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Speak your mind. And now here's today's Truth Talk live host. Hey, Nikita Koloff, your host, the one and only, once, as Stu Epperson will say, once the Russian nightmare, now the devil's worst nightmare. Great to be back with you.
Great to be back in studio. Have you ever been tested by God? Does he do that? Does he test us? Have you ever tested God? I'm not going to share that right now, but I have a story regarding that, and just want to hear your story. I'm going to give you the opportunity to call in.
866-348-7884. Has God ever tested you or have you ever tested God? Well, hey, if you've heard me on Truth Talk live before, you know I'm like the trivia guy in a way, I guess, in the sense of I love to give eight by ten autographed photos away, and I'd like to do that again today.
And I'm going to start with, so here's the very first trivia question, a very simple trivia question. Ties right in with testing God. What's the one time he said to test him?
Who knows? What's the one time in Scripture, in the Bible, that he said to test God? Test him. If you have the answer to that question, 866-348-7884, that's 86634 Truth, and I'm going to give you an autographed, personally autographed, eight by ten photo.
We want to give a few of those away today. Testing God. You know, I did a little research. I did a little research, and come to find out, man, there were quite a number of times in the Bible that the Israelites tested the Lord, and I'm just looking through some of my notes. Some you're probably familiar with, or maybe you're not. Most of the examples are in the book of Exodus, after they were exiled from 400 plus years of captivity, and of course, you know, starting with standing there at the Red Sea, right?
They got the Red Sea in front of them, they got the Pharaoh pursuing them from behind, and they start questioning, you know, they're fearful of Pharaoh's army, and uncertain of where they're going to go, and yet the Lord parts the Red Sea, as many of you know the story, and just a real show of force, and just divine intervention splits that Red Sea, and across they go, right? Blaine from Salem, Virginia has an answer to the trivia question. I'm going to go to Blaine right now. Blaine, welcome to Truth Talk Live. How you doing, brother? I'm doing great, Blaine. Thank you.
Thanks for calling in, Salem, Virginia. You got an answer to the trivia question? Yes, sir. It's in the book of Malachi. He says, test him in the tithing, and see if he doesn't open the windows of heaven, and pour down a blessing that you can't contain at all. Come on, Blaine Matthew, or excuse me, Malachi chapter 3, and he says, in fact, starting at verse 8, he says, should people cheat God, and you have cheated me, and they ask, what do you mean? When did we ever cheat you? And he said, you cheated me of the tithes and the offerings due to me. And then he goes, Blaine, he goes on to say, you're under a curse for your whole nation. Yes, sir. Has been cheating me.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, so there'll be enough food in my temple, and if you do, says the Lord of Heaven's armies, I'll open the windows of heaven for you, pour out a blessing so good, you won't have room enough to take it in. That's a pretty good promise, Blaine, right? Yes, sir. I know that to be true. You know from personal experience, you have a story, huh, right?
And then he says, try it, put me to the test. What's your story? God's blessed me my whole life. I've always tithed since I went to work, and me and my family have never lacked for anything. He's always taken care of. I mean, I know a lot of people around my area talk about being laid off. I have never in my life been laid off. Always had a job, always been able to take care of my family. You know, the word says, he doesn't always supply your wants, but he will supply your needs.
Come on. And he has always taken care of me and my family all of these years. That's amazing.
I'm very thankful for that. I've heard folks say, you know, I've literally heard folks say, I can't afford to tithe. And Blaine, I'm like, ah, then you don't understand the principle because you can't afford not to tithe. Look, he only asked for 10%. Man, he's going to give you 90% to live on. He only asks for 10%. And I have to say for the record, he tested me over the years in this, Blaine, because I grew up, some know my story in the projects of Minneapolis in poverty on welfare.
And so for the longest time, I for one had to overcome that poverty mindset and really learn to trust the Lord. And so I as well have been tested there. Blaine, hold on. Don't go anywhere.
Want to get your address and we'll get this 8x10 mailed out to you. I appreciate you calling in to True Talk Live. Thanks for watching.
You're growing up. I just wanted to let you know that. Oh, man. Thanks for being a fan, man. We love our fans up there in Virginia. So thank you for being a fan. I appreciate it, Blaine. You have a blessed evening, brother. Thank you.
You as well. When we come back, we're going to go to break here shortly. But when we come back, we're going to talk to Bucksman up in Dayton, Ohio. He says he has a story. And we're going to have another trivia question as well. So don't go anywhere. Another trivia question coming up shortly. Hang tight. Welcome back. Truth Talk Live, your host, Nikita Koloff, former World Wrestling Champion and host of the Man Up show and Q&A with Koloff on Truth Radio.
Be sure to check those out. We're talking about testing God and being tested by God. And we also had our first winner, Blaine, up in Salem, Virginia for that personally autographed 8x10. I've got another trivia question for you before we continue our discussion on being tested by God or testing God. What kind of tree, here's a pretty easy one for you.
Come on now. What kind of tree did Zacchaeus climb in order to see Jesus? What kind of tree?
Did he climb an olive tree, a fig tree, a sycamore tree, or a willow tree? 866-348-7884, 86634 Truth. I'd like to give away another autograph to 8x10. Bucksman up in Dayton, Ohio. Thank you for your patience, Bucksman. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. Hey, the Christian that Satan warns people about, Nikita, you're worth the wait, brother. You're worth the wait. Hey, give us a quick story here, Bucksman, about being tested by God or testing him.
What do you got? Well, honestly, in my years walking with Jesus Christ, Nikita, I've got both, but they would go on and on. So what I will talk about, since all of us are sinners and fall short of the glory of God, I'll talk about how I tested God. And that is basically where I decided, you know what? I'm in ministry.
Now, this is deep, Nikita. I'm in ministry, but hey, I'm covered in grace, so I'll do what I want to do, because I know the blood of Jesus covers all of our sin. I'll just 1 John 1-9, you know, I'll confess my sin and he is faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me of all unrighteousness.
Right. And I'm not kidding you, brother Nikita, I lost my marriage doing that. And I just want to warn my brothers, especially since I'm male, I'm a man, I'm a man of God. Do not test God like that, brothers. You look at your wife, you love her like Christ loved the church. If you have issues, go get help.
Man up and go get help. And that's how I tested God, Nikita. Man, it's a great story and it reminds me of, you know, what I call, Bucksman, cheapening grace. Like, hey, I'll just rely on God's grace and not toe the line or walk the line. And in this case, love my wife the way Christ loved the church and God will forgive me.
I'll treat her the way I want to treat her and God will forgive me. Right. So great advice, Bucksman. And I hope somebody out there is listening to Bucksman's story. Don't test God that way.
It could cost you a marriage or something even more even more serious. Right. Thank you, Bucksman.
That is right. Love you guys. Appreciate you. God bless you.
Thank you, sir. Jim up in Lynchburg, Virginia. Jim, welcome to Truth Talk Live. You got a story for me or an answer to my trivia question, Jim?
Yes, actually, I have both. So the answer to the trivia question is Sycamore tree. Bam. Come on, Jim. You got it. That's right. He climbed a Sycamore tree.
Okay. And you got a quick story for me for testing God or being tested by God? Well, I just the story is that I was the testimony is that I lived in North Carolina.
Actually, I know Stu. He actually, I think, led to Christ. A gentleman by the name of Mark Sanger, who first discipled me after I came to know Christ in 1999. And I was baptized at their church by Dr. Gary Chapman on Mother's Day.
And, you know, when I lived there, I was jobless four times in four years, and each time the Lord provided for me. Come on. And he'll do that, right? I mean, that's what he does, you know, as we put our faith and trust in him, right?
And he'll do that for us. And so, you know, the fact that, you know, Stu, you know, I'll just apologize, you know, ahead of time. I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. We all love Stu. He's got a great sense of humor. He's got a fantastic sense of humor.
He does. We all love Stu. Hey, Jim, don't go anywhere. We want to get your address, and we'll get that 8x10 autograph sent out to you as well, okay? All right. Thank you, brother. All right. Thanks for calling in, Jim.
Linsburg, Virginia. You know, the Israelites tested God. You know, Buck's been up in Ohio and said, man, don't test God in this way, gave an example. Here's a couple more examples.
I did a little research here. They murmured over the bitter water at Mara, I guess how you say it. I'm no theologian.
You'll have to bear with me there. They craved the food of Egypt while they were out in the wilderness of sin. They ignored the Lord's instructions and gathered more manna than they needed.
Anyone remember that story, like they're gathering? Like the instructions were, hey, God's going to provide, and there's a whole message in the manna, right? And why God said, only gather enough for today, right? And this is kind of miraculous in a way.
Think about this. If you're not familiar with this story, gather enough for you and your family today and only for today, and then tomorrow I'll provide again. And of course, some of them didn't adhere to the instructions, gathered up more than they should have. And then if you know the story, you know, they wake up the next morning and there's like maggots and it's stinking up the whole tent. And you're like, hello, can you not just follow the simple instructions?
But here's the miraculous part. You know, work six days, rest one, right? On the seventh day will be your Sabbath, and so you are not going to work on day seven. So go ahead and gather up twice as much on day six. Now think about this.
Gather up twice as much on day six and that's going to sustain you through day six and day seven until we roll around to the brand new week. And as they did that, there were no maggots. There were no maggots.
The food didn't stink, right? And so pretty amazing. So some, you know, one other quick example. When we come back, we're going to continue to talk about this.
Hey, if you have a story, as you've already heard from Jim and Blaine and Buxman and some of the others, 866-34-87-88-TRUTH, 866-34-TRUTH, and I want to give away another eight by ten as well. So when we come back, we'll have another trivia question as well. They ignored the Lord's instructions to gather more man. They attempted to gather more man. Oh, I already said that on Sabbath and disobeyed God's commandment. Got ahead of myself there.
They complained to Moses because of the lack of water at Rephidim, I guess is how you say that. Hey, when we come back, we're talking about testing God or being tested by God. I have a story of my own. Maybe I'll share that with you on the next segment, maybe the last segment. But anyway, don't go away. Truth Talk Live, your host, Nikita Kolov. We've got some more great examples coming up, and we will be right back.
Don't go anywhere. It's Truth Talk Live. Boom. All right, all right, all right, we're back.
Truth Talk Live, your host, Nikita Kolov, former World Wrestling Champion. I'd like to give away another 8x10 autograph photo. Boy, Virginia is on fire today.
We've sent two autograph photos up to Virginia so far. Here's question number three, trivia question number three. Man, I'm just making it easy for you today, like for real I think. Okay, here it is. The verse that states, ready? The verse that states, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God is found in what chapter of Romans? I'm going to not give you your choices because this one's so easy. I think somebody out there is just going to call in and get it, 866-348-7884.
Now, if I do stump you, I'll give you some choices, but 866-304-TRUTH. We're talking about testing God or being tested by God, the Israelites. Man, I'm just looking through some of these examples. They committed a grave sin by making a molded calf and worshiped it and sacrificed to it. Talk about testing God.
My goodness, right? They complained at Tabra. They complained at Tabra. Now, that's in the book of Numbers. Now, some of these examples are now in the book of Numbers. We've moved on from Exodus to the book of Numbers. They complained about not having any meat to eat. How about that? Like, yeah, at least back in Egypt we had lentils and we had this and we had that.
And I'm like, wow, but you were in slavery and now you're free. Here's another one. They didn't trust that the Lord could give them the promised land and conquer its heathen inhabitants. Just a few examples of how the Israelites tested God. How have you tested? We've heard some examples earlier. Some of the guys, some of the folks who've called in 866-348-7884.
That's 866-344-TRUTH. If you have a story, we want to hear your short story of how maybe you tested God or maybe how God tested you. I have a story.
I'm just trying to decide when I want to share it with you. And let me repeat the trivia question. The verse that states, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God is found in what chapter of Romans? I could give you some examples or let me just see those who are knowledgeable enough to know which chapter it is. You can narrow it down by just knowing how many chapters are in Romans.
That'll narrow it down for you. 866-348-7888-TRUTH. Or if you have a story, maybe you don't have the answer to the trivia question, but you have a story of how God either tested you. We talked earlier, it was great, we were talking about the one time God said to test him in Malachi. He's like, test me in tithes and offerings.
Just go ahead. And I want to just further comment on that because as God pulled me out of a poverty mentality and I began to learn that principle of giving. One, being a generous giver and two, being a cheerful giver.
So giving cheerfully, being generous and being generous on every occasion. And you've probably heard the expression that you cannot out give God. And so I would challenge you to test God on that one. Because one, he gave us permission. He said, test me on this.
Sow into my storehouse. A lot of people debate the whole Old Testament, New Testament. I'm not up for debate. I'm just going to practice the principle. And I have found from personal testimony that as I give my 10% to my local church, my storehouse, the refuge down in Kannapolis, North Carolina. And then the Lord's challenged me, you want to talk about testing? The Lord's challenged me to give offerings above and beyond the tithe. So off the top, 10% into the storehouse. And if you are wondering whether you should tithe off of your gross or your net. Well I simply say, what do you want him to bless? Your gross or your net. So you figure that part out on your own.
That's pretty elementary I think right there. And then he's challenged me to give offerings above and beyond the tithe. And so there's a number of ministries as I've prayed into that on where I should, what, how much and what I should give to other ministries both here in America and abroad overseas as well.
And so I just want to really challenge you and encourage you at the same time. 866-348-7884. 866-344-TRUTH.
If you have an answer to the trivia question, come on I want to give one more 8 by 10 away. Okay, for all have sinned fallen short of the glory of God. What chapter in Romans?
I'll go ahead and help somebody out here. Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 or chapter 6. Which chapter of Romans is the verse for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And again, I can't emphasize enough that, you know, as I feel the Lord has tested me in the area of giving. That as we heard earlier, man, I hadn't missed a meal, I've got clothes on my back, I've got a wonderful vehicle to transport me from point A to point B.
The gas tank is full. I mean, I feel very fortunate, very fortunate to see the hand of God move in that area of my life. And I've got one more story, I guess I'm going to save it for our last segment of another way, a pretty amazing story of how God tested me. We've got Mike up in Dayton, Ohio. Mike, welcome to Truth Talk Live. Are you there, Mike? Truth Talk Live, are you there? Mike?
I'm here now, yeah, I heard the beat. How are you doing? Wonderful.
We've got a couple minutes before break, Mike, but give us a quick story on what you've got. Well, I was debating back and forth. I'll do the military one. I was getting ready to go into the military, and I had to pass an asset test, you know?
Okay. And I was struggling with this, and I kept going to God. I go, God, you wanted me to go into this military, I know this is my calling to go there, and you want me to do this? I can't pass the asset test, you know?
And I struggled in school, and I froze when I had tests and all this stuff. And I'm getting ready to go in the military, and the guy comes up to me and he says, you know, this is the last test, this is the last one. If you don't pass this one, you're not going. And I'm in a hotel getting ready to go to boot camp in the Marine Corps, Parris Island, California, and in the morning I'm going to take this test, and I'm like, God, you know, I'm in trouble, you know? And I'm in a hotel, and I open up this door, and there's the Bible, you know, the Guinean Bible.
And I said, the guy goes, how can I prepare for this test? And God said, read that. And I went, okay, I'm reading this, you know?
And I read it all night long, you know? And to make a long story short, I passed the test with the highest score, when I couldn't pass the test before. And these guys couldn't believe that I did that, and I couldn't believe that I did that, you know what I mean? I'm like, it was God, you know?
Right, right, right. And this is awesome, you know, I'm like, I said, God, if you really want me in the military, I've got to pass this test, you know what I mean? And he said, read the Bible. I said, okay, I'm reading it. I read it all night long.
I read that Bible because I wanted to go, I wanted to be in the military, I wanted to start my life, you know, with something. Well, that's amazing. Well, and Mike, let me just say to you, thank you for serving. Oh, thank you. I mean, this is fun.
Great to have guys put on the uniform, I really appreciate that. Well, talk about a test, Lord, I've got to pass this test, hello, and well, read the Bible. What a great story. And then I aced the test. I mean, I pretty much aced the test.
I got really the highest score you could get. And then they retested me in the military, you know what I mean? Because they couldn't believe I couldn't pass it before, so they retested me three or four times, and I aced it every time, you know what I mean? Every time I was acing it. They just couldn't believe that I was flunking it before and I was acing it now.
You're like, this guy cheated, how did he do this? Right, exactly. But God.
It was all God bringing it all to my memorance and all to my skill level. All right. Don't go away. Thanks, Mike. Don't go away. One more segment, stay tuned. We'll be back. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live, our final segment here today.
Your host, Nikita Golov, former world championship wrestler. Shout out to Mike up in Dayton, Ohio. What a great story.
Sitting in a hotel room. And shout out to the Gideons. Hey, Gideons, thank you for putting, I'm sure Mike is grateful, you put that Bible in that drawer there in his hotel. And he finds the Gideon Bible. God says, read the Bible. And he's obedient.
He reads it and aces the test not once, but several times. Hey, I want to give away one more eight by ten. Come on now.
Call on in. The verse that states, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You know, last time I looked up that word all in the Greek, the definition, you know what I found? It meant all.
My attempt at humor there. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Found in what chapter of Romans? Chapter one, two, three, or six? Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. That's eight, six, six, three, four, truth.
Come on, I want to give away that eight by ten. I said I've been teasing you all along here that I had a story where another way God tested me. Interesting story. We were going back quite a few years ago and the Lord, I was sitting in a prayer room on New Year's Eve and the Lord clearly said, grow your hair out starting tomorrow. And I'm like, okay. And maybe some of you aren't familiar with my wrestling character, but I had a, and have a shaved head and had a Fu Manchu mustache. And, you know, it was like shave off your facial hair, grow out your hair. And I'm like, okay. And, you know, I'm going to walk in obedience, right? And then he specifically said, and I'll tell you when you can cut it. I'm like, okay.
Seems like easy enough instructions, right? Grow out your hair and shave off your facial hair. I'll tell you when you can cut it.
And so I did. So I started doing that and as one of my guests, you know, initially I looked like one of the chia pets, you know, one of those plants when it first started growing. Because I can't cut it, right?
So I can't trim it, can't cut it. And as it continued to grow, you know, people come to me and they're like, hey, what are you doing? Like doing some like Nazarite vow or something?
What do you, you know, what are you doing? You know, you grow, your hair's starting to kind of get long. And I'm like, no, no.
To my knowledge, it's not really a Nazarite vow. No, it's just God said, God said, you know, grow out your hair. And they're like, well, do you, do you know why? And I'm like, he hadn't told me that part yet.
He has not told me why yet. And so condense the story, fast forward the story, I'm growing out my hair, growing, growing, growing. And I get like, like, like a legit mullet, like, right, like, right?
If you can envision, you know, it just keeps growing. 16 months, 16 months, I grow my hair, no trimming, no cutting, no facial hair. And finally he releases me and my two youngest daughters, Colby and Kendra, got the privilege of getting out the clippers once he set me free, so to speak. And got to shaving because they didn't like it.
They're used to dad with the bald head, the shaved head. And so all that to say, then others came to me and said, well, do you know why he asked you to do that? And then I had an answer.
I said, yeah, yeah, actually I do. And how, what God was testing me was, was as you might, if you can envision, so I had a certain look in the wrestling ring and in those wrestling days. And what the Lord revealed to me is he was testing me to see if I'd be okay if people didn't recognize you. Now we were out recently, I was out with Robbie Dilmore and his wife at a restaurant recently, and it was actually kind of crazy over the top how many people, including the restaurant owners and the waitress's husband and several patrons, you know, kept coming over to the table and wanting pictures and all that sort of thing.
Which doesn't happen all the time at this point. But all that to say, the Lord wanted to know if I would be comfortable in my own skin without being recognized as the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolov. Would I be okay with that? Or was my identity so wrapped up in my wrestling character that I'd have a problem with it? And for the record, you know, not nearly as many people recognized me, some still did, but not nearly as many. And I like to think I passed the test because he, I mean, 16 months, that's a long time, right?
And when he finally released me and said, okay, if you want, you can shave it off. So my daughters did. And yeah, it was really a great test for me to know that, and here's the lesson, my identity was not in the pro wrestler, Nikita Kolov. My identity is in Christ. And the wrestling that I did was simply a part of my story.
It's what I did. It's not who I am. Royce, up in Dayton, Ohio. Royce, are you there?
Yes, I am. Royce, it sounds like you have an answer to my trivia question, is that right? Yes, sir.
All right. Well, what do you got for me, Royce? What's the answer to the trivia question? I believe it's in Romans 3. Romans chapter 3, verse 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's exactly right, Royce.
You are winner number three. And hey, Royce, real quick, do you have any short story for how the Lord has tested you? And if not, it's okay. If not, it's okay. I'm sorry. You're very...
I put you on the spot, Royce. No worries. No worries. Hey, listen. Hey, listen.
Hang tight. We're going to get your address and get this 8x10 mailed out to you, okay? All right. Sounds good. All right. Thanks, Royce.
All right. Royce, up in Dayton, Ohio, talking about being put on the spot, right? He'll probably think of 10 different ways that he's passed some of the tests. You know, life itself is a test, right? I mean, really, if you think about it, you know, if I look at some of my notes here, I wrote down life is a test, right? Life is a test, and one of the things I believe is the word responsibility plays in there, right? Life is a test in how we handle responsibility, right? And sometimes, you know, even through whether it's growing out my hair or setting me free of a poverty mentality and becoming a cheerful giver and a generous giver on every occasion, what I have found is in the times the Lord has tested me, I would summarize or conclude that it's been a building of my character and a testing of my faith, a building of my character and a testing of my faith. Life is a test, and I'm just reminded of how we handle responsibility, right? Life is a test.
We spend only a fraction of our lives on this side of eternity. God doesn't care, I don't believe, about our achievements while here on earth, but He does care about our character, and He will test us and test our character, right? And to build our character, He'll put tests in front of us to build and develop our character. And if I would say this, you know, we've been put on this earth for, I think, two primary reasons, and you might relate to this. One, to know Him personally. So you were put on this earth to know Him personally.
And then secondly, to develop your character. What are you going to take with you to heaven? For those of you who've surrendered your heart to Christ, those of you who accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, and your name's been entered into the Book of Life, that there will come a day... You know, you can't take any of the material things with you, as much as some try to store up, you know, build bigger storehouses, and store up more treasure here on earth that moth and rust destroy.
I just want you to know, you know, there's no U-Haul attached to a hearse. You won't be bringing any of that materialistic things with you, but you will be bringing your character with you. So whatever you develop there, we've seen a steep decrease in responsibility in our culture, if you're paying attention. I mean, many in our world live by the motto, you know, I'm not responsible for anything, it's not my fault, which really is in stark contrast to the Bible.
Responsible people make the most of the life God has given them. And so, whatever tests you've gone through, I hope today, and you know, being a part of Truth Hawk Live, you know, something been stirred inside of you, maybe to think back on how you've been tested, and how coming through that test, you know, it's been a developing of your faith and a building of your character. And I don't know, if you're like me, you know, when God presents me with a test, like he presented Mike with a test, hey, he wants to join the military, he's got to pass that test, here's your last opportunity, or it ain't happening, right? You know, there have been certain tests in my life, and we're just about out of time, and I could tell you some stories where I was like, you know, Lord, I want to pass this test the first time out. I don't want to have to repeat this test, you know. Remember back in your school days where you had to do, where you could do a retake or, you know, a repeat, and you know, maybe retake the test?
I don't want to retake any test. Hey, tune in to the Man Up Show podcast and Q&A with Kolov. Check it out. Glad you're here today. Signing out.
