Bringing people to Christ.. Discipleship Episode 22

On this episode we discuss bringing nonbelievers to the Lord and the best way to go about it. As usual we get off topic and enjoy our conversation. We hope that you will enjoy this episode and be sure to tune in next week when we will have Pastor John Quinn on to give his testimony. God bless!!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

historian generally agrees that Jesus was executed by crucifixion. So, you know, if you even throughout if you look at history, you can see that he was crucified. I mean, we've got we're 2,000 something years later, and we still have the cross. We still have, you know, people wearing the cross. We still have showing this crucifixion that happened. And it was one of the main points. And then another argument people say was if he wasn't really dead, did he really come back to life or did somebody steal his bodies or this, that, and the other? That leads you into a whole bunch of scriptures that shows that he did die and he did come back to life.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Welcome to the Testament of Faith Podcast. I'm your host Ray Bradshaw joining me again this week is my good friend and pastor John Paul Murphy with the Word of Faith Ministries in Kenyon's North Carolina. And this week we're going to discuss how do we convince people that Christ is real and get them to come to the kingdom. But start with John Paul I got a comment here I want to read that was posted on one of my YouTube videos. I'm not going to call any names because there's still always a chance that it'll come around. They will. A guy said I I was raised in a in the church I got lied to just like everyone else. Have you seriously never bothered to check the veracity of any claims that you have invested in reality is that which can be shown to exist, not play and make believe about an old storybook. How deluded are you? How many of the underlying claims must be false before you accept the entire narrative is demonstratably fraud you should really go through the claims made and compare them against demonstrated reality. Dude the Bible says that the earth is flat. And then it it goes on and it just you know but he never gives any proof against what he has to say. And I I even told him my complete testimony I mean word for word pretty much my complete testimony how the Lord saved my life after that wreck and turned my life around and he and he he still you know no doubt the doctor God didn't have nothing to do with that.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

It's hard for somebody that doesn't know God to understand any of it. But once you do once you get to understanding of who God is you know it opens up your eyes and you know anybody that's trying to tell you that you know God's not real and that they haven't I mean it's you haven't obviously dove into history because even when I was raised in church and you know I had to check this stuff out myself because you know as you get older you're going to get around people that's going to tell you that it's not real that God's not real and this is a whole book and if you were raised you know I think it was I can't one of the professors I'm not going to call his name here but he even said if you were raised in somewhere else another country you would worship Allah if you were worship if somewhere else. And so it led me into looking into this and diving deep into what my faith really was. And you know if you get into historian you find out that Jesus is real. You find out so I studied myself I wanted to find out so I did this all on my own at a young age to figure out you know probably 16 17 18 years old and and dove into this in historical finding out if Jesus was real so to find out to understand that you know a lot of people come at this you know Christians come at a non-believer let's say an atheist or somebody that doesn't believe that God is exist or they have been hurt in church sounds like this guy that you're talking about or this lady or whoever this it this person is has been hurt in a church. And you know there is a lot of church hurt. I like to say this all the time you know just because you got food poisoned at one place you didn't stop eating. That's right. You found somewhere else to go eat at yeah and or more than likely you went back to that same place. Yeah no I'm not you know there's there's churches that you know it is a lot of religion and you we've taught plenty of times and you know I I don't like religion. I like the Bible. I don't like when and even in Revelation 22 I think it's verses 19 anybody that adds anything or takes anything away from this world will be pit with plagues or anything else. So if you're trying to take anything or add anything to the Bible you know there's a curse that comes upon that. So I don't I can't stand religion when that comes to it and I it sounds like he's been hurt and I understand that you know people get hurt and they don't believe but that's not a reason just because you've been hurt to say that something isn't real. Because you've been hurt. You know I would say to somebody like that well have you done any historical have you actually looked into it and seen you know the records that stands behind Jesus being here.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

That all verse as Revelation 22 18 I warn everyone who hears the words of this of the prophecy of this scroll if anyone adds anything to them God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll and if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the holy city which were described in this scroll.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Chill bumps all over me just like listening to God I know I knew the scripture there and you know but people in religion love to add things to it and that's not what the Bible's about it's take it out of context. Take it out of context. We've had that discussion plenty of times um that you know that but how I handle dealing with people that you know that don't know about Jesus like we were we discussed I have a lot of people that come to our church you know first time they've never been they don't know nothing about they've heard about Jesus but they don't know anything about it. You know people come in thinking that Christianity is all about rules and you've got to have this you've got to do this this and this and no that's religion. That's exactly what I was getting to this that's religion. Religion has a bunch of rules but in true Christianity it's all about the love of Jesus Christ and you get to understand and the love and how much he loved his you know for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. You gotta understand that God loves you and that he wants you. And you know really and truly the only thing God wants is to be first in your life. He just wants to be first seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added on to you. So if you get to understanding that that's what it is, getting back to our topic, you know, it shouldn't be about trying to win an argument when you're talking to somebody about Christ. I'm not trying to win an argument. I already you know I already know what's the truth. I've already read I already know it's not just that I've read this Bible I have had in-depth studies looking into it to see is this really real and I I've obviously figured out that it's real the way I share Jesus to somebody that's new that doesn't know is I start telling them about how much God loves you and it you know there's there's benefits that come along with salvation you're not gonna you're not gonna live a life serving God and not have things that come along with it. There's a good things that come along with it. Healing comes along with it. There's a lot of things that come along with salvation and you're not trying to chase after the things you're chasing you're coming after God and all these things come along with it as you get saved as God starts moving your heart and he starts adding things to you because if you're faithful with the little things he'll add more and more to you the Bible tells us that so you know if I'm trying to share something I'm not trying to share doctrine I'm not trying to share how they've got to do things I just start telling them about how Christ died and we just celebrated Easter yesterday. So I start telling them about how Christ died for you. You understand that he was crucified it was one of the most humiliating ways to die. You know it was humiliating you know if they were gonna if they were going to kill Jesus you wouldn't have used a crucifixion to be the way to do it because that was a humiliating death that's how you humiliated somebody's you didn't you didn't do it that way. That's how the Romans humiliated somebody that was the worst way to be killed. And so you get to understand that and then people say well did Jesus really die you know coming back to life the Romans were good at killing people they were good at it.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

They did not walk away from any crucifixion until it verified that you were actually dead.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yeah they were good at it they were good at killing people I mean you can look at the wars they won they were really good at killing people and you know the crucifixion is one of the most widely accepted things you know if you really understand it was one of the most widely accepted every historian generally agrees that Jesus was executed by crucifixion. You know if you even throughout if you look at history you can see that he was crucified I mean we've got we're 2,000 something years later and we still have the cross we still have you know people wearing the cross we still have showing this crucifixion that happened and it was one of the main points and then another argument people say was well was if he wasn't really dead did he really come back to life or did somebody steal his bodies or this that and the other that leads you into a whole bunch of scriptures that shows that he did die and he did come back to life. So you know other people that you know worship other gods their gods are dead they're dead in a tomb you can go through their tombs they're dead and still there and they're still there Jesus is not Jesus rose from the dead which is the main thing that converted so many people in the New Testament that Paul was going to to minister to and Paul was one of the main people that led a lot of people to the Lord throughout that time he went and talked to people and he didn't argue with them he just told them about told them about hey Jesus died Jesus did mighty miracles and he came back to life.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

And he also gave them their testimony which I really feel like helps because I mean Paul was the hunter of Christians. The hunter yes the hunter he was the man yeah and he turned his life completely over to the Lord. Jesus got a hold of him that's right just like he got hold of me.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Yeah me too he got a hold of us so you know it was a the crucifixion was a brutal thing that he went through and I think it's good to talk about it the day after Easter you know how he went through such a brutal thing. You know a lot of times it would take three to five days on hanging on a cross to die. But Jesus was only up there three to five hours. He was there very short time on that but you know why because people say well Jesus didn't know no sin at the end when he was on that cross he took the sin of the whole world on him. And he says God why have you forsaken me? Because God separates himself from sin and when Jesus took all that sin upon him it weighed him down to the point that it didn't take three or four or five days for him to die. It was that thing you know what people say well why did he have to die to to thee for our sins sin comes at a cost and there must be a price must be paid for it. So when we couldn't do it on our own we used to have they had to do animal sacrifices and all that thing Jesus came that that wouldn't be no more that he would be the spotless lamb and he also came that do away with religion some of the things that we're dealing with much like your friend there that got hurt in church and now you know in all that that he said he didn't have anything to back up anything he said. So I mean I I think today we should unpack on why we believe and why it's important you know not just why I believe but why you can actually share to somebody that doesn't believe in Jesus Christ. You know you can you have to believe that first that yes he died and then he came back to life. And there's a proven point throughout the Bible I'm just gonna read this right here. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul was writing and he was talking about in let's go verse three and I pass on to you what the most important and what is he had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins just as the scripture said he was buried and he raised from the dead on the third day just as the scripture has said he was seen by Peter. So when you're looking at did something actually happen how many eyewitnesses do you have you know if we were going to go investigate something we would want eyewitnesses and then we would want multiple eyewitnesses or as many as we could get and see if the same story lined up over and over again. Does the story line up so we have this through the Bible that they're saying it did line up.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Let's read on a lot and a lot of people too don't realize when Paul was converted when Jesus got hold of Paul that Peter and John and Luke and them they were still living they were still alive at that time so there's a possibility there are paths crossed and he and he heard firsthand experience.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

They did he went on to be with them and he was came to them I can't remember the exact scripture where it's at but he came and joined up with them and they rejected Paul. A lot of the apostles and people rejected Paul but you know he was still used scripture while you're looking and he was buried and he was raised from the dead on the third day just as scripture said and he was seen by Peter and then by the twelve and after that he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time so when you start seeing that how many people actually seen him after the resurrection you start building a case like that showed case for Christ like the book the case for Christ because when you get to start looking at how many eyewitnesses there was how many of them seen him and you got 500 at one time seen him alive most of them who were still alive and some of them have died that then he was seen by James and then later by all the apostles and last of and the last of all of them so when you look at this builds a case that he was not only just seen by you know his 12 buddies people that followed him he was seen by a lot of people a lot of people and he was walked around on the earth for 40 days ministering to people after he came back to life. And so that builds a whole case you know you can't say well they're lying and even Peter he was what crucified upside down I mean you show this thing that you know he wouldn't renounce Jesus none of these guys they knew they were going to die I mean you pit you pit it to the head of you can change your mind or you're gonna die and they still even at the face of death they said no we still we're standing on this ground that he came back to life and they were people were pressing them to the point of killing their families and you know if you got your daughter son sitting there and fixing to be executed and the only thing you got to do is renounce Jesus and it's all done away with but these guys stood their ground and said no Jesus did die. Jesus did come back to life so that points even deeper to me you know me having kids same thing with you you know the only thing you got to do is renounce that and they can get living these guys was like mm mm no I'm standing I don't know and their wife was killed I mean you've got this back in here that's like to me wow you know these guys didn't even back down at the at the highest cost. I mean there's no higher cost in life I mean it that's the highest cost that somebody can pay and they didn't back down a bit. And so to me that proves my to me a lot because I'm like you know you know you pretty much like you got a gun to your head like they're fixing to do something you've got to make a decision and you still stand on that ground that speaks in loud volume to me.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

It does when somebody's willing to die for something they believe in that speaks loud volume. It's very loud volume I think that was Acts 9 verse 26 when Paul was still Saul mm-hmm when he came to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were all afraid of him not believing that he really was a disciple.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Yeah that's right they didn't they didn't believe that at the time yeah so you know the sh the thing is you have to understand that he was pit through so much shame on the cross they publicly shamed him they publicly beat him they did all these things and it's all well recorded by not just one person by three different books wrote into it and if you get into the timeline of the Bible and you see it's not written a long time after it's happened it was pretty close to the timeframe that all these things happened. So when you're looking into historical parts of what actually happened you need to look at how long ago was it written from when it actually happened how much how many people actually seen this happen and that kind of builds that case that Christ is real. And then to me that's enough to build off of then you have other people um Barnabas you talking about that he he sat there and said even you know that he believed in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

And so you that speaks in volume to me. Verse 27 but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles he told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. Yeah. So I mean it didn't take him long. No from the research that I've done I like you I was raised up in the church but then I went to my worldly ways but since my accident I've been calling myself a rejuvenated Christian. Yeah. And I've read more books and done more studying in the past two years than I have the first 54 years of my life. Yeah. And like talking about Paul his letters were written within sixty years after the death of Jesus but then like Mark, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John's letters were actually written after Paul.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

So to understand that you know he was crucified then he came back to life you know and have the people that you know say well he wasn't never died he never really came back to life you have too much proof from me not just in this Bible. I'm not using just one historical text I'm using multiple looking into this diving into it and seeing is God really real and to my understanding yes he is and I've seen him I've seen mighty miracles I've seen what God can do. So on top of that I believe two different ways first I started believing because I did my homework I didn't just believe because my grandparents told me yeah I'm not just being led into something blindly you know I do my research on anything like if we're doing something I'm I'm gonna study it I'm gonna know all about it before we get into it. So to understand that you know the how he paid the price for us, you would understand how Christ you know looking at how he died, looking how he came back to life, you know, that's enough for me to stand my belief system on you know the the resurrection you know not only did the first people come to see him at the tomb but then he went back to see his disciples and it's really written out all in detail about how he came back to life. I don't understand how somebody could like your friend over there did not have any research before he just started blabbing off of the mouth about you know because he's hurt.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

And offer and offer no proof. Yeah. I mean you know there's some people are like that but you know like we talked earlier before we started the podcast Jesus told his disciples to go forth and if nobody wants to listen and just knock the dust off and keep going.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

I mean that's but there's so much to me going back to the old testament there's so much prophetic stuff there to prove Psalms 22 verses 16. That Jesus was you know the Messiah.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Okay let's look at this how many times have you ever heard somebody say they pierce my hands and pierce my feet exactly I mean have you ever been in a fight and somebody pushed your hands and your feet I mean that's the craziest statement.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Well yeah that back you know during David's time they there probably weren't doing like that style of crucifixion they were not that was only in Romans that was Romans came up with the crucifixion more than likely you were got you got beheaded or something.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Yeah back in that time there was no such thing as a crucifixion. Romans brought that in and in that time in David's time the only people they were dealing with was the Philistines the Emirites and all them around them Rome was a long way away.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Here's another good one I like Psalms 2 too the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together like the Pharisees against the Lord and his anointed ones.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

I mean that's and I just going back to Psalms twenty two sixteen for the dogs surround me and the congregate of the wicked has enclosed me and they pierce my hands and my feet. I mean that's pretty prophetic That David Writing is talking about the Messiah to come. I mean, throughout anything, you never heard of anybody talking about somebody piercing my hands and piercing my feet. You know, even in today's time, you know, that's that's crazy nuts, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

But here's what here's another one I like, Zachariah 13, 7. And you gotta think about the Pharisees and the Sadducees that were trying to get rid of Jesus when you read this one. Strike the shepherd and the sheep would be scattered. They thought they got rid of Jesus, it would all be over with. But it was totally opposite reaction.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

The devil thought if I can get rid of Jesus, that I it'll all be over. He didn't realize that once he got left, he was going to have a whole bunch of Jesus walking around the earth, like me and you. Step up being our hands and feet of Jesus Christ, being the voice of Christ, standing up and saying, Hey, you know, He He saved me. He he changed my life over. And still going over after over 2,000 years. Isaiah, we were, you know, looking at this earlier. You know, it talks about how he bore the stripes.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Sickness and carried our pains. We were in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. Isaiah 53 4. I mean prophetically. I mean, it's it's just too there's too much prophecy there.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Yeah, and it leads up to it. They will look on me, uh Zechariah 12 10, they will look on me and the ones they have pierced, the Christians connected strongly, the they will look on me, but look at it. This is strongly connects to Jesus' crucifixion. Talking about even back in Zechariah, you look throughout, there is so much. I I look at this. The New Testament is all telling you about who's to come. It's like Jesus is coming from the very beginning. Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming. They didn't know who Jesus was at the time, but Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, and then the gospels, Jesus is here, and then the rest of it saying Jesus is coming back. I'm coming back, I'm coming back. And so when you understand the whole Bible is talking about Christ from the very beginning all the way to the end, it tells us about Christ that's coming.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

And God had to send Christ here because to me, this is my opinion, the way I see it reading the Bible in the old testament. I mean, every time God sent a plague, people would straighten out. Then they go right back their same ways. Yep. He takes something from them and they go back their same way. Yeah, they couldn't live up to And I finally th I I feel like he finally sent Jesus to prove that he actually loves everybody and wants everybody to go to heaven, and he sent Jesus to prove that.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Yeah. I mean, well, in the Old Testament there was a lot of laws and a lot of things. In the Old Testament, there was a lot of laws and things that you had to do. Right. And they couldn't fulfill it. No matter how hard they tried. It was just too too hard. It was just too hard. Yeah, they couldn't fulfill it, so they just went back. So Jesus came and says, I'm gonna give you two new commandments. You couldn't keep the Ten Commandments, you couldn't keep all the other things, you couldn't keep the laws of Moses. They had a law, a lot of laws in there that they had to keep. They couldn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Everything on Leviticus was.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

They couldn't keep all that. And then he gave them Ten Commandments. They couldn't do that. So Jesus says, I'm coming back and I'm gonna do away with all that. I'm gonna get rid of the curse that's upon the people. I'm gonna show you that there's two commandments. One, when the Pharisees asked him, What's the greatest commandment? He said, Love your Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. And the next one to it is love your neighbor like you love God. And if you get to understanding of those two commandments, if you love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and everything that's in you, you love God. And then I love my neighbor the same way. I'm not gonna come against you, I'm not gonna be after your wife, I'm not gonna be after your things, I'm not gonna have anything like that. Because I'm in, I'm showing the love like God does. And that's what how you fulfill that is when Jesus comes in your heart, he makes you take away the old and gives you a new. So I'm no longer like the old person. I am made new in Christ. And now I can actually show the love of Christ to other people because you know, old John Paul was kind of rough. But when Christ comes in me, I've been made new and I can show love and I can love how he loves. And you know, the only thing I find in me now that I have anger towards is probably religion. I get I get fired up. You know, when I see somebody pushing religion down somebody's throat and trying to tell them that this is how it's gonna be, man, I cannot stand it. When they tell you women they have to dress a certain way, and if you wear, I cannot stand that. It's just like, where's that? Can you give me chapter and verse for that? You know, because I want to see where all these things are. Show me all that stuff in here. Yeah, show me all that stuff that you've got to be a certain way. Because Christ came, even the guy that was on, you know, they'll get into, well, you've got to be baptized, or you're not gonna go to heaven. Well, tell that to the guy that was right beside him on the cross. Yeah, tell tell that to the guy that's in heaven right now.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

He said, Surely I tell you, would join me in heaven.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yeah, tell me of that. You know, I'm not gonna knock in baptism, not knocking anything. I'm just telling people that, you know, there's a lot of religion throughout that doesn't lead to Christ. When you get to understanding Christ, he came to love. He didn't come to condemn the world, he came to love the world. He didn't come to beat people down, he came to show love. And that's what a Christian should do. It shouldn't be hollering and yelling at people and telling them how bad they are. You know, I say this all the time. When I was in sin, I knew I was in sin. I knew I was a bad person. I knew that that I needed to change. It didn't do you any me any good to hear somebody tell me how I need to read my Bible, how I need to do this, how I need to do that. That didn't save me. What saved me was God coming to me and saying, I love you, and having that moment with him, much like you have, that he loves you and just wanted to show you that love to you.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

I feel I feel like baptism is important. Yes. I mean, because it is your public display of like, you know, the the old you has died. Absolutely. And you're what you've washed yourself for that and the new you rise is risen like a resurrection. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

And the Bible shows you that it's important. I'm not downplaying that any at all.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

As long as you say in your mind and your heart and you fully believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. And confess with your mouth. And you confess it with your mouth, just like we have, that you will be saved. And then, you know, later on, because a lot of people do that and don't have a church to go to. Then once they get in the church, and then they can decide, you know, to get baptized. Yeah. It doesn't have to be right from the get-go.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Like a lot of people think.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

Yeah, I mean, I see some in religions like they get saved, and the next thing you know, they're they're being baptized, and that's not a problem. I'm not against baptizing. I'm actually pro baptism. I think it's a great thing. I'm just saying they let religion get into the way of you've got to do it a certain way, and if you don't do it that certain way, you know, you can't be saved. And it gets into a belief system that, you know, well, this and a lot of times when you get to talking to these people, because I've talked to them, you know, they say, Well, this is how we believe. Well, do you have anything to support what you believe? You know, you you're just telling me what you believe. Then show me scripture and verse of what you believe.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

You know, 10, verse 9. If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Yeah. And the the biggest thing is confess with your mouth. That's the very first thing it is. You know, it says life and death is in the power of the tongue. So in this, you have to use your mouth. You have to profess that Jesus is Lord. And say, you know, yeah, I know that I have sinned. I know that I've done things wrong, and I'm asking you, Lord, to come and live in my life. I'm asking you to be Lord of mine. And when you do that and believe, it's not so much about the believing, it's confessing that Jesus is Lord. He wants you to open up your mouth. It's not a thinking thing. If you're always trying to do everything in your thinking, you have to open up your mouth and speak. You know, to back that up even further, you know, you look at Mark 11, verses 24, I believe it is. It says speak to the mountain. Whoever says to this mountain. It only says in that one scripture, believe one time, and it says like speak five times. So God is a big God of speaking. Speak things into existence, speak it into saying that Jesus is Lord. You know, you have to do that to be saved. It's not, you know, I really feel like that, you know, you need to make a thing of it. Come up, you know, somebody asking you to, you know, do you want to give your life to the Lord? Yeah, I want to give my life to the Lord. Don't be ashamed of it. Don't be ashamed of God. You should come boldly and say, you know what, yeah, I know I messed up.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

On my on my podcast, I I pushed that a lot too. It's like, you know, when you leave church on Sunday, Monday through Saturday, you ought to be out there proclaiming and professing Jesus. Well, you should have a want to because of what he's done in your life. And I see a lot, I mean a lot, and I've been given of it my whole life, of people not doing that enough. And that's like from the first time I put my testimony out there in the world. I mean, the Lord told me to get out there and tell it and to keep telling it. And that's why we're sitting here tonight because I mean he told me to do it. And I don't care if I how many friends I lose or if I don't even gain any, I'm gonna keep telling it. But back that that's Mark 1 Mark 11, verse 23. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain go, throw yourself in the sea, and does not doubt in their heart, but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Yeah. They believe in the heart, but it says speak to it. Say two things. Yeah, say things. You know, it you don't fight things with your thoughts. You know, and I hear so many people like, let's have a moment of silence. No, you need to pray out loud. Yeah. Don't just sit there in your room and you know, barely say anything. Speak. God is a God of speaking throughout the Bible. It tells you that. Come to come out boldly before the throne of God. That's the scripture. To come boldly before the throne of God.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

I mean, when you go pray over somebody, you don't sit there and keep it to yourself. No.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

You lay hands on them.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

You lay hands on them and you pray it out loud.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, speak and be bold about it. You know, I'm very bold about Christ and what his word says. And anytime somebody comes up to me, I'm not going to argue with them that if they don't believe or if they do. You know, I've even had an atheist come up and, you know, he was talking to me and they were just coming at me. Him and his friend, they were coming at me as hard as they could, telling me, you know, but the one, he says, hey, leave him alone. He's different than the rest. Because speaking about me, one atheist was coming at me, just thumping everything at me. He says, hey. The other one said, Hey, leave him alone. He believes because he sees in me, and I've almost converted him over. I've been working on it. And he's like, you know, this guy's not like other people. He's not going to argue with you. He was talking about me because I'm not going to argue. I'm not going to argue with you. If you I'm going to talk to you, I'm going to tell you about Christ. I'm going to be just as nice. I'm not going to talk to you about religion. I'm not going to tell you all the things you got to do. Because the Bible doesn't, like people say, well, you've got to give. The Bible doesn't tell you you got to give. You don't have to give. If you want to give, give. And there's a blessing that comes along with giving. Everything from the heart. Yeah. Everything from the heart. You don't have to give. People get in church, oh, if you give a thousand, you'll get 10,000. No. If you get, there is a blessing. That's prosperity. And I am, I am big on prosperity. You know that about it. But I'm not in that realm of if you give, you'll get this. No. I'm telling you, there's a God that will bless you. That He will do it. As you come closer to God.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

To me, that is prosperity, but I mean, the prosperity gospel I'm speaking of, we hear already preachers.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Yeah, if you give $10, you're going to get $100.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

If you do need $1,000 to the church or $10,000 to the church, we'll be human or that.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

I mean, no, that's not how it is. But there is a blessing that comes along with serving God. There is, there's such great blessings. He says you get saved and all these things will be added unto you. You know, there's a lot of things that get added to you. You know, and you know, the most people that don't like talking about that is people that they have plenty, but they don't want anybody else to have it. You know, and I'm I'm going to tell you I've been blessed. And I'm going to tell you that God's not a prospective person. If he does it for me, he'll do it for anybody. He'll do it for anybody. The only thing you got to do is believe in him. And there's a lot of blessings that come along with it. You know, I'm a firm believer that, you know, as you get deeper in with God and you start using the scriptures, you don't have to worry about sickness anymore. I mean, people like, well, you're always going to get sick. I don't get sick like that because I start, I fight the devil the same way Jesus fought the devil with his scripture. I use the word against him. And there's such a great blessing that comes along with serving God and coming to the house of God. There's blessings that come along with that when you start serving him. And people that don't understand that, they just they get hurt in church because they've heard that message of, you know, if you'll do this, you'll get this. If you just love God and ask him to come in your heart, start reading the Bible, get in the Bible and find out what it says. And and you there's a blessing that comes along with it.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

And another thing I always get go back to tell people too is like somebody asked me on one of my podcasts, we got into it and weren't getting into it, but they were saying, What would you tell somebody that just lost their wife or a child? And I'm like, Well, to start with, you always got to keep faith and always remember if it's God's will that will be done.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Well, and you look at this, what does the Bible teach us about this? The Bible, I'm gonna go I'm gonna revert right back to the Bible on it. The Bible says that the thief that the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. So you can't pit that on God. You've got to realize there's a devil that wants to take things away. But just like in your house, if somebody comes in your house tonight and they try to take something, I know you have a weapon to take care of that, right? You might have a nine or something that you're gonna leviate, the person that's coming in. You're not just gonna let them come in and take Marie from you in your house. You're gonna stand your ground, right? You're not gonna let them, you know, you're not gonna let them come in and take your goods. No. So if if you understand and you get the idea that the devil is a thief and he comes to steal and he comes to destroy and he comes to kill, then you get to understand, well, how do I fight that joker? You know, I can't I can't go to my truck, I mean to my glove box and grab a piece and and take out on the devil. So, what is the one thing that I can use? That's called the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

When he starts coming to put sickness in your family, you need to read that scripture that Jesus has already paid the price for my healing. Sickness doesn't have a right to come in and do this to me. And you get into that, you know, you can fight the devil just like you fight in the physical. That's how I look at it. And I I mean, I'm living you fight that joker with the word. You come and tell him what he can and cannot do, and you have dominion over it. The Bible clearly tells us time and time again that you have dominion over it. I don't know how we even got here.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Something else. I know we don't have well we we discussed our main topic. Yeah, we just but that what you're saying about defending ourselves brought up something else that um I I can't remember what I shared on Facebook or somewhere, but I had a pastor tell me, I I can't remember if it's Matthew or Mark, you know, where Jesus where Jesus is in the in the garden, and that's when they're coming to get him, and Judas is that's when Judas betrays him, and Peter took the sword and cut the ear off of the guard, the centurion, whatever it was, and then Jesus told him to put his sword away and heals it. But then later on, I believe it was in Luke, he told them to pick up swords, and if they don't have a sword to sell a garment and get one. Yes, Jesus didn't want us to fight while he was here, but he knew we were gonna have to fight when he's gone and defend ourselves from the persecution.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

And that all come back. I I think I shared something on how the Muslims were acting over in over in England and you the UK and Paris, people's getting attacked all the time and spit on. And then Canada just passed that C9 Bill C9, where you know, if you're out in the street, you know, telling people they're gonna go to hell, but if they don't follow Jesus, you can get arrested. And they call out, you know, they were like, I don't believe that's happening, but it it just happened. Yeah. Two weeks after they made that comment on my post, Canada passed passed that bill. Yeah. You know, all you gotta do is just do your research, quit believing what you see on fake news.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Absolutely. But the good news is it's not happening here in America because there's enough of us here that we're gonna put a stop to it, and I'm not I'm not letting the devil take America. I'm gonna stand up in the gap, and I think you are too, and there's a lot of people that's with me, yeah. That we're not letting them come in and tell us what we can and can't do. And if you noticed just the other day in Mississippi, I think it was Mississippi or Alabama, there was, you know, it went to the Supreme Court about a man preaching the gospel, and he could have we should have the rights. So we won that battle just a few weeks ago that nobody can lock somebody up for preaching the gospel because they were like, he's not preaching in a designated area. And they tried to carry it, they tried to lock him up, and they got that got through out by the Supreme Court. It ended up all the way from there to the Supreme Court. So, you know, I'm a firm believer it ain't happening here in America because we're gonna stand a gap. I think that, you know, we started, you know, America's one of the blessedest countries to be. But you know why people say, well, we're a young country and you're so blessed and things like that. Well, what did we, our founding fathers, start at? In God We Trust. In God We Trust. We had people come here like John Wesley, they got on a horse and started 700 churches in the midwest in the Midwest, and he went on horseback, and people came against John Wesley just like they're coming against, you know, pastors today. They didn't like John Wesley because he had a horse. You should walk everywhere, you shouldn't have that. You know, they they did. And that's ridiculous. But uh really they came against him, yeah. But he went out nonetheless and went out and led people to the Lord's start of 700 churches and turned people's lives around where it was a Wild West show. I mean, it was people were killing, you know, what's the difference in the out west and what's happening in Yammon now? It was a wild west show over there. But these guys went into their preaching, and these guys were Methodists. And, you know, they had the fire though. They had the fire of God in them, and they went in there and started preaching. And um, the cartwright guy, he was up there and he went into preaching to people. He would go into bars and preach to people. And he said, you know, I was listening to someone else telling about the cartwright, I think it was Joe Cart. I don't know his first name, but anyhow, he would start preaching in bars, and people would not rear was receptive, and there was somebody with the biggest guy who would come up to him and try to get him to shut up, and he would just knock him out. Said, and you know what after that? The people are a lot more receptive to hear the word after he knocked the first one out. So, you know, you do have to make a stand, you know, for your faith. You know, I'm not saying just be laid back and just take it laying down. Saying, you know, I'm not gonna argue with you about it. I'm gonna tell you about Jesus. It's up to you if you want to accept him. That's right. I'm gonna tell you everything. I'm gonna give you historical facts. I'm gonna tell you about Jesus, I'm gonna tell you about the blessings that Jesus has. I have found that I win a lot more people over to God by telling them what all God did for them and what all He paid the price for them to have. And, you know, if you're living in a life that's miserable, that there's a better life. You know, even people with a lot of money, you see them having suicides. They're killing themselves. Movie stars, people they're committing suicide. It doesn't matter about the money. They had all the money in the world, but they don't have peace. And I tell them, you know, you can have peace. If you'll get Jesus Christ in your life, I'll show you the peace that you never knew about.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Yeah, you can't have peace and money, and I'm here to confess that with my mouth. I mean, because that's part of my that's part of my testimony. Money was my drugs. Yeah, yeah. I mean, like I told somebody the other day, I got the beer and the drugs and all that stuff out of me when I was younger, but then I just took that and turned it to money. Money was my drug. Yeah. How you can make next dollar. Yeah, how can I make the next dollar to go buy something I want and then that don't make me happy? You know what you do then? It's just like coming off a high. You go buy something else trying to stay happy. Yeah. I mean, it's no different. That's exactly right. Other than the money just weren't killing me, other than I just I'm actually killing myself on the inside, I guess, but it just weren't doing any bodily harm as Yeah. And harming my family.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Well, that reminds me of the story of the lady at the well. You know, she came looking for some water and he says, I can get you some water from the living well. That's right. When you get that water from the living well, you've been chasing after one thing to another thing, trying to be happy. And I see that people today, you know, they they chase, well, if I get this truck, you know, if I get this Duramax, if I get this platinum truck, I'll be happy. If I get this, that'll make me happy. And they chase things, you know, sometimes it's food. Sometimes it's food. If I eat this, I'll be happy. If I go and I get my body in shape, I'll be happy. You know, some people's like, oh, if I go to the gym, then I'll be happy. And then there's people that chase physical things, I'll be happy. And then there's people that chase these drugs. If I get this next high, I'll be happy. And then there's people that chase different things throughout life. But what did Jesus say to the woman at the well, you've been trying to get this water? He said, But I've got the living water. And if you take this, you'll never thirst again. So when you get Christ, it gives you that living water that no longer you're chasing these things, whether, like you said, the money, where you're chasing the next high. You're chasing these things. When you get Christ in your life, you're no longer chasing that feeling because he gives you peace that he paid for on the cross. That I'm no longer chasing after the things of this world. There's blessings that come along with Christ. I'm not chasing after the blessing, I'm coming after Christ. And all these things will be added on to me as I'm after him and his heart.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

Um knowing Christ and having him in your heart is a satisfaction that nothing else can give you. I mean, nothing. I mean, I'm getting chilled but I'm thinking about it because I've been on that spectrum. You know, just like food. Money and food. I've made it the more money I made, the broker I got. Because you that's like they said it's in the Bible. And then, you know, and then I ate all the time, just like stress eating. Because I I've been I've been severely overweight and broke, chasing that dollar.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

And it talks about in the Bible that you'll have a bag with holes in it. It doesn't matter how much money Ray made, there's a bag with holes in it. So you're putting it in and it's falling out the bottom. Some of my pockets had holes in them.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Yeah. Um, so you know, but when you get Christ, you'll be able to retain that things that you used to couldn't retain because now you're no longer chasing them.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

Well, what I found since my wreck and the good Lord saving my life that night, just like I asked him, I said, Lord, if if if it's your will, please save my life, and here I am. Yeah. And I believe it I mean, I've still got things I want, but now I feel like I'm more I'd rather have my needs met first and my family's needs and the wants are back. But if I don't get 'em, I don't get them. It's you know whatever. I mean everybody's got stuff they want, but now I don't if I don't get it, I don't get mad. Yeah. Or just go get it anyway like I used to. And then get sad. Yeah. Because I didn't have that money anymore. Now I gotta try to work even harder to pay for. Yeah. But I mean, it it to me is the the satisfaction. I'm not ill like I used to get.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Oh man, I had a temper like there was nobody else before Christ.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

Now sometimes these people down here and there's traffic to worry and might get me a little upset, and my my guardian angel loaded riding beside me and got an elbow being, all right, calm down. But I just say, Lord, I'm sorry, please, please get me through it and truck on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

Because I had I had before Christ came in my life, I was an ill person. I would snap your head off in a second. Miserable. Yeah. I was chasing drugs, I was chasing alcohol, I was chasing whatever made me happy at the time. And never enough. Never. Never enough. Never enough. But now that I got Christ in my life, I don't care, like we were talking earlier. I don't care what other people think about me. I care less. Because you know what? I know who I am. I'm confident.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

I know that I'm in the family of God. I know that I'm a child of God. Because one thing when God comes in your life, He gives you confidence, I believe. I have such a great confidence in who you are that you don't feel like I'm a beggar anymore. I'm not barely getting by. I'm a child of God. And I come boldly. You know, I'm very bold about Christ. I'm not gonna hide it. I'm very bold that I love Jesus Christ and that I'll do anything to show my love to Christ. And getting out, like you said, is one of the main things is getting out and sharing the gospel. The one thing God's not about your money, He's not about anything else. The one thing He gave us a commandment to do that He can't do now. The one thing He gave us to do is to go out and make disciples. Go out and tell everybody all preach the gospel to all the world. So the one thing that He can't do now is the one thing He gave us to do.

SPEAKER_01 49:03

Well, that's why I go back saying, Well I got I mean you go to church on Sunday, it's every one of our jobs to go out and spread the gospel. Yeah. Talk about not just a pastor, not just a deacons, it's all of our jobs.

SPEAKER_00 49:14

Yeah, absolutely. It says the reason for church is to equip the saints. Yep. So you're to get equipped when you come in there, just like you go to, you know, I work on houses, just like you go to the tool truck, you get the equipment you need to go do the job. So you come to the house to get equipment in church, you get all your tools you need. That's the tool. Yeah, come in there, get all the tools together, put them in your bag. Now I've got my bag of tools. I'm fixing to go out and I'm gonna go get some work done. Go do some work. Yeah, I'm gonna go do some work. But people come in there and instead of getting equipped, you know, some people, not I have a church that's wonderful that does get equipped, but I see people come into church and they just like, I'm just just here to I'm just here to serve Jesus today, and I'm just so glad to be here. You know, but you didn't realize that the one thing he wanted you to do was to go tell others about me. Right. Don't be ashamed of God. He says, if you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

That's right. So don't be in front of me in order to know you're in front of my father.

SPEAKER_00 50:16

Yeah, so don't be ashamed. Go out there and be like, you know, I'm just talking to you about Jesus. I'm not trying to yell at people or argue with them or to come at a thing. You know, you can show the love of Jesus by a lot of different ways. You know, one of the ways I do it is, you know, you're in a restaurant, buy somebody else's supper. Yeah. You know, talk to them and just be like, just want to let you know I love you and God loves you. Just start showing love. And show love to the people, and eventually they'll be like, you know, there's something different about these people, especially people that you're around a lot. You know, you see people that go into a restaurant and they give like the bare minimum tip. You know, I'm a big tipper. I want them to know that there's a Christ that lives in me and he's full of generosity, he's full of love, and I'm fixing to pour it out on you. And you'll win people by that. You're like, well, you're using money to win people. No, I'm not. I'm just showing the love. God's blessed me, gave me a resource to be a blessing, so I get to be able to be a blessing to other people. And that's how I can go to people and start witnessing to them because it opens up a door. You know what I'm saying? It opens up a little gap for me to get in there that I'm not trying to shove Jesus down their throat. I'm trying to show them Jesus. That's what we should be doing, showing them Jesus. Not just telling them Jesus, show them Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

And that's why I started doing the little videos I was doing about giving my testimony. I prayed about it, prayed about it, and one day he just said, Man, just tell the world. Yeah. I mean, he said, Tell the world your story. Yeah. And my testimony. Because I died, he brought me back to life. I know. I mean, he told me he was not ready for me yet. Yeah. That I got things to do.

SPEAKER_00 51:55

Yeah, the devil tried to take you out of this world, and God says, I'm gonna I'm gonna give this man some time because I'm not finished with him yet. That's right. And I'm gonna put him to work. You know, I say this all the time and I laugh so hard. I can if you just Christian was here, my wife. She I get tickled. I'm like, Ray thought he was doing all that camera stuff because he was just doing it because Ray wanted to do it. God had a back plan on this deal that says, I'm gonna get this man educated on all this stuff. God was doing what they call foreshadowing. Yeah, you this is the that was the old testament getting Ray ready for the new testament. He's like, I'm gonna get him ready and then I'm gonna use him mightily.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

That's what I said five five years ago. If God would have said, Brad, y'all get on that uh in front of that camera there and start telling people about me. I'd be like, Come on, bro, I love you, but come on.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

You would have got hide in the bush somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

You'd have been like, I'd been like Jonah, I'd been trying to run the other weeds in that storm.

SPEAKER_00 52:47

And that's so that's what it's what we're called to do is to share the gospel and not in an anger way. Yeah. Um, not it really rubs the cat the wrong way for me when I see people yelling at people about you've got to do this, you gotta do that. That's not love. And I see throughout the Bible, you know, you yelling at people is not gonna save somebody's soul. But when you start telling them about how God loves them, that's what changed my heart. That's what got on the inside of a stony sinner's heart. I'd been in church my whole life. I had lived in church, I was there every Sunday, every Wednesday night. I was there. A perfect attendance man. But I was just as lost as anybody else was. I could have, you know.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

Well, I mean, you were going through the norms. I mean, that's how I grew up. Grew up. And you know, after we got married, we attended church and stayed in there, and our kids started getting bored when we went to church, but it was just like, you know, I'm doing I was I was doing it now. When I look back at it, when I was when I was going, I thought I was doing the right thing, but when I go, I was just going because that was what we done. That's what you do. Yeah, that's just how you do it. That's what you do.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

Yeah, this is what you did.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

I weren't learning anything, and I weren't I mean, I'd go on Sunday, but Monday morning. Well, I'd go to church on Sunday, but Sunday afternoon I had a beer man, and then Monday morning, you know, I'd gonna go back to work cussing, fussing, raising gang with everybody up there, you know, forming to the world, so to speak, but not now, brother.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

No, when we're what what really happened is, you know, Christ came in you and you were like, I'm accepting you in, and I want you to be Lord of my life. And you you that changed in you that I'm not just being a part of something, you know. That's where, you know, when you get into church, people just I see so much of you know hell and damnation stuff. They get in there and they're telling you about how bad how bad things is. That's not gonna change me. No, hell for me. Yeah, but if you get in there and start telling about the love of Jesus Christ, I keep on going back to it. I I cannot leave that alone. We're talking about this podcast. I can't leave it alone. It's the love.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

Love is what changed my heart because when I hit rock bottom, I needed somebody to love me. And I needed to know that I could be loved.

SPEAKER_01 55:11

And so, you know, part of my problem was I had somebody that did love me, but I just didn't see it.

SPEAKER_00 55:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:17

Yeah, that's right. And she was trying to tell me all the time, don't you don't need that. You don't need that. What are you gonna do? I mean, what do you what do you need? I made the money out of the way. I made the money.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

I made the money, I can have what I want.

SPEAKER_01 55:28

There's not no way to be people, I'm telling you. So get right with the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 55:31

Yeah, so in my goal as trying to lead somebody to the Lord is not to argue with them, not to pressure them. I'm not if you f pressure somebody, they they go the opposite way. When you put so much pressure on somebody, they're gonna go the other way.

SPEAKER_01 55:46

I kind of feel like I got a lot of that pressure too growing up. And that might be Yeah. I mean I grew up in a Southern Baptist church. Yeah. And you know, you hear a lot of that hellfire brimstone in them in that preaching. And that that's you know, like I said, I I would always went, but I felt like that might have been just that might have been what pushed me away from it as I got older and just Yeah, because exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

The thing is, and here's something I've I've definitely learned in my time in church and like I said, I've been there my whole life, is when you get somebody saved out of fear, it doesn't stick. No. Because you scared them into salvation, you scared them into getting saved. You know, you you start preaching that stuff and you just scare the living daylights out of them, and they give their life to the Lord just so they don't go to hell for a few minutes and then they go right back to the world. But when you start telling them about love of Christ, tell them about the benefits that come along with Christ. Tell them how much different of a life you can. When I talk about benefits, I'm not talking about just money, I'm not talking about just healing, I'm talking about the peace of God. I'm talking about the things that your marriage will be better. I'm talking about like you'll have a stronger marriage when you get in with Christ. Because now you're not only arguing all the time, you've got a communion together with somebody, and he'll make your because he actually shows you how to love your wife. He'll show you how to love your husband. Even when they're not living right, when Christ comes in you, it'll give such a love in you that it'll start changing them. Because when salvation comes in the house, it don't just save one, it goes through the whole house. So, you know, people, you know, when I preach this all the time and I say this all the time. It will, when one person makes a decision, it's in the Bible. When you one person makes the decision in a household, a whole house will get saved. And I believe that because I mean it starts changing one person and then it just keeps on and it grows and it affects everybody in there. People's like, well, my son's not getting saved. Don't say that he's not being saved. Just start saying that if one person in the household will get saved, I know that my God's gonna save every one of them in our household, and there's nothing the devil can do about it to stop it. It's coming to pass. And you start getting in faith, the more you read this Bible, the more faith you get. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. And you get such a faith and such a boldness in you that you know that it's gonna work. So your marriage starts working out better. Your family, you can actually know how to love your children like you were talking about. You didn't realize somebody loved you, but when Christ came in, you really started seeing things, you started seeing the love for your kids in a different way, you started seeing the love for your wife in a different way. That's what happens. That's one of the benefits that comes along in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 58:37

All my boys have been baptized and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And they've done it when they were younger. Yeah. But I was not the Christian father that I should have been to actually show them and keep leading and guiding them.

SPEAKER_02 58:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

I mean, they done it. I mean their grandma was doing it, got baptized again. I can't remember when we were down at the beach and they they said daddy I mean they looked at us and said, We want to get baptized. They got baptized and accepted Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior, but I went I weren't the father I should have been by showing them the right way out until after my wreck. And you know, two of them went to church for me yesterday night. I didn't have to get up and say, Hey, y'all, y'all want to go to church. I just asked them one time, they went. That's right. Yeah, let's go. I go with you.

SPEAKER_00 59:18

Yeah, that's right. And the good news is, you know, I felt like I in my life I had lost a lot of time, but the Bible tells you that he'll redeem the time for you. Right. So even if you feel like you've lost some time, God's a redeemer of time. He'll give you more time to get things done, and God moves at a speed that you don't even understand. Like I say it in even in our church, you know, I see things moving so fast, and I see things just moving at a quick rate because even though you feel like part of your life's gone, God will give you the speediness to make things happen. So that's one of the benefits. People don't realize there's a lot of benefits that come with salvation. When you get into this word, it's not about laws and it's not about all the things and rules and stuff. There's actually so much good that comes along with it. You know, there's so many people out there that preach a bad way into it and tell you all the things, hell and damnation and stuff. But I'm just the opposite. And we see could autocross. We see people getting saved regularly. Two people came up yesterday. You were there. People came and they gave their lives to the Lord because and you know, John was ministering yesterday. Not trying to get off topic. We're just talking here. He was ministering yesterday. What did he do? He just kept giving scripture after scripture after scripture. He didn't talk about how bad you were. He was just telling about Jesus. He Bible after Bible after, and that's all you got to do. When you're adding to stuff like we just talked about in Revelations, and you're adding all this stuff to it, I'd be very careful. I wouldn't want all the bulls to come on my body and the pestilence and all the stuff that that says that'll come on you. I I get really careful about what I say, especially from the pulpit or anywhere. If it's not in here, you won't hear me say it. I'm out of it. I'm out. Because that's the only thing that you know a church should do or a podcast or anything, is just talk about the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

And if I and if there's a verse in here I want to tell somebody, if it's just that one verse, I'm gonna always go back and read before it and after it. Yeah. That way if I see they're trying to they're getting ready to start taking it out of context, I can say, no, wait a minute. That's not the way it's supposed to be reading. Yeah. Absolutely. Don't do it that way. Yeah. Absolutely. You know, get give it to them and say, here, here's what that means.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:33

Yeah. You can and that comes by studying the word like you're doing now. You're studying it. You've got a hunger on inside of you, you know, to read and find out more about what the Bible actually says. There is some bad things in there, and there's some things that come on people, but the way I look at it, I'm not living under that. Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law. He is He's a new covenant. I'm in Christ. Christ lives inside of me. And if Christ lives inside of me, I'm not going to deal with sickness. I'm not going to live outside of peace because Christ was peace. He was the peace. So I'm going to have peace. Even when things, you know, at work, you know, things tear up, or, you know, I have a farm and things mess up, I don't get angry. I used to did. I used to flip my top.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

Drive off sideways, but after my wreck, I do not believe God allowed that to happen after the devil's work. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he comes to steal and destroy it. And when I and when I woke and I lost two weeks of my life that I don't remember anything. Yeah. Laid up in that hospital in a kumba. But when I woke up, I was not angry, not one bit. Yeah. I mean, I don't remember being angry.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:42

Yeah. Here's the best part. You know, what the devil meant out for harm, even God turned it around for good. So he thought he was going to kill you, thought he would mess you up, and God turned it around. That's scripture. What the devil meant out for evil, God'll turn it around for good.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:55

The nurses and doctors couldn't even understand why I weren't angry. I mean, I was just as happy and jovial and treated everybody just like me and you sitting there talking right now. I mean, it weren't my fault. God didn't do that. The devil did it. The devil had old that you ain't mean to hit me.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

Yeah, and that's what happens. The devil wants to come out, like I said, I'll use this scripture constantly. The devil comes. Anything that's coming bad, you need to understand it comes from the devil. You were talking about how somebody loses a child, loses a wife. That's right. You need to understand that every evil thing, it's in the Bible, every evil thing comes from the devil. Every good thing comes from the Lord. So, and then in that same scripture, I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. So he's not a God that's coming to steal you away. You know, people, and then it says, with long life I'll satisfy you with. So you have a promise from God that he'll give you long life, but the devil wants to take you out. And the only thing you got to do is say, devil, you know, God says I'm gonna have long life. God says that I'm gonna have a good life. He came that I would have life and have it more abundantly, and there's nothing you can do about it. Just like you would stop somebody from coming in your house to steal something, you have to stand up to the devil and wage war against him and say, No, you're not gonna take things away from me. You're not gonna hurt my family, you're not gonna let my children go to hell. And, you know, if things have already happened to that, you know, if somebody's already lost it, you can't blame God. I had a lady, you know, she came to me and she said, you know, my mom died, and you know, why did God take her away? I said, you know, she's like she was a Christian woman. Why did she let cancer take her away? I said, look, let me tell you something right off the get-go. God doesn't come to take things away. Who came and came after Job? The devil. The devil. God allowed it. Look at that. It God allowed it to happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:44

But the devil came to do that to Job. So you need to understand that the devil comes to try to take things from you. And if you sit around and don't do nothing, just like if somebody was coming to run in your house and steal stuff, if you just sit in your room and get down and start, oh Lord, don't let them take this and don't let them take that. They're gonna take your whole house. They're gonna take it off. There's a time for action and there's a time for prayer. There's a time for action and everything. Get up and get an action about it. Go to the word and start quoting the word over it and speak it in your mouth. Don't sit there and think in your heart, well, God says this. No, you need to speak it. Start calling the Bible, reading scriptures out. Get so loud and bold about it that everybody in the house hears you sitting there saying them scriptures over and over again. You know, if somebody in my family gets sick, I just start quoting scriptures over and over again and say, No, God, you said. You said God. I not me. You said it. So yeah, I don't know how we got all the way over here, but we did.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:41

You know what? And when I started this podcast and wanted to get people to come on here, I wanted to sit down and have this conversation type stuff. You know, that's the way I wanted to mean because that's the way people learn. Mm hmm. I mean, it's like you said, we're not here for preaching hellfire and brimstone. We're talking about what the Lord's done for us in our lives and how. How we handle different situations biblically.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

I mean, to me, and that's what we all need to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:06

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:07

See here. What are you doing? Have you got anything else you'd like to add? We've been going on here an hour and a half, maybe. I think we've covered most of it. I love it. Like I said, we can sit here and talk all night. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

I think the biggest point as we're heading out that I would say is don't be argumentative. Show love in leading somebody to the Lord. And just, you know, you don't shouldn't have to try to shove a bunch of scripture down their throat at the beginning. Just start telling them about what God does. And it needs to be on you from your heart. So that's the reason it's important to get these scriptures memorized and to know enough of them that you can actually witness to somebody. That's why we go to church to get equipped.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:48

That's right. I always like to close all this out with a Bible verse. Yeah. And this week I've picked Luke 14, verse 11. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. And I have found in my new life as a reformed Christian that humbling yourself will set you free. I mean, it will. I mean, used to, I carried that pride on my shoulders, but now I I like you, I don't care what people think about me anymore. I mean, I'm humbled before the Lord, that is for sure. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:27

More than I ever have been in my life. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:31

John Paul, buddy, I sure appreciate you joining me again. I'm hoping we can start doing this every every week. Absolutely. Wherever how often you think you can get now here to do it. Because I'm enjoying it. And I hope everybody else is getting something out of it. They are. Well, that being said, we're going to let John Paul end this with a prayer. You've been watching the Testament's Faith Podcast. I'm Ray Bradshaw, my buddy John Paul Murphy.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:55

God bless y'all and have a good week, John Paul. Thank you, Lord, tonight, as we studied your word and we talked about you tonight. Lord, we thank you that this word goes out into people's hearts and it brings many people to the Lord for you. We thank you tonight for your salvation, for your son dying on the cross for us. We thank you tonight that we have been set free and now we're free indeed. Lord, and we give you glory and praise forevermore in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen.