Everyday Radical

Steven Morales on Giving a Voice to Christians the World Ignores

• David Platt, Austin Huang, Steven Morales

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In this episode of Everyday Radical, David Platt and Austin Huang talk with Steven Morales about why Radical tells stories about hard-to-reach places.

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SPEAKER_03

Welcome to Everyday Radical, a podcast where we help the everyday Christian follow Jesus and make him known everywhere. We pray that today's episode encourages you to do just that. So let's dive right in.

SPEAKER_01

Man, I remember when um we went to Iran and that experience, we have kind of the pattern that every time we're about to go to one of these countries to uh film one of these documentaries, usually like the week before it's just like all hell breaks loose. Uh there's protests, there's riots, something happens in the news, something happens in the government. And that happened in Iran the week before. Um, I don't know if you remember and everything that went went down with Masa Mini, this woman who had was in police custody and was killed, and it just sparked all these riots around head coverings and things like that. And we were scheduled to go that week. And so we, you know, prayed about it, talked about it with um with other people, and felt like, no, it's it's still all right. The country's still open, we're still able to travel. And so we went. And uh it was one of the first times that I felt getting on the plane of like, oh, I'm going to a place where I had to leave a lot of stuff behind in order to get in to get there. Um, we didn't bring any electronic devices outside of our cameras uh because of government surveillance just being so intense. Uh we were told you had to can't take your computers, you can't take your phones, nothing like that. We had to buy a burner phone in Istanbul, which sounds really like you know, Jason Bourne. It wasn't that crazy, but uh but that's Stephen Morales. Yeah, I know crazy honestly. I think just the Tuesday. I'll even know your name. Yes, my real name. But yeah, and so we we did bring a Nintendo Switch, uh think about that. There was no personal information on that.

SPEAKER_02

Bro, you're like talking about all the things you had to leave behind. But we you're like, but we brought Mario Kart.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I told us so like talking with with people there though, like, and it's it's a curfew after six o'clock, so and you're gonna have to stay in a hotel. So we're like, what are we gonna do from 6 p.m. until the next day? And so we brought that. It was fine.

SPEAKER_02

That's that's a whole nother person. I did I did not know that until this moment. Uh so the thought like that that documentary video to to think that. If you guys were filming that during the day, yeah and like risking our lives, racing with Luigi.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. I mean, it it was it was an interesting. So we got there and we went through security, went through all that. It was all perfectly fine. It was actually pretty easy to get into the country. There was no uh we didn't even have to go through an x-ray machine or anything.

SPEAKER_02

So it was just it was which I mean, pause there would not be the case, I don't think, for me, if I was going to Iran with my passport. Yeah, you going with uh bar of online passport, yeah, uh was helpful. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And but Lord, you know, uh praise praise the Lord. We were able to get in, uh, get connected. You know, when you travel to places like Iran, you have to you have to travel with a government kind of government issue tour company. And so uh we traveled with this guy and we're able to uh visit a lot of places and a lot of people that we uh had been in contact with. And so just really um was just a crazy experience. Like to be in a country where the government had shut down the internet um for a few weeks, including while we were there. So we were not able to get in contact with our family, even though we had the phone, it's just so so hard to connect online. And and to be in a place where there were riots happening uh throughout the day, we uh I particularly just remember one moment walking down streets of Tehran, and we were we were walking with our guide, and we just we we walked past this group of women who had removed their head coverings and they're chanting in the streets and they're marching, and we kind of were walking a little faster, so we walked past them and to but in the direction that they were heading in, and a few blocks ahead, we saw all this, all these police just like in riot gear, like earing up, and we're like, man, there's about to be an encounter there in a few minutes. That is not going to be pretty. Um and being in places like this where there are people who are being oppressed by a regime and not just for not because they were Christian, um, like these were just regular uh uh Iranian citizens who were being oppressed for not falling in line um with the agenda of the Islamic regime. And it it kind of you know, this you can read about these things in news headlines and in books, but actually being there really just opened my eyes to reality of particularly in Iran, that there are people um who are not or I I I guess I would to let me let me rephrase that we often look at these places and just go, oh man, this is all just the Arab world or the Muslim world or the Middle East or or things like that. And and we think that they're all on one side, and we tend to just kind of blanket cover these places and just say, Hey, with uh you know a broad stroke and say this is what they are. When in reality it's much, it's much more complex. Um there are people who are suffering at the hands of uh totalitarian governments um who uh who are so open actually to uh to hearing you know other perspectives and hearing other um um worldviews and who are searching for truth and are searching for peace and want to just be able to live their lives um normally and and yet can't um because of outside forces. And I thought I I used to think that was just like a religious thing, like there are Christians being persecuted, but the it it's actually much, much bigger. Um there's definitely religious persecution, but often those things are exacerbated by greater powers that are not just doing that towards Christians but to people in general.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, man, I think about and I'm not sure exactly when this is gonna air, but um or like be released, but yeah, what's happening right now is we're having these conversations. We're watching more headlines coming from Iran specifically, or then I think about uh yeah, northern Nigeria and persecution of the church there, yes, and also Muslims. Like we uh had that conversation with Arlen where where he was, I mean, they're doing trauma counseling with both Christians and Muslims in some places. Um but it is I as you're talking, I just think about uh Hebrews 13 and uh remember those this he was switching to remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them. This is where um, and uh yeah, certainly if that's true for those who are in prison, remember those who are oppressed, remember those who are being persecuted in a variety of different ways. And that's obviously talking specifically about uh followers of Jesus, but it it is helpful. I mean, you have a perspective on that that's very different, having been on the streets of Tehran and having experienced that, um, more like what it's like to be with them, and I think that's part of the value, right? Of what we're trying to, what you're producing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So even that passage in Hebrews 13, what you just read, remember them as if you were there with them. Like this is more than just being aware. Like in ministry, nonprofit space, we're always talking about raising awareness for for different causes. But the biblical mandate here is not just to be aware of our persecuted brothers and sisters, but to remember as if we were there with them. And I know that if I were in prison, um, it would be really hard to think about anything else. Like that would be at the center of my prayer life and my conversations with the Lord. And every time I open the Bible and every time I talk to anybody else, like I would be about that. That would be the main experience that I'm living all these things through and and living on my faith. And so there has to be a a greater approach towards our persecuted brothers and sisters than just being aware that they're there. And I think, yeah, to um to talk a little bit about what we do at Radical, I mean, I think that is a really the heart behind a lot of what we do. I think most Christians are aware that there are some places around the world that are not very Christian and where Christians are not are not welcome, right? Um, but how much do we actually know about those places? About those places in general, and then how much do we know about Christians in those places and the trials and the suffering and the pains that they're suffering in in these places? I would venture to say not too many. Um at least that was that was my experience. I remember, I mean, years ago hearing you talk, David, about kind of the unreached and the you know, great imbalance and all of these places around the world where there's persecution and things like that, and you put a map on a screen and and I was looking at that map and I just went, man, I don't I can't I really don't know anything. I mean, I can probably list some of the countries and you know, and maybe the capitals or something like that, because I had to learn some of that in school, but I could not tell you anything about what Christians are facing in those places.

SPEAKER_02

That's that's that's significant. Like that's where yeah, I we I we have a conviction, and why we wanted to have part of why we wanted to have this conversation is to uh I think help people see, yeah, we need to be not just aware, yeah, but uh know what it's like on the ground um and be able to step into those shoes as best as we can, which is why we're creating documentaries like Hard to Reach North Korea, hard to reach Iran, hard to reach these different places. Because, like of all people, Christians, if we have been created for the spread of God's glory among all the nations, we should know what's happening among us. Yes, yes. We should be not just aware to your point, like, but to be able to identify, especially with our brothers and sisters there and with the need for the gospel in those places because this is what we're on the planet for. So this is not just for fun, uh like sort of a cool thing to watch. It's like, no, I it's really a part of what it means to be a Christian who lives for the spread of God's glory among the nations.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, I was gonna say 1 Corinthians 12, we suffer. If one of the body suffers, we we all suffer. Yes, right. And thinking of Colossians 4, when Paul is writing with his own hand, he says, Remember my chains. Yes. Like it's just this constant, I mean, Proverbs, even in Proverbs, where it talks about speaking up for those um who can't speak up for themselves. Um, my experience, I mean, people will ask, you know, because we'll go to these countries and tell these stories and they'll go, like, man, aren't you ever just like afraid for your life? And isn't it like dangerous and risky? And you know, at the most, we're there for a couple weeks or a few days or things. But the real danger is for for those for the people who actually live there. And the reality is, like, God has gifted Radical with this platform where we're able to speak to, be it through your teaching or through online social media and everything. Like, we're able to reach a lot of people and speak to a lot of people and had a captive audience that our brothers and sisters, persecuted brothers and sisters, don't have that voice. And so we can use our platform to talk about, I don't know, write a bunch of books that are gonna sit on a shelf, or we can actually be a voice for those who don't have that voice, whose faces we can't see for their own safety. Um, and we can share their stories.

SPEAKER_03

And I mean, and the stories are so impactful to the point where it's yes, identifying with the brothers and sisters who are persecuted, but it's also I'm hearing we're at CrossCon right now, and I'm just sitting standing next to Steven, and people were just coming up to him, man. That neighborhoods and nations video is what really for me helped make that shift. I'm like, I need to go and be in the nation. So I don't know. I just think that's a really cool thing from when I first saw the videos that you guys have made, and before I came onto the team, I'm like, nobody else is telling stories about the persecuted church the way that radical is, so it's a blessing.

SPEAKER_01

And it is challenging because I think you know, the more that I go to different places and and talk about this, um, the more that like I hear people say, like other pastors or leaders or speakers will say, like, man, every time I talk about persecution, it's like engagement just goes down. Like, I don't know, David. You you've spoken a lot of different places for sure. Like, why is it that we don't really engage with the persecuted church? Oh man.

SPEAKER_02

That's a good question. Why is that? Because I'm well, the same's true when you start talking about global mission. Like it's just um, I think maybe it's part of our version of Christianity that is so focused on what I can see right around me and what I'm carrying in my life right around me, that it's hard to lift your eyes and see. Uh one, the bigger picture you're a part of, and two, um, yeah, I I think there's an adversary who doesn't want us to do Hebrews 13, that doesn't want us to be a part of what God's doing around among the nations, and doesn't want us to um yeah, step into one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. Um, so I think this is where, yeah, it's a part of our discipleship that we our muscles are not strong along these lines, and we need them to grow. And that's why I think that's what we're hopeful that these documentaries will help. And it but in an engaging way. Like to uh, I mean, I remember for me, for me, uh it was when I was uh a student, we did, and this was part of how Secret Church came about. Uh, it was called Secret Saints. So this is my youth group.

SPEAKER_01

Uh is who you plagiarized, Secret Church?

SPEAKER_02

I guess so, maybe. So Greg Bennett, my uh youth minister, uh, who had an yeah, invaluable, indelible impact on my life. Um, but we did this thing, uh, I think he created it, or maybe he got it from somewhere else. But we'd all gather at our uh youth uh at our church building in the kind of youth area, and on a Friday night, and it'd be like, guys, Christianity has been outlawed. They would come in, they'd tell us Christianity has been outlawed, and there's a secret meeting tonight. But in order to get there, you've got to you hear this is the only clue you've got. And so we they would give us each of us a clue, we'd all split up into different cars and different leaders are driving us, and we would have to drive to like a waffle house, a restaurant or something like that, and we'd have to find somebody in there and give a code word, like, and then they would look back at us and then give the next code word, and that would lead to the next clue. And so we went to like three or four places, yeah, yeah, yeah. Then we get to um the this like some woods, and they would be like, drop off at this point. So you would get off at that point, and then we uh would go down into this path in the woods, and then there were people in the woods like coming after us, and so it was like you gotta get past how many people all the there's I mean, there were probably yeah, there I mean, because our youth group probably had about a 150 people that were doing this, and then you had the all these people who would run after you, who would what and then you'd get to this uh kind of bonfire eventually, yeah, and then you'd have this worship service, and somebody would share a story about persecuted church. So um, yeah, as even as I'm remembering that, like it was very I I remember I just described that for you. That was 30 years ago in my life that this was happening, and I remember it was like it was last night, like it was very whoa, this is real, and this is not just a game for like real brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. And uh, we then we'd hear this these stories about persecution, and that's that's where my heart for the persecuted church, like I mean, that was yeah, it was that's where it all started in my own life, uh, the in ways that led to secret church or whatever. But that's where I want to, and we need as a as a church, we need to think of ways to, yeah. Certainly we don't even be talking about our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ, and then like yawning and moving on to the next thing. Like, this is we need to all that we've been talking about, Hebrews 13, like step in and feel that with him. And then with technology today, with the opportunities to create things that can bring the church in North Korea to like right in front of us, uh that's where we want to be good stewards of the opportunities we have to um yeah, put not just images, but stories and images and how people feel like they're there so that we can carry out what scripture's calling us to do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah. And I think on the flip side, there's also the reality that unfortunately there is a temptation um from the church to sensationalize stories, to, I mean, fabricate I, you know, some stories to just make things seem awesome or like or focus on the wrong things and even to that end kind of m manipulate Christians into believing these, you know, kind of crazy, crazy stories, and and in doing so, really take advantage of the people who are uh really dishonoring the people who are suffering, the people who are experiencing persecution. Um, I mean that's that's been a challenge as we've gone around and and and told stories, and not everybody really wants to share their story because it's the reality is we just live in a in a world where um everyone's looking for uh donations, fundraising, things like that. And if you got a good story, you can you can do that. Yeah. Um and we've just experienced experienced that, seen that.

SPEAKER_02

Um That's one of the things as I've watched you specifically interact with uh brothers and sisters in Christ in some of these different places. I well, I'm just thankful for um your humility in that. It's uh I I I've seen people sit down with a persecuted brother or sister and just ask all these leading questions to try to get the story that they kind of want out of it, as opposed to just listen and let's honor like what's actually happening in the story and the layers, the complicated layers that are sometimes or complex layers that are sometimes uh involved in that. And we that's that's a way to honor our brothers and sisters. And um yeah, be faithful with the way we s we steward that story that they've entrusted to us. Uh anyway, I appreciate the way you did that.

SPEAKER_01

No, I appreciate you saying that. I mean, I I think there there are have been moments where we're like, man, it would be really nice if we could just tie up that story with this bow, and then you know, and then they live happily ever after, or then God did this amazing thing, or they're that person had a salt to Paul conversion when the reality is like many times that doesn't happen. Yeah. Um, and um, we could try to twist a story into a certain way or tell it, you know, leave out some information that makes it sound more positive than it is. But I mean, recently I was I was talking to someone about persecution stories, and they were like, Can you sh can you share with me like one moment where like a huge prayer was answered? And all that could come to mind were unanswered prayers. Uh-huh. Just like, uh man, I just actually talked to someone on our team who's talking to people in the Middle East who are currently in prison and we haven't heard from them in 10 days and things like that. And I'm just like, that's all I can really think about right now. Yes. Um, I wish I could present to you uh a better story, but the reality is when we tell these stories, we want to tell them in such a way that the person that that story is about or that place is about, people from that place would go, they would watch it and they would go, Yep. That's exactly how it is. Yeah, that's what works. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, and too, like to that point, like it's for them, but it's also for the person who is on the other side of the screen watching it to not just watch a because people go to entertainment sources just to I'm gonna watch a good story and then I'm gonna move on with my life. The point of what we are making is to inspire people to make Jesus known everywhere. And so I love that you know, we get to do that in a way that tells a real story and also inspires someone to be like, oh well, if the need is not yet fulfilled, then let me see how I can be a part of helping.

SPEAKER_02

Man, well, also I just think that's huge for our formation, like our discipleship. I'm sitting here thinking about okay, Acts eight, Stephen's been stoned, churches scattered, Saul's ravaging the church from house to house. Like you You tell the story at that moment. And then later on, Acts 11, 19, those who had scattered are preaching the gospel to Greeks, and the church of Antioch is founded. Or Acts 13. Now you've got an even more beautiful bow because you got Paul who was doing the ravaging here, being sent out as a missionary from the church that started because if he, but if you just tell the story here, like you're and this is, I think the reason I say it's part of our discipleship. Um, and I think this is part of what you're hitting on, Austin. Like we want in our own lives when it comes to suffering, when it comes to challenges, hardships, we want quick fixes, we want it to be over. And I mean, I always think about Joseph. He was in prison for a decade, boss. Like that's it takes us yeah, 30 seconds to read the chapter and go from in prison to he's leaving the country. Uh and it's like it didn't happen that way. It took a long time. And so a lot of these stories we're stepping in. Yeah, I'm thinking about a conversation last night about some of the work that Radical's doing in a really, really hard place that got busted up. Yeah and it's it's just in disarray right now. It's not come together and like there's a and and only the Lord knows how long until the next really good kind of development that story is. But I think it's good to tell the story at this point too, to say, let's press in with our brothers and sisters, and it's it's hard and it's in disarray right now. Yeah. So uh I we'd love to everybody wants the boat, but that's not we're living a fallen world, and so it's it's good to tell the story at Acts 8 and Acts 11 and Acts 13, and just can keep it on.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I mean, I think there's bigger ideas behind these stories that of of what God can teach us, um, yes, through his word, but through his word lived out in some of these places where where it's very hard to be a Christian, right? And and just the reality. I mean, I think we live in a in a culture that is a little bit more dominated by uh uh uh comfort and uh cultural Christianity and one that expects following Jesus to be kind of a regular normal part of life, where that there's not really restrictions or any pushback. And so the I the idea of there being places where it's actually really hard to be a Christian, where there's actually so much pushback that there's more steps backwards than there are forwards, um, where it takes years and a lot of funding and a lot of money for very little, seemingly very little fruit, is just kind of something that you don't even want to engage with. Um the ROI seems like, oh man, like why this this feels terrible. This seems impossible. Um, but we end up believing in a kind of having this like stunted view of God, who is the God who is the God of comfort over here, the God that does kind of regular normal life things, um, rather than a God who actually does really hard things who can accomplish impossible things that seem impossible um to us. And sometimes I feel like we just we like are okay with this version of Christianity that is comfortable and I don't know, I don't know the what what the word would be to describe it, but we would rather have this than um a view of God where we actually have to do hard a God that calls us to do really hard things.

SPEAKER_02

Over long periods of time. Over long periods of time. Yeah, that's where I mean, yeah, I just think about I I always think about the one statement that one brother in Christ who's spent his life in hard places doing hard things, has said to me. And he's just like, most Christians in churches in the United States, specifically, uh, which is where he was from, he said, don't have the stomach to stick around through the hard, through years, through decades to see the work come to pass, like and the fruit come about. And uh, and that's where, yeah, we all we all we all need that in our own life, again, just our own personal discipleship. A trust, I mean we we all need to learn to wait on God um and and to trust and work in the waiting, and trust that he's working in the waiting. And so we we need and I certainly our brothers and sisters need that from us to come alongside them and patiently endure with them. That's what, oh man, even as I say that, I just think about John 1 when he writes, I, John, your partner in the tribulation and in the patient endurance that are in Jesus. It's like, oh, oh, that's what we want to be to our brothers and sisters in Christ, partners alongside them in the tribulation and in the patient endurance, and not like, yeah, well, let's find a place that's more fruitful, that we can get better ROI on our money that we're sending, or uh on the yeah, and can I mean that's part of why we end up giving as the church far less resources to the hardest places because the ROI takes a lot longer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And in that sense, I think the way we think about missions is very similar actually to the way we think about just our own spiritual growth. Like I think we would all love the version of spiritual growth that you know, from one day to the next, suddenly I'm like much more mature. I don't struggle with those things anymore. Or, you know, we win. I mean, I remember hearing one guy describe it as a spiritual lottery. Like I scratch my ticket and boom, from one day to the next, I'm this. And what is so attractive about that idea is not just having not just being in a new position, but doing it super quick. Yeah, you know, just like winning the lottery. Like now, I didn't have to go through take that long road. I didn't have to do all the work. I just got it instantly. And like spiritual growth and missions, like the advancement of the gospel, it does not work that way. Like it's not a lottery, it's an investment. Like it takes time in just slow, and I mean that's you know, Psalm 1 just describes like growth as a as a tree that just gives fruit in its time. Um, it's not something that's immediate. It and the picture that we often get of of sanctification and growth is something that is it just takes time and it's like the the fruit will come in its time, but not it's not something that you can rush, it's not something that you can anticipate and in thinking like, well, Jesus is gonna come back by this year, and so you know, we gotta get it all the work done. We don't know when Christ is coming back. We just know what we're supposed to do until he gets here. And so I I hope, yeah, like all of our content, not just obviously not just documentaries, but what we're doing here with this podcast and and everything else is just a means to that end of being obedient to God's call on our lives and to whenever Jesus returns, um doing what we're supposed to be doing. He'll he'll find us faithful.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, I but I I do I want to commend for anybody who's not watched or listened to, either on your own, with your family, with uh small group, church group, whatever, friends, just and to pass it on obviously through social, but um not not for clicks of radical content like that is clearly not the the goal here, but for us to be global Christians, for us to be followers of Jesus who are living to make him known everywhere. And so this is what we these are the things we think about, these are the things that affect the way we pray, these are the things that affect the way we yes use our resources, these are the things that affect what we dream about in the world. And so uh yeah, whether it's hard-to-reach series, whether it's neighborhoods and nations, um, just uh and just to make sure everybody knows where they can get all that. Where can they get all that?

SPEAKER_01

Probably on the same website or YouTube channel that they are on their watching. There you go. Right, it's all there. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Well now listen to yeah, but I mean the whole goal is to help uh equip us and and to mobilize us to be the global Christians God has designed all of us to be. This is and that's I do think that's where you asked earlier about persecuted church, like people kind of disengage, mission, people kind of disengage, as if like that's not for me, and that's just not that is for us. It's for all of us, it's for all of us. That's what yeah um, yeah, we're we're trying to uh to communicate.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Well, Steven, would you mind praying us out and just honestly just like praying encouragement over anyone who's ever watched the videos that you have had a hand in creating that they would have this fresh stirring of faith and knowing that they are also a part of making Jesus known to the ends of the earth.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and before you pray, I just want to uh just honor you, bro, and the whole team, uh, including behind the scenes right now, uh, and uh like the whole team, like you you guys uh brothers and sisters are super gifted and just uh super thankful for how y'all are stewarding your uh God's grace in your lives and ways that are uh equipping all of us. Uh so anyway, you don't we don't take that for granted. Um on behalf of a lot of people, uh from those who are being equipped to mobilize with this content to those who uh you're meeting on the ground in those places. Like thank you. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Well, if I can bounce that honor right back to you and just thank you for, you know, writing the book that eventually turned into a ministry that you built not around your name and all the things that you could do and all the things that you do, but uh, but you know, give a voice to to persecuted brothers and sisters and the unreached around the world and and championing this message that yeah, not not a lot of people wanna wanna take that on. And we recognize that as well. And yeah, I mean we want to be able to do what we're doing without without your leadership and yeah, and just willingness to to do this call.

SPEAKER_02

Amen. Let's do it. Let's do this.

SPEAKER_01

Um not just for those of us here uh in this room at this table, Lord, that are um making this content and recording podcasts and and videos, uh, Lord, but thank you that you have um reconciled to yourself uh a church, a people um that you've given uh just so much value to Lord, not because we are good, not because we are perfect or or sinless, um, but uh because you love us in spite of our imperfections, in spite of our sin. Um you have made us yours. You've adopted us, you've reconciled us, you've saved us, Lord, and so I thank you, Lord, that you you don't just give us a new standing and give us a new family, but you you promise us that there will be people from all over the world who will join that family who'll be your children. And so I pray, Lord, that you would use us just as you told us you will, to take your name not just to the people in the places who are closest to us, but to those places that are often forgotten and go unseen, where there are not churches on every corner, or there are perhaps no churches at all, and there's never been a church, there's never been a believer. I pray that you would make Hebrews 13 3 just a reality in our lives, Lord, that we would remember um those who are being persecuted for their faith now, Lord, that we'd remember them as if we were there as well. Just as you did not forget us, Lord, when uh when we walked away from you, when we uh were in rebellion and and in sin, um you remembered us. So Lord help us remember as well those who have not heard your name, who don't know you. Um and I would pray that you would just move around everything in our lives um so that we can serve you to that end. That our lives would not be about ourselves, about our comfort, about the things that we can gain in this life, but rather, Lord, um give us what we need so that we can take up our cross and follow you, Lord. And and follow you to the point of persecution, to the point even of death, Lord, if that is what you require. I just think about a brother in Nepal, Lord, who experienced persecution and and when I asked him, you know, if if it was if it was worth it, he said if God has called us to suffer for the sake of his name, then when persecution comes to our door, we will suffer it. I pray that you would give us that same resolve today, Lord. Uh, for anyone who is hearing this, uh for anyone who is asking themselves just what their role in this might be, I pray that you would confirm their hearts that they have a role. That we all do. That you have called all of us uh to make your name known in all the nations, in whatever way that may be. So I bring I I pray, Lord, that you would just bring clarity and wisdom and discernment um to people's hearts as they're navigating through the decisions and and how they spend their money and how they spend their time and and how uh they follow you and where they where they live and the opportunities that that you that you present, Lord. We know that you have prepared works before us uh to make your name known. And so um do that work in us, Lord, so that we may do that work um for you, for your glory, and for our good, Lord. We love you because you loved us first, Lord. We pray in your name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00

Amen.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you so much for watching this episode of Everyday Radical. We pray that it encouraged you to follow Jesus more faithfully and make him known everywhere. Be sure to hit that like and subscribe button, and we'll see you in the next one.