than entertainment. You have can, but you can call out to God the God of miracles and you can say, God, create in me a new heart that longs for your word.
Like a newborn babe. And more than I long for sex, more than I long for money, more than I long for pride. And God says, what does he say? He says, if you, if you abide in me and my words abide and you ask whatever you wish, and I will do it for you. So he promises. If you ask him for something like that, if you ask him, give me a new heart that loves your word more than entertainment, he will answer that.
That's not one of those. We say God answers prayers either yes, no, or maybe that's not a yes no. Or maybe that is a yes prayer. He will always give that to you when you ask. And so that's what I just wanna challenge people to is forget this, make sure you read your Bible every day. It's blah. Forget that.
Ask God for a heart that like a newborn babe longs for the pure milk of the word that delights in his word more than in thousands of gold pieces that, you know, Psalm one 19. This verse convicted me for a, a number of years before actually ask God to make it true in me. But David says, I long for the night watches that I might meditate on your word.
And I always longed for the night watches, but it was always to watch tv. And it really, I I, and for some reason I just never asked God to change that in me. And then one day I was like, God, I. Make me like David, make me long for the night watches that I might meditate on your word. Make that be my resting place when I am stressed out and I need to relax.
You know, it's fine to have a, a glass of wine. I think it's fine to watch a TV show with your wife or whatever, but make that not be what my heart is yearning for is a glass of wine and a TV show, but make my heart yearn for you, God. And and he's faithful. He will do that in your life if you ask him to.
I agree. I think I have a prayer closet in my house and it, it's been just remarkable how. You know, setting aside a place that says like, this is single purpose. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm now moving into like this whole single function, single purpose type of aesthetic, and having a dedicated place to pray.
Knowing that I only have one business, one, one thing on the agenda when I come to this place have been transformative in, in my walk. So I encourage people, like find that it, it could be a closet, it could be, I mean, I love praying in the, in my shower, like just my wife prays Oh yeah. On her drive to drop the kids.
Just find that place that when you, when you get there, you know that, all right, nothing else. No distractions. This is why I'm here. Yeah. I, I think that's great. Yeah. You know, and I would encourage. I just, I really want to see, especially us in America, I want to see us just step out of the world. You know, Romans 12 two do not be conformed to this world.
It's the idea of there's like a divot where you're, the, the tendency is just a fall into the same way that the world lives. And I want to see us step out from that. You know, like instead of entertainment rooms, why don't we have prayer rooms? You know, like we're, we're different than the world. And so I, I, I love that and I totally agree.
And just keep, keep calling out to God. He'll keep doing these miracles in your heart and just make you, you know, he'll, he'll cleanse his temple. I was reading just the other day where Jesus goes into the, the temple and he clears it out. There's the money changers in there, right? And he said, you've turned my father's house into a den of thieves.
It's supposed to be a house of prayer. And then I was reading one Corinthians. It says, you are, you are the temple of God. So Jesus. Is in your heart with the money, with the whip, trying to get the money changers out of there and trying to get the, you know, the, all these other loves that we have in there says he jealously desires your heart and wants it completely for him.
So, so I love that pro clause. It's a great idea. Well, James I mean this has been like a, a fantastic conversation. I do have one, one thing to ask a lot, a lot, I, I personally believe that finances is, is, is a, a something that's preventing people from coming to God in the sense that there are so many other appeals.
There are so many other things to buy. There are so much money to be made. There's so many things that we see the rat race, right? I wanna bring some balance to it because, and I've heard you say this before on one side there are people that thinks that, you know, Christians should be poor. There are other sides that think that they should be extravagant.
I think the truth is, is more somewhere in the middle. Once you look at the future, once you look at how society is being changed, for example, ai, I think that we need believers at the forefront of these radical change in technology so that we can take something that's otherwise neutral and tilt it towards a positive move.
What do you think is like that big opportunity? What is on the cutting edge? What is on the horizon that you think we need to be more active in this space? We need to be more involved. We need to be more educated. We need to go. Yeah, I think that's, that's a great question. So the way I look at it I think that if we, if Christians, if you are just more faithful, where are you at?
Like whoever's faithful with a little God will entrust with more. And so if you kind of feel like you. Stuck where you're at, like, Hey, God's not increasing my influence. He's not increasing my ministry. He's not giving me more, more wealth to distribute how he sees. I would say, are you being faithful with what he's given you?
Are you being faithful with the time he's given you? Are you being faithful? You know, if you're family, what? What does Paul say? He says, if you're not taking care of your family, you're not ready to take care of the church. He says, make sure when you're looking for pastors, make sure their family's in order first, because God's given you little things.
To be faithful in. And then if you're faithful in those, he will entrust you with more. And so I don't necessarily know what it's gonna be. All arenas, honestly. Any area that Christians are in, which is all areas. There's Christians in ai, there's Christians in crypto, there's Christians in business, there's Christians in, you know, medical field, there's Christians.
And governments now, I mean, they're everywhere. So if you individually, I'm real big on like just individual discipleship. And if you are faithful. Where you're at, God will entrust you with more. Now, what we have to be careful of is that we don't we don't aim for riches and try to use God to get to that.
What I really want is more riches, so I'll be faithful so that I get more riches, but I really want the riches, not God. But just focus on being faithful with what God's given you. Being content, which being content doesn't mean that you don't aim for more. It just means that you're okay. If you don't get more, you're satisfied.
The Lord is my. Portion. I don't need anything more, but I'm going to squeeze out whatever opportunities God gives me as much as I possibly can. You know, I, he says, do your work heartily as to the Lord, not as to men. So if there's men who are working hard for their own ambition, we should be all the more working hard for the Lord.
You know, we have a much higher calling than they do. So I would just encourage men everywhere, men and women, not, it's not just a men thing, but be faithful in what you've been entrusted with. Be a good husband. Love your wife as Christ. Love the church. Be a good father. Raise your children in the way.
Train up a child in the way they should go. Be faithful with your finances. Are you using your money to give, to be generous? Are you using your time, you know, making the most of your time? Because the days are evil. And as you do that, your circle of influence will increase and you'll be surprised. Like look at Daniel.
Daniel wasn't after Joseph is another example. They weren't after these high positions, right? Joseph wasn't out saying, you know what, I'm gonna pursue being the number two in all of Egypt. But he just was, I'm gonna be faithful where the Lord has me. He was in prison. He was faithful in prison, right? So much so that they put him in the prison guard, put him in charge of everything in the prison, then he was still faithful.
He trusted, God was faithful and God just worked his way up. Same exact thing happened with Daniel. So that's what I would encourage people is I don't think you necessarily have to pursue really high things. It, it goes back to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. And you will be amazed at the, the heights that God brings you to when you're faithful to him.
Personal and individual responsibility is the greatest way to change the world. James. Amen. I really appreciate you taking the time, Sunday, coming from church, coming from probably something else that you could have been doing, going into something else that you can do, but I definitely benefited from this conversation.
I know others will and I think it's, it's the beginning of, something that I want to continue to do even off, off, off record. I think you are a wonder per wonderful person to know, and then I look forward to just learning more about you and watching you grow in your journey. Well, thank you so much for the invite.
I've told God that any opportunities I get to speak about him, I will say yes to. So as many times as you invite me you know, I, I may have just given away my, my secret sauce of it is anybody who invites me and they say, you can speak about Jesus. I will say, yes, I will be there. I'll, I'll never charge for something like that.
So I, I appreciate the invite, appreciate the chance to talk about him, and happy to, happy to get to know you and happy to come back anytime you'll have me. Awesome. Well, I will definitely take you up on that offer. Well James, again, thank you so much. I just kind of snuck into his DMs, told him what I was trying to do, just so everybody knows that he is good for it.
He is, he is. I'm a witness. I'm blessed by you. James. Thank you so much. I hope that we can do this again soon. Thank you so much. God bless you and have a great God bless everyone listening as well. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord causes face to shine upon you. Be faithful to him until death and you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Amen. Thanks everybody. Hopefully we'll see you very soon.
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