Q&A With Koloff- #118

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Because it's time to man up. Go to NikitaKolov.com for more information or to sign up today. Welcome to another episode of Q&A with Kolov, the Devil's Nightmare. Today, today, today, I've got a young man on the line with me today.

By young man, I mean he's much younger than me. That's what I would mean. Josh Jones, welcome to Q&A with Kolov. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me on. Well, great to have you on, Josh, and I'm excited to have you on today. Of course, we have a mutual connection point here, and that would be your dad, Roy Jones.

Yep. Yeah, and so, of course, I met your dad a number of years ago, and we have developed just the greatest, I feel anyway, he may have something other to say, but the greatest of friendships, and of course, he's been a part of the, I've been a part of the ministry that he does. A lot of the ministry he's involved in, he's been a part of the ministry I'm involved in, so there's a lot of back and forth there, and of course, getting to know his family, of which you are one of several siblings, so tell our listeners a little bit about Josh Jones, your family, and what are you doing right now, Josh?

Yeah, absolutely. So, I'm in my senior year of college at UNC Charlotte doing electrical engineering, so God willing, I'll be graduating this May. Along with that, I'm in the Army Reserve, so I've been doing that for the past four years as well, so I've been doing school in the Army at the same time. Like you said, Dad's mutual connection, so you obviously know Mom and Dad, and I have three other siblings, so I'm the youngest of four, so that's a little bit about me. Well, see, we have some relatability there, because I'm the youngest of four as well. I don't know if you knew that, but I am, so like you... Yeah, I didn't actually. Yeah, so like you, I am also the baby of the family, although I'm the biggest, I'm not a big baby, but I am the largest, maybe I'll say it that way, of my oldest... Yeah.

Yeah, my oldest sister and two brothers, I am the largest, my brother's are relatively small, as is my sister, but anyway, so yeah, I am the baby of the family as well. And by the way, thank you for serving in our military, I really do sincerely mean that, appreciate that, always love honoring the guys who are protecting our nation and protecting our freedoms, and so I really thank you for that as well. So electrical engineering, and then one day you'll, I guess you'll head off into that, pursue something in relation to that then, right?

Yep, right, the plan right now is to graduate and then do some time active duty, and then whenever that finishes up, I'll pursue electrical engineering a little more. Okay, and I do know this as well from our conversations, and or getting to know your family, that you're a man of faith, you love the Lord, you've actually done some preaching for your dad, have you not? Yes, I did, so on our last men's retreat, I got to give a message up there on the mountaintop about not compromising your faith or your standards, and choosing to honor God in every aspect of your life, like Paul talks about, whether in word or deed, do all things for the glory of God, to kind of paraphrase. Just kind of taking that to heart and understanding that God expects us, or has called us, rather, to live up to a holy standard and to honor Him with all our actions. So I think the generalization of the message was that too easily do we forget that every action we have reflects on Christ, and I think far too often we kind of forget that and make compromises. Say, I'm going to talk a certain way, but I'm still a Christian, or I'm going to behave a certain way because it's no big deal, and just challenging men to say, hey, God has called us to a higher standard.

Obviously, we're human, so we fail at that, and we're not perfect, but nevertheless, we still kind of embark on that pursuit. We should pursue that, that's right, and so yeah, I know every year he's got a little, what you called it, a mountaintop experience, and then every year, once a year, he does a summit there in Kernersville, North Carolina, and of course we're kind of in between all of that at this juncture, but I'll just have to get your dad on the show and let him talk about that as well here at some point, and when the next ones will be available. Now, you also, they're down there, UNCC, University of North Carolina, Charlotte chapter, but you've done a lot of ministry on campus as well. Yes, so I've been a part of some Bible studies and whatnot through the years, and I think most recently, my current ministry has been discipling young men, so I've been leading a discipleship and accountability group with anywhere between six to twelve guys, depending on what year it was. I've been doing that for probably about two and a half, three years at this point, and at the current point, we'll probably meet with about eight guys and do life together, and kind of hold each other to that higher standard that we were talking about earlier, so that's truly been a blessing.

That's awesome, especially on college campuses. In today's day and time, to hold to a high standard, you've got your work cut out for you, Josh, and so I commend you on that, and I've also had the privilege of getting to know you, you know, even more, even outside of just knowing you through the family, through your mom and dad, is to, you know, in a sense you might say, just as you are mentoring young men, you just said, right? Because everyone, I tell people in life, everyone should have a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy, meaning someone older, more seasoned, perhaps mentoring, discipling us, and then in turn, a Timothy would be somebody we're discipling, a younger person of the faith and a man of the faith for us men, and then a Barnabas, a peer, come alongside, some call an accountability partner, or General Jerry Boykin calls it a battle buddy, but I've had the privilege of really meeting with you on a regular basis, so once or twice a month and just spending some time together and just talking about life, right? Right, yeah, it's been a blessing too. Well, as you have been. So, well, let's Q&A with Koloff, let's segue and let's talk, answer a few questions for you that you might have for me, Josh, so why don't you fire away with your first question? You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Nikita Koloff here and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement?

Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. Anyway, Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Koloff Fans, and like it and follow today. If you would like to support Koloff for Christ Ministries, for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration. For a gift of $50, Nikita will include his book, Wrestling with Success. And for a gift of $100 or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption.

Go to www.koloff.net and donate today. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Okay, I guess one thing I was thinking, maybe not related to the faith, but just I guess life in general, what did you find to be the hardest aspect of life when you were my age? Ooh, when I was your age, the hardest aspect to life, I guess. And of course, so doing the math on that, you know, your fourth year of college, so your early 20s, right?

Yep, early 20s. I guess for me, if I go back to that, you know, 21, 22 years old, when I was 21, 22, I was just finishing up my college days, actually. And so as a youngster, as a young kid, starting about age 12, I had a dream of playing professional football and thought I had it all figured out, right? I was a weightlifter, football player. I was going to play professional football for, you know, a decade and then, you know, retire and get into coaching and coach for probably two decades or whatever, three decades, and have an illustrious career there as well, and then sail off into the sunset and live happily ever after as the fairy tale goes.

And we know all that's not true. And I had some setbacks in college that didn't hold me back from pursuing my dream, while at the same time I say that to say, you know, I was still trying to figure it out. What's life hold for me as a 21, 22-year-old, you know, trying to figure out my identity, you know, and it was only later on at age 34 that I found out that my true identity is in Christ and Christ alone, not in what I do.

You know, that's not who I am, whether it was wrestling, football, a businessman, a father, you know, a husband, a grandfather, that my identity is in Christ. And so it took me a few years to figure that one out. So at your age, as many of your age, or I think even some, are still trying to figure out, you know, who am I, you know, why am I here, and, you know, what am I supposed to do with my life. And so that's kind of where I was at your age. And when I fully figured it out. So, yeah, it's a good question.

Want my second one? Yeah. All right. I would then ask, what do you think is the hardest part about your ministry today? What do you find to be the most difficult aspect of it, or maybe one of the biggest, you know, challenges? Biggest challenge to the ministry today?

Well, I feel very fortunate. I do such a variety of things, everything from camps, you know, man camp, like your dad attended one of the camps. One day we need to get you to the camp when, I guess when you get out of the military maybe or something. But anyway, and so from the camps to these, you know, conferences, man up conferences that I facilitate, that I do, to preach it on Sundays, to, you know, meeting, you know, young men like yourself, and mentoring, and discipling.

So there's a lot. But I even, Josh, even view like even the autograph signings that I do as ministry. You know, I'm not out there preaching, but there are opportunities, like people will come up and make a comment that came to their church, or they'll actually bring a prayer request to me at an autograph signing. And so, you know, in a sense, you might say, just immediately turn that signing into ministry. And I may, I'm most likely going to pray with them right there on the spot as I'm prompted to do, so that I don't maybe later on promise I'll do it and then forget, right? So I'm going to do it right then and there. And so really at this juncture of life, whether I'm hanging out with children and grandchildren or signing autographs for the fans or preaching or facilitating a man camp, I view everything as ministry.

Okay? Let me just kind of preface my answer with that. I view everything as ministry. And so I guess the most challenging thing is balancing all that I do, balancing everything I do, right?

I do the radio shows, podcasts, TV shows, write books, so there's a lot I got going on. And so it's just balancing that. And then the hardest part is to live it, to live it.

Anyone can talk a good game, right? I mean, we can say all the right Christianese language and say all the right things and know all the right words, but are we actually living it or are we just preaching it? Is it a do as I say or is it a do as I do? And so I have to challenge myself every day to not only preach the good news, but actually live it out.

And knowing we're all flawed, we're all broken vessels, and while at the same time pursuing the heart of God and allowing Him to come in and mold and shape us into the image of Christ is the most challenging thing. And so, yeah. Yep. That's how I'm going to answer that question.

Good. And if you had a message or something that you really wanted to convey to people my age, what would be the most important thing that you feel like you could say to them? Well, first and foremost, I might ask them what vision they have for their life. What's your vision? Some might say, or I might phrase it another way, what are your dreams? What are your goals?

What are your hopes? What is your vision? Do you have a vision yet?

And if so, what does that look like? Describe it to me. And unfortunately, I find that many your age don't have a vision for their life, and some don't even realize there's a creator of the universe who created them for a specific purpose and have a plan for their life. They're still out there trying to figure it out on their own. So first and foremost, I might find out if in fact they do have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and then if they do, then hopefully probe into the next question. Has he given you a vision, a plan, or a purpose for your life, or revealed that to you? And if they don't have that relationship, kind of start there, but even if they don't yet have a personal relationship with Christ, still probe them to find out what do they foresee them doing with their life? And then hopefully or maybe be able to challenge them to really dig deep and find out what that purpose is, and if they do, maybe help to hone that vision that they have for their life.

That's good. Yeah, yeah, because at the end of the day, that's what it really comes down to. More than anything is, okay, you're not here by accident, okay? You're not a mistake, no matter what anyone's said to you in the past, and so for those of you listening out there as you're listening to this interview and Josh ask his questions, I'll just say that you're not a mistake, you're not here by accident. There is a creator of the universe who has a specific intent and purpose and plan for your being on this earth right now for such a time as this.

And if you don't know what that is, first and foremost, pursue a personal relationship with him if you don't already have it, and if you do have it, then start asking the question, Lord, reveal to me what my plan is, what my purpose is, why you put me here at this particular time. You didn't put me here in the dark ages. You didn't put me here before Christ in the BC ages. You put me here in 2023. I'm here. Why?

What does he want me to do with my life? And let that be your driving force, and as you do that, I believe you'll be on an amazing journey. So there you go, Josh. There you go. Good?

Yes, sir. That was great. Well, hey, I appreciate you taking the time, carving out the time, and look forward to, till the next time we're together and continuing, and your path, your path and your pursuit of what God has for you, Josh. And I'm excited for you and just seeing where the Lord takes you and how he uses you. So God bless you, young man.

Awesome. I appreciate it. Thank you, Nick. And thank you for tuning in to another episode of Q&A with Koloff, and as, have an amazing, wonderful day. God bless you. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts. And may God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to koloff.net and donate today.

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