Why 'Christian' is So Overrated—Let's Talk Discipleship!
JR Rennie from Brushfire Ministries is here to drop some truth bombs about discovering your God-given design—because apparently, we’re all supposed to be doing something epic with our lives, not just scrolling through TikTok. He’s all about helping folks realize their purpose and actually, you know, *do* something meaningful instead of just warming a pew on Sundays. We dive into the whole "disciple vs. Christian" debate—spoiler alert: being a disciple means actually following the teachings and not just showing up for the free coffee. JR shares some wild stories, including how God speaks through dreams and how we need to be ready for some serious spiritual warfare. So, if you’re tired of the same ol' social club vibe at church and want to actually get your hands dirty in the good fight, this convo is for you!
JR Rennie from Brushfire Ministries joins us to chat about discovering your God-given design, and wow, do we go deep. We're diving into the nitty-gritty of what it means to be a disciple versus just a casual 'Christian.' Spoiler alert: it’s not just about showing up on Sundays and calling it a day. We get into the fact that ‘Christian’ is only mentioned twice in the Bible, while ‘disciple’ pops up over 260 times. So what gives? JR challenges us to think about our accountability and what that really looks like in our daily lives. This isn’t just a social club, folks, and if you’re treating it like one, you might wanna rethink your life choices. We explore how the church has effectively become a kind of social gathering instead of a force for real change, and JR throws down some serious truth bombs about addressing issues like homelessness and addiction instead of just talking about them. Seriously, if the church isn’t stepping up, what are we even doing? Buckle up, because this conversation is going to challenge your perspective and might just light a fire in you to get out there and make a difference. Get ready to rethink your role in the church and in the world!
Takeaways:
- JR Rennie emphasizes the importance of discipleship over mere belief, highlighting that the term 'Christian' is used sparingly in the Bible compared to 'disciple'.
- We need to leave behind the anxiety of faith and embrace the surprises God has in store for us, because who doesn't love a good plot twist?
- Brushfire Ministries aims to help individuals discover their God-given purpose, encouraging believers to step up and take action in their communities, not just sit in pews.
- Rennie argues that the church has become a social club rather than a place of active discipleship, leading many to miss the point of their faith altogether.
- Both speakers stress the necessity of being prepared for spiritual warfare, as the challenges of life can often feel like a fight with unseen forces.
- The conversation wraps up with a call to action, reminding listeners that they are tools in God's hands, meant to be wielded for His purpose, so get out there and make a difference!
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker A:Welcome back.
Speaker A:My name is Ashley and this is the Black Sheep Christian Podcast.
Speaker A:Today I have with me JR with us today from Brush Fires Ministry.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining me today.
Speaker A:I'm so grateful, actually.
Speaker B:This is going to be fun.
Speaker B:I, I really enjoy speaking with other believers.
Speaker B:You're on the other side of the US for me.
Speaker B:And it's just, I love to see what God does in these moments because it's always a surprise, but every time it's a, it's a pleasant one.
Speaker B:So I look forward to talking to you and your listeners.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I appreciate that.
Speaker A:That's a very interesting quote.
Speaker A:That is always a surprise.
Speaker A:It's funny how as Christians or as believers, because I listened to something and so it's now questioning how I name myself as believers.
Speaker A:It's interesting that we are supposed to walk in faith and so it's really hard for us to do, you know, as human beings.
Speaker A:So to name it surprises is a nice way of just being.
Speaker A:Just to leave the anxiety behind and just to be giddy about what God has for us.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And let me red ramp up the challenge.
Speaker B:In the Bible, the word Christian is only used twice.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:In the New Testament, the word disciple is used over 260 times.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Try calling yourself a disciple of Christ.
Speaker B:And the accountability that comes with that, that's what, that's what God did to me just recently is like, ah, oh, I'm supposed to be doing what you want me to do and not what I want to do.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:Thanks, God.
Speaker B:Thanks for the reminder.
Speaker B:You're my disciple.
Speaker B:Obey me.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:I find that, that piece when, when I came across that video of you describing how many times disciples is in the Bible and not Christian.
Speaker A:And it's interesting because with the state that we are in as far as a.
Speaker A:I don't know what you want to call it, a religion, a movement, a faith, like people have different names.
Speaker A:But to say that we're Christian just feels different these days.
Speaker A:And I say that because there are those who are claiming to be Christian, but they aren't doing what God has called.
Speaker A:So the word Christian just feels different.
Speaker A:So when I came across, when you were talking about how many times Christian is in the Bible, which I've read, and I never really noticed that Christians hardly used.
Speaker A:But yet disciple is used so many times.
Speaker A:But yet that hasn't grabbed me like you, like as you said, is used twice.
Speaker A:But disciples, over 260 times, that hasn't grabbed my attention all this time, even though God has repeatedly said that.
Speaker A:And so it led me to this thought that I wrote down.
Speaker A:And, and I think it really comes back to the definition of what a disciple.
Speaker A:What does it mean and what we're supposed to do with it?
Speaker B:No, it is because it's the personal accountability.
Speaker B:If you are a disciple of somebody or something, that means that you are emulating them, you are following them, and you are obedient to what they are teaching you and instructing you to do.
Speaker B:It's not some kind of casual relationship.
Speaker B:Christianity in itself in America at this point in time is in many cases it's a social club.
Speaker B:You know, they, they will show up looking really good on Sunday morning.
Speaker B:But man, you know, Sunday afternoon, if you know it, it all, it all goes back to where it was.
Speaker B:And, and the church, as, as, as free as we still are in, in America to be able to practice our faith, we are not making the impact in our society that we should be.
Speaker B:I mean, all the complaints, and I don't care where you want your label, your complaints, or what side of the political fence, wherever the complaints happen to be, if that's bothering you, Christ is probably saying, yeah, I created you to make that go away, to fix that issue, to address that issue.
Speaker B:You don't like homelessness?
Speaker B:Well, let's start feeding the homeless.
Speaker B:Let's try taking some of the money that we make and we have in this in our own congregations and let's start building some homes.
Speaker B:Let's start investing.
Speaker B:Here's this thing broke my heart and it's in the, it's in my latest book.
Speaker B:So there's a local church in our area that has a addiction intervention program and it's all Christian based and it's a separate organization called the Good Sam Program.
Speaker B:They've been around for at least a few decades.
Speaker B:One of the lowest recidivism rate in the nation.
Speaker B:In other words, you go through their program, you, in most cases, you, you have been freed of your addiction, be it drugs or alcohol, porn or whatever it happens to be.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:Because they introduce you to Christ and they get you into a close relationship with Him.
Speaker B:Not a single church in our area supports that effort.
Speaker B:No money, not a dime.
Speaker B:Now, individuals, yeah, there are a lot of individuals that will support them, but why would we not?
Speaker B:Not every church is going to have the resources to do an addiction intervention program.
Speaker B:And why reinvent the wheel?
Speaker B:Why not take a percentage of your missionary budget, a percentage of your giving, and invest it in this ministry that has a proven record?
Speaker B:So if we were disciples, we might actually start doing the Things that Christ has called us to do that has brought, that he's brought to our attention, that need to be addressed.
Speaker A:Yeah, you know, I need to write that down.
Speaker A:A social club, because I, I never really.
Speaker A:It, you're right, it does feel like a social club these days.
Speaker A:And it depends on what, you know, which one you go to or which membership.
Speaker B:Yeah, don't, don't say anything from the pulpit that's going to offend me, you know.
Speaker B:Wait, wait, was it the old quote from the South?
Speaker B:All right, Pastor, you're gone from preaching to meddling.
Speaker B:You know, you're, you're meddling with my life.
Speaker B:Sort of what the scripture is supposed to do.
Speaker B:You're supposed to be a new creature, which means that old man is dead, you know, stop letting him hang on with his, you know, into your life.
Speaker B:He needs to kick, you know, get out of there.
Speaker A:Well, I mean, since we're talking on this Easter weekend, I mean, that was what the Pharisees was probably most concerned about when Jesus was talking to him.
Speaker A:Because back then the Pharisees had a really comfortable life.
Speaker A:You know, how you entered as a Pharisees was, was quite fascinating.
Speaker A:It was kind of a lot of butt kissing.
Speaker A:And then once you were worked your way through, I mean, you were living comfortably.
Speaker A:Your clothes, the food, the, the, the service that you received.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, salary, the housing, the Lear jets, the, you know, the travel, the notoriety, the fame.
Speaker B:I gotta tell you, to be quite honest, I literally feel like we are in the same stage of the, that the, that the Jewish people are in.
Speaker B:The, the religious people were in.
Speaker B:We are in the same stage of, of ineffectiveness.
Speaker B:Nearly the American church is at.
Speaker B:So if Christ came back at the end of the effectiveness of the Jewish religion, what does that say about the effectiveness of the church right now?
Speaker B:Is, is he coming back now?
Speaker B:Because, okay, you guys have really, you're not getting any better.
Speaker B:You're not, you're certainly not doing what I asked you to do.
Speaker B:And every time we talk about sin, you get offended.
Speaker B:What else am I supposed to do?
Speaker B:So I, I, I, I look at the state of the church as another indicator that Christ is coming back.
Speaker A:So I, I would agree with that and with what we're going through in America as far as questioning.
Speaker A:I mean, and this always has been, you know, questioning Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and, and, and programs.
Speaker A:That's what the church did.
Speaker A:And it's kind of like, where, how, why did they stop?
Speaker A:Because what the government is doing is what the church was fully equipped to Do.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, I mean, we have to understand we have a very wise adversary.
Speaker B:The enemy knows what he's doing.
Speaker B:So he needed to put.
Speaker B:Pull the church out of everyday life.
Speaker B:Started in the 60s.
Speaker B:You know, we need to get them out of our schools.
Speaker B:We need to get them out of our government.
Speaker B:We need to get, you know, the effectiveness of church and, and Christ out of the lives of the individual people.
Speaker B:When I was in fourth and fifth grade, we still prayed in church.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:We still prayed in school, you know, before.
Speaker B:At the beginning of every class, we said the Pledge of Allegiance.
Speaker B:We did those things.
Speaker B:Those things don't happen anymore.
Speaker B:We don't have that, you know, in our society.
Speaker B:So the, so what happened is the government began to encroach in those areas.
Speaker B:The church allowed them and said, all right, well, we'll just take our money and do something else with it.
Speaker B:Not as effective, apparently.
Speaker B:And so we've abdicated our.
Speaker B:Our authority in this, you know, in this world.
Speaker B:Fortunately, the difference between us and the Jewish people is that the, the believers, the true believers in Christ have the Holy Spirit in them.
Speaker B:And so the restrainer is still in our society.
Speaker B:You know, we have key people, you know, that are in governments or in the military or in law enforcement or technology and so forth that are still being influenced by God to make the right choices, to hold back the, the impact of.
Speaker B:Of what the enemy is trying to do.
Speaker B:But the church as an organization in many ways has been neutered, and we've sort of done it to ourselves.
Speaker B:You know, you know, we.
Speaker B:We've abdicated our responsibility to the poor, the, you know, the.
Speaker B:Those that are lost.
Speaker B:I mean, as far as our society goes right now, the.
Speaker B:The only area that I can really see where the church still has a major impact without talking about individuals is in music.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:You watch, you know, the shows like the Voice or, or American Idol.
Speaker B:How many of those people on those shows are singing in the church or sang in the choir of the church?
Speaker B:So we're.
Speaker B:We still have a.
Speaker B:An impact.
Speaker B:And God's not done with us yet.
Speaker B:He's not done with us until Christ comes back.
Speaker B:So we have an opportunity to make a difference.
Speaker B:We just need to start to do the uncomfortable things and say the uncomfortable things and respond to what it is that God's calling his people to do.
Speaker B:That's one of the reasons why our ministry exists.
Speaker B:We want the individual believer to know what it is that God created them to do.
Speaker B:So that when he says, I want you to do that, you go, okay, dad, I'm on it.
Speaker A:You know, it's really interesting that.
Speaker A:That you talk that point, because the reason why I'm doing a podcast again is because I had a dream and I went to a church member and she was like, well, you should be teaching again.
Speaker A:I was like, that makes no sense to me.
Speaker A:I was like, I was putting a piano through a car wash.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Like, what does this have to do with anything?
Speaker A:So when.
Speaker A:When God calls us to do the things that he has set us to do, sometimes, especially in my case, God calls us and we don't even know what.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What he's saying.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Well, and the reality is, is that he will make it clear enough to tell you what to do.
Speaker B:It's why he's doing it, or what's the purpose behind it or what's the impact behind it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That he often will say, no, you just need to do what I've told you to do.
Speaker B:You need to say what I've told you to say.
Speaker B:You need to write what I told you to write.
Speaker B:You need to get involved yourself in the way I told you to involve yourself.
Speaker B:God is the details and the impact is up to God.
Speaker B:Our only.
Speaker B:Our only role in this process is to be obedient to what he's told us to do and then trust him for the outcome.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Well said.
Speaker A:I was like, I don't even know how to rebuff.
Speaker A:I mean, in the end, as well said, it almost feels very like.
Speaker A:When I look at your mission and even your logo, the only thing I can always think of is Moses.
Speaker A:And Moses is one of my favorite people in Scripture and acts, actually, Exodus 3:14 is one of my favorite Bible verses in which God says, I am that I am, and I sent me.
Speaker A:And I love it because it speaks to the confidence of.
Speaker A:Of God, like.
Speaker A:Like he needs confidence.
Speaker A:But what I find interesting, out of everything, not everything, but out of all the people that God speaks to Moses, and you correct me if I'm wrong, God didn't really speak to Moses.
Speaker A:It was out of curiosity for Moses to see that bush.
Speaker A:And then God spoke to him, which I find is profound.
Speaker B:Yeah, He.
Speaker B:He took the steps of faith towards it to.
Speaker B:To pursue it.
Speaker B:And then as soon as he got close enough, he says, take off your shoes.
Speaker B:This is holy ground.
Speaker B:Yeah, I.
Speaker B:You know, I think those.
Speaker B:In a way, he's.
Speaker B:God was talking to him because he was.
Speaker B:He was saying, you know, look at this.
Speaker B:Come.
Speaker B:You know, come towards me.
Speaker B:And he doesn't always have to speak audibly to you.
Speaker B:You know, sometimes it's.
Speaker B:It's an impression, sometimes it's a intuition or a inspiration.
Speaker B:These are things that he will use.
Speaker B:You measure.
Speaker B:What if God spoke to you and you were obedient to what he asked you to do or encouraged you to do based upon the fruit?
Speaker B:If good fruit comes out of it, you know that.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was God.
Speaker B:He's the one that did it.
Speaker B:When.
Speaker B:When God gave me a dream in 87, that basically scared the tar out of me and caused me to change my life immediately.
Speaker B:It was a dream where my oldest son was about three at that time, and we were floating in darkness, and he and I.
Speaker B:And then a bright light came in between the two of us, and all of a sudden I couldn't get to him and I couldn't.
Speaker B:I couldn't approach.
Speaker B:I couldn't help him.
Speaker B:And I knew that he was headed towards danger.
Speaker B:And I woke up from that dream, and I had one clear message.
Speaker B:Get your family to church, or your son is going to be hurt beyond your ability to help him.
Speaker B:Now, at the time, I thought it was all right, well, I just need to do this and everything's okay.
Speaker B:And that's not the way it worked.
Speaker B:We did it, got my family at church.
Speaker B:My wife became saved.
Speaker B:You know, my son was saved.
Speaker B:In fact, hopefully all three of our kids are.
Speaker B:So I'm always looking for.
Speaker B:For fruit to assure that.
Speaker B:But the thing that happened was we were surrounded by people that were doing homeschooling and people that were living life who had teenage kids.
Speaker B:And we could see when they were saying, oh, man, our daughter is going through this problem or that problem.
Speaker B:And we could see how they approached the problem and how God led them.
Speaker B:So when our own son in fifth grade started to get involved in drugs and alcohol and pornography, unbeknownst to us, by the time it.
Speaker B:It reached its head in junior high, we then said, no, this isn't working for our son.
Speaker B:We need to take him out of school.
Speaker B:My wife homeschooled them for a year and a half, and.
Speaker B:And then we placed them into a Christian high school.
Speaker B:Those were all steps that we had seen other parents take within the church with their kids.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So the dream was, I'm giving you a warning.
Speaker B:If you do what I'm telling you to do, which is get your family to church, you will be in a position with the information and the connection to be able to intervene on your son's behalf.
Speaker B:And that's what happened.
Speaker A:Wow, that's powerful.
Speaker A:That almost leads to your book with Sparks Turn into brush fires in which you talk about some of the dreams that, that you've had.
Speaker B:Yeah, dreams.
Speaker B:And God spoke to me through my writings.
Speaker B:I wrote short stories and poems and articles and I even wrote two little plays slash skits as part of all that.
Speaker B:But yet.
Speaker B: So in: Speaker B:So your listeners, you're hearing it first from, from me.
Speaker B: But in: Speaker B:And this is in April.
Speaker B:That's really important to know.
Speaker B:This is before 9, 11.
Speaker B: So it was April: Speaker B:Fear even.
Speaker B:Not with us, not my wife and I, but with other people.
Speaker B:And there's four frames to it.
Speaker B:Anybody wants to read the whole dream.
Speaker B: down when I experienced it in: Speaker B:But the last frame was I was in a bookstore and I walked in with what I thought was a small child at my feet.
Speaker B:And there is this man, an Arab looking man.
Speaker B: Again, April: Speaker B:And we were talking about what's going on in the world, all the signs.
Speaker B:And the guy goes, do you think it's the, you know, the end of the world?
Speaker B:And I started to tell him, no, if it was, then these would be some of the signs that you would be seeing.
Speaker B:Basically quoting out of Daniel and, and the book of Revelation.
Speaker B:And I say, I start to say that because in mid sentence, all of a sudden my words are coming out garbled and I'm thinking, okay, this is really odd.
Speaker B:Why can't I, why can I not talk to this man?
Speaker B:At that point, as I'm trying to figure out why my words aren't coming out, I hear a stack of books fall.
Speaker B:And I look at the guy and he's on the ground with his staring at me in absolute horror.
Speaker B:There was.
Speaker B:Then my reaction was, okay, what's wrong with you?
Speaker B:You know what, what, what is wrong with you?
Speaker B:And then that little boy that was at my feet, I, I noticed that he seemed to be in a crouching position.
Speaker B:I thought he was fearful, he was actually praying.
Speaker B:And as I bent down to look at him, I could see my glorified body.
Speaker B:And I woke up.
Speaker B:So that little boy is an angel that is with me that is going to be sorry 25 years and it still gets to me.
Speaker B:That's my angel that is going to be leading me into the presence of God.
Speaker B:I'm being raptured at that time.
Speaker B:The end of the church age is happening now.
Speaker B:This happened.
Speaker B:I was 42 year old at the time and I knew I was significantly older.
Speaker B:And my 42 year old self said, I'm old but not decrepit.
Speaker B:So I turned 66, not decrepit.
Speaker B:I played six games of racquetball with a bunch of really talented people today.
Speaker B:And so I'm not decrepit yet, but you know, 80, 85.
Speaker B:That's when I'm starting, that's when you start to see that the age really catch up with you.
Speaker B:So I, I firmly believe in the next 15 to 20 years, Christ is returning.
Speaker B: pt that message in because in: Speaker B:What am I supposed to do with this?
Speaker B:I don't have, I don't have a group of followers.
Speaker B:I don't have any influence.
Speaker B:I'm a corporate business owner of a software company.
Speaker B:I develop manufacturing, accounting software.
Speaker B:What am I supposed to do with this?
Speaker B: But when he called me in: Speaker B:The church needs to get ready for Christ's return.
Speaker B:This is why brushfires ministry was, was established was to, to get the individual members within the church doing that, the work that God created them to do.
Speaker B:Because there will be a, there will be a sense of persecution of the church that was clear in that dream.
Speaker B:I think frame three talks about that.
Speaker B:And the church needs to be ready because as crazy as things are right now in America and the rest of this world, it's going to get ratcheted up significantly higher and people are going to turn to the church going, everything's crazy.
Speaker B:Do you, can you guys make any sense as to what's going on?
Speaker B:And, and God is going to close a number of deals before he says, all right, Jesus, it's time.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:You know, it's interesting that you say that because every now and again God tells me to prepare.
Speaker A:He, that, that's all he says, prepare.
Speaker A:And I'll be like, for what?
Speaker A:Well, like a storm coming.
Speaker A:Are you finally coming in?
Speaker A:So every now and again I just get this word of prepare.
Speaker A:But he never, he never elaborates any further.
Speaker B:Well, if, yeah, I, I would say for me that means get ready, do.
Speaker B:The only thing that we can do is to is to do the good works that we were created to do.
Speaker B:Okay, I.
Speaker B:I will tell you, I don't look at those times in fear.
Speaker B:I know a lot of the people that were in that dream were fearful, but I was not.
Speaker B:I was calm.
Speaker B:I had complete peace.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I have absolutely no fear.
Speaker B:From here to when Christ raptures me in that bookstore, I have absolutely no fear.
Speaker B:Because I know.
Speaker B:I know how this is going to end now.
Speaker B:Will there be challenges?
Speaker B:Will I be persecuted?
Speaker B:Quite likely, along with many, many other people that are doing what it is that Christ wants him to do.
Speaker B:But my job, I was just talking to somebody the other day.
Speaker B:I'm not an evangelist.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's not my deal.
Speaker B:I'm a recruiter of Christ to his own children.
Speaker B:The people that are sitting in church every Sunday who have a real born again experience and are really, truly saved.
Speaker B:God wants those people to start to do what it is that he has asked him to do.
Speaker B:The book Sparks Turn into Brush Fires is how he has talked to me and gotten my attention and redirected my life.
Speaker B:And as I said, it's through dreams, it's through inspiration.
Speaker B:And I speak about all those circumstances in the introduction, I explain where the title comes from.
Speaker B:There are pivot points and milestones in our lives where we are called to do the right thing, take a chance, take, take steps of faith.
Speaker B:Those create the sparks.
Speaker B:There's pivot points and milestones.
Speaker B:And I look back on my life and I go, this is how God has worked in my Life.
Speaker B: Starting in: Speaker B:I was a successful employee for a software company.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I enjoyed my Sundays watching football with my neighbors.
Speaker B:I had absolutely no stress in any of that stuff.
Speaker B:And all of a sudden, God says, you need to get your family to church because you want to.
Speaker B:You want to be in a position to be able to help your son.
Speaker B:And I need you to be in that community for that to happen.
Speaker B:So I had a choice.
Speaker B:I could have said, all right, well, was that bad tacos or was that just, you know, my imagination?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:One of the things about that dream and that part of the book I actually write, how why a dream from God is so different than any other dream.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:I enumerate the differences because I have all kinds of dreams.
Speaker B:And I know those are just, you know, either the enemy trying to scare me or just, you know, some kind of weird, you know, temptation, who knows what?
Speaker B: n to me now three times since: Speaker B:And the first two, I woke up like this, just shaking.
Speaker B:And actually, I'm one of the most confident people you will ever meet.
Speaker B:I don't get shaken in the midst of a crisis.
Speaker B:I am the guy that is saying, this is a way out.
Speaker B:This is what we need to do.
Speaker B:This is how we mitigate the problem.
Speaker B:I am, like, calm.
Speaker B:I woke up from those first two dreams and I was shaking.
Speaker B:The third dream, which is really interesting, where he's sending our ministry into this woman's facility to go into the belly of the beast to get his daughters free from imprisonment, from enslavement.
Speaker B:That's what I should really be scared about.
Speaker B:And I woke up with that going, okay, God, whatever.
Speaker B:That's what we're doing.
Speaker B:You're sending us into the belly of the beast, of the enemy.
Speaker B:All right, I'm on.
Speaker B:I'm good with it.
Speaker B:That's the one that should terrify me because he's sending me right into the heart of the enemy.
Speaker B:And we're like, all right, we're going to, we're going to set the captives free.
Speaker B:Let's do it.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:Anyway, those dreams are all in detail in the book and people, again, the book is free.
Speaker B:Just register on our site and you'll get the book.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Thanks for sharing.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:You know, it's really interesting when, with your book, which I hope that people will subscribe to and be able to read.
Speaker A:And that is, is that even though you're sharing your testimony about your journey, some elements of that.
Speaker A:Well, hopefully speak to somebody because for me, God definitely speaks to me through dreams.
Speaker A:Some.
Speaker A:Some are the most weirdest, obscure things.
Speaker A:And you know, sometimes he gives us those dreams and it just.
Speaker A:On that journey, like years later, you'd be like, oh, I finally understand.
Speaker B:You know, the thing is, I mean, he.
Speaker B:He knows how to talk to his kids.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, you know, he'll use a tone with you that's different than the tone with me.
Speaker B:I mean, I, I'm the, you know, two by four across the head.
Speaker B:A couple times he had to whack me, knock me on my butt because I'm that headstrong and confident and self assured and all that stuff.
Speaker B:But he'll talk to his children in the way that he knows because he created you.
Speaker B:He knows how tender your heart is.
Speaker B:He knows how stiff my neck is.
Speaker B:So he's going to, you know, he's going to whack me every once in a while and.
Speaker B:And tell me that this is what he wants me to do.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But yeah, there's so many different ways.
Speaker B:I mean, here's another story.
Speaker B:I love this one because this blew my mind.
Speaker B:So going through a church situation where we had to leave the church because people are people, and we had to leave.
Speaker B:We weren't being forced out.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We decided to leave.
Speaker B:And so we were church shopping, and one was a church that we were familiar with that we would have, you know, like all the other churches, and one was more, slightly more charismatic, and they were doing this prophetic conference called the Sound.
Speaker B:And there's this guy named Tracy Armstrong that was giving words of knowledge to people in the audience.
Speaker B:I'd never seen this before.
Speaker B:I'd never seen in practice.
Speaker B:And I have a real.
Speaker B:How do I put this?
Speaker B:I have a real sense of defense mechanism, of people misleading and using their positions of authority to hurt other people, you know, pump up their expectations and then they get crushed and you're not around to, you know, pick up the messes and so forth.
Speaker B:So as I, as he's starting to do this, I'm like, no.
Speaker B:You know, and so as he's walking through the audience, I'm giving him the stink eye.
Speaker B:The entire time, I'm looking at him like, oh, you better not.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I don't know what I'm going to do or say if you say something that's going to hurt that person or get their hopes up or dash the hopes, you know, that sort of thing.
Speaker B:So I'm listening to him and he's not doing any of that.
Speaker B:You know, these are things that are encouraging or exhorting and seem to be being well received by the individuals.
Speaker B:But I'm still giving him the stink eye the entire time.
Speaker B:And he catches it, okay, he sees me and he's looking at me.
Speaker B:He'll go to somebody else, he's looking at me, goes to somebody else, looking at me, goes to somebody else.
Speaker B:And finally he's done.
Speaker B:And he goes to sit down, he sits down, stands up, turns around, looks at me dead in the eye, points at me and goes, you.
Speaker B:You're going to have a breakthrough this week.
Speaker B:And I thought, whatever.
Speaker B:How.
Speaker B:What a vague.
Speaker B:What an absolute, What a, you know, innocuous thing to say.
Speaker B:What does that mean, breakthrough?
Speaker B: Anyway, this is in: Speaker B:I was writing a lot of things.
Speaker B: me in a really weird spot in: Speaker B:And I was like, desperately trying to figure out what he was doing in my life.
Speaker B:And so I started writing a lot of things.
Speaker B:I wrote articles and plays and short stories, and I.
Speaker B:I wrote an article and a short story.
Speaker B:I think it was a patchwork.
Speaker B:And Safe I'm not.
Speaker B:And then I was writing this last story called the Three Guides.
Speaker B:Again, all this is in the book people can get for free.
Speaker B:And I write this story.
Speaker B:And at the end of the story, and because, I don't know, it's.
Speaker B:I mean, God was literally writing it through me because I had this thought from reading A Devotion that morning, and I started writing the story and I had no idea how it was going to end.
Speaker B:But as I'm writing it, it's sort of like writing itself.
Speaker B:I'm watching, you know, it's just flowing out of me.
Speaker B:And at the very end, I read the story and I was really proud of patchwork.
Speaker B:I was really proud with Safe.
Speaker B:I'm not the.
Speaker B:The poem.
Speaker B:I'm going, man, these are really good.
Speaker B:And this last one, man, it's amazing.
Speaker B:And in the back of my head I hear breakthrough.
Speaker B:And I go, are you kidding me?
Speaker B:That was real.
Speaker B:I was so set up.
Speaker B:I was so blown away by that experience because here I am patting myself on my.
Speaker B:On my back for writing these things that I think are really beautiful and powerful.
Speaker B:And God says, yeah, they are, because I wrote them through you.
Speaker B:And this is your breakthrough.
Speaker B:So that got my.
Speaker B:That got my attention.
Speaker B:One thing about the charismatic arm of the church is that they are much more intent or in touch with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker B:And the actions of the Holy Spirit are very, very prevalent.
Speaker B:And they are looking for them, and they are sensitive towards it.
Speaker B:The ev.
Speaker B:Free.
Speaker B:The more teaching type of churches, very strong on doctrine, not as loving in most cases or many cases.
Speaker B:And so somewhere in between those two extremes is the right church mix, where you have the love of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit and the.
Speaker B:The fruit of the Spirit and the gifts, and then you have the right doctrine, the right theology.
Speaker B:Somewhere in between the two is what the real heart of God is.
Speaker B:But they seem to always fall into those two camps.
Speaker B:But that was the season where God says, no, I need to.
Speaker B:I need you to start to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Speaker B:And so I'm going to use Tracy to talk to you and show you that this stuff is real.
Speaker A:So, wow.
Speaker A:Wow, that's powerful.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And it's interesting with your story because some of us, not all of us, it's really interesting, have had that moment, like, where, like, why are you looking at me?
Speaker A:Why is this coming to me?
Speaker A:Like, why.
Speaker A:This has nothing to do with me.
Speaker A:And then when you do walk in the, the path that God walks you to walk on and then you get to the end and God's like, duh, you, you just have like this, of course it is moment.
Speaker B:What it.
Speaker B:But here's the thing and, and I'm still struggling with this place because I'm not quite there yet.
Speaker B:But I know based upon what God has shown me, I'm getting, I'm going to be there.
Speaker B:And so enemy, watch out because I'm coming.
Speaker B:As we start to become more and more obedient to God's and we become first time listeners and we actually do and pursue what he's prompting us to do and we start to work in closer and closer relationship to him, we begin to demonstrate and effectuate our actual power and authority as being born again sons and daughters of God.
Speaker B:I heard this testimony of a Satanist who was converted to Christianity.
Speaker B:And he says if, and, and because they're very tuned to the spiritual world also and they're looking, you know, they're looking at Christians and you know, but they're, they're attuned to the demonic side.
Speaker B:At least he was at the time.
Speaker B:He goes, I could always tell the real Christians because as they're walking around me, there is one or two angels beside them.
Speaker B:Walking beside them, okay?
Speaker B:And he says, if Christians ever had the real understanding of their power and their authority, they would walk in confidence and insurance and faith.
Speaker B:Now this is coming from a devout, I mean at the time he was developed, he was again, he was converted to Christianity, but he was a devout Satanist.
Speaker B:He could see the spiritual power and authority that these people have.
Speaker B:There's another testimony I heard of this young lady.
Speaker B:There was a serial rapist that was in her neighborhood.
Speaker B:It was a urban setting.
Speaker B:And she was at a church gathering one time and she got out late and she was walking home and she walked through this dark street area, you know, maybe it was an alleyway.
Speaker B:And she saw this man up on the, you know, up to her, right?
Speaker B:And she said, oh man, hopefully this is not that guy that's been raping people.
Speaker B:She walks right past him.
Speaker B:The guy just stares at her, I mean, just staring at her.
Speaker B:Walks right past her.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:He winds up being picked up, okay, and he is the rapist.
Speaker B:But because he was in the area and she, and, and they, they had asked for eyewitnesses.
Speaker B:Was this guy in the area?
Speaker B:She got caught up in that.
Speaker B:And she says, well, Yeah, I will pick him out of the.
Speaker B:The lineup.
Speaker B:And she says, yes, that's the man I saw in that alleyway that was there.
Speaker B:And the question came up to the.
Speaker B:To the rapist, because, why did you not grab that woman?
Speaker B:She was alone.
Speaker B:She was by herself.
Speaker B:What prevented you?
Speaker B:And the guy looked at the.
Speaker B:The officer in, like, complete shock.
Speaker B:He goes, she wasn't alone.
Speaker B:She had two monstrous guys on either side of her walking her through that alley.
Speaker B:We have power and authority when we are doing what it is that God created us to do.
Speaker B:Romans 8:28 gets misunderstood all the time.
Speaker B:But it goes like this.
Speaker B:For those who love God, for those who are called according to his purposes, you're doing what he wanted you to do.
Speaker B:You're using the talents that he gave you.
Speaker B:All things work together for good.
Speaker B:I catch people now.
Speaker B:I'll go through an area, an airport or whatever, and I'll have people staring at me.
Speaker B:I used to wonder, you know, well, did they see me on social media?
Speaker B:Did they see me on a podcast, or what was it?
Speaker B:I know what it is now.
Speaker B:They're looking at the angels that are walking beside me because I am actively trying to do what it is that God created me to do.
Speaker B:I am walking in his power and authority.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:They have the strangest.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker B:It's like they're a stunned look where they'll look at you as you go by.
Speaker B:They don't want to.
Speaker B:They don't approach you.
Speaker B:They don't come up to you, hey, do I know you?
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They just from a distance, are looking at you.
Speaker B:And I believe that's what they're seeing.
Speaker B:These are people that are on the demonic side that are seeing the angels that are walking alongside me.
Speaker B:And God's got angels for all of his.
Speaker B:All of his people.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:I never thought about it.
Speaker A:That's powerful.
Speaker A:And I say that because sometimes when people interact with you, I've always thought it was how.
Speaker A:Because I grew up in the suburbs.
Speaker A:So it.
Speaker A:I mean, it's just a different attitude, feel, look than those that have less resources.
Speaker A:So when you enter.
Speaker A:So being in the suburbs and you enter in another space, it's always been like, oh, you're better than us.
Speaker A:But I remember someone made that comment, and I was just like, oh, what?
Speaker A:Like, I really was, like, horrible questioning how I walked into a space.
Speaker A:But when you make that comment, it kind of makes more sense.
Speaker A:Like, it's not because of how I was raised or how I was taught to carry myself.
Speaker A:It's the confidence that I have in my Lord and how I'm protected.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:I love this anecdote that somebody says it's the Holy Spirit inside you that is aggravating the demons that are inside them.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so they will.
Speaker B:They will be antagonistic to you in many cases where it's like, no.
Speaker B:I mean, every time Jesus came up to a person that was being oppressed or possessed by a demon, the demons were applied when they were allowed to talk.
Speaker B:Applied.
Speaker B:Are you here to put us, you know, are you here to.
Speaker B:To put us into the pit now?
Speaker B:Are you here to.
Speaker B:To, you know, to, To.
Speaker B:To imprison us?
Speaker B:Now?
Speaker B:When you're walking in God's authority, those demons out there are going, are you.
Speaker B:Are you here to, you know, to cast me into the pit?
Speaker B:Because you're walking as a child of God with his power and authority in you.
Speaker B:So the same thing that these demons recognized about Christ are in the obedient children of, Of, Of.
Speaker B:Of God here and now.
Speaker B:Christ said himself, those that come after you who have not seen but yet still believe are going to do even greater things than I did.
Speaker B:Jesus raised the dead.
Speaker B:How much greater are the works that you and I are going to perform?
Speaker A:I have no idea.
Speaker A:Meet an alien, go to space.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:But when my Christ says they're going to do greater works than I did.
Speaker B:Right, okay.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:From the Son of God.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:He doesn't lie.
Speaker B:So it's coming.
Speaker A:Who in his own right did many things?
Speaker A:I mean, I mean, he did extraordinary things.
Speaker A:And not only that, since we're doing.
Speaker A:Since we're recording this on Easter, you know, before Easter Sunday, was able to make that ultimate sacrifice that no one can ever repeat.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:Well.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Nobody else is qualified to do what he did.
Speaker B:And that's why he had to do it, you know, because nobody else is.
Speaker B:Will ever be qualified to do what he did, but because he was obedient.
Speaker B:And that's another important thing.
Speaker B:That's where the Jews got messed up with Jesus because they were expecting this conquering hero, and that was their immediate need.
Speaker B:But the greatest need was their sin situation.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So Christ came back 2,000 years ago to deal with the sin issue, to deal with it once and for all.
Speaker B:Here is the way that, you know, I'm the way.
Speaker B:The truth and the life here is the way.
Speaker B:Now I'm still coming back.
Speaker B:And yeah, that whole King thing and conquering thing, yeah, that's me too.
Speaker B:But I had to fix the.
Speaker B:I had to fix the sin issue with you guys first, because that 10 simple rule thing, you blew that out.
Speaker B:That's just not going to work.
Speaker B:So we need to actually put the Holy Spirit inside you so that you can have a counselor and a paraclete and a connection to the Father that will allow you to listen to him and to do what he's asking you to do.
Speaker A:You know, while we're talking about Jesus, one of the things that I think about is, you know, he says, I'm the way, the truth and life.
Speaker A:But it is what he says.
Speaker A:What he says kind of scares me.
Speaker A:As a kid, this really scared me when he was like, many will call my name, but few will enter the kingdom.
Speaker A:So as a kid, you're thinking very literal.
Speaker A:Like, I'm like, few.
Speaker A:That means two.
Speaker A:I'm like thinking like, is that Peter?
Speaker A:Is that Jesus?
Speaker A:Like, as a kid, I was really terrified what few met in, in that definition.
Speaker A:But when he says, many will call my name and few will enter in the kingdom as an adult, obviously few does not seem like a great number.
Speaker A:But that really, that really comes down to like, what are we doing wrong to miss that mark for only it to be a few?
Speaker B:Well, all right.
Speaker B:So if you have children and you are certain about your faith, there's going to be a point in your life where you're going to start to ask yourself the question, is my son really saved?
Speaker B:Is my daughter really saved?
Speaker B:Now, you can look at appearances and behaviors, but that.
Speaker B:That's deceitful because behaviors change based upon circumstances, based upon age, maturity.
Speaker B:What you want to look for is what.
Speaker B:What would show proof that the Holy Spirit is there?
Speaker B:And that's in Galatians 5, 22 and 23.
Speaker B:Is there evidence of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control?
Speaker B:Is that evident in the person that is going to demonstrate that Christ or that.
Speaker B:That the Holy Spirit is there?
Speaker B:The Holy Spirit's there.
Speaker B:They are truly saved.
Speaker B:Now, I don't know how many people that you know in your life that if you were to describe them, you would use one of those seven words.
Speaker B:Are they joyful?
Speaker B:Are they loving?
Speaker B:Are they kind?
Speaker B:Are they gentle?
Speaker B:Do they have self control?
Speaker B:So as a church, the reason we have gotten to the place is that we have failed to do one of the two things that Christ told us to do before he left.
Speaker B:First one was go to all the world and share this gospel.
Speaker B:Okay, Evangelism, to a certain degree, we do that.
Speaker B:The other one was go throughout the world and make disciples.
Speaker B:You and I spoke about this already.
Speaker B:You know, disciples used over 260 times in the New Testament.
Speaker B:Well, what is becoming a disciple?
Speaker B:He didn't say go out there and have people join your social club and you know, show up to church when it's convenient for them and, you know, be part of the CNE club.
Speaker B:Or is it the newest one?
Speaker B:CEOs, that's the, the term I heard just the other day.
Speaker B:CEOs are Christian Christians and Easter only people.
Speaker B:Okay, they show up then.
Speaker B:So are you a CEO?
Speaker B:You know, are you going to show up this weekend and you know, that will be your nod to God for the dying?
Speaker B:We're good right now.
Speaker B:The problem with why we have so many people in the church that could very well be left behind going back to that series of books, I'll get into that series of books is because the church is no longer making disciples.
Speaker B:We are not invested time wise in the spiritual sanctification process of our people.
Speaker B:That is the next project that God has on my agenda is to create something we're referring to as the Discipleship Framework.
Speaker B:Our workshop program helps a person see what it is that God created them to do, to see themselves in the most clearest view to a place that virtually everybody that goes through the process starts to go, oh my gosh, that's me.
Speaker B:That is who I am.
Speaker B:Their loved ones that are in attendance, the mothers or their husbands or whatever will, will confirm and affirm that yes, that is who you are.
Speaker B:And what we found over doing this over the last four or five years is that a small percentage could then take that and run with it.
Speaker B:The vast majority are not anywhere ready to be able to walk that out because they have not been discipled.
Speaker B:They don't have the right understanding of theology.
Speaker B:They don't know that Christ's sacrifice is really all that's necessary.
Speaker B:They don't really believe it.
Speaker B:They may intellectually understand it, but it hasn't made the 18 inches down to their heart.
Speaker B:They, they don't have any accountability.
Speaker B:People calling them on their stuff, they're not in their, in their Bible.
Speaker B:They are not being coached or mentored or discipled into their pathway.
Speaker B:Our program, the what God's asked me to do next is to say, all right, we got to get this discipleship thing going.
Speaker B:So now that I've shown you, Junior, how to help a person figure out how I created them, now I need you to create a framework that will allow other people to walk out so young, Junior.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B: Back in: Speaker B:The same one that I, I took in 87, I have, I make available for free.
Speaker B:Everybody that registers.
Speaker B:It said at that point that I was a hundred percent spiritually called as a leader.
Speaker B:100 think prophetic was there and maybe a little mercy.
Speaker B:I think those were my top three spiritual gifts from the Father.
Speaker B:That's from Romans 6:12.
Speaker B:That's where those gifts come from.
Speaker B:What should have happened is the person that looked at that should have then said, all right, you got a leadership calling on you.
Speaker B:I want you to show up to the next deacons meeting.
Speaker B:I want you to show up to the next elders meeting.
Speaker B:You're not going to actually do anything, but I want to start to work with you to, to become the leader that God created you to be.
Speaker B:I want to start giving you challenges.
Speaker B:I want to start walking you through, through some of the challenges that are going to come as a leader.
Speaker B:The enemy is going to cause you to doubt who God created you to be.
Speaker B:I want to help you deal with those intrusive thoughts so that you are not being taken off the course that God has for you.
Speaker B:Maybe the next person is a counselor.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:More of a pastoral calling.
Speaker B:All right, you got a really strong counseling.
Speaker B:Let's get you signed up for these counseling, these biblical counseling programs so that you can do it in a God honoring way, not affirm things that are not of God, which is what our current secular counseling requires.
Speaker B:A lot of people don't know this, but when you go to a secular counselor that has a degree, they are forced by the law to affirm your sinful choices.
Speaker B:You cannot, you cannot go in there if you are questioning your identity or your, you know, did God make mistake when he made me?
Speaker B:You can't go in there because they have to affirm that that is what the law requires in virtually every state.
Speaker B:So when we talk about a person that is in the church, there are biblically biblical biblical counseling degrees that you can get that will allow you to properly help a person go through incest or rape or the loss of a child or all the other terrible, traumatic things that happen to people nowadays.
Speaker B:And so this discipleship framework is said, all right, you now know what your purpose is.
Speaker B:We're going to partner you with this person who is wired very similar to you, but is maybe 10, 15 years further down in their spiritual maturity than you are.
Speaker B:And they're going to counsel you and they're going to hold you accountable and they might refer to you to go to this class so you can get some training in this area.
Speaker B:And they might.
Speaker B:They might want you to attend this Bible study because the guy does a great job in explaining the, you know, the, the fundamentals of your faith, you know, whatever it happens to be.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:There's seven core things that have to happen for a person to be able to walk out their purpose.
Speaker B:There's spiritual disciplines that they have to have in place.
Speaker B:There are personal disciplines that they have to have in place.
Speaker B:There are truths of scripture that they have to have in place before they can go to the front lines of spiritual warfare, which is what ministry is.
Speaker B:You want to tick off the enemy, try to change the harm that he has done to a woman that was raped.
Speaker B:That woman that was raped has all kinds of trauma that they have not dealt with, or abortion.
Speaker B:There's another one.
Speaker B:They've gone through these things.
Speaker B:Those women have traumas that they have experienced.
Speaker B:Now the enemy has invested a lot of time and energy in and, and spiritual warfare to get that woman to that defeated place.
Speaker B:Now you're going to step in there and rescue her and, and, and be used by God to redeem her back to her prince and her warrior princess identity.
Speaker B:Oh, it's on, counselor.
Speaker B:Guess whose family is going to get attacked?
Speaker B:Guess whose thoughts are going to get attacked?
Speaker B:Guess whose business is going to get attacked?
Speaker A:Guess who.
Speaker B:We have got to prepare God's children for spiritual warfare, because it's coming.
Speaker B:And therefore we need to be prepared to be able to do this in the authority and power of God.
Speaker B:And our church needs to start running people through boot camps to produce the warriors that God's created his children to be.
Speaker B:You can't walk in that authority that I talked about earlier with those angels on either side of you unless you're doing what God created you to do.
Speaker A:Most definitely.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Well said.
Speaker A:I couldn't that better than myself.
Speaker A:You know, it's very interesting because I was watching before we got together, I was watching a Netflix show called Con mom, which was a very interesting story about a chef whose mom enters in his life and she basically ends up scamming him.
Speaker A:And one of the tactics that she used, and it reminded me of what we're talking about, is what the devil was saying, what the enemy does.
Speaker A:And what she did was separate.
Speaker A:And then by separating, she was able to talk to each person in a different way.
Speaker A:And for them to be able to do the things that she wanted to do, which was in the end to try and get, you know, money for her.
Speaker A:That was her Goal.
Speaker B:But you'll see that with narcissists and anybody that, that's practicing gaslighting, they want to separate you.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And that's what the enemy definitely does.
Speaker A:So when you talk about spiritual warfare as a church, the church as a whole, the enemy has definitely separated the church from the people.
Speaker A:And so now that we're all scattered as we are, he is, he is great at speaking to us in a way that puts us in a hole or silos that we are just not even prepared for to, to, to not fall into or if we do, to not be able to get out of.
Speaker B:Yeah, we, we were created for community.
Speaker B:And it's the body of Christ.
Speaker B:It's not the, it's not the wrist of Christ.
Speaker B:It's not the knee of Christ.
Speaker B:It's not the liver of Christ.
Speaker B:It's the body of Christ.
Speaker B:So where do you fit in the body?
Speaker B:Let's figure out where you fit.
Speaker B:Let's surround you with the people that are going to help lift you up and, and keep you, keep your hands raised as you're going through the warfare.
Speaker B:Yeah, let's, let's bring the community around you that will enable you to be all that God created you to be.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's what the church is supposed to be doing.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:Sounds like some First Corinthians for somebody out there listening who needs to read Paul.
Speaker A:This will probably, what's that?
Speaker A:Around, like 12, 11, somewhere around there.
Speaker A:That's for somebody out there, some Paul reading.
Speaker B:Good, good.
Speaker B:I, I, I hope they listen.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker A:J.R.
Speaker A:i just want to thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker A:I mean, I think what to end with, with as far as preparing spiritual warfare is a great way to end and a great way for your ministry to be able to get people back to where God needs them.
Speaker A:Or not just needs them, but what he planned for them to be.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:We have such a small God image in our head.
Speaker B:We have no idea how powerful he really is, and we have no idea how useful we can be in his hands.
Speaker B:We are all tools created.
Speaker B:But a hammer does not do the job of a hammer.
Speaker B:If it's sitting on your workbench, somebody's got to pick that up.
Speaker B:God's got to pick that hammer up.
Speaker B:If you're designed as a hammer, be the best hammer you possibly can be.
Speaker B:And that means that you're going to be, do it with when you're being wielded by God.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That is, we're all designed as tools to be able to walk out and to accomplish the good works that he has for us.
Speaker B:So it's not about what you think you're capable of bringing to the, the challenges out there.
Speaker B:It's that you are being used by God, who has all authority and all power to accomplish his, his agenda.
Speaker B:So all your job is to say, okay dad, let's do it.
Speaker B:Let's, let's, let's go out and share it, or let's go out there and fix it, or let's go out there and defeat it, whatever it is that God's created you to do.
Speaker A:So I couldn't end it better myself.
Speaker A:Well said.
Speaker A:I'm so grateful for you today.
Speaker B:Oh, actually, this has been a real pleasure.
Speaker B:If any of your people are interested in what we do, I would point them to go to our website, brushfire digital.com we need help.
Speaker B:We really do.
Speaker B:Because this is in fact my prayer the other day.
Speaker B:The guy was, man, this job that you've given me is a lot bigger than I can handle on my own.
Speaker B:I need help.
Speaker B:So anybody that feels like this is a ministry that, that they would like to learn more about, go to brushfires-digital.com if you register, you'll get the, you'll get three books.
Speaker B:Two of that I wrote, the one that we talked about.
Speaker B:Sparks turn into brush fires free of charge.
Speaker B:As soon as you register.
Speaker B: , the same one I took back in: Speaker B:And, and then if you want to sign up for one of our packages to discover your God given purpose, they're available.
Speaker B:The one that I would recommend is our gold premium package.
Speaker B:And that one seems to be the one that's most popular with people to be able to, to figure that out.
Speaker B:And then, you know, if you are a leader and you want to implement this, we want to train you to be able to raise the warriors in your church.
Speaker B:Be it a small group leader, be it a father or a mother that wants to do this within their family or a church congregation.
Speaker B:We want to train you so that you can do the things to be able to raise up the army that God's created all his children to be part of.
Speaker B:And so reach out to me.
Speaker B:That website has all my contact information in it, and we're looking for people to collaborate with because the church needs to wake up.
Speaker B:God's coming or Jesus is coming back in my lifetime.
Speaker B:Are your lamps filled with oil?
Speaker B:Do you have the backup oil?
Speaker B:Are you ready?
Speaker B:And if you're not here's your.
Speaker B:Here's your warning.
Speaker B:Get ready, man.
Speaker A:No way better ended than to prepare.
Speaker A:Make sure you got that oil.
Speaker A:It's not worse than having no light.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:What a pleasure, Ashley.
Speaker B:Thank you for.
Speaker B:For having me.
Speaker A:Same.
Speaker A:Thank.
