Ricky Jackson | Stories — Transcript

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1. 0:00my name's Ricky Jackson jr. I grew up in
2. 0:02old town called normal in North Carolina
3. 0:04about an hour and 15 minutes away from
4. 0:06Charlotte my family has been coming to
5. 0:08car central for about a year my mother
6. 0:12and father came to faith at an early age
7. 0:14and I grew up in church I knew the word
8. 0:17I was always involved in church I knew
9. 0:19all the popular Bible stories and it was
10. 0:23more of what you did when you lived in
11. 0:26the south everyone went to church
12. 0:27everybody was a Christian middle school
13. 0:29high school that's when things started
14. 0:30to change we still wouldn't hurt right
15. 0:32you literally became really involved in
16. 0:36extracurricular activities and sports
17. 0:38and different academic clubs and
18. 0:41probably about the age of 16 17 Ricky
19. 0:46wanted to do with Ricky want it to do so
20. 0:48church wasn't really a main stay I knew
21. 0:52was something I needed to do so I
22. 0:54continued to go to church but being a
23. 0:56Christian to me was really from 10 to 12
24. 0:59on Sundays Jesus was a concept to me he
25. 1:02was a person I made him a lot smaller
26. 1:06than he really is it was more yeah I
27. 1:08know Jesus he wants us to do good things
28. 1:10and be good people and we'll get into
29. 1:12heaven and if we're good enough maybe
30. 1:13he'll give us some money or something as
31. 1:15well here on earth to make us happy but
32. 1:17he was more of like Santa Claus instead
33. 1:19of God as far as when Ricky decided to
34. 1:25do a trick he wanted to do I don't think
35. 1:27there's really a huge change in between
36. 1:28my friends and who I hung out with it
37. 1:31was more of well my friends are doing
38. 1:35this I'll go hang out and do what
39. 1:38they're doing and I want friends I don't
40. 1:40want to be the odd person out and Jesus
41. 1:43really didn't have this mainstay
42. 1:45position in my life again it was really
43. 1:48just a concept you went the sunday you
44. 1:50knew God was God in Jesus with Jesus and
45. 1:53like you should do good things but it
46. 1:57was more I want to do what I want to do
47. 2:00instead of doing with the Bible tells me
48. 2:01I should do I'll pray about it on sunday
49. 2:03and it'll be okay cause he'll forgives
50. 2:05me that's what he does it's grace and
51. 2:08then I'll go do that one again what I
52. 2:11wanted doing that time of wife
53. 2:12wanted friends and money and girls and
54. 2:16the things that the world tells you you
55. 2:18need in order to be happy and successful
56. 2:20so I did really good in school I had a
57. 2:22really good job when the chapel hill
58. 2:25graduated got a really good job after
59. 2:29graduation and I made a lot of money
60. 2:30really young and it calls me to do some
61. 2:33really stupid things it's been a lot of
62. 2:34money and things that people should not
63. 2:39spend their money on going places just
64. 2:41blowing it seems like the more money I
65. 2:43made the less I had really kind of came
66. 2:46to a head when I was leaving the job got
67. 2:50started after college and when I was one
68. 2:52of my buddies and the next morning I
69. 2:54woke up in a ditch saj strip club and
70. 2:57walking back to his hotel room to get my
71. 3:02car God really spoke to me r gave me
72. 3:07this feeling of Ricky what you're doing
73. 3:09it's not what I've called you to do you
74. 3:11know better you know who i am and the
75. 3:14lifestyle that you're leading could have
76. 3:17ended up a lot worse but I spared you
77. 3:19and that's really when I saved my
78. 3:21conversion if you can pinpoint it on a
79. 3:23single point in time was was that long
80. 3:27walk back down Woodruff Road in
81. 3:31Greenville South Carolina that point in
82. 3:35time going forward there has been more
83. 3:38ups than downs because through him
84. 3:42working in my life and just the
85. 3:44sanctification and regeneration that
86. 3:46I've experienced really putting the
87. 3:51lessons that you learned as a child and
88. 3:53the stories that you're here you that
89. 3:55you think are just fables or tall tells
90. 3:57really come to life and when that
91. 4:02conversion happens and you start to put
92. 4:05your faith and your trust in Jesus you
93. 4:08start walking according to the Bible not
94. 4:11nothing that I did or Ricky said yes I'm
95. 4:14going to be a good person now but those
96. 4:16are things that you want to do and then
97. 4:18you surround yourself with a good
98. 4:20bible-believing Church that teaches the
99. 4:22truth and love and grace community is a
100. 4:25huge part
101. 4:26art of not only my life and my growth in
102. 4:29christ but really any question because
103. 4:31that's what we call to do were called to
104. 4:33be in community to pray for one another
105. 4:35to care for one another to edify each
106. 4:38other build each other up God has
107. 4:40definitely been teaching me about
108. 4:42patience a lot of patience and really
109. 4:47work weight waiting on him to make the
110. 4:51mousse and a lot of humility as well of
111. 4:57knowing that he is in control and that
112. 5:03the things that I thought I wanted again
113. 5:05been an American and having the luxuries
114. 5:08that we have we tend to put a lot of
115. 5:10faith and trust and what we're able to
116. 5:12accomplish grabbing ourselves while
117. 5:15bootstraps and living the American dream
118. 5:19and he's called me to ministry will be
119. 5:25attending seminary next year pursuing my
120. 5:29call as a pastor and probably the
121. 5:33biggest changes i'll go back the chapel
122. 5:35hill and i'll take my wife and show me
123. 5:38some of my old friends and i'll say this
124. 5:40is ricky this isn't the ricky i remember
125. 5:43and sometimes that made me feel bad well
126. 5:45no I'm still the same God and then I
127. 5:47realized no I really am a completely
128. 5:49person different person than I was when
129. 5:52I was in college and shortly out there