The SCARIEST Words Jesus Said (ft. James Griffin) EP 173

Sin is so much more than the bad things that you do. It is when you ignore God in the world that He made. When a created being, a human being would say to the creator, even though the world and everything in it belongs to you, I'm gonna live my life, how I'm gonna live my life. And the Bible's very clear that the penalty of sin is death. If you're watching or listening to this right now, this means this is your sign to come to the Breitzcroft for Live Podcast Store in 2026. We're bringing it to Australia, New Zealand, and America at the front end of 2026. We're coming to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Australia. We're coming to Auckland, New Zealand, Phoenix, Arizona, New York City, Pennsylvania, Boston, Alabama, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina, Sacramento, California, Los Angeles, California. And if you're a Mormon and you wanna learn about Jesus and not just a Smith, we're gonna be a Salt Lake City, Utah, as well, a lot of them are sold out, but there's some that have low tickets, and we wanna make sure you get your seats to go to jesusindustreet.org, slash tour, get your tickets, come out to the Live Podcast Show because I believe that God is preparing a word, specifically for each city we visit. So go to jesusindustreet.org slash tour, get your tickets, and we'll see you guys in 2026 for the Live Podcast Tour. What's going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Breitzcroft Podcast. I'm Bryson today. I'm really excited for this episode. I'm getting to sit across from my pastor, pastor James Griffin. I feel good. Honour to be here, bro. Let's go. I was joking, not till Jada know how I got here. It's like, island boys, Dwight Howard, James Griffin. So anyway, but grateful to be here with you, man. I've been looking forward to this episode. So for everyone watching, listen, pastor James is my pastor from my hometown, and we've actually been getting to hang out a lot, and spend a lot of time together, and kind of getting, getting mentored, and fathered a little bit when I can in town, and staying touch. Just kind of, can you kind of give a brief background on like who you are, where you're from, why you do what you do? Yeah, I love two, man. I always tell people, my story really starts with my dad's story. My dad is a first generation Christian, so I don't come from a long line of Jesus followers. I come from a long line of adulterers, pornographers, and North Georgia Mountain moonshineers. Like those are my people, man. So for me to be doing what I'm doing with my life, it makes absolutely no sense. It's really just been the grace of God, but God radically saved my dad when he was in his 20s. He and my mom were already married at the time, and my mom had this return to faith because of some friends at work. And so she starts going to church, and my dad was not interested at all. Just told her, you can go, don't expect me to be a part of that. And he wasn't. And my mom and all her friends started praying for my dad. And so he would show up and do social events, hang out with her and her friends, but never wanted to come to church. And so there was a Sunday night where they were all gonna go hang out and I do some social thing, and so my dad tells my mom, hey, why don't I just come to church with you tonight? My mom was like super pumped, right? So he shows up and it is deacon ordination night in the Baptist church, which I bragged up in the Baptist church. That's the worst night for an unbeliever ever to come to church, right? Some of my mom, she's sitting there, he's never coming back. Well, unbeknownst to her because of her and her friends pray and the Lord was at work on my dad's heart. So the next weekend, he invited himself back to church. The next weekend after that, he invited himself back to church. And for the first time in his life, heard the gospel, and he gave his life to Jesus in this old balcony, this balcony, this old Baptist church. My mom shares the story of looking over. It was in the response moment. And in the Baptist church, if you wanted to be saved, you had to walk down the aisle and talk to the pastor, right? It's the only way to do it. And so the pastor's given this invitation and my mom looks over and my dad is just weeping. And she said, do you wanna go? And he said, yes. And in that moment, the Griffin family tree started growing a new limb. And when God saved my dad, it set our family on a new trajectory. And so I'm very blessed. I grew up with parents who love Jesus. They're incredible, still married to this day, just amazing human beings raised me to know what it means to know and follow Jesus. I came to saving faith that 14 years old. My dad shared the gospel with me one night and prayed with my dad by my bed and gave my life to Jesus. And then I'd love to say it was happily ever after, after that moment. But honestly, I had to battle my way through a lot of legalism after that. The church I grew up in, it was a lot of guilt, not a lot of grace, a lot of bad news, not a lot of good news. So I really struggled for years just feeling like I could never measure up. Always questioned the love and acceptance of God. And then in my early 20s, had this true gospel awakening where I finally started to understand that God loves me and accepts me not because of me, but because of what Christ has done for me. And bro, it set me free in a new way. And so around that same time God started working on my heart to be a pastor just since this call in the ministry, which I did not want to do. Right, again, I'm my dad's first generation Christian. I'm the only pastor in my whole family. So I get to pray at every holiday meal, all the things, you know? But ultimately surrender to that call and now the passion of my life and ministry, the passion of my preaching is to make sure that people know the gospel and all of its implications for everyday life. Yeah. I've been pastor in Crossbow and City Church now for past 12 years and I have just had a front row seat to see and to move a God take place. It's been unreal, man. Yeah, well, I want to encourage you that Crossbow and City is a home. And even when I'm traveling just a sense of community, the sense of fellowship, what I believe the church was designed to be and the book of Acts, I feel like is seen here at Crossbow and City. So grateful for your leadership, grateful for everything that you're doing. And yeah, I'm getting hit now with this sense of urgency for the gospel, especially after, that feels like the world's falling apart right now all across the globe, everything under the sun that could go wrong is going wrong. And now more than ever, we're in the streets of Salem and we're flat out telling kids the truth. Like, pretty straightforward. Yeah. I feel like now there's like this, because of secularism, people are afraid to tell people, yeah, if you don't put faith in Jesus, you're going to be separated from God for an eternity. Or like some people get oddly specific. So you're telling me that if I do blink, I'm going to hell and people get like on nervous, they don't know what to say. But we're just in Salem and we're talking to kids, adults, homeless people, telling them the flat out truth. And they're like, huh, that's a real deal. There's an openness to it. Yeah, it's like they're open to the fact that, oh man, like I could go to hell for what I'm doing. And I could be separated from God. And even now too, I just feel like before we dive into this, I think something that pastors do really well and I think something that you do well is that you give a background and explain. And I think that that's a tool that I've gotten to learn from you and take into evangelism. When it comes to approaching different people, people a lot of times have only heard the repenter, you're going to burn in hell. Right, right. And, which is their truth to that? Yes. Like what, what, what, these people don't know why. Like why would I burn in hell? You know, like why would I, why would I go to hell for what I'm doing? And so now we're seeing a lot of times when we explain to people, like, hey God's got an original design for this. And when you go outside of that, you're sitting against God. And people are more receptive when you explain to them the reason why. And so I just appreciate you always being, every time you preach, teach, talk, you're always explaining things. And that's an encouragement I've taken away from you. So, well, I appreciate the encouragement. And I do feel like what you're describing matters immensely. Because we live in a society today where so many people have a fundamental misunderstanding of the character and nature of God. So they bring certain presuppositions into these conversations. And they're thinking of God in ways that are untrue according to how He's revealed Himself in His Word. And so when you bring these presuppositions in and you don't even really know the God you're talking about, it's really easy to judge Him. It's really easy to put God on trial versus understanding that like, I know I'm the one on trial. I'm the one who deserves to be judged. He's good, I'm not. God is in control and I'm not. And so the starting point really matters. And I think slowing down long enough to help people understand what you just mentioned. But the Christian worldview simply is that there's a creator who loves you, who made you in His image, sin has wrecked this thing. But God and grace and kindness has provided a way for us to be saved out of that. But God ain't gonna force Himself upon you. You have a choice in this. And you are responsible as a human being for the choice that you make. J.I. Packer has this great quote about hell that hell is God's gesture of respect for human choice. I've always found that to be a really strong statement that hey man, if you don't wanna spend eternity with God, he's gonna force you to be there. If you don't wanna surrender your life in faith to Jesus the only one who can save you, he's gonna force you to do that. And so these conversations really, really matter and people need to know the truth that you're talking about. Yeah, it all, it's, when I think about it from like such a specific thing, it's just the original sin in the garden. People that aren't willing, the people that put God on the trial seat are the ones that have pride in their life. But the people that don't put God on the trial seat can humble themselves before God and that's that fear of the Lord. And I feel like even what we're gonna dive into today is a humility aspect. I think the scripture that we've kinda chosen, I think that's the reason why everyone's clicking on this is I think believers would argue that this might be the scariest passage of scripture in the Bible. I would agree. I don't think it has to be. But I think a lot of people read this and I see a lot of people talking about it online. We got Jesus and the servant on the mount kinda closing it out in Matthew 7 here with the famous words depart from me, I never knew you. That's a pretty intimidating passage. For sure. And I mean, all first glance, before we kinda get into it, you know, when we just hyperfixate on a passage in the middle of a narrative. Yeah. Is that affecting this statement? Cause we're towards the end of the sermon on the mount, right? But when I look at this, a believer, even when I read, I just started rereading the gospels again the other day and a few days ago, I was in Matthew 7. I just got done with Matthew 5 and 6. And I was like, even when I read the purses you chapters before, it's still pretty terrifying when you read it. So, I mean, how could a, how should a Christian, how should Christians approach this passage? Yeah, it's a great question, man. You know, I think understanding the point of Matthew, the gospel of Matthew as a whole really matters. You know, if you, there are four gospels in the New Testament each describing the life and ministry of Jesus, all written for very specific purposes to unique audiences. So the gospel of Matthew is written to a Jewish audience to prove Jesus Christ as king. This is why in Matthew you find more Old Testament references than in any of the other gospels. It's why you find all of these prophetic passages from the Old Testament about who the Messiah would be, what he would do. And so what's interesting is, you know, Matthew opens up with this genealogy all pointing to the fact that, hey, he came from the lines he needed to come from to be the promised king in Messiah. And then once you get into it a little bit further, it's interesting, you know, Jesus comes announcing the kingdom, of God is a hand. He starts calling disciples to follow him. It's interesting 12 disciples to follow him. So it's almost like he's hitting the reset button on the story of Israel. I'm here to do a new thing. And so once you get into Matthew chapters five through seven, the sermon on the Mount, he's basically laying out his kingdom ethic. I'm here, I'm the king, the kingdom is at hand. You need to repent, you need to believe. I'm doing a new thing, I'm on a form of new people. And then this is how my people are meant to live as kingdom people actually preach to a series on this several years ago and I call it kingdom life for that very purpose. And so the passage that we're gonna look at from Matthew seven, here's a simple question, how do I know if I'm in the kingdom? Mm. How do I know if I belong to this kingdom that Jesus came and established and inaugurated and will one day consummate and bring in all of its fullness here to planet earth. And so I would say as we unpack this like to all of your listeners, you should be asking that question. How do I know if I'm in? Because and we'll see it, not everybody who thinks they're in is in. Yeah. But let me read this passage together and then we can kind of pick at it. Verse 21, it says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my father who's in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me. You workers of lawlessness. Strong. I can't help it live at that part, because it sounds so strong. And you know, some of that comes in my brain immediately is I feel like a lot of people look at this passage and they say, oh, well, there's the Old Testament God right there. Look how mean he is. Look at how mean. Yeah. Why is that statement depart from me? I never knew you, not a mean statement, but a loving statement. Yeah. Well, again, I think it goes all the way back to page one of the Bible that got created human beings to be in relationship with him. You know, we belong to a God, a trainitarian God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who for eternity past existed in perfect community, shared in this perfect love relationship with each other. And God created us, this is crazy to share in that. It's not that God was lonely and needed us, but he created us to share in that love relationship. And so the whole idea of Christianity is that we would know God and be known by God, that we would walk an intimate relationship with our creator. And so the whole idea of knowledge really, really matters, right? You know, it's the whole cliche, say, and Christianity isn't a religion, it's a relationship. As cliche as it is, it is very, very true. Yeah. That God created us to know him, to be known by him. That sin has cut off that relationship, interjesus. He came to do for us what we couldn't do so that we could be restored back into that relationship. So for him to go, hey, I never knew you, he's talking to a people who have continued in their sin and rebellion, who are not in right relationship with God, but think that they are, which is terrifying, because it just proves that you can be someone doing all the right things. You can be the person in church every week, using all the right language and still not be in the relationship. You can be doing the religious thing and not be in the relationship. Following all the right rules and not being the relationship. So his words about knowledge here, like those need the way on us. Yeah, I've been telling a lot of people in the street lately, yeah, nice people don't go to heaven, faithful people go to heaven. There you go, man. And when you read before, just the passage before, Jesus is addressing the issue of fruit. He's like, when you're trying to differentiate between a false teacher and someone who's from me, look at the fruit on their life. And when I think of an apple tree, an apple tree doesn't have to try hard to grow apples. And in the same way, we get caught in this legalistic battle sometimes, where it's, okay, now that we've accepted Jesus and put our faith in him, I gotta work as hard as I can to get out of this pit, called my sin and work as hard as I can to make sure my spot is secure. And on the contrary, Jesus, I think, is kinda setting up this passage by saying, hey, well beforehand, just so you know, I'm looking at fruit right now. I'm looking at the fruit of your life and Galatians tells us what the fruit of the spirit is in our lives. And I even have moments in my life where I don't always bear the fruit of the spirit. Sure. So what is the difference between, this is a question we get a lot when we talk to people, especially people that are sitting on the fence and they walk with Jesus, is what is the difference between the worker of lawlessness in this passage that is continuing in their sin versus a Christian, a believer, who has the occasional, oh, I'm not patient. Yeah, I'm not loving in this moment or I'm not this, or the occasional person that falls into some, her sin that they haven't committed in a long time. Maybe they fall back and watch porn again that they haven't watched in years. What's the difference between those groups people? Yeah, well, you mentioned the fruit of the spirit and Galatians five. And I think that is the fundamental difference. One person is striving by the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life of faithfulness to Christ. The other person is striving by human effort to just keep the right rules, to do the right things, to go through the religious rituals. And it's a matter of, am I trying to be my own savior, or has Jesus saved me? And am I aware enough to know that I cannot live the life he has saved me to live apart from him? I talk about this all the time in our church, how the Christian life is impossible without the Holy Spirit. Again, I talked earlier about battling through legalism. This is something that I missed for so long. I would hear all these sermons about what I should be doing, what I shouldn't be doing, and I was horrible at all of it. You know, I felt like Paul in Romans 7 is like, damn, keep doing the things that I don't wanna do and the things I need to do, I'm not doing those. And I was that kid at the altar every week, making all these empty promises to God. God, I'm gonna try harder to do better. I'm not gonna do the thing again. And then by Wednesday, I'm falling on my face. And it was because I was trying to follow Jesus in my own strength. Okay, this is the difference. The true believer understands, I can't do it. Okay, I'm gonna open this book and I'm gonna read this and I'm gonna see all the commands of Jesus and the first step in me getting that right is to admit I can't do any of that on my own. So what I'm gonna do daily is put my life at the feet of King Jesus, yield to the Spirit of God and humbly confess to him. If I'm gonna do any of this, I need you to be in control with me. I need your power, I need your presence, I need your strength, Spirit of God, bear your fruit and in through my life. And so the true Christian is not the person getting up every day, reading the Word and going, I got it, I got it, I'll be right, I can do it. No, you won't. You know, the best that you might do is follow some rules and look religious on the surface. But underneath, bro, your heart is still wicked. You know, you're failing in ways that you're not being honest about and it's because you're trying to do it only the Holy Spirit can do for you. Wow. So when we open this passage here, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. That hits hard because when I think of what Romans tells as he says, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ and the Lord will be saved. And so something that I personally wrestle with it, I'm like, well, hold on here, he's saying, not everyone who says Lord, Lord, one of the kingdom of heaven, but but Romans over here is saying, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, what differentiates these two people? I mean, I feel like a lot of people cry out on Jesus. Sometimes people just cry out for them to bless their food at the dinner table. Some people cry out because they grew up in church. Some people cry out because they sincerely follow Jesus. What's the difference here? What are we when? Because that can be terrifying for a lot of people who could say, well, pass your James. I feel like I've put sincere faith in God. I've prayed. You know, I prayed the prayer. What does that mean? What do they think? Yeah. Yeah, so I think again, what you said is so important, Romans 10, 9, that if you confess with your mouth that he's Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, God will save you. Profession really matters. Making a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as both savior and Lord really matters. So Jesus is not condemning profession here. What he is condemning is faithless profession. Okay. So I think about the person who walks the aisle, gets into the baptismal tub, whatever it may be. They make this public profession of faith, but then nothing changes. This is who he's described. People who are self deceived in that way. You know, here in the religious South, man, well, we're both from, we have seen this time and time again, where you got the person is like, yeah, I prayed a prayer to stay at a hell of eight years old and I've been living like hell ever since. This is the person that Jesus is describing. And I believe we see biblical evidence of this. You know, in James chapter two, James the brother of Jesus describes three types of faith. Okay. There's dead faith, demonic faith, and saving faith. Dead faith is faith that professes, but doesn't practice. So this is the person. Oh, no, no, no, I believe and he's Lord, but nothing is different. That there's no fruit coming forth from their life. Demonic faith, this is scary. Demonic faith is faith that professes and then rebels. So think about what James says in James chapter two that even the demons of hell believe what is true about Jesus, but they don't surrender to his Lordship. I mean, the demons of hell, tremble, have an emotional reaction when they encounter Jesus. You see it all throughout the gospels, but still they refuse to surrender. And there are people like that in the world today. I know what is true about him, but I will not surrender to him. I'm gonna live my life, I wanna live my life. Saving faith is faith that both professes and practices. He is my savior, he is my Lord. I've believed him a heart. I've confessed with my mouth, the Spirit of God lives in me and things are different now for me because salvation was true and genuine and that person is then changed by the Holy Spirit and you see the difference over time. They're not perfect, but they are being perfected. Yeah. They're not perfect with the making progress. Yeah, yeah, I even think too that sometimes people can get caught up in that religiosity of like, oh, if I say the magic words, if I pray this prayer, then all under the kingdom of heaven. And I'm gonna be honest, I remember when I gave my life to Jesus, I did not say some magic prayer. I actually asked God to take away my anxiety and depression, felt the presence and peace of God come over me. Literally, it physically felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I knew he was Lord. And I put my faith in him and there was no magic prayer. Yes, I proclaim Jesus is my Lord, I proclaim that every day, I do my best, even with my mouth and my actions. But I think there's a lot of people out here. And look, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong for structure and saying a prayer. But the idea that a certain prayer is gonna save you, again, you fall under that category of religiosity where it's, oh, well, I said the magic words and so I'm good. Right. Well, no, you're not good. You know, it's like what you just said. What is James describing the faith is here? And then Jesus kind of closes out the statement. This gives me a lot of peace when I read the passage. I think if anything in this passage, it gives me peace about it. It's this back half of verse 21. But the one who does the will of my father who's in heaven. Yeah, yeah. Exactly what you're saying. And I remember talking to some guys a couple of years ago and they were just like, yeah, you know, I'm following Jesus, this is in that. But, you know, I never want to be that guy that judges someone harshly, but I knew what they were doing outside of the conversation and they weren't loving Jesus with their life. You know, it's you, you almost have the question and I constantly have to ask myself this question. Does my life look different before I claim to have met Jesus after I claim to have encountered Jesus? Because there's no way you can meet the man himself and not be changed. Amen to that. There's no way. That's right. You know what I'm saying? So the guy that does the will of the father, is the one who's in heaven, like what is the will of the father? Yeah. What, bro, when you read that, my mind immediately went to 1 John 2, 3 and by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. So this book that we both have in our hands, this is called the revealed will of God. So I was joking people are like, man, I wish I knew God's will for my life. Like open the book and read the book, man. This is where God has revealed his will to you right here in the pages of Scripture. And so when Jesus says the one who does the will of my father, who's in heaven, he's talking about this. But here's what I would add, okay? Not add to Jesus, but add to the conversation. You do the will of the father for the right reasons, okay? This is so key. Obedience should always be motivated by grace. So why do I do the will of the father? Well, it's not because I'm trying to get something from him. It's not because I'm trying to earn or prove myself in some way. And I'm doing this in response to what Christ has done for me. Like I realized that he showed up, put on flesh, died a substitutionary death that I deserve, resurrected from the dead to conquer death and hell. On my behalf, the spirit of God now indwells me as a believer in Jesus Christ. And I do the will of the father out of my love for the father because I understand that God first lived me, that he initiated the relationship. But he sent Jesus to be the propitiation for my sins, to make a payment to satisfy the wrath of God for me. And so the greatest evidence that I know him and belong to him is that I do this for the right reasons. Yeah, what's that verse in the scripture where it says, those have been forgiven, live a love little. And those who have been forgiven much love much. And it's just the days that Bryce loves people so well are the days that I actually sit and reflect on all my junk. And I realize how much God has saved me from. And snatched me from and that empowerment. Even even what I just, everything you're saying, I keep it such a fresh reminder on my heart because I vividly am looking back at all the times that I screw up the most are the times that I try hard not to do things versus when I'm just loving Jesus. I'm naturally avoiding doing the wrong things versus out of my own willpower. Now in verse 22, you know, he references judgment day on that day people will say to me, Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name. Those things aren't inherently wrong. Right. Like in fact, I think Jesus would want us to set the oppressed free. I think Jesus would want to foretell and foretell about the promises of God. I mean, we see the prophetic narrative of scripture. Prophecy is an amazing thing. We see many good works. No, James and chapter once, this pure religion is visiting widows and orphans and their fliction. All that stuff is great. But again, like we're looking at this thing, did we not do these things? How can Christians have a pure perspective of doing the right things for God? It's great, man. Well, again, I think remembering the person he's describing in verse 21, this is the person who self-deceived because they made a profession. Well, I believe I'm in because I said the magic prayer. The person he's describing of verse 22 is the person who is self-deceived because of their performance. I think I'm in the kingdom because of my performance and they are failing to trust in the performance of Christ. Yeah. Bro, what you said earlier, like good people don't get in, forgiven people get in. Yeah. The only way we enter the kingdom is through the sacrifice of Jesus. Like we get in by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone, not because of works. So when you think about what these people are doing, they're arguing for works. Well, we did all these great things in your name and here's what's interesting about the examples that Jesus gives, you know, prophecy, the human report of a divine revelation, beautiful gift in the scriptures, right? That we see from start to finish. But prophecy, here's what we have to keep in mind. At the Holy Spirit is not the only spirit that can give revelation. Demonic spirits can give revelation. Yeah. And I think what he may be describing, I could be wrong on this, I think what Jesus may be describing are people who are repeating and offering demonic revelations, believing that they have come from God because they are self-deceived. I don't know, we prophesied. We said all these things, but they weren't from the spirit. They were from a different spirit. The exorcisms, this is wild to me. We cast out demons in your name. Here's what I find to be interesting. These people had no power to cast out demons. The power is in the name of Jesus itself. So their ability to perform exorcisms says nothing about him or nothing about them, everything about him. Think about that even an unbeliever can speak the name of Jesus to a demonic spirit and that thing can be driven out. It just proves the power of his name, not the power of the person, but the power of his name. And then miracles mighty works. My mind goes to Matthew 24, 24, where Jesus says that many faults Christ and Messiah will appear and they'll even do miraculous works to deceive if possible, even the elect. The thing about that Jesus is saying, there's gonna be days here as we're living life on this side of eternity where people are gonna show up claiming to be working for God, another Christ, another Messiah, doing miraculous things to deceive the church. This is why I always caution our people. I've used the word critical, I would say maybe discerning is the better word. Discerning of movements that emphasize signs, miracles and wonders over the finish work of Jesus Christ. If that is what is front and center and we're gonna chase these things over and above him, you need to be very cautious about that. And I'm not saying, bro, signs, wonders and miracles don't happen or we shouldn't prioritize those things. But the question to be asked is, are the people who are chasing those things and doing these things, are these a means to an end? Yeah. Or is it just about the miracles? Yeah. Is it like, no man, we're praying for people to be healed because we want to preach the gospel on the other side of this in hopes that people come to faith. Yeah. Or we're gonna ask God to move in miraculous ways not so that we can celebrate the miracle but the God of the miracle. Right. And so again, these people are arguing for their performance over the performance of Jesus Christ and we don't get into the kingdom by works. Yeah. I literally remember when we started hit in the street and recording it. I've always been cheering my faith but when in January of 2014, we started recording it. I love praying for people especially if they've got physical ailments because it's interesting how God uses spiritual gifts in that way to soften heart and heart. For sure. And I remember the first two months, month and a half maybe, we were going around and God was speaking to us, yeah, this person's got this problem, this person we prayed and God would heal them. Then we were with the leaf and those people were still even sick. They might have been physically healed but then their heart, nothing happened. And then I got convicted one night and hit with the Lord going, man, you know, that's not bad, right? But I just completely missed the point out here. These people walked away and all I did was pray for them and share my story with them. You know, and those things are great things but I forgot the main thing. I lost the main point. And so I kind of had to do this hard reset of going like, okay, yeah, it's freaking awesome when God does something cool, especially supernatural because it messes with our brains a little bit in a good way or finite brains. But I've never seen more power than anything we've done in the street than just sharing the truth of the gospel with her soul. Because that is what's going to save and that's what's going to heal. And ultimately, like there are going to be people that don't experience what I experience in Wafos. There are people that aren't going to experience the full relief of depression and anxiety. That's right. There's going to be people that have that and that are still going to have to trust God through that. And so that was something I got convicted of pretty early on and then I still am always constantly trying as a reminder to go, okay, I need to make sure that the gospel's my first foot forward that the gospel's my weapon in this thing. Amen. What separates when we read the passage? When I'm using my logical brain here, right? And I think repent for the kingdom of heaven as a hand. Hypothetically, someone could say, well, repenting is a work. Because you're physically turning away from your center. Pending is a work. And what about baptism? Baptism is a work. But you see it as a command and scripture in this thing. This is that. And well, how do you view that? And well, is fate the work? Because you're having to believe. What is the difference between something like that? Especially I think the best example is repentance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that is something that you and I have to do. We have to turn from our wickedness. Is there like a different kind of work that's being addressed in scripture? Or what does that look like? Because I'm right there with you. I believe by grace through fate the loan. Yeah. My faith in the fact that Jesus Christ a bloodshed on the cross pays for my sins that I don't have to pay with my own blood. I believe that to be a fact. But I do wrestle with that in my brain a little bit. Yeah, yeah, all great questions. So repentance, I mean, the Greek word used for repentance in the New Testament, Metinoia. It means to change your mind. And ultimately, it is a change of mind that leads to a change of direction. But here's what we know to be true of the scriptures. I can't change my mind unless the spirit of God changes my mind. And unless he does a work in me, unless he draws me to the Father, unless the Holy Spirit convicts me of sin, of judgment, and of righteousness, unless he reveals to me my need for Jesus exposes the fact that I'm a sinner who needs a savior. There is no changing of my mind. And so repentance, this is a work of the Holy Spirit. He brings me to a place where I can even do that. And repentance, just to simplify it, it's when I change my mind on sin and on God. So I'm looking at my sin going, I've got to stop living like that. I change my mind on God. I need to live out the God-given purpose for which I was created for. And so it is this conscious decision that I'm gonna turn from how I have been living and I'm gonna live for something else. I'm gonna leave behind the old me and I wanna embrace the new me that is only found in Christ alone. But salvation belongs to God only. You know, it's not that your repentance saves, Jesus saves you, right? This is simply a response to the gospel. So you have the people in this passage being addressed or those who have the faithless works, they're without faith, but they've got the works. They're living a life of sin, unrepentant, saying, well, we did all these things. And Jesus closes out the passage by saying, and then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. I mean, there's obviously many believers out there that are absolutely terrified of standing before God on judgment day, hearing that. And I think that there is a little bit of a rightfully so. Like, yeah, that is terrifying to think that you can stand before the maker and he's gonna look at you as if he's never known you. And I literally think of, you know, like if I met Michael Jordan tomorrow and took a picture with him and I went back to my buddies and I was like, guys, I met Michael Jordan, we talked, he said my name, he knows me, and then a week later my buddies go, hey, Michael, you remember me in Bryce, you go, who is that? Because he didn't know me. And I think the phrase, I never knew you coming from the Lord's mouth shows the heart of God where he desires relationship over rituals. And we see that even with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were only about rituals. Right. And Jesus is like, you idiots, you brood of vipers. Like you guys got the wrong thing. I'm with the tax collectors and the prostitutes and the sinners because their heart desires relationship. You're out to get blood. How can the Christian read this passage? Well, how can a Christian read? I never knew you'd depart from it. You workers of lawlessness. And let that affect them in a positive way. Yeah. And I think the positive way thing, that's the key, right? Because we do Paul writes about this in the epistles. We need to examine ourselves to test whether we are in the faith. So these are questions that we need to ask. Let's not assume anything. Let's not assume just because I've said the right things and I'm doing the right things that I'm automatically in. This is the problem in Matthew 7. But let's examine ourselves. Let's ask some really hard questions to gain confidence in our salvation. So here's the question I think we need to ask at the end of the day. Who's work am I trusting in? Am I trusting in my work or am I trusting in the finished work of Jesus? You know, we've thrown around the word sin a few times now. And the way that I define sin for our church, I stole this from Pastor Tim Keller. But sin is so much more than the bad things that you do. It is when you ignore God in the world that He made. So this is sin. When a created being, a human being would say to the creator, even though the world and everything in it belongs to you, I'm gonna live my life, how I'm gonna live my life. Okay, the realities were all guilty of that. And the Bible's very clear that the penalty of sin is death. There's nothing we can do to save ourselves from death. Only Jesus can do that. The problem in Matthew 7 is you have a bunch of people who are still ignoring that reality. And they think I can save me. I can just say the right things and I can do the right things. I don't need a savior. I can be my own savior. The one thing that sends people to hell is when they try to be their own saviors. I don't need Jesus. I can do it. And so again, this is where I would say to the believer in Christ, a couple things. Whose work are you trusting in? That's a very important question. And then I would ask the question, are you making progress in your relationship with Jesus? I think you said this earlier, man. Can you look in the mirror today and go, I'm a different person than I was a year ago. I'm a different person than I was five years ago. But I still got a lot of stuff. I got to figure out and the Lord's got to repair me in a lot of ways. But praise God, I am not who I used to be. Not where I want to be, but I'm not who I used to be. And so another way that always answer this question for people and they're like, how can I know that I'm saved? I asked the question, are you being saved in present time? Because according to scripture salvation is both past, present and future tense. Have been saved and being saved one day I will be saved. And in the moment of faith, God justifies me. Forgives me of my sin, adopts me into his family and declares over my life, I'm not guilty anymore. It's one and done, praise God. One day in the future, I'm gonna be glorified. But on the day of Christ's return, I will be resurrected from the dead. As a son and his family, I will stand face to face with him, receive a brand new glorified, resurrected body that will never feel pain, never get sick, never die. And I will never struggle with the temptations of the flesh ever again. Returnity, all I know is perfection. Praise God, it's future salvation. Present salvation is sanctification. And this is a lifelong process starts in the moment that trust in Jesus doesn't end until the day you see him face to face. And in the process of sanctification, the Holy Spirit is working to conform you more into the image and likeness of Christ. So Martin Luther gives this great picture that as human beings, we have this natural tendency to curve in on ourselves. He said sanctification is the Holy Spirit bending us back out, getting our attentions and our affections off of us and back on to God and people where they belong. So this is the question I ask, is that happening in your life? Are you being saved in present time right now? And if you can go, yes, I am making progress. I'm not perfect, but I'm making progress, not who I used to be. And you know what, I'm trusting in what Christ has done, not in what I can do, then I would say you should be confident in the fact that you will show up on judgment day. And not hear those words, I never knew you, but hear those words well done, good and faithful servant. Yeah, I mean, I feel like even what you just said, the guy that looks in the mirror and says does my life look different than a year ago? I think that there's a lot of people listening that will say that's me, my life looks 10 times worse. Like I have significantly digressed. I remember that's what my life looked like as I went into high school, was my life significantly got worse over time. And that can feel like that hopeless pit of despair. For sure. And I mean, even to the believer, like I learned this from you, but when you cherry pick a scripture out and then just go, oh shoot, that's the scariest thing ever. I mean, literally the passage after that I never knew you passage, Jesus gives the antidote to this problem. That's right. Of instead of trusting in you, build your life on the rock, which is my word, which is me, live on my foundation. You know, we even see that comparison of the, the sand, the house built on the sand, the house built on the rock, but he gives the antidote. And I think sometimes we cherry pick the scripture and go, oh shoot, this is the most terrifying thing I've ever read. This is in that I can't do it. But then when you put it in the narrative, you know, when you delete the numbers and the fancy titles we got in the letter Bible, it flows and you kind of understand that Jesus isn't leaving you hanging out to dry, even with something like the end times. Like people get so terrified of the end times. But when you look at the macro narrative of scripture and prophecy, you go, wow, God's a promise keeper. Amen. God really loves me and he sees me. And so I'm right there with you, even with the sanctification, I just reflect on my life and think of that verse in Proverbs. The righteous man falls seven times and gets back up. That's right. And I remember reading a commentary one time and whoever wrote the commentary was like, reading that passage and saying to yourself, oh, I can go sin is the opposite of what Paul writes in a Romans. He says, we don't read that passage. And let's say the person falls, you stay in that place. It's like, that's why the righteous man gets back up. The devil tries to keep you in that place. The devil tries to leave you there. And that's why people's life spirals out. It's like, you fall and then you stay there. But the righteous man gets back up. You know, I think something I think about too, which I think would be a cool way to close is, you got people out there that I believe really sincerely do love Jesus, but maybe they struggle with the habitual sin. Maybe they struggle with a certain sin struggle. Maybe there's one thing in their life that for some odd reason they can't get the grasp on. Maybe it's that thing. And it was crazy. Even a witch told me this other name, Salem. Okay. This witch said, because they were talking about trauma and all this stuff, they were like, look, Bryce, you know, your family may have a history in this blank area and you may not specifically trust that. But look at an influx of idolatry in your life in other areas. And that same generational curse, it's just reflecting itself in a different area in your life. A witch said this to you. Wow. And so that I'm like, even the people with demonic faith can understand that things can have strongholds on people. I think that's just the battle I have in my brain is, what is the person? What does that person do that it has the struggle that has the issue, especially a lot of young people? That's a lot of the young people bog themselves down. Yeah. Man, so, all right, my mind goes to second current the inch chapter 12. And this is fresh on my mind, because I just preached this passage a couple of weeks ago to men's conference that I was speaking at. And I think number one, we've all got to be honest with ourselves. We all have something like that. Every single one of us. What you're describing, we've all got a thing like that. And Paul, who wrote second Corinthians 12, he's describing his thing like that. And he calls it a thorn in the flesh. And it's so interesting that this is the thing in Paul's life that made him feel very, very weak as a man. He calls it a messenger of Satan sent to torment him to harass him, but on the other side of it, he says, but God used it as an investment in my humility. Paul had this like great revelation caught up to the third heaven, had this amazing experience, sat on it for 14 years, never talked about it. And then he finally talks about it. And he says, to keep me from becoming conceited, here's what happened. Thorn was stuck in my flesh, man. And I think, again, what we all have to be aware of is that when left to ourselves, our default is always pride and conceit. Like that's just who we are as people because of our sinful natures, that we, if left to ourselves, will attempt to walk through life alone apart from God, which always goes really bad. So the thing that you're describing the way that I see it, God will leave certain thorns in our flesh to invest in our humility, to keep us desperate for him and dependent upon him. Like, like thing, my word, he says to Paul in this text, Paul prays three different seasons of his life, not just three prayers, but three different seasons. God, take this thing from me, have no idea what it was, man. But for us today, it could be pornography addiction, it could be alcoholism, it could be anger, it could be, it could be a variety of things. So imagine being the person, and we've probably prayed these prayers before. God, this is the thing that I hate about me. I want it gone, gone, take it away. And God says, no. I'm not. My grace will be sufficient for you. All you need is my grace, because my power is made perfect in your weakness is what God says to Paul. And so the way that I have often said it, the line that I'll use, and I truly believe this with all my heart, that on this side of eternity, God is far more concerned with our dependence than he is with our deliverance. So think about it. If God delivered you from the thing in your life right now that you struggled with the most, and we all want that, would you need him like you need him right now? Would you pursue him like you pursue him right now? Or is that the thing in your life that just keeps you desperate? God, I need you. I need you to show up and to be for me who you've promised to be, because if I try to do life apart from you, I'm gonna give into this thing, and it's gonna destroy me and crush me. And I love the conclusion that Paul comes to in that text. He's like, well, said, oh, why not about my weakness? I'm gonna boast in it. God, if this is how this thing works, I will boast in my weakness all the more, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I'll share a quick story just to illustrate this. All right, I told you, come from a long line of adulterers, pornographers, moonshiners. Well, that pornography thing got it, got its hooks into me at a very early age. I was in elementary school, and my cousin and I found our granddad's playboys in the basement of his house. Wow. At that point, I was like, you know, I'd never seen anything like that. And there was something in me that's like, I don't think I should be looking at this, but I really wanna look at this. And from that point on, it's almost like pornography just found me. This was before internet, smart phones. So you really had to work to look at it if you wanted to look at it. But it just had a way of finding me, bro, and it was very strange. And it was a battle, a struggle for many years of my life. And it was one of those things for me that I just hated about me. And on many different occasions, was like, God, take the struggle, take the struggle, take the struggle. And I'll never forget years ago, man, I came across second Corinthians chapter 12, and it's like a light bulb went off in me. And I just, since God's saying to me, that temptation to look, that's the thorn I'm leaving in you to keep you dependent upon me. And all of a sudden, I went from seeing that temptation, difference between temptation and sin. I went from seeing that temptation as a burden to a blessing. So God, if that's the thing, God, this gonna keep me on my face, seeking you every day, I'll just boast in it. Yeah. I'm gonna use it against the enemy so that the power of Christ will rest upon me. And when the power of Christ rests upon you, that's when you have victory over the thing. Yeah, what are the practicals that you do for believers out there to keep seeking his face? Yeah. You know, I think of routine and rhythm. And I might be the worst set of routine and rhythm. I'm getting there, but I might be the worst. What are some practicals that you do to keep yourself seeking the face of Jesus that allows you to continuously be dependent on him? Because I think of that passage in Psalm CC III to set it up. I hear a lot of people they say this, they say, well, I felt God so heavily last night at the Wednesday night. I mean, Jesus was right there. I'm at the altar. I mean, I'm a weep and I'm crying. And then I woke up this morning and I can't feel it at all. God doesn't love me. And King David literally says, I long to be in your presence, but I'm in a dry and thirsty land in Psalm 63. Yeah. So how, what are some practicals that you would hand out to give people to say, hey, if you want to remain faithful and dependent, these are some things that I would suggest you do. Yeah. Well, I would say the first thing, don't trust in your feelings. Trust in what you know to be objectively true. Even if you don't feel the presence of God, Jesus has made a way for you to access the presence of God anytime, anywhere you want. So don't trust in some emotional experience. Like God is offering Himself to you, even when it feels dry. He's right there, closer than the skin that you're wearing and you have to believe that. You have to believe it. Now, when it comes to practices, I would say, and this is in no particular order, but you just mentioned it. And I think this is so important for your generation too to hear this. You need to gather with the people of God consistently or worship. To exalt Jesus to sit under the teaching of God's word, just to put yourself in environments where truth is washing over you and you are positioning yourself before God to be changed by Him. And so I would say be consistent in that. More than once or twice a month, but be there. Man, when the doors are open, make that a priority. I think on a personal level, I mean, dude, I'm in the word all the time. I get paid to do this, which is pretty great. But I am in the word all the time. I read an hour or two a day, whether it's this or other books related to this. And I just make that a priority. I don't spend a lot of time in front of the TV or anything like that. Just when I have time, I want to spend time hearing from the Lord, reading about the Lord. I would say my prayer life. A couple of ways that I advise people to pray. I was actually talking to a young woman in our church about it just this week because she was having some struggles. And I always say, you need to pray proactively for the spirit of God to give you the power you need to walk in holiness and humility. So what this looks like for me first thing in the morning, feet hitting the floor. God, I need you today. And I pray very specific prayers. God helped me to walk in holiness today. Help me to be a man fully consecrated to you today. Very intentional about thanking God for Jesus, my salvation. So I'm always preaching the gospel to myself in that way. And I'm asking the spirit of God for the help that I need to live according to this. Being, I can't do it without you. So I need you. So I'm praying proactively. But then I also pray reactively at times. So in temptation rears its ugly head in the moment praying. Spirit of God, I need you right now. And this is something that I think a lot of Christians are really bad about. And I think we listen to the voice of the enemy in times like this too much. So you're tempted to do the thing. You're gonna drink that or look at that or whatever it is. And you've got the enemy whispered in your ear. Dude, if that's what you wanna do right now, you can't talk to God. You should be ashamed of yourself for wanting to do that. Last thing you can do is go to Him in a moment like this. You might as well just give in. And a lot of times we do. And then it's guilt and condemnation, right? So what I've had to train myself to do, and this is what I tell other people to do, is in those moments run to God. I think about my own daughters, man, when they're in trouble and they need help and they say, Dad, help! First thing I do is I come running. And you gotta know the heart of God for you. It's a father who loves you. And when you call out for his help, he comes running in your direction. So pray reactively in those moments when you need the help of the Holy Spirit. And he will answer that prayer every single time. So I would say those, man, corporate worship, Bible reading prayer, our primary community, you gotta be in community with people, man. You can't follow Jesus alone. To find a good community and walk with Him. I love when you emphasize that corporate worship, but I'm not just saying, I don't think that's just because you're a pastor. I don't think that's why. Because I had for the longest time, and I know this is such a side note, I think it's so important. I think a lot of young people believe the same thing I did for a long time. I thought it was just about me and my relationship with God and that's what mattered. All I need is be my Bible, my Lone Time, and I'm good, the church is crazy. There's too many pastors that do X, Y and Z. I'm good, I don't need it. And there's a lot of people that go, well, you know, I'm a Christian, but I don't go to church because the church is awful or the church is this, the church is that. Well, I kind of forgot the idea that just because you have a few rotten apples, that doesn't mean every apple is rotten. That doesn't mean the whole bunch is bad. And finally, I was reading the scriptures, it really got convicted of the local church within the last year and a half, but specifically in December, I even called you on the phone, working through some stuff, but around that time in December, I was reading the book of Acts when Barnabas had sold all of his stuff and the church got lit. They were like, yo, this is epic, you're hype, we're gonna do this stuff, you're awesome. And Ananias and Sapphira, they liked the shine, they liked the praise he got. So Ananias and Sapphira sold all their stuff, but they only gave some of the money away and not all of it. And God killed Ananias and Sapphira to purify the birth of the church. And it was in that moment that I realized, God did it just kill them because he felt like doing it. God was keeping the purity of the local church. A thing God cares about the local church. And when my perspective shifted of the local church, I started to realize how important it is to be around you. When we spend time together, we get to meet up for food when I'm in town or when we get to text, I feel zero pressure to lie, zero pressure to hide. I actually feel more freedom around the congregation, the brothers, the sisters, the mothers, the fathers, you, to be open about everything, to come and be loved. And there's a lot of people that say, well, I don't have a good father in my life, I don't have a good mother in their life, but they're neglecting the church. That's right. And the Bible tells us that the hearts of fathers will turn back to sons and the hearts of sons will turn back to fathers. Like you can find fathers here in the church. It's like the community is there. And so that's what I appreciate about cross-point, about the local church is even when I'm on the road, or I'm not in town, the family is still there. And when I come in town, catching up with people seeing everyone going there, going to the prison, it was just awesome. And so I think sincerely the local church has changed my faith in a radical way. And it's not a Sunday faith, this thing's an everyday thing, but man, to kick your week off with fellowship of believers, worshiping a like-minded, worshiping with like-minds, incredible. It changes everything. You know, I tell our people here all the time, God did not save you to walk alone. He saved you into a family. And God's desire and plan is to use his family to shape you into who he wants you to be. So just like our families have shaped us in ways, God wants to use his family to shape us in ways. And I think too, we gotta be careful about talking trash, about the church, man. Oh, the church is awful, careful. The Bible says that the church is the bride of Christ. You really wanna talk crap about his bride? It can be careful. I mean, the reason that you struggle in church at times is because it's full of a bunch of centers. But God will purify his bride. He will have his way within his people and in his family. And so it's critical. That whole idea of like, I can do this on my own is just not a biblical idea. It is an American idea, but it is not a biblical idea. We need the people of God to become the people God has saved us to be. Two softball questions for you. They have nothing to do with anything we've talked about. Do pastors have pastors? Does that make sense? Some of them, here's what I'll say. I think every pastor needs a pastor. Not all the pastors that I know do. I have two men in my life specifically that I look to as pastoral mentors, pastoral figures in my life. The primary guy is right here in the Atlanta area. I served on his staff for a while. He pastors a church called Westered Church, Brian Boise's name. And he's my pastor, man. I mean, if I need something, I can go to him. If something's going on in my life, and I need to talk to a pastor who I know will shepherd me well. He's the guy that I call. Another guy's in Southern California, Larry Osborne. But I think every pastor needs a pastor for sure. Yeah. Then my final softball question before I ask you to close this out here with two things. Why is every pastor yoked? And why are they always yoked? That's a real thing. Seriously, like every pastor that I know in America has got to be an absolute tank. Like they are in the gym. But why is that? What pastors are you running with, bro? No, I'm talking about everyone I'm seeing. Everyone, first time I met you, I'm like, I'm talking to a grizzly bear right now. What is going on? Yeah, I'll receive it, bro. I don't, honestly, for me, I can't answer for all the other dudes, but I mean, I've been working out since 16. I grew up playing sports for me being in the gym as a stress reliever as much as it is anything. But I do think, I do think, to be low pragmatic. I think there are generations of pastors now, a generation of pastors who truly understand the importance of being healthy in every area of life. Yeah. I grew up in a denomination where I went on like that. Yeah. You know, whatever. I'll just leave it there. But I think a lot of the guys that I run with understand that it matters that I am healthy, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, relationally, and even physically, that this thing that I'm living, it is a temple of the Holy Spirit that was bought at a price and I have stewardship responsibility to care for this. So anyway, I get in the gym and I try to stew it well. Yeah, I mean, that was a big reason why I started getting in the gym was I ate really bad. When you're a guy that doesn't know how to cook and you live on your own for the first time, you just eat like McDonald's every day. And then drive through. Yeah. And it was brutal. And then I was like, I feel like if I were to cut corners and something as small as my diet, I'm willing to cut corners big. And, but yeah, it just seems to be like a universal theme that like that every pastor's got two guns on them. Like yeah, they don't even need it. That churches don't need the security team because the pastor's got it. That's so good. I love it. I love it. So I wanted you to close out with two things. I want you to pray for us to close out before you do. There's everyone's watching, listen, we have a pretty predominantly Gen Z audience. If you could encourage someone watching our listen and what would you say? Oh man, this is super timely. I just preached a sermon in our church this week from Ecclesiastes. And I got to talk to all the old people. And then I got to talk to all the young people. And I just love the advice that the preacher gives to all the young people. Simple advice was, live for Christ now. Remember your creator now. There's never a better time to live for the glory of God than in this season of life where you have the most to offer. Physically, mentally, emotionally, got a lot of energy. Like, bro, enjoy life and do what God is calling you to do. And I just wanted to say to you, man, you have what it takes by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. But this is a season of life that you need to leverage. Like, bro, I think one of the things that I admire about you, bro, and I'm so dang proud of you. And a lot of people don't get to know you like I get to know you behind closed doors. So for everybody listening, Bryce's legit, okay, I just wanna tell you that. But what I love about your stories here, you are, 21 year old dude. Like, who knows, once you're older and married and have kids, if you're gonna be able to do what you're doing right now, but you're doing it. Let's travel, let's preach the gospel. Let's go to Salem and hang out with witches. Let's go to festivals and pray with people. I would say to Gen Z, your generation, do as much of that as you can right now. Because as you age and things start to slow down, you might not have the same opportunities you have in the season of life. Do not believe the lie that you can live for the glory of God later. Hmm, so good. Again, I'm not trying to scare anybody, but this is the reality of life. Later may never come. You might miss out on opportunities that God's putting in your lap right now. And so live every day like it could be the last day, man, and make the most of the time that you have in the season of life is what I'd say. Yeah, that's so good. I just can't help but think, you know, politics aside, try the Kirk woke up like it was a normal day. Yeah, that's it. That's what hit me the hardest about the whole thing. Is he woke up like it was a normal day. Nobody thinks their last day is going to be the last day. Yep. And we need to live every day of our lives like it could be. Yeah. Would you pray for us as well? I'd be honored. I'd be honored. God, thank you for this conversation. And I pray that you would use it to grip the hearts of these people who are listening. God, we thank you for Jesus and for doing for us what we could never do on our own. I thank you for making a way for us to know you, to be in relationship with you and God, I pray for the people who've listened and who right now are self deceived, who think that they're in when they're not in. God, would you help them to see that? God, I pray for people who have listened and they know they're not in. God, would you awaken faith in their dead hearts? Help them to see their need for Jesus and God, I pray that you'd save them. That you would give them what they need exercise, faith in Christ. And in Him alone, God, I thank you for Bryce and for his team and for how you're using them. God, to impact people and I pray that that work would continue. Just keep your hand on his life, use him in ways that we can't ask or imagine in a moment like this. And I pray for this audience, God, especially all the Gen Z people who are listening right now. God, light a fire under them. Give them an even greater hunger for the truth. And God, I just thank you for what you're doing in this generation, the spiritual awakening that I see happening in this generation and God, I pray for more of that. I pray, may this generation be the ones God who changed things here in our nation. God, that is my prayer. So use them to that end. We love you, God, we pray all this in Jesus name, amen. Amen. Guys, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode. If you guys like it, subscribe to us on YouTube, follow us on Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok. Bless you guys and see you guys next week for the next episode.