Keenan Clark’s WARNING To Christians (EP 188)

Whether or not you believe we are in the literal last days, you're in your last days. You're not promised tomorrow. So you need a tree every day, like it's the last days. The question is, will we take the way of escape or will we give in to the temptation yet again? And that is the thing I want to caution a generation who wants to get their affirmation from clicks, and reshares and followers. If you are being obedient to God, it does not matter who else is interested in what he's called you to do. What do you think is the biggest deception that people are falling for right now? It's a great question. I think there's many. Well, what's going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Carver podcast. I'm Bryson today. I have my incredible friend, brother, someone I really gleaned from Keenan Clark. Come on, bro. How are you my friend? You know, I'm good. The amount of times people ask me, oh, is he a pastor? No way. Yeah, all the time. Yeah. Well, I was for 10 years. Like almost 10 years. You're a youth pastor, right? I was a young adult pastor in Texas. Yeah, but yeah, mixed sense. Where at? So I'm from San Angelo, Texas. Born and raised, raised and reared, however you want to say that. And so my mom and dad started a church when I was 13. And then upon graduating from Bible college when I was 20, I don't just come with tattoos. I came with credentials. I do have tattoos. Oh! But I have credentials. You know, I went to Bible college, but upon graduating from Bible college, I moved back to my hometown and went on staff at my parents' church and pastored there. There was nothing for young adults. And so I pioneered it along with the team. Eventually, like Beth and I led it together. But yeah, I mean, I did pastor at one point. And I'm an evangelist. Let's go. Like yourself. Come on. Come on, we got to stick together. Is it so interesting how people think like evangelism is just an office and not a command? True. Isn't it so sad? That's a word right there. That's so sad. Come on, Matthew 28. It's so sad. Like so many people are like, oh yeah, you do your thing. You're an evangelist. I'm a pastor. We were talking about that recently. Like, hey, you know, thank God you're in the streets, Bryce. You know, somebody told us that. It was like, man. What the heck are you talking about? What are you talking about? We're all supposed to be in the streets, like highways and byways, baby. Come on now. Come on. I think something that I'm super encouraged. Those of you that don't know Kenan, if you're watching or listening, Kenan, I believe is one of the boldest. I think you're one of the boldest preachers on the internet right now. Thank you, bro. And I say, I say, I like the internet. Like you've always been bold. Thank you, bro. But boldness is attractive now. And I think people are looking for leaders who exemplify strength and who exemplify confidence and exemplify this boldness. And it's evident that this boldness comes from the Holy Spirit. Why do you think it's time to be bold now? Number one, if I could get deep quick, I believe it's prophetic. Like I truly do. I believe that we need a clarion call. That's a really biblical word for like, we just need that like big push. We need that loud voice. Almost like John the Baptist, you know, a voice crying out in the wilderness. That's not, I'm going in the wilderness to pray quietly to daddy God. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? This is me. I am up, you brood of vipers, you know what I mean? Like I am up here declaring the truth, preparing the way. And I really do believe, I understand, like people can parse things out with their idea of end times or whatever. But I do believe the return of Christ is drawing closer. It's closer today than it was yesterday. And you know, I'll say this, whether or not you believe we're in the literal, last days, you're in your last days. You're not promised tomorrow. So you need to treat every day like it's the last days. Either Jesus is coming back or I could take my last breath and I will be held accountable to him. I mean, that's what the book of Hebrews says. The book of Hebrews says, everything lays naked and bare before the Lord to whom we will give an account. And there won't be, Bryce will not be there to like whisper in my ear to remind me some of the things I should be saying to the Lord on that day. My dad won't be there. My pastor won't be there. Beth won't be there. I will stand there utterly alone to account for my life. And thankfully, the blood of Christ speaks on my behalf. But you know, there is another judgment. There's the judgment seat of Christ where I'll be judged for my works that I did or didn't do for the kingdom of God. It won't have any effect on me going to heaven. I will be in eternity, but it will affect the way that the Lord is able to reward me in eternity. First Corinthians three talks all about this, you know, that there will be some who their life is nothing, but what Paul says is wood, hay and stubble. And then there will be some who their life was silver, gold and precious stones. But even the silver, gold and precious stones and the wood, hay and stubble, all of it is going to be tried by fire, which we know, I believe it's still the book of Hebrews, says that our God is a consuming fire. He's going to see and what doesn't line up with him will be burned up by him. And what does line up with his nature and what is, you know, congruent with his word and his idea of who you're called to be, that will be allowed to remain. And so that's kind of, I don't know, I just have this like fire in my bones, man. I'm kind of chomping at the bit. My prayer is that anytime I would say anything when someone would listen to me that they would leave with a Luke 24 burning heart. You know, there's that road to Emmaus and when Jesus finally reveals himself, then he leaves. They end up saying, shouldn't we have known it was him? Did not our hearts burn within us? And so that's what I pray that when people see the boldness in me or the boldness in you, because I could echo the same thing about you, you are so bold. I mean, your boldness has challenged me, convicted me, especially not only just the way you're bold in the pulpit, but the way that you are bold just in the streets. And I've just watched you get bolder. Really, like, I mean, it seems like you've made a pivotal decision to like be more bold with conviction and bringing it like not just the good news, but helping them understand the bad news. You know, the good news doesn't make a lot of sense until we understand the bad news. And so I echo that in you. But yeah, I just feel like time is, you know, Jesus says, while it's day, we can work the works of him who sent me, but night is coming when no man can work. Yeah, I love that. You know, I think sometimes people mistake this over in the last days, it's like a fear mongering tool. You know, it's not fear mongering. No, no, no, it's just truth. You know, the reality is I love how you phrase it. You're in your last days and you're closer to your last days today than you were yesterday. And that's just a fact. And, you know, I've always believed it's such an interesting dynamic. You know, but I will ultimately say bold sensing the end times is good for urgency and not fear. And I think that's so important, you know, like not being fearful of these end times, not being fearful and understanding. Sure, yeah, you know, it might be a little bit embarrassing at first. Right. Like when you're standing before God and you can't run and your actions testify against yourself, you know, that's pretty pretty awkward. But the beauty of forgiveness is remarkable, magnificent, freeing and true. But even now, it just seems like again, you know, like Gen Z and my generation, you know, everyone else now, they're just kind of tired of fluff. Yeah, absolutely. Which what for you? Where do you draw the line? This is something I really have a hard time sometimes. And I used to be the fluffy guy. I used to be that at this point. I know I know we're hanging out. I'm 30. OK, so I got eight years on you. I've been in this for 12 years. I that that's a long enough time to see different versions of yourself behind that pulpit where you can look back on your tenure in ministry and you go, man, people really caught different versions of me, depending on when they listened to me preach because the Lord's taking me on a journey, not just as a preacher, but as a son. Right. Yeah. But how whatever journey he takes the son on, the preacher comes on to. And so I read there's been so many different iterations of me. And man, I used to be the guy who was like, and I want people to be encouraged. It's not that I don't want encouragement. It's not that I don't want people to leave having a sense of God's for me. And he loves me. And it's, you know, because of Christ, it's going to be OK. I have this hope. But at the same time, if you never take like I'll just see this is old language is like old like I'm talking like old head now. But if you never take the church to the woodshed, something's wrong. Yeah, like the Lord disciplines the son that he loves. And if all we do is just try to like make it OK and make it OK and make it OK. And like, oh, it's fine. You're you're trying. Are you? Are you really trying? You know, the Bible says again, it's the book of Hebrews. It says none of us have resisted the temptation to the point of shedding our own blood. That's the writer of Hebrews saying, get up and get over it. Come on, really try. Don't give me this. Oh, I tried and I just can't break free. And there's just no way for me to never look at that stuff again. The writer of Hebrews would say, well, have you shed your own blood yet? No, then you're then like you have not done everything. And the writer of Hebrews is not encouraging you to shed your own blood. He's saying there's a place where you can go more hardcore. There's a place where you can come against sin, because the scriptures also promise us that the Holy Spirit will always provide a way of escape. Every single time scripture says that Paul writes that that there will always be a way of escape for every temptation that comes. The question is, will we take the way of escape? Or will we give in to the temptation yet again? That's so good. Where do you where do you draw the line of you saying, hey, I'm being bold for Jesus versus I'm just being flat out me. Right. Yeah. How do you how do you draw the line? Because sometimes I like to go when I I'm a I dive headfirst kind of guy. That's me. I'm diving headfirst. I'm coming for your throat. Like, yeah, not just with boldness, but with everything with the same with adventure with a hobby. I'm like, I'm all in headfirst. And I think that can be my weakness sometimes is when I'm being bold, I can come across as mean. Yeah. Or I've never one time thought you were mean, just so you know. Really? No, thanks for saying that. Come on. Thank you. Never one time. How do you how do you in yourself kind of discern like, OK, like what's the line for hatred and and and bold conviction? It is a place and I'll be honest with you. It is a place I have to come back to every time before I take. Either to a video or to a pulpit. I have to realign my heart yet again. And my wife is the biggest accountability partner because she knows me. Biblically, we are one. Beth Clark knows Keenan Clark better than anybody on this planet. I mean, if the Lord is going to speak to somebody else about me, other than me, it's going to be her. Yeah, he'll talk to her about me and to me about her. And I remember not that long ago, my wife listened to me preach and she said, Keenan, like I remember her saying something to the effect of it's not that what you said wasn't true. It's that you you preached it with more of a bother than a burden. And she just challenged me. She was like, you need to find a burden and not a bother. You were that was Keenan being bothered, not Keenan burdened on behalf of these people and on behalf of the Lord and on behalf of the text and on behalf of eternity. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, like when we carry the burden of the Lord, I just think it just hits different. And sometimes when you when when you're burdened and when you are bothered, you may say the same thing. It doesn't mean that you change the vocabulary. It doesn't mean that you like change the sentence structure, but the heart and the motive is just a little bit different. Does that make sense? No, no, no. And Beth was a huge. I mean, you know how Beth is like, she's a real one. Yeah, she's a real one. She's really helped me with that a lot. Wow, that's encouraging. That's really encouraging. I think, you know, I think we've seen this today and I think it's so important. Like even now, you know, Christians that want to really follow Jesus, they surround themselves with people that aren't impressed by them. And I think time has shown, you know, leaders that have have fallen. Yeah. And people were afraid to ask something wrong or check in because they were like, I don't want them to hate me. I don't want this. And because they were impressed, you know? Yeah. And I think it's so cool that like your wife, I know Maddie, my fiance, she can lay it on the she can lay it to me, you know? And but you need it sometimes. And and it sometimes stings. And I have friends in my corner that can tell me how it is. And. And you know, you're right. It's sometimes when it comes from the wrong person, it's hard to hear. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, absolutely. Um, but but ultimately, like that's so good that we need that in our lives. We need that that chest. I said that is God using people to bring chest isement on us. You need that that thorn in the flesh. I mean, that's what Paul called it. He was like, man, I have asked God three times to take away this thorn in the flesh and he won't do it. And every time he says, my grace is sufficient, which, you know, in him saying my grace is sufficient, he is in turn saying there are some things that aren't sufficient. Every other thing is not sufficient. And a lot of us, the last thing we run to it, when to deal with our thorn is the grace of God. And we run to a bunch of things that are not sufficient. And it is the grace of God. It is his mercy. It is his kindness. I mean, that's what Romans two says, that it is the goodness and the kindness of the Lord that leads people to repentance, to to real change. And I know that that word is metanoia, which means to change your mind. But it does mean a changed life. Yeah. If all you ever do is just repeat these Christian mantras to yourself in the mirror and, you know, I'm more than an overcomer. I'm the lender, never the borrower. I'm a victor, never a victim, you know, which are all true. But your mouth says it, but your life doesn't live it. What do we call that? A hypocrite. And Jesus had his harsh. He used the serrated edge for the hypocrites. He's like, no, you're not getting that clean edge. I'm giving you the serrated edge of the word of God. And he used that on hypocrites. We are hypocrites when we are, oh, it's just about how I think and how I believe. And yes, in Amen, Christ did it all for me. But man, the Holy Spirit's job is to is to make us like Christ. And yeah, I've just known so many Christians, man, who they follow Jesus for a very long time and their life either steadily looks the exact same. Or if I'm being honest, I have watched their life just steadily get worse and worse and worse, more lukewarm, more lukewarm to the point where one day they are downright cold to the things of God. And I just think we need that that reality check sometimes of like, hey, is your dad? It's like if your dad was president, you're like, yeah, he's my dad, but he's still the president. Yeah, like, you know, I mean, like there's still like some like awe and respect and you recognize like this is a really big deal. Like there's a lot of weight in and a lot of authority. And yes, he tucks you in at night and he kisses you on the forehead and he buys you your chocolate milk and all of those things like he's going to provide for you, but you better not try him. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And that's and our our father is not just the president. He is the cosmic creator of the entire universe, you know, down to the smallest, most molecular level to our mitochondria. I mean, he's the architect. He holds the patent and we act like we can just spit in his face, claim the blood of Christ is enough and act like it's going to be OK. Yeah. No. Wow, that's so good. That's so good. I think another question that comes to my mind is, you know, in that that particular passage, Paul, you know, he's writing Thorna's side, it's like, oh, was it spiritual attack? Right. A sin issue? What is it? Speculation. And, you know, there's there's so many people. I hear this one in particular because my generation struggles with porn addiction. For sure. I can't tell you the amount of times people have been, oh, man, porn is just the thorn in my side, man. I just can't. I can't seem to stop it. And, you know, this is in that. And they almost use that thorn as an aside as an excuse to say when I can't when I can't say no to it, which we obviously know that's not true from that other passage and Corinthians, when I can't say no to it. It's just a thorn in my side. That's a really bad view of theology. Yeah. God's goodness. Yeah. Repentance. How how would you shift that? Yeah. Like frame, you know, mindset shift that for the person who says, porn's the thorn in my side or let's even take it further than that. Alcohol is the thorn in my side. Yeah. You know, drugs are thorn in my side, that kind of thing. Yeah. I'm reminded of a story my dad told. My dad told me the story about the time he prayed over his power tools. Like one time he was like working in our backyard. I was a kid and he was working on a project in the backyard, ends up coming inside for dinner, completely forgets that his power tools are in the backyard and he gets snuggled up in bed at night, like almost asleep. And he remembers like in that like twilight little place where he's almost asleep. My tools are in the backyard and he's already so warm in bed. He literally just put his hand up towards the door, like wherever the backdoor was. And he was like, Lord, protect my power tools while they're out here there tonight, let it not rain on him and let no one steal him. And he heard the Holy Spirit tell him, I do what you can't do, not what you won't do. Whoa. Get up and go get him. And it was like, whoo. And so he got up, put his clothes back on, went out there, put the power tools away and came back inside. And that has always just stuck with me that God does what we are incapable of, not what we just refuse to do or what in our immaturity. We're just like, I just don't know if I'm ready for that. Well, then I guess you're not ready for freedom. Like if you're too immature for this, you must be too immature to be free. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I know that's a little harsh, but I am saying that there are some things. Again, it comes back to that Hebrew text. No one has resisted temptation to the point of shedding their own blood. Yeah. I mean, the writer of Hebrews, which we're not sure who it is, but we know who the ultimate author is, is the Holy Spirit is challenging us. Like, hey, none of this pansy stuff. Like if you would go all in for a woman, like you would you would burn the bridges. You would like change careers. You'd move to a different city. You'd do all the things. So many people do that. Which they do. Why would you not jump through all these hoops for the Lord? And for his call on your life to say, like, hey, we always think like with the porn thing. Well, you know, like my phone is so tempting, but like I need it for my work and I need it to be able to text my family and I need it to stay current on Instagram. And, you know, I don't want to be a social pariah and not have a smartphone. It's like, OK, well, do you want to have access to your family and your Instagram and all that and still have this thorn in the flesh? Yeah. Or do you need to get a flip phone, carrier pigeon, smoke signal? I don't know what you need to do, but you need to change tactics for a season. You know what I mean? In order for this to no longer have a hold. And I don't think the smartphone season has to be forever. I genuinely don't. But it needs to be as long as as long as it takes. Because Paul said he asked the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh. And the Lord didn't say, hey, you're a grown man, you do it. The Lord said, my grace is sufficient. So I think Paul is talking about something Paul in his own human flesh is truly incapable of dealing with. It's I don't think it's a sin issue. That's not that that wouldn't be my take. It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, given even the Lord's response. I truly think it is. I've even heard again, this is speculation, not Bible. This is speculation. I've heard even people think that maybe it was Paul's past that is thrown in the flesh is the memories. It could be of how he mistreated people. The years that he was a Pharisee and it just eats at him and it bugs him. And he feels shame and condemnation over it. And that would make a lot more sense for my grace is sufficient. Yeah, because my grace has already covered that. Right. Yeah, that does. Again, all speculation. We don't know what it is. But how true is that in so many people's lives that have the bad past? And it's like, oh, that's I mean, that even happened to me the day I was getting ready to propose to Maddie. I was being spiritually attacked and haunted by my past in every way, shape and form. Yeah, not easy. And and I've prayed that the Lord would go in people's minds and delete the same way, like if there was residual, I've prayed for young men and women who have sent inappropriate pictures of themselves to people. I have prayed, Lord, this person has truly repented. Would you go somehow in the spirit and delete those pictures out of whatever archive they are living in? Yeah, if it's an ex-boyfriend, if it's an ex-girlfriend, if somehow they're spreading around their school, Lord, would you somehow literally make literal photographs digitally? Yeah, disappear. But in the same way, I've prayed over that. I mean, why not ask him to do it? Yeah, this person is genuinely repented. Yeah, I've also asked that he would reach down into the archives of their mind and delete images and make it blurry or redeem it somehow. I mean, if we are bold enough for completely forget it, if we are if worth confident enough to ask God to go in our future, and prepare things for us, I mean, I've prayed over future events. I'm sure you have to. If we're confident that God can reach in our future, why can't he reach into our past? Yeah, and it may not literally change what happened, but it can change how what happened is currently affecting you. Yeah, and God could bring it. Breathe a revelation that allows you to see that moment or that person or that thing a lot differently. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's so good. I even loved when you hinted on the the oh, you know, no social media thing, get a flip phone. You know, I remember a story I was at a conference a couple of years ago and this young kid was like, man, just kids watching porn. And I was like, OK, well, you know, tell me a little bit about it. You know, where it may sound weird when, where, how late at night on my phone hours and I'm like, OK, well, get an alarm clock, get a real conventional alarm clock, go charge the phone somewhere else and put your phone up at eight o'clock and I don't want to do that. It's like, well, you don't want to stop watching porn. Then you know, there's a reason why, you know, Matthew Six, he says, cut it off like there is some accountability and some, you know, so some actual, hey, I did it. Yep. OK. Yeah, you're right. I'm watching porn on my iPhone. Yeah, I need to I should probably get a different phone. Right. I probably put that up. Yeah, you're you're right. God, I just love how you phrase the Holy Spirit thing that just God does things that you're incapable of doing, not just things that you want to do. Even I'm thinking of a man, I'm blanking on his name. OK, C quarter rack. He just won the Heisman. I think his name is for Fernando Mendoza. Oh, I guess his name. Dude, he had no social media. No, it has no social media. He has LinkedIn and somebody else runs his LinkedIn and he won the Heisman and love Jesus loves Jesus. Come on. And it's like, you know, people say, oh, well, I need it for work. Oh, I need it for this. Oh, I needed to be stay connected. And then it's like, bro, literally just won the Heisman trophy. Yeah. And even when he was asked, it's like, you know, before the night before, you know, how excited are you to win the Heisman? He's like, oh, I I would rather win a trophy. My team can enjoy the championship. Come on. And I'm like, man, what kind of view? And then, you know, that's everyone else. Everyone else, I know me at the night before I'd be winning the Heisman. Oh, man, yeah, I'm ready to put that thing on the shelf. Boy, that's pretty hard to wear, you know, but like the post, like, you know, yeah, that's me. It's about all I know about the Heisman. You know, it's kind of nice to go like, man, they're like, that's not the case. And, you know, yeah, whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. And I think that's true. And I think that's true. And, you know, it's it's. And I could also can I weigh in real quick? I think there's a lot of guys, even women who probably follow you and they're so inspired by you. And they could think, well, I'm bound by pornography, but I feel like God's called me to do this digital ministry thing. And I'm not saying I'm saying, yes, maybe God has called you to do that digital ministry thing, but God is also not calling you into a battlefield that you are ill equipped to be able to navigate. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, well, God, you gave me this bazooka. Yeah, but you don't know how to detect landmines. Yeah. So like, we're not sending you out there yet, slugger. You know what I mean? Like there maybe there needs to be some time where, yes, and amen, that is coming. And but you can think, oh, like I can even just hear it in my mind and in my spirit, even of just like people going like, well, I'm missing opportunity to reach people and I'm missing opportunity to grow. And all of those things, you're not missing an opportunity to grow. You're missing an opportunity to grow in the right place. And some of that stuff is just done in secret. Yeah. Like I'm thankful that now at 30 years old, I did not have the platform that I have now at at your age, even. I wasn't ready for it. Thank God you are. You know what I mean? And I would say, listen to me, I've talked to you by and close doors. I would you you you deserve what you have. Like you're ready for this thing and the Lord is leading you. And you're open to his conviction. And that's what I love seeing on your life. But me at twenty two, I wasn't ready. And though I was praying those prayers and I had those some even like prophetic words and things that I felt like God was stirring on the inside of me that I'm now getting to walk in, I can look back and go, man, thank you, Lord. Yeah. That you didn't do that in my life. And mine wasn't porn. I mean, luckily I got caught looking at that stuff when I was 14 and I just started I just looked at it and getting caught. Yeah. Like will it cause it to be uprooted? You know, I was like, this is the this was the it was the worst moment of my life at 14. I thought my life was over. The most embarrassing thing ever. My dad found it on my device. But now looking back at 30 years old, married with, you know, a little boy, I am so thankful that God outed me in that moment because he really got he got me before it could really get me. I saw it, but I've never had an addiction. Yeah. And it's because I got caught. You know, and some of you, honestly, the best thing that could ever happen for you is you get caught. You know, the Lord is gives you ample opportunity to walk into the light. But here's what I've learned. If you and I refuse to walk in the light like a man, he will eventually drag us into the light like a father. He will. He gives you an opportunity to be a man. And if you won't take the opportunity to be a man, he says, all right, then I have to be a father. Come on. Yeah. And he'll pull you into that light. And it's way more painful to have God pull you into the light than it is for you to walk into the light. Yeah. People give you way more grace when you walk into the light on your own than when you have to get exposed. Yeah. Because then even if your apology is real, I'm sorry, I wish I had done it. They're wondering, are you apologizing because you're caught? Or are you apologizing and you're repenting because you're truly repentant? You walk in the light of your own accord. People know he's repentant. He could have kept this hidden. He's the one that let us know about this. Does that make sense? Yeah, that makes total sense. Yeah, I think and again, it goes down to that heart issue, like everything. Jesus makes it deeper than just the law. It's hard. It's a heart issue. It's a heart issue. And it is interesting, even I'm thinking of, you know, a leader right now, even though he had passed away, his junk still got brought to life. I think I know what you're talking about. After he passed away. It's true. And it's just interesting how everything does come to the light and God deals with it and he does. And you know what? Here's what I've also noticed is that when lies get brought to the public, that's not things being brought to the light. Because we're talking lies. Right. When lies get brought into the public, character and integrity defends itself. It's true. And I can't tell you the amount of times that I have felt pressure or I've heard other people feel pressure. I mean, anyone would feel pressure if they're being accused of first things. I didn't do it. Yeah, exactly. This isn't that. We even look at Jesus's life. He stayed silent. Yes, because he had the will to father to complete. Right. But I mean, I think it was going to speak for himself, his character, his integrity. You know, after he died, they were like, oh, shoot. Wait, you're really crap. He was really the dude. Surely he was the king. Yeah, you know, and so it's like, man, integrity and character does speak for itself, defends itself. And you know, if you have nothing to hide, it's like, oh, yeah, like it's not cocky. It's just a great confidence and thank you, Jesus, that you have made me this way and that you've done this thing for me. And you build that you build that archive of character and integrity when nothing is on the line. You know what I'm saying? When it's not like, man, I really need to show people how integrist I am. I really need to show people how much of a man of character I am because they're all thinking this, it's too late at that point. And maybe it's not too late, but it's like, you should have been building that thing for a while. No one got cracking on that arc 80 years before one drop of water fell from the sky. Yeah. And how many people? Let's think about this. Let's go here. Noah, by all modern evangelical standards, was an absolute failure. He spent 80 years building something. Only eight other eight people were interested in. He was number eight. By all modern evangelical standards, he was a failure. You spent your whole life building something and seven other people other than yourself were interested in it. But it made all the difference because it was obedience to the Lord. And that is the thing I want to caution a generation who wants to get their affirmation from clicks, who wants to get their affirmation from reshares and followers is if you are being obedient to God, it does not matter who else is interested in what he's called you to do. Yeah. Because if we were to measure our success the same way God made Noah a success. Noah was a failure by our standards today, but he was a success in the eyes of God. And I felt this other thing jump up in my spirit. As you and I were talking about this, I was I was reading funny enough because like you and I were in Ohio together not that long ago. And I was preaching on, you know, the plagues and all of that. And so but I was fire. Oh, thanks, bro. Fire. I've never heard that before. I was raving about it. I was like, I was like telling people like back up, dude, I just heard this thing. And it was cool. Well, thanks, bro. But funny enough, I was going back through the book of Exodus and I got to chapter eight, which is the the second plague is the plague of frogs. And I've never noticed this before. But literally all the frogs, like there's a there's a plethora of frogs. I mean, frogs on top of frogs. And Moses comes to Pharaoh, get this. And he says, let me intercede for you to get God to get these frogs to go away. When do you want me to do that? Like I will intercede on your behalf and get the frogs to go away. And so Moses gives Pharaoh the balls in his court. Tell me when. And Pharaoh looks at him. He says tomorrow. He has the opportunity to say right now, get on your knees and beg the Lord to like take these frogs away. And he says, do it tomorrow. So Moses was like, OK, tomorrow. So Pharaoh and the entire land of Egypt had to spend one more night with the frogs. All because Pharaoh wasn't desperate enough to say, Moses, would you pray to your God right now? There's that pride and no wonder he had to go through eight more plagues. Yeah. You know what I mean? And how many of us are like that? And tomorrow and tomorrow. This would be the last time. This would be the last time. This will be the last. I'll look at it one more time. I'll drink that one more time. I'll go see her one more time. Instead of saying, no, the last time was the last time. And I just feel that my spirit that like if you keep pushing things off to tomorrow, you are of the spirit of Pharaoh. What do you think is the biggest deception that people are falling for right now? Today? I mean, that's just such a large question. It is a large question. No, it's a great question. I think there's many. Obviously, I mean, we live in a digital age where deception pays people's bills. I mean, quite literally, people are paying their bills off deception. People are paying their bills off of how can I inside a riot online? You know, in the comment section. But for the body of Christ, I think it is false doctrine, false doctrine. And obviously, like that that in and of itself is deception. So I'm saying the biggest deception is deception. So but it is. And I heard somebody say this and it just has stuck with me forever. The easiest thing to do is to deceive a man. The hardest thing to do is to convince him he's deceived. It's so easy to be deceived. It is so hard to become convinced. No, wait a minute. I've been deceived. And that right there, man, I feel the Lord. I feel him like Lord, crawling on me. That is why we need the Holy Spirit. We need not to just make people church attenders, even just mere Bible readers. There are atheists who read the Bible. Yeah, you know, I mean, read it so they can understand, like, where's this whole thing coming from? Right. People like some of the allegories and the stories or whatever feel like there are some good principles. So but we need truly sons and daughters of God who have been saved by the blood of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit because Jesus says, I'm going to I'm going to leave. It's better for you that I go. Because if I go, then I'll send the helper, the Holy Spirit, the Greek word is the word paracletos, paraclete. He's going to come alongside. He's going to help you, right? And he's going to do for you what you can't do for yourself. And Jesus says this, he will guide you and lead you into all truth, all truth. My pastor said this and this is like extreme. And some people would be like, you're making a little, a little much out of this. I think he's, I think he's got something. He said, if you have a hard time remembering people's names, you might not be spending enough time with the Holy Spirit. If you're having a hard time remembering truth, you're having a hard time having things come to your remembrance that should be coming to your remembrance. He's like, maybe you should take that as and maybe that's a little hardcore and people think, oh, that's a little you're making a little much of this. But if he says all truth, then he's not a man that he should lie. He's going to bring us into all truth. I believe the Holy Spirit, even as you and I have been talking scripture, I haven't read in a while, quickened in my spirit, because the Holy Spirit, as we are talking, knows what people who will be listening to this need to hear knows where this conversation needs to go. And so that is why I'm a big believer that we need people who are full of the Holy Spirit so they can have discernment so that when they hear something on Instagram, though it was spoken eloquently, they can say, you may be eloquent, but it's false. Yeah, it's not true. It doesn't bear any witness. Yeah. And we need to be like the Bereans in the book of Acts. The Bereans in the book of Acts, Paul came to them and he was teaching them about the gospel and they went, hold on a second, we're going to fact check this. And they went to the Word of God, the Word of God they had at the time, which was the Old Testament. And they bounced Paul's words off of that. And they say, actually, he's right. Like this Messiah, he's talking about all of these old, old Testament books point to him. And so we need to be people who literally bounce things off the Word of God, but also people who are filled with the Holy Spirit. That's why I love watching you do prophetic evangelism like on the streets, like watching you give words of knowledge to people. I believe we need the gifts of the spirit. And I love an academic approach to the Word of God. The sad thing is people who want to dabble in the spirit camp, like we're kind of like labeled kooky and like crazy, like I'm not even a Pentecostal, but like the crazy Pentecostals or whatever. But then you get like the other side of the equation. It's like that, like the Calvinists, like the five point Calvinists and their extantions, like line upon line, precept upon precept, you know what I mean? And, you know, at the end of the day, we're all going to be in heaven together, you know? But I just think there's this place where we have to learn how to put our denominational differences aside and recognize it is one spirit, one baptism by which we have been brought in. And, you know, Jesus and Matthew 28 nominated us to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. And the church settled with being denominated. Jesus, I nominate you. We're like, we'd rather be denominated. We've denominated ourselves from the nomination of carrying the gospel to the end of the earth. And I think it probably would have happened by now if we were actually of one mind, one spirit, one baptism, we were actually going for it in unity. Yeah, that's so good. If you if you could encourage like someone that's like, man, I want to be bold in my faith. Yeah. How could I be bold in my faith? What would you say to that person? I genuinely think this boldness comes from revelation. Having a revelation of Christ, like not just a not just like a, oh, I've got a gooey, gooey feeling or, you know, I can repeat some cool things I've heard Bryce say to sound smart in front of my friends who didn't listen to that episode or something like that. It comes from revelation, but it also comes from character. And when you know that you have character, you know, I'm really about this thing. Like I'm about my father's business. Am I perfect? No, I will. But I'll talk about my flaws. I boast in my weakness, as Paul says. But I really do think the more I have come to know the Lord and come to know his word, the bolder I have gotten. I was telling them just a minute ago, and we were all hanging out over there. Some people, as they go throughout their life, they get like I was saying a minute ago, more lukewarm, more lukewarm, you know, even to the point where they're cold. Like they even they back off their convictions a little bit. And they're like, oh, man, like I was zealous back then, but now I recognize, you know, it's all God's grace. I have honestly, the opposite has happened to me. I have ratcheted down. I have gotten more zealous. I have gotten more on fire. And in all honesty, the more I have, the more consecrated to use a very Christian word, I have been to the word consecrated means set apart into the Lord. Just to truly say, like we think of it, oh, to consecrate something sounds so weird. You've consecrated something. I promise you, you consecrate things all the time. I grew up in a house. I'm the oldest of seven kids. I consecrated things all the time. Because when I would have leftovers from dinner, like out at a restaurant, I get it to go box and I'd want to put it in the fridge, but I'd be afraid that one of my brothers and sisters would come and eat it. So what I would do is I would get a Sharpie and I go to that to go box and I would write keen in. So everyone knew I have marked this thing. I have claimed this thing. This is not for y'all's use. This is not anyone who's hungry. You can't have this. This is for only keen. What I did was I consecrated that box. I said, this only belongs to me. It is only for my use. God wants to consecrate us and say, Hey, Bryce is not for the world's use. Bryce is not even for his own use. Bryce is for my use and my use is only. And that is what it means to be consecrated. And I think the more we walk in consecration through prayer, through fasting, Brog, I got a crazy story for you. I mean, like, this eats me up. And this has really been, this is one of the things that's led Beth and I into a current season that we're in right now. But we have a friend who was on who has a friend. So it's just not like a, Hey, I heard this cool preacher story. This is like, I know this to be true. Our friend was telling us that and she's in ministry, but that one of her closest friends was traveling somewhere on an airplane. She sat by this woman and she's sitting there by her and they get to talking. And all of a sudden she can tell like the woman's like not eating or something like that. It was kind of clear this woman's not eating. So she was asking like, are you fasting? And the woman was like, yeah, I'm fasting. And she's like, oh my gosh, like that's wild. Like, are you a believer? And she was like, no. And she was like, oh, why are you fasting then? And she's like, I'm not a Christian. She says, I'm a witch. And she was like, what? And then she was like, yeah, I'm on my way to like a convention. We're all fasting in anticipation for this convention so that we can get spiritual power to curse pastors, kids. What? That is what this witch told her on the airplane. Fasting so we can get power in the spirit to curse pastors, children. Interesting. And I just think, man, how's Beth and I heard that story. I'm going to cry right now. How sad is it that witches and warlocks are out consecrating us, but they're consecrated unto unto Satan. They're willing to push the plate aside. They're willing to abstain. They're willing to not just push porn aside. They're willing to push pancakes aside. Yeah. And say, no, I'm going to not do this so I can get power in the spirit so I can do this nefarious evil thing and try to perpetuate the plans of darkness. But the churches over here, fat, out of shape, won't do anything, won't pray, won't fast. And Beth and I heard that and we made a decision. We made a decision. We are going in to an extended season prayer of fasting. We can't hear that and like be like, aw dang it. Like we've got to do something. And I just think that that's what it takes. Man, when you start really living this thing, it's natural to just be bold. Yeah, it is. And I think I think your boldness has to transcend Instagram. Your boldness has to transcend TikTok. Your boldness can't be for selfish gain and motive. And Paul would say, man, if crisis preached by pure motive or impure motive, I just praise God that crisis preach. But that's Paul looking at those people. You need to look introspectively at yourself and not go, well, thank God, crisis preach, even if my motives aren't pure. No, it is now your job to purify your motives and say, God, would you strip it away? Would you would you rend my heart? God, would you rent me out? That's what one of the I can't remember where it's at. One of the passages talks about I want you to rend your heart, not your garments because they had a tradition when they wanted to show that they were repented. They would rip their garments. Yeah. And he says, don't rip your garments, rip your heart. It's your heart. That's the problem. Yeah. Like, don't like do all this stuff on the outside, but then leave all that filth on the inside. He says, rip your heart, run that thing out, like ring it out of sin. And that's the place where we got to get. And you walk through that. You walk in that place when no one's looking. You will be bold when everyone is looking. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Praise God. That's a story about the warlocks, bro. It got me, bro. That was that's crazy. No, it's crazy, dude. Like it's it's sad. That is sad. And it's it's reality. Like, please, that's not a cool story you heard on a podcast. That's for real going on. Like that's not a cool talking point for Bryce and I. That is a for real story. And I just want to encourage anyone out there to take prayer and fasting seriously. You know, prayer sometimes calls for fasting. Fasting always calls for prayer. If you're fasting, but not praying, you're just starving yourself. And so I want to call a young generation, even athletes who could say, well, I've got reasons to eat. And I'm like, well, you got reasons to fast, too. You know, because not just championships on the line. It's the kingdom of God online. Yeah, it's people's eternity on the line. It's pastors, kids on the line. Yeah. I mean, it's that's that's specific, bro. Like that is very specific. And it's an assault against the next generation of ministers. That's what it is. Pastors, children, more than likely going to grow up and carry the baton, carry the torch. And if the enemy is already working on them now and his minions and the people he has duped into his schemes and they're all and they're truly. Let's call it what it is. Matthew 13 would call him this sons of the devil. Like we want to say everyone's a child of God. Everyone is not a child of God. Oh, everyone's a child of God. No, this is why John chapter one would say he gave us the right to become children of God. What were we before? Children of wrath. Yeah. That's what it says, bro. We were children of wrath of the father of lies. And we now get to become children of God and partake in the nature of our father and say, yes, I'm a son, but I'm also a soldier. That's been one thing. Man, I feel like the Lord has been stirring at me. It's like I have, I have for so many years been fed and thank God, the sonship message, your son, your son, your son. But I think we can get we can get fat on the sonship message to where we just think, Oh, dad will just take care of it. And we forget. Yeah, I'm a son, but I'm also a soldier in dad's army. I'm called to lead the troops. Yeah. And I want to buff it in my body. Yeah. And I want to, I want to go after this thing. You know, I think, I think Tim Tebow said this, I don't want to get to heaven. Well rested. It's just so good. Yeah. Yeah. And I just want to encourage anyone maybe time to start. Maybe you're going to go on your very first fast. You're going to push the plate away. Maybe it's just for it for one meal a day. Maybe it's for one day. A lot of people think I can just fast Instagram or something like that. I do think you can do that. There's liberty. But if you look in the scriptures, every time a fast is mentioned almost without fail, it involves food. Fasting is about food. Yeah. Now there are like non food fast and stuff you can do. But I really want to encourage people to get on a biblical fast, meaning not eating and taking that time to pray and have a prayer point in prayer. If a warlock can have a prayer point for their fast pastors, children, the church can have a prayer point. I want revival in my generation. Yeah. I want these strongholds, the stronghold of suicide, the stronghold of pornography and just a little lust broken off my generation, the stronghold of vaping and drug use and and all of this this frivolous stuff. Just like we're just walking in this haze and this fog. God, would you would your Ruach wind blow that fog off my generation? Begin to pray like that. Yeah. And I'm telling you, the powerful, fervent prayer of a righteous man it avails much. It does. Come on. Would you close us out by praying for us? Yeah. We would have a heart for full obedience, fasting and prayer. Yeah. I really, if I can, I feel like to pray Psalm 91. If I pray, yeah, pray. I just want to pray scripture right over you. He who dwells in the shelter of the most I will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God and whom I trust, for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his opinions and underneath his wings, you will find refuge, his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence, the stalks and darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noon day. A thousand may fall at your side. 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the very recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the most high who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you. No plague come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent. You will trample underfoot because he holds fast to me in love. I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. And with long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Lord, we pray Psalm 91 protection and Psalm 91 deliverance over people who would abide beneath the shadow of your mighty wing. Lord, right now I even just sense this. There's that place where Jesus says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that murders the prophets, how long I wanted to gather you like a mother hen who gathers her chicks under my wings, but you wouldn't let me. Father, I pray you would give us the grace to let you gather us into yourself, to hide beneath the shadow of your wing, to not feel like we have to have it all together and do it all ourselves. But Lord, that we would find strength as we abide in you. Lord, I speak to generational bondages that are on people listening to me. And I command them to break right now in Jesus' name, that lust would be broken, that drug dependency would be broken, that just addictive personalities would be broken off. God did not give you that addictive personality. God did not give you a proclivity towards a bondage, but God can give you a new heart. He can take that heart of stone and he can replace it with a heart of flesh. God, would you do that for our friends right now? Would you deliver them with your mighty right hand? And it is in the mighty name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that I pray. Amen. Amen.