The Trouble with Jesus – Constance Hastings
The Trouble with Jesus
Constance Hastings
Many people struggle with believing in the salvation of Jesus due to misconceptions about biblical stories that seem contradictory or difficult to reconcile with our modern understanding. Stories like the resurrection, miraculous healings, or God’s timing in answering prayers can feel distant or implausible. These misunderstandings often stem from taking passages out of context or viewing Scripture through a purely literal or skeptical lens.
Our guest today has decided to take on these misconceptions – and she did so by writing a book about them. Amen!
Constance Hastings, an award-winning educator, mental health counselor, and ordained minister. Constance is the author of “The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away,” a thought-provoking book that addresses the doubts and barriers many face in their faith journey and helps to provide some of those answers people are seeking.
Whether you’re firm in your faith or questioning it, this episode is sure to inspire and encourage you.
With all of that being said, help me welcome to the program, Constance Hastings! Constance, it is a blessing to have you join us today! I have been looking forward to this conversation!
First question I always ask is this… other than that brief information I just shared, can you tell us in your own words, “Who is Constance Hastings?”
Can you share a pivotal moment in your journey where you struggled to reconcile doubt with belief?
What misconceptions about Jesus or biblical stories do you think most often hinder people from embracing faith?
You discuss barriers people place against God—what are some common ones, and how can they be overcome?
Why do you think Jesus’ life and message continue to be so controversial?
What do you hope readers take away about Jesus from the title The Trouble with Jesus?
How does the story of Mary and Martha help us understand God’s timing in our lives?
What do you say to someone who feels their life’s struggles are evidence of God’s absence?
I guess that leads me to my next question… What role does a person’s willingness to be vulnerable play in developing a deeper relationship with Jesus?
How can someone who may be in a place of deep skepticism, how can they take their first step toward discovering the answers they seek?
Constance, this has been so interesting. How can someone obtain a copy of your book, “The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away.” I take it is available on Amazon?
If someone has a question or would like to get more information, how can they do that? How can they get in touch with you?
I’ll put all of this in the show notes below.
Folks, today we have had a great conversation. I love what Constance has shared with us about her book, “The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away.” Constance has shared some misconceptions about Jesus and some of the Biblical stories. She has provided some insight into situations where some may have skepticism, doubts and misconceptions about Jesus, the Bible and Salvation. I think, if you paid attention, she addressed these issues today. Praise God!
I want to recommend you drop down into the show notes and click the links right there to reach out to Constance. Check out her website, the blog… the blog is awesome – I did not have time to go into some of the articles there… but you need to check it out… Amen.
Be sure to order her book, “The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away.” This book is a great read and I highly recommend it as something that SOMEONE you know may enjoy as a Christmas present. Amen!
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Email: cmhncc11@gmail.com
Website: https://constancehastings.com/
Go the website and enter CODE: KingdomCrossRoads to receive 20% off!
Book: “The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away” – on Amazon
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Transcript
Welcome to the Kingdom Crossroads podcast with Pastor Bob Thibodeau.
Pastor Bob Thibodeau:Pastor Bob conducts personal interviews with Christian influencers from around the globe, helping Christian authors, recording artists, CEOs, entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and yes, pastors and ministry leaders to get the word out about what they are doing to impact the world with the gospel.
Pastor Bob Thibodeau:Our podcast has been rated in the top 12% of all podcasts in the world by listennotes.com so you know your message will be heard.
Pastor Bob Thibodeau:Now here is your host with today's interview, Pastor Bob Thibodeau.
:Hello everyone everywhere.
:Pastor Bob Thibodeau here.
:Welcome to the Kingdom Crossroads podcast.
:Today we're so blessed you're joining us.
:You know, many people struggle with believing in the salvation of Jesus due to some misconceptions about biblical stories that may seem contradictory or difficult to reconcile with our modern understanding.
:Amen.
:Stories like the resurrection, miraculous healings, God's timing and answering prayers, that it can feel distant or even implausible.
:And these misunderstandings often stem from taking passages just out of context or viewing scripture through a purely literal or skeptical lens.
:Well, our guest today has decided to take on these misconceptions and she did so by writing a book all about them.
:Amen.
:Constance Hastings is an award winning educator, mental health counselor and ordained minister.
:She's also the author of the Trouble with Jesus Considerations before you walk away, a thought provoking book that addresses the doubts and barriers many people face in their faith journey and helps to provide some of those answers that people are seeking.
:Amen.
:So whether you're firm in your faith or question it, this episode is one that you want to listen to because it's going to inspire and encourage you.
:Amen.
:With all that being said, help me.
:Welcome to the program Constance Hastings.
:Constance, it's a blessing to have you join us today.
:I've been looking forward to our conversation.
Constance Hastings:And so have I, Pastor Bob.
Constance Hastings:I'm blessed too.
:Amen.
:Now, the first question I always ask is this.
:Other than that brief information I just shared, can you tell us in your own words, who is Constance Hastings?
Constance Hastings:I am one of these people that should not be here today.
Constance Hastings:I was raised in a family that was not particularly religious.
Constance Hastings:And as it was though and the area in which we lived and at the time the schools were being desegregated, my parents did not want me involved in that.
Constance Hastings:So they decided to send me to a small Christian school right down the street that wasn't too expensive as it was.
Constance Hastings:It was at that school that I received my faith.
Constance Hastings:And at the age of Seven on my knees, accepted Jesus into my heart.
Constance Hastings:God took hold of me then, and I can absolutely trace how he has held me and brought me here to this place.
Constance Hastings:And I sit here now as one with a measure of faith that does struggle at times.
Constance Hastings:To be honest, I think we all have those points.
Constance Hastings:But every time I struggle, God takes me.
Constance Hastings:The Holy Spirit grabs me.
Constance Hastings:I become stronger, and I know that God has purpose for me.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:That's good.
:And that's something that all of us need to get to the point where we can do that.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:Well, can you share with us a pivotal moment in your journey where you struggle just to reconcile doubt with your faith?
Constance Hastings:Certainly.
Constance Hastings:It was actually the night before Thanksgiving one year, about 12 years ago, that my sister called and said our father had had a major stroke and he would not walk or talk again.
Constance Hastings:That brought me to a place where I didn't know what God was going to do.
Constance Hastings:Yeah, as it was, my father, as I said, had not been religious.
Constance Hastings:He came to church occasionally, but only because my son was playing in the church band or something of that nature and did not have any kind of faith.
Constance Hastings:At the hospital a couple days later, I was leaning over his bed and I was.
Constance Hastings:I was wearing a cross and it kind of dangled down in front of his line of vision, and he.
Constance Hastings:His eyes focused on it.
Constance Hastings:And even though he couldn't speak, and the doctors actually told us at that point, he.
Constance Hastings:He had no words, no concepts.
Constance Hastings:He focused on it and then looked away.
Constance Hastings:He was later, in the next few days, placed into hospice care.
Constance Hastings:And a nurse came to me and she said, this is the time when people have their last conversations with God.
Constance Hastings:And I prayed so hard that God would speak to him.
Constance Hastings:The night before he died, I was the only one there in the hospital.
Constance Hastings:And I sat there, I spoke to him, I rubbed his arms, I prayed over him.
Constance Hastings:But it came to the point where I knew that my love and my prayers were not going to change.
Constance Hastings:And it was time to say goodbye.
Constance Hastings:As I was leaving the room, that same nurse came in and she started talking.
Constance Hastings:And it turned out that her children went to that same Christian school that I'd been sent to decades earlier.
Constance Hastings:And I told her about how that school was responsible for my salvation and how that night, as a seven year old, on my knees, I prayed that Jesus would forgive me and relieve me of this guilt that I felt in being responsible for his death.
Constance Hastings:And immediately I had the sensation that this.
Constance Hastings:This burden was lifted from me.
Constance Hastings:Years later, I read Pilgrim's Progress.
Constance Hastings:And you may remember when Pilgrim was stood at the cross and he repented, the same sort of thing happened.
Constance Hastings:And I knew, I knew that's what had happened to me that night.
Constance Hastings:That was my, my salvation.
Constance Hastings:So in that place then I left.
Constance Hastings:And as I was walking out, I.
Constance Hastings:The thought occurred to me that one of the last things my father heard from me was my salvation story.
Constance Hastings:And in that, then I, I just praised God and I was given such a confidence that he was able to have that last conversation with God and that God took him into his arms and redeemed him in that place.
Constance Hastings:That's what the grace of God does.
Constance Hastings:The grace of God never leaves us, always calls us, and is irresistible when we come to that place where we let down all those obstacles that we have before him.
:Yeah.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:And, and then the peace that passes all understanding just surrounds you.
Constance Hastings:Amen.
Constance Hastings:Amen.
:And you just rest in that.
:Thank you, Lord.
:Praise you, Jesus.
:Amen.
:Hallelujah.
:What?
:What?
:You know, your book talks about misconceptions.
:What misconceptions about Jesus or biblical stories do you think most people often hinder them from embracing their faith?
Constance Hastings:I think it is because ultimately we are born with a sense that we need to have control and to give God control takes a measure of faith and trust that we don't inherently have.
Constance Hastings:It has to.
Constance Hastings:We have to come to that point of decision, of making that choice.
Constance Hastings:And our culture doesn't, doesn't teach us that.
Constance Hastings:Our culture says that we're the ones that should be in charge and we're the ones who should be able to control and take everything.
Constance Hastings:I saw this most poignantly in the 18 years in which I had a faith based counseling practice that people struggled so much and it was so hard for many of them to be able to, to rest those burdens and to be able to turn to God and understand that God's ways, God's plan, God's purpose is greater than we could ever think of or even imagine.
:Yeah, that's.
:That's so true.
:That's so true.
:And people continue to put basically barriers up around their life.
:You know, you discuss in your book barriers people place against God.
:What are some of the common ones and how can those over the barriers be overcome?
Constance Hastings:People listen to what they want to listen to and they'll believe what they want to believe.
Constance Hastings:So they direct themselves into this place where they only look for what they, what affirms what they want.
Constance Hastings:And a lot of times, again, that comes down to control.
Constance Hastings:And we don't want to understand that God is the one that's in control.
Constance Hastings:You know, we're talking about from creation, you know, to our death and what God asks of us to be able to have eternity with him.
Constance Hastings:And that's the major thing, you know, certainly in our culture, in the American society, power is very big.
Constance Hastings:We all want to have that power.
Constance Hastings:We want to grasp it and control it and not relinquish it, but.
Constance Hastings:And, you know, to become that servant as Christ showed us.
Constance Hastings:You know, one of my favorite quotes is when Jesus says, I can't come to.
Constance Hastings:Not to.
Constance Hastings:Wait a minute.
:Let me.
Constance Hastings:Give me a minute.
Constance Hastings:Okay?
Constance Hastings:I come to serve, not to be served, and to give my life as a ransom for many.
Constance Hastings:That is the life of Jesus Christ in, you know, less than 20 words.
:That's right.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:And, you know, as you said, that is what brings about, I guess you call it the.
:The adversarial reaction when you try and share the gospel.
:You know, why do you think that the message of Jesus continues to be so controversial with people?
:Is it because they don't want to give up control?
Constance Hastings:Yeah.
Constance Hastings:Yes, it.
Constance Hastings:Primarily that.
Constance Hastings:That is it.
Constance Hastings:And as you think about it, you know, what Jesus said was so radical.
Constance Hastings:You know, people think it's wonderful to say that Jesus said, love your neighbor, but for Jesus to say, love your enemy, that's.
Constance Hastings:That's hard to swallow.
Constance Hastings:You know, when he was talking about calling, when he called his followers Jesus, I have a whole chapter on this.
Constance Hastings:The trouble with Jesus was he chose losers.
Constance Hastings:He didn't go for the people that were the movers and shakers of the world.
Constance Hastings:And he did not want to enter into the religious or political realms in order to bring about his movement.
Constance Hastings:He came not to change the world as much as to change hearts.
Constance Hastings:And that is not what the world aims for.
:Yeah, amen.
:That's true.
:And from your book, what do you hope readers will take away about Jesus?
:And just.
:I mean, just from the title, the Trouble with Jesus, what.
:What do you hope they take away?
Constance Hastings:Admittedly, the trouble of Jesus is edgy and it's deliberately so.
Constance Hastings:And the book begins with a voice that is one that is challenging of Jesus.
Constance Hastings:We.
Constance Hastings:We need to recognize in some respects that that's healthy and that God can answer that If.
Constance Hastings:If we allow him in that regard to.
Constance Hastings:Jesus came to meet that trouble.
Constance Hastings:He was born into trouble, he brought some trouble.
Constance Hastings:He, you know, caused some trouble.
Constance Hastings:And all of this converged to bring about the greatest trouble.
Constance Hastings:And that was his crucifixion, his death.
Constance Hastings:But Jesus overcame that trouble through his resurrection.
Constance Hastings:And that new life that he showed us is so possible, is also possible in us.
Constance Hastings:Yes, we will die, but like Jesus, we will have a resurrection of spirit that will continue on and be with God forever.
:Yeah, Amen.
:Amen.
:And you know, some people get born again like you when you were 7 years old.
:And they're like me when I was 37 years old.
:And you know, some people, my dad at 67 years old, you know, I mean, so yeah, it's all.
:There is no time or space with God.
:Put it like that.
:And, you know, you, in your book, you talk about the story of Mary and Martha.
:So help us go over that story and help us understand God's timing in our lives.
Constance Hastings:I, I love the story of Mary and Martha when their brother Lazarus had died.
Constance Hastings:And those who are familiar with it, you know that Jesus waited four days after hearing that Lazarus was sick before he, he came to, back to Bethany to be with them.
Constance Hastings:Lazarus had passed away.
Constance Hastings:And Jesus comes, comes in and Martha approaches him and says, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Constance Hastings:You can hear in that, this, this challenge that she has, that she's, she's actually trying to tell the Son of God what, what he should have done.
Constance Hastings:And then she goes on, she says, but I know that God will give you whatever you ask.
Constance Hastings:So she's telling the Son of God what to do.
Constance Hastings:Okay, don't we do that in our prayers?
Constance Hastings:We say, God, you need to do.
Constance Hastings:Okay, to be fair, we pray those kinds of prayers when we are in deep anguish and hurt and pain and fear.
Constance Hastings:But what Jesus says to her is, I am the resurrection and the life.
Constance Hastings:Do you believe this?
Constance Hastings:And that question is posed to all of us later.
Constance Hastings:Mary comes, and Mary says the same thing to Jesus at Martha.
Constance Hastings:It said, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Constance Hastings:And Jesus standing there at Lazarus tomb, he weeps.
Constance Hastings:Shortest verse in the Bible yet.
Constance Hastings:We need to understand that while we can see in that a sense of the Son of God, understanding the grief that we have when we lose someone that we love, he also was crying because people didn't understand who he was as Messiah.
Constance Hastings:And, you know, whether it be to overthrow Rome or to tell him what to do, what kind of miracles to perform and so forth, he was really struggling with that in that regard.
Constance Hastings:And yes, he did call Lazarus forth.
Constance Hastings:And yes, great rejoicing, big miracle.
Constance Hastings:But miracles, particularly in the Gospel of John, are meant to be signs they point to something greater than what they are, are what they seem to be.
Constance Hastings:And that's what this was.
Constance Hastings:It was pointing towards what Jesus would later do actually, not maybe with less than two weeks after that, that he will also would die, but would.
Constance Hastings:Would rise again.
Constance Hastings:And that, that's the.
Constance Hastings:The miracle that when we can come to a place of belief and trust and acceptance, that God wants to do that in our lives.
Constance Hastings:Abundant living.
Constance Hastings:Yes.
Constance Hastings:And how we are changed and transformed by him and eternity is.
Constance Hastings:Is the greater part of the story there.
:Yep.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:Well put.
:You know, and there's people listening to us right now, as you said earlier, you know, they're struggling.
:You know, could be health, relationships, finances, whatever the case may be.
:And they've prayed and nothing's changed.
:And they're saying, this is proof God, he's not with me.
:You know, you say, I'm always with you.
:Well, how come this hasn't changed?
:You know, what do you say to someone who feels like their life struggles are proof that God's absent in their life?
Constance Hastings:I write about in the book, part of the story of when the Father came to.
Constance Hastings:To Jesus with a son who, as we read it today, apparently was having some kind of seizures, possibly epileptic seizures.
Constance Hastings:And he tells Jesus, you know, Jesus says, do you believe I can heal him?
Constance Hastings:And he says, lord, I believe.
Constance Hastings:Help my unbelief.
Constance Hastings:And when we're in those places, it's not that we don't believe that God can do what we desperately hope he might do, but we have that point of, will God do this?
Constance Hastings:Will this be in his according and perfect will?
Constance Hastings:It's a tough place to sit.
Constance Hastings:And, and I can.
Constance Hastings:I don't want to go into specifics, but right now with my family, I sit in that place and just again, pray.
Constance Hastings:Praying and asking, waiting and watching.
Constance Hastings:Yet, as someone has also said that when we pray, it's not meant.
Constance Hastings:Prayer is not meant to have God move where we want God to move.
Constance Hastings:But prayer is a place where we move closer to God.
Constance Hastings:And for whatever reason that God may be saying to us, wait, no, I have something better planned.
Constance Hastings:God is also increasing and strengthening our beliefs and our trust.
Constance Hastings:And we can hang on to that.
Constance Hastings:We can hang on to that.
Constance Hastings:True, some things we pray for might not ever happen within our lives, but that doesn't mean that it won't and that God won't have more beyond that.
:Yeah.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:I guess that leads me to my next question.
:What role does a person's willingness just to be vulnerable, especially when you're in prayer before God.
:What role does that play in developing that deeper relationship with Jesus?
Constance Hastings:It also has been said that when we pray and when we humble ourselves before God, Jesus draws near.
Constance Hastings:And in that he hears us, he listens to us.
Constance Hastings:All of heaven reverberates with our cries.
Constance Hastings:The Holy Spirit groans for us in those places.
Constance Hastings:And if you stay in that place of understanding, you can have that kind of confidence that God is working in this and God will do what God does and praise him for it.
Constance Hastings:As Jesus says, if you believe, your prayers will be heard.
Constance Hastings:And it puts us in that place of expectation that I'm praying this now, but I know God has already done this in God's own way and to stay in that grace that we have on him.
:Yeah.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:And there's someone listening right now.
:They may be skeptical of everything we're talking about.
:How can someone who may be in that place of deep skepticism, how can they take their first step towards actually discovering the answers that they're seeking?
Constance Hastings:It comes with an honest and open concept of what you're doing, that if you're going to go before God, God will answer.
Constance Hastings:But like all of us, God might not bring an answer that we want, but God will bring the best answer that we can.
Constance Hastings:Again, too many times people fall back on that.
Constance Hastings:Well, you know, why did God let something happen?
Constance Hastings:How come God allowed that?
Constance Hastings:And goodness gracious, you know, not a day goes by when that kind of question can't, can't be asked in our own family.
Constance Hastings:When I came to the family, my father in law had Parkinson's disease.
Constance Hastings:In the early 50s he had been a very successful and loved pastor.
Constance Hastings:But at the age of 40, he developed Parkinson's disease.
Constance Hastings:And in the 50s they didn't have the, the treatments or medications they have today.
Constance Hastings:And he very quickly deteriorated.
Constance Hastings:When I came to the family, he was bedridden, he was catatonic, he never ever spoke my name.
Constance Hastings:He lived for 38 years though, with Parkinson's disease.
Constance Hastings:And my mother in law was in our family, a saint.
Constance Hastings:She cared for him the whole time at home.
Constance Hastings:And we all know that he lived because of her love.
Constance Hastings:Even so, it was a struggle for all of us at one point or another to say, why God?
Constance Hastings:Here's someone who was serving you.
Constance Hastings:Why did you let this happen to him?
Constance Hastings:Why did you bring this upon the family?
Constance Hastings:And my husband was only 12 years old.
Constance Hastings:My sister in law was only a baby.
Constance Hastings:Why?
Constance Hastings:And that kind of question, why God is an Honest question.
Constance Hastings:But maybe it's not the question that we need to be asking.
Constance Hastings:It's more like, what, God, what are you going to do now?
Constance Hastings:Take me through this.
Constance Hastings:Bring us to.
Constance Hastings:Bring me to that place where I can see your plan, your purpose, and ultimately your glory.
:Yeah.
:Yeah.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:It's interesting you say not it shouldn't be why, but what.
:And you know, when I was in the military, that was my career choice.
:That's what I was going to do.
:And from time I was 14 years old, that's all I was going to do and was being successful in the enlisted ranks and is being promoted quickly.
:And.
:And after nine years, I decided I'm just going to go to ocs, become a commissioned officer.
:And I did that successfully.
:And I had it all timed out.
:I knew, you know, my education wasn't going to be high enough to get promoted anything above captain, you know, but with the regulations and the way they work back then, all I had to do is make captain.
:And by the time I got passed over twice for major, I was already over eight, like 18 and a half years.
:So they just locked me in for 20 and that's where I'd retire at.
:Unfortunately, that's back when they.
:Before the first Gulf War and they had too many people in the military and they decided, well, we're just going to start cutting back.
:And they started with the officer corps and I did not even get promoted to captain.
:So I got called into the.
:Went in with eight years left to go and thinking, you know, this, you know, well, I'll get.
:I'm not going to make the first captain's list.
:But everybody made the second one and called me in the colonel's office and he said he didn't make the list.
:I said, I know, no problem, I've got the next one.
:He goes, there isn't going to be a next one.
:The Secretary of the army waived the next one.
:You have to go to personnel and start out processing.
:And my entire career would disappeared that fast.
:And it was, why?
:Why God?
:Why God?
:Why God?
:And I mean, I spiraled down fast.
:And it was about five or six years later the question went from why?
:To, okay, what do you want me to do?
:And then I was led.
:That was::I got called into the ministry and, you know, here we are today.
:And I and my wife and I had this conversation sometimes.
:And I'll say, if he would have just let me go, I might not even be here today because of all the War, you know, the 20 years of war and all that.
:And, you know, we might not be married.
:I definitely wouldn't be in the ministry, you know, but he had to separate me from my love so he could become my first love and that, you know, and I, I'm speaking 100% honest.
:If he had not have just abruptly cut that off, I would not be sitting here talking to you today.
:as I entered the ministry in::My board of directors asked me at all, how can you just sit there?
:This is the grace God's given me.
:This is what I do, you know, and, you know, so I just praise God for that separation.
:It was not fun, you know, but it was not my goal in life.
:But he had other plans and he finally got my attention, and sometimes that's what it takes.
:So I, I agree with what you just said.
:100.
Constance Hastings:And speaking of God getting your attention, there are many times when in our life we, we have these people that we love but who have placed such obstacles before God.
Constance Hastings:And I've come to the place of praying God, do what you have to do, get their attention.
Constance Hastings:And I can pray that in confidence because I look at the life of Paul and we all know that Paul was, you know, absolutely committed to destroying any belief in Jesus Christ to the point of persecution and actually executing people for their belief.
:That's right.
Constance Hastings:And look at what God did, you know, right there on that road to Damascus, smacked him down and, you know, appeared to him and said, you're coming with me.
Constance Hastings:And that's what God can do.
Constance Hastings:So sometimes when people are in these places and they don't know what is going on here.
Constance Hastings:I planned for this all my life.
Constance Hastings:I thought this is what it was supposed to be.
Constance Hastings:It's because God is calling us to something else and something greater and something that will bring us to a place of wholeness and purpose.
Constance Hastings:Life is not going to be perfect, but when you have purpose, you have a way of living that life as you're supposed to and having the strength to do it in whatever does come your way.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:Well, guys, this has been so interesting.
:How can someone obtain a copy of your book, the Trouble with Jesus Considerations before you walk away?
:I take it it's available on Amazon?
Constance Hastings:Ah, yes, it is.
Constance Hastings:And it was a.
Constance Hastings:Here's a copy of it.
Constance Hastings:Actually, it's available wherever you love to buy books.
Constance Hastings:Just go in and ask for it.
Constance Hastings:I always say support your local bookstores.
Constance Hastings:I also have a companion blog that goes along with a book also called the Trouble with Jesus.
Constance Hastings:You can find it@constant hastings.com and if you go on there and email me, I will send to anyone who emails me and puts in the subject line Kingdom Crossroads code to order the book at a 20% discount.
:Oh, amen.
Constance Hastings:And yeah, my publisher provides that if you order up to if you order $40 or more, you get free shipping.
Constance Hastings:And here's the, here's the best blessing.
Constance Hastings:The publisher also provides within the book a QR code.
Constance Hastings:And if you go in and download that and fill out the information, in addition to the print copy, you can also get a digital copy of the book.
Constance Hastings:So I think this is a pretty good job.
Constance Hastings:But as I said, I will send you a code for 20% off and you can have the book.
Constance Hastings:And my prayer is especially for those who are believers and have that person in their life.
Constance Hastings:Yes, pray for them until your knees are bloodied.
Constance Hastings:Yes, keep that relationship strong, even if sometimes you have to keep your, you know, mouth shut.
Constance Hastings:You know, keep that love in front of you.
Constance Hastings:But pray for the time when you may be able to give the per that person this book and say, you know what, if you'll read this, could we have a conversation and allow the Holy Spirit, though, to present that choice to them and take that person where God would have them be?
Constance Hastings:As I said in the grace of God, it might not happen immediately, but God won't ever let them go because Jesus never walks away from us.
:That's right.
:I've heard many a pastor say the only reason they're there is because their mama or their grandma refused to give up today.
:Stay before God's face.
:And, and one day he said, why are you doing this?
:Why me?
:He says, because your mama won't get out of my.
Constance Hastings:I'll be that mama.
:Well, I'll put all this information the show notes down below.
:Praise God, folks.
:Today we have had a great conversation.
:I love what Constance shared with us about her book the Trouble with Jesus Considerations.
:Before you walk away, Constance has shared some misconceptions about Jesus and some of the biblical stories we read.
:She's provided some great insights into situations where some may have skepticism or doubts and misconceptions about Jesus, the Bible, what salvation is.
:I think, though, if you paid attention, she addressed those issues today.
:Amen.
:Praise God.
:I want to recommend you drop down the show notes.
:Click the links right there.
:Reach out to Constance, check out the website, check out the blog.
:And the blog is awesome.
:Oh, I didn't have time to go in some of the articles I read there.
:Praise God.
:But you need to go check it out.
:Amen.
:And be sure to order a book, the Trouble with Jesus considerations before you walk away.
:I'll put the.
:The code down below in the show notes as well.
:So you get 20 off, you order it through a website.
:Hallelujah.
:And, you know, like I said, reach out to her.
:And this, this book, this will answer so many questions.
:It's a great resource that you.
:Like she said, when someone says, I've been thinking about this, I'm just not sure.
:Pass off the book to them.
:Amen.
:He got Christmas coming up.
:Buy half a dozen of them and pass them out as Christmas presents.
:Amen.
:Even if they don't read it, it'll be there.
:And someday God may say, you know why?
:Why go get that book that you got two years ago for Christmas.
:And it'll be there for.
:That's what I love about books.
:Because it's there.
:It's there handy right there.
:I got so many bookshelves full right now.
:My grandson comes in and says, papa, did you.
:Do you read all these books?
:I go some of them more than once.
:Amen.
:Amen.
:Oh, Casa.
:Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to join us today.
:I do appreciate it, and thank you, Bob.
Constance Hastings:It's been great being with you.
:Amen.
:Folks, that's all the time we have for today for Constance Hastings, myself, Pastor Bob, reminding you to be blessed in all that you do.
Pastor Bob Thibodeau:Thank you for listening to today's episode of the Kingdom Crossroads podcast.
Pastor Bob Thibodeau:Please subscribe to our podcast so you can be notified when another episode episode is published.
Pastor Bob Thibodeau:interviews and:Pastor Bob Thibodeau:Please visit our website@www.podcastersforchrist.com.
Pastor Bob Thibodeau:that web address again is www.podcastersforchrist.Com.
Pastor Bob Thibodeau:for more information, until next time, be blessed in all that you do.