Episode 154

In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we interview Tony, who experienced barriers to salvation in a very free upbringing, as opposed to a rigid one. God overcame those barriers to save his soul, and he joins us in this broadcast to testify to God’s goodness and mercy. Barriers to salvation are erected in all kinds of seemingly contradicting ways and situations: in knowledge, in ignorance, in wealth, in poverty, in debauchery, in piety. No matter what the barrier, God is more than able to save!

[Tony]

So before we could sit down, it was at a restaurant or we barely got, I mean, the seats were not warm. He looked me straight and high and said, Tony, if you died today, are you going to heaven or hell?

[Jay]

Thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers podcast. I’m Jay. And I’m MCG. And we’re attempting to remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

This is episode 154 of the Removing Barriers Podcast, and this is the 37th in the series of how were your barrier? Remove and. In this episode we’ll find out how Tony’s barriers were removed when he came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Jay]

Hi, this is Jay. MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers.net and subscribing to receive all things, removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removing barriers.net/donate. Removing Barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

Tony, it is indeed a pleasure. Welcome to the Removing Barriers podcast.

[Tony]

It’s my pleasure. I appreciate you asking me to come.

[MCG]

Great. Well, let’s jump right into it. So, Tony, tell us what state or country were you born in?

[Tony]

I was born in South Carolina. Well, actually let me back up. I was born in Hendersonville, NC, but spent the majority of my childhood right across the border in Greenville, SC.

[MCG]

Cool. Tell us about Greenville.

[Tony]

It’s nice little town. It’s what they call the. Foothills. So it’s kind of very similar to here to Northern Virginia. You get Four Seasons. I would say it’s a little bit hotter than here it is and considered the Bible belt. So there’s a church on every corner, but it’s a nice place.

[MCG]

Is that the home of Bob Jones University?

[Jay]

What type of family were you born into, Tony?

[Tony]

That’s a great question. My mom and dad were products of the 60s and we’re not living for the Lord. Later in my life I have found that they had come to salvation but stayed very, very, very immature babes in Christ basically kind of walked away with no training after their salvation. And so I was not raised in a Christian home. What I would call a Christian home, even though my parents had professed salvation, they did not take me to church. I did not know the. Gospel, and I would say my family is full of love. I never felt unloved, but I also knew that my parents were not living the way that they should be, if that makes sense.

[MCG]

Yes. Tell us more about your brain and say, do you have any siblings?

[Tony]

Yes, I have one younger brother. He’s about 3 1/2 years younger than I. His name is Mike. He’s master electrician. He lives down in Charleston area, Mount Pleasant area, South Carolina.

[Jay]

So when you say, Tony, that your parents were a product of the 60s, did they? Of age during that time or.

[Tony]

Yes, they graduated in 68. So they’re very much, I would call them the flower power children, you know. Peace. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, you know, drugs and rock’n’roll and all that stuff was very prevalent in their life.

[Jay]

I see. OK. That cultural movement, was it a reaction to something that was in the nation? Perhaps it was a reaction or a revolt against well, I imagine the 1950s were very much, you know. Very conservative and family God, country, family type. Several decades of our nation’s history was that were the 60s a counter revolution as or counter toward that against that?

[Tony]

Yeah, I would definitely say so. And my parents, you know, they weren’t anti government or anything like that, but they definitely were all about, you know, the free love, you know, no barrier, you know, you know, talking about barriers, they put down all barriers. They had zero barriers, but not for the right reasons and.

[Jay]

I see.

[Tony]

In the right direction, you know.

[Jay]

OK. And you mentioned that your upbringing was very much a very loving. It sounds like your family was intact. Could you describe what your life and upbringing were like before salvation before your salvation?

[Tony]

Yeah, definitely. I I don’t want to sound like it’s a pity party, but I don’t really feel like I ever had much of A childhood approach to life. I always felt like I was the adult in the room. My parents were very no no limits. I mean, I could do anything I wanted to do. And something inside me said, you know, that wasn’t right. Now, that didn’t stop me from doing wrong, but I definitely people would tell me you’re an old soul, you know, and a young body, because I would talk to adults a lot at these gatherings. My parents would have and just really no rules, no regulations. I was let to do whatever I wanted to do. Which led me down a path of searching a lot and unfortunately was no Christian influence at all. So you know, I would say we were tight as a family. But I knew there was something missing and you know, like I said, I think my mom, she would get under conviction. Looking back, I can see the conviction that she would be under and we would go to church for like, one or two times when I was a little kid. But probably from the time I was 10. 8, 9, 10 uh forward until my salvation. And we never darkened the doors of a church. I know my mom and dad had a underlying respect for God. They didn’t hate God, they weren’t anti God, it was very confusing for me at one time. I spoke to Lord’s name in vain, and for my mom, and she smacked my face. So there was a respect there for. The Lord’s name, but yet the lifestyle was very, very all over the place, so it created a a big turmoil in my life. So pre salvation. I was adrenaline junkie. I had a lot of other bad habits, worldly habits. That were not very good. I was a social. The hall I didn’t feel like I could have a good time without alcohol involved. It was not a good situation.

[MCG]

Do you attribute any of that to your upbringing where you say that you kind of have a free reign?

[Tony]

Yeah, 100%. The first bit of alcohol I had was my father’s beer, you know? So it was in the home. It was, you know, and that was when I was like, 5-4 or five years. I remember taking sips of my father’s beer. So. And it was just not viewed as a bad thing. You know, I chewed tobacco when I was like, 10 years old.

[MCG]

Oh wow.

[Tony]

You know, it was. I looked back on it and I knew a lot of it was wrong, so that created. You know, a lot of deep wounds, I believe I didn’t feel secure ever. So I had to make my own security and that kind of led me to kind of becoming my own God. I set my own standards. You know, nobody else told me what to do. I followed my own rules. And as long as I wasn’t getting in trouble. That seemed to get me through things.

[Jay]

Wow. While you were going through it, were you aware of all of these emotional, psychological, spiritual underpinnings that you’re describing to us right now? Were you aware of that while you were going through it, or is this something that you realized looking back?

[Tony]

That’s a great question I did have. Multiple times. I remember reflecting on life and not finding a lot of. You know, hope. There was not a lot of reason, so I turned to the party, you know, to kind of soften the pain. And then I would turn to adrenaline. My early career in the military, I was, you know, I did a lot of. I was stationed with the special forces and just lived off a drumlin, drove a fast motorcycle constantly, you know, jumping out of planes and doing crazy stuff. So part of it is I recognized a little bit. I knew there was a hole, there was something missing and it was frustrating that I could not find it, but tried to find it with a lot of. Other things.

[MCG]

Oh, well, do you remember the first time you heard the gospel?

[Tony]

Yeah, that’s a tricky question for me because they’re, oddly enough, my story is kind of weird. It’s. Little mosaic because we lived across the street from Bob Jones less than a mile away from Bob Jones, across the street neighbor was looking back. I didn’t know about any of these terminologies or words. My parents called them cooks. They were, they were, they were saved and they had some Bob Jones kids. Young adults that were in the school, they came over and held like a night. Get together and looking back now I know what they’re doing. They’re sharing the gospel, so I actually heard the gospel presentation. When I was about six years old and I remember kind of responding to that, but I don’t count that as my salvation. But that would say that was the first time I heard the gospel. Then you go all the way to the day that I was going to. Tell my now father-in-law that I was going to marry his daughter, that I was going to marry him. He is the first to present me the clear gospel where I understood what it meant.

[MCG]

All right, so let me back you up there a little bit, brother. You went to tell him you were going to marry his daughter.

[Tony]

Exactly, exactly. That’s how I was.

[MCG]

Or you or you went to axe.

[Tony]

That’s exactly how I live my life. I was in charge and I was going to tell him because it was a southern thing to do. You’re supposed to ask, you know, for the daughters hand. But I. Was going to. Go tell them.

[MCG]

I had to ask and get the lecture before.

[Jay]

Ohh goodness.

[Tony]

Believe me, but my daughter’s hands, that guy’s going to get a. Good lecture as well.

[Jay]

Absolutely everybody. So you heard the gospel for the first time, where it was significant from your future. At that point, future father-in-law, what did he say? Did he just kind of sit down and say, you know, hey, before you could even think about this, you have to, you know.

[Tony]

It was amazing, amazing event. So I walked in and I think he got a sense because I asked him.

[Jay]

OK.

[Tony]

You know, to go to lunch. I knew he was a godly air quotes godly man. Always have to watch my language because I couldn’t say 2 words without saying a curse word. Back in those days. And so I watched my language and, you know, try to be on my P’s and Q’s. But ask him to lunch. So before we could sit down, it was at a restaurant or we barely. Not, I mean, the seats were not warm. He looked me straight in eye and said, Tony, if you died. Today, are you going to heaven or hell?

[Jay]

Now, brother, let me stop you for just one second. Are you in the services at this time or are you?

[Tony]

I had gotten off of my active duty enlistment and joined the National Guard at this point and going to college. I was a college student at this point, so he asked that question and again framing how I lived and the thought I had to maintain control. So I wanted to shock him. I said I’d probably go to hell and he didn’t even miss a beat. It didn’t slow him down.

[Jay]

I see. OK. Gotcha. OK.

[Tony]

Minute, he said. OK, he said if you were standing before God, what would you say to him to let you in heaven? And then I proceeded to talk my way. Into heaven. You know, because I’m not as bad as that guy over there. I’m not beating up old ladies and robbing stores. And you know, I’m paying my taxes. I’m working. I’m going to college, for heaven’s sake. I’m a soldier. You know, I’m doing all these good things. God surely wouldn’t not let me into heaven. And he again didn’t slow down with that answer. He just nodded, and then he took out a bridge. What I call a bridge track and showed me how my works were not going to get me to heaven, nor religion, nor anything was going to get me to heaven. Other than Jesus. Christ, he walked me through the Romans. And kind of let me dangle a little while at there’s none righteous, no, not one. And I remember feeling the most hopeless I had ever felt, because at that moment. He had kicked the legs out from under me being a God, and I realized that I was going to have to answer to a God at some point, and there was no hope. And then he finished out with. But yet through Christ. I can have salvation and right there I prayed at the end of that track, a prayer and asked Christ to come into my life. I was so exciting. I literally we ate lunch and talking and I was asking him all kinds of questions immediately. And then we were getting ready to be done with lunch. And he goes, I think you called me here to ask me a question. I almost forgot to ask him. Mary’s daughter. The relief and the burden lifted off me. At that moment. It was amazing. I literally almost floated out. Of the restaurant.

[MCG]

Wow. Hey, man. Was that the first time you came to your full realization of your sin, or had your sin smack you in your face before that time?

[Tony]

I knew based on things that I had done that I was not a good person, but I always try to judge myself against other people. And there was a lot worse people than me. You know what I mean? So I justified in my mind my actions, and I wasn’t necessarily a mean person or. You know, taking advantage of people. So I felt like my own righteousness was good enough.

[Jay]

Hmm, what were the barriers that you think perhaps from the time you were six, when your kooky neighbor invited you all over for the cookout all the way up until when your father-in-law is witnessing to you what barriers do you think that you experienced or that you were wrestling with that may have prevented you from coming to salvation? For that point.

[Tony]

Yeah, I had heard a lot in the home and other places that, you know, religion was. Binding, you know again, back to the kooky neighbors, you know. That’s why were they cookies? Because they were religious and they couldn’t do whatever they wanted to do. You know, the I would call that a barrier because I, you know, I was raised to have a free spirit. Kind of do whatever you want to do. Thing and long as you’re not hurting someone. And so I think that was a barrier. My parents. Looking back now you know not leading me, not directing me. It was a huge pain. There, those were the two primary big ones, I think.

[Jay]

OK. So you had those two barriers. You’re a grown man at this point. You are in the National Guard heading off to college. You walk into a restaurant thinking that you’re going to tell somebody you’re going to marry their daughter. And then at the end of the conversation, you pretty much forgot to ask. And now here you are, a saved man on Cloud 9. Gord removed all kinds of burdens and things on you that day, and those barriers were removed at that point. That’s incredible. Praise the Lord for that.

[Tony]

Amen. Amen. It was like, immediate. There was certain things, you know. I don’t know how everybody else is, but I fight every day. You know, the flesh in this world. But there was things. There was habits in my life that God immediately took away my language immediately. I mean, literally. Not that I never used another curse word, but it was conviction almost, you know, immediately taken away. You know, that awareness, if you will, of taking the Lord’s name in vain. Those type of things. My positions on things. God opened my eyes up so much it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing, you know. And then other things took time.

[Jay]

Right.

[Tony]

There was deep ingrained habits, you know, the drinking. I lost the desire. To drink, which led to my friends were gone. You know.

[MCG]

Ohh wow.

[Tony]

So it was an amazing, amazing time in my life and I just praise God for my salvation for sure.

[MCG]

Alright, you’re listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. We sit down with Tony and we find out how where his barriers remove. We’ll be right back.

[Jay]

Hi, this is Jay. MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers.net and subscribing to receive all things, removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removing barriers.net/donate. Removing Barriers, a clear view of the cross.

This is the Removing Barriers podcast, If the podcast or the blog were a blessing to you, leave us a rating and a review on your favorite podcast platform. And don’t forget to share the podcast with your friends. Removing Barriers, a clear view of the cross.

2nd Corinthians 5:17 says therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold all things are become new. So after salvation, Tony, what changes were evident in your life?

[Tony]

Like I was saying, my desires. I felt a lot of my desires were flipped on their head. Awareness of sin is shocking. You know the things that I was doing that I felt was wrong. The music that I was listening to was a slow, I would say a slow transition. I was into grunge and rock’n’roll music, everything. I mean the spectrum, the full spectrum. But the Lord worked in my heart about, you know, what’s coming into my life. And then I remember one night sitting down with. Well, this is after we got married and I had carried all this music with me. It was a stack of CD’s at the time. If I put them on the floor, they were up to. My thigh and methodically sat down and got a hammer. And big towel beach towel light them out and just started crushing them and got everything. It was things like that. That guy just really gripped me and got hold of me political positions. You know that. I don’t know. It was so strange. My eyes just seemed to be open up to the truth. And I like abortion. I would never. Promote abortion before salvation, but I thought it was OK if a woman wanted to do that. She could do that, but that one stands out in my mind for some reason and God is not letting me get away from that. That is, you know, I see it for what it is now. And that one just flipped. I mean immediately for me, Cheryl and I were having a conversation post my salvation, and I noticed my whole view of everything had changed. It was amazing.

[Jay]

That’s incredible. I had that same experience too, brother, when I got saved, I knew enough to know that I was a Sinner and needed Christ. But it wasn’t until after I got say that I realized just how incredibly sinful I was. It was almost like blinders came off and I realized, man, I’m pretty rotten. And then afterward is when the Lord really opened my eyes to that and praise God. That he shows us those things because we all like to toot our horns and think that we’re something special when in reality we’re quite filthy rags before the Lord, yeah.

[Tony]

Amen. Amen.

[MCG]

That we are. I’d rather do your thing the way your barriers were removed would be effective to reach the people in the culture today. Think about the young men growing up in the Greenville, SC area like you did. Would they be able to have their barriers removed the same way you had yours?

[Tony]

I definitely think so. I think it’s just a person being brought to the realization that there is a God. There is going to be a day when we stand before him and. The separation that I was living in at that time because of my sin was so big. I don’t think that changes that’s the same through the ages from all the way back from Genesis to now that when a man really deals with their sin nature, then they can. Truly accept what Christ did for them at. Calvary and change their life.

[Jay]

If I could let me piggyback on that question, McGee and I have spoken to quite a few people, encouraging them to go Soul winning or you know both within the church and without. And there seems to be this attitude at times not for everyone, but at times there’s this attitude where, you know, talking to someone face to face like your father-in-law spoke to you. That’s kind of. It’s a bit too forward, too prudish, too outdated. You have to be very careful not to offend these days, and so people and generals seem to back off from direct confrontation, not confrontation. In the mean sense of the word, but just really talking to someone frankly about spiritual. Things, and that seems to be the trend that or that seems to be the general course that saved and unsaved people are following today. And you’re saying that that still works today. Talking to someone frankly about spiritual things, that’s still a perfectly effective and appropriate way to have someone address and deal with the issue of salvation.

[Tony]

I think it is. I think it does have to be tempered for the situation. You know there’s code called situations which you know I know you guys are very aware of, knowing you where you’re just walking up to complete stranger. And I think that tactic is a little bit different.

[Jay]

Right.

[Tony]

But I do think I just had a gentleman I knew through my son’s football the years he played football. He just passed with stomach cancer and think of a lot of the frivolous conversations that I had with him. And we did talk about spiritual things, but not enough. So I stand convicted, you know, of that same thing that you’re saying, I think.

[MCG]

Oh well.

[Tony]

Our society is constantly telling us that, you know, whatever anybody else does, especially here in American. Culture. It’s OK, you know, they had the freedom to do that, but I think we could flip that as Christians on its head.

[Jay]

Right.

[Tony]

And you know. We have the freedom to speak as well. It’s if it’s done in love and truth and God will bless, you know, if we’re using our stance as some type of weapon, that’s never going to work. But if we’re just simply going with the heart of wanting to see soul save. I think, hey. Yeah, that’s we should do it more and more and more.

[Jay]

Amen. Thank you for that encouragement, brother.

[MCG]

You know. What are you doing personally in the area of evangelism to help others remove the barriers like you face in your life?

[Tony]

That’s a great question. And being in the military, I just retired, you know, I had 35 years.

[Jay]

Congratulations and thank you for your service. Yeah.

[Tony]

Went back on active duty back in 2008 and you can’t. It’s interesting. You really can’t go out. So winning inside the troops. But you do build a reputation of being someone what they would call godly or spiritual, right? For those avenues, I did have that type of reputation. They would call me Chapel and they would call me, you know, kind of crazy things. I don’t know what they said behind my back, but they were very kind to me. And if they were cursed, they would apologize and things like that, you know. But I use that as my springboard, my opportunity to witness. So now I’m in this transition where I’m now. Administrator to church. I’m around not only saved people, but people that have dedicated their lives to the ministry, you know. So now I am in to my shame I wasn’t going door to door as much. I felt like I was living in my, you know, I’ve invited there was open homosexuals that I brought to our church, you know, and trying to get them into the gospel. So that was my ministry. But it’s kind of flipped. I need to get back out and I’ve been praying. I’m asking God to. Allow me to lead 10 people to the Lord this year and that sounds like a low number, but I think that’d be exciting. So I’m looking for ways to get back out on the front lines, if you will instead of.

[MCG]

Yeah, that’s.

[Jay]

Right.

[Tony]

From the back, does that make?

[Jay]

Sense. Yeah, it totally makes sense. I remember when I was active duty, my first duty station. Now, in retrospect, I can see what they were doing. But the chaplain of our unit and our commanding officer were both saved. And I was invited to.

[MCG]

Ohh yeah definitely.

[Jay]

Who? The commanding officer’s home. But he didn’t invite me. The chaplain did because the chaplain knew his wife. And so, at that time, I wasn’t living for the Lord. And though I was saved, I wasn’t living for the Lord. And I think they saw that. And so they wanted to bring me back into the fold and just, you know, encourage me to live for Christ because it can be difficult. To do so in the military, especially when you’re surrounded by a certain. You know, a certain group of people, and if you’re trying to prove yourself, you tend to, at least in my case, you know, serving the Lord wasn’t the priority any longer. And I think they saw that and they saw the mistake I was making. And so them reaching out to me in a sort of sideway. That was one of God’s many ways to bring me back into a life of repentance and obedience before him. And so sometimes, unfortunately, our situation makes it so that we can’t overtly witness. But there are absolutely ways to, like you mentioned, you have that reputation. They called you chaplain even though you weren’t. One. People know the Bible. Talks about our conscience being an ally, as it were, when people are witnessing to us, our conscience will also accuse us. Yeah, the Bible says the conscience is there and it accuses us when we’re not living for God, even the unsafe people know when they’re not living right for God. And as you mentioned earlier in your testimony, even though your parents allowed you to do whatever you wanted and there were no limits, you within yourself knew that, hey, that’s not right. And so praise God for all of these things that he puts in our lives to point us to Christ. But it absolutely does take that person to talk to you one-on-one and to, you know, call you to Matt and witness to you and point you to Christ and praise God, there was someone in your life. I cared and loved you enough to do that.

[MCG]

All right, brother. Well, we’re going to go into a little bit of a fun section and find out some of your favorites. So why don’t you tell us what is your favorite scripture verse?

[Tony]

Ah, that’s a hard one. I hadn’t even thought about this a little bit, but I have so many that I like and I go back and rehearse. But I think one that I want to try to attain and I quote every morning. Is Philippians 120 and it says according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death, I like Paul’s. Commitment in that verse. It encapsulates the person that’s totally sold out. And a complete servant to the Lord, and willing to even sacrifice his life. I’m not there, you know. I I would want to say I am, but I’m striving. And that’s why I use that verse a lot in my own life, in my quiet time with the Lord, because that is the heart that I want to have. Is that it? Just full surrender. If I may another one, that’s very good, that was AB. Encouraging verse to my wife and I. We’re my son with my first born when he was four months, was diagnosed with infantile spasm, which is very bad prognosis. Most of those children end up with cerebral palsy and severe mental retardation. But God, it’s all different with my son. And I praise the Lord for that. But while we were going through that, we were young Christians. I had only been saved less than two years. That. Point and we got home. Somebody had given us for a wedding present. A James Dobson calendar is a day by day. Calendar that had verses on it. And the day we left to go to Charleston Medical from Greenville, several hours several. It was two week process where they were testing and trying to figure out what was wrong with them. We came back home and James won two and four. My brother encountered all joy. When you fall into diverse temptations knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience in verse 4. Let patients have their perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing and you know going through that. Trial literally cemented my wife and I’s relationship. My salvation through that, I was already saved at that point, enrolled at Bob Jones. But I realized at that point that there was nothing else I could do to serve Christ and so that that was a life changing. For me.

[MCG]

Wow. Now praise the Lord.

[Tony]

Sorry, that was long.

[Jay]

No, no, no. Praise the Lord. Absolutely. What’s the most convicting Scripture passage to you? Would it be the same, or do you have some different ones?

[Tony]

That one, it’s hard to get away from that one as a convicting one, you know. And also I kind of look at the verses as a lot of convicting. But let me think on that for two seconds. I would still say those verses in James are the ones that I I would say convict me the most.

[Jay]

OK, so if those are the same, then let’s flip it. What would be the most comforting scripture verse for you?

[Tony]

There’s so many in the Psalms you’re going to nail me down. This is going to part. There’s a lot that I go to in Psalms and. Believe it or not, I find well and this is a weird set of verses, but I find a lot comfort in Romans 6 and they’re both convicting and comforting and Romans 611 where it says likewise, wrecking yourself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive and to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. When I feel the temptations are the flesh. Rearing up is comforting to me to know. That I am dead. That man is dead with Christ. And if you go on to the next verse that says let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, they should obey it in the lusts thereof, right. And then the big one to me is 13. It says neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God. As those that are alive from the dead and your Members as instruments, as righteousness unto God, so the reckoning of my sin being nailed to the cross, that is a huge comfort.

[Jay]

Love that.

[MCG]

What would you say is your favorite Bible history or some would say Bible story?

[Tony]

This one wasn’t that hard for me. I can’t even teach on it or anything without getting choked up, but that is the story of Steven and axe. Yeah, that one just crushes me. I I’m getting a little tripped up. Not just even thinking about someone going through what he went through, but yet his words were that of Christ. Forgive them.

[MCG]

Oh wow.

[Tony]

For what they’re doing, you know all the way to his last breath, his approach was. To get people saved to ask God, to forgive that compassion. You know who’s powerful?

[Jay]

Absolutely. Last one, what is your favorite hymn of the faith?

[Tony]

Oh man, victory in Jesus. And can I tell? You why?

[Jay]

Sure, absolutely.

[Tony]

So I was newly saved. I quit my job. Everything I kind of gave up all the old self. I was a personal trainer. And one of my clients, I told him I was, you know, under if I share my testimony with him. And I said I’m leaving the gym. I’m just turning my back on this. And, you know, I would no longer be able to do this for you. And he said, what are you going to do? And I said, I don’t know yet. Well, he owned a Funeral Home. So I went and worked at a Funeral Home. And the first time I heard victory in Jesus was when I was working. A funeral. And it was a Filipino lady. Singing acapella out of graveside. Man, that puts you to your knees, and I’ve since then, anytime, you know, I go back to that time. It was just a sweet time for me. I was growing in the Lord and just having that victory in Jesus, that’s got to.

[MCG]

Be my favorite what you said, Stephen is also your favorite giant of the. Right.

[Tony]

Yes, absolutely. And I also think of the humility of Peter, you know they’re on the beach with Christ and Christ taking him back to his denial, you know? And then what Peter did after that very short pages after that, you know, Pentecost and being just totally transformed and being he’s another. The hero of my faith.

[MCG]

Alright, brother. Well, let’s wrap it up and tell us coke and barriers be removed in the life of others. Maybe just generally.

[Tony]

I think in general and for me, I can speak for me and how God has done it in my life and the first word that God impressed upon me upon my salvation was submission, and as the sanctification process is taking hold of me, that submission comes into play. Every time, as God reveals something and need to either add or take away, it’s a decision for me. To submit or to try to hold on and obviously submission is the correct way and be obedient. So my life that’s how God removes barriers.

[MCG]

Yeah, man. Well, Tony, it was a pleasure. Thank you for joining us on the removing various podcasts.

[Tony]

It was my pleasure. All the most. I appreciate you guys. Having me all.

[Jay]

Thank you so much for listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. Make sure to rate us everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, or Stitcher. Removing Barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

Thank you for listening. To get a hold of us to support this podcast or to learn more about Removing Barriers. Go to: removingbarriers.net. This has been the removing barriers podcast. We attempted to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.