EP 49 In this episode, Brad speaks straight from the heart--completely unscripted

In this episode of Battleground Believers, Brad speaks straight from the heart--completely unscripted--as he shares what the Lord has been stirring in his spirit. With honesty, humility, and a deep passion for Jesus, Brad opens up about faith, daily surrender and the power of walking closely with God. If you're looking for real, unfiltered conversation that points you back to the father, this episode will encourage, challenge, and strengthen your faith journey.

Transcript

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Hey, this is Brad with Battleground Believers coming to you today. Just wanted to take a few moments and and uh uh make a little content and make something that I can put up for tomorrow uh morning. We didn't have an opportunity to interview anybody. Life has been really crazy at our works. Um Matt Carter's involved in a pretty big um project at work, and uh I've been really busy uh with some life things and trying to figure uh some things out, and um so we weren't able to get in studio or or get in any time. Um, but we do have a guest coming uh this week, my dad, and I'm looking forward to spending time with him and talking with him and hoping to get three or four episodes kind of back to the original format, uh, which is I think a lot of people have really come to know us for and and and like our content because they get to hear uh stories of people and how they came uh from wrecked lives to to now. Also, as Battleground believers, we want to give a shout out to uh Freedom by Truth Ministries with Keith Pascalone and John Raleigh, two two uh uh amazing guys uh out of like the El Car area that are uh doing ministry and had the the honor of having Keith in studio and looking forward to having John in studio. And then we also want to give a shout out to uh Andrew Telamentez and Sunrise Church. They have a uh a brave and bold retreat. It's coming up May 16th. Uh the door is open at 11 a.m. If you want to know how to get registered because you need to register, reach out to Battleground Believers at gmail.com and we'll give you all that information. Uh, I went to the first one and uh it was a really good atmosphere, a good time to spend with brothers. And that's how I got to meet uh Keith Pascalone with he was one of the speakers there. Uh but it seems like this ministry is continuing to grow. We're gonna continue to pray for Andrew and the brave and the bold. That seems to be kind of the uh the direction that they're heading uh with their men's ministry, and looking forward to to coming alongside of that and seeing that. But today I uh we rode down and uh we're part of uh blessing of the bikes at Life Church uh 2026, and and that was uh that was a good time to spend with uh with with brothers and sisters in Christ that like to ride, as well as got to meet a few other people out there that uh don't know what their status was, but really, really good people and and had some great conversations and uh had a good time. Uh actually made a TikTok with uh Chuck, the the leader of uh of the Life Riders ministry, and he's got a great heart, and I appreciate him uh so very much and hit his heart and desire that the world know Jesus. And he's using his love of motorcycles to do that, and it's really cool. Uh but today as I was I was riding down there and I was I was thinking about life and I was thinking about who I am and thinking about faith and Christianity and and uh the world and things that I love and and and you know famous people that I that I I enjoy watching on the screen. And uh the one thing I I kind of noticed as of late is there seems to be in music uh just kind of a uh a cry for something, cry for help, uh a lot of hurt in in a lot of songs, a lot of sadness, a lot of um this is what happened to me, and this is how I feel, and um some anger coming out in some of that stuff. And I I think there's this hole in everybody, and it's called the God-shaped hole, right? And it's there's a special shape, and there's a lot of things we can shove in that hole, and it will fill up most of it, but it won't completely fill it up. The only thing that will completely fill that hole would be God Himself, because that that is built for Him that to completely fill, to make us complete. You know, we talk a lot about on here all that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I truly believe that no matter where you are, what life circumstances you're in, um, you're never, never too far from God, or never too far gone to be with God. Now you can run out of time, which is a scary concept, but hey, you know, uh we all have a we all have a clock, we're all on a clock, and at some point we will expire, and then the deal's off. I mean you you you think about uh the thief on the cross, you know, one guy's mocking Jesus and and screaming at him, and the other guy says, Hey, leave him alone, he's the only innocent one here. And Jesus turns to him and says, Today you'll be with me in paradise. He never went to church, he never paid a tithe, he never led anybody to to the Lord. You know, we don't know anything about the guy other than there's a reason he was on that cross. You know, it's probably because he's a bad dude. But even in his last moments, as he's uh getting ready to die, um, Jesus tells him today you'll be with me in paradise. Now, I remember when I was a young man and I I thought about uh Jesus, I thought, I'll just at the last second cry out for the Lord. Uh, but having been in the military and having been in uh some dangerous situations in my life, uh the moment before something bad almost took place, the last thing I was thinking about was uh the Lord Jesus. Uh more what came out was uh a lot of profanity. Um so the idea that like at the last second I'm going to pray and accept Jesus as I fall out of a window or I'm getting ready to get in an accident, that's that's that's not what's in your heart. And so I I I highly suggest that you study, research, and and and learn a bit a little bit about the Lord Jesus uh before your your your time is up. But I think I as again as I I think about there's a lot of uh hurt in this world, a lot of hurt in this world. There's a lot of sadness in this world, there's a lot of hate, a lot of anger, a lot of division. But I I was listening to this guy talk on the internet, and he's a comedian, he's a pretty funny guy, uh, and I I can't remember his name, but he made the statement about that the Christian symbol for Christianity is a man battered and beaten and crucified on a cross. If the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had to go through that, why would we think that we get out of this world unscathed? Meaning life may not be perfect. Just because I accept Jesus doesn't mean I'm not gonna have issues, especially if I made some bad choices in my life, because there's consequences for bad choices. It doesn't mean he doesn't love me, it doesn't mean I'm not going to heaven, it doesn't mean he's not gonna be there with me in those times. But he's not a genie. Oh, life's falling apart. Better go back to the cross and start rubbing on the cross, dear Lord. I need your help. My life's falling apart, and then when my life is, and I think that was kind of the uh the mode I was in for a lot of years. Oh, life has gone bad, go back to the Lord, then all of a sudden my life got a little bit better, and then all of a sudden somehow I forgot about him. I put him back on the shelf. You know, hey, thanks. Thanks for helping me get out of this, and then moved on to the next thing. But um I do have things in my life that I still uh deal with, the consequences of sin and things that I from earlier decisions I made in my life. But I never questioned whether the Lord Jesus Christ loved me or not. Again, one thing we talk about around here is prayer and Bible reading. That is the that is the key uh to the relationship, we believe. Spending time with the Lord daily. That's what he wants. He wants to hear from you, and there's nothing you can say. Now, there's always you can push everything to the extreme, but for the most part, the Lord is big enough to take your hurt, your anger, whatever you have inside you that is just screaming out for him. And I know that myself in a parking lot in Tennessee and in a car in uh Colorado Springs, I said the most vile things, like the deepest anger inside myself. I said the most horrible, terrible things and used every profane word that I could use screaming at God. And I just beat my chest and was on my knees, screaming with everything I had at God. And when I was done, after I was exhausted, and I was on my face because I was exhausted, I remember feeling this thought. Like God says, Are you done? And then also the next thing he said is, Brad, I love you. I would have thought of everything I said to him that he would have I would have snuffed me out. I would have reached down and good night. But he didn't. He didn't get triggered, he didn't get upset. He met me where I was. I'm not saying life turned around at that moment and then all of a sudden I was this great uh theologian. But God is big enough to hear what we have to say, He already knows. He's a part of it, he sees it. He doesn't want to see us go through it. But I like I think about my children, right? There's times my children do things that I I don't necessarily agree with, and I'm sitting back going, ah, this is gonna be so bad. And I only know because I did something exactly like that, and this is that I got to this position because I was able to correct that. But there's nothing I can do about it, and and I get lectured all the time and say, hey, you know, you lecture the kids, or you talk too much about the to the kids about things they're the bad decisions they're making. Bad habit, I know, but I'm uh uh I'm a dad, and I I love my children, and I love my grandchildren, and I love my my biological children as well as my my stepchildren. And um sometimes I just want to uh protect them and and tell them, hey, don't do that because of this. Uh unfortunately, some of those lessons can only be learned by them uh walking that road, unfortunately. Which my wife is better at it than I am. I'm not I'm not very good at that. But as I think about the Lord and I think about relationships, there's a lot of people lately that are telling me, you know, if you were a Christian, you'd feel this way about that. If you really believed in God, you'd feel this way about that. And I I don't know that I agree with that. I think that the Lord, I don't think the the Bible is the way a lot of people portray it. I believe it's a love story, I believe it's a a message of love to the entire world, but I think it's more of an invitation to have a personal relationship with Him, that the creator of the universe, you know, it's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the Holy Trinity, and I can't explain that to you. And please don't jump on here and and and dog me because of theology. I'm not talking theology, I'm just talking as a dude that loves the Lord, uh feels like God's calling us to do something, and uh maybe as I grow in my faith, uh maybe my theologi my theology gets better and I'll be able to explain it, or maybe I'll be able to throw a thousand scriptures in there. But I'm just a guy that that loves the Lord. I I I do know a lot of scripture, but uh unfortunately right now it kind of eludes me why I'm I'm talking to a screen. And um, but the same God that was there in the beginning when he said, Let there be light, is the same God that wants to dwell within us today. The same that you know, the same Holy Spirit that was there from the beginning. Says, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. That that same God is with us every day. And uh that that that blows my mind that that somebody as insignificant as myself, that the creator of the universe would care enough for me to want to spend time with me and want to hear what I have to say, whether it's I am super mad, I cannot believe this happened to me, why did you let this happen to me? I'm so angry, all the way to hey, thank you for waking me up this morning. Thank you for protecting me from this. Thank you for you know the meal that I eat. Thank you for the job that you've given me and the ability to do the job that you've given me. That God exists and he loves you as much as he loves me. You hear that ding? That's my wife texting me. She wants to know what I'm doing in here. I the first one I shot, it came with no sound. So I'm trying this again. Let's hope there's a sound. Again, Battleground Believers, uh, as we move forward, uh, again, we have a really good um interview coming up. Super excited about. If you're watching this and you think, hey man, I got a story, reach out to battlegroundbelievers at gmail.com. We want to meet people, we want to come to your events and we want to promote your events, and we want to uh have people in in studio and sit down with people and talk about their relationship, their testimonies, and see, hey, if I was this way, I met Jesus, and now I'm this way. Excuse me, in all stories, somebody's gonna relate to it. The things that I went through and the temptations I have, not everybody has those, but a lot of people do. The the the temptations and the things like Keith Pascalone, I I I've never been to jail, but he has. But he's got a testimony of how God worked in prison to save his life and completely change his life. Somebody out there has a story and somebody's gonna relate to it, and somebody's gonna say, I one day when I was listening to so-and-so speak about their trials and how they came through it, it gave me the motivation, and I realized, hey, if that guy can talk to the Lord, why can't I? And if that if that same God loves him, he can love me. And he will. Again, we say this all the time on on here, or I say this all the time at the end of our our thing. All that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. All it doesn't say most, or depending on what church you go to or how theological you are, how many people you save. It says all that call on the name of the Lord. And don't worry at first. If you're in, you know, you have some bad habits, don't worry about that. Introduce yourself to the Lord. Hey, God, if you're real, make yourself real to me. I promise you, He'll make changes in your life, but He'll make changes because that desire won't be there, or He'll help you. All of a sudden, you'll want to not do X, Y, Z. You'll want to be different. There's a scripture that says, Um, seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. And I thought about that over the years, and again, I'm not gonna debate theology, but in my mind, what it says is uh if I'm looking at for God and I'm trying to spend time with God, his desires become my desires, and he's gonna give me those opportunities to share my faith, to spend time with people, to love on people, to give to people, to help help people out. Forgive me, I got a cough in my throat. Um he'll make that all possible, and and the reason why is because your heart will be changed. It says, be changed by the renewing of the mind, okay? And so as you read the Bible and you pray, your desires and your hopes and your thoughts will change, and what you want to do in life will change. Just give him the opportunity. Again, I've used this example before. I have an aunt, she's made a lot of money, she's very successful. But early on, she said she got a house, house cleaner, and during the conversation, she said, I clean my house before they come over. And I thought that's the dumbest thing I ever heard in my life. I I'd make a big old mess. Um, if I had a house cleaner, you know, I I'm gonna want I want every dollar worth that I'm getting. Uh, but I think a lot of people look at it that way. I gotta clean myself up before I can come to the Lord. And Jesus is saying, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Come to me. Come to me, all who are uh burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come to me, regardless of what you're doing or how you feel or what you think in life. He will be there. It says, while we're yet still sinners, Christ died for us. That means before you even probably had a concept of Jesus or being saved, he died for you. He loved you that much, he paid the penalty for your sins or wrongdoings, however you want to say it. But he loved you that much. And he stands at the door knocking every day, and he waits for you to wake up because he's hoping that you talk to him. And then he gave us a book that gives us all the information that we need. Now, I get it. Some people say it's really hard to read and read and understand the Bible. That's why you get friends, and that's why you you attend a church and you meet people that are spiritual, and you get a buddy that's been around the faith for a while, so he can explain some of those things. Now, are there a lot of questions out there I don't understand? Absolutely, but that doesn't stop me from from trying or praying. But I promise you, the more you pray and read your Bible, the more you'll hear his voice and you'll know him. It says, My sheep will know my voice. So, as I I end this today, I just want to say to you, thank you so much for being a part of the audience. Again, we will be getting back to regular old um uh content. Uh, some good interviews coming up. Looking forward to that. We're gonna continue to make TikToks and uh we want to be out in uh events and be seen and public and and and talk to people and get to know people. So, again, uh Matt Carter, uh missing you, brother. Looking forward to being in the studio together, uh uh recording um testimonies and spending time with people and and talking about the Lord and uh Battleground Believers, uh we pray for you, our audience. And if you need anything, if you don't have a Bible, you want a Bible, reach out to Battleground Believers at gmail.com. I'll buy you a Bible and uh just let us know. Let us know what you need, let us know how we can help you. If you've got questions about the Lord, reach out. We'll be here. If we if we don't necessarily answer, we got plenty of ministries that we partner with that we can send them, send you to them, and they will help you as well with lots of resources, lots of friends. We made a lot of friends over the last year and uh want to continue to grow. While we're battleground believers, and freedom by truth is over here, and brave and bold is over here. We all serve the same God and we all have the same mission. And we're not gonna say, hey, battleground believers met this guy, so we're gonna take care of this guy only. Brave and bold might be the ministry that that gentleman needs to be hooked up with. Or maybe we meet somebody and they're close to uh freedom by truth. Hey, this is the the ministry that needs to hook up with them, or whatever. That's why we're here, that's why we exist. Again, for battleground believers, all that call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Battleground believers, ow.