I'll take the fish into market and settle up Simon's dead. I'll get some help to clean both of these spots. Are you sure? Yes, go. What will you tell Emma? We've just been called by the man we prayed for our entire lives, and you ask me what will I say when you miss supper. Go now, Nick. Thank you so much for chatting with me. I've been sharing with individuals that I am like a super fan of the show, so I'm so excited to just chat with you today. That's so cool, yeah. And how has this role playing Zebedee, the father of James and John, two Disciples of Jesus, how has that affected you personally? It gave me insight that I never thought I'd have into what it's like to be a dad. I'm not a dad in real life. When I stepped into the role, and I've told people it was downloaded to me from God, like it was a literal download. When I got the script, I didn't do script analysis. I actually, I

was careless in the audition, and I thought I bombed it. Playing him is giving me a strong taste of what it's like to step into the shoes of a loving father. That's why I kind of give all credence and credit to God, because I don't know what it's like, so how am I playing that so well if it isn't Him inspiring me to do that. Okay, so talk about your faith. I mean, has your faith really grown as you've been a part of The Chosen? When I was younger, my grandfather was a Greek priest, so I grew up Greek Orthodox. But as life does, it takes you through a series of challenges and trials, and it causes your heart to start to turn into a rock, and you start to experience an inner battle. When I first signed up to do The Chosen, it's not a conversation with God, and told Him, You probably don't even exist, because of where I was at. And something in me opened up. It was like a black hole started to open up and swallow me alive.

and I heard my heart call out, saying, If you don't call out to God right now, this is about to get really bad. And I'm invited to this conference by two of our construction blueprint designers, Seth and Brandon. And I thought, Well, what is it? And they're like, You know, we get together, we pray. And I'm like, Okay. And my heart said, You should go. And so I went. I walk in, and I'm like, Okay, people are twirling around like ballerinas and swings side to side. This is so weird. Oh man, I was kind of jaded at that point, so that's how I was seeing all of it. I was like, Okay, we're an hour in. I'm gonna put my head down, and I'm gonna pray. And I started in my heart asking God to remove this burden that was, I feel, transferred to me from my family because of the war and the touring country that we're from in Beirut, Lebanon. And so I said, Lord, whatever this is I'm carrying, I want it off of me. 20 minutes and

doesn't even go by my buddy Seth who invited me. His son comes over behind me from like 40 feet away, taps me on the shoulder, and says, Um, I want you to know I was praying for you from back there, and God told me to tell you that by showing up tonight, you broke your family's generational curse. Why? And that was the first kind of like peg that knocked me off my balance, and I lost it. I was like, Of all the things he could have told me, what? And then later on, the pastor, she got up on stage and said, Okay, I want everybody to get on their knees and bury their idols. And I stood there. I was like, I don't have any idols. And then the heart came in, and this voice came through really strongly this time and said, Yeah, you do actually. Your acting career, your voiceover, your mom, your dad, your brother-in-law, your sisters, your sister, your other sister's boyfriend, your bank accounts, oh, your Jeep Commander, your car.

and you've put them all before me. I was like, ouch, that really hurt. I got on my knee for the first time in my life. I genuinely gave them all to God, as in, this is my offering to you because I've been on the show, I've been hearing about you, I've been hearing about these Parables, and I just want to be with you now. So, I gave him everything. It amalgamated into nine people placing their hands on me, kind of ganging up on me, and one of their Elders coming up with anointing oil, like the irony, wow. I know, I think my forehead, my Palms. Next thing I know, he was praying over me in tongues, and from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, it was like fire was passing through and burning everything that I had in me away to where I was gonna ask them to call 9-1-1. It was like, whoa, I'm getting dizzy, what's going on?

and it was frightening. It wasn't like, Oh, it felt good, and it was, No, it was. I felt God's presence, and it was frightening. So, I understood what it meant, all the fear of the Lord. It was like, Yeah, he could kill me at any second like this if he wanted to. He could just evaporate me. And it got to the point where I felt like I was being microwaved and vibrated at the same time, and then eventually just dipped into water before my body could handle, and it couldn't handle any more burning. I felt like my skin was going to explode off my body, and then I was submerged in an ocean, and then all the prayers went very muffled. And then all of a sudden, I was just pulled up. It felt, and then everything was just still, and it felt so weird because I didn't feel like myself anymore. And since then, it's been one encounter after the next, and it went from, Oh, I have faith, to, I don't have faith anymore. I don't need it.

because like I met him, yeah, and I jokingly say like I know the guy, like I know him. That's because he's in me, he's around me, and all I have to do is address him, and he's literally right there. He's literally right there, and I've never experienced God like that. So, took it from, you know, from what it was to a relationship where it's like now I want nothing but to be around him all day long. So, we heard that something really special, really amazing, and cool happened in Zebedee's house. Tell us more about that. Yeah, so after the encounter happens, I'm just discombobulated because I'm searching for the anger and the frustration and the hurt, and I'm like it's not there anymore. Two of the construction guys hear what happened to me, John Hart and Michael Singh, and they were the lead construction guys for the biblical town that we shot in, and John tells me, he says, you know, you've heard that we've

written scripture all over the walls in the homes, right? Do you know it was one of my guys that heard from God to write the scripture on the walls? And I said, Yeah, yeah, I think I heard something like that. And he said, You know whose home it started in? And I said, No. It was like, It started in Zebedee's home. I said, What? We're sitting there eating steak at Prime 115, a really good spot. And I said, What? And he said, It started in your home. And then the scripture spread to the other characters' homes. And I'm just sitting there frozen. I couldn't eat anymore because I had already been through so much. I'm like, I don't need to hear this right now because this is now too much. I can't eat my steak. Like, I couldn't even finish it. And he said, You know, we got together as a crew when we broke ground to build those homes, that we prayed for one of the actors to receive the Holy Spirit and would become the seed to spread the

gospel, and he points at me with tears in his eyes, big burly bearded guy, and he goes, And you're gonna be that seed, and you're foreign. [Music] has blown my mind beyond belief. God did this to the loudmouth voice actor who's blabbing it on set in between takes because I can't help but to talk about how mind-blowing this was. So, I know people that might be watching it, it might sound absolutely crazy, and I identify with that because I was the one true back in the day. Um, even though I believed, but I would sort of poke fun at people that were so into Jesus, and Why are you so into him like that? I didn't understand. People should know, even when I confronted him, and I said, While I'm talking to him, you probably don't even exist. He still came after me in this way. So, if people think, Oh, I'm not good enough for him to [Music], it's like he wants you because you're not good enough. Yeah.

so then he can make you good enough. Once this happens to you, there's no going back. Amen. There's no going back here. There's no going back. You're different. You're different. It's uh yeah, it's mind-blowing. Thank you so much, Nick. Wow, thank you so much. God bless you. I'm tearing up here. I'm like holding back tears the whole time, but I just want to honor you and just say thank you so much. Thank you for what you're doing, and it's just truly like just such an honor and across it. It's a blessing to like see what is happening behind the scenes and prayers. It's just amazing. Well, if you can't tell, that was such an incredibly powerful moment. I mean, I was literally holding back tears pretty much the whole interview because Nick Shakur was also tearing up. I mean, the presence of God as he was just sharing his personal encounter with the Lord and with the Holy Spirit. I'm telling you, it was tangible in that room, and I just

pray and hope that it has encouraged those who are watching not to give up on God. Um, and what he said, you know, if you think you're so too far gone, like God doesn't want anything to do with you, that's the furthest thing from the truth. He wants everything to do with you because he loves you and he created you. And I'm just so um, just, I mean, just encouraged by Nick's testimony because that's one of the beautiful things about the chosen. One of the things that I love about it is that not only is it, you know, spreading the gospel in a really powerful and unique way around the world, but it's literally affecting and changing the lives of individuals who are a part of the show, who might not be Believers. And that's why I think it's such a beautiful thing what the chosen is doing. And I just can't sing their praises more so that is not only speaking, as you said, through the film itself, through the series, but uh, on set to the actors, to the crew, and

it's amazing. That was an anointed interview, and I'm sitting here also trying. Yeah, I know, I know. It's honestly amazing. Oh, and the other thing I wanted to mention was in the interview where he says, you know, they anointed me with oil. And he was like, how fitting. If you're a super fan of The Chosen, like myself, Zebedee, um, he actually is starting to like make olive oil in the show. Oh, wow. And he's buying a garden, an olive grove. So, it's just kind of interesting. He was like, how fitting, you know, my character is now venturing out to produce olive oil. And then I get anointed with oil, and then I have this encounter with the Holy Spirit, and I play Zebedee so well. It's just amazing. It's just really amazing. I'm in your wake. I just started watching The Chosen, so I'm still in season one, but I'm super excited. Keep going, seeing how God is moving behind the scenes, not just what we're seeing on, yeah, on our

screens absolutely. It's amazing. If you guys haven't watched it, I Believe season one is on Netflix. You can also download The Chosen app. It's totally free. All three seasons are up there, and again, it's all free. I'm Ashley Key. Thank you so much for watching this video. Be sure to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so we can reach more people with encouraging content like you just watched, and so you never miss a beat. See you next time, and God bless. Thank you.

"There is no going back" - The Chosen Actor Encounters God

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