Philip Anthony Mitchell: He Tried to End His Life… Now He’s Warning the Church (EP 190)

AI is gonna be part of the end time prophecy. I seen a video of me preaching somebody's church I never been to. I seen a video of me on TikTok standing behind somebody's pulpit preaching. I never even met this man. Things are getting so real right now. You can't even tell the difference. Maybe God is trying to use any willing, non compromising, not afraid, non punk voices to speak the truth. Because when God speaks, he echoes and using every available voice to sound the alarm. I am coming and I'm coming very soon. I'm the age of 24. I attempted suicide once, which was unsuccessful by the grace of God. When Jesus found me in a bathroom over a toilet seat, he says, the church in America, it is dying. It is losing its fire. You wanna go back to your nation and do something about it. I fall down on my hands and my knees and a man died there, bro. I left a man in his room. I came back a different man. What's going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Craver podcast. I'm Bryce and today I am excited to sit down and have a conversation with this guest. We got Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell with us this morning. What's up, Bryce? Come on, man. You cracked it a little grand. I like it. Come on. I appreciate you having me on the podcast. I gotta tell you something. I don't know if you know this, but I wanted to honor you publicly because I think you have a deep heart for people. And I think social media doesn't do justice on what people's lives look like behind closed doors. So last year, I was preaching at Vukam. And I left the night one we did like a live podcast in a room, a couple of hard people. And I'm leaving. It's 1130 at night. I see a dude in the hoodie circling the venue, praying. It was you late at night, 1130, praying, praying. And I remember waking up the next morning and seeing on your story, you crying out to the Lord on behalf of the people in Miami and in my generation early morning in the hotel room. And I observed from afar. And when the Lord came in that room was a response to the heart of your prayers. And so I just want you to know, like I gleaned from that, I respect it. I have reaped the benefits of the fervent prayer of the righteous from the prayers that you've cried for my generation. So I wanted to publicly honor you and say thank you. I've seen that with my own eyes that people on social media didn't see. Man, I appreciate that. Man, I wanna publicly honor you too. I know you was talking about this off camera, but I think it's worth noting that I appreciate what you're doing for the culture for the body of Christ. I think there's an entire generation out there trust you, believe in you, believe in your ministry. You're having a great impact on this entire generation. And I wanna encourage you in what you're doing that your voice matters right now. Your voice matters in the culture, matters to the church, matters in this hour. And so I commend you for what you're doing for being so young, but standing on business and being an uncompromising voice in the culture. I think because we live in a generation where compromise is rampant, voices like yours matter. So I commend you for what you're doing too, bro. Thank you for saying that, that means a lot. I wanna get it like briefly into your story, like what it would look like following Jesus, but a lot of people don't know you've been a pastor of that church for a while, 28, 19. You've been a pastor there for a while. You've been a pastor for 13 years. And a lot of people know that. A lot of people think that you came out of the woodworks, like, oh, look, who's this pastor? He's being bold, but that boldness, and correct me if I'm wrong, came from after a visit. You went to the Holy land and you experienced something over there, but a lot of people haven't seen your faithfulness for the decade before, prior, that you were faithfully pouring into the city of Atlanta. And so before you even became a pastor, what was life like growing up? How did you become a Christian? Man, I was, you know, this is widely known, but I was raised in Queens, New York, born a Christian parents, but was in a very urban environment. That environment had a lot of influence on my life. And so most of my days were spent in the street. And that's not any fault of my parents. They did the absolute best they can do. But I was just drawn to the community outside of my home. So I pretty much lived a very dark life. I probably went out into the street maybe around age of 12, and I lived a dark life until I had to leave New York because the legal trouble around age 18 ended up in North Carolina. Continued that dark path for another decade. And it was a season in my life where I was very hopeless, very empty around the age of 24, attempted suicide once, which was unsuccessful by the grace of God. He sent someone to my apartment that night, that kind of their presence talked me off a ledge. And it was in that season when I was suicidal and hopeful when Jesus found me in a bathroom over a toilet seat and brought me into the kingdom personally for himself. So that's how I got saved. Wow. Man, what was that experience like when Jesus was encountering you? Like for you, what did that look like? Man, for me, and this story is widely known, I was my girlfriend at the time who became my wife, got into a car accident. We was living together, so obviously we was doing everything wrong. We wasn't saved. And she came back to the apartment and she put on gospel music. And it was the first time in my life I ever heard gospel music. And she had her hands raised and she was thanking God for her life. And I was staring at her walk back and forth and I thought to myself, whatever that is, I want that. It seemed like joy, it seemed like peace, it seemed like all the things I did not have. So when I crawled into that bathroom, I started yelling at God, I did not know God existed. So my parents pray, I saw my parents serve God, but I did not understand his existence. And so when God met me in that bathroom that day, it was like I had tears of sorrow that dried up. I knew that something had transpired in my heart. I think for the first time I felt peace. And that night I tried to lay with my girlfriend and now for the first time I felt conviction for sin. So I knew something had transpired in my heart. And then I began to read the scriptures just very, very aggressively. I started out in Proverbs, then I read Daniel, then I read Revelation, I don't know why I went in that order. But my walk with the Lord started out just very, very serious. I was so broken when he found me and I was in so much darkness. Everything had been wanted to just pursue him. Anything I do, I do, I hunt it. I do all the way, I don't do it halfway at all. So when the Lord saved me, I was just radically set on fire for the Lord. Doesn't mean I made mistakes in beginning, things that I regret, but I went after Jesus with my whole heart from the very beginning. All right, quick question. Have you ever actually thought about who you're supporting with the money you already spend every month? Like your phone bill. You're paying it anyways, but most people have no idea where that money is going or what it's funding. That's why I wanna tell you about Patriot Mobile. They're the only Christian conservative wireless provider in America. They take a portion of your phone bill and put it toward faith, family, and spreading the gospel. Every year they contribute millions to organizations doing exactly that. 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So do you think that's where kind of your fire for this urgency of the gospel kind of birth? Because I mean, from the beginning of your walk with Jesus, it's like, okay, here's some practical wisdom and then here's what's gonna go down one day. Yep. Do you think that's where that all birth? I do. I do think that played a big role in my ministry and in my life. That was also around the time Mel Gibson had put out The Passion of the Christ. Yeah, gosh, that movie's great. Right? And so that was the first movie I saw, Post Salvation. Oh, snap. So that movie had just come out. My wife and I went to go see that movie and I remember walking out of that movie in tears. I didn't talk for a week. I didn't talk to what she was my girlfriend at the time. I didn't talk to Lena for a week. I didn't talk to anybody. I was so overwhelmed by that movie. So I had just seen The Passion of the Christ at the same time I'm reading through the book of Revelation. I'm reading Daniel. So that kind of marked me from the very beginning. So for me, and I would look back on this and think that maybe it was God's providence that led me to those particular books. So from the very beginning, I always had my mind fixed on the end. Yeah. There was always something in me that was thinking about the end, thinking about eternity, thinking about the judgments at the end, thinking about the rewards for believers at the end. So that was always in the back of my mind from the very beginning. And I think God wanted it to be that way, at least for me, right? And so also to seeing The Passion of the Christ, those graphic images of the final hours of the life of Jesus really marked me, right? And so the cross had a great weight for me from the very beginning. Wow. From the very beginning, the cross was meaningful to me. Although I did not fully understand the depth of the holiness of Christ and the full ramifications of the way it did on the cross until I came back from Israel, but from the very beginning, I was marked by what happened on the cross. And so I think it had a deep effect on me. And I would say that that was really my foundation from the very beginning, right? Wow. The cross, the end times, thinking about eternity, those words that Jesus sent to those seven ancient churches, essentially he sent seven copies of the book of Revelation of seven churches. And that was in my heart from the very beginning. So I do think it was type of a guiding light of sorts in conjunction with reading Proverbs and understanding the points of God's wisdom above man-made wisdom. Although that did not save me from making mistakes, those things were in me from the beginning. And I think the Holy Spirit would water that over time. Oh my goodness. Literally two nights ago, I watched Passion of the Christ again. And so when you're saying that, I'm here because it's fresh on my mind. You could watch a movie from a while, and I love that movie, but then you watch it again and you catch some extra details. And I'm just thinking about when he's getting flogged with the cat of nine tales right now. I can't even imagine watching that fresh into surrender to Jesus. And then a reading the book of Revelation where that always blows my mind when John's like, I look to heaven and there's the lamb that was slain on the throne. Oh my gosh, I mean, what was that like? Did you kind of put those two pieces together? Yeah, I think for me, the impact I had on me is that around that time, I was also introduced to the ministry of Billy Graham. My mother and I attended his very last crusade. Billy Graham's final crusade was held in Queens, New York. And so around this time, I also had a chance to go his last crusade was I think it was around 2005. So when you put all these things together, I had just seen the Passion of the Christ. I had just finished reading the book of Revelation. I have read Daniel, I'm reading through Proverbs. And at the same time, my mother and I would go see Billy Graham's last crusade. And so from the very beginning, there was not only a deep, deep, deep impact that has happened in my heart as it relates to the cross, but then there is a desire to let as many people as possible know about what Jesus has done on the cross. So I have this desire, this dream. I wanna be an evangelist. I wanna be like a black Billy Graham, right? And I would ask God in my prayer time, could you ever use a black man like at the level use a Billy Graham to take the gospel to the world? So that was my dream in the beginning to be an evangelist. I was so marked by the movie and so marked by Revelation that everything in me just wanted to tell as many people about Christ as possible. In my shyness in the beginning, I remember I made these little cards. They were like business cards. I mean, people don't really use them as much today. And at least not in generation, y'all just tap phones and share contacts. But I made this little card on one side. It had from Romans, an explanation of like Romans 3, 23, 6, 23, Romans 10, what we used to call the Romans road was on one side. And then a prayer of salvation on the other side. And I was shy in the beginning, I would share my faith. So I would go through places and I would just toss that card at people, I would go through the drive through McDonald's and toss the car through the drive through window. I'd be at a restaurant, I would always slip it in the thing when I'm at a restaurant. So everywhere I was going, I was leaving those cards. And that was my first attempt at sharing the gospel. When I got a little bolder, I would go into parks. And I would stand on park benches and I would just preach the gospel to anybody that would listen. Wow. Right. I would walk the street and I would preach the gospel to anybody that walked by. Right. As long before there was a platform, a pool, a camera, I was preaching the gospel. I was just so burned by what was gonna happen in the end in conjunction with what I saw Jesus suffer on the cross and reading those things. My heart was just, I need to tell as many people about Christ as possible. Now, I don't think that ever left me, although God called me to the past story grudgingly. I didn't wanna be a pastor. So I don't think that ever left me even now as a local pastor. And my heart, I am an evangelist. I am most excited when I'm talking about the cross. I'm most excited when I'm glorifying what Christ done for us on the cross. Right. So I think that evangelist is in there. Right. Although God called me to do something I did not wanna do. I pastor out of obedience, not out of glory. But that's what that was like for me. There was a burning from the very beginning to tell as many people as possible about Christ. Yeah. I've heard so many pastors. I've verbally heard a pastor before say, hey, I'm glad you're an evangelist and I'm a pastor and your job is to preach the gospel. And I was like, my, I can't just have responsibility of every believer to preach the gospel. I'm not the only dude that's supposed to be preach the gospel. Right. And I mean, it's evident in the way that you exhort the scriptures and break them down in the exegesis, it's like, wow, there's a heart for the cross. I love Michael Cullianos. I just saw a clip of him the other day. He said that, you know, we've grown so mundane just saying the cross and the gospel. And we've like, that should move us as people. And that rocked me to the core. Cause I mean, we're in America, we can just kind of walk around and be like, oh, I'm a Christian. And some people will be like, oh, whatever. Some people are like, yeah, me too. And some people aren't at very few or living it out. So I think that's extremely compelling. You know, something that I want you to talk about is all that stuff that you're describing, no one thinks that that's what happens. People look at social media and they look at outward, you know, impact and outward eyeballs. And they say, oh yeah, that just came out of nowhere. Like I said, people thought you came out of nowhere. You've been pastor in for over a decade in Atlanta. Yes. But at the same time, if people knew what you went through and people knew what you go through now, they wouldn't want half of what they think that they want. Yeah, you know, I don't believe that there is any real overnight successes as we would call it. I spent 10 years on the backside of a mountain before anybody knew my name, right? And I think even knowing my name, that's not even that important, right? One of the things I have learned, Bryce, in these last three years, where everything God has done with 2019, I've had a difference of opinion about the whole sector of church that just focuses on growth and platforms and all these things. Everything that's happened in 2019 has been sovereign, right? My ex-peacent in the room, you know, we talk about this in staff, meaning we're not smart enough to manufacture any of this, Bryce. Even what's happened with your ministry, I mean, you too are impacting the whole world, right? Are you and I smart enough to have really manufactured that for ourselves? You know, are we really that creative, right? For whatever reason, God's hand is on your life. For whatever reason, God has chosen to show you favor, right? For whatever reason, God has chosen to use Bryce in this generation to be a voice to this nation, to the globe, to the entire generation, right? Even considering your past, you know, being far away from God, God getting a hold of you at a time when you were suicidal, just like I was. And then we say, oh God, just breathe on your ministry. I mean, could you have really manufactured all of that? No, you know, could have really manufactured all of this? No, and so I think that there is a man-made pride in which we try to take credit for some of the things that God has done. Instead of deflecting that glory to say, no, God has done all of this. So now I think about some of this stuff. I think, you know, any fool with a gift in a microphone could probably gather a crowd to some degree. This is different than when God breeds on something and this was manufactured by the Holy Spirit. We eclipse God's glory when we try to take credit for that. Right, and so when I think about everything happening right now, I say to, I said, you know, the most important thing Bryce is, as far as to be faithful, everybody just needs to be faithful. They need to be faithful to Jesus and every sphere of influence, every day of their life, and whatever he has called them to do. Right, there is a pastor right now in Bryce in West Virginia somewhere. Right, he lives in a town with 2,000 people and he has 25 people in his church, or there's 50 people there and he loves the Lord and he loves his wife and his kids and he's faithful and he has character and integrity and he has a prayer life and all the things. I mean, does God love that man any less than he love you and I? No, right, the goal is faithfulness. Everybody just needs to be faithful. Most guys don't even think twice about what they're putting on their body every single day. You'll think about what you eat, you'll think about how you train, but then you go to the shower and you use whatever random shampoo or body wash that's been sitting there for years and you never question it. I was the same way. I ended up switching to base body works and honestly, it's been one of the simplest upgrades I've ever made. I've been using their shampoo and conditioner. It's called the shower duo and the difference is immediate. The peppermint hits your scalp and it actually feels clean, like genuinely clean, not stripped and your hair just feels healthier, thicker, not dried out like most of the stuff out there. And once I started seeing the difference, it made me think a little bit more about the products I've been using before. A lot of the stuff guys use daily have ingredients linked to hormone disruption things, getting absorbed through your scalp every single day without even realizing it. That doesn't even sit right with me. So knowing this is a clean, no sulfates, no parabens, none of that stuff, it just makes it an easy choice. And I like that it's actually simple. I'm not doing some 10 step routine. I swapped what I was already using for something better. So if you're serious about taking care of yourself, not just what goes into your body, but what goes onto it, it's worth looking into. Go to basebodyworks.com, use code BRICE for 20% off and they'll throw in a free toiletry bag when you grab a set because at the end of the day, confidence shouldn't come at the cost of your health. Right, and so there is the way I feel even right now about where I am is I'm just trying to be faithful, right? To what God has called me to do. There is nothing happening right now with 2019 than when we change the name I ask God for, right? Everything I'm experiencing right now than I ask God for. These are things that I dreamt about for the first 10 years of my pastoral ministry, but I dreamt about them with a lot of vanity in my heart. It was, I was faithful to the word, I was faithful to my church, but that vanity was in my heart, that longing to be known, that longing for a big platform, that longing for a big church to make me feel, and all of that was really trying to stroke my insecurities, but it was vanity and it was there and it was buried. And over time, God had to work that out of my heart beginning with that trip to Israel in December 2018. God had to work that out of my heart, right? So when people see me now like, no, I didn't just come out of nowhere. And then my platform means nothing if I'm not faithful. No, I've been faithful to Jesus for over two decades. I've been faithful to the Lord for over two decades. I've been grinding for over two decades. I've been in pastoral ministry for 13 years, right? 10 of those years in the dark, and I've tried to quit more times than I can count. Been hurt more times than I can count, betrayed more times than I can count, have disappointed Jesus more times than I can count. I am a man that's just trying to hear in the end, well done. That's what I'm trying to do. And if God has breathed on 2019, all my life is to make Him known, right? Is to make the cross known, right? It's not for personal self-angrant, there ain't no those things like our staff, you know, two of them in the room right now. We see all the time Jesus is building and we're stewarding. That's what we are. I love that. I'm not a owner of 2019, right? I'm really just a steward. You are a steward, we're all the stewards, right? Because the Lord has told us we're gonna give an account for what we're doing right now. So I approach ministry like now, I was a steward, all of this man is for God's glory, right? It's not for mine. Yeah. So what exactly happened in the Holy Land for you? I hear that all the time. So many people like they go to the Holy Land and it just does something to them. But for you, what specifically happened? In that season, our ministry was maybe about eight years old. And I think I was passing on empty, right? I spent a lot of time trying to be creative. You know, if I come up with a dope series, I could get more butts in seats. You know, if I had a dope graphic, I could get more butts in seats and it was starting to become that. How creative can I be? And I had this moment when I realized I'm faithful in my proclamation, but I'm really doing this and I'm empty on the inside. No clear sense of identity, no clear sense of direction. So I went to Israel for 10 days. I was fastened and praying and I said, God, I really need you to meet me here. I need clarity. I need a sense of direction. I need a sense of identity. Like, who am I? I feel like my voice sounds like an amalgamation of men that I admire. I want my own voice. I want to know what am I supposed to be doing? Right? And so I'm there for 10 days. I'm fastened and praying those 10 days. I hear nothing from God. Right? I travel the whole nation from the North and the Golden Heights all the way to Jerusalem and the South part of the city. It is the last day of my tour. I have not heard from God. It is December 8th. So it is the day after my birthday. Right? It is December 8th. And it is raining. It is cold. And I'm almost upset. Like, God, I'm about to leave in a few hours. We're about to hop back on this bus to head back to Tel Aviv. I have not heard from you. We're going to the garden tomb. We come out the tomb and I hear singing in a language I did not understand, but I can feel the presence of God. Right? And off to my side, I see this group of people, maybe about 30 or 40 of them, they look nothing like me. But I don't care. So I slip into their gathering anyway. And I'm just in the back. And I'm the only black dude in the back. Right? It's very obvious. I don't belong. Right? And I can feel God's presence. And I lift up my hands. I'm worshiping God. My wife creeps in. And then I do it from my bus, creeps in. And then this other sister from my bus creeps in. And this was so providential. The guy motions to me to come to the front. I walk to the front. My wife goes. The guy goes. The young lady goes. He starts speaking to me in a language that I did not know. It was Portuguese. By God's divine providence, the gentleman who was with me spoke Portuguese. He was from Brazil. So he starts interpreting what this guy is saying. My wife is watching. She's crying. And then the woman who's snuck in with me, she's recording the whole thing. So I have the whole thing. I posted this on my Instagram many years ago. He says to me in his native language, he says to me, he says, I've been to your nation. And I've seen the church in America. It is dying. It is losing its fire. It is dark. And God says to you, young man, do you want to go back to your nation and do something about it? I cry out to this man. I say, yes. I fall down on my hands and my knees. And then that company of believers, they were from Brazil. I learned they all laid hands on me. They began to pray for me. My wife is weeping. The other young woman is recording the whole thing. And as he's praying for me, he's charging me. Go back to your country. Cry aloud. Spare not. Set the bride of Christ on fire. So I take that whole encounter, I tattoo the whole thing to my arm. This whole sleeve I have is that story. From the date, the place, the word that I got, everything. So I tattooed that whole thing to my arm. And the text that I got flying back from Tel Aviv was Isaiah six. So I put that on the inside of my arm. Some people probably gonna crucify you or not cause you got a sleeve and I got a sleeve. And they're gonna say we're ungodly. But I'm flying back from Tel Aviv. And the thing that marked me in that trip was not only that encounter at the Garden Tomb, but when I was in Jerusalem, I saw a reverence for God I'd never seen inside the United States amongst the Christians and the Jews. For them faith was not chained to a day or the week. It encompasses every part of their life. And so I saw a respect for God and a respect for his word and a reverence for the kingdom I'd never seen in the United States. I met a scribe on the top of Mount Masada who was sitting in a cave and he was copying the Old Testament by hand with ink. He was like in Deuteronomy. And he did that eight hours a day, five days a week. And he said to me, if I make one mistake, I have to start the whole thing over. That's how much respect he had for the word of God. And I had never seen anybody with that level of respect for the word of God. So I'm flying back from Tel Aviv and I am convicted. I said, man, I seen a level of respect and honor and reverence for God. I had never seen the United States. There I saw God as holy for the very first time, like supremely holy. And I feel like the encounter that Isaiah had he was around your age, Bryce. When Isaiah had that encounter, he was around 20 years of age, because you're 21. You're 22. So when you read Isaiah six, when Isaiah sees the pre-incarnate Jesus high and exalted, he sees him in his full beauty and he recognizes his supreme holiness. And against the backdrop of seeing God for who he really is, he saw himself for who he really is, sinful. He saw his nation for what it really was, sinful. And Isaiah's around 20 when he has that encounter. He's around your age, he's around 20 years of age. He's a young man when he has that encounter. That's what happened for me in Israel. I had an Isaiah six encounter. And so I'm flying back from Tel Aviv. I'm reading through Isaiah six and I am conflicted in my soul. Once you have been exposed, you cannot be unexposed. You can try to hide it. You could try to suppress it, but it's in there. I had seen God for all of his holiness. I had been marked by that charge that I was given to go back and set the country on fire, to awaken the bride is what I was told to do. I had been marked by the holiness I saw in the reverence of the scriptures and I could not be unmarked. And so I knew on that 14 hour, 17 hour flight, come here, I can tell Aviva would never be the same. And I remember when I got home, I took four Sundays off from preaching because I said to myself, I can't go back in the pulpit the way that I left. I took four Sundays off, I put up elders to preach and I wrestle with God for 30 days. And during that 30 days, God told me, just preach about my holiness. And so the very first series I did, coming back from Israel was a series through Isaiah six on the holiness of God. Some people got mad, some people left the church. Some people thought I was too radical. They thought I was too on fire. They thought I was too aggressive, too brash. I never look back, right? December, 2018, I made a decision. I will spend the rest of my life crying aloud, spearing not about the holiness of God, the purity of God, reverence for his scriptures, winning souls, multiplying disciples, living for eternity, no matter what it cost me. I made a vow to God that I would do that because even if people across the camera, they don't understand, they will make videos about me until they blow in the face. They will pay their bills on slander, the sin of slander, using my name for propaganda. They will do that until they blow in their face. None of this is gonna stop what God has called me to do. Because at the end of the day, I'm not gonna give an account to them. I'm gonna give an account to the one that told me, cry aloud and spare not, set the bride on fire, awaken the church in America. That is my charge. And I'm gonna do those three things until he comes to get me, or they come and get me, whichever one happens first. That is my responsibility and I'm not gonna back away from that, right? So that is really all what happened to me. I think that's like tattooed to my heart. I tattooed that to my arm. And I just, a man died there, bro. Wow. Right? Like the old Phillip Anthony Mitchell died there. I left a man in his room. I came back a different man. Would you say that that, because you had been faithful to the Lord, granted I know exactly what you mean. When you said, oh, I was preaching on Anthony. Like I've been there before. I understand. Because you get in this little place sometimes where you think, at least for me, this was about like six months ago where I got real with myself and I'm like, dang, I'm trying to conjure up some sort of words because I think that what I say is going to, and there's so much pressure on what I've gotta do rather than just being faithful to reading the scriptures and God, what do you have to say? But would you say, when you say the old Phillip died there, but you were already following Jesus. So was that just a moment in your sanctification journey? I mean, how would you, do you give what I'm saying? Yeah, I think if you and I would be honest, bro, I think there's a lot of believers right now who are doing Christianity full of compromise on the inside. Right? Christ is Sunday morning. Christ is a necklace. Christ is their youth group, but they're not burning on the inside. Right? And there's a lot of ministry right now happening disconnected from Christ. I mean, you have people singing on platforms, you don't have a real relationship with the Lord. You have people preaching that don't have a real relationship with the Lord. And because, and you know this, you know what I'm about to say. According to what Paul wrote to the church in Rome, you know gifts coming out repentance. People can use their gifts to do whatever they want, price. You're gifted. Right? Let's be honest. You're gifted communicator, right? If you could walk away from God on the inside and still go move a room, you got people can sing. They can hold a note. They could be living foul in the dark and still get up there and move a room. That don't mean what anointing. I'm just talking about with sheer gifting. Right? You got people who got administrative gifts. They can be administrative, can move an organization, move a room, move a water and still not be fully sold out to Jesus on the inside. Cause our gifts come. So God ain't gonna take away the gift. You can use it any way that you want. Right? And so I think it is very possible to do Christianity and do ministry and be far away from God on the inside. Right? And there's two types of far away. There's a distance that is that is born of just brokenness and pain and shame in which the Lord is like warn us back softly. But then there's a different type of distance that's born of iniquity. We're distant from God because you love sin and you love iniquity and you enjoy that more than holiness. So your distance from God is straight out of rebellion and disobedience. That's a different kind of distance. Right? Where the Lord is dealing with you. So, so I think it's possible to do that. So for me, before that encounter I had, I think I was just preaching on empty of a revelation of the furious holiness of Jesus and a seriousness about who he is, what he has called us to do and the account we're gonna give in the end. I was faithful, but I don't think I was really serious at my core and I think that's what transformed me. Does that make sense? Yes. I was also too, I also used to, the other thing too that happened to me and you and I was talking about this off camera is that I saw material things as the reward. You know what I mean? It's like a platform, a big following on social media, a certain economic status. I saw those things as the reward. You know, I could try to hide it if I want to but those things were there at Bryce. And I think my encounter in Israel kind of burned that out of me. Right? So like I was saying to you and your team, you know, cause I really love what you're doing. I love the impact that you're having on the culture and you're so young. And I was saying to you off camera how a lot of people, they start with a lot of fire and zeal but they just don't finish well. So like when I was saying to you and your team, you know, it's very easy for your age but the level of influence that you have, the platform that you have, the gifting that you have, the anointing that you have, it's very easy for you to see opportunities as the reward. The right phone call, you know, the right bag, the right opportunity, the right contract. See that's why, and if those things are reward then devil could dangle carrots in front of you and lead you in a compromise. But if the reward is outside of this life, if the reward is the cross, if the reward is Christ himself, if the reward is the crown that you are not gonna lay down at his feet. If that is the highest reward, it makes it more difficult for the devil to dangle those carrots in front of you. If you've been watching for a while and these videos have actually helped you, let me tell you about the best way you could support what we're doing here. We just launched the channel membership. Every week I'm posting members only episodes which include raw conversations, more of my real life and what I'm walking through and Q and A's where I respond directly to your questions. I spend a lot of time in the comments responding to as many of you as I could but as the channel's grown, I just can't keep up anymore. So this is my way of staying connected with you more directly. I'm also doing a monthly live stream where I answer your questions in real time and talk through things we don't always get to talk to on the main channel. It's eight bucks a month, about two bucks a week and it directly supports what we're doing here and helps us keep reaching more people with the gospel. So if you wanna support the ministry, just hit the join button and you're in. All right, enjoy the rest of the podcast. That you know, I've talked about this thing in particular with my wife and like another guy on our team division. You've been married, bro. Two months, not even. You've been married for two months? Not even. Yo, congratulations, bro. Come on, man. Come on, man. Let's go. Congratulations, man. Thank you. Who finds a wife finds a good thing. He obtains favor from the Lord. That's right, come on. Congratulations, man. Hey, thank you, I appreciate that. I wanna get some marriage advice from you on the basic, you're gonna throw it down on me. I'm only two months in, so it's what I'm talking about. Man, congrats, man. But you know, some of that, only my wife and another guy on our team division have talked about was that materialistic thing that you saw, I was toning you off camera. I'm not gonna lie, like at the beginning, when you get into it, it does seem like, oh, that's the gift from God. So it's like, of course, the more money, the more opportunities in this. And then it was really like the past couple months, I started getting sobered. And I was like, that's not success. That's not success. And so then it really what it's done to my heart, and I'm really having a hard time with this, it's made me so brokenhearted. It makes me just wanna say no to everything. Like that's what it makes me, it makes me wanna say the total opposite. At first it was, I gotta say yes to everything, partially because it's, oh, well, opportunity is never gonna come again. Of course it's from God. And then the shift changed, and it's what was never about opportunity in the first place. Like, God, thank you that you have given me strength to see that and know that. But now it makes me go like, it almost makes me have trust issues with people. I'm like, do you really care about me? Or do you, what do you want from me? I don't wanna say no to that and that. And I don't wanna, no, I don't wanna, I don't wanna show up and do that thing anymore, or do that, it makes me just kinda wanna isolate. But how do you, and that's what I'm really wrestling with, it's like, how do you differentiate a no versus Satan trying to get you to shelter in and not do what God's calling them to do? Yeah, I think this is an area I'm still growing in. I wanna be fully transparent. I think it's an area I'm still growing in, and I think I've made a lot of mistakes in this area. Cause I've been a local pastor for 13 years, but it's only the last two years, I've been itinerant in ministry, like traveling, speaking, things like that. And a lot of doors are opening to me right now. More doors than I could keep up with. Well, you were itinerant before, just people weren't inviting you. Right, they wasn't inviting me. Same thing, same thing. My itinerant ministry was in the street. Yeah. Right, nobody was inviting me. But the doors that opened to me now, is more than I can imagine. Let's just, you're not being honest. And I think we gotta know the difference between a God door and a good door. When we have to choose between an evil door and a good door, that's an easy decision. The harder decision is between two doors that look good. And knowing this is a God door, this is not a door. So I think for me, in the beginning of traveling, I went a lot of places, I don't know if every place I went I was supposed to go. I didn't know. If your doors open, I went. Right. And now, I travel so much, I walk out the door so much, I leave my family so much. Right, I've seen them cry. Right, I've seen them shed tears, me leaving. I've seen it had an effect on my family. So for me now and for you, I wanna walk through the doors that the Holy Spirit wants me to walk through. Right, I want to say yes to the things I need to say yes to. And I think for you, I'm gonna tell you, this is very important for your generation. Y'all also, we have to learn the value of no. No is a very powerful word. Right, when we don't use no, we become a slave to opportunities. Right, we think we have to do everything and then we develop our Jesus complex in which we think we are the end all, the fix in the whole culture. And we gotta be careful with that. We gotta know Bryce has to know, Philip has to know what is Bryce's assignment, what is Philip's assignment? It's like, you remember when the Lord went down to the pool of Bethesda? I've been to the pool of Bethesda. All right, and if you read the text very carefully, he's there during a feast. So that means Jerusalem with a swole and numbers. Normally there'll be a handful of people hanging around that pool, but if we read the text right and we understand culture, it might have been a couple hundred people around that pool cause it's happening during a feast. How many people did he heal that day? How many? One, one, one man who had been there 38 years. All right, so now this is the way I study. I'm a pictorial person, so I'm putting myself in the text. So if you and I put ourselves in text, I mean Jesus went down to that pool and he had to step over people to get to that one man. He had to walk past people to get to that one man. Excuse me, okay, pardon me, excuse me, pardon me. He had to get around all those people to get to that one man. He heals how many people, that one man. Could he have healed more? Maybe, we don't know. The gospel right didn't give it to us, but what the gospel right did give is a pool full of sick people and Jesus heals one man. His assignment that day was that one man, right? We gotta have the same discipline. What is our assignment and what is not? Every cry is not my assignment. Every open door is not my assignment. We have to have enough discipline in our own soul to not be so platform driven. The thing that every door that opens, I need to be on that platform, right? So we gotta have the, like for example, I don't know if I should say this on the podcast. Gosh man. Okay, okay. The current administration sent me an invite to be a part of the National Day of Prayer that's coming this year, right? There's a National Day of Prayer coming this year in the middle of the year. They sent me an invite to be a part of that day, right? If I was platform driven, I would have immediately, as soon as the invite came, first day, I would have responded like, I would have responded like, how could you say no? I'm from Queens, right? I'm a dude from Queens with no real seminary education. The White House calls, you go, right? But that's not what I did. I took that invite and I took it to our prayer team. I took it to our staff, I took it to my executive pastor who's here. And I put it before them, what do y'all think about this? Would y'all join me in prayer about whether or not I should go? Because I know if I go, it's gonna come at a price, right? It's gonna come at a cost, social persecution, right? And this would be like the highest invite in the land. In my flesh, I would just say, go. Who thinks twice? But because I have been so much, right? And because I've made mistakes, I had to remind myself, you listen to him, Bryce? I'm only a steward of my ministry, right? I will give an account for all of it, right? So now when invitations come, I have to pray over them. I take it to the prayer team, pray, right? If it's God's will, I go. If it's not as well, I can't go. And you and I have read this in the scriptures when Paul was busy going, and then one night he has a dream. God says, no, don't go over there. And he sees the man standing on Macedonia. Watch this, come over here and preach to us. Paul wakes up from that dream. Watch, he heads west towards Macedonia, right? He preaches in Macedonia in that area. Eventually he'll plant a church in that area of the world. That church he planted was Philippa, the first church planted on the European continent. That letter that he writes to the Philippians from prison, he's writing that letter to the first church planted on the European continent. And maybe that one church helping Christianity spread west. We will never know. We can lean on the text just a little bit, right? What if the Lord don't send him west? What if he goes the opposite direction? We don't know, right? Would you and I be sitting here today in a world where Christianity is welcomed in the west? We don't know. So the point I'm trying to make to say all of that is, we have to know our assignments. You have to know yours. I got to know mine. And ours is to not run through every single door. Ours is to run through the doors that God intends for us to run through as we become a slave to opportunities. Pray for me too, Bryce, that God will help me make a decision, the right decision about whether or not I need to go. Absolutely, I will. And that made me feel a lot more human too because sometimes I know exactly what you mean. I've been in places where I'm like, I'm not supposed to be here right now. Like I know I'm sitting there and I'm like, what am I doing here? I'm not supposed to be here. And so thank you for saying that. Because sometimes I don't know about you, make you feel a little crazy. Oh, should I have done, should I have backtracked? I'm sorry, like, you know, getting that position. But you mentioned your family and that was the advice I wanted to ask you was, hey, I'm so encouraged by you and your wife. Like every time I see a sprinkle or a glimpse on social media, I'm like, man, they love each other and I love it. But you also mentioned it, and I think this has been the hardest thing, like it costs. Like you have to count the costs when you leave. You have to count the costs. Like, you know, we're on our tour right now and Maddie and I prayed and we knew that we were counting the costs, but like I've been away for almost a little under two weeks. And that was hard and it was challenging. And Satan was coming our way with many different things and having a different time zones and talk and figure it out and being away and long days and late nights. And now we got to see each other this morning and it was beautiful. Is she here? She's on her way. Oh, okay, cool. Don't go. Yeah, we went to church this morning. But you know, I think that, how do you guys count the cost in marriage? Like how do you guys do ministry and marriage? How do you make time for your family and at the same time walk out what God's called you to do? Everything you say yes to something else is gonna suffer, all right? So I think the longer you're married and do ministry, your yes has gotta be more calculated, all right? The first seven years of my marriage was bad. It was very tough. A lot of fights, you know, threatened each other with divorce and all the things, right? Our first seven years was not good. It was bad. I would take the blame for most of it. 95% of it was very selfish and mature. And so I almost lost my wife, right? I think having her right now, I really have a second chance. She being with me, I feel like it's a second chance. My ministry's a second chance. Be married now over 21 years, right? So you two months in, I'm two decades in, right? I think the beauty of my wife, Lena, I love her because Lena's one of the most godliest, virtuous, wise, humble women I've ever known, right? She's changed my life. And she is a ride or die, right? She understands the bigger picture and she understands where our rewards are gonna be, right? And so for her, she did something that was very liberating for me and I pray your wife will do this for you, right? Lena would say to me, when I have to leave to go do stuff, she would say, go do what you gotta do, man of God, I'll be here when you get back home. You go out there and preach God's word and I'm gonna hold down this front. Essentially, we're both doing ministry because I have children. I'm out there preaching. She's that old man discipling our kids, right? And she allowed me the freedom to go do God's word. She never made me choose between her and God. She never boxed me into a corner like that. She would always tell me, do you feel like God has called you to do this? Yes, go do it. I'll be here when you get back, right? She's never put pressure on me for money. She's never put pressure on me in terms of what home we live in, what we drive. She's never put pressure on me in terms of what she wears. She's never put pressure on me in terms of the scope of our ministry to decide. She's never ever put that pressure on me. The only thing my wife wants from me is just, in terms of my ministry, she wants me to be faithful. She wants to know that I'm hearing from God. But I'm not hearing from God, she and I have a problem. She's gonna come come from me, right? She wants to know. So if I tell her, I feel like God is saying, she'd be like, are you sure? I guess, okay, then let's do that. So she's always given me the freedom to go and do what God has called me to do. And she's, I'll be here when you get back. I'll hold down this front, right? So that has been a blessing to me. I know that's not every man's story, right? For some men, I know a brother right now who is, he lives in a prison. He could barely do God's ministry. Every time he's gonna do something, his wife makes him feel guilty for doing that. And so it's constantly a battle between his spouse and God. And I feel sorry for men that have to deal with that. I pray for them. It's a very difficult situation to be in. I'm fortunate that's not my challenge. Lena's very gracious, right? Because she understands the bigger picture, right? And so, for me, I never had an issue there. The bigger issue is with my children. God willing, you'll have some, right? And I learned the painful lesson of being too busy to the point that they were suffering. So I was sitting in my office one day and I seen a pink piece of paper in the trash can. And I don't write on pink paper, right? Like, I usually yellow legal pads. So I'm like, who put this pink paper in my trash can? I'm like, what the heck? Where does pink paper come from my trash can? So everything around me, I keep clean. Like, I'm aesthetically, like I'm a clean dude. Organize everything. Like my car, my offices, everything is immaculate. It's just the way I am. I ain't all about that. I don't know, I got OCD in that area. So I noticed that piece of paper in the trash can, that pink one, because nobody was in his office, but me and I went and got that pink paper out of the trash can and I opened it up. And it was my daughter, Israel. And she wrote on there, she said, I love Jesus and I love our church. And I love my dad, but I don't see him though. And she put a big sad face with tears coming out the sad face. Oh my goodness. Right? And my heart was devastated, right? In that moment, I was so broken. Like man, I was so busy doing work and not really my kids are suffering on the inside from my absence. So I had to make a pivot. All right? And the pivot I made was that I'm gonna create a type of schedule in which my family time is always scheduled. They have days that belongs to them and I don't let nothing encroach on nowadays. Not ministry, not meetings. I will walk out of a meeting. If my family calls me, I will walk out of a meeting. If my family needs me, I will call our teams. I'm not coming in today. My family needs me, right? If I have to choose between my kid performing at high school or me going to a preacher engagement, I will turn out a preacher game to make sure I'm sitting in the audience to hear my kids sing. So that day I had to make a decision that somewhere somehow I want my kids to leave my home and not hate Jesus on the way out. All right? I have built in rhythms, family rhythms, right? In which this is their day, this is their time. And those are sacred to me. I will not answer the phone. I don't check emails. I'm not gonna break that rhythm unless it's an emergency. But there's still a cost to pay every time I leave the door to hop on a plane to go somewhere. They understand that their father has been called to itinerary ministry so they give me grace. But I don't mean they don't feel that. I just think now they're a little bit more gracious because they understand they're older, they're teenagers. And then some of them are young men and women I have a 21 year old, Bryson. Oh wow. Did you know that, bro? I did not. You could be my son. Dang. I feel like you're my dad. Yeah, right. I like it. I got a 21 year old. He's a beast. His name is Malachi. He's preaching. He plays instruments. If your name is Malachi? His name is Malachi. Oh, he's a beast. Bring that heat. I got a 21 year old. I got a 20 year old. That's Israel. Yeah, I got a 20 year old. I got another 20 year old in my house. I got a 16 or 13. Right? So they're a little bit more forgiving now. But the one who makes up the difference is Lena. Wow. When I'm gone, she'll take them out for ice cream. They go to restaurants. She'll fill that gap to try to push back against the void. They feel the void, but she try to fill that space. Right? So you and your wife, what's her name? Maddie. Maddie, right? One thing's gonna be very important for you and Maddie beginning to have agreement. Right? To just be in agreement about the scope of your ministry, which is big. The scope of your calling, which is big. Right? You have a generational calling, Bryce. Let's just be honest. Right? You have a generational calling. God's hand is on you in a very mighty, mighty way. It's obvious that his favor is on your life and it's obvious he's raising up your voice to be a voice in this generation. That is, only a fool cannot see that. Right? So churches are gonna call, cities are gonna call, nations are gonna call. Right? And if you and Maddie not in agreement, it's gonna take a toll on your marriage. So you gotta make sure from the beginning, you and Maddie having conversations about this, that she understands the bigger picture of eternity and bigger picture of your call. She needs to understand your calling so she can partner with you in your calling. So she doesn't make herself competition between you and God. So when you say, babe, I feel like God is telling me, I have to go here. Maddie says to you, I don't know what she calls you. Go ahead, babe. You go do God's work. I'll be here when you get home. As long as you're out to an agreement, you can survive travel and distance. I just gotta be in agreement. That makes sense? That's so good. Yeah, I'm encouraged. Yeah, I didn't wanna be the guy that was like, yo, you could be my dad, but like, hey, I like it. I'm mad. I'm not your brice. Hey, thank you, thank you. I'm not your mad. No, speaking of Malachi, not your son, but Malachi chapter four, that scripture talks about the hearts of fathers turning back to sons, you know, hearts of sons turning back to fathers. Like that rocked me to the core. Yeah, man. You know, I spent so much of my life, when I was 17, I was serving at any conference I could get my hands on. I'd pass the tide bucket around. I'd be in the green room, you know, serving in there, whatever it may be. And I met so many, I tried to latch on to so many fathers. So many fathers. Man, this is it. This is it. And it never happened until a dude from Ohio named Marcus, he said, he let me come travel with him. I traveled with him for a year. And that scripture has rocked me to the core. It's beautiful. And that's why I'm grateful for like fathers like you, you know, because you make my generation feel empowered. Like walk this faith out. Cause you talked about it earlier, like so many dudes want to die with the baton. They don't want to pass it on. And if I didn't have a Marcus in my life and we didn't have guys like you in our life, then we would feel the same way. We would feel like, well, I don't want to die with this baton. Yeah. And I think that's beautiful, man. I commend you for that. Why appreciate you. No man, listen, you need to hear me say this, bro. That's highly commendable that you did that. That's so commendable that you did that. That serving is beneath you, then leadership is above you. I started out just like you. I was cleaning toilets and listening to music, worship music. I had joy doing that, bro. I was loving Jesus and just cleaning toilets, being a janitor at my church, you know, cleaning stuff. And I had so much joy just serving anybody I can serve, but also looking for fathers. Yeah. Right. And I think this is like the most fatherless generation in the world in the history. Yeah. Right. I remember when I was a school teacher, like 75% of my kids had no dads, no fathers. Wow. Right. And I think that's a plot. We don't have time to get into that, but I definitely think that's a plot of the enemy. So when people come into a relationship with God, it's hard to connect with him as a father. Yeah. Right. But the fact that you were serving, serving, serving and looking for fathers, there are people watching right now, they feel the same way. Yeah. And they want mentors. And here's what we do, Bryce. I need to say this to your audience. I'm sure a lot of your audience are Gen Zs and millennials. There's a lot of them who have a right desire for mentorship. That is a godly desire for coaching. There's nothing wrong with that. But what they do is they see people who are famous, people they like, and they automatically say, that is the mentor I need. So we try to manufacture our own mentors based on platform and what we see, not knowing that person might be toxic on the other side of that camera. The best mentors are the ones that God divinely places in your life. God knows you personally. He knows your issues and your hangups. He knows your heartbreaks, your qualms. He knows the difficult part of you and the beautiful part of you. So God is a very fashion mentors that are tailor made for Bryce. So I think mentorship is best when it is divine and God supernaturally causes you to cross paths with people and you feel a divine connection with that person. And they have a genuine interest in you that has nothing to do with taking something from you. And it could be a person that don't nobody know their name. Yeah. Right? Don't nobody know their name, but they are people that God has fashioned for you. And so I would say that even people watching right now, we all need mentors, we all need coaches, but we need the ones that God intends for our staff. I think a lot of us just see famous people and say, this is the mentor I need. No. Why? You don't even know what that person's character is like. Yeah. All you see is platform. You see leaves, but you don't even know if they got fruit. And there's some people we admire and coaching. If you got close to them, you wouldn't like them. Right? You wouldn't like them. And so, no, we don't need mentors because they're famous. We need the people God intends for us to have in our lives. You understand what I'm saying? I agree. And so I would say to you, I'm so thankful to hear that you was a faithful servant. You sold seeds of servanthood. You're reaping a harvest for being a great servant, but then God brought a man into your life to be a father to you. Does he have a mega platform? I mean, he's not really, not at the time we met. Did the whole world know his name at the time? No. We met at a conference I was serving at. Yeah, but he was tailor made for you. Yeah. Right? And so I think that's what more of the generation is. To encourage a generation to not just run after people who they think they need, but run after people God intends for them to be in their lives. Yeah. We should pray mentors into our life and not just try to latch onto people because we think fill in the blank. That makes sense? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I wanna shift on prayer really quick. And then I wanna talk a little bit about end times. I think that's what I wanna talk about. I mean, yeah, we need to know, but it's like fun to talk about. With prayer, I mean, you're a man of prayer. Prayer is an essential, not just, I mean, it shouldn't be just an essential to your life. It should be an essential to the Christian life. And I'm gonna get really vulnerable here. Like I love to pray. Love to pray for people. I love to pray. I'm gonna be completely honest. Like sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall pastor. Like do you ever even have those moments, even though that you have cultivated this intimate, this deeply intimate communication line with God? Do you still have those days where you feel like you're just talking to the wall? I do. I think I'm having that moment right now. Wow. Right? You know, our church is in the middle of like, you know, property searches and major projects. I'm seeking God for guidance right now when I'm not getting anything like just crystal clear. So even right now, I haven't walked with Jesus since 2003. Right now I'm in a season where I'm praying about things and I'm not getting a clear answer. It almost feels like it's bouncing off the ceiling. Wow. And I think we go through that. And I think the beauty in that, Bryce, is that God teaches us to trust Him even when we can't trace Him. And to be faithful even when we can't figure out what He's doing. I think if every time we prayed, we got an immediate answer, it would be too easy. I think sometimes, I think sometimes when it feels like He's not listening or when it feels like He's leaving us in a little bit of a fog, I think He's still cultivating something, not character, and perfecting our faith to just keep trusting Him even when we can't trace Him all the way. Yeah. Right? And so there are major decisions I'm trying to make right now for our ministry. When I say major, I mean major, major decisions. That if I make a mistake, they could be catastrophic. Financially, spiritually, all the things. And I'm before God every day. And I'm still not getting clarity on all these things. So what do I do in the meantime? I keep doing what I know to do. Keep being faithful. So I think there are times when we all go through that. I think if we say we've never been through that, there might be a little bit of pride there. I think all of us go through seasons when we feel like God, are you listening? But I think in those seasons, He's still just as close. He's near. He never forsakes us. I just think He's perfecting us. I said to somebody the other day, I'm so glad you asked this question. I said to somebody the other day, somebody was asking me this the other day about them feeling distant from God and whether or not God was still close. I said, I said, yo, bro, when my kids was real little, I would take them to the park. And when it was like maybe six, seven, I would let them wander a little bit further away from me. And the park would be real big, but I'd just let them wander. And they'll get so far away from me, I could see them looking around the kids and they don't know where I'm at. I'm sitting on the bench, but I'm watching them from a distance. Where they are, they think they can't, I'm nowhere around. And I see them looking around where I'm at. But I'm sitting right where I am, I never left. I got my eye on them, even though they can't see me. I'm watching them. If anybody ran up on them, I'll be there. If I see a dog coming, I'm there. I got my eye on them from a distance, even though they can't, it's crowded in the parks. And I see them looking for me in the field, they can't find me, but I never left. I'm still in the same place I was when they started walking. So even when children get far away, even when they feel like God is far away, they can't see him. He's still in the same place he was when they started wandering on the throne. Never leave, never forsake him. When he's ready, he can shout loud enough. I can yell out, Malachi, Israel, come back over here. It's time to go home now. Now look around, oh daddy, there you are. And they make a B line for me, but I never left. So even when God feels distant, he's still in the same place. Wow. He's still watching. He's still just got their eye on them. And when he's ready, he'll shout. And when he's ready, he'll talk. And when he's ready, you're here and I'm here. And we make a B line for him, either to come back if we're far, or say, now I know what to do. So I could shout and Malachi. All right, come on. It's time to go now. That's come back, you're too far. Oh Malachi, get off of that swing and get on the other one. That's an instruction. So even when he's far away, he could break the silence whenever he's ready and he'd give us an instruction or tell us come back home. Wow. But he never left where he was. Dang, that's so good. Wow, yeah, I think, you know, I heard a Billy Graham quote one time where he was like, oftentimes when you don't feel God there, that's when he's the closest to you. He never left, he's right there. I love that analogy, that's so good. Yeah, he never left. And I think the people feel that distance too, especially with the end time stalk. Oh, we all do. And the thick, and I mean, shoot, bro. We in war right now. It's crazy. Bro, listen, we in a war right now that's escalating and you've got end time nations who are flirting whether or not to get involved in this war. Like, can we talk honest? Like right now, as you're not recording, the US is in war with Iran. Yep. But then you have end time nations that are flirting with getting involved in this war, like Russia, like China. China's mentioned in the Old Testament, as mentioned in the scriptures, Russia, like these nations geographically where they are mentioned in the scriptures, as end time nations, they're flirting with getting involved with this war. I think anytime Israel's at war, we should be paying attention. Anytime there's conflict in the Middle East, the believer should be paying attention. Because you read the scriptures and I do. The scripture tells us there's a man coming. The scripture calls a man of sin, the anti-Christ. He's going to be a political figure. I believe he's going to be handsome, well spoken. I believe I know what religion he's going to be a part of. He's going to emerge. And the scripture says, when he comes, he will sign a seven-year peace treaty with Israel. There is no need for a peace treaty if there's not war. There is no need for a peace treaty if there is no war. The anti-Christ has nothing to sign if there's no conflict in the Middle East. So whenever there's major conflict in the Middle East, at least in our generation, we should be paying attention to that. Because watch, there must be conflict for him to bring that treaty. I wouldn't even be surprised if he's alive right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he's working his way through the political ranks. I wouldn't be surprised if he's in college somewhere. You can feel his spirit in the earth, that anti-Christ spirit. I would not be surprised if he was alive right now. But anytime there's conflict in that part of the world, that region of the world, we should be paying attention. Because the man of sin is going to rise with that peace treaty for Israel. That means Israel and that part of the world has to be in conflict for that to happen. It's part of end-time prophecy. So no one who's a believer who reads the scripture should be surprised that there's conflict in that part of the world. What we should be doing is do we have oil in our lamps? Would we be like the virgins who are ready or the virgins who are not? The people who sit in church every Sunday and not ready and the ones who are. The ones who have an Issaqar-type spirit and the ones who don't. So we need to be like the sons of Issaqar, those who rightly discern the times and we know what to do about it. You just have too many believers that are not discerning the times. They go in a church but they're blind. Going to conferences is blind. Reading devotions is blind. They're not paying attention to what's happening right now. I think we're living in the last days of the church age. That's my personal opinion. I think time is running out. That's why every place I go, every city I go, every country, I tell the believers in that room, time is running out and we need to echo that. We need more people to keep, time is running out. Time is running out. We don't have that much time left, Bryce. We are living, you watch sports? Oh yeah. You like football? I love football. It's the fourth quarter. We got three minutes left to go. Right, and we down by seven. That's the urgency we need right now. Wow. Yeah, I agree. I think, yeah, a lot of people, they wanna say, oh, I've seen this so much on social media. They talk about, oh, when you talk about the end times, it's fear-mongering. This ain't fear-mongering. It gives me an urgency every time when I think, oh shoot, tomorrow could be the day that Jesus comes back or we're in the thick of it or you see missiles fired in the Middle East or you see this. I mean, especially with technology, I don't think AI is inherently bad, but things are getting so real right now. You can't even tell the difference. I saw a video of a panther jumping through a window. I thought it was real. Me too, bro. It was fake. Me too. And I'm like, yo, what the heck is going on? Me too, bro. It was absolutely insane. Me too, bro. Me too. And I'm like, so, it's so wild to me, but I think one of the reasons that why I think that my generation struggles to grasp the end times because they put so much hope in tomorrow. A couple of things you said are so profound. Can we walk through some of the stuff you just said? Yeah, we can. Let's just go backwards, right? Let's go backwards, right? AI is a dope tool, but I think AI is going to be part of the end time prophecy, right? Even when the scripture tells us in Revelation, when the Antichrist comes, he sets up an image of himself in the temple and that image talks and it blasphemes God and it causes people to worship. Like a talking image, is that a hologram? I said AI? I mean, a talking image. AI is going to have a lot to do with that, right? AI is going to deceive a lot of people and social media. I seen a video of me preaching somebody's church I've never been to. It's crazy. I was standing behind the pulpit, right? I was standing behind the pulpit. I saw it on TikTok, bro. Like, it was like, oh, we didn't know PAM, get down with someone. So, like, I seen a video of me on TikTok standing behind somebody's pulpit, preaching with a pastor right next to me. And I'm like, I never even met this man, right? It's like, I never even been there. And that's not a knock on the man or the church. I'm just saying, I've never been there, right? It's crazy. I see whole AI stuff with me saying, I seen a dude make an AI video of me saying that I was his mentor and it was my voice. You remember this? You remember this? It was my voice saying, this is my mentee. I affirm him. I want everybody to come to this church this Sunday, sit on my couch in my home office with my voice. And so we had to, we had to... Yo. You remember that? And we had to... The home office is crazy. We had to get out that dude. You know what I'm saying? Anyway, so I think AI is gonna play a major role in the end times. There's no doubt about it. But I want them, let's digress to what you said next. You said a lot of people think that if you preach about the end times, you do a fan mongering like, okay, yeah, okay. People need to read, Bryce. I agree. Okay, right? We need to read, right? Yeah. Okay. Didn't Paul teach about the end times? All the time. Right. Did not Jesus talk about the end times? All the time. And they was doing that in the first century. Right, now. Okay. If Paul and Jesus and your apostles talked, preached, wrote about end times with warnings, very strong in the first century. How much more should we be doing that now when we have less time than they did? They're preaching end times to people that lived 2,000 years ago. Yeah. Right? You and I are over 2,025 years removed from the resurrection of Christ. Yeah. Should you and I and our generation not be talking about the end times with more veracity and intensity and urgency now because we have less time. It's like you said you like football. Yeah. Okay. The coach gives you a speech before the game. We give you another one and a half time. But it's fourth quarter and you're losing. You don't think that speech is gonna intensify? Should anybody say to the coach, now you can't encourage us in the fourth quarter to be serious now like nobody's gonna think that. Yeah. Right? So I would say to believers, I wanna say this on camera, right? You and I never met before. It's first time we met. Right. Right. But I'm sure you've talked a lot about end times on your platform. Oh yeah. And on your social media pages. Yeah. And so have I. Yeah. But we never met. That's right. We never prayed together. That's right. We never been in the same room together. But you've talked about the end times. Probably a lot. So have I. That burden is in you. Amen. You're feeling that when you pray. Yeah. Okay. But who you feel with? Holy Spirit. Yeah. Holy Spirit. Right. So maybe God is echoing in the culture through anybody that will listen. This is one of what my Brian paying attention to. Why is Bryce talking about the end times? The Holy Spirit's leading them to do that? Why is Philip talking about the end times? The Holy Spirit's leading them to do that. Why is John over here talking about the end times? Maybe we're not trying to fair manga. Maybe we're hearing what we need to say. Maybe God is trying to use any willing, non compromising, not afraid, non punk voices to speak the truth. Because when God speaks, he echoes. And maybe what people are hearing in the culture is the warning of God, my sons, my daughters, wake up. Y'all don't have that much time left. And I'm using every available voice to sound an alarm in the country, in the world. Y'all need to be on mission. I am coming and I'm coming very soon. So maybe we're not fair manga. And maybe we're doing what it's supposed to do because God is trying to awaken his bride. Well, I agree. Can you imagine? Like, we talk about, we get like five hate comments and everyone's like, oh, the end times is going down. But then like, Jesus just utters his spirit and it's like completely dark. The veil tears and an earthquake goes down. Come on, bro. I just appreciate that last week. Did you really? Yeah, I just appreciate that text last week. I'm just thinking about that right now. Like imagine those guys, they probably like, thinking all hell's about to break loose right there. I mean, it did, but you know, they're freaking out. I'd be freaking out too. Yeah, darkness, temple, you know, temple, shadows, earthquake, the veil tears, all that craziness, right? Yeah. But I just think God is echoing. I agree. I think he's trying to get us on mission. I think the Lord's trying to pull the bride out of apathy and out of being indifferent, right? It's, you know how Jesus says, no man knows the day, no the hour? But what if we did? What if you and I knew that in 2030, in October 2030, that was gonna be the end of the church ages, we knew it. And we knew that verifiably from heaven. Would they be mocking us for talking about the end times? Some people will, but more people probably saying I need to start getting my life together, right? And God didn't give us that day. He just gave us like things we can see in the seasons. Like when the leaves start falling off the tree, you know it's falling, winter's coming. The leaves are falling off the tree, bro. We seeing things on the news that's coming right out of the pages of the scripture. You have to be really blind right now not to realize that we're closer to the end. So the leaves are falling off the tree. And that's why Jesus used to always say the same, Bryce. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. I just say everybody will not hear. There's you have to suffer the consequence for not being prepared. Wow. You know, we just gotta try to get as many people prepared as possible. Yeah. My brother Keenan and I were talking about the end times. I heard him preach this thing out of revelation one time, rock me to the core. And it moved me so much, I sat on it for a little bit. And I was like, it gave me this new profound urgency. He was talking about Revelation 20, how God's gonna wipe away every tear. And he was saying how his interpretation was, we're gonna watch our loved ones and our family members, five verses before that, God cast every non-believer into hell. Versus 11 to 15. And then he wipes away every tear. And he's like, you don't think that we're gonna watch our loved ones and family members be cast into hell. And that's the last time we cry. And that's the last little bit of weeping and gnashing of teeth and suffering. And gosh, when I heard that and I read it, I mean, it's one thing to hear it. Faith comes by hearing, I'm like, wow. But that stirred me. And I went to the scripture, I was like, oh my God. It's right there, verse 11 through 15. It's real. The white throne judgment. And for that reason, I pray with tears so people will not save beginning with my own family. You know, I'm not sure if there's a week that goes by, do not shed tears and prayers. For everyone I know who's not safe. Every friend, every family member, I'm covering my children. I wanna make sure they all make it. I think if men knew how graphic eternal separation from God is, how graphic hell is gonna be, which is temporary. The last place will be the lake of fire. That's what we know according to Revelation chapter 20. If men knew how graphic that was, and that the fact that it's eternal, I think we would care more about people who are not saved. You know, I say this to my church all the time because I'm trying to give them like, you know, people read the Bible, but they don't think about what they're reading. Yeah. You know how the scripture says, after Judas committed suicide, he was the son doing for perdition. So we know that Judas didn't make it to glory. Right? I say this to my church all the time. I said, what year did that happen? It was around AD 33 around the year Christ died. That means if we take the scriptures for what it is, I mean, Judas would have been there for two millennia. And he'll be there for another two millennia, and another two, and another two. And then if we take everything Jesus said that the worm doesn't die, men gnash their teeth for pain, they chew in their tongue, they're conscious of their suffering, and they're not gonna get out. You know how tormenting is to be in a place separate from God. Now you're separated from His grace, His love, His mercy, His blessing, glory. You're tormented. You have a body fit for destruction. Wow. You're in darkness. You feel the fire, but you're never gonna get out. There is no reprieve. There is no purgatory. There's no second chance. When we think about how graphic that is in terms of suffering, and then we think about how long it's gonna last forever. And if we just, some way somehow wrap our minds around the graphic nature of everyone who dies separated from God, what that person's gonna endure forever. If a person was sit down long enough to think about the nature of that level of sentencing, they might start praying for people they know who are far away from God. Yeah. They will probably start supporting ministries that are serious about the spread of the gospel. They will probably say, you know what, a part of my money, a part of my check has to support churches, and the Christ ministries has support ministries that's serious about telling people about Jesus. They might start praying for aunts and uncles and parents, and they might start thinking about people who are walking around who they know, who don't know God. Especially since we know, do you know when you're gonna die, Bryce? No. Do I know? No. No. Last week in my church, a young man was headed to our ministry. He was 22 years of age, died in a motorcycle crash. Oh my goodness. On his way to 2019, that week with his family, we did a memorial for them on stage. He was a believer, so we know where he is, or what if he wasn't? Yeah, he'd be right next to Judas. At 22. And not getting out. And does anybody know when their last day is? No. But you got people that hear the gospel invitation all the time and push away. I'll get right next week. How do you know you're gonna have next week? I've done funerals for teenagers, babies, adults. I've known teenagers that died in car crashes. That's the whole thing. Like you and I seen it tomorrow. You got plans to go be with your wife later. You got plans to do stuff tomorrow. How we know we're gonna see tomorrow? We don't. But for you and I, we got assurance. You gonna pillow your head. You gonna lay in your pillow tonight. You got assurance. What happened to you tonight? What about your cousin that don't know Jesus? Or the person watching right now? Grandmama that don't know Jesus. That's what they say in the South Brass. Grandmama from New York. So I'll say grandmother. Grandmother. But no, I'm being serious. And the Lord described these things in graphic detail. How about when he told a story of Lazarus and a rich man? I was just about to bring that up. How about that, right? Tell a story of a poor man, a rich man, they both die. One goes to glory. The other one goes to hell. And watch, and from hell he cries out for water. Yeah. You get nothing. Go tell my family that this place is real. No, we will not. They got the prophets. They don't wanna listen to the prophets in this life. They gonna end up in the same place as you. And he's conscious that he's not gonna get out. Yeah. All right, so I think if more of us... Dang it. If more of us thought about what that's gonna be like for family members and friends. People at the job. People in the gym. People we say we love. Yeah. If more of us thought about how horrific it's gonna be for people to die apart from Christ. It's like jumping out of an airplane with no parachute. Right? Like if we thought about what that's gonna be like for people to wake up on the other side of death without the righteousness of Christ. We might just pray a little bit different. We might labor a little bit different. We might... We might care a little bit different. We might be a little bit different. We might be a little bit different. We might be a little bit more faithful. Yeah. We might be a little bit more generous. Yeah. And it's not just my worry. Right? I think where we are Christians, we should all be concerned about people who are far away from God. Right? Yeah. It's gonna be horrific. The amount of people who are entering eternity apart from Christ. Bro, I'd be in the Uber. I'd be praying for the Uber driver having conversations. I was in the Uber with a driver who was a Muslim. We began to have conversation about Jesus. He was very gracious. We had a good intellectual conversation about Christ and he was open and I was open. It was a good conversation, bro. I did not convert him. But I did leave a seed for him. Right? That the Holy Spirit could come behind me and water that seed. Yeah. We sitting in the Uber with the unbeliever right in front of us. A conversation, a prayer. Anything. Yeah. It's gonna be an awful and dreadful day when that great right-throwing judgment comes. And you know who's gonna be worse for Bryce? Not the atheist, Bryce. I mean, it's gonna be worse for the person that been in church their whole life. Yep. And thought they were a Christian. Matthew seven. Lord, many will come to me on that day and say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, go to conferences in your name and I went to church in your name. I went to a Christian school in your name and all that. The atheists don't call them Lord Bryce, right? The Muslims not calling them Lord. The Hindus not calling them Lord. The people is calling them Lord of people who think that they all care with God. And that's gonna be the person I feel the most sorry for. Wow. Yeah. That's painful, bro. It is painful. And I think, you know, I'm just gonna go back, Gospel of Luke, Jesus, he says, the harvest is ripe. That's the craziest words ever. The odds are in our favor as believers. But the laborers are few. Not enough people doing it. The harvest is ripe. And that's why I'm grateful for bold voices and fathers like you who are willing to stir the pot in a good way, stir believers' hearts to say, hey, let's go throw punch the devil. John the Baptist said the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, but the violent take it by force. That's why I'm grateful for voices like yours. You know, it's necessary. Even if it comes with persecution, it's necessary. Yeah. Right? And I hear a lot of voice, you know, like, I've kind of like tried to tap them, you know, I followed you back on IG, so I'm kind of tapping them, watching what you're doing. When I hear you talk, you know what I hear? I hear Colossians 128, right? Him we proclaim. Watch the first word, warning everyone. That's what Paul wrote to the church of Colossi. Him we proclaim, right? And the first thing he says, warning everyone. And then teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature before Christ. So I was just to warn and to teach, right? Not just to teach. There's a lot of teaching out there. Yeah. None of warning. Then we can't just warn and not teach. Yeah. The culture needs both. That's what I hear in your voice. Warning and teaching. That's what Paul told us to do. Him we proclaim, preach Christ, warn, teach. That's what we're supposed to be doing. Proclaiming, warning, teaching. Proclaiming, warning, teaching. Proclaiming, warning, teaching. That's what the culture needs. That's what I hear in your voice. Your voice is needed. Proclaiming, warning, teaching. Everybody wants teaching. They don't want no warning. Right? They love that, the stuff that make them feel, oh, the proclamation and the teaching. Oh, they love that. Nobody would want to be warned. Yeah. But that's what Paul said. Proclaim, warn, teach. We need all three. Yeah, there's the one in the middle people don't like. Yeah. They don't like that one price. They don't like that one price. I would really love for you to pray for our audience to close it out for like a fresh boldness. That believers can listen to this and that they hear the heart behind it. And they're like, no, be sent. It's like go and be bold for that. Would you be willing to pray for it? Yeah. Thank you, bro. For having me on your platform. I enjoy talking to you, man. I enjoy talking to you. Thank you. My man, bro, let's pray. Eternal God and the wise father, Bryce and I give you glory and honor and praise and homage for who you are. And Bryce and I thank you. That when we was both in darkness in your mercy and compassion, you kept us alive long enough that you would rescue us from that darkness and bring us into the kingdom of light. And that you've anointed us now to be voices in this darkness and we wanna always be thankful for that. Father, I wanna pray for the person listening to this podcast right now, watching whoever they are, wherever they are. First God, I pray for the believer that you would remind the believer of the price that your son paid for them on the cross. That they would see what Christ has done from the cross and they would turn away from the cross and live a life of complete surrender unto you. I pray you would cause them to love the things that you love and to hate the things that you hate. I pray you give them a ferocious desire for holiness and for purity and for the kingdom. I pray God, you will set them on fire. You deliver them from being lukewarm and from being indifferent and full of apathy and lethargy and pride. I pray you would open their blinded eyes that they would see what is happening in the culture and that their hearts will be burned like your prophet Isaiah. I pray God, you would give them an Isacarian anointing, God that they would see what is happening, God, and they will be moved to do something about it. I pray you would awaken the bride, wherever she is in United States, in the UK, across the continent of Africa and around the world. I pray you set the bride on fire and help her Lord to be on mission in these final hours of the church age. Deliver us, God, from vices and chains to have us bound from ambitions and things that are ancillary, that seem noble and things that are sinful and deceitful in the dark. Let us be a bride full of character and integrity and holiness and purity and full of fire and on mission for you. I pray that for the brother or sister who's watching right now awaken your sons and daughters and burn them in their hearts like you did Isaiah. And Father, we pray for the unbeliever right now that they will tremble under the weight of the gospel, that they will know their sinners and they are far away from you. And I pray right now they will feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit, warning them to repent and to surrender their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for the salvation of the person who's watching. We pray for the salvation of family members and friends. We pray the gospel will go out to the whole world and reap a harvest, God, in these final days of the church age. May the Lamb who was slain receive the rewards of his suffering. Let revival break out around the world. I pray for my brother Bryce, my little brother in the faith that you would bless his ministry to prosper and to thrive and to be fruitful. And you continue to elevate him as an end time voice to proclaim to warn, to teach, bless his marriage, his wife, keep them in all of your ways. I ask all of this God in the mighty and the majestic in the matchless name of our soon coming King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.