Q&A with Koloff - #37

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Welcome back to the Q&A with Kolov, and typically I'm pretty excited. I'm pretty over the top on these introductions when it comes to interviewing and introducing my guest. And today it's with a little heavier heart, Jeff Padgett, a long-time friend of mine, dear, dear friend.

He was part of my Bible study for quite some time. Since recording this show, Q&A with Kolov, he has since passed on and went on to be with the Lord. And so the questions he's going to ask today, until I meet him again one day in heaven, he won't get to ask me any more questions. So I hope you find this show today extra special.

This is a little different format here because I get placed in the hot seat. In other words, you know, you the listener get to, we get to talk. We get to converse and whether you're a wrestling fan or maybe someone in ministry or even just a friend, we're going to talk and we're going to say, and I'm going to give you the opportunity to ask me the questions. And with me today on Q&A with Kolov, Jeff Padgett, Jewelry Mind, entrepreneur, welcome, Jeff, to the Q&A with Kolov. Thanks, Nikita.

Glad to be here. And, you know, we've had you on the Man Up show and so it's great to have you on this one as well, Jeff. And if you have not listened to that interview, that discussion that Jeff and I had, I would encourage you go back and to the archives and listen to the Man Up show with Jeff Padgett and incredible story. I mean, just amazing how God is using this man as an entrepreneur, taking his jewelry store down to Carolina Mall in Concord, North Carolina, and just using that as a, really, I know we said platform before, but just daily opportunities, Jeff, right, to just minister to people as they come in and out of your store down there at the Carolina Mall?

Jeff Padgett As much as we'll give the Holy Spirit liberty to use us, He will use us. Darrell Bock You know, and I know you and I talked on that show about, you know, being nudged of the Lord and just prompted when somebody comes across our path. You know, it can be out and about.

It doesn't have to be at the jewelry store. I mean, it can be at a restaurant, right? It can be anywhere at an autograph signing. There are times that I've been at an autograph signing, and the Lord has prompted me to, like, for example, pray for somebody.

Hey, pray for this person. And in fact, I'm thinking of one example right now where this guy, I was up in the Northeast, I think New Jersey, doing an autograph signing up there, and the Lord prompted me. And a number of years later, five, six, seven years later, you know, he and I have become friends. He's, you know, he follows me on social media, etc. But we've become friends because the Lord prompted me to pray for him as a fan of wrestling. And now we're friends. Have you found that to be true for yourself?

Dr. Darrell Bock I have. And in that obedience is better than sacrifice, we spend a lot of our energy trying to work for, do things for God. And often that's not nearly as beneficial to God as just being obedient to what you hear him saying to do right now.

Dr. Darrell Bock Walk in obedience. And let me say this, too. Sometimes, no matter how crazy it sounds, right, because it can sound like the craziest thing, you go, God, I ain't doing that. Like, you're filling up your, you know, you're at the gas station, God says, hey, go over and pray for that guy at pump number seven. You're like, and tell him this.

You're like, God, I am not telling that. That man's going to think I'm off my rocker. That man don't even know me, right? Have you ever had that experience? Something like that?

Dr. Darrell Bock I have, but that brings to mind something that I hope answers that question. I was walking into the mall years ago, 15 years ago, maybe, and a young man outside of the mall made a derogatory comment toward me. Well, I returned that comment in a pretty negative light. He returned the comment. I returned the comment.

It did not end terribly, but it ended with bad words. As I enter the mall, I look to the left and I see a young girl in a wheelchair and I hear God prompt me, go over, ask her, can you pray for her? I said, God, didn't you just see what I did outside? I can't do that. I'm, I can't do that. I just can't. I mean, I was just mad.

I was angry with this guy outside. I fell short of the mark. I did, no pun intended. And I said, no God. And I walked by and I went into our store in the mall and about two hours later, God said very clearly to me, he said, you still think it's about you, don't you? You think you can pray enough? You think you can read scripture enough? You can be holy enough? He said, it's not about you.

It's all about me. And that let me know that it was simply Christ and him being washed in the blood, whose authority that I can pray in, not my own goodness. Man. Yeah. You just made me think about checking all the boxes.

Yeah. I checked this bar, read my Bible today. I said my prayers today. I listened to my worship today. I prayed today. Yeah, I did. Right.

Did all the things right, right. But the other thing that, that prompts me, that makes me think about what he says, well, one, there are no perfect people. So yeah, there may be times we get angry or say the wrong words to it, to another person, but that doesn't disqualify us from still being an instrument in the hands of God.

Right. And then how many times, the other thing, we're going to move on here in a minute, because you get to ask me questions today, is how many, how many missed opportunities, right? God prompts you to go pray for the girl in the wheelchair. And you're like, no, I'm not doing that. I already screwed up outside. I messed up. And, and, and now we beat ourselves up. Right.

So I wonder how many, there's no telling how many missed opportunities that we have had where we could really be a blessing to somebody else. So a lot of great nuggets right there in just that few minutes of conversation, but hey, you're here to ask me questions. So we're going to flip it around here, Jeff. And so here we go. Fire. And I have no idea what you're going to ask.

So it's going to be interesting. Fire your first question at me. You've probably been asked this before, but how does a worldwide wrestler on a worldwide platform in the lifestyle that a wrestler has, how does God get ahold of you in such a way that you lay that life down and take up the cross and walk with Jesus?

That's a, that's a great question. And, and, and it wasn't the way you asked the question. It wasn't, it wasn't like God got ahold of my life and then I left wrestling. So it wasn't that, it wasn't that.

Cause I didn't grow up in the church. It's like, I didn't grow up in Russia. Okay. You should all know that by now. Right. Well, just in case you're listening and you don't, okay. I'm not from Russia. All right.

I'm from Minnesota. Okay. So anyway. Repent of that one. Oh, come on now. Come on now. Land of 10,000 lakes.

The state bird is a mosquito. Anyway. Um, anyway, so, so I didn't really lay, you know, God didn't call me to lay down wrestling, but I look back Jeff and clearly see how, how I feel, even though I wasn't serving God and didn't even have a relationship with Jesus, how he opened the door of opportunity for wrestling for me and then gave me that platform that when I walked away from it, now it wasn't until years later that I realized that he did that, that he's the one who gave me that platform and gave me that opportunity. Um, even, even though I wasn't serving him, uh, because he saw the bigger picture. He sees beginning to end, right.

Start to finish. And so he saw the bigger picture. And so wrestling 11 months after I left wrestling, it's that I laid my life down and surrendered my heart to Jesus and then recognized I could use wrestling as my platform to lead others into the kingdom and lead them to the foot of the cross.

That's kind of the order of how the timeline on how that happened. Did you have anyone in your past that you believe prayed you into the kingdom as in kept God hounding you throughout life? Did you have someone like that in your history?

Uh, I would, I would say yes. Um, without, without, uh, you know, I say actual knowledge of. Here's what I mean by that. So my dad was, uh, 46 when he surrendered his life to Jesus in 1972. He surrendered his life to Jesus at the age of 46. Now for those who don't, you know, go, go back to the archives, to the Man Up podcast, the Man Up radio show, and, and look up, uh, I did a special segment, special show on, on my relationship with my dad and how the Lord restored a relationship that I didn't have for 45 years. And actually even a, a, a surprise, a surprise at the end of, of that show where you actually get to hear from my dad. And I, so I'll leave it, kind of leave it right there. But my guess is, Jeff, that he was praying, he was, if nobody else was, he was praying me into the kingdom and certainly thrilled when he found out in 1993.

So 1972, 82, 92, my guess is 21 years. He was probably praying for my salvation. Well, in running with that, don't negate the benefits of praying for those that don't know Jesus. Sometimes that's what keeps the hounds of heaven on their heels that they eventually turn to God. Now I know everyone has to do that on their own, but God can put more pressure on a person through praying for them.

Well, let me, you know, you know what, to that point, you just reminded me, because I use this as an illustration, an example, what you just said, keep praying for people, no matter how, you might even say how hopeless the situation looks. Um, you know, the thief on the cross would be a great example that, that there's always hope, right? Right up to, right up to being nailed to a cross, right? The thief on the cross. And the Lord only knows what he was up there for, but, you know, probably murder or whatever else. But that said, let me say this to you, you just reminded me, prompted me to, the day I gave my life to Jesus, 17 October 1993, this elderly man named Buddy came to me and said, you don't know me, I'm not a wrestling fan, but I want to tell you this story.

I'm trying to tell it quick and condensed. I know you got more questions. And he said, he said in 1988, he said, the Lord prompted me, he goes, I was surfing through TV and I stopped on wrestling. He goes, I don't even like wrestling. And I'm watching you, you know, do an interview. And the Holy Spirit, the Lord prompts me, he says, pray for that man's salvation. I've called the ministry on his life. And he goes, I have faithfully prayed for you all these years.

So what's that like five, six years, whatever it was, he, every day he goes, I have prayed for you. To your point, every day I've prayed for you. Had no idea you were at church here today. Wasn't coming today because I've been out of church sick many months. God prompted me to come and I got to, he started tearing up.

He goes, I got to witness you. The minute you walk to the altar, I go, that's the guy I've been praying for. And God blessed me today to see you surrender your life to Jesus. So to your point, don't give up praying for people.

So good point. And again, back to the word of the day, prompting. If the Holy Spirit prompts you to speak to someone, to pray for someone, to do something entirely out of your comfort zone, do it and watch the supernatural in your life.

If you want to get excited about your walk with God, let the supernatural start being natural in your day. That's good. That's good.

We're going to have to get you your own podcast, Jeff. I mean, that's like, you're like, good work. Okay. Another question. Another question. Another question. I'm going to have you think on this one.

Apostle, prophet, evangelist, preacher, and teacher. Okay. Most people have a number one and a B option. A option and a B option.

Okay. What would you say your strongest gift, apostle, prophet, evangelist, preacher, teacher? So a prophetic word was spoken over me years ago that I was, that I would be operating in the five-fold ministry, which is what you just laid out for the listener, the five-fold ministry.

And it has shifted over the years. When I think about those five titles or those five roles, pastor would have been like at the very bottom, like at the very, I'm like, God, don't ever call me the pastor of church. Like, please, like, you know, I'll beat somebody up and, you know, my advice on marriage would be, get over it.

You know, if I was counseling you on your marriage problems, you know. But anyway, so right at the top, number one, back 28 years ago, still to evangelism. So God's given me a heart for soul winning. That's what Kolah for Christ Ministries is really at the foundation all about.

Soul winning. So evangelism. I got a degree in college, believe it or not. I actually graduated cum laude with honors and in teaching. I had a teaching degree, but I never formally taught, but I can look back, Jeff, now and know that I've been teaching a good majority of my life. So evangelist, teacher. And then I had an opportunity in 2018 to actually do an interim pastoring at a church and got that experience.

I thought, well, it's not as bad as I thought it might be. Although I'm still not convinced I'm called to pastor a church, but I pastor people all of the time. And so evangelist, teacher, pastor, apostle, prophet, currently would be the order in which I'd put my walking in the fivefold ministry in alignment. So there you go. Good question. We got one more question, right? So one more question. Okay.

This one's off the hip. Looking back at life from the time you were a teenager and to where you are now, if you had to pick three milestones, three significant events in your life, how would you from birth till now put them not in order of importance, but in order of how they happened? In order of how they happened.

Okay. My college days. So I suffered a fractured leg my freshman year. I fractured my other leg my senior year. And if I go back to my freshman year, I was 18 years old.

I like to say a punk kid, you know, lying on a field in northern Minnesota and in a football game. And I look at my leg and it's in a shape it's not supposed to be. And I'm thinking to myself, leg shattered, dream shattered, life shattered.

I mean, life's over as I know it. Because at the time I'm dreaming of playing in the NFL one day. I'm a bodybuilder, a weightlifter. And thank you, Tim Peltier, still to this day. We met in 1975, still a friend of mine, Tim Peltier is, and nurtured me through 17 days in the hospital to know that there was still more life after a fractured leg. Able to come back, rehabilitate, that setback did not hold me back. It set me up for a comeback. So I came back, played three more years only to shatter my other leg in a game, but I'm now more mature.

And so I had a different attitude towards that. Marker number one, fractured legs in college. Marker number two, 17 October 1993, the day I surrendered my life to Jesus. That forever changed the course of life. My vision, my motivation, my destiny, my purpose.

I all of a sudden felt like I had a purpose. Marker number two, marker number three, March 11, 2006, a camp in Texas where God introduced me to the idea that I was a male, but not a man. I was a male, but not a man. Interestingly enough, my dad gave his life to Jesus at age 46.

I stepped on a bus on my birthday the day I turned 47. So for 46 years of my life, I was a male. But at that camp, there was a teaching on biblical manhood. Up to that time, my view of manhood, because my dad left when I was three, I had no real male mentorship to look up to until age 12, 13, 14. My view of manhood was how the world defined it. And for the first time in my life through that teaching, God revealed to me what it looks like to be a man in His eyes, how He defines it, not how the world defines it.

Went back from that camp, stood on a platform on my church the following Sunday morning and told a thousand people for the first time in my life, I stepped into manhood at the age of 47. Those are the three markers that come to mind. There you go. Isn't it amazing that following God's pattern brings a peace that's beyond understanding? Absolutely. And Matt, great questions. Thank you. And thank you for being on the Q&A with Koloff today, Jeff.

Thanks for asking. Hey, go down to the Carolina Mall in Concord, North Carolina. Check out the jewelry mine. And not only might you get your jewelry fixed or find a piece you're looking for, but you might even get a word from the Lord when you pop into Jeff's shop. So thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time. We'll check in with you next time. We won't see you next time. I'm the best face on radio.

I'm just saying. Tune in again to Q&A with Koloff. God bless you.

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