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Welcome to 'Changed' a podcast celebrating transformative encounters with Jesus Christ. Each episode unfolds powerful testimonies of profound life changes, providing inspiration for your spiritual journey. Join our community, drawing strength and encouragement to deepen your relationship with God. Witness the irrefutable evidence of lives dramatically changed by His love. We're here to inspire hope, reinforcing God's relentless pursuit, and sparking the desire to seek a life profoundly transformed. Let's chase after God together. Your journey to deeper faith starts here.
Brent Stone (00:00.522)
Welcome back to the Change Podcast. I'm Brent Stone and I am so excited today. I have got a good friend of mine, Tyler Cerny, here from Florida. He is a dynamic individual. I was actually in my devotional this morning, I was thinking about our podcast today, Tyler, and I was just like, I just got this word, like this prophetic word, and it was just problem solver. And what's really interesting is that the first time I met Tyler was at a...
Christian Men's Entrepreneurial Retreat Weekend. We didn't know each other before this and the guys came in from all over the country for this. And there was only like 12, 13 of us. And I got the opportunity to get to know Tyler and he is such a problem solver. The way that he just goes about stuff. He's been gifted at solving problems for businesses and all kinds of stuff. But I don't know how much he's gonna talk about that today, but so excited that you're here with us.
Thank you for taking the time to be on here. And I can't wait to be able to have people hear your changed story. So with that, why don't you take it away, man. Let's hear about the encounter that left you changed and then we'll go from there.
TEDx Tyler (01:11.254)
Sure, absolutely. I appreciate, I'm very grateful to be here, Brent. And then we'll open up in prayers for even the listeners too. So dear heavenly father, thank you for this amazing opportunity with my brother Brent here and every single person listening to this podcast, Lord, allow the Holy Spirit to touch their heart. Allow the Holy Spirit to move on through the conversations. Give us the words to say and allow us to impact the people that were called the impact today and everyone else that's planning to hear this episode, Lord. So in your name, we pray and play, amen.
Brent Stone (01:17.272)
Yes.
TEDx Tyler (01:41.002)
But yeah, man, I mean, Brent, yeah, I think we've known each other for about three or four years now and that event, I was asked to be like the keynote speaker and speak at that event, specifically on business for Christian entrepreneurs, but just to give people some background on my walk with Jesus, like, I've been very fortunate enough to be exposed to Christ at a very young age, right? And so, went to a Lutheran school, so that was the kind of
Brent Stone (01:41.25)
Amen.
TEDx Tyler (02:08.074)
the denomination I was exposed to. So think of the wooden pews, the Catholic, it was very like an older preacher, it was very like monotone and just like, my family actually brought me to church because if we went to church so many times throughout the year, we would get money off our tuition. So my mom was like, oh, you're coming to church, because if we don't do that, we're not getting money off. And I came from Humboldt beginnings in Cleveland, Ohio, but.
I was around the church, I was around the word of Christ, and I got confirmed in eighth grade, but also was exposed to Christ throughout high school, and I was pretty straight edge with it. I was really trying to do the right things in everything that I did. And then I was one of those Christians that was lukewarm. I wasn't reading the Bible every day. I really didn't understand the Bible beyond that. It was kind of like, oh, this is good.
I know Jesus loves me, I want to go to heaven, this is awesome. It was more like, hey, like what's in it for me type of thing. And it was pretty much like that. And if there was any lifestyle decisions where it was between me and Christ, it was like, you know what, at a very young age, I liked to party. So I was living in the world and I was doing things on my own accord. Right. And then obviously as a lot of people find out our way is not better than the Lord's way. Right. And so.
This guy gets to a point man where you're like you get fed up with what the world has to offer you think the world it can give you the things that you secretly desire and your heart desires but when you really go down that path to experience it yourself you realize that there's got to be a better way and that better way is Jesus and so it wasn't until college that I really gave my life up to Christ in the in the sense that I fully surrendered
to Christ. And I remember it was like St. Patrick's Day actually in 2014. And I just remember having an encounter. I'm just like, you know, like we were out partying and stuff. We came back and I just remember having a conversation with the Lord. It was a very supernatural conversation. I'm in front of this mirror and I'm having a conversation with the Lord. It's just me, myself and him like in this room alone. And I just remember
TEDx Tyler (04:33.126)
I'm crying. I'm a college student. I'm like 21 years old, about, you know, I was actually 18, 19 years old, about 20 years old. I'm crying in front of a mirror and like I'm the only one in this room. And I'm like, OK, there has to be a Lord here. And like I'm not doing things the way that the Lord has designed me to. And since then, you know, I really fully surrendered my life to Christ. And obviously, it's a battle and struggle every single day. Right. You know, there's temptations with
business opportunities that aren't from the Lord. And there's temptation all around me all the time. And so, you know, when people say they gave their life up to Christ, I always like to tell people that it doesn't not take away from the hardship, doesn't take away from the temptation, the obstacles that come your way, because again, we're all flawed human beings and it's not like, oh, since that day, I've lived this perfect life since then, right? Because, you know, but since then, I really started to
read the Word of Christ. And so now I've gone through the Word of Christ like four times. I get on the Bible app. I do the Bible in a year. And again, I'm not, some days I miss, right? Obviously I want to read every single day, but that moment on I was like, you know what? I really want to make a conscious effort to get to know the Lord beyond just church on Sunday, right? And through that, it's really just changed my life in the sense that every aspect of my life is now
can I incorporate the Lord into what I'm doing? This has been now close to a six or seven year journey now. Again, it hasn't happened overnight. It's definitely been a progress and a process, but it's now like I used to always pray, Lord bless this. I'm doing this, Lord bless it. If I didn't receive the blessing, I'll get frustrated. But then now my perspective has shifted within
TEDx Tyler (06:30.794)
Don't bless what I'm doing. What are you doing around me? And allow me to just be a part of it, right? Like Lord, I'm nothing compared to you. And I don't wanna do my things. I wanna do your things. What are you doing in my life or in my community or around me where I can add value to or I can add a skillset to or I can just be a small part of it because again, it's all designed to glorify Him. And...
Brent Stone (06:38.154)
Yeah. That's good.
TEDx Tyler (06:59.818)
Yeah, man, we can unpack certain questions or anything throughout that process, because it is a journey. It doesn't happen overnight, but it's really focusing on what is the Lord doing and how can I be a part of it and just kind of accelerate the mission that he has for his people in this time and age right now.
Brent Stone (07:18.722)
You know, it's really interesting. I do wanna, you know, this is so good because I know a little bit of your story and you've worked, I'm wanting to go talk about temptations, right? So you had your encounter pretty young age, like 18, 19, 20, like this isn't like, I mean, it's young, it's not old, right? I know that you got into working with some pretty high profile people when you were in your early 20s. So you were surrounded by temptation. I know you, I know the,
TEDx Tyler (07:44.43)
Sure.
Brent Stone (07:48.718)
kind of income you're generating and all the opportunity that affords you at that age. And how did you navigate some of that? Because I know like some of the people that, if we were to name names, people watching this would know who they are. And then, I mean, like a lot of the people you worked with. So what did that do? Like what kind of obstacles, you don't have to get specific, but like how did you handle stuff and...
TEDx Tyler (08:04.898)
Sure.
TEDx Tyler (08:14.482)
Yeah, I mean, I always tell people so when I got married two and a half years ago, that was a really big shift in my life as well. And before I got married, yeah, so I gave my life up to Christ and I did it. I was good. I was good for a couple years. And then there was also a period of time after that where I kind of went off quote unquote the rails and kind of just went back to my old life like that process.
Brent Stone (08:22.53)
I was gonna come back for that too, because this is a great story too.
Brent Stone (08:39.178)
We stumble, we stumble, yeah.
TEDx Tyler (08:44.198)
when I first met my wife and she's done so much for me, because another thing was prayer. She really prayed for me and things like that. But before I got married, so again, this was after I quote unquote been saved, because usually when people give their life up to Christ, that's when you're gonna experience a lot of spiritual warfare. So if you aren't familiar with that, which again, spiritual warfare, if you told me at that point, I'm like, what are you talking about? I really don't see that. Like the church I was at was just like, hey, you come, you go. There wasn't no Holy Spirit led.
you know, church gatherings, people being, you know, delivered from anything, right? And so I really didn't know what I was getting into. I really didn't know what that meant because a lot of people would be like, just surrender to Christ. And it's like, okay, like if I surrender to Christ, I actually start to get lazy because it's like, okay, Lord, go do it. And it's like, that's not how you live life either. But you know, I had five addictions. I was addicted to nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, drugs, and women. Those were five addictions that I had.
before I got married and again, this was after I gave my life to Christ, but I still had all these things that, these habits prior to that, right? So I made up the decision in my heart, I made up the decision in my mind, but I wasn't reaping those behavioral changes right away, because those are things that take time to really shift your heart, shift your mind, your soul and stuff like that. And so,
Those are really the five things that I struggle with in the sense of living the worldly desires of this earth. And so it was really the flesh of really just like dopamine hits, right? Of nicotine, I don't know if you know this, but nicotine is actually one of the highest substances that produces the most dopamine behind like cocaine and meth. Right? So it's like cocaine, meth, and like third or fourth one. So that's why
Brent Stone (10:36.534)
Wow, I didn't know that.
TEDx Tyler (10:40.582)
cigarettes and a lot of the tobacco and all these things like these jewels that kids are using now it is so addictive because it Releases so much dopamine. So then your body will now have physical withdrawals If you've used it for a time and then you just decide, you know I'm not gonna use it your body will have physical withdrawals from it. And so You know, I forget your question of like I think you're like, you know What are some of the things that I struggle with or you know, what are the things that I?
Brent Stone (11:03.938)
Well, yeah, just like how did you, how like, like what was your conversation with the Lord like, you know, as you were coming out of that and then also meeting your wife, like, because I know that she prayed for you and then there were some things that transition there very quickly and the Lord's hand was, with the Lord's hand moved in your life.
TEDx Tyler (11:08.586)
Yeah, I did.
TEDx Tyler (11:12.254)
Right, right. Sure.
TEDx Tyler (11:17.554)
Right. Very quickly.
Sure. And that was the thing, like, I always wanted to get married. One of the things that I really struggled with was infidelity before getting married. And that was one thing, I had a conversation with the Lord. I was like, Lord, I know it's in the Bible, but I don't understand it. Like, I really don't understand why that's not okay. And obviously, you know, soul ties and there's a lot of issues with having infidelity before marriage. And now that I am aware of it, but...
I didn't really have those spiritual mentors that tell me the reasons why. Because for me, you could tell me to do something, that's one thing, but I need to understand why. If you told me, hey, this is gonna lead to more spiritual warfare, this is opening up the door for the enemy, that I'm gonna have emotional soul ties. Like, if you told me specifically what it would lead to, I wouldn't even go down that path. But I was like, you know what, my friends are doing it, it's so popular.
Brent Stone (12:01.675)
Why? Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (12:19.71)
I got out of a long-term relationship. I had all these apps, these dating apps on my phone, right? And so I remember talking to Chris Borghese, I think you know Chris Borghese. He's one of my spiritual mentors and I asked him, I was like, Chris, I really wanna get married. That's the goal. And I just remember him telling me, get closer to the Lord. And then I was like,
Chris, no, I don't think you understand. I'm swiping right, right. I gotta find the right one, you know what I mean? He's like, no, get closer to the Lord. I was like, Chris, I don't think you understand. That's not how it works. I gotta find this person. And really, because that's where I was at in my walk. I was just so, I was naive. I was really naive, but he was like, just get closer to the Lord. And this is when I was like, okay, Lord, again, getting to a place where it's like, I've done it my way.
I remember living those, that lifestyle, you know, people quote unquote saw me successful living this lifestyle. But I remember waking up feeling empty, just completely empty inside. And I was like, you know what, there's got to be more to life than this. And so that's when I went on this journey of like, okay, reaching out to people, opportunities started to arise. Again, the Holy Spirit had his hand over my life and has his hand over all of our lives because, you know, he loves us all.
Brent Stone (13:26.187)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (13:37.966)
And that's when we saw the event with JR. That's where we met at. And that was a really great time where we spent some quiet time with the Lord. We journaled and it was like, who am I? And the question that we kept asking ourselves was like, who am I? And we just were out in nature, beautiful area. And I'm like, I'm a son of Christ. Like the Lord has made me in his image. I'm the son of Christ. And so I need to step into that reality and.
Brent Stone (13:41.495)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (14:06.602)
During that time, my wife, she was also at a Christian retreat for women. We didn't know this, but we then had another event, which was EGC, which was the event that my friend and I, we kind of created and put on basically to teach people the things that college should have taught us. That was essentially the goal, right? And about financial, money, funding, business credit, travel hacking.
Brent Stone (14:25.034)
Yeah. Was that you dame di-
TEDx Tyler (14:31.846)
marketing, sales, all these different things of how to grow and scale businesses online, stuff like that. We also prayed, again, I didn't want to incorporate the Lord into it, but I wasn't fully incorporating the Lord into everything. But again, I'm slowly, I'm like a toddler at this stage in my Christianity walk. I thought I was so farther along than I really was. And at that point, my wife, she just like, she was just...
Brent Stone (14:32.29)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (14:59.546)
my wife, she wasn't my wife at the time, but I met her on Friday. And I just remember she just was praying for like me. She was praying for the people around her. She was so in tune with the Holy Spirit that I'd never seen that before. You know, like, it was just a breath of fresh air. And, you know, what attracted me to her was the Holy Spirit and was the Lord and vice versa. Like the Lord, she saw the Holy Spirit in the Lord in me, you know, when I'm in the right environments and
That was another thing when I was not in the right environments, I would succumb to these behavioral changes. But if I'm like I'm the guy that's I tell my wife, it's like, keep the Oreos out of the house because if they're there, I'm going to like eat them all. You know what I mean? But if they're not there, I'm not thinking about them. You know, and so that's kind of my personality of just not being that situation. I don't want to challenge my willpower to say no, I just don't even want to put myself in that situation. Again, that's it takes time to.
to those realizations as you go on with life and stuff. But at that point, my wife, I met her on Friday. We got married on Monday. And really cool story because it happened that way. It happened that way. So when I tell people it's an opportunity to give glory to the Lord. Because if you eliminate the Lord out of that story, then it's like, toddler's irrational.
Brent Stone (16:00.524)
Yeah.
Brent Stone (16:09.95)
It's so crazy.
Brent Stone (16:17.271)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (16:24.65)
He doesn't make educated decisions. He's just marrying, you know, were they drunk? Were they partying? No, we were completely sober. Like it does not make sense logically and that's how the Lord works. Like when the Lord gives you a prophetic word or gives you direction in your life, you know what, it's not gonna make sense. Jesus got persecuted for his actions. People thought, you know, I was watching the chosen and they were like, these people would get angry with him because he was calling himself the Messiah.
Right? It's like, who are you? This is blasphemy. This is calling yourself the son of Christ. Like, who are you? So you will get persecuted. People will think of you differently when you do step into what the Lord calls you in your life. And that's exactly what happened. When I got married, I lost a lot of friends. But I mean, the story though is like, I met my wife on Friday. I had multiple people come up to me like, hey, how long have you guys been together?
And I'm like, no, I just met this woman. I was keeping it very professional. She's worked with a lot of great people too. And like, we actually connected because she worked on my favorite show, Entourage. I'm not sure if you ever saw that show. She worked on that show. And then through that, this guy came up to her was confessing his love for her and was like, hey, you know, you're the woman of my dreams. I wanna marry, like, are you single? And then she's like, no, I'm with Tyler. And I heard that. I'm like, okay. Like she...
Again, we're just friends, you know, and but she's, right. So she, but she's, she's being friendly about it and nice about it, but she's, she's also giving me signals, you know, and I, and again, like, okay. And I remember getting ready for my last talk and then, you know, I'm getting pumped up in kind of doing some jumping jacks, just getting my mind right. And the, and I hear a voice proposed to Jenny in front of the whole audience. And I'm like,
Brent Stone (17:53.806)
this guy over here actually.
TEDx Tyler (18:19.718)
I take a step back and I'm like, you know what? This is crazy. I don't know this woman and I don't even have a ring. So I'm like, no, I'm not gonna do that. Meanwhile, she gets the same impulse of like, wouldn't it be nice to tolerate propose you in front of everyone? Again, we didn't know this until after the fact. And so just gave my talk and then we had to drop some stuff off of the hotel. So then I get an Uber and.
Brent Stone (18:27.37)
Huh!
TEDx Tyler (18:41.822)
you know, she was wearing all this all white dress and people would ask her as we were going to this event, like, where are you guys going? And she was joking. She's like, Oh, we're going to a wedding. You know, she was just joking. And as we're about to get this Uber, this guy's like circling around about us for like 10, 15 minutes. Like he's just not at the location, even though it's like clearly states it on the Uber or whatever. And so I was going to cancel this guy. I've had some sketchy Uber drivers before, right? But this guy picked this up and leading up to that, right.
my wife, I asked her, I was like, are you serious? Because at this point too, we're kind of joking, they're like, oh, Tyler and Jenny are gonna get married. And like, it was just kind of a joke. And we were like, people were kind of asking us at this point, and we were just like, yeah, we're gonna get married as a good joke. And then I told her, I was like, hey, are you serious about this? Like, because if you all, I'm in, you know what I mean? She was 99% of the way in.
And I told her this, because this is something that's super important for anyone listening to this, that is single, that is wanting to get married or in a relationship. Marriage is to life. Well, I thought it was to life. She said it's for eternity. So when you commit to marriage, it is for life, it is for eternity. Right. And so if you do not feel that way about that other person, you should not go into that communion and partnership with that individual. And so I told her that like,
Brent Stone (20:03.594)
Hey, people should pray a lot. Here and here from the Holy Spirit.
TEDx Tyler (20:05.318)
Yeah, yeah. And I told her that I was like, this is for life. Yeah. Because people have different perspectives on marriage too. What is marriage? Marriage is like, oh, let's have fun. Let's maybe have some kids. And if it doesn't work out, we'll just get divorced. A lot of people in Hollywood. But it's like, no, if we do this, this is for life. And if you don't feel that way, that's totally okay. That means we should not do it. She was about 90, she was 99.
point 99% sure, but she, I could just tell she had a sliver of doubt. And again, I'm not going to like try to hard close her on this. I like, I was like, I want you to be a hundred percent in on this. And so she, she really wanted to, but again, she was also conscious before because she actually got proposed to like three or four times. Like she grew up in California. She had multiple, she had this one guy by her, this mansion, she had a house prepared for her. Like she, she had like a Persian prince that like
proposed to her. So she's gone through the proposal process and she like declined it. Right. So, you know, for me, it's just kind of ironic because I didn't have any of that at the time. You know, I didn't have a ring at the time. And it was just like one of those things of like, this is really strange. The Lord is bringing us together. And it's like, the story keeps going. But she's then she prays in the uber. She's like, Lord, if this is from you.
give me a sign. And I didn't know this, but she's praying to the Lord. And this guy, I'm talking to the super driver, he's talking to me in the rear of your mirror and I'm in the back seat and he's just like, Tyler, I really like your energy, I really like you. And this guy was a real estate investor, there's actually in Miami, they're renovating Brickle and it's a huge real estate project, I think it's like hundreds of millions of dollars. And he's one of the guys that's a part of it.
And so he's like, I do Uber just to pick up guide people in Miami to network and invest. So this guy's like legit, like real estate investor with big deals. And he actually met his wife and like, I think it was like a week or two, and he's been with her for over 25 years in Miami too. And so we get out of the car and he's like opening the door for Jenny and I, and he's goes up to Jenny and was like, you need to marry this guy. Like,
Brent Stone (22:13.683)
Amazing.
TEDx Tyler (22:25.002)
very direct and like my Uber driver. That's when she was like, okay, like this is, this is for real. And then at this point, we both knew we were like, okay, we're gonna get married. Like, let's go. Now the Lord just starts having fun with us. So I get back to my hotel room. I get a call from the front desk saying like, hey, Tyler, there's a gift from Tyler to Jenny. And I'm like, what do you mean? I didn't order this. Well, one of the guys that was at the event when we were saying, hey, we're
Like we were joking, he thought we were serious. So he ordered three dozen roses for us waiting for us in our room. So that was there. Also leading up, I didn't mention this, but leading up to the event, two weeks prior to the event, my wife, she gets a call from this girl. She's like, hey, come over, I have a package for you. She got a package with her friend's address on it, but there was no return address. It was just a random package. They opened it up, there's an engagement ring and a wedding ring in there. And he was just like, hey,
Brent Stone (23:22.711)
What?
TEDx Tyler (23:24.05)
I don't know what this is, Jenny, but I'm married and the Lord just called me to call you up and just give you this. She obviously, she turned it down. She's like, I'm not getting married. I don't know anyone and stuff like that. I don't plan on getting married either. That Christian conference that she went to too, when we were going to JR's, someone gave her a prophetic word and was like, hey, you're going to meet your husband soon.
Brent Stone (23:38.413)
Right.
TEDx Tyler (23:53.826)
Like I'm not dating anyone. Like, like again, like I just don't see that happening where she was at in her career. And then after that, you know, I like, you know, proposal her, we had like a, we had like a suite all the way at the, like in this really nice hotel, proposal her. And, and before I did that, actually, I called up Chris Borghese as a FaceTime. And I said, hey man, I just met this woman. We're planning to get married. Do you bless it? You know, cause he's actually named.
He's an ordained minister and pastor to actually marry people. And again, he's really in tune with the Holy Spirit. He's like, you know, the same Holy Spirit that's within us is the same Holy Spirit that's within Jesus Christ who died on the cross. And like, he's taught me a lot of cool things about Christianity and we were in a Bible study together too. And I FaceTime and he like talks to her for like five, 10 seconds. He's like, dude, I love her. Like, he gives me like the thumbs up. He's all excited. He's like, do it, man. I support it. And I'm like, okay, cool. And...
This point, I didn't tell any of my family at this point, which, you know, again, it was just like the Lord. It got to a point too where we're like, okay, we're going to do this. I called Chris, he was the only guy I told. And then I proposed to her and as we're saying our vows, how we did it was we were praying to the Lord with the other person. So I just remember she was praying to the Lord and I was there with that intimate conversation of her saying these things to the Lord.
that brought me closer to the Lord. And just through her intimate connection with the Lord, just through her ability of saying yes for what the Lord has called her to do in her life, and for her being obedient in her life, she had a close relationship that brought me closer to the Lord. And for that I was forever grateful. And I was like, you know what, like this is my wife and like this is how it's going to be forever. And you know, through that it got to a point where it's like
if I did not marry this woman, I would be disobedient to the Lord. And again, I was at a point in my life where it's like, I have been disobedient. I'm not going to miss this opportunity. I'm not going to miss this chance. And, you know, it was like a sign of respect and obedience to the Lord and to my wife. And yeah, man, it's been great. It's been two and a half years since and one of the things I tell people too, like, you should ask your father-in-law for her daughter's hand in marriage.
TEDx Tyler (26:20.594)
I didn't do that, but it's crazy because the Lord's had favor over my life because my wife's father-in-law, or my father-in-law, her father, he was a very outgoing person. He had a stroke, so he has minimal, he can say only certain words. And so I just remember getting on a call with her mom and her dad and it was like, he loved me because...
within a weekend, he knew that I wanted to marry her daughter because she was in a long-term relationship. This guy was like waiting a long time, never, you know, he eventually proposed, but it was later on and like her parents actually didn't support it and stuff like that. And he just loved me for the fact that I knew I wanted to marry his daughter within three days. And the last thing I'll say to this too, of anyone that is looking to get married in Christ and get married to, you know, and wants to start a family, I had my wife written out.
for like three or four pages in depth of exactly what I wanted. And through that, if I didn't know what I wanted, I could have, she could have just came into my life, I could have been like, hey nice to meet you, how are you, great, great event, I'll see you next time, right? And so I also knew what I wanted in a woman and I meditated on that. And again, there were certain values because the relationship I had before that, Christianity, the Lord wasn't the priority.
Brent Stone (27:25.579)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (27:49.054)
And it's like, oh, it's okay. She's not a Christian, that's fine, but we'll work on that. But that's a slippery slope to plane. And in fact, I don't do anything that's not the Lord for us anymore in business, in relationships, in life, because if the Lord hasn't blessed it, then I don't wanna be a part of it. But if it doesn't make sense logically but the Lord's blessed it.
I'm buckling in, I'm there for the ride. And that's exactly how it's been. And again, it's been such an amazing blessing. And since then, marriage in itself is just a game changer. And so one of the things as I transitioned, this was really a game changer for me. And this is really good for guys that are struggling with pornography or infidelity. I never struggled with pornography. I always had like infidelity issues. I never had to do the virtual thing,
One of the things that I tell people, especially younger guys, is if you go to your Instagram explore page, and this is something my well, my wife really worked with me and she's transforming any woman on my Instagram page, I don't, I don't, I don't follow or connect with, because if it's a female outside of my marriage, then like, what exactly is this relationship in my life at all? And today, it's just
Brent Stone (29:09.27)
Right. Sure.
TEDx Tyler (29:12.274)
an opportunity of a, it could be an opportunity to come in and take, you know, destroy something that the Lord has brought together. And so at that point, I don't follow any women. Any woman decides to follow me, I unfollow and I block them respectfully. And it's just, I keep it that way because what happens is guys will go on their Instagram page and they open up their eye gate, right? And 30 minutes later, they now want to.
Brent Stone (29:36.77)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (29:39.442)
watch pornography, they want to do these certain things where it's like, again, you know, if those oreos are sitting in front of me like the whole day, I'm going to eventually pick one up and eat one, right? Well, what if I just eliminated the oreos in my life? Same exact thing. And so that was a huge game changer of like eliminating the eye, like the eye gate, making sure that the information I consume is, for me, it's sports and...
Brent Stone (29:55.181)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (30:06.762)
business motivational stuff. You look at my explore page, so people look at your explore page, that's gonna tell you a lot about what that individual is looking at. And then also too, the music. I was listening to secular rap and hip hop, and that's kinda what I grew up on in Cleveland, Ohio, and that's what the guys listen to. And again, you're filling your mind with a certain lifestyle that I was trying to emulate.
Brent Stone (30:15.074)
Yeah.
Brent Stone (30:31.83)
It programs you. Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (30:34.826)
But if you actually dissect some of those songs and the words and the cussing and the swearing, it doesn't do you any good, right? Like, is this bringing me closer to the Lord or further away from the Lord? And again, it's a process, right? It's taken me six or seven years of making that commitment to get to this place. But again, there are some times where if I work out, I still wanna listen to some hip hop, so now I'm listening to this.
Brent Stone (30:52.183)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (31:04.618)
hip hop, Christian rap, you know? And so it's like that you have that spirit fleshly battle every single day and I just want that to be very, you know, wanna make that very clear is that it's not like this thing that's easy, but once you understand and realize that, okay, the Lord's way and he's blessing this, it now gets to a point where it's like, I don't wanna have the Lord take his favor from me, right? Now I'm starting to hear.
Brent Stone (31:07.199)
Yeah.
Brent Stone (31:33.091)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (31:34.486)
Lord. Because if I choose to do things my way and choose to sin and operate in sin, now I'm operating out of the Lord's favor. And I don't want that in my life because I've been down that road of like me trying to do it myself. Don't worry Lord, I got this. Doing, doing, doing. And then it's like it just crumbles. It's like whatever is man-made, then it will decay. And whatever the Lord has for us, like
that's last thing, it's eternity, right? And so, yeah, man, so those are kind of the things of, the things I struggle with, me getting married, me transitioning and now getting to a place where the Lord, I wanna make him a forefront in everything that I possibly do, specifically in the workforce now too. So now it's like, you know, at this point, so like you mentioned before, I worked with a lot of personal development people, I came from the personal development world.
Brent Stone (32:11.39)
Awesome.
Brent Stone (32:15.191)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (32:32.982)
which again, personal development, people have to be careful because what's personal development? How, what can I do to get better? Like what can, let's talk about me, like focus on me. And there are a lot of positive characteristics and traits about that where it's like, if you're overweight, like get your butt up and go to the gym, you know what I mean? Like there are certain things motivational, like, hey, you need to do certain things, absolutely. But once, it does get to a certain point once you have success.
Brent Stone (32:42.188)
Yeah.
Brent Stone (32:53.966)
Sure.
Brent Stone (32:59.244)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (33:02.718)
where it's like, well, how did you get that success? Was that because of Tyler and his efforts and works or is it because of the Lord? And if it's like, you know what, I did this myself and it's like, you know, the Lord wasn't there at the gym at 4 a.m. with me, I was putting the reps or, you know, he wasn't there when I was creating the business, that's a slippery slope to play in and personal development with a lot of, there's really no mention of Christianity in a lot of personal development books, right?
Brent Stone (33:12.436)
Right.
Brent Stone (33:25.579)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (33:31.707)
And again.
TEDx Tyler (33:35.89)
Is this bringing me closer or further away from the Lord? Because at the end of the day, if you look at prophets back in the day, like, you know, I think Moses even had like a speech impediment and like had some issues too and like.
Brent Stone (33:39.39)
Yeah, that's so good.
Brent Stone (33:50.154)
Yeah, he was scared. He was, when God called him from the bush, like he was like, no, don't send me. And then God's like, all right, take Aaron with you.
TEDx Tyler (33:55.5)
You're right.
Yeah, exactly. So it's like the one of my favorite famous quotes are one of my favorite like quotes, I like to say it's like, the Lord doesn't call a qualified he qualifies the called, right. And so if I have the Lord's favor, it's not about how many books or you know, how good or how good the market is or how good this money making opportunity is. Does the Lord have favor and is he telling me to do it? Because
Brent Stone (34:12.138)
Yes, that's good. That's really good.
TEDx Tyler (34:28.446)
There's a lot of times too where I'm like, Lord, you want me to move in this industry? Where this isn't quote unquote a maybe, like this industry is kind of on a downward trend, but if the Lord is telling you to move in that direction, you will have favor. And even if everyone else is kind of suffering, you will have success because you have the Lord's favor over your life and that's a supernatural opportunities and things start to get attracted to you. So you start doing less work.
have more opportunity, and you're more efficient and strategic with your time as well. And so yeah, there's a lot of cool things that we can talk about with that as well in terms of how to incorporate the Lord into the workforce and stuff like that, because that's really where my main focus is now, is how can I create organizations that have the Lord as the forefront, and also to...
Brent Stone (35:02.742)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (35:21.11)
How can I help organizations that are successful incorporate the Lord in what they do as well? Because that's really what I'm called to do and why I'm here on this earth is really expand the kingdom through the business marketplace.
Brent Stone (35:33.986)
So good. You know, one of the things I was talking with one of my mentors with about here, this just a few days ago, and we had this conversation and I was asking him about like my to-do list. And one of our businesses, we just launched new software, all this stuff. And I'm like, just for this one project, I could fill every minute of every 24 hours for the next three weeks. And he's like, that's, yes, you can. And this gentleman, by the way,
this particular mentor of mine, he mentors some of the top CEOs in the world. And so, but what he also helps them do is really look at the essential priorities. What, like, if you can focus your effort and bring the most value through the fewest things possible, what are those things? And so we were talking about this, and he's like, why don't you talk to Jesus about what you need to do?
TEDx Tyler (36:22.998)
Sure.
Brent Stone (36:30.218)
Like, why don't you ask Jesus about your priorities? And you make a priorities list with Him for your life. And ask and put timeframes on it for today, for this week, for this hour. Most people don't slow down, especially people in leadership, they don't slow down and consult the Lord because they don't have enough time. And I'm guilty, I'm so guilty of that. Oh, I can't, how do you want me to fit time in for prayer in the middle of the day? It's like, you know, we've got.
TEDx Tyler (36:34.146)
Sure.
TEDx Tyler (36:38.646)
That's good.
TEDx Tyler (36:54.569)
turn.
Brent Stone (36:58.998)
different things going on and it's like, you know, two small kids under three, you know, a couple of businesses and all this stuff. It's like, no, no. He's the creator of the universe. Consult them because he created and gave you everything that you have. He'll teach you how to steward it properly. Anyway, flip it back to you. But yes, I agree. 100% everything you just said.
TEDx Tyler (37:07.682)
Sure.
TEDx Tyler (37:16.458)
Yeah, absolutely man. And so a couple strategic, practical things that you can do as well to start. So eliminate the eye gate, start listening to Christian music again, feed yourself with Christians, go to church, like all these things. Like for me, it takes a while for me to learn and understand things. I was always the guy that was, I was the last guy in the classroom taking the test because I was processing the information, making sure that I was writing my thoughts completely. And so.
Brent Stone (37:25.996)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (37:45.438)
For me, it took time, but again, I was like, if I just show up in the rooms and I'm surrounded by this information, it's gonna eventually affect me subconsciously and it's gonna affect me in how I do think and how I act. And so, fill my mind with stuff because what I put in is what I get out, right? Another thing too is that you do wanna be around people that can hold you accountable, right? Being a part of groups or others, having spiritual mentors and leaders. And again, that's why the church is so great. Like you can...
Brent Stone (38:06.647)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (38:14.826)
just plug in and there's, again, there are some churches that are good, some are bad, but again, just get around people that you see the fruits in their life, right? And that's a really good test that I take, is like, do I have peace with this relationship? And number two, are they over flooding and overflowing with fruits in their life? Because if they're not, if they have a struggling relationship, they're struggling in business, then.
they're not receiving the fruits of the labor, so something is off, right? Because the Lord wants us to have success, He wants us to be stepping in excellence, He wants us to be overflowing, and there's no limit. Like we as human beings, we put limits on what the Lord can do because that's how we process it, but at the end of the day, if we don't understand something, let's not try to bring it down just to justify the meaning of what we think it means, even though we just don't actually understand it because it's just at a higher level of consciousness, right?
But the Lord, there's multiple times throughout the scripture where it says, like there's no limit to his love. There's no limit to the gifts. But again, we need to be walking in obedience and have faith in that walk. Right? So salvation is like, Hey Lord, I believe you exist. I believe you died. Right. It rose again from the dead. Like that's eternal life. That's like, no strings attached. That's by the mercy of God. Everyone can easily access that.
Brent Stone (39:13.772)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (39:41.494)
but now just have the fruits of our labor in the workplace, in our relationships, in just our fitness. Now that's gonna take work, right? Because we actually have to, day by day, it's a process. And so eliminate the eye gate, music, get around spiritual mentors. Tiling is another thing. And again, a lot of people have different perspectives on this, but like for me, like three years ago, I didn't tie that all. Like I've maybe tied.
here and there, made a lot of money, lost a lot of money. What a coincidence, right? The next year, start tithing religiously. Like, you know what, first 10%, I don't care what it is, if I make it, it comes in. Most money I've ever given away in a year, most money I've ever made, and most money I've ever kept in a year. So actually, in revenue, I actually made less money that year, but I actually had bigger margins, and that's how the Lord works. It's like,
Brent Stone (40:33.346)
Good stuff.
TEDx Tyler (40:40.55)
statistically and logically it doesn't really make sense, but there was a this guy he did a keynote and I love it and I forget his name but basically what he did was he had a pie and he said if I cut out 10% of it and give it to the Lord and then he puts like whipped cream on the other 90% he's I rather have 90% that's been blessed by the Lord right versus you know
Brent Stone (41:04.747)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (41:06.894)
90% or 100% of something that hasn't been blessed by the Lord, right? And so that's a, because where you're, where the money, where you put your money is where your heart is, right? And so where the treasure is. And I get those switched up because there's people that are very specific with that verse, but like, it just shows your willingness because that's what the Lord wants. He was like, he wants to work with some
Brent Stone (41:22.079)
Sure.
Brent Stone (41:28.15)
He wants your heart.
TEDx Tyler (41:30.538)
He wants your heart and when you give money, you're now detached from money because it's like, okay, 10% to this charitable cause or whatever you put that in, may not make sense when you have expenses, you got a family and certain things like that, but that's a level of faith. And I have a lot of spiritual mentors in my life that are living on the 50-50, so they give away 50% of their income to live off of the other 50%. That's like awesome.
Brent Stone (41:57.356)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (41:59.87)
Rick Warren, he did like 10% and every single year he added 1%. So I'm at like 13% now. So it's like every year 10% just add an extra percent and then just consistently just stick with that, right? And again, it doesn't even have to be to the church. It could be a, you know, feed the homeless, you know, with Christmas coming up, give and buy some gifts for some people that are in need so they can celebrate Christmas. Like
Brent Stone (42:05.079)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (42:27.078)
When you see a homeless guy on the street, you can give him some money. There's so many ways to give, but again, it's not how much you give, it's just the heart posture. And again, you'll start to see things change in your life financially for that. And then the last thing is spending time with the Lord. This has been an absolute game changer for me, where, like you said, where can I make time? For me, I do it right when I get up.
Brent Stone (42:39.883)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (42:51.146)
It's like, no breakfast, no Bible, no breakfast. That's kind of the saying I do. So I can't eat unless I eat the word of Christ. You know what I mean? And so I get in the word of Christ. And even if it's just some days are a little bit busier than others, some days it's just like maybe a verse, maybe the daily Bible verse, but I have the daily Bible plan I like to go through. And then I sit down with my journal and there's also another really great app called the Blue Bible app that people can download. It's a free app.
you can basically click on the verse and then you can cross reference different verses. So like if, you know, like John 15 is like, I'm the true vine, my father is the, like, it says every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he take it away and every branch that bears fruit, he purgeth that it may bring forth more fruit. So like the whole process of abiding, you know, we are the, he is the tree, we are the branches type of thing. Like I can now cross reference and.
Brent Stone (43:45.858)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (43:48.606)
I can start writing out these verses. And this has been a really game changer for someone that's struggling to hear the word of Christ. Just write down different Bible verses. Let's say you can type in love. So every verse that says love in it, or let's say wealth, maybe you're struggling with anxiety, depression, fear, whatever it is, just type that in. It's gonna give you all the verses that have that word in it. And now I can start writing out these verses. And as you're doing this, you're so consciously having the
Brent Stone (44:14.423)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (44:18.334)
word of Christ being embedded into your subconscious as I'm writing it down, right? So it's going to be imprinted on my soul now that instead of just reading it, I'm writing it out, I'm memorizing it through this process. What's going to happen is one of these verses are going to really hit you. Like you're going to be writing a verse, writing a verse, writing, and then it's like, oh this one. This is the one that really connects with me. So then what you can do is click on the cross-reference, look at the other verses that are...
cross-referencing this one and you do the same thing. You do that three or four times and you can really start to hear the Lord's voice. You can really start to get clear on what the Lord has called you to do today because once you get and operate in that place where I'm obedient, I'm stepping away from sin, I'm fully aligned with what the Lord, the Creator has done for me, and now I'm consciously opening up and inviting him into my life and saying like, Lord, what do you want me to do?
Brent Stone (45:03.617)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (45:13.522)
use me as a vehicle today, boom, like every single day is a blessing. Like every single day is an adventure. I don't know where the Lord's going to take me. I don't, you know, we're on this podcast today. I know we were, you know, took a couple of weeks to schedule this out, but it's like, the Lord's way is 10 times, infinitely times better than the life that we choose to live. And so that's just another practical thing that I started implementing in my life, where people can start doing it.
And do it for like, I'm telling you, do it for like even 10 days straight. And I would say even do it for three days straight or just literally just do it until the Lord, like until your heart posture change. There's gonna be some verses in there that absolutely destroy and wreck you and you're gonna have it, he's gonna renew your heart, he's gonna renew your mind, he's gonna renew your soul. And it's exciting when you have that intimate relationship with the creator of the universe. And so.
Hopefully those practical things can help some people get out of maybe anything that they're dealing with, sin, specifically sin that they're choosing to do and they know it's wrong. That's when it gets bad because that's when you're low-key addicted to it. But those things can really start to help you just eliminating those temptations, getting closer with the Lord. And obviously just praying and declaring the Lord's blessing over your life and filling yourself with the Holy Spirit because
Brent Stone (46:25.228)
Yeah.
Brent Stone (46:29.079)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (46:43.594)
The last thing, because I know we're hitting the top of the hour here too, is when I'm sinning, I'm opening up the door for the enemy to have dominion over that area of my life. So it's like tithing. If I'm good on everything, but it's like, you know what? I like my money, I want to keep my money. Now I'm choosing not to follow the scripture. I'm trying, I'm following to do it the world's way, my way.
Brent Stone (46:56.439)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (47:10.002)
Now the enemy, I don't have the Lord's favor in my life. So if something happens to my financials, the enemy has control over that. Because the thing is to understand too, is the enemy is a very, he's a second to the Lord. Like we're inferior even to the enemy, right? And so if we do not have the Lord's favor, we're not praying, we don't have the Holy Spirit, we're gonna lose the enemy 10 times out of 10. He's smarter than us, he can outweigh us. But again.
He's always inferior to what the Lord has for us in the Holy Spirit and stuff like that. And so again, we wanna close every door of disobedience in our life. So we eliminate any ground or dominion or authority that the enemy has in our life. And that's when the Lord can really start to move because that's another thing is there's a lot of Christians and I was one of these and that's why I can talk about this is that.
they're living their own lifestyle, and it's like I'm going to church, or maybe they're tithing and it's like, they're still broke or, you know, they're not receiving, they're not hearing the Lord's voice, so they're not seeing the Lord move in their life, it's because they still have aspects of their life that they haven't fully surrendered to the Lord. And if you ask yourself that, and if there's anything that comes to your mind immediately, it's most likely that area of your life. And maybe it's...
You tie, you're a good person, but you're living with your girlfriend and you're having sex before marriage. And again, those things are opening up the door for the enemy to come in and have the spiritual warfare upon you. And again, the Lord is gonna have mercy on us and he has mercy on all of us. But again, the enemy can come into your life if you're filled with the Holy Spirit and...
You can like you have the power to heal like Jesus healed the sick He gave sight to the blind like we have those we can do that too, but we have to be filled with the Holy Spirit We have to be walking in a very straight-edge obedient life because without it you know, I could declare something and have no power because That Holy Spirit really actually isn't present because I'm actually sitting right and so that's the last thing I just want to mention because
Brent Stone (49:16.587)
Yeah.
TEDx Tyler (49:31.338)
That's the reason why sin is, you know, it just is a separation from the Lord and that's how the enemy wants us to get further away from the Lord. But the Lord has our back every time and it's a journey, it's a process. And that's why it's good to have accountability in your life to keep you on edge. Because when you do slip, because you will, they can pick you up and get you back on track.
Brent Stone (49:53.442)
That's right. That's right. Hey, man, this is so good. I really am so grateful that you came on with us today, Tyler. Thank you for taking the time to jump on here and just really touch people's hearts. And it's just it's so good. I encourage you, if you don't know Tyler, go to the show notes. Follow him. Look at look at look at his other stuff that he does. He helps a lot of people all over the world. He's really cool. He's
We've gotten a chance to get to know each other over the last couple of years and such an encourager and really appreciate you, man. Hey, if you're new to Change Podcast, please give us a like, please share this with someone if you think it can encourage them or help them. And we look forward to talking to you next time. Thanks so much, Tyler.
TEDx Tyler (50:40.13)
Smash that like button.