Real Life Ministry
A podcast for Christians living in America. Talking about the constant struggles that we face in life. Teaching and educating the followers of Jesus Christ to Live Free and Live Strong.
Real Life Ministry
Why Freedom Depends On Biblical Truth
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We talk about why truth is the source of real freedom and why Christians need courage when the culture or authorities pressure us to stay quiet. We trace that courage through Acts, connect it to what’s happening in countries crying out for freedom, and land on Scripture as our anchor in a post truth age.
• Jesus’ promise that truth sets us free
• America’s freedom tied to Creator given rights
• Peter’s stand in Acts 5 and the call to obey God rather than man
• Living before the audience of one instead of chasing approval
• Biblical examples of resisting unjust commands in Exodus and Daniel
• Venezuela and Iran as modern pictures of a global hunger for freedom
• The Bible as the clearest source of truth in a post truth culture
• Why we need churches and personal habits that prioritize truth
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And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at reallifeministry.us.
Welcome And The Freedom Theme
SPEAKER_02Welcome to Real Life Ministry, where we are dedicated to teaching and encouraging Christians to live free and live strong. Your host today is Ryan Rice, a Bible teacher, a pastor, entrepreneur, and a writer. Join us as we dive into various topics and how they relate to faith, values, and making a positive impact in America. Let's dive into it.
SPEAKER_00All right, welcome back to another episode of Real Life Ministry. Boyah.
SPEAKER_01A few moments later.
Truth Consequences And Christian Courage
SPEAKER_01There we go. We are back in the studio. Just me, myself, and I, actually, is who it is. And I want to talk to you about truth, consequences, and courage. Listen, Jesus said, if you know the truth, the truth will set you. Help me out. Free. Free indeed. Christ came to set people free. Freedom comes from truth. An absence of truth is suppression, oppression. It is no good. No bueno. If you know the truth, the truth will set you free. Truth transforms generation upon generation upon generation. Truth sets people free. Why are why is America the most freest country in the world? I'll tell you why, because our Constitution, our founding fathers' faith statements wrote into our founding documents phrases like this, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, rights that don't come from the state or any other government institution. Rather, they come from the creator. So we're going to be talking about freedom today. We're going to be talking about truth. We're going to be talking about the importance of getting the message out and what's going on in our world and how there's this suppression of truth, and like there's a fight for truth. And it's like we're going to just lean into truth and the consequences and the boldness needed for today's Christians. Are you ready? Let's go.
Peter’s Arrest And The Jailbreak
SPEAKER_01So here's what we're going to do. Um, man, man oh man. Yeah. So I've been teaching in the book of Acts, and one of the statements in the book of Acts that is so good, it's like a leveling statement. It's when Peter says he's being, he's being he's been arrested, he's been persecuted, he's gone through all sorts of hardship. Peter, the guy that was a coward, is now the most courageous. And so he and not only him and John, those those two guys are like the leaders of the early church, not only him and John, but the whole gang gets arrested in the early story of the book of Acts. And they keep telling him to quit talking about Jesus. So they arrest him. And it's like the Sanhedrin, and it's kind of like this little theocracy under the Roman Empire, and Jerusalem is operating, and in this kind of theocracy, and the temple guards and security kind of have all this power to do arrest, and they can even get people and nab people outside of the temple. And so Peter and John are constantly showing up at the temple and preaching about Jesus, and they just hate it. And so they have the authority under Roman law and in their temple, you know, property to make arrest. And so they have this like little arresting, like this little jail cell that they toss a couple in, but they couldn't get them all in there because there was too many of them. So they arrest all of them, all the apostles, the 12 apostles, and they put them in a public prison. And uh an angel comes in the middle of the night and just opens the door and they just walk out. And the angel says to them, You need to go, and you need to go straight back to the temple. And literally at daybreak, the Bible says, and in the beginning, chapters of Acts, Acts 4 and 5, and says they show up at the temple again and they just keep preaching in Jesus' name. And then it just doesn't go good. And so then people see it. Someone comes and says they're still out there preaching, and they're like, What? We thought they were locked up, and then they go and they look in the jail, and there's a jail that's locked, and there's guards that are there, and but there's no apostles in there, and so they're like, What just happened? I mean, I guess the angel like did a like catatonic like wind blow into their face, and these would have been Roman guards because it was a public prison, and so they just somehow slip past them. It's just a it's one of three different little miracle jail jail breaks in the book of Acts, and these apostles have got to preach truth, and there's freedom in Jesus' name, and people get healed, and people are jumping around praising God, and the church is growing 15,000, 20,000 people, and this is the first church, and it's just an in unbelievable. And here's what Peter says, Acts chapter 5. After they they find him in the temple and they come up and they grab him in John, they don't like they don't like rough manhandle them, they just like kind of like, hey bro, come with me. And they all go. And so they go and they bring him in, and they didn't want to make too much of a ruckus because they knew they'd get stoned, not stoned with Mary Joanna, but stoned with rocks. And so they just bring them in and they don't resist, they don't form a riot, they don't they just they just go peaceably, they go in, and then they tell them, like, you can't talk in this name, you can't, this man's blood is not on us talking about Jesus, which is like crazy because earlier they said right before when Pilate's like, I don't I don't want to have anything to do with this man, and then they the chief priests and the Sanhedrin and all these other folks say, you know, his blood be upon us and our children. So now they conveniently forget this man's name, his name is Jesus, and they conveniently forget that literally they said his blood be upon us and our children. So now they're afraid because there's 15, 20,000 new believers, not even yet called Christians. I think that comes in Acts chapter 11 at Antioch. And people are following Jesus. There's an exodus out of Judaism into this new thing called the way is actually what they're calling it. And so they tell them to shut up, and they can't believe that they're free, they don't even know what happened, they're just like can't believe what's going on, they're perplexed, and tell them quit talking in Jesus' name and don't try to blame us. And here's what Peter says we must obey God rather than man. That's like that's the way it should be. Like live before the audience of one. I used to work as river guide up in Buena Vista, Colorado, class 345, Whitewater, and was a guide in every was an awesome Christian owned and operated deal. It wasn't like a Christian, uh, well, yeah, it was very much a ministry. So anyway, we had all these cool speakers every Sunday evening, and one of the guys was like this military dude, and he like came in and he like told all his war stories, and then he talked about living before the audience of one. It was like this unbelievable theme for the summer for me, just to understand like here's what you need to do. You need to live before the audience of one. You seek to honor God, fear God, live for God, like that's it, and don't worry about what everybody else thinks. And so Peter gets that. We must obey God rather than man. So it's not like Peter's like anti-authority, anti-government. I mean, like Paul says in Romans, like governing authorities are appointed by God. However, right, if they command you to break God's law, to obey man's law, then I'm sorry. That law. Not yet. So here's the deal. So there's just this revolution that is going on. Not just, and I don't even think they want necessarily a revolution, but that's what they're getting. It's like an overthrow of the system. Like they're people are ex like leaving like an exodus. Like Bob Marley had that song talking about an exodus, and you know, like uh it's like a new generation things happening, and that's what was happening back then. And they needed to not obey the governing laws because they were not good, and so I mean, even within Roman authority and Roman power, they could talk about God if they wanted to, but it's this temple police and these religious leaders within this context, and so you know, Peter's not fazed by it. He says we must obey God rather than man, and then he's gonna go out and just keep preaching and talking about Jesus, and so there's a time in which you can, as a believer, not follow the law that's in the land if it's requesting or encouraging you to break God's law.
When God’s Law Conflicts With Man’s
SPEAKER_01So you think back into uh the Old Testament and the beginning uh storyline uh in the book of Exodus is that there's Pharaoh has all these uh Jewish people under his control into slavery, and so um just about every ethnic group in the world's been in slavery, by the way. So the Jewish people are slaves. Pharaoh is um nervous because there's too many of them, so he commands that the Hebrew midwives that are to work for him um go and basically um suffocate or drown all the newborn male infants, and they don't want to do that, and so some people are like, you know, tossing babies out into the river and uh suffocating them uh to make it simple and easy, no mess. And the Hebrew midwives, they don't want to do that, so they don't do that, um, and they defy the unjust law of Pharaoh, and they should have. Then you think about in the story of Daniel, you know, remember Babylon comes and um sacks uh uh Jerusalem, I think it's 586 BC, and destroys it and um over you know at different levels, and then kidnaps the best and the brightest of Israel, and then you get guys like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, and then they got that that's not their original names, those are like literally like demonic names, and so they get they go uh they get kidnapped and they get brought into uh Babylon, and they're commanded uh to worship a 90-foot statue of Nebuchadnezzar, and these are believers, and they refuse to, and they are tossed into a fiery furnace, and it's cranked up hotter than you can all imagine, and they say no, and they get tossed in there, and they don't burn. In fact, there's not just three guys in the fire, there's a fourth, and uh most uh uh scholars and uh theologians think that was the preincarnate Christ, is is who that was, and so um I think that's called a Christophany. Um it's like a Christophany is a manifestation or appearance of Christ in classical evangelical theology. The word usually refers to the appearance of preincarnate son of God, which would have been exactly what I was talking about in the fiery furnace. And so um it's a little bit distinguished from theophany, uh, when appearances of God, because it's more particular, and so it is that I think the Christophany is there, and so sh you see, you know, a just cause of rebellion or and they rebel and they do not obey man's law. You Daniel chapter six, Daniel um he prayed and it was outlawed, and he continues to pray, and they end up throwing him in a lion's den, and the lion doesn't eat him, and the Lord delivered him. And so in Acts chapter five, you yeah, it's loud and clear, uh we must obey God rather than man. And so, how do you how do you get there? You get there by fearing God above man. If man is your chief aim of impressing an image is your idol, or pleasing people is your idol, then you're not gonna obey God, you're gonna obey man, and you're always gonna live for the approval of men, mankind. And that's just a miserable way to live. That's not a Christian way to live. That's that's a cowardice way to live. Live with deep convictions about who you are in Christ, what God has called you to. Have an allegiance, draw the line. I love it, and so you know, I just think there's some things going on even in our world today, where it's like there's a cry for freedom. Freedom is contagious, people want it. That's what makes America so special. Like the freest country on the planet. And I don't know. Um I'm gonna do some research online real quick and see if what they think say about this freest country in the world. I think by and large, it is America. And I I mean let's see. Oh come on. Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark, oh whatever. This is this is AI, which this is all this is perplexity saying is America's the freest country in the world. Um there you in in America, I mean, we're fighting for it, you know, we're being censored at some level. But the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, I mean, these kinds of freedoms that we have are unbelievable. Um so here's what's going on.
Venezuela And Iran Cry For Freedom
SPEAKER_01There's a cry for freedom, and here's who's crying out for freedom. It's the young people and young adults. And who's making the news is Venezuela, Iran. Tell you two stories. One is we had a Venezuelan family come to our church for a while, and um, they've moved on, moved, moved to another area or whatever, but um, sweet couple, sweet family, and uh they still told me their story, and they're so pro-America, and they're one of 7.7 million others that have fled the country. It's a vote with your feet kind of deal. Why is that? Because Venezuela's had decades of dictatorship, socialism, and uh dictatorship that devastated their economy. And so since 2015 to 2025, in that decade seven, nearly eight million people left the country searching for better jobs and more freedom. And right now, I mean, after the kidnapping of the dictator of Venezuela, you you have a hope within the Venezuelan people that there's gonna be a regime change. And so, gosh, that's a good thing. They're crying out for freedom in Caracas, the capital city, um uh they're crying out for freedom. Freedom is uh contagious, everybody wants freedom, uh and it's the same thing in Tehran. Uh Tehran is you know, the they're crying out as well for freedom, and it is um you've got Iran is this Islamic theocracy, and it's really interesting. They're they're practicing basically Sharia law over there. It's like taking a literal form of interpretation to the Quran, which if you were if you're reading the Quran and applying it, then you probably should operate by Sharia law. But that's terrible. Like Sharia law is so messed up and so oppressive and so racist and and just not good, and uh very, very, very much puts women in um almost like in a slavery position. And so you you have these radicalist, radical Islamic uh leaders um that are hellbent on like eradicating Israel, by the way. Uh like they have a death clock like counting down, like they want to destroy Israel. And they were major funders, funders. They spent all their money on trying to just obliterate Israel by funneling their funds into Hamas and Hezbollah and all this other stuff. So they're crying out, you know, with the with all that's going on with Iran, you have 70 to 80 percent of the young people of our Iranians that reject the regime altogether as well. I met with a young guy, and he's dating and he's a foreign exchange student, and he's um dating a young girl, an American girl, and comes from a conservative family, the the American girl, and uh he's talking to me about just how he wants freedom back in his country. And and there's just this longing for freedom, and as Americans, I think that we have to be bold and inspire and encourage these others millions and millions of people around the world that are looking for freedom, and we have an opportunity to point them into a relationship with Jesus Christ and what makes America so special.
America’s Founding Truth And Family
SPEAKER_01Is the truth that is woven into our constitution, into the moral fabric and the being of our nation. And so, man, at the foundation of our country is the family, and the family's under attack. And what's what holds the family together is truth and the truthfulness of scripture that holds this together. And what makes, again, our constitution so special is again, it's these faith statements woven all through it. And so, man, it's good. I don't know if you've ever seen this before, but there's this Bible called the Founders Bible. It's like super good. It tells you all the stories of the founders and and their faith. And so it's not like everything's perfect, you know, with all these guys, but there was some good stuff in there that you probably never learned. So I'll weave that in here through real life ministry. Um, live free, live strong. That's our tagline. And serving at the as the lead pastor, founding pastor of North Valley, our values, our faith, family, and freedom. So my point is saying is like there's this kind of longing for freedom all throughout our world right now.
Global Church Growth And Revival Signs
SPEAKER_01And here's what's really encouraging is that missiologists estimate that the 20th century saw the greatest expansion of Christianity in human history. In 1910, there were roughly 600 million Christians worldwide. 1910. By a hundred years later, by 2010, that number grew from 600 million to more than two billion, okay, by 2010. Today, there are approximately 2.6 billion Christians worldwide, and the projections suggest that the number could reach 3.3 billion, and so by 2050. So what this means is that it is very likely that hundreds of millions of people are coming to faith in Jesus this generation. That's cool, dude. That's really cool. And so you're like, how does this fit into eschatology? Like in times things, like, isn't it going to get worse before it gets better? Yeah. But there's revival going on. And so evidently God is wanting to do more revival. The Bible tells us as well that He is patient in coming so that, because He doesn't want anybody to perish. And so what we see happening is I think we're, if we're not in revival, we're in some kind of renewal season of Christianity where so many, like first time in American history, we're seeing more young men back in church or in church than ever before. And so it's like there's a cool thing happening right now. And so there's millions and millions of folks that are becoming believers. And again, I'd say pray for Venezuela, pray for Iran, pray for those younger generations. They're longing for freedom. Well, let's tell them. Well, you will, if if you know the truth about Jesus, you will be free. If you know the truth, the truth will set you free. And so, man, what an opportunity that we have. And here's the deal.
The Bible In A Post Truth Culture
SPEAKER_01So, truth, the source of truth, is God's word. And and so if we understand God's word, uh, we hear we understand God's will. So that's what happened with Peter. He understood God's word, so he knew God's will. God's will, if it conflicts with man's will, then he's gonna push through it and do it. So Peter's not gonna be slowed down by you know some laws or whatever. You can't preach them in Jesus' name, whatever. You know, like so truth is is what we're after, what we need to live for. It's the source of freedom. If you have truth, you'll have freedom. If you'll have the truth, you'll have freedom. Um, I think it was Saint Augustine that said it like this all truth is God's truth. So meaning like whatever is true, it's God's. So um, you know, that's what makes America special is the the the Christian values, the biblical values woven into our founding documents. So, yeah, really good. So the line, all truth is God truth, is most commonly traced to August Augustine of Hippo, 80 354 to 430, uh, though it's a summary of his thought rather than a single verbatim sentence. It's in on the book is called On Christian Doctrine. Augustine um says that whenever truth is found, it belongs to his master, meaning Christ, and later writes and paraphrases, all truth is God's truth. So yeah, it's really cool. And you know, other guys like Aquinas and Calvin and other guys, um R. C. Sproul, have you know, perpetuated this idea. So um, anyway, good stuff. So truth is the source of what we need. And in a in a post-truth culture, and that's what we're in right now, um, a post-truth culture where truth is doesn't matter. Um we need a uh kind of a re a resurgence or a reformation towards this truth. And so this is why, again, I think you in in church culture, like who we like toss the seeker-sensitive model out, like don't worry about offending people, just give people truth because people are hungry for truth, and truth sets people free. And so, as believers, we need to be hungry for the truth, and we're in a post-truth culture where much of society um is is uh is less objective and focused on feelings. But key marks of this post-truth culture is emotion over evidence. And so what you see is is people saying, I don't want just emotion, I do want the evidence. Um and so we we we're in this distrusting time frame as well, where you don't trust the institutions, and so traditional truth-telling institutions like news, media, courts, and universities and scientific bodies are all widely distrusted today, and rightfully so in many ways. And so, like, everybody has the corner on truth, and so you have to like figure out like this doesn't mean that truth no longer exists, it just means that you got to go deeper into finding what is true, true, true. And the greatest source of truth is going to come from God's word. I mean, the Bible's so unique, I've said it so many times. It's 40-something different authors written over a span of 1,500 years, 66 books, all telling this one amazing story, uh written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and all yet, like just unbelievable continuity through it and echoing and telling the world. The Old Testament prepares the world for Christ, and in the Gospels it presents Christ to the world, and in the rest of the New Testament, it explains who Christ is and how to understand him and live by him. And so, you know, the Bible is the source of truth, and that's where we as believers need to just lean in and hunker down into being ferociously committed to truth. That means going to churches that preach truth and listen for truth and read truth and not just listen to somebody else's sermon, and that becomes the the the truth the truth injection that you get, but rather you you absorb your mind and your thinking with truth, like you meditate on God's word and you you absorb truth all the time, and you you you seek it, and so if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. And freedom is wanted all around the world today. There's millions of folks that are coming to faith in Christ, and my prayer is that you would be an advocate and an ambassador um of Jesus Christ. And so, man, it's
Courage To Speak And Share Christ
SPEAKER_01good stuff. So, all right, that's all I'm gonna cover in today's episode. Um, this is just a message that I wanted to share with you about truth and and consequences that you're gonna face, that you're gonna have some challenges. Um, but go for it. Umbey God rather than man. Uh be filled, be a be courageous. Uh the the whole Bible is filled with folks that were not courageous, they were cowards and they're they're they're transformed into courageous individuals. And so go for it and know that the road is not always easy. And so, yeah, there's three different jailbreaks in the book of Acts, but there's also stories of guys that were devoted and loved Jesus Christ that were put to death by the sword. And so this thing called the Christian life is worth it, it's good, it's glorious, it's great, but it's not easy, and you're gonna need courage. And and God wants to use you. You have a voice, you have a platform, you know people, God's gonna save people. May it may He use you, your testimony, your story. So just share with other people about what God's doing in your life. Pray for people, pray, pray for for people in need. Because God wants to use you to save people, that they experience true freedom. There's a real thing such as heaven and hell, and believers are given not just eternal life, but life in the present. And life in the present is good. It's not easy, but it's good. All right, that's it for today, guys. Hope that you've enjoyed today's episode. If so, share it with a friend. Uh, let people know reallife ministry.us. Thanks for being a part. We'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for listening to Real Life Ministry. If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit. And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at reallifeministry.us. While you're there, check out some of our episodes. And together, let's continue to educate and encourage Christians to live free and live strong.