Street Preachers
Street Preachers is a raw, unfiltered podcast from Philip Anthony Mitchell and Tim Timberlake—two bold voices committed to making sure everyone hears the Gospel of Jesus. From street corners to stages, they bring truth with conviction, passion, and power—because revival doesn’t wait for a microphone. It starts wherever the Word is spoken.
Street Preachers
In This You Rejoice
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Joy isn’t the absence of suffering—it’s the evidence of salvation.
In this episode of Street Preachers, we walk through 1 Peter 1:6–9 and uncover why genuine faith rejoices even in the fire. If your faith is being tested, this conversation will remind you that what God is refining today will be revealed in glory tomorrow.
It's just it's just wild how far God is taken.
SPEAKER_02I don't even know, and it's crazy always telling Tim like it's really like a testament to all this freak because he and I don't script anything. I was like, I wonder if we start scripting stuff would it get better, but we don't we have any relationship, we just freestyle it.
SPEAKER_04That's that's the that's the beauty of number one relationship facts. Both of us is evident we enough great closet. Flex. It's evident we enough worry facts and you bring that together. It's just like facts. Like my Sundays are better because of these days.
SPEAKER_00So it's just What's up, family? You're not tuned into the Street Preachers podcast with your host Tim Timbalake and Philip Anthony Mitchell.
SPEAKER_04We're honored that you're here, and we pray that you're blessed by the content you're about to receive. What's going on, Street Team? It is a phenomenal day because it is another episode that we get an opportunity to lean into the word of God. Our last episode was completely hijacked by the Holy Spirit. Those are my favorite ones, man. Are they really? He just he just does whatever he wants to do. We have our plan coming into it, and he's like, nah, y'all not even get to that. Yeah, I'm not gonna get to that, man.
SPEAKER_02But it was it was important though. Yeah, I mean, um our plan was to get to first Peter. Yeah, you know, but um maybe what was said people needed, you know. And um, if you missed our last episode, we do want to encourage you to go back and watch it. Um uh Tim and I was about to break this bread with oil on it, and uh the Holy Spirit just kind of led us to talk about the importance of time. If you missed that episode, Tim wrote a book about the importance of time, the power of 1440. And uh the Holy Spirit just led us uh down this pathway of just talking about the importance of time and the stewardship of time, and that we we're not gonna get anything more than what God intended for us to get. And because of that, we want to be good stewards, good managers of our time, our relationships, our resources, our opportunities, all these things for the sake of the glory of God and for the sake of the fact that we will give an account uh for how we stewarded the things that God has entrusted to us uh in this life. But um uh here at Street Preachers Podcast, uh, this is the intersection of the word of God and the times that we're in. It is the intersection of the word of God and culture. And um, Tim and I, in this season too, uh at the beginning, we don't know where God would take us. But right now, we are walking through uh 1 Peter together, and uh we feel like it's just important for the times um because Peter's right now at a time when believers are dealing with a lot of social pressure and persecution fierce, and uh, we feel like we're seeing a lot of the same things happening right now. You know, I I want to also mention this we we are seeing the same things happen right now outside the U.S. where brothers and sisters are being uh put to death for the faith. And so they do we have brothers and sisters right now who are dealing with the same things that a lot of the brothers and sisters with in the times when Peter wrote this letter, they were dealing with the same thing, being persecuted under the hands of Nero and put to death. Our brothers and sisters are enduring that right now. I also want to make a plug for the persecuted church. I think we don't talk about the persecuted church enough, and uh, I want to take just a moment to just ask all of you who are part of our street team to remember them in your prayers, right? I take time to pray for the persecuted church, and by persecuted church I mean our brothers and sisters who are living in countries where the gospel is illegal or where there's such hostility to the gospel that people are literally losing their lives for the sake of Christianity. They they're dealing with a pressure that we have not seen in the United States, at least not yet.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And um, and I just ask that you remember them in your prayers that don't have the comforts we have in the United States. Some of them may not have access to the resources we have, and they're standing on business for the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not denouncing him. Um, and so they are losing their lives. And um, there is images now on all over social media of Christians being um stoned, beheaded, beat in the middle of the street with pipes, persecuted in nations across the African continent, all throughout the Middle East. And let's just remember to pray for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted and um and not forget them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, right. I I would also encourage our street team to know um that these episodes are really canons, you know, messages that we can share with our brothers and sisters that are being persecuted, that are in countries that uh the gospel is being uh you know, really hidden and discarded, and people are literally being killed because they are sneaking Bibles and pages of Bibles into their rooms. And so you know, I I think about how, you know, in the old times, bro, people would write a letter and then that letter would travel from country to country. Yeah. And people would take those letters and people would take those scrolls and they would make sure that people heard them and read them because they believed in the message that much. Yeah. And uh, Street Team, I'm asking that you would carry these episodes, share these episodes. Everyone that's taken a clip. I love that. Everyone that shared a clip, uh, we're so grateful, but more importantly, I love that. Um, we are we are asking that you would do these things to help us continue the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not just people here in the US, but people all over the world because of the day and time that we live in, the word of God is needed now more than everybody else.
SPEAKER_02I love that, bro. I was even thinking as you were talking how when Paul wrote the church, when he wrote to the church of Colossae, right? If you if you read the letter of Colossians, he said this same letter, make sure it was also read over in Laodicea. That's right. All right, like when I was in Turkey, I remember being at the ruins of Laodicea. And remember, I think the ruins of Colossae was like 10 miles away, if I can't remember, but it was like either to the west or to the east of Laodicea. And Paul said, this letter that I've wrote to you here at Colossae, when you're finished with this letter, take it over to the churches of Laodicea and read it over there, also. You know, or when we read Galatians, I think sometimes people may not know contextually that when Paul writes the letter of Galatians, he's actually writing to a number of churches in a region, right? So it's it's it's to these churches in the area of Galatia. So he writes this one letter, but he wants it to circulate. And um, or I even think about the letter of James, you know, you people, I'm not sure how many people know, but when you pick up, when you pick up James, you're actually holding in your hand the very first letter that was ever written to the church. And so, you know, Christ, Christ ascends to the right hand of the Father. Uh Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost, the church is born, and and Luke is recording the first 30 years of church history in the in the book of Acts. But at some point in time, churches are being established and communities of faith are being established, and out of nowhere, the brother of Jesus writes the letter that is named after him, James, and then that is the first thing in circulation amongst the church, which is powerful too, because if you read it, it's a letter of practicality. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Don't just be hearers of the word, be doers of the word. Don't count as strange when you face trials of various kinds. And so that letter is circulating. So I love when you say that. Yeah, street team, like like hear my brother's heart, right? If if these podcast episodes are being a blessing to you, help circulate them, right? This is like we're saying, like those letters were circulating in the first century. Take these episodes and share them. Like, listen, man, just it's as simple as copy and text. Yeah, right. Just copy the link, text it to somebody that needs to hear it, let them circulate, right? Let them circulate and be a blessing to people that need to hear these episodes. Um, yeah, but we are we are we are in 1 Peter, and um we are walking through a text that is that is applicable to the times we're living in, where believers are dealing with social persecution unto death. And I think we're living in times when believers are also feeling the squeeze of social persecution, and for many of our brothers and sisters, um uh they're losing their lives. Yeah. Right? And yet Peter's writing a letter to them that is really a letter of encouragement. And it's not the type of encouragement we would probably get in the Western Western Christianity. In Western Christianity, all of our encouragements, you know, sometimes they can kind of land very flat.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but Peter's writing to people losing their lives, and he's talking to them about things that's eternal. He's talking to them about things that's intangible, he's talking to them about grace, about peace. He's talking to them about the inheritance that is unfading, undefiled. Um, he's talking to them about things that that go outside of this life so that all of their hope does not terminate all right now. Um last time Tim and I was walking through the text, we was finished in verse five, um, where he was kind of pointing us to the end times, to the last time. He was talking about that is gonna be revealed. And I want to pick up in verse six. When Peter says this in verse six, he says, uh, in this you rejoice, in what? He uses the word rejoice in a Christian context where people are losing their lives, and yet he says, Rejoice, but rejoice in what? Rejoice in job? No, he didn't say that. Uh rejoice in money? No, he didn't say that. Rejoice in cars, they didn't have that. Horses, no, he didn't say that. Rejoice in anything materialistic? No, he didn't say that. No. Rejoice in what? Rejoice in the intangible inheritance that we will have when we die. Enjoy in the fact that Christ has gone to prepare a place for you and I. Rejoice in the fact that our names is written in the Lamb's book of life. Rejoice in the fact that I'm engraved on the palm of the hand of the Lord. Rejoice in the fact that God has prepared an inheritance for me in a place that the devil cannot take, cannot interfere with, cannot steal, cannot remove from me. Rejoice in the fact that I am headed someplace beyond this life. Rejoice in the fact that this life is temporary, our challenges are temporary, our affliction is temporary, and then rejoice in the fact that we are going someplace where there will be no more tears, sorrow, trials, tribulation, disease, warfare, back pain, or sin. Rejoice in the fact that what we're doing right now is only temporary, and where we're going is gonna last forever. Rejoice in that. That's what he said. Rejoice in that, right? It's okay to be happy that you got the new job, it's okay to be happy, you finally got the boo that you want, it's okay to be happy that you started your ministry, it's okay to be happy and all that, but ultimately rejoice in the fact and the things that are intangible and cannot be taken away from those of us who will persevere to the end. In this rejoice in what? And everything that came before it.
SPEAKER_01Right?
SPEAKER_02And everything that came before it. Let me just just say some of these words that came before it words like imperishable, undefiled, undefiled, unfading. Watch these words, kept in heaven for who?
SPEAKER_03For you by how?
SPEAKER_02By God's power and being, watch this word, guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice. How about that, Tim?
SPEAKER_04Man, that's incredible, bro. You you look at that and it reminds you that your future is not fragile, although your current is painful. Say that again. Your future is not fragile, although your current circumstances and situations are painful. Yeah, and sometimes we can look at the pain of our present and think that our future will look the same way. No, no, there's an inheritance that has been laid up for you. That's good, bro. There's an inheritance that's been set aside for you. That's good. And it is not like your present.
SPEAKER_01Come on.
SPEAKER_04And if we're so focused on, like we were talking about last episode, if we're so focused on now, yeah, then we don't have an opportunity to really get a heavenly perspective of what God has prepared for our next. Come on, man. And so when he's talking through this, look at what the back half of this says. Come on. Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.
SPEAKER_02I I love how he says, even though now. And then watch, watch this though. He calls life a little while. That's right. Right? Like he says, even though now, right, and and and and peep, like the language sounds sounds weak. He's talking to believers who are being put to death for the faith. And listen, he refers to he refers to persecution that's leading to death as even though now for a little while. He refers to life as a little while that you're going through these trials. It's almost like you know what he's doing? Listen to me what he's doing. He is not allowing the devil to get any, not even an ounce of glory out of even the death of the saints. Like, I wanna, I wanna, I just I just want to come through this camera and just shake some of you, right? Like, he's not even allowing the devil to get an ounce of glory. Like, no, in no persecution, in no trial, in no hardship, in no circumstance, we will not allow the devil to get even an ounce of glory. That even no matter what you are going through right now, your trial, your hardship, your pain, your sacrifice, he says, Man, even for right now, even for a little bit of time, God will allow you to feel some of these light afflictions. He's constantly reminding us, like what Tim said, man, it is momentary, but where we're going is gonna last forever. And he robs them of giving the devil even an ounce of glory. We're not even gonna, we're not even gonna let the devil think that he's got the best on us. No, you have not gotten over us. Everything we're doing with, even the things that you have inflicted us with, temporary. Man, ain't that powerful? Powerful, temporary, temporary. Our shed tears right now, temporary, right? Deal with warfare right now, temporary, hardship right now, temporary, traumas right now, temporary, right? Things that got you in the basement of the soul in the middle of like crying, temporary, right? And and that encouragement from Peter means nothing to the person that does not see the bigger picture, Tim, right? It means it's it's it's crazy to me because that this encouragement of Peter has no impact on the heart that does not see the bigger picture.
SPEAKER_04That's right.
SPEAKER_02They don't see the bigger picture. You must see the bigger picture in order for this exhortation to make sense. You see what I'm saying? Absolutely. And when and when believers don't see the bigger picture, it's like these words fall flat. It's like they they they can't even invoke encouragement in your heart. Yeah, that's what I want to say. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Holy Spirit. These words of Peter, they can't even really invoke encouragement or excitement in the heart if you don't understand the bigger picture of eternity. It just it will it just will not work, it will have no effect. It's and and it's it's for the believer to understand the totality, the foreverness of eternity for these words now in the middle of my trial to say, yeah. Yeah, um yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's just for a little while. Just for a little while. That's crazy. I think last year America spent $1.9 billion off filtering water. Bottle water. Yeah. Just the water market in America. $1.9 billion off of bottled water, filter order, and we spend so much time concentrating on what we put into this flesh, organic. Is it organic or not? Is it purified or not? And we spend all this time on what we do. And I'm not knocking those people who take care of their body. We should take care of this temple. But what Peter's talking about if you put more emphasis on the temple than you do eternity, yeah, then you lose time. You lose time. So how can he talk about rejoicing when these people are physically being tortured, yeah, physically being persecuted, physically being put to death? Yeah, because he understands that this flesh is going to give up on you. Yeah. But I am so much more than this flesh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. This flesh has 77 years if best 80 is gonna fail. Yeah, it's gonna fail. Yeah, but I'm so much more than this flesh. Yeah, I am a spirit, I have a soul. I live in this vehicle that moves me throughout the earth, that takes me from point A to point B. But I am not this body. Right. I am so much more than this body. So this body can be in pain, but I am not in pain because my spirit man is alive.
SPEAKER_02You know what's powerful about that? I mean, I think about the body being in pain. I also think about not only physical pain, but emotional pain. Absolutely, right? I'm gonna confess right here on the podcast, right? I'm gonna confess.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02So, you know how like last year was really difficult for me, right? And um, you know how last year was really difficult for me, and uh because it was it was like the first time my life I had to deal with with public persecution, right? So it was difficult, and I and I'm growing to endure that a little bit better. And I I think about times, right, how you know how Peter's telling these people, you know, rejoice, and uh and uh he's talking to people that's that's losing their life, right? They physical pain. Yeah. And I want to talk to people who experience like emotional pain. I knew what it was, Tim, uh, to be in my in my lower level of my home, in my basement, in my prayer room, with tears in my eyes because of just all of the trials and the tribulations and the warfare of of leading a growing ministry and then dealing with public persecution and all the things and shedding tears. And in a moment, right, in a moment, sitting there in my prayer room, and my prayer room, I use this this little light in my prayer room. I was sitting there in my prayer room and I thought, and I I would have these thoughts to myself. Lord, these tears I'm shedding right now, the the the emotional pain I feel, all this is so temporary. All these arrows I take from people that don't understand who I am, or they're confused about my movements, or they think I'm a demon or a false prophet, and all this crazy stuff. Like, this stuff is so temporary. Their videos are gonna fade, their comments are gonna fade away. My ministry, what I'm doing, all of this is gonna fade. I said so temporary. And the times when I start talking to myself, like so temporary, Lord, these are momentary light afflictions. I would say, like, Lord, I will be with you one day. You see what I'm saying, Teddy? I'll I would literally be in my prayer room and I'll be like, Lord, I'm gonna be with you one day. And I would and I would I would imagine in my mind what it would be like the day I'm actually with him. And when that day comes, that everything that we we worried about right now would no longer exist. Absolutely. And then and then in that moment, perspective comes back to me, and I said, I feel strength emerging and courage emerging, like, yes, it's temporary. Yeah, and then I this thought comes to my mind, I get up, Philip, go back out there, back into the front line of battle and just continue to be faithful. Just like continue to be faithful on the front line of battle, take all the bullets and just keep being faithful because all of this is just it's just temporary. And this is this is me allowing the perspective of eternity to even bring healing to emotional pain. Right? Like, so you're talking about like the body, you know, and how that's gonna fade away. But even emotional trauma we're dealing with right now, all of that's gonna fade away too. It's all temporary. And and maybe, maybe somebody on the street team watching this needs to hear this right now. You know, like Tim was saying, this body is gonna dissolve, it's gonna get old, you know, you're gonna get back pain, your hair's gonna get gray. I mean, you can keep it black as long as you want. But we we it's gonna fade away. Right? It it will, it will, the house you're in will give up on you. Yes. It's just there's just no way around that. The house will give up on you. And um, and it will give way to to eternity. But you know, so with this emotional pain you're going through and trauma you're going through, it will, it will, it will give way uh to a world that you will experience that never again. And so I I feel like even like Peter is is is trying to encourage them with hopes about the world to come. I think if we don't care about eternity, it will be hard for like the words of Peter and the apostles to really take root in our heart when we're too tethered to this life. And I think the more we untether ourselves from the attachments to this life, the more these words will have a greater impact in our hearts.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I I think also in those times I'm glad you come out with a greater perspective. Yeah. Because the moment you are silent, demons get courage. Say that again the moment you are silent, demons get courage, right? Your voice is not just needed in this hour, it's necessary. And you know, we we'll let people in kind of behind the scenes conversation, but I call you Black Billy. Black Billy. Black Billy Graham. You know what I'm saying? And it's amazing to see the grace that Jesus has given you for this hour. And it is going to be persecuted, and it is going to take attacks, and it is going to have people talking negatively about you, but that's how you know the gospel is being effective. Amen, bro. Because it's disturbing the demons and everyone that disagrees with heaven. Amen. And so thank you for persevering, thank you for pushing through and uh taking those shots on the front line so that the generation that's coming behind us have an example that it is possible to stand firm and to stand strong. In the face of adversity and in the face of the enemy, man. Yeah, I appreciate that, man. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02Man, so yeah, I love I love in the text. In this, you rejoice, though now for a little while, he calls life a little while.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02A little while. If necessary. If necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. Verse 7. So that the testing, the testing, the testing, the testing genuineness of your faith, the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in the praise and the glory and the honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is a mouthful, what he just said. Let's unpack that.
SPEAKER_04So in the Roman world, gold refinement was not just about purity. Yeah. Right. Gold refinement was about proving authenticity over counterfeit. And the way that they would prove something was authentic as it pertains to fire or any precious metal was that they would hold it in the fire. You gotta burn it so that they could show people there are no imperfections in what we have provided. And we look at the fire as a bad thing when it is actually God proving that there are no counterfeits in my family. Come on, man. There are no replicas in my bloodline. Come on. Only, only authenticity. And so sometimes when we are in the fires of life and we're in the pain and we're in the trials and we're in the persecution, we think, man, God has forsaken us. Come on, son. We think God has turned his back on us. No, God is proving himself through us by showing the world that the perfect one is at work on the inside of them. And the only way that I can be revealed is authentic. Come on. Is that there has to be a display that there is no counterfeits in him or in her.
SPEAKER_02And listen, man, for the street team watching, right? This goes for people who are public figures that belong to Christ and people who are not public figures that belong to Christ. Right? On every level, God is going to put all of his children in fire. Yes.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02The challenges for people who are public figures who belong to Christ, you just get to see that fire. Yeah. You get to see people attacking them on social media. You get to see, but but what you're seeing also, too, is the genuineness of their faith. Absolutely. Right? But in private, right? In private, for the for the millions and maybe billions of Christians who people don't know on social media, right? All of us are being tested by fire by God. Right? He you're being tested at your job and you're being tested by relationships. We're all being tested by the trials, the life of fire. And like Tim said, the Lord has not abandoned you in those fires. He's actually proven to the people who are watching your walk up close. This is, watch this word, a real you hear the word? A real man and woman of God. They say, how could she go through that and still have praise on her lips? How could he survive that and still have praise on lips? How could this married couple go through that and still have praise on their lips? How could they suffer so much attacks and still have praise on lips? How could they have gone through that and we still see them showing up at the gatherings, right? How could they have lost a child and not blame God? I knew a couple, I know a couple in my church, in our community, that lost their first child. Child was like one or two. And the day before Thanksgiving or the day after Thanksgiving, they lost their child the day after Thanksgiving. And I remember I remember stepping into that space with that couple, and that was a very painful thing. You know, uh to step into that that that pain with that couple. And in the beginning, you could only be the ministry of presence. And I watched them shed their tears and I watched them wrestle and I watched them have unanswered questions. But you know what? I never saw them do. I never saw them blame God. And I did not see them walk away from God. But I seen them, I seen them go through that fire and be faithful to the Lord all the way through that fire. And that the people who are watching was watching them, family members, friends, and even unbelievers who may follow them on social media, you know what they saw?
SPEAKER_04That's it.
SPEAKER_02They saw listen to these words, the genuineness of their faith.
SPEAKER_04Man. So you know what a fire is? Fire is not punishment. Fire is proof.
SPEAKER_02I'm about to say it's proof, it's evidence. Because fire doesn't create gold. You remember that movie, that Christian movie, fireproof?
SPEAKER_04Fireproof. Absolutely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04Fire's proof. It is proof that God is, in fact, faithful in the things that we would not find ourselves to be faithful in.
SPEAKER_02Bro, I'm about to jump off this couch. Hold on. Yo, I'm about to jump off this couch because I'm about to jump, because in the end, Tim, in the end, can't Can I go to the end for just a second? Go to the end, bro. Okay. In the end, like right now, right now in life, our testing and our trials and our hardships is proven that our lives in this life is fireproof. But there's a lot of people who claim Christianity and all this other stuff. And but you know what? In the end, when we stand before the Lord, we really find out who was fireproof, who will not be scorched by the fires of judgment in the end. I remember I did a series a long, long time ago, I don't know, maybe a decade ago, called Fireproof. And the whole premise of the series was, will you really make it in the end? You know what I'm saying? Like when you when we die and we depart from this life, would I say that, man, I was fireproof in this life. And by fireproof, I used it as terminology to say, nah, I made it to glory. Yeah, I wasn't I wasn't scorched in the fire we don't want to be scorched in. Right. So I even think about like in this life, our trials will prove to the world that we are fireproof, but then in the end, our testimony will really prove where we're fireproof. You know, and um and I you know what, I want to just take a moment to encourage somebody on our street team who's going through a difficult situation right now, and maybe you feel like God has not heard your prayers, maybe you feel as if your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, or maybe just questioning God and what you're going through, like Lord, why are we going through this? Um We believe in you for this for a long time and you haven't delivered. You know, we've been believing you for a child for a long time and you haven't delivered. We've been believing you to open this door for a long time and you haven't delivered. We've been believing you to change the circumstance and you haven't delivered. Man, there's so many, there's so many of us, and uh me too, I'm included, because right now I'm dealing with a trial right now in ministry that is so complex, so evil, how we're being persecuted by someone I won't call their name. But we're dealing with something very serious, and I think to myself, like, it's so easy to think, well Lord, when are you gonna deliver? But you know what? You know what's you know what's being brought out of that? This beautiful testimony of although I'm suffering this yet, I remain faithful to God. I may have unanswered questions, but I remain faithful. I may not understand, but I remain faithful. Uh, some of y'all can identify with this. I've shed tears in the middle of the night and wiped tears out of my eyes, not getting the answer I want from God and not getting the explanation I want from God. But I'm going to this gathering on Sunday morning. I'm gonna get up and pray tomorrow. I'm still gonna open these psalms and let my tears fall on the pages of Psalms while I'm praying God's word, still remaining faithful. And for the spouse that is watching, for the children that is watching, for the people who are following you on social media, you know what they're actually seeing? That the authenticity of your faith that goes beyond posts on social media. It's easy to post a scripture or a picture of us looking faithful as another thing to go through trial and come out on the other side with a testimony. Yeah, this woman, this man is faithful, and that is powerful to him. It's almost like God putting you on display, bragging on my sons and daughters. Watch how I allowed them to suffer.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_02Watch this for just a little while, or watch how they go through this and not curse me, right? And what we come out on the side is the authenticity of faith. So we can know, like we can say right now, Job, that man loved God.
SPEAKER_04He loved him.
SPEAKER_02Right?
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_02Right? We have the privilege of being able to read what happened in Job's life all the way to the end and say that man loved God. But you know what people don't peep in the text? We have the luxury of reading his account from the beginning to the end. But you know what? When his account is over, you know, just read the text very slowly. You know what happens in the text? The Lord never gave him an explanation for what he went through. Pause. The man lost his children. The man lost his businesses, the man lost resources, right? The man lost all of that. I want y'all to follow this street team. Like, yo, follow this. Just everybody follow me right now. Don't get distracted. Follow me. Job was a wealthy man, a married man. The man had money, the man had fame, the man had status, the men had children, the men had businesses, the men had health, the men had all of that. And watch, in a moment, with no with no warning, no notice, the man loses all of his children in one incident. Yeah, the man lost his businesses, the man lost money, the man lost hope. The man had a crazy wife that was like, Look, man, why don't you just curse God and die? The man had a wife that turned his back on him and watch, and at the end of his account, the man never got an explanation from God. Why did I lose my children? Why didn't I lose my businesses? Why did I lose money? The Lord never explained to him why he lost all those things, and all the while the Lord is in heaven bragging on him. Have you considered my servant Job? Is it possible that some of the hardships you're going through, traumas you're going through, issues you're going through, may it be the Lord bragging on you? You know what? I'm gonna prove to everybody watching my son, watch how real my son is, watch how thugged out my son is, watch how thugged out my daughter is. I'm gonna prove to all of y'all that this person right here that he's real. See, you think the Lord be bragging us about our realness because of the size of our platform? No. I'm gonna show y'all what it looked like for one of my sons and daughters to go through hell, be persecuted, be talked about, mistreated, misunderstood, and watch how they still come out on the other side faithful. And I'm gonna show the world that this right here, this is a real man right here. This is a real woman right here. So, right? So when they screaming, false prophet, and when they screaming, oh Philip Anthony Mitchell's full of a demon, or when they're saying things about Tim Timberlake, and when they're saying all these things, but they keep showing up though, yeah, and they keep preaching the gospel though, and they keep doing podcasts, and they keep leading people to Jesus, and they keep winning souls, and they keep doing all in the end. You know what's gonna prove? Like, oh snap, that dude Tim was real. Oh snap, that dude Phillip was real, right? So I'm just saying if somebody watches right now, right now, right now, watching this right now, or you're listening to my voice right now, who's going through hell and hot water and fire, right? Listen to me, my brother, my sister, watch this. Come out on the other side. Yeah, how about that, right? Watch this word. Survive what you're going through right now. Like, yes, it's painful, but survive it. Yes, you shed tears, but survive it. Yes, you've been up in the middle of the night, but survive it. You must survive because the character of God is riding on you to survive. Come out on the other side for the world can see, like, yeah, that God we said we serve, like, yeah, that person real right there. She's real right there. They're real right there. That camp right there, that camp is real. That church is real, celebration's real, 2019's real, Tim Timberlake's real. Philip Anthony Mitchell's real. Uh-oh. They're real, they're real, they're real. And so God allows us, that's right, right, to go through these fires, watch, watch the words, watch. To do what? To test the genuineness of the faith, the authenticity of your conviction, right? And and and your Tim jumping here, right? Because like I'm allergic to fakeness, right? Like, maybe it's because I'm from New York, but it's also because the Holy Spirit is in me, I'd be allergic to fakeness. Like, phoniness makes me agitated, right? Like, so it's like I like you like you can smell a phony from a mile away. Like your bro, like, pause, fall back, right? Like, as Christians, like, phoniness shouldn't be coming off of us. Right? There's something in our our confession that should be real. There's something in the way that we live for Christ should be real, it should be authentic, and it should be proven not just only by our blessings, but by the things we survive. Repeat, right? The authenticity of our faith should not only be in the things that we consider blessings, come on, but by the things we survive. Don't think I'm real because I have a platform, but think I'm real because y'all see me dealing with heat and coming out on the other side, still being faithful. You see Tim dealing with heat and coming out on the other side still being faithful, right? And something about authenticity in Christianity is supposed to be like symbiotic, like peanut butter and jelly. Absolutely. Like ham and cheese.
SPEAKER_04Fish and chips.
SPEAKER_02Fish and chips. Like, come on, bro. Like we in London, like ham and cheese, like fish and chips. You know what I'm saying? Like they're symbiotic. They're supposed to be married. Like, just pause for just a second, right? Married. Authenticity, Christianity, married. Yo, Tim, do us a favor, bro. Do us a favor, yo. Let's, let's, let's just. I feel the spirit of God.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Let's just encourage our street team. Encourage our street team. People who think God has abandoned them because of what they're going through. Remind them about that fire you were just teaching us, man. Let's let's encourage them, bro.
SPEAKER_04You know, the crazy thing about fire is it exposes what cannot remain while at the same time exposing what cannot be destroyed. It burns out the dross. And I want you to think about this for a second because some of you are in real life trials, real life tribulations, and real life fire right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But you have not been destroyed. Come on, Tim. Everything in your environment that was not pure, that was not authentic, has been burned away. And if you're still in the fire right now, it's because God is still removing and extracting what is not authentic to your call and to your purpose. Come on. But you cannot be destroyed. And that is what Peter is saying. And this is why he's not suggesting. He's telling you rejoice in the middle of these hardships. Rejoice in the middle of these trials. Rejoice in the middle of this pain. Rejoice in the middle of this tribulation because in the end, you will not be destroyed. Everything that is not authentic, everything that is not pure, it will burn away. So keep hope. Continue to put one foot in front of the other. Continue to put your hand in the hand of God and continue to put your faith and anchor your trust in Him. Oftentimes we say we believe in God, but we trust in ourselves. And it is only when you attest it by fire that you really have a sense of where your trust and allegiance really lies. Come on. If it is pure, come on, or if it is not. And so sometimes God will place you in environments that are hot enough to burn off every fake and phony thing about you.
SPEAKER_01Come on, man.
SPEAKER_04And he will leave you there until you come out, like my brother said, on the other side.
SPEAKER_01Come on, Tim. Pure. Pure.
SPEAKER_04Authentic.
SPEAKER_01Authentic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Test it.
SPEAKER_01Test it.
SPEAKER_04And tried. And tried. And so stay in the fire. And I know you don't want to hear that. I know that's not the encouragement you thought you would get from this episode, but stay in the fire. Stay in the fire long enough to come out on the other side. Yeah. So that the person that made you can see his reflection in your life.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So, Father, on the testimony of Peter's exhortation to us, Tim and I pray right now over our street team. Pray over every person right now that's watching this episode or listening to this episode, wherever they are in America or around the world. We pray for every brother and sister that's going through a difficult season, a trial, a test, a hardship. We pray for every brother and sister who's asking you questions and not getting the answers that they want. We pray for every brother and sister who's tempted to throw in the towel and walk away. We pray for every brother and sister who is wary and frustrated and shedding tears. We pray right now in this moment, you would meet them where they are. You would encourage them. You would strengthen them. You would make their weary hands, God Lord, strong. You will put strength in their legs. You would give them the grace they need to keep persevering through every fire, every test, every trial, every circumstance, every tribulation, that they will keep coming out on the other side with a testimony of authenticity of Christianity. We pray you teach us to live well and suffer well and come out on the other side. I pray grace and strength for our brothers and our sisters. And Father, for the persecuted church around the world, maybe this message might make it to some of them. Yes, Lord. We say to them, we pray for our brothers and sisters, suffer well, even for but a little while. Yes. That all of our sufferings will terminate with glory and eternity with the crowns that we received and rewards that we were laid on at the feet of the Savior. Your suffering, our brothers and sisters, may be worse, but your rewards will be great. And we pray that you would endure all the way to the end, no matter what it costs you. We pray you give him strength, Father, to endure all the way to the end. Father, remember the global church in this hour as the intensity of intolerance is heating up against Christianity. Let us stand as true witnesses for you and not be cowards, not tuck our tails, and not run away. May we stay in the fire, like Tim said, until you have brought us out. Even through the dark night of the soul, we ask this in the mighty and the majestic in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Yo, street team, if you've been watching this episode of the Street Preachers Podcast, if it's meant anything to you at all, uh Tim and I ask you to do us just a small favor. Like, comment, subscribe, and share. Remember in the beginning of this episode, Tim and I was talking about these New Testament letters and how Paul wrote them and they were sharing them with other communities. They were passing them from one community to the next. We're living in the last days. We don't know how much time we have left. And this is the hour to encourage one another. Yes, right? We encourage one another. Like we text each other messages of encouragement, we text each other scriptures. You can do that too with a podcast. You can copy the link and just text it to somebody, right? Text it to 10 people, right? Anybody you know who's going through a trial, a tribulation, a hardship, who just need to be encouraged, take this link, copy it, and just text it to somebody. Let's do our part to spread the gospel and to move the message of Jesus Christ going forward. So just do that for us. If you will be so inclined, share this message with somebody. Okay, and we just want to encourage you, man, um, to just stand firm in the fire. Don't give up right now. The Lord is with us, and we want your confession of faith to be authentic. We love you, street team. We'll catch you in the next episode of the Street Preachers Podcast. Real peace.