WEBVTT - "I Was Beaten Into The Crips!" | Emean "E.Z." Zwayne 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:04.760 So easy question for you to start this whole thing. Yeah, 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:08.280 you come from California to Texas, the land of fruits 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:10.520 and nuts, brother, and you go to In and Out 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:11.120 for lunch. 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:14.520 Hey man, I had to feel at home. You know, 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:17.520 all this Waterburger stuff. You know, we might have to 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.159 get into a fight, but I'm like, I had a 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:21.160 friend try to compare Waburger to In and Out and 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:22.760 I'm like, yeah, you got problems, bro. 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:24.919 So I didn't say anything when you texted me that. 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.440 You're like, I'm on my way, I'm making good time. 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:29.000 I'm gonna stop buy in and Out and grab a 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:29.480 little lunch. 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:31.479 And I was like, oh, I am man, he's going 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:32.800 to do that. That's what he's gonna do. I was 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.080 on my way and I'm like, oh, home, I exited, and. 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:38.680 Did it taste the same as California In and Out? 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:39.760 You know what it did? Man? 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:40.160 Okay? 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:41.760 And not just that, but I said to the lady 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.639 at the count I'm like, every one of these is exactly. 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.200 I feel like I'm literally at my in and Out 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:48.120 in my neighborhood. You know. 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.559 But did you tell you said I'm from California and okay. 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:53.440 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I said, yeah, man, and she was. 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:55.440 She used to work at an in and Out in California. 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:57.760 So yeah, bro, we call it the Lord's Burger. 0:00:57.880 --> 0:00:59.960 The Lord's Burger, that's it. So it's like the Lord 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.760 Chicken is Chick fil a. You get your chicken. 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.440 If you're saved, you eat it in and out? Are 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.520 they a Christian based company and then out? Are you serious? 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:14.760 I don't know you've net You've never looked under the cups, and. 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:16.840 I maybe it's embarrassing. 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.559 I haven't seen too much under the cups and under 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:23.960 the fry thing of Majinga's Yeah, so get with it, man. 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.320 So now I feel really bad because I don't know 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.720 this about Waterburger. I don't know they don't have scriptures 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.000 on their cups. So yeah, that's a really good argument. 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:32.840 And believe the gospel. 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:37.600 Man, there's still time saved. There's still time for you. 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:40.800 I get saved again almost every time in this podcast. 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:41.959 We got somebody. 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:42.680 I love it, man. 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.640 I think I got saved with Ray a few weeks ago. 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.160 Yeah, multiple salvations. 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.160 Your father in law is Ray Comfort, Yeah, the one 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.960 and only who we had him on here. Uh, you know, 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.240 not not handsome sitting here in the in the seat 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:56.640 like you are. 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.200 He was on the screen, he was he doesn't travel anymore, man. 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.760 He put an end to that years ago. So yeah, 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:05.320 you got to get them remote. 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.200 So I purposely don't know your testimony or how this 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.720 even that your connection with Ray, I don't know, and 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.600 I typically I will like dive in and want to 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.120 learn everything about it, but I was, man, I have 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.720 heard that you have quite the story, pretty crazy. Great. 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.320 So yeah, well let me say first of all, a 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:31.720 lot of people don't know this, you know, but Ray 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:33.920 is obviously my father in law. But what a lot 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.040 of people don't know is Rays of Jewish descent and 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.240 I'm of Arab descent, and together we are the solution 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:40.480 to the Mid East crisis. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:40.959 Wow. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:42.639 And if that doesn't work, We're going to start a 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:45.120 new mattress company called Easy Comfort, and just call. 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:45.880 It today. 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.360 Easy Comfort. It's a match made in heaven. 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:52.760 So let me get some context to what you just said, 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.560 because it's it's by no coincidence that I was literally 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.240 talking about this today with two friends that were here 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.560 at the house, and we're talking about racism and how 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:07.200 in America we have no idea, we have no idea hatred. 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:12.160 And when I've been to Israel, in fact, a man 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.760 who's sitting here with us on this particular trip I 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.360 was telling them about. We had Rami with us, you know, 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.960 loving the death. He's an Arab Christian, but there were 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.040 there were times when we would go eat at certain 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.519 restaurants and he would not eat with us, and he 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.600 would say, there is a Jew at your table. I 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:31.920 would say, Rami, you're a Christian man. You've been you know, 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.120 been set free from You've been set free from this 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.480 in Christ and he can't. It runs deep, man, It's 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.120 run so deep. He couldn't sit at the same table. 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.120 So that this is what you're talking about with with 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.280 Arabs and Jews. There is something going on there that 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:48.120 goes beyond what the American mind could possibly understand. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.320 Yeah, there's a history, there's a lot of you know, acrimony, 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.720 and yet I have seen, like with Ray and myself, 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.040 you know, but even in the Middle East, the Lord 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:04.040 take Jews, Arabs, save them and break down. As Ephesian 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.600 talks about that middle wall of separation and that unity 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.760 that we have because of Christ. Man, it's beautiful and 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.320 you see that, you know, when two people get radically 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.640 saved and were at enmity, and then now they have 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.680 Christ as the bond. There's nothing like it. And that's 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.080 what the gospel does. You know, you think of Revelation five, 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.400 from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, He's 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:30.280 redeemed us to God by his blood. Yeah, man, so yeah, 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.400 it's it's it all goes back to the gospel. But man, Ray, 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:35.720 and I you know, he's been my father in law 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.440 now boy, as of a few days ago, twenty nine 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.840 years wow, and yeah, thank you. You know, he was 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.080 my hero before I knew him, and then you know, 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:47.719 I met him and then he became my father in law. 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:49.360 But you know the old saying never meet your heroes 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.560 because you'll be disappointed. We always seen that we build 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:53.280 people up and then we realized that were't all we 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:54.440 thought they were cracked up to be, and that we 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.840 get disappointed. But man, with Ray, it's been the exact opposite. 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.400 I mean, my respect for him keeps grow and I 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.120 know him. You know, he's not just my boss. He's 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:03.599 my father in law. So I know him his family 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.520 and he's a real deal. I mean, what you see 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.440 on our television program, what you see on our podcast 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:14.880 what you see on you know, our YouTube channel the movies. 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:19.000 This is Ray Comfort twenty four seven. I have never 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:21.599 in my twenty nine years of him being my father, 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.240 in thirty years almost of knowing him, I've never seen 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.640 the man have an off day when it comes to 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:30.800 sharing the Gospel. He is on and always on. It's 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.080 like his his face is set like a flint, you know, 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.600 and he's just heading toward eternity and he's gonna grab 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:41.719 whoever he can on his way. And I've never known 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:46.800 anyone like him. His humility, his godliness, his generosity. Don't 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:51.760 get me emotional, bro, Yeah, it's it's it's amazing. So 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:55.520 I'm humbled. I constantly pinched myself that, like, I get 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.479 to serve the Lord with ch because before I met him, 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:02.320 I dropped to my knees one day very distinctly, I said, Lord, 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.440 I pray that someday in some way this man can 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.960 disciple me. And so I first heard about him. This 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:10.640 guy comes up to me. I was visiting some friends 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:12.320 at a Bible college and this guy that I just 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.080 got to know a bit, he comes up and he goes, hey, man, 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.719 you ever heard of this guy named Ray comfort, and 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:18.280 he starts looking around like he's about to do a 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:23.039 drug deal. He's like and he goes he's crazy. I'm like, no, 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:24.040 I never heard this crazy guy. 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:24.520 I n even recover. 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:26.800 But he got my attention. So he sticks a book 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.600 in my hand called Springboards for Effective Evangelism. He's, oh, man, 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:31.919 you got to read this. I took it out of 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.000 you know, courtesy. I'm thinking that's going to go on 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:35.640 that stack of books at home. I'm never going to read. 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.040 And but by God's providence, one day I picked it 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.560 up and man, I couldn't put it down. I'm like 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:43.840 reading this stuff he's doing. He's going up to strangers 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.239 on the street. He's doing a mock funeral in public 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.359 with like these guys dressed up like Paul bearers and 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.200 he's got a guyline on the ground, the sheet over him. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.560 He's talking to people about death. You know, it's going 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.560 up to the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar preaching the gospel. 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.440 I'm like, no, this guy's not crazy. He's clinically insane. 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.719 You know, like what in the world. And you know 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.080 he becomes my father in law and you got to fill. 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:06.800 In that gap right there. 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:13.000 Yeah, Well, before before that, before that, before that, I 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.240 had started an evangelism team through a church that I 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.320 had co planted, and we were about to go out 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:19.840 for our first time and someone brings a VHS if 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.720 you remember what that is, a VHS state and they're like, hey, man, 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:24.760 you ever heard of Ray Comfort. I'm like, yeah, I 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.560 have pops it in and it was one thing that 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.000 you know, read about what Ray was doing, but to 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:32.880 see him in action, I mean, this little guy stepping 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:34.600 up on a step stool, you know, yeah, right Tan 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:36.360 and the Lord repent, you know, and he's just doing 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:40.640 his thing. I'm like And so from that point I 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:44.200 really got connected with the ministry. And then we uh 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.560 I called to order some tracks one day and I 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:50.120 heard leaving waters. I'm like, no, no, it can't be. 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:51.560 So we keep talking a little more and I'm like, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:53.920 I'm sorry, is this very comfort? Oh yeah? Right, yeah, 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:57.840 yeah yeah. I'm like, no way, so personable, so down 0:07:57.840 --> 0:07:59.560 to earth, so humble, you know. And at the end 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:00.920 of the conference, he says, you know, if you ever 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:03.160 want me to come speak at your church, because the 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:05.040 ministry wasn't far from our church, he said, you know, 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:06.760 I'd love to, And so I said. 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:08.200 You're a Christian at this point, like you were a 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.200 Christian before? The first guy says, have you heard of recovery? 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.040 Oh yeah, yeah, okay, I got yeah, I've been saved 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:15.640 a couple of years, so we need to get to that. 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:15.960 Yeah. 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.360 Well yeah yeah, So I'm on, you know. I like, yeah, 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:19.520 if you ever want me to come speak, I left 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.080 to him like yeah, yeah, let me pray about it. Amen, yes, 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:24.240 you know, like, where can you come? So a couple 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:28.320 of weeks later he came spoke, and and then you 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.320 know what's crazy is after he became my father in law, 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:33.520 one day he came up to me with that book 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.079 that I first learned about him through, and it was 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.400 a reprint of the book, and he surprised me by 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.480 putting a chapter of poetry I had written into the book. 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.520 So now I'm in the book that I first learned 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:46.679 about him through. And then one year I went our 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.800 way to Israel and we stopped off in New York. 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.120 We had a long layover, and I find myself standing 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.400 with him in that same park I watched him in 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:58.000 the video preaching at and I was there with him, 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:00.240 side by side, preaching the gospel open air in that 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:04.200 same part, and so it was just like surreal, you know. 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.320 So, yeah, okay, there's a lot of a lot of 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:09.280 gaps to fill in. Yeah, I do want to say 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:15.720 that's how older, you know, nine? Yeah, let's I'll say 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:20.160 this as respectful as I can. You and I we will. 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.080 We Lord Willing will have a lot of years without 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:31.400 Ray here. And there is a generation of faithful Bible 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:35.439 teachers that right now is kind of at the at 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.959 the later years of their life, the twilight years of 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.959 their life. Some of them. I think we'll probably lose 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:46.960 some within a year or two, not Ray, but we 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.520 will be You and I will be a generation to 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:55.840 tell our children and our children's children we knew this man. Yeah, 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.319 you walked up the hallway with a lot of men 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.400 on my that have passed from years past that that 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.480 we don't have any connection to, right but we will 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.560 with this particular generation. And Ray is right there in 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.160 the middle of this small group of faithful men that 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.280 will be remembered because of the Lord's work in their life. 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:19.160 Yeah. You know, Paul Washer. We spent about an hour 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.640 and a half with Paul Washer recently at the Shepherd's Conference, 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:25.679 just you know, hanging out in a boardroom and and 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.040 to see his because he's a giant amongst us, you 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.280 know now, but to see his excitement about Ray and 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:34.880 he just looked at her, I said, you're my hero, Like, 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.600 you have no idea how much you've impacted my life. 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.800 And he has said before publicly, Ray Comfort will never 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.040 know how much impact he's had in this world until 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:44.160 he reaches eternity, you know. 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:50.120 And Arsi Sprolls teachings are still people still watch those videos. Yeah, 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.760 and that will happen even more with Ray. Yeah, so 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.080 many more videos. 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:59.400 And man, the older he gets, the more passionate he gets, 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.120 the more jaddicky becomes. I'm like, Ray, what in the world. 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.800 You know, he just I mean, he keeps discovering he 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:10.199 has these abilities. You know, it's like that are just insane. 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.120 You know, he gets saved and before he got saved, 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:14.760 he saw this leather jacket and he thought, oh, I 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:16.480 can do that, makes a leather jacket. Next thing, you know, 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.600 he has a leather jacket shop. He's got like made 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:22.360 like over a thousand jackets in his time. Then you know, 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:24.640 he gets saved and he's like, oh, you know, he 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.199 almost failed English and he stood up in front of 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.160 his class one time to give a speech, and he 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.160 dried up. Everyone started laughing at him. He sat down. 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:35.199 He said, I will never speak in public again. Get saved. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.960 Next thing he knows, he's open hair preaching. He's speaking everywhere, 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:39.400 you know. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.440 Jeremiah, Yeah, I give you your mouth right. Yeah. 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.600 And then you know, one day he just decided to 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.319 try his hand at painting. He discovers he's this brilliant painter. 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.000 He started painting these portraits and we started making putting 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.080 them on eBay and and getting money for the ministry. 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.360 Then in his late sixties, he thought, you know, I 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.000 can't wait for my team to finish editing. I'm gonna edit. 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:00.480 He learns to edit, starts editing most of our videos 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:04.600 and movies. Yeah. Yeah, and now yeah, he's been watching 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.240 a lot of ballet. I'm getting scared. Bro Oh great 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.600 comfort the ballerina. No, so tell me about how you 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:19.160 got saved. Yeah. So I was born in Lebanon. Immigrated 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.079 to the US with my family in nineteen eighty. I 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.520 was about four and a half. Lebanon was a real 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.439 It's a city called Junia. It's near Bay Route. I 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.959 mean Lebanon's so small, but yeah, about probably fifteen to twenty 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:36.320 minutes from Beirut coastal town. Immigrated nineteen eighty with my family. 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:38.040 A couple of my uncles had come ahead of us, 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:42.559 and so by God's grace, we ended up here. And 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:44.600 you know, as a kid, I had this sort of 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.040 chip on my shoulder soldier mentality. You grew up in 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:49.920 the midst of war. You're always hearing about the enemy, 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:53.080 and you're just kind of sort of almost influenced with 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:57.520 this aggressive kind of fighter mindset. And so Muslim family, no, 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:01.360 actually Catholic Catholic, Yeah, yeah, Lebanon is unique in the 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.400 Middle East in that regard and that it was almost 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.480 a majority Catholic population. So grew up Catholic. We had 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.920 priest nuns, we had a monastery that was run by 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:11.280 our family forever, you know, and so my dad almost 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.000 became a priest. But we move here and man, I 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.040 just I had this again chip on my shoulder, and 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.520 so early on, getting into trouble in school, getting in 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.080 the fights. Eight years old, I did my first Holy 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.520 Communion in the Catholic Church and I decided, man, that's it, 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:27.560 I'm changing my life I'm going to reform this thing. 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:34.679 And I got cleaned. I got to reform again. Bro, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:39.280 the easy reformation. I thought, you know, I thought, I'm 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:41.040 gonna I'm gonna, yeah, change my life. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:41.640 So I cleaned. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.200 I cleaned up the outside of the cup really well. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:49.760 Stopped lying, stealing, cheating, robbing banks all at eight years old. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.040 But you know, I really cleaned up my life. Became 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:57.000 teacher's pet, mama's boy, stopped cussing, go to local Catholic 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.760 gift shop by crosses, you know, do all my rituals. 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:02.120 But you know it was the outside of the cup. 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.200 I wasn't regenerated. And so I hit high school and 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.720 just things just started to spiral out of control, peer pressure, 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.000 and I had my long list of dos and don'ts. 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.959 It now was a distant memory, you know. So freshman 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.560 year in high school, became my class president, sat on 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:20.000 my throne, started wreaking havoc. Fight after fight, ended up 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.760 vandalizing a classroom, threatened to kill a teacher, got kicked 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:24.920 out of my first high school, sent to my second 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.080 high school. At this time, believe it or not, I 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:31.880 was a rap artist. Ray was my backup dancer and 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.040 beat boxer. I was a rap artist. I had my 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:37.720 artist producer contract signed. My producers produced some of the 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:39.320 top artists in the industry. I don't if you remember 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.440 Montel Jordan. This is how we do it. So my 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:45.160 producer wrote that song, and then O. G. Pierce was 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.160 his name. And then is this where easy came from? Well, 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.720 they're my initials, man, But I know it worked. It worked. Yeah, 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.520 people thought, oh, you're taking an easy eas name. I 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:57.640 had it before him, an Easy anyway. And then my 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.440 producer also produced if you remember Leio Gang's for Paradise album, 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:03.360 he produced Smoked most of the songs on that, not 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:05.320 that particular song, but most of the other songs. So 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.120 they took me on. I'm fifteen, you know, and and 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:10.600 I was on my way man, and so I just 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:15.840 thought I was cool fifteen yeah, and then and then 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.240 I end up at this other high school. This was 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.480 a gang infested high school. So firstdy on campus. I 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.240 connect with this guy. We're walking. I used to go 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.960 on the local you know radio station, CAISSEFM. At times 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.000 I do like rap battles and you know, so, and 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:29.560 I'm doing my album. So I started talking to him, 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:31.040 was like, hey, man, come hang out with us at lunch. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.320 I did, and that day turned into a week, a week, 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:34.560 and now a month, and one day we're walking off 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:36.040 campus to go to lunch. He's like, hey, man, we 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.200 want to jump you in. And these guys were crips 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:44.760 and so I'm like, all right something. They jumped me in, man, 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:46.240 and it was so surreal. 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:47.080 You know what does that mean? 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:51.400 So mean, Yeah, that means that it's it's an initiation 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.720 into the gang. So that means you get beaten to 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.320 a pulp by you know, I think four guys that 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.400 were part of it with me, And so they beat 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:01.920 you to a pulp for a certain amount of time 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.720 and and then that that initiates you into the gang. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.040 It just shows like you're really you're dedicated to be in. 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.400 It's all biblical. I was a biblical gang stuff, you 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:17.400 know what I'm saying. So anyway, so yeah, the dust 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:19.440 settles and I just stood there like kind of man, 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.400 what I'm a crib like you know what I mean. 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.760 As a kid, you'd hear about the bloods and the cribs. 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.880 It's like so from there, man, things just I started 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.240 doing stuff that I just never would have fad them doing. 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.640 You know, and things got out of control and I 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.480 get kicked out of my second high school. And in 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:38.760 the midst of all that, I, you know, I one 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:40.720 day I tried to commit suicide in front of my 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.080 family and just was in front of your family. Yeah, yeah, 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:45.840 there was just an altercation. I just ran for the 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.280 kitchen drawer, grabbed a knife, and I just started stabbing 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.360 at my wrist, you know. And I didn't, by God's grace, 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:52.960 I didn't look at what I was grabbing. But it 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:54.560 happened to be a dull knife or I don't know 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:55.240 what would have happened. 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:59.320 But where's the Catholic church in this part of your life? 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:01.720 So I still believe in God. I would pray every night, 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:03.280 I do the sign of the Cross when I'd passed 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.600 by a church. But that's all, you know. I had 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.240 gone to an Evangelical church with a friend of mine 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:11.720 a number of times growing up who lived in my neighborhood, 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:17.320 and and I actually stopped certain christ Catholic practices. I 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.399 just it made sense. I'm like, yeah, praying to marry 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:21.840 my friend's like, man, we should only pray to God. 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.400 We shouldn't pray to like statues. And I'm like, oh yeah, 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:26.960 it was like the that makes sense. And I would 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:28.320 pray at night and I'd say, God, I know I 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:29.840 need to give you my life. I know I need 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.280 to stop this stuff, but I just can't, you know, and. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.920 And then tell me. It seems like there's a big 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:41.080 difference between the Lebanese Catholic Church and the American Western 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.159 Catholic Church, at least from what I've seen when I've 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.160 been in the Middle East. It's very different, and it's 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.959 very different pretty much in Latin America. And is there 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:49.400 is there? 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:54.119 Yeah? There, I mean there's overarching, massive similarities, right, you 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.480 have some differences. And the part of the Catholic Church 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.399 that I was a part of is called Maronite, so 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.400 it's a sect within the Catholic Church, but it's under 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.080 the pope and everything. It's it's Catholic. But there were Yeah, 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.440 there were some differences there, but but but still the 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.280 same the same sort of spirit and the same false doctrine. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.120 You know that basically we're not just saved by grace 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.159 through faith alone Christ alone, but our works play a 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:19.520 role in that. And then of course you have the 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:23.840 idolatry and the marriology and a whole lot of other 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:25.080 dangerous things, you know. 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.359 So you go a few evangelical churches, yeah, and so 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.040 then drop a few practices, yeah. 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:34.000 But still not saved, but had more of an understanding, 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.159 a little bit of Okay, there's a difference here, you know. 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:42.320 And so anyway, one day, my friend was invited by 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.000 his parents to go to an evangelistic event. It was 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.439 like a big one and at a big stadium, you know. 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.480 And so they invited him, told him to invite me. 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:53.479 So he invites me, like a month before we're supposed 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.600 to go, and so I said, all right, I'll go. 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.080 I had no idea then why, I said yes. Now, 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.800 I know it is God's profit. But I remember that 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:03.920 day rolled around that we were supposed to go. It 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:05.840 was actually like two in the morning. He and I 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.160 were at a party. We're drunk out of our minds, 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:09.840 and I remember we went and parked off a street 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.240 in our neighborhood, and I mean I was. I looked 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:14.920 at her and I said, man, I feel so good. 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:16.760 And I said, this is the best feeling I've ever had. 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:18.159 I said, I want to feel this way for the 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.000 rest of my life. I having no idea how the 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.399 rest of my life was going to be transformed. Hours later, 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:24.639 I go home, crash, get up the next day, do 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:26.600 my same stuff. Said to my mom, Hey, I'm going 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:28.199 to some Christian thing with my friend Buill to night. 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.080 She goes, yeah, right, you liar here I am I 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.359 first time in my life telling her the truth that 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:36.760 she's not believing me. And so I got angry. My 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.520 bedroom walls was full of rap posters. But it wasn't 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:41.840 because I just liked those artists, but it was because 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:43.760 I had holes all over my bedroom walls. I just 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:45.840 had a real, real anger. I'd go in, I just 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.000 punch holes into the walls, you know. And so I 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.160 started to hit the walls. I'm getting mad. My friend 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.760 pulls up and I was this close to not going 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:55.439 with him. I was about to go and do what 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:56.879 my mom thought I was going to do, go party 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:58.240 and whatever. But I get in the car and the 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:00.960 whole way there, I'm fuming, you know, And we walk 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:03.879 in and and man, it was just I couldn't. The 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:07.359 atmosphere was so foreign to me, you know, people just 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.560 full of joy, and they're looking up toward the heavens 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:13.880 and singing as if though God was like, really there 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:16.960 little I know he was, you know. And then the 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.840 preacher got up and began to preach the gospel. And man, 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.159 it's as if though he had a hidden camera following 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.400 me around everywhere, he had a chip in my brain. 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:27.280 He was reading my thoughts. I mean, everything he was 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.720 hitting on. I had been thinking about, you know. But 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:32.919 when I heard that salvation was a free gift. You 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:34.439 can't earn it, you can't work for it, and you 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.280 can know for certain you have everlasting life, and that 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:38.439 God was willing to forgive me no matter what I 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:42.960 had done, you know. And when that call was given 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:45.720 to repent and trust the Lord, Man, I did immediately 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:51.080 and instant transformation, brand new creation. Everything about me changed 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.560 and that split second. Different people have different testimonies, but 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:55.640 that's mine. You know. We get in my friend's car, 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:58.720 we're heading home. He turns on the same filthy radio 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:00.199 station we used to listen to. I go, whoa, bro, 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:02.320 what are you doing? I go, We're Christians. We don't 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:04.879 listen to that stuff anymore. He's like, whoa. It's like 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:08.120 this guy got over saved yea. Yeah, you know. And 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:13.399 so so that was man, that was, and everything the 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:16.359 way I thought talked acted felt I was a brand 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.560 new creation. You know, I got kicked out of my 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:21.760 first high school my second. After my second high school, 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.080 I had a great point average of zero point three 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:24.600 to two. 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:26.040 Yeah, it's not about you know. 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.560 At least what was oh right, but that was four 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.480 f's two D minuses, and the D minuses were in 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.120 pe and drama. I think it's illegal to give anyone 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:38.679 an F and those. Yeah, and so so I get 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:40.440 back into my first high school, and I prayed for 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:42.400 some specific I went from that zero point three two 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.240 GPA to four point zero, started teaching Bible study at 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:49.000 the Bible Study Club on campus, graduated, went to a 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:53.040 Christian university, ended up co planning at church at twenty, 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:56.800 which is crazy. I don't recommend it, and then met 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:58.400 a crazy guy named Ray Comfort. 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:01.200 Okay, so you're twenty years old. Right around this time 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:02.960 is when this guy comes up to you and says, 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:04.520 have you heard of this guy Ray Comfort? 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:07.400 Is that yeah, I'm prout, Well I'm about no, I'm 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:13.040 about probably eighteen, okay, Yeah, because I got saved a 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:16.400 month before I turned sixteen. Yeah, a couple of years later, Yeah, 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.359 I talked talk to this guy and then yeah, then 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:24.800 I meet Ray when I was about nineteen and then yeah, 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.240 and that was and he came and spoke at our church, 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:30.360 and then came a second time, and his daughter came 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.399 and uh, she took one look at me, proposed on 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:37.000 the spot. Are we are? See? I can say that 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:39.000 ravely because she's not here, you know, I'm saying. 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:41.280 Yes you can, yes you can. So what happened to 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:43.879 what happened to the Catholic Church in this this transformation? 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:44.840 Yeah? 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:48.399 So like in your mind? Yeah. And part of the 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:51.520 reason I ask it is because people, you know, love 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:56.280 our Catholic listeners, but they get we get pretty defensive, yeah, 0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:00.280 saying that Granger, first of all, you don't understand and 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:03.359 you should maybe and maybe we should one day have 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:06.400 a Catholic apologist where we could actually have a good 0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:09.760 discussion because they say you're misrepresenting us every time. You 0:23:09.880 --> 0:23:14.160 just get it all wrong. Yeah. And so so I'm 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.040 trying to be in this conversation unbiased towards yours. Is 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:20.040 your story mind? Yeah? So what happens in your mind? 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:24.080 You're you're not converted, everything's new. Why don't you go 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:25.400 back to the Catholic Church? 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:29.560 So honest question, Yeah, yeah. Well my family was curious 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:31.760 about that as well. First it was like, man, we 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:33.840 don't care if it's Buddha that saved you. You know, 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:36.280 you're you're a different person. But then after a while 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:38.800 it was like, hey, what's wrong with our church? And 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:41.760 so you know, they said, hey, the priest said he'd 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:43.600 like to meet with you. Obviously they put him up 0:23:43.640 --> 0:23:45.360 to that. I went to the priest's house, we sat down, 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:48.000 and I just gave him scripture after scripture. He wasn't 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:49.960 expecting that, you know, and I said, well, what about 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:52.560 this and what about that? And so you know, look, 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:55.600 I the majority of my family's Catholic. I absolutely love Catholics. 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:57.359 We've done a lot of videos on our YouTube channel 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:02.600 regarding Catholicism. We do it respectfully, humbly, because our call 0:24:02.680 --> 0:24:05.880 and scripture is to consider others more important than ourselves, 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:08.280 and if we don't have a spirit of love and kindness, 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:11.159 then it's contradictory to everything we claim to stand for 0:24:11.240 --> 0:24:15.840 as Christians. But love has at its core truth. You 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:18.760 can't have true love without truth, and so we have 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:21.400 to speak the truth in that regard and the Catholic Church. 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:25.240 I say this, you know, with humility has a false gospel, 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:27.439 you know. And as far as where they stand, you 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:29.639 just have to look at the councils. It's clear in 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:31.520 there that if you believe you're saved by grace alone, 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:34.199 through faith, learn and Christ alone, you are anathema. And 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:36.840 that charge, you know, came from them. And so like 0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:38.639 Martin Luther said, here I stand, I can do no 0:24:38.680 --> 0:24:42.080 other unless I'm convinced by scripture. And so Galatians makes 0:24:42.119 --> 0:24:45.520 it clear if we preach another gospel, then we are anathema. 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:47.479 And it's clear what the gospel is. 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:51.320 But as an eighteen, when were you converted? Month before 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:54.760 I turned sixteen? So yeah, about sixteen? Okay, So let's 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:57.680 like just look at this with a microscript. I think 0:24:57.680 --> 0:25:00.880 it's interesting you go, you have this meeting the priest. Yeah, 0:25:01.160 --> 0:25:03.240 and of course I agree with your what you're saying 0:25:03.240 --> 0:25:07.240 about Galatians. And what is it that he said that 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:10.040 made you say, I think I'm not going to this 0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:15.159 church anymore as opposed to agree to disagree see it 0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:16.240 mass Wednesday? 0:25:16.440 --> 0:25:19.040 Yeah, Well I had, I mean I had already come 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:21.320 to that conclusion before meeting with him. So it wasn't 0:25:21.359 --> 0:25:23.320 and it wasn't right away. It might have been maybe 0:25:23.640 --> 0:25:26.920 maybe a year later or so. So I had already 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:33.000 really i'd really jumped headlong into apologetics, and I had 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:36.199 this this heart and mindset of like, well, man, I 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:41.639 want to know for sure, why you know this is 0:25:41.760 --> 0:25:45.879 what is supposedly the truth that I've now committed myself to. 0:25:45.960 --> 0:25:47.720 I mean, I believed enough of what I heard at 0:25:47.760 --> 0:25:50.760 that that night to believe, but then I wanted. I 0:25:50.800 --> 0:25:52.960 wanted to know because truth is important. 0:25:53.160 --> 0:25:54.919 You know, was there a hinge for you? Like, you know, 0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:57.959 Martin Luther Romans one seventeen. Is there something that you 0:25:58.000 --> 0:25:59.919 go this was? Maybe it? 0:26:00.200 --> 0:26:02.240 There doesn't have to be something sure? Well, yeah, I 0:26:02.240 --> 0:26:04.960 mean again for me, I mean Ephesians two, eight and 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:09.359 nine is so clear. You know, you got on Timothy one, 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:11.600 you got Titus two, Titus three, You've got I mean 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:15.960 Romans four, Romans eleven. The scripture is riddled with verses 0:26:16.040 --> 0:26:19.040 on the fact that we're saved by grace through faith 0:26:19.359 --> 0:26:22.480 and that faith is in Christ alone, and so all 0:26:22.520 --> 0:26:27.280 of that combined the systematic teaching of the doctrine of 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:32.080 you know, of salvation, it was just clear. And then 0:26:32.400 --> 0:26:37.040 and then you know, also the idolatry is so blatantly clear. 0:26:37.600 --> 0:26:39.480 I mean when I level with my Catholic friends, I 0:26:40.320 --> 0:26:42.679 just have to look at them say, I mean, you 0:26:42.800 --> 0:26:45.720 must know in your heart of hearts that this is wrong, 0:26:46.280 --> 0:26:49.480 and you know they won't call it worship. But the 0:26:49.520 --> 0:26:52.040 analogy I use is it's like it's semantics, right. It's 0:26:52.040 --> 0:26:53.880 like the doctor says to you, Hey, granger, you got 0:26:54.000 --> 0:26:57.760 you gotta know surgery tomorrow, so you can't eat any solids? 0:26:57.920 --> 0:27:02.400 You okay, no problem, doc. You go home, grab some chicken, steak, fries, vegetables, 0:27:02.440 --> 0:27:06.440 you throw them in a blender, right, you goz them down, 0:27:06.480 --> 0:27:08.560 you go the next day, doesn't xtra, Hey what did 0:27:08.600 --> 0:27:11.639 I tell you? No, doctor, I didn't eat, I drank. 0:27:12.480 --> 0:27:18.600 Come on, we don't worship. We venerate, Yeah, bowing down right, 0:27:20.359 --> 0:27:24.520 lighting incense, kissing, holding up, praying to what do you 0:27:24.600 --> 0:27:28.360 call that? If that's not worship, what is? And so 0:27:28.359 --> 0:27:30.520 so you know, I level with them, and you just 0:27:30.600 --> 0:27:34.120 know that their conscience bears witness. But the tradition has 0:27:34.160 --> 0:27:40.160 such a stronghold that I think it leads to unfortunate's blindness. 0:27:40.200 --> 0:27:42.920 And it breaks my heart, like this isn't something I 0:27:43.440 --> 0:27:45.920 glowed over, Like, no, man, it's like I was there, 0:27:46.640 --> 0:27:50.480 and there's liberty, there's freedom in Christ. He can set 0:27:50.480 --> 0:27:52.960 you free from that, and he's the only mediator between 0:27:52.960 --> 0:27:53.520 God and man. 0:27:54.000 --> 0:27:56.919 Amen. Yeah, as I think about it, I saw a 0:27:56.920 --> 0:27:59.399 meme one time that said that had you know that 0:27:59.480 --> 0:28:04.000 veneration and the picture of the idolatry in the Catholic church, 0:28:04.040 --> 0:28:05.840 and then side by side it was a Protestant church 0:28:06.280 --> 0:28:08.359 with everyone has their hands up, and there's bands, and 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:11.320 there's there's a fog machine and lights and they're all 0:28:11.720 --> 0:28:15.120 kind of and and so how do we address this? 0:28:15.440 --> 0:28:18.680 Yeah, that's a that's another big problem today as well. 0:28:18.840 --> 0:28:21.320 And I do I do remind my Catholic friends that 0:28:21.400 --> 0:28:25.639 there's there are a lot of unsafe people in the 0:28:25.640 --> 0:28:29.359 Evangelical church. Amen, A lot. I mean, Jesus Matthew seven. 0:28:29.400 --> 0:28:31.320 Many will say to me on that day, Many will 0:28:31.320 --> 0:28:33.679 say to me, on that day, Lord Lord, have we not? 0:28:33.800 --> 0:28:35.760 You know? Prophesidecast out dem has done many wonders, all 0:28:35.800 --> 0:28:38.200 these religious things. You say, I never knew you, Titus 0:28:38.200 --> 0:28:40.360 once sixteen. They profess to know God, but by their 0:28:40.400 --> 0:28:42.760 deeds they deny it. First John, by this one, we've 0:28:42.760 --> 0:28:44.080 come to know them if we keep his commandments the 0:28:44.080 --> 0:28:45.400 one who says I've come to home but doesn't keep 0:28:45.440 --> 0:28:46.840 his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not 0:28:46.880 --> 0:28:49.000 in him. God is light, and then there's no darkness 0:28:49.000 --> 0:28:50.720 at all. We say we have fellowship with Him, but 0:28:50.800 --> 0:28:53.720 walk in darkness. We lie and don't practice the truth. 0:28:54.120 --> 0:28:57.120 So it's not a Catholic problem. It's a human problem. 0:28:57.480 --> 0:28:58.920 That's it. That's it. That's good. 0:28:58.920 --> 0:29:01.520 That's important to realize. I mean there's pastors that aren't saved. 0:29:01.600 --> 0:29:05.240 I personally know pastors who were not saved and in 0:29:05.320 --> 0:29:06.880 the pastorate chain of Christ. 0:29:06.960 --> 0:29:09.880 Oh yeah, oh oh yeah, yeah. I mean John Wesley 0:29:09.920 --> 0:29:10.560 is a great example. 0:29:10.600 --> 0:29:10.800 You don't. 0:29:10.840 --> 0:29:14.280 Yeah, John was preaching till the Moravians the truth. 0:29:15.000 --> 0:29:17.120 I'm going to convert the Heathens. Who's going to convert me? 0:29:17.440 --> 0:29:23.920 It's like, okay, so Rachel comes with the picture Ray first. Yeah, okay, 0:29:24.640 --> 0:29:27.480 you meet Ray, tell me about that, because I don't 0:29:27.480 --> 0:29:29.680 think we got to that. You meet, You're on the 0:29:29.720 --> 0:29:31.719 phone with him, that's the last you heard. Yeah, when 0:29:31.760 --> 0:29:33.120 you meet him, then what happens. 0:29:33.440 --> 0:29:35.240 Yeah, he came that first time to the church and 0:29:35.320 --> 0:29:39.000 spoke and it was weird, man. I mean, you know, 0:29:40.960 --> 0:29:43.400 I just all I'd seen him on was a television 0:29:43.440 --> 0:29:46.120 screen and read his books, but to like meet him 0:29:46.160 --> 0:29:50.960 in person, it was just it was really cool. It 0:29:51.000 --> 0:29:53.400 was it was a special moment for me, you know. 0:29:54.120 --> 0:29:57.080 And then the second time when he came around, and 0:29:57.160 --> 0:30:01.160 what happened was, you know, I meet Rachel and we 0:30:01.240 --> 0:30:03.160 just really hit it off, you know, I mean she 0:30:03.200 --> 0:30:04.760 came to pick him up. His wife dropped him off 0:30:04.800 --> 0:30:07.520 at our church that morning and Rachel came to pick 0:30:07.560 --> 0:30:10.920 him up, and she came up the stairs to the 0:30:10.960 --> 0:30:13.440 second floor where sanctuary was, and he introduced us. You know, 0:30:13.480 --> 0:30:15.440 he was always trying to match make you know there, 0:30:15.480 --> 0:30:17.160 and we just hit it off. I said, hey, we 0:30:17.160 --> 0:30:18.959 do Evangelis on Fridays, if you everyone to come join us. 0:30:18.960 --> 0:30:20.640 Gave him my card and he was. 0:30:20.640 --> 0:30:23.040 Trying to match make it oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. 0:30:22.840 --> 0:30:24.280 Because you know, I was a pastor and he you know, 0:30:24.320 --> 0:30:25.520 got to know me a little bit, and you know 0:30:25.520 --> 0:30:27.200 he wants his r to get married and you know, 0:30:27.360 --> 0:30:34.800 so so anyway, so then I I remember I called 0:30:34.920 --> 0:30:38.120 Ray to thank him for letting me for speaking at 0:30:38.120 --> 0:30:39.880 our church, and I said, hey, if you ever need anything, 0:30:39.920 --> 0:30:42.560 let me know. I was actually when moving this weekend. 0:30:42.600 --> 0:30:46.560 If you want to help us like I'm there. Yeah. 0:30:46.600 --> 0:30:50.840 So yeah, so I go and I do that, and 0:30:50.640 --> 0:30:53.080 that's where we really connected, Rachel and I. And then 0:30:53.160 --> 0:30:55.880 just from there she she actually started to fellowship at 0:30:55.880 --> 0:30:59.240 our church and we just yeah, just went from there 0:30:59.280 --> 0:31:04.520 and ended up getting married April sixth ninety six. So yeah, man, 0:31:05.120 --> 0:31:09.000 you were young twenty. Yeah, I'm doing it opposite of 0:31:09.000 --> 0:31:12.000 my dad. You know, my dad passed away last January 0:31:12.280 --> 0:31:17.320 at one hundred and thirteen. Wait what Yeah, yeah, I'm 0:31:17.320 --> 0:31:21.000 eighty three. But plastic surgery. Bro, Come on, it's gonna 0:31:20.960 --> 0:31:21.640 be a whole podcast. 0:31:21.800 --> 0:31:22.280 Yeah. 0:31:22.120 --> 0:31:25.280 So my dad is a Mediterranean diet I was telling me, man, 0:31:25.360 --> 0:31:27.320 I'm telling you to buoy. It's all about Tabulli. 0:31:28.320 --> 0:31:28.520 Yeah. 0:31:28.520 --> 0:31:32.240 He was born nineteen eleven and my mom he was 0:31:32.280 --> 0:31:34.120 sixty five when I was born. He and my mom 0:31:34.120 --> 0:31:36.840 were like thirty five years apart in age. He's a 0:31:36.880 --> 0:31:42.880 really good looking guy. And yeah and so yeah, he 0:31:43.800 --> 0:31:46.240 one website had him as oldest man in America. He 0:31:46.320 --> 0:31:49.720 was in the top five in the world. So I 0:31:49.760 --> 0:31:52.920 come from old stock, brother, Yeah, you do that deep 0:31:52.920 --> 0:31:56.400 wisdom that is that I need, that I need. 0:31:57.280 --> 0:32:00.840 Tell me about your parents? Did they ever? Did they ever? 0:32:02.200 --> 0:32:04.360 Except both of them came to know the Lord. 0:32:04.600 --> 0:32:06.719 I'm trying to see that. I want to say that 0:32:06.520 --> 0:32:09.720 in the most respectful way to uh yeah. 0:32:09.320 --> 0:32:11.920 Yeah, my dad. Uh my dad cried out to to 0:32:12.720 --> 0:32:18.560 to God at one hundred and nine. So there is hope. 0:32:19.000 --> 0:32:19.800 There is hope. 0:32:20.360 --> 0:32:23.960 Praise the Lord. Now we know why the Lord sustained 0:32:23.960 --> 0:32:24.480 his life. 0:32:24.320 --> 0:32:26.360 Or so, I know people were praying for him all 0:32:26.360 --> 0:32:28.200 around the world, you know, and. 0:32:28.040 --> 0:32:31.520 Some people are more stubborn than others. The Lord would 0:32:31.560 --> 0:32:33.280 have done that to me, like all right, great dreams 0:32:33.320 --> 0:32:35.120 going to hold you around for a long time. 0:32:35.280 --> 0:32:37.280 It's like, all right, God, I believe, now take me 0:32:39.280 --> 0:32:43.120 and then my mom on her deathbed, you know. So 0:32:43.320 --> 0:32:46.800 that's that's a joy for me to see that the 0:32:46.800 --> 0:32:47.320 Lord did that. 0:32:48.120 --> 0:32:51.320 And so you get married to Rachel. Moving moving down 0:32:51.400 --> 0:32:54.080 the timeline here, Yeah, when do you start working for 0:32:54.280 --> 0:32:55.160 Living Waters? 0:32:55.880 --> 0:32:59.040 So I was pastoring, I said, I co planted that church, 0:32:59.320 --> 0:33:02.080 and it was a real growing, real real dynamic church. 0:33:02.160 --> 0:33:06.680 God was doing some great things. And I remember one 0:33:06.720 --> 0:33:09.720 time I was I was talking to one of the 0:33:09.800 --> 0:33:12.120 vice presidents at Living Waters now, but he was also 0:33:12.280 --> 0:33:15.280 one of the pastors at the church, Mark Spence. I said, Mark, 0:33:15.280 --> 0:33:16.560 what do you what do you sense? Like the Lord 0:33:16.640 --> 0:33:19.120 my half for my life? Like you know, so I 0:33:19.160 --> 0:33:23.240 see you, you know, working at Living Waters serving, I 0:33:23.280 --> 0:33:26.080 see you serving in leadership. I mean, and what did 0:33:26.320 --> 0:33:29.840 Mark smoke this? I mean, man, this dude's so lod 0:33:30.000 --> 0:33:33.120 because it's funny. It never ever came into my mind 0:33:33.200 --> 0:33:34.640 like to serve at Living Waters. I mean, you know, 0:33:34.640 --> 0:33:36.120 I was pastoring. I was I had not my own 0:33:36.120 --> 0:33:39.160 itinerant ministry. I was traveling speaking, and I thought, all right, 0:33:39.240 --> 0:33:42.840 whatever man. But then years later, uh, the ministry started 0:33:42.880 --> 0:33:44.760 to really grow. And so on my day off from 0:33:44.760 --> 0:33:46.720 the church, I think it was Mondays, I would go 0:33:46.760 --> 0:33:48.920 in and just help, you know. And so a week 0:33:48.960 --> 0:33:51.640 after week after week, eventually my Lord began to knit 0:33:51.720 --> 0:33:55.320 my heart with the ministry. And I called Ray one 0:33:55.360 --> 0:33:58.120 day because he raised very non administrative. I mean, you 0:33:58.160 --> 0:34:01.040 talk anything administration. His eyes we rolled back glaze over. 0:34:01.160 --> 0:34:04.040 He just he just he's a creative genius. He just 0:34:04.080 --> 0:34:06.880 wants to yeah, right, he wants to create. He doesn't 0:34:06.880 --> 0:34:09.920 want to deal with any of that that that falls more. 0:34:10.000 --> 0:34:11.839 I mean I'm a visionary too, but that falls more 0:34:11.880 --> 0:34:14.160 within my skill set. So I called I go, hey, Ray, 0:34:14.360 --> 0:34:16.000 the mystry was starting to grow at this time, more 0:34:16.040 --> 0:34:19.720 staff were coming on and he just, yeah, so, Sarah, 0:34:19.760 --> 0:34:21.799 what do you think about me one day? Maybe you know, 0:34:21.920 --> 0:34:24.560 possibly like sort of a kind of in a way, 0:34:25.000 --> 0:34:28.640 you know, serving at Living Waters. He's like, are you serious? 0:34:28.640 --> 0:34:30.399 And he say, yeah, bro, yeah, when can he get 0:34:30.440 --> 0:34:30.799 down here? 0:34:30.920 --> 0:34:34.400 And he was flipping out. He just I'm like, whoa okay, 0:34:35.280 --> 0:34:37.040 And so yeah, So I came on in two thousand 0:34:37.040 --> 0:34:40.240 and three and just hit twenty two years at the ministry, 0:34:40.280 --> 0:34:43.680 and and so you know, I started as kind of 0:34:43.680 --> 0:34:46.920 the general manager, became the vice president, executive vice president. 0:34:47.040 --> 0:34:51.680 Now I'm the president. You know, succession is important. Sure, 0:34:51.920 --> 0:34:54.920 a lot of organizations and ministries don't plan ahead, and 0:34:54.960 --> 0:34:57.160 so the ministry dies with the founder. So we're trying 0:34:57.200 --> 0:35:00.000 to get away from that. So it's not just myself, 0:35:00.040 --> 0:35:03.680 but but a few other guys within the ministry are 0:35:03.719 --> 0:35:06.560 are more public now and so we can keep the 0:35:06.640 --> 0:35:07.239 vision going. 0:35:07.600 --> 0:35:10.040 You know, it's so important because we mentioned the older guys, 0:35:10.680 --> 0:35:16.360 So we have desiring God grace to you. Liganeer still 0:35:16.360 --> 0:35:19.480 going nine marks. We see a lot of these Living 0:35:19.520 --> 0:35:25.279 Waters organizations that are now thinking to themselves, what what's 0:35:25.280 --> 0:35:27.560 the future of this. Yeah, I think Desiring God is 0:35:27.600 --> 0:35:31.799 an example of an organization that's going uh oh, yeah, 0:35:32.040 --> 0:35:34.400 we need to really figure out the succession in the now. 0:35:34.480 --> 0:35:38.879 Well, you know, let me say, Liganeer did a phenomenal job. 0:35:39.880 --> 0:35:42.319 I'm good friends with Nathan W. Bingham, you know, who's 0:35:42.320 --> 0:35:44.279 who's one of their vps over there and does their 0:35:44.880 --> 0:35:48.400 podcasts and different things. But they're so they're so smart 0:35:48.440 --> 0:35:51.960 because they diversified so the ministries. I think it's stronger 0:35:52.040 --> 0:35:54.520 even than when doctor sproll. It seems like it, yeah, 0:35:54.760 --> 0:35:57.520 was alive, and that's that's what you want. So that's 0:35:57.520 --> 0:36:00.560 what we're trying to do. And again, I don't say 0:36:00.560 --> 0:36:03.840 this like lightly or or like out of exaggeration. I 0:36:03.880 --> 0:36:08.479 regularly like just step back and in a sense pinched 0:36:08.520 --> 0:36:10.960 myself and I'm like, I can't believe I'm here. Like 0:36:11.600 --> 0:36:14.480 you know, the old illustration of a of a turtle 0:36:14.520 --> 0:36:17.560 on a fence post. You know, it didn't put itself 0:36:17.600 --> 0:36:21.040 there because it's impossible, And so I just look and 0:36:21.040 --> 0:36:23.120 I say, lord, I you know, I summed up my 0:36:23.160 --> 0:36:26.160 testimony years ago in this little verse. I once was 0:36:26.239 --> 0:36:28.920 but a lump of coal upon a heap of Meyer. 0:36:29.560 --> 0:36:32.440 Yet Jesus Christ redemed my soul and saved me from 0:36:32.480 --> 0:36:34.759 the fire. And that's it. 0:36:34.800 --> 0:36:37.239 Man. We have a guy sitting in room with us 0:36:37.320 --> 0:36:41.600 right now. Remember at our church that was saved through 0:36:41.840 --> 0:36:45.600 Living Waters. And in fact, I didn't even know that 0:36:46.320 --> 0:36:48.600 until we were just talking before church one day and 0:36:49.000 --> 0:36:54.279 and this came up. And he's just his his testimony 0:36:54.600 --> 0:37:00.200 is is pretty unbelievable. Through the work of Living Waters 0:36:59.760 --> 0:37:04.080 in this case, simply publishing a well edited video of 0:37:04.120 --> 0:37:07.960 the gospel through with Ray. It was the Which one 0:37:08.000 --> 0:37:15.040 was it? I think it was. It's the most viewed one. 0:37:15.560 --> 0:37:19.880 Oh, Mario, Mario, Mario Ray, Praise daily Lord, give me 0:37:19.920 --> 0:37:22.760 another Mario. Yeah, that's video is like at five million 0:37:22.840 --> 0:37:23.479 views or something. 0:37:23.520 --> 0:37:26.160 Just so if you guys, if you search on YouTube, 0:37:26.160 --> 0:37:30.040 if you search Living Waters or Ray Comfort and put 0:37:30.040 --> 0:37:33.000 in the search criteria most viewed, you'll get this video 0:37:33.040 --> 0:37:40.759 of Mario. And that video saved my friend here. The 0:37:40.800 --> 0:37:45.400 Lord used that and and that's just one example. And 0:37:45.440 --> 0:37:48.239 I thought it's encouraging to have him here with us now. 0:37:49.440 --> 0:37:53.440 Someone who listens to your podcasts, all of them, and 0:37:53.480 --> 0:37:57.560 it's we all, we all well, we have a love, 0:37:58.120 --> 0:38:01.759 a special love for the the Lord used to save us, 0:38:01.800 --> 0:38:05.720 whatever that way might be, or whatever ministry or whatever church. Yeah, 0:38:06.000 --> 0:38:08.160 mine was desiring God, you know, as we as we 0:38:08.200 --> 0:38:11.799 mentioned that, and and those guys all desiring God, they 0:38:11.840 --> 0:38:15.879 all know that, you know, and and it's it's it's 0:38:15.880 --> 0:38:18.800 so important for us to remember that as you're working 0:38:19.120 --> 0:38:23.480 doing the grind, you know, thinking creatively, going through administrative 0:38:23.560 --> 0:38:26.640 things that we're talking about real people, yeah, that are 0:38:26.680 --> 0:38:29.680 getting the Gospel, and it's incredible. Yeah. 0:38:29.800 --> 0:38:32.359 Yeah, we we always try to remind ourselves of that. 0:38:32.360 --> 0:38:35.440 That's why I love to read feedback from our listeners 0:38:36.000 --> 0:38:39.080 on every podcast, because it reminds us this is why 0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:42.280 we do what we do, and our aim is to 0:38:42.360 --> 0:38:44.920 decrease so that He might increase hman to hold up 0:38:45.000 --> 0:38:47.920 Christ like Moses did the serpent in the wilderness, so 0:38:47.960 --> 0:38:51.040 that people will look under him and be saved. So yeah, 0:38:51.120 --> 0:38:54.279 we were. We're blown away by what God has done 0:38:54.280 --> 0:38:57.440 with the ministry and the reach He's given us, and 0:38:57.440 --> 0:38:59.560 and that we get to be a part of it. 0:38:59.560 --> 0:39:03.840 It's podcast has brought to you guys by Shopify. You know, 0:39:03.920 --> 0:39:06.279 I remember when we first started Ye Apparel. 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If you need to get a hold of 0:40:36.880 --> 0:40:40.400 me for any reason, go to cameo dot com slash 0:40:40.480 --> 0:40:43.440 Granger Smith. In fact, I just literally got a message 0:40:44.000 --> 0:40:47.319 from Cameo that says a guy named Ian now has 0:40:47.320 --> 0:40:49.000 a request for me. So what I do is I 0:40:49.040 --> 0:40:51.160 open this up and I go check out what Ian 0:40:51.200 --> 0:40:53.759 wants me to say for him, and for this it 0:40:53.880 --> 0:40:57.600 is a happy birthday to Melinda. So I will reach 0:40:57.640 --> 0:40:59.960 out to Melinda. I say happy birthday. It's Granger Smith here. 0:41:00.000 --> 0:41:02.080 I hope you have an amazing day. And I'm gonna 0:41:02.080 --> 0:41:03.840 tell her what else that I have here on the 0:41:03.880 --> 0:41:06.120 little list that Ian has given me. And then I 0:41:06.160 --> 0:41:07.520 send it back to him and then he has a 0:41:07.640 --> 0:41:11.400 video message from me that then goes out to Melinda. 0:41:11.920 --> 0:41:14.239 It's really cool. It's super easy. I've been doing this 0:41:14.280 --> 0:41:16.279 for about six years now. So if you want to 0:41:16.320 --> 0:41:19.279 find me and get a special video message of any kind, 0:41:19.320 --> 0:41:22.360 go to a cameo dot com slash Grangersmith. So that 0:41:22.480 --> 0:41:27.040 then fast forward many years, and somehow our wives become friends. Yeah, 0:41:27.320 --> 0:41:29.080 I know, I don't know how that happened. 0:41:29.239 --> 0:41:32.760 You know, my wife, Rachel has has a social media presence. 0:41:33.560 --> 0:41:36.400 She has a little ministry called Joyful Mothers, and she 0:41:36.560 --> 0:41:39.520 started it, you know, just to minister to women. She 0:41:39.600 --> 0:41:41.080 just had a heart for women. So she did it 0:41:41.120 --> 0:41:43.000 for like kind of her friends at first, and it 0:41:43.080 --> 0:41:45.319 just started to grow. So now she's got about one 0:41:45.360 --> 0:41:50.799 hundred thousand, you know, followers, and it's been amazing, and 0:41:51.200 --> 0:41:55.279 I think Amber might have connectedly there. 0:41:55.600 --> 0:41:58.600 I don't think I've asked for specifically who found who 0:41:58.680 --> 0:42:02.000 or how that works, but they they started chatting and 0:42:02.040 --> 0:42:03.880 then they're like, you know, we get got to get 0:42:03.880 --> 0:42:06.839 our husbands together one of these days. And so at 0:42:06.880 --> 0:42:11.560 some point I end up getting a request if I 0:42:11.600 --> 0:42:14.640 would check out your book before it came out, latest book, 0:42:14.640 --> 0:42:16.719 which is called Fight Like a Man. Holding it right here. 0:42:16.960 --> 0:42:19.400 You read this, Jesse, right you read this, and you 0:42:19.440 --> 0:42:21.520 have not read this probably, but I just gave you 0:42:21.520 --> 0:42:25.160 a copy, so fight like a man. I got this 0:42:25.320 --> 0:42:28.840 probably in I want to say, December or maybe late November, 0:42:29.680 --> 0:42:35.839 and that's the first time we actually were texting. And 0:42:35.920 --> 0:42:40.520 so I read this book and it's it's a there 0:42:40.560 --> 0:42:45.880 are there's some older books that talk about the purity 0:42:46.000 --> 0:42:52.920 of a man, and this is a culturally relevant book 0:42:53.239 --> 0:42:56.680 for that, for a man to pick up a book 0:42:56.760 --> 0:43:03.680 like this and to walk through it seeking godliness, seeking 0:43:03.719 --> 0:43:08.239 purity specifically in godliness. And we live in a world 0:43:08.320 --> 0:43:12.319 that probably is more difficult for a man, with more 0:43:12.360 --> 0:43:16.440 temptations readily available than ever in history. Is that Is 0:43:16.480 --> 0:43:17.439 that too bold to say? 0:43:17.520 --> 0:43:21.960 Oh, that's the truest thing anyone could say in this context. 0:43:22.120 --> 0:43:24.480 You know, when I was a kid, and probably the 0:43:24.520 --> 0:43:26.480 same with you. How old are you going er, I'm 0:43:26.560 --> 0:43:29.440 forty five? Okay, yeah, so you as well. Probably you 0:43:29.520 --> 0:43:31.279 know when I was a kid. Man, Look, you wanted 0:43:31.320 --> 0:43:33.560 to look at pornographic images, you had to have a 0:43:33.600 --> 0:43:35.800 friend who had a dad maybe who had a stash 0:43:36.320 --> 0:43:39.760 or a buddy stole a video from a liquor store 0:43:39.920 --> 0:43:42.640 that you know you used to carry them. Now we 0:43:42.719 --> 0:43:46.440 all have these supercomputers in our pockets. At the click 0:43:46.920 --> 0:43:49.960 of a button, you can have access to millions, maybe 0:43:50.080 --> 0:43:54.040 billions of images and videos. I mean, it's insanity. So 0:43:54.160 --> 0:43:59.400 the accessibility has accelerated the degeneration in this area. And 0:43:59.719 --> 0:44:02.120 it is a problem. And it's not an epidemic, it's 0:44:02.160 --> 0:44:08.640 a pandemic. It's a destructive worldwide tsunami that is ravaging men, 0:44:08.920 --> 0:44:14.440 it's ravaging families, it's ravaging the church. And Granger, I'm 0:44:14.440 --> 0:44:16.319 a humbled brother that you would want to talk about 0:44:16.320 --> 0:44:20.520 this because it's not a popular topic. It's a prevalent 0:44:20.560 --> 0:44:24.719 one and probably the issue of the day when it 0:44:24.760 --> 0:44:28.880 comes to the sin that is destroying men and the church. 0:44:29.719 --> 0:44:33.279 But it's not comfortable. Who wants to talk about that, 0:44:33.640 --> 0:44:37.160 you know? And it comes up when a leader falls 0:44:37.480 --> 0:44:39.279 in the body of Christ, and then we talk about 0:44:39.320 --> 0:44:42.400 it and everyone's alert and then right back under the radar. 0:44:42.800 --> 0:44:45.160 And yet at the same time, it's like a hidden 0:44:45.280 --> 0:44:49.840 cancer that's eating away at the moral fiber of the church, 0:44:49.960 --> 0:44:53.320 which is weakening it spiritually, which is limiting its impact, 0:44:53.880 --> 0:44:57.320 which is dishonoring God. And so I was passionate about 0:44:57.320 --> 0:44:59.520 this subject as a pastor. It was like the number 0:44:59.560 --> 0:45:04.960 one counseling topic. And even now I'm counseling guys constantly, 0:45:05.719 --> 0:45:10.120 and it's become so prevalent that men have become desensitized. 0:45:10.360 --> 0:45:13.799 People have, wives, have It's like everyone does it. Yeah, 0:45:13.800 --> 0:45:17.319 I'm struggling with it, and no man, this has to 0:45:17.400 --> 0:45:22.520 be dealt with head on, and hence the title fight 0:45:22.719 --> 0:45:26.919 like a man. You know, men are called to fight, 0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:32.719 and a man isn't just someone who's masculine and athletic 0:45:33.000 --> 0:45:43.000 and physically strong so on. But a man has courage, conviction, devotion, dedication, character, 0:45:44.600 --> 0:45:48.160 and more importantly, a man is willing to lay down 0:45:48.239 --> 0:45:52.759 his life and love for others. And that should be 0:45:52.800 --> 0:45:56.680 for the Lord and for people, especially his family, his wife, 0:45:56.719 --> 0:46:01.960 his children, and his whole circle of influence. And so 0:46:02.440 --> 0:46:05.520 we have to recognize that, and we have to have 0:46:05.560 --> 0:46:07.919 a battle plan because the tragedy is is a lot 0:46:07.920 --> 0:46:12.080 of men are acting as if though they're they're living 0:46:12.280 --> 0:46:17.080 in peacetime, and so they don't have a wartime mentality, 0:46:17.280 --> 0:46:20.359 which is what we need. I mean, imagine World War two, right, 0:46:20.400 --> 0:46:25.759 Imagine a soldier being deluded into thinking that he's on 0:46:25.800 --> 0:46:28.200 a luxury cruise ship heading for the shores of Bora, 0:46:28.280 --> 0:46:30.880 Bora to an exotic resort when in reality he's on 0:46:30.880 --> 0:46:34.040 a Higgins boat heading for the shores of Normandy. I mean, 0:46:34.080 --> 0:46:36.120 this guy's gonna saunter off the Higgins boat clad in 0:46:36.120 --> 0:46:38.680 a bathrobe, some fuffy slippers are remote in one hand, 0:46:38.680 --> 0:46:40.960 a latte in the other end, and probably some skinny, 0:46:41.000 --> 0:46:43.799 you know, pink polka dotted jeans, and he's gonna get 0:46:43.800 --> 0:46:47.080 smoked in the great illustration. And that's what guys are doing. 0:46:47.200 --> 0:46:47.360 You know. 0:46:47.400 --> 0:46:50.400 It's like, oh, yeah, bro, know this thing's kind of hard, 0:46:50.400 --> 0:46:54.440 and you know, it's just like he prowls about like 0:46:54.520 --> 0:46:59.200 a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And then 0:46:59.360 --> 0:47:04.200 the world system that is massive and enormous is all 0:47:04.320 --> 0:47:07.120 rallying against you and your your flesh, which is the 0:47:07.200 --> 0:47:11.520 true adversary, is coming against you, and you're just kind 0:47:11.520 --> 0:47:14.239 of yeah to do, dude, tiptoeing like you're in a 0:47:14.239 --> 0:47:18.520 field of lilies, you know, with a feather duster in 0:47:18.560 --> 0:47:21.040 your hand, like, and that's what's happening. 0:47:21.480 --> 0:47:25.839 So tell me, how does when we read Greater Love 0:47:25.880 --> 0:47:28.040 has no Man than this, that he lays down his 0:47:28.080 --> 0:47:32.120 life for his friends, where does sexual purity compromise that idea? 0:47:32.320 --> 0:47:36.960 Yeah, because sexual impurity doesn't just affect the person who's 0:47:37.000 --> 0:47:43.920 being sexually impure. Sexual sin has ripple effects that creates 0:47:44.080 --> 0:47:48.479 havoc across the spectrum of life. First of all, you're 0:47:48.760 --> 0:47:50.600 you're dishonoring the God who gave you life. 0:47:50.600 --> 0:47:50.759 You know. 0:47:50.760 --> 0:47:53.920 First Corinthian six eighteen says, every sin that a man commits, 0:47:53.960 --> 0:47:55.280 he commits outside that the body. 0:47:55.360 --> 0:47:57.320 You just said, you just sounded just like great comfort. 0:47:57.400 --> 0:47:59.800 No God that gave you life, But the God that 0:47:59.840 --> 0:48:04.839 gave man been hearing the guy for so long. 0:48:05.520 --> 0:48:10.239 But you know, he who commits sin commits, you know, 0:48:10.320 --> 0:48:12.160 every sin the man commits commits out side of the body. 0:48:12.160 --> 0:48:14.960 But you commit sexual morality, sins against his own body. 0:48:15.480 --> 0:48:19.680 What that passage is doing is it's it's highlighting sexual 0:48:19.719 --> 0:48:25.040 sin as a distinct sin with greater repercussions and ramifications. 0:48:25.280 --> 0:48:28.840 I mean, it's part and parcel with reprobation. If you 0:48:28.880 --> 0:48:32.359 read Romans won, I mean the ultimate giving over of 0:48:32.360 --> 0:48:35.640 those who have hardened their hearts against God is sexual immorality. 0:48:36.360 --> 0:48:38.800 And so you know, we have this mindset as believers 0:48:38.800 --> 0:48:41.800 and we say it sin a sin, sin a sin, Well, 0:48:41.840 --> 0:48:46.040 sin is sin in terms of it being all a 0:48:46.120 --> 0:48:49.839 violation of God's law and being wrong, but not all 0:48:49.920 --> 0:48:52.879 sin a sin in terms of its its ravages and 0:48:52.920 --> 0:48:56.440 its repercussions and its seriousness and its impact. I mean, 0:48:56.520 --> 0:48:59.400 you may ask me to help you move house, and 0:48:59.640 --> 0:49:01.319 you know, I may lie and say, yeah, I got 0:49:01.320 --> 0:49:03.960 something going on this weekend. That's a sin. It's inexcusable, 0:49:03.960 --> 0:49:07.000 it's wrong, it's reprehensible. But it's different than if I 0:49:07.080 --> 0:49:09.200 went and murdered your entire family and burned the house 0:49:09.239 --> 0:49:12.120 down with them. So men need to realize that sexual 0:49:12.160 --> 0:49:16.640 sin biblically does have a certain dynamic and element and 0:49:16.680 --> 0:49:22.920 facet to it that is distinct and has massive ramifications 0:49:22.920 --> 0:49:25.759 and repercussions associated with it. And we need to realize that, 0:49:25.800 --> 0:49:29.440 and we need to fight. You know, we fight not 0:49:29.600 --> 0:49:33.960 with carnal weapons, but in a spiritual sense, and we're 0:49:33.960 --> 0:49:37.360 willing to again lay our lives down. The standard is death. 0:49:38.120 --> 0:49:40.839 If the standard is death, in terms of our love 0:49:40.920 --> 0:49:44.760 toward the Lord and others, anything beneath that standard should 0:49:44.760 --> 0:49:48.040 be a given, should be a given. I mean, imagine 0:49:48.600 --> 0:49:51.200 a platoon of Navy seals up on a hill on 0:49:51.239 --> 0:49:54.000 an island looking at another island with a hill on it, 0:49:54.400 --> 0:49:57.920 and the commander says to his men. Hey men, your 0:49:58.560 --> 0:50:01.759 mission is to cross the waters, scale that hill and 0:50:01.800 --> 0:50:05.000 save the President of the United States who's been taken hostage. 0:50:05.960 --> 0:50:09.080 Can you imagine if and while you do it, you 0:50:09.120 --> 0:50:12.120 need to be willing to die in the process, be 0:50:12.200 --> 0:50:13.920 willing to lay your life down to save the president. 0:50:14.320 --> 0:50:15.920 Can you imagine if one of the seals looks at 0:50:15.920 --> 0:50:17.880 his commander says, yeah, but Commander, I don't know if 0:50:17.920 --> 0:50:21.120 you realize this, but there's some jellyfish in that water. 0:50:22.200 --> 0:50:24.359 Are you saying that we're Are you saying that we're 0:50:24.440 --> 0:50:27.040 to risk getting jellyfish things? The other one's like, well, 0:50:27.200 --> 0:50:30.200 you know, sir, there were some you know, some steel 0:50:30.239 --> 0:50:32.040 traps that we saw there on the sand as we 0:50:32.040 --> 0:50:35.719 were servying. You know, you're telling us to like get 0:50:35.719 --> 0:50:37.439 our feet hurt, and the other ones like, you know, sir, 0:50:37.520 --> 0:50:39.200 I saw some poison ivy on the side of the 0:50:39.320 --> 0:50:43.840 hill there. You want us to get poisoned? Did you 0:50:43.960 --> 0:50:47.719 not hear me? Soldier? I said, the mission is to 0:50:47.800 --> 0:50:50.000 be willing to lay your life down. You're talking to 0:50:50.200 --> 0:50:53.799 me about jellyfish and steel traps and poison ivy, And 0:50:53.840 --> 0:50:56.880 so our call is to die for the sake of others, 0:50:56.920 --> 0:50:59.239 to die for the sake of the glory of God, 0:50:59.520 --> 0:51:01.160 and we're not to fight. And I ask him in this, 0:51:01.239 --> 0:51:03.880 I say, look, if some dude came up to your 0:51:03.880 --> 0:51:06.840 wife right now, cocked his fist back and was about 0:51:06.840 --> 0:51:09.160 to pop her in the face, would you jump in 0:51:09.160 --> 0:51:10.799 front of her and absorb that blow and then fight 0:51:10.800 --> 0:51:13.799 that guy off if you're not knocked out. I say, look, 0:51:13.800 --> 0:51:15.960 if some guy was aiming a gun at your children 0:51:16.000 --> 0:51:18.719 and was about to pull the trigger, would you jump 0:51:18.719 --> 0:51:20.760 in front of them, absorb that bullet, and if you lived, 0:51:20.760 --> 0:51:22.719 fight that guy up. I mean, which guy would say? 0:51:22.760 --> 0:51:22.840 No? 0:51:22.960 --> 0:51:27.040 Of course, you know. And yet we're not willing to 0:51:27.320 --> 0:51:31.960 fight to save our wives and children and friends and 0:51:32.040 --> 0:51:34.440 the church and the world from the ravages of our 0:51:34.480 --> 0:51:38.800 sexual sin. Were the ones cocking our fist back? Were 0:51:38.800 --> 0:51:41.399 the ones getting ready to pull the trigger? And we're 0:51:41.400 --> 0:51:43.279 not willing to stop that. There needs to be a 0:51:43.320 --> 0:51:44.239 massive wake up call. 0:51:45.000 --> 0:51:48.360 Just a little porn. Are we over exaggerating this? I 0:51:48.400 --> 0:51:52.200 mean you're talking about you're talking about killing and yeah, 0:51:52.400 --> 0:51:55.160 but just a little porn just to relax. 0:51:55.239 --> 0:51:58.879 Yeah, just a man and a woman eating a little 0:51:58.960 --> 0:52:01.520 piece of forbidden fruit in the garden. Thousands of years ago. 0:52:01.840 --> 0:52:04.040 Come on, what's a big deal? And here we are 0:52:04.680 --> 0:52:09.480 with a fallen, broken world that's ravaged by sin and 0:52:09.840 --> 0:52:16.080 devastation and death. Right, Like, it's like what Nathan said, 0:52:16.320 --> 0:52:20.160 you know, to Tasaul, It's like, what's this bleeding of 0:52:20.200 --> 0:52:22.160 the sheep? I hear? Oh, yeah, they're for the Lord. 0:52:22.280 --> 0:52:24.759 You know, obedience is better than sacrifice. 0:52:24.880 --> 0:52:25.120 God. 0:52:25.160 --> 0:52:29.560 God wants us to recognize the value of yielding to Him. 0:52:29.920 --> 0:52:34.120 And you know, the pendulum swings right. And so the 0:52:34.440 --> 0:52:39.360 overreaction of you know, I mean, the proper reaction to 0:52:40.120 --> 0:52:44.200 a workspace gospel, which is good, has turned into an 0:52:44.200 --> 0:52:48.600 overreaction to where now like we we ignore the parts 0:52:48.600 --> 0:52:51.400 of scripture that tell us to exercise ourselves for godliness. 0:52:51.520 --> 0:52:55.000 That's good. Over emphasis of grace, yeah, is a problem. 0:52:55.239 --> 0:52:58.920 Yeah, the call of scripture to to put off the 0:52:58.960 --> 0:53:03.200 old man, the call the scripture to flee youthful lusts, 0:53:03.760 --> 0:53:07.040 you know, to to be passionate for the Lord. I mean, 0:53:07.960 --> 0:53:11.680 we can do those things because we are saved, because 0:53:11.719 --> 0:53:12.719 we are redeemed. 0:53:13.440 --> 0:53:15.560 And and so that's the distinction in the in the 0:53:15.600 --> 0:53:19.239 Catholic conversation we had earlier, is that one gets you 0:53:19.320 --> 0:53:24.239 redeemed and the other what you're saying is because you're redeemed, absolutely, 0:53:24.280 --> 0:53:25.840 But either way, stop sinning. 0:53:26.040 --> 0:53:30.120 Yeah, that's the call scripture, what we're called to do that. 0:53:30.160 --> 0:53:32.480 And it's like, look, it's amazing, isn't it. Granger? You 0:53:32.480 --> 0:53:36.000 know when you think about how, in a secular sense, 0:53:36.160 --> 0:53:39.600 people respond to those who are going all out on 0:53:39.640 --> 0:53:43.560 something right, like you'll hear, oh, man, you know Kobe Bryant, 0:53:43.600 --> 0:53:46.799 he was so dedicated the Mamba work ethic, and you know, 0:53:46.920 --> 0:53:49.759 and and look at Chris Curry, Steph Curry what he 0:53:49.800 --> 0:53:51.879 does on the court and all his regimens. Who looks 0:53:51.880 --> 0:53:54.799 and goes, dude, you're over doing it. Stop man, just chill. No, 0:53:54.840 --> 0:53:56.320 It's like, oh, that's admirable. 0:53:56.960 --> 0:53:57.560 It's crazy. 0:53:57.560 --> 0:53:59.640 Who says to a guy who's who says to a 0:53:59.640 --> 0:54:01.759 guy who quit smoking, what are you doing? 0:54:01.880 --> 0:54:02.160 Dude? 0:54:02.360 --> 0:54:05.839 He relaxed, don't worry about that. Noh that's cool. Oh 0:54:05.840 --> 0:54:07.480 he quit smoking. That's good. You know. I mean, you 0:54:07.520 --> 0:54:10.799 got campaigns across different states. Smoking is bad, you know, 0:54:11.360 --> 0:54:13.239 But you tell a guy, hey, bro, you know, you 0:54:13.320 --> 0:54:15.759 might want to be careful with what you watch, what 0:54:15.800 --> 0:54:17.720 you listen to, because that gets stirredy you up sexually, 0:54:17.760 --> 0:54:19.480 I'm not talking evening about porn, but the movies you 0:54:19.520 --> 0:54:24.200 watch with crazy steamy scenes and you know, and hey, dude, chill, 0:54:24.320 --> 0:54:27.640 don't get legalistic, brother, you know. And and at the 0:54:27.640 --> 0:54:30.400 same time, we're getting ravaged by the sin that is 0:54:31.000 --> 0:54:35.320 wreaking havoc and destroying people, you know, And so wow, 0:54:35.520 --> 0:54:36.719 we've got so good man. 0:54:37.640 --> 0:54:42.720 I occasionally we'll hear from country artist country music singers 0:54:42.760 --> 0:54:46.600 that they'll turn to me because I guess they think, well, 0:54:46.600 --> 0:54:49.520 Granger could help me, because he understands. I had this 0:54:49.560 --> 0:54:53.960 one guy who's had quite a bit of success and 0:54:53.960 --> 0:54:55.480 he's like, hey, man, I need I need to talk. 0:54:56.239 --> 0:54:59.040 I've got a bad problem. And I was like, yeah, man, 0:55:00.000 --> 0:55:03.439 He's like, when can we talk? And I'm thinking, did 0:55:03.560 --> 0:55:06.160 you know, as he did he get upside down financially? 0:55:06.280 --> 0:55:11.239 Is he lost everything? Maybe he's you know, he got 0:55:11.280 --> 0:55:14.840 in trouble with some prostitute. I'm thinking, really crazy, you know. 0:55:16.360 --> 0:55:20.359 And he says he ends up saying I'm addicted to porn, 0:55:22.280 --> 0:55:25.359 and we shouldn't we shouldn't underestimate what he means by that, 0:55:25.480 --> 0:55:27.879 because all all these other things on the outside seem 0:55:27.960 --> 0:55:30.640 really bad and this is the same and he's saying, 0:55:31.960 --> 0:55:34.520 and I feel like a dark cloud is over me 0:55:35.400 --> 0:55:37.720 and I can't stop. He said, In fact, my dad, 0:55:38.080 --> 0:55:41.399 who's a Christian, had a dream and he said to hey, man, 0:55:41.520 --> 0:55:45.920 I I son, I had a dream that you know 0:55:45.960 --> 0:55:49.120 there there was that you were in trouble and you 0:55:49.160 --> 0:55:51.520 were running, and there was there was blood and it 0:55:51.640 --> 0:55:53.919 was he had this big, elaborate dream. And he goes, 0:55:53.920 --> 0:55:56.560 I know, I know that God put this dream in 0:55:56.600 --> 0:55:59.279 my dad's heart and I can't get out of it. 0:55:59.360 --> 0:56:01.920 And he's on the outside, I'm smiling, and I'm living 0:56:01.920 --> 0:56:03.799 my life and I have success, and I have a 0:56:03.840 --> 0:56:07.960 girlfriend that I love, and but deep down I can't 0:56:08.000 --> 0:56:14.080 stop this stranger help me. Wow, And and this is 0:56:14.120 --> 0:56:17.560 happening everywhere. Yeah, these people people listening right now that 0:56:17.600 --> 0:56:20.000 are in the same dark cloud and on the outside 0:56:20.040 --> 0:56:22.440 they're smiling and and if someone finds out, they cover 0:56:22.480 --> 0:56:25.920 it up with what you said. Yeah, go easy, man, man, 0:56:25.920 --> 0:56:26.839 it's not bad. 0:56:27.400 --> 0:56:30.920 Yeah. And you know this this book is it's not 0:56:31.000 --> 0:56:33.680 a beat down book. It's I give guys a kick 0:56:33.680 --> 0:56:35.560 in the pants because we need it. Like, hey, like, 0:56:35.719 --> 0:56:38.120 sober up on this. This isn't a joke. There are 0:56:38.200 --> 0:56:41.360 ravages that will result from your sin. But it's a 0:56:41.360 --> 0:56:44.200 book of hope. That's the whole point. Like Christ can 0:56:44.239 --> 0:56:48.400 set you free, He's done it for many men, he 0:56:48.440 --> 0:56:51.200 can do it for you, and so so men need 0:56:51.239 --> 0:56:53.759 to recognize that there's hope in Christ. No matter how 0:56:53.760 --> 0:56:56.839 bad you've fallen, how far you've strayed, the Lord can 0:56:57.200 --> 0:56:59.239 totally deliver you from it. I tell guys, look, it 0:56:59.280 --> 0:57:03.640 is possible, starting today for you to never look at 0:57:03.680 --> 0:57:07.560 porn again. Never. There's a difference between that and like 0:57:07.600 --> 0:57:09.239 a flash of lust. I would never tell man, you're 0:57:09.239 --> 0:57:11.160 never gonna have a flash of lust or struggle with 0:57:11.360 --> 0:57:13.720 you know, your eyes wandering. But there's a big difference 0:57:13.760 --> 0:57:17.200 between that and porn because porn is a process. You 0:57:17.280 --> 0:57:19.680 have to decide number one, I'm gonna look at porn 0:57:19.760 --> 0:57:22.960 right now. Then you have to you have to execute 0:57:22.960 --> 0:57:24.560 another action. You have to go and sit down at 0:57:24.600 --> 0:57:26.520 your computer, or you have to pull your phone out. 0:57:26.880 --> 0:57:29.240 Then you have to open up the browser. Then you 0:57:29.320 --> 0:57:31.240 have to put in a search word. Then you have 0:57:31.360 --> 0:57:33.640 to start scrolling. Then you have to start looking. It's 0:57:33.720 --> 0:57:37.920 a process, and it's possible to kill that process and 0:57:38.000 --> 0:57:40.120 never do it again. One of the problems is a 0:57:40.160 --> 0:57:42.520 lot of men say I can't help them, I can't stop, 0:57:42.560 --> 0:57:44.920 I can't help them. And then I give him a challenge. 0:57:44.920 --> 0:57:47.160 I say, look, if Elon Musk came up to you 0:57:48.400 --> 0:57:53.600 and put up one hundred million dollars for you, if 0:57:53.880 --> 0:57:56.360 you didn't look at porn for six months, one hundred 0:57:56.400 --> 0:57:58.840 million dollars guaranteed. I mean, it's made official, it's an 0:57:59.040 --> 0:58:03.160 Escro account. The money there, one hundred million dollars. Ranger. 0:58:03.240 --> 0:58:07.040 You and I both know every single man, everybody their 0:58:07.120 --> 0:58:10.120 dogs will do everything possible and they will succeed. 0:58:10.240 --> 0:58:13.120 Then he and Elon saying, and I'm monitoring all of 0:58:13.160 --> 0:58:14.440 your device. 0:58:14.520 --> 0:58:16.960 You're gonna be monitored, right, And I tell guys too. 0:58:17.000 --> 0:58:19.800 And also let's add to that, Okay, every moment of 0:58:19.800 --> 0:58:23.320 your life is gonna be video recorded, right, all the time. 0:58:23.760 --> 0:58:26.680 And then all your porn times and all the stuff 0:58:26.720 --> 0:58:28.160 you do, that's all gonna be played in front of 0:58:28.200 --> 0:58:29.800 your church, in front of your wife, in front of 0:58:29.840 --> 0:58:31.680 your kids, in front of your mom, your dad, your family, 0:58:31.680 --> 0:58:35.959 your friends. Give me the money, right, or I tell you, guys. 0:58:36.120 --> 0:58:37.680 I tell guys, if you know you're gonna have different 0:58:37.720 --> 0:58:40.040 parts of your body fall off every time you look 0:58:40.040 --> 0:58:42.920 at porn, there goes the right ear. Next time there 0:58:42.960 --> 0:58:46.240 goes the eyeball, there goes but see, but that's not happening. 0:58:46.240 --> 0:58:50.000 So guys aren't seeing physically what's happening. So it's like, ah, yeah, 0:58:50.040 --> 0:58:53.000 it's it's like it's I've said this often. You know, 0:58:53.080 --> 0:58:56.240 if our lungs were sitting on the outside of our 0:58:56.320 --> 0:58:59.640 chests instead of being covered by these walls of flesh, 0:58:59.840 --> 0:59:02.600 you would have a lot less smokers in this world. 0:59:03.360 --> 0:59:06.160 You've seen them before and after picking pictures of lungs, 0:59:06.520 --> 0:59:09.120 or like the healthy lung and the smoker's lung, and 0:59:09.200 --> 0:59:11.240 one as pink and you know, full of life, the 0:59:11.280 --> 0:59:13.720 other one is charred and black. The problem is is 0:59:13.760 --> 0:59:17.320 that guys don't see what's happening to their lungs, and 0:59:17.360 --> 0:59:20.080 so they some of them are evenly physically fit and 0:59:20.120 --> 0:59:23.800 healthy and everything looks fine. But inside, man, they're decaying. 0:59:24.440 --> 0:59:27.120 And so so if men could see what's happening to 0:59:27.200 --> 0:59:32.760 their their spiritual man, the gaunt and weak and emaciated 0:59:33.280 --> 0:59:35.280 spiritual man, if they could see the ripple effects of 0:59:35.320 --> 0:59:37.440 what will happen to their children in the future because 0:59:37.480 --> 0:59:41.160 of their sin, to their wife, to the hindrance of 0:59:41.200 --> 0:59:44.320 the spread of the Gospel and be a wakem call. 0:59:44.400 --> 0:59:47.520 But now they're just going about everything seems fine, and 0:59:47.720 --> 0:59:50.040 you know there's no I mean, seriously, imagine every time 0:59:50.040 --> 0:59:52.360 you looked at porn one of your body parts were 0:59:52.400 --> 0:59:52.880 to fall. 0:59:52.720 --> 0:59:55.160 Off, and you're just echoing Jesus when he says, if 0:59:55.200 --> 0:59:57.600 your eye causes you to sin, couch it out. Yeah, 0:59:57.840 --> 0:59:59.520 your hand caused cut it off? Yeah? 0:59:59.600 --> 1:00:03.880 Oh ge. This is a legalist bro. So you know 1:00:04.120 --> 1:00:08.080 it's that call to recognize, no, we're called to do 1:00:08.600 --> 1:00:13.080 war with the sin and to recognize that God has 1:00:13.120 --> 1:00:14.920 given us all that we need for that. And that's 1:00:14.920 --> 1:00:17.240 why the book's called the Bold the subtitles a bold 1:00:17.320 --> 1:00:20.680 Biblical battle plan. Guys need to give their heart and 1:00:20.760 --> 1:00:24.560 mind something to do before the battle during the battle, 1:00:25.520 --> 1:00:29.680 and oftentimes, again they're not equipping themselves like soldiers, and 1:00:29.720 --> 1:00:31.680 so I get really practical in the book. What I 1:00:31.680 --> 1:00:33.120 wanted with the book was I wanted a book that 1:00:33.160 --> 1:00:37.600 was biblically based but also theologically sound, because anyone can 1:00:37.680 --> 1:00:39.400 quote scripture and say this is in the Bible. If 1:00:39.400 --> 1:00:43.760 it's not theologically accurate, it's not exeguted properly, then it 1:00:43.760 --> 1:00:47.160 doesn't matter. But then I wanted it to be hyper practical, 1:00:47.760 --> 1:00:49.320 because you have a lot of books on the subject, 1:00:49.360 --> 1:00:53.040 but there's not like practicality, like how do I biblically 1:00:53.440 --> 1:00:56.000 carry this out? And then I wanted it to be memorable, 1:00:56.120 --> 1:00:58.000 because if you don't remember all the stuff you learned 1:00:58.000 --> 1:01:00.080 that was even practical, what's that going to help you? 1:01:00.640 --> 1:01:04.400 Jesse, what are the steps in the book? The ones 1:01:04.440 --> 1:01:09.919 that I remember? Tell me? Oh? 1:01:10.000 --> 1:01:13.080 Yeah, so that's that goes with the note Yeah, yeah, 1:01:13.120 --> 1:01:16.040 so you know, the most the practical, the real practical 1:01:16.040 --> 1:01:19.120 section is called the you know, the Six Seeds to Succeed, 1:01:19.880 --> 1:01:24.200 and that's where I have you know, six biblical principles 1:01:24.400 --> 1:01:26.640 and then each of them is attached to an alliterated 1:01:26.720 --> 1:01:30.680 sentence that men memorize and they're you know, each chapter 1:01:31.080 --> 1:01:35.360 in that section is packed full of truth, and then 1:01:35.440 --> 1:01:37.920 you memorize the sentence and then that triggers so when 1:01:37.920 --> 1:01:40.200 you're being before you're tempted, you develop what I call 1:01:40.280 --> 1:01:44.200 preventative preparedness. So it's like the US doctrine of peace 1:01:44.240 --> 1:01:47.120 through strength. You bolster yourself so much at the enemies 1:01:47.160 --> 1:01:49.480 even hesitant to attack you, you know, and yeah, and 1:01:49.560 --> 1:01:52.200 so and and then when you do get attacked, you 1:01:52.240 --> 1:01:55.000 go through the six seas and then that strengthens you. 1:01:55.040 --> 1:01:57.280 But you do it beforehand too. Like you know, I'm 1:01:57.280 --> 1:01:59.000 going to go into the gym, I'm going to meditate 1:01:59.040 --> 1:02:01.240 on the sixth seas before even go in there, so 1:02:01.280 --> 1:02:04.760 that I'm my strength is bolstered. I'm ready, I'm equipped. 1:02:05.240 --> 1:02:06.720 And then if I'm in the midst of it and 1:02:07.240 --> 1:02:09.800 the temptations arise, I give my heart and mind something 1:02:09.800 --> 1:02:11.720 to do. I go to those six sees and I 1:02:11.760 --> 1:02:12.520 go through them. 1:02:12.400 --> 1:02:17.520 Which are creation, cross, crisis, crown, crowd in christ right, 1:02:17.760 --> 1:02:20.920 six sies, and a note. I love the note. Yeah 1:02:21.040 --> 1:02:23.160 that that got me too, because it's, like you said, 1:02:23.280 --> 1:02:24.680 it's so practical. Yeah. 1:02:24.840 --> 1:02:26.520 I know, we're running out of time, but maybe I 1:02:26.520 --> 1:02:30.480 could at least hit we have time here, I forget time, 1:02:30.560 --> 1:02:32.560 but like, if I could hit on at least to 1:02:32.600 --> 1:02:34.120 begin with creation, let's do that. 1:02:34.360 --> 1:02:35.520 Yeah, let's do that. Do you need this? 1:02:35.720 --> 1:02:40.240 No, i'ven't meditated on this for years about that? 1:02:40.640 --> 1:02:40.800 No? 1:02:40.880 --> 1:02:45.480 So creation? You know. One of the things that makes 1:02:45.560 --> 1:02:49.280 sexual sin exceedingly sinful is the fact that we are 1:02:49.400 --> 1:02:54.520 using certain features and faculties to engage in that sexual 1:02:54.560 --> 1:02:57.760 sin that should be blowing our minds and causing us 1:02:57.840 --> 1:03:00.880 to worship God. So we begin with vision, right, think 1:03:00.920 --> 1:03:04.080 about what's happening with LUs. First, it's vision. Your eye 1:03:04.120 --> 1:03:06.920 has one hundred and thirty seven million light sensitive cells. 1:03:06.960 --> 1:03:09.640 The focusing muscle moves about one hundred thousand times a 1:03:09.720 --> 1:03:12.200 day each one of your eyes. Granger has a built 1:03:12.200 --> 1:03:16.240 in super sensitive light meter, im media, automatic focusing, wide 1:03:16.320 --> 1:03:19.520 angle lens, and full color instantaneous reproduction. Sounds like I'm 1:03:19.520 --> 1:03:22.120 talking about a camera, but the camera was patterned after 1:03:22.160 --> 1:03:27.040 the human eye. This is a marvel of ingenuity like this, 1:03:27.800 --> 1:03:30.120 the human eye. I mean, even Darwin said, to suppose 1:03:30.120 --> 1:03:32.000 that the human eye could be informed by natural selection 1:03:32.080 --> 1:03:35.200 seems I freely confess absurd. In the highest degree of course. 1:03:35.200 --> 1:03:38.200 It's absurd because it didn't happen. It was fully designed 1:03:38.200 --> 1:03:40.400 by God. You think of just vision and all that 1:03:40.800 --> 1:03:41.320 is entailed there. 1:03:41.360 --> 1:03:44.360 Have you seen those pictures of up close the eye 1:03:44.440 --> 1:03:45.040 up close? Oh? 1:03:45.080 --> 1:03:50.000 Yeah, it just it's it mind blow unbelievable. Yeah, and 1:03:50.080 --> 1:03:54.720 this blind process called evolution decided to give sight. Yeah. 1:03:54.840 --> 1:03:57.920 So but yeah, vision, But then your eyes are connected 1:03:57.920 --> 1:04:00.360 to your brain, right, something is processing these images so 1:04:00.680 --> 1:04:04.080 it's not just vision, but it's cognition. So you think 1:04:04.080 --> 1:04:06.800 about the brain one hundred billion neurons or microscopic nerve cells, 1:04:06.840 --> 1:04:09.880 has got more nerve lines and all the telephone lines 1:04:09.880 --> 1:04:11.880 in the whole world put together. Right, You've got electrical 1:04:11.920 --> 1:04:14.560 signals from two hundred thousand living thermometer cells, a half 1:04:14.600 --> 1:04:17.440 million pressure sensing cells, three to four million pain sensing cells, 1:04:17.600 --> 1:04:19.520 plus all the signals from your eyes, ears, nose, and 1:04:19.560 --> 1:04:22.480 taste buds that are working in perfect order and harmony. 1:04:22.560 --> 1:04:25.960 Then you've got imagination, you've got creativity, you've got memory, 1:04:25.960 --> 1:04:28.320 you've got recall, like what computer can you compare the 1:04:28.400 --> 1:04:31.480 human brain to? Right? And then you have coitionion, which 1:04:31.520 --> 1:04:34.120 comes from the word coitus, which is the mechanism of 1:04:34.120 --> 1:04:37.440 sexual intimacy. I mean you think about all that's involved 1:04:37.440 --> 1:04:44.560 in that, from desire to pleasure, to anatomical compatibility to 1:04:46.080 --> 1:04:53.880 dynamic emotional unity to procreation. Every human being that's ever 1:04:54.000 --> 1:04:58.960 existed has come through this process, billions of image bearers. 1:04:59.080 --> 1:05:02.320 Like I mean, when you pause, and that's what I 1:05:02.360 --> 1:05:05.840 tell guys, you pause and think about what you're using 1:05:06.240 --> 1:05:10.120 to commit these sins with. These things have God's fingerprints 1:05:10.120 --> 1:05:12.400 of design all over them. They should be leading you 1:05:12.440 --> 1:05:14.680 to worship. And you know what we do. It's like 1:05:14.800 --> 1:05:17.200 we pull the Mona Lisa off the wall of the 1:05:17.200 --> 1:05:19.439 loop and we throw it down on a dirty table 1:05:19.440 --> 1:05:21.480 and we use it as a place mat. We take 1:05:21.840 --> 1:05:24.920 a live grenade and we play catch with it casually. 1:05:25.280 --> 1:05:29.080 That's what we're doing. We're tampering. We're tampering with something 1:05:29.120 --> 1:05:33.720 that is loaded with so much beauty and power and 1:05:35.240 --> 1:05:39.920 you know, God oriented design and we're tampering with some 1:05:40.080 --> 1:05:44.720 heavy stuff. And so this principle is, you know creation 1:05:45.080 --> 1:05:51.280 and that alliterated sentences wield wonders as well springs for worship, 1:05:51.880 --> 1:05:54.760 not weapons for wounding, because that's what we're doing. We're 1:05:54.760 --> 1:05:56.880 taking them and returning them and using them as weapons 1:05:57.000 --> 1:06:00.520 to wound the Lord. Others and ourselves. 1:06:00.080 --> 1:06:05.040 Will willed wonders as well, springs for worship, not weapons 1:06:05.040 --> 1:06:09.400 for wounding. Yeah, so you know it's got the soldier 1:06:09.440 --> 1:06:11.280 mentality here, yeah. 1:06:10.880 --> 1:06:12.800 You know, and it goes on from there, and you 1:06:12.800 --> 1:06:14.560 know all those different principles in there. 1:06:15.240 --> 1:06:19.600 Cross Yeah, stop spitting and stomping on such a sacred symbol. 1:06:19.840 --> 1:06:23.600 Yeah, right, because when we commit sexual sin, we're doing 1:06:23.600 --> 1:06:25.880 it in the shadow of the cross, and we're saying 1:06:25.920 --> 1:06:29.440 in essence that Christ's priceless sacrifice means nothing, and we 1:06:29.520 --> 1:06:31.400 spit on it, we trample it beneath our feet. 1:06:31.760 --> 1:06:35.360 Crisis, consider the catastrophic consequence of compromise. 1:06:35.560 --> 1:06:38.440 Yeah, that's right. I mean, you think about what's happening. 1:06:38.480 --> 1:06:42.040 You know. I keep a list granger of different Christian 1:06:42.160 --> 1:06:44.840 leaders and men who have fallen into sexual sin. And 1:06:44.880 --> 1:06:47.560 the list is long, and it's tragic. But a part 1:06:47.560 --> 1:06:52.000 of that principle is remembering those seeing those tragic examples 1:06:52.040 --> 1:06:54.120 and avoiding them. And then I think about all the 1:06:54.160 --> 1:06:58.160 other crises that result from sexual sin. The crisis of conscience. 1:06:58.640 --> 1:07:01.680 You know, first of all, a wounded conscience limits you 1:07:01.720 --> 1:07:03.680 in so many ways in life. That's that saying that says, 1:07:03.680 --> 1:07:05.440 there's no softer pillow than a clear conscience. When you 1:07:05.440 --> 1:07:07.480 don't have one, you can't be a person who is 1:07:07.520 --> 1:07:09.680 at rest, who's filled with the peace of God. And 1:07:09.720 --> 1:07:13.640 then a seared conscience is unbelievably dangerous because then you'll 1:07:13.680 --> 1:07:17.280 do the unthinkable, and then you have the the crisis 1:07:17.320 --> 1:07:19.560 of moral authority. How are you going to speak into 1:07:19.600 --> 1:07:23.160 the life of your son, of your younger brother of 1:07:23.200 --> 1:07:27.080 a dear friend who is being destroyed by pornography. When 1:07:27.120 --> 1:07:32.000 you yourself are tampering with it, you won't Then the crisis 1:07:31.800 --> 1:07:35.520 of leadership capacity. You limit yourself from being used as 1:07:35.520 --> 1:07:37.680 a man in all these leadership roles, or at the 1:07:37.800 --> 1:07:41.160 very least, you're limiting your effect and impact because you 1:07:41.200 --> 1:07:43.760 can't be thriving and being a good leader. You won't 1:07:43.760 --> 1:07:45.320 want to lead anyone, and no one will want to 1:07:45.320 --> 1:07:47.040 follow you because even though they might not know you're 1:07:47.040 --> 1:07:49.840 doing that, they see the weakness in your life. And 1:07:50.400 --> 1:07:53.480 then you have the crisis of witness. How excited are 1:07:53.480 --> 1:07:54.960 you going to be to share the gospel when you're 1:07:54.960 --> 1:07:57.560 tampering with porn and living in a way that's contrary 1:07:57.560 --> 1:08:01.720 to the gospel. And then the crisis of joy, which 1:08:01.760 --> 1:08:03.880 is really the spice of life for the Christian. I mean, 1:08:03.920 --> 1:08:06.960 it's a it's a part of our inheritance as believers 1:08:07.000 --> 1:08:08.040 to have the joy of the spirit. 1:08:08.640 --> 1:08:11.680 He's my friend, that's saying I have this dark cloud 1:08:11.720 --> 1:08:15.800 over me. He's basically saying my joy is gone, right, Yeah, exactly, 1:08:15.880 --> 1:08:20.520 That's that's what happens. And you know, and and that desensitization. 1:08:20.640 --> 1:08:23.160 I remember one time counseling a young man when I 1:08:23.200 --> 1:08:26.120 was pastoring in the prayer room and he said, Man, 1:08:26.160 --> 1:08:28.280 I'm reading the word, I'm praying, I'm going to church, 1:08:28.280 --> 1:08:30.479 he said, but I feel so weak. I feel so 1:08:30.520 --> 1:08:31.360 I don't understand. 1:08:32.040 --> 1:08:33.439 And I just looked at him and I asked him 1:08:33.479 --> 1:08:37.040 if he participated in a very specific Lewde sexual sin. 1:08:38.640 --> 1:08:41.599 And it's like he's just he looked off to the side, 1:08:41.600 --> 1:08:43.519 and then he like the light bulb started to go, 1:08:43.800 --> 1:08:46.840 you know, on, and he goes, yeah, I do do that. 1:08:46.960 --> 1:08:49.880 He's like, you think that has something to do with it? 1:08:51.160 --> 1:08:53.920 So desensitized because it became such an habitual part of 1:08:53.920 --> 1:08:57.520 his life. He's not connecting the dots. You're living in constant, 1:08:57.760 --> 1:09:00.240 flagrant rebellion against the Lord, and you expect to be 1:09:00.560 --> 1:09:03.440 thriving spiritually. No way, That's where that crisis. 1:09:03.600 --> 1:09:07.720 This crisis also if run to its logical conclusion, and 1:09:07.920 --> 1:09:14.120 if it's uninhibited by morality, basic morality, then I've seen 1:09:14.200 --> 1:09:16.840 where it goes. Oh I've been to Thailand. Yeah, and 1:09:16.880 --> 1:09:20.000 you get these men, these older men, flying to Thailand 1:09:20.000 --> 1:09:23.559 to these remote places to take little boys to a 1:09:23.600 --> 1:09:27.280 hotel room. Absolutely, and you wonder what sicko would do that. Yeah, 1:09:27.479 --> 1:09:29.640 it's sicko that a long time ago started with just 1:09:29.720 --> 1:09:30.519 a peak of porn. 1:09:30.680 --> 1:09:34.280 Absolutely, because because what happens is, you know, with with 1:09:34.280 --> 1:09:37.120 with your endorphin levels, it gets to a point it's 1:09:37.160 --> 1:09:41.320 like with drugs, you need more, and before long the 1:09:41.360 --> 1:09:44.920 stuff that would would cause you to get aroused doesn't 1:09:44.920 --> 1:09:47.000 do it anymore. So you know, a. 1:09:46.920 --> 1:09:50.080 Little bit more, a little bit more weird, weird. 1:09:50.520 --> 1:09:53.559 I mean, I won't even say any of the stuff 1:09:53.600 --> 1:09:54.960 I've heard is out there because I don't want to 1:09:54.960 --> 1:09:59.479 stumble anyone. But it's so it's so reprehensible, but that's 1:09:59.560 --> 1:10:03.360 that's how well, that's how sin works. It's progressive and destructive, 1:10:03.400 --> 1:10:06.599 and so people have to understand what they're opening themselves 1:10:06.680 --> 1:10:09.200 up to. And that's why we see marriages destroyed, because 1:10:09.920 --> 1:10:13.080 I mean, basically, a man's committing adultery with hundreds of 1:10:13.120 --> 1:10:17.439 women constantly in his imagination and through images, and now 1:10:17.800 --> 1:10:21.400 he's expecting that kind of performance, which is totally unrealistic 1:10:21.439 --> 1:10:24.759 from his wife. And he's also depleted because he's giving 1:10:24.760 --> 1:10:30.680 his energy away there. And so man, the repercussions are 1:10:30.720 --> 1:10:35.360 so multifaceted and so numerous. It's tragic, such a good book, man. 1:10:35.720 --> 1:10:41.080 I wish everyone could have this crown envision endurance, ensuring 1:10:41.240 --> 1:10:42.440 eternal enrichment. 1:10:42.640 --> 1:10:45.520 James one twelve blessed as a man who endures temptation, 1:10:45.960 --> 1:10:47.960 for when he has been approved, he'll receive the crown 1:10:48.000 --> 1:10:49.840 of life, which the Lord has promised to do his 1:10:49.880 --> 1:10:51.200 love them. And that crown of life is not the 1:10:51.200 --> 1:10:54.080 crown of salvation. But when you study it out, it's 1:10:54.160 --> 1:10:57.280 dealing with eternal reward. Look. Two Corinthians five says we 1:10:57.320 --> 1:11:00.240 will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We're 1:11:00.280 --> 1:11:02.479 going to give account for our lives. And even though 1:11:02.520 --> 1:11:05.519 for the believer that's not a judgment under condemnation, it's 1:11:05.520 --> 1:11:10.960 still a very serious and intense day of reckoning. And 1:11:11.120 --> 1:11:14.120 we will suffer loss of what what rewards we could 1:11:14.200 --> 1:11:17.439 have had in the eternal realm. And anything God wants 1:11:17.479 --> 1:11:21.160 for us we should we we should want, and so 1:11:21.479 --> 1:11:23.160 that that's an important one, and so we need to 1:11:23.400 --> 1:11:25.080 we need to think on rewards. I mean, you look 1:11:25.120 --> 1:11:27.960 at Hebrews, and I mean you talked about Piper earlier, right, 1:11:28.000 --> 1:11:30.559 I mean, Christ, for the joint that was set before him, 1:11:30.640 --> 1:11:33.920 endured the cross, and it's speaking of Moses. You know that. 1:11:34.240 --> 1:11:36.360 You know, he was looking to the reward and so on. 1:11:36.439 --> 1:11:38.960 So away we're called to do that, and we want 1:11:38.960 --> 1:11:43.360 to understand that our temporal sins will have eternal ramifications 1:11:43.520 --> 1:11:44.679 for you, for us as believers. 1:11:44.720 --> 1:11:46.479 You're a good talker. You talk as well as you right, 1:11:46.560 --> 1:11:48.519 you should have a podcast or some good Yeah, you 1:11:48.520 --> 1:11:50.439 should be like the president of like a big minister 1:11:52.160 --> 1:11:58.280 wuary crowd, do as the departed did, and don't dispense devastation. Right. 1:11:58.320 --> 1:12:01.439 So Hebrews twelve to one says, you know, because we're 1:12:01.479 --> 1:12:03.760 surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us 1:12:03.760 --> 1:12:05.639 set aside the weights and the sins that so easily 1:12:05.720 --> 1:12:09.519 ensnare us. And that word cloud that has been translated 1:12:09.520 --> 1:12:12.759 in some places as crowd. And so that's really referring 1:12:12.760 --> 1:12:15.599 to Hebrews eleven, the previous chapter, the Hall of Faith, 1:12:16.080 --> 1:12:18.320 and all of those saints that went before us, and 1:12:18.400 --> 1:12:22.599 all that they endured, but all that they persevered through 1:12:22.680 --> 1:12:25.479 because of faith. And at the end it says, and 1:12:25.640 --> 1:12:29.360 we're tempted. In the last portion, some of them were 1:12:29.400 --> 1:12:32.840 tempted and they persevered, and so we need to think 1:12:32.880 --> 1:12:35.000 of them because we're surrounded by so great a cloud 1:12:35.040 --> 1:12:37.519 when it says their testimony of faith trusting the Lord, 1:12:38.840 --> 1:12:40.960 and we need to cast those sins aside. And then 1:12:40.960 --> 1:12:44.559 we need to think of the crowd of our children 1:12:44.680 --> 1:12:46.800 and our grandchildren, and our wives and our friends as 1:12:46.800 --> 1:12:50.439 I alluded to before our sin affects them. And so 1:12:50.560 --> 1:12:53.400 we need to wake up and say, wow, I can't 1:12:53.479 --> 1:12:57.120 let myself do this because of love, and I'm going 1:12:57.160 --> 1:12:59.240 to fight and so yeah, that one is due as 1:12:59.280 --> 1:13:01.800 the departed did the Hall of faith, and don't dispense 1:13:01.880 --> 1:13:04.320 devastation to those that you love. 1:13:04.720 --> 1:13:06.800 And then your booke end. You know, you start with 1:13:06.840 --> 1:13:10.320 creation and end of course with Christ always that's the book, 1:13:10.320 --> 1:13:14.240 in the beginning, in the end, and seek the sweet 1:13:14.280 --> 1:13:18.160 Savior for strength, satisfaction and sympathetic support. 1:13:18.360 --> 1:13:21.599 Yeah, so it all comes down to Christ. He's everything, 1:13:22.360 --> 1:13:24.960 and apart from him we can do nothing. So he 1:13:25.040 --> 1:13:28.360 has to be the source of our strength, and we 1:13:28.439 --> 1:13:34.679 need to recognize that our calling is to have an intimate, personal, 1:13:34.880 --> 1:13:38.000 close relationship with him. You know, there's a there was 1:13:38.040 --> 1:13:41.439 a Christian hip hop artist that did this song that 1:13:41.520 --> 1:13:45.200 had a really powerful line in it and it said 1:13:45.200 --> 1:13:50.280 this said he was giving this sort of this kind 1:13:50.320 --> 1:13:53.960 of Pilgrim's progress, scene of a guy running toward the 1:13:54.000 --> 1:13:56.479 kingdom and the porn monster is coming at him like 1:13:56.520 --> 1:13:59.800 a dragon and trying to attack him. And he had 1:13:59.800 --> 1:14:03.160 this line that was so powerful. He said, with my sword, 1:14:03.640 --> 1:14:07.440 I hacked it to pieces because I'm way more attracted 1:14:07.640 --> 1:14:11.479 to Jesus. And He's got to be our everything. Man, 1:14:11.520 --> 1:14:13.799 when you fall in love with Christ, when you taste 1:14:13.920 --> 1:14:17.479 of him, you don't want to wound such a savior. 1:14:17.840 --> 1:14:19.880 You want to you don't want anything to interrupt that 1:14:20.000 --> 1:14:24.640 sweet fellowship you have with him. And often we're not 1:14:24.760 --> 1:14:27.280 pursuing the Lord, we're not seeking after him with our 1:14:27.280 --> 1:14:30.120 whole heart, and so so there's that danger. So Christ 1:14:30.360 --> 1:14:32.599 has to be or everything. You have to feast on him, 1:14:32.640 --> 1:14:35.880 you know, he said, you know, if we drink of 1:14:35.920 --> 1:14:37.840 the water he gives, if we feast upon him, we'll 1:14:37.880 --> 1:14:40.479 never hunger and thirst again. So what happens is if 1:14:40.479 --> 1:14:44.000 we deprive ourselves of Christ as our spiritual sustenance, it 1:14:44.120 --> 1:14:46.960 leads to a process of spiritual starvation. I mean it's 1:14:47.000 --> 1:14:49.720 like in the physical right you see physical starvation. It 1:14:49.800 --> 1:14:53.160 starts with deprivation. You're first deprived of your normal sustenance. 1:14:53.640 --> 1:14:56.320 Then it leads to desperation. When you haven't had what 1:14:56.400 --> 1:14:58.680 you normally have, you'll get desperate to where you know 1:14:59.080 --> 1:15:01.840 you're willing to do the thinkable. Then it leads to deviation. 1:15:02.280 --> 1:15:04.719 Now you deviate and you actually begin to eat things 1:15:04.760 --> 1:15:07.559 you would never eat. Here about people in starving countries. 1:15:07.560 --> 1:15:11.000 They're eating grass and tree bark and rats and cockroaches. 1:15:11.840 --> 1:15:14.640 The story alive that rugby team that crashed up in 1:15:14.640 --> 1:15:17.599 the Andes. They ended up eating their friends. Remember who 1:15:17.600 --> 1:15:19.200 in their right mind would do that? No one in 1:15:19.240 --> 1:15:21.960 their right mind. But starvation is a state of it's 1:15:21.960 --> 1:15:24.919 an altered state of mind. And then obviously it ultimately 1:15:25.000 --> 1:15:28.719 leads to deterioration. And so in the same in the spiritual, 1:15:28.760 --> 1:15:32.960 you deprive yourself of feasting on Christ. That deprivation leads 1:15:33.000 --> 1:15:35.599 to desperation. You get desperate, you have to satisfy. Then 1:15:35.600 --> 1:15:38.839 it leads to deviation. You start satisfying yourself with physical 1:15:38.840 --> 1:15:40.920 stuff in the place of the spiritual, and it leads 1:15:40.920 --> 1:15:43.400 to deterioration. And so we have to feed on Christ. 1:15:43.400 --> 1:15:46.080 He sympathizes with our weaknesses and causes us to come 1:15:46.120 --> 1:15:48.679 boldly to his throne of grace. He doesn't break a bruise. 1:15:48.720 --> 1:15:51.679 Read he doesn't quench a smoldering wick, and it tells 1:15:51.720 --> 1:15:54.000 us first John, these things were written so that you 1:15:54.040 --> 1:15:56.760 may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an 1:15:56.840 --> 1:16:00.640 advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous is a 1:16:00.720 --> 1:16:03.400 propitiation for our sins. So we're not to sin. But 1:16:03.479 --> 1:16:07.200 if we do. Christ paid for those sins. He's our advocate, 1:16:07.280 --> 1:16:09.639 our attorney, the one who comes alongside to help. He 1:16:09.720 --> 1:16:12.360 paid for those sins with his blood, and so he 1:16:12.400 --> 1:16:13.640 can set you free. 1:16:13.479 --> 1:16:14.719 Not the confession booth. 1:16:15.560 --> 1:16:16.200 God forbid. 1:16:16.320 --> 1:16:19.920 Okay, you are the man of alliteration. Should be a 1:16:19.920 --> 1:16:20.960 country music songwriter. 1:16:21.080 --> 1:16:23.160 Yeah, we need to do a rap and uh. 1:16:25.160 --> 1:16:28.360 So you finished this idea with Nope, I love nope yeah, 1:16:28.520 --> 1:16:30.960 not one peak ever. 1:16:31.160 --> 1:16:34.040 Yeah yeah, so so I am so practical. 1:16:34.400 --> 1:16:35.559 Not one peak ever. 1:16:35.800 --> 1:16:37.599 Yeah it's even but ever works? 1:16:37.640 --> 1:16:40.080 Sorry sorry sorry I do say I do mess that up? 1:16:40.240 --> 1:16:44.840 Yeah it works? Not one peak even even? Yeah, yes, yeah, 1:16:44.920 --> 1:16:46.760 ever works too. I have other people right and say, hey, 1:16:46.800 --> 1:16:49.160 should be ever ever even? I think I saw someone 1:16:49.200 --> 1:16:49.479 say that. 1:16:50.200 --> 1:16:52.560 Yeah, so so let me give you the backdrop to 1:16:52.600 --> 1:16:54.519 that real quickly. So I was counseling a young man. 1:16:54.680 --> 1:16:57.000 I said, hey, man, how you doing with porn? You said, 1:16:57.000 --> 1:16:59.040 I'm doing pretty good. I said, how you doing with lust? 1:16:59.320 --> 1:17:01.320 Because this is the right A lot of guys say, well, 1:17:01.320 --> 1:17:03.840 I'm not looking at porn, but we have a porn 1:17:03.880 --> 1:17:06.160 machine in our brains, you know, from images we've seen 1:17:06.240 --> 1:17:08.080 or ones that our minds can conjure up. And there 1:17:08.080 --> 1:17:10.280 are women walking around everywhere we could lust after. And 1:17:10.320 --> 1:17:11.920 so I said, how are you doing with that? And 1:17:11.960 --> 1:17:14.600 he kind of hung his head, sort of in defeat discouragement, 1:17:15.040 --> 1:17:17.960 say I'm not doing too well there. And as he 1:17:17.960 --> 1:17:20.519 said that, granger, I felt this sort of zeal for 1:17:20.680 --> 1:17:23.080 righteousness and purity rise up in my heart and I 1:17:23.120 --> 1:17:25.280 just said, brother, we just need to say, man, enough 1:17:25.360 --> 1:17:27.600 is enough. I am done with this. I said, you 1:17:27.680 --> 1:17:29.160 know what, we just need to We just need to 1:17:29.160 --> 1:17:31.960 say nope, this is over. I said, in fact, we should. 1:17:32.000 --> 1:17:34.680 We should say that word nope out loud, because you know, 1:17:34.760 --> 1:17:37.920 nope has has an attitude. It's different than no. Say 1:17:37.920 --> 1:17:38.960 hey can you do this for me? 1:17:39.080 --> 1:17:39.280 Yeah? 1:17:39.680 --> 1:17:40.760 Can you do this for me? And I go no, 1:17:41.240 --> 1:17:42.800 But if you can you do this for me. 1:17:42.760 --> 1:17:43.439 I go Nope. 1:17:43.600 --> 1:17:46.120 It's like ooh, all right, that's got some attitude with it. 1:17:46.520 --> 1:17:49.240 He's serious about this. So anyway, I said, we should 1:17:49.280 --> 1:17:50.880 say that word out loud. You know, I felt it 1:17:50.920 --> 1:17:54.920 resonated with him, resonated with me. Next day, I'm leaving home, 1:17:55.200 --> 1:17:57.200 driving in my car, heading toward the office. I'm still 1:17:57.200 --> 1:17:59.280 in my neighborhood, and these two girls come jogging by, 1:17:59.320 --> 1:18:01.040 wearing barely any thing. Caught a glimpse of them in 1:18:01.080 --> 1:18:05.120 my periphery, and instinctively, without even thinking, I go nope 1:18:05.280 --> 1:18:08.320 out loud, And as soon as I said it, I thought, man, 1:18:08.400 --> 1:18:10.559 I wish there was some kind of a crosstick that 1:18:10.600 --> 1:18:12.160 went along with it that could help me and men. 1:18:12.240 --> 1:18:14.160 And so then that popped into my mind right away, 1:18:14.280 --> 1:18:18.480 not one peak even, and so but later it progressed, 1:18:18.520 --> 1:18:21.040 and I thought, okay, but why not one peak even? 1:18:21.200 --> 1:18:24.599 Why what fuels that well? Like we talked about before, 1:18:24.640 --> 1:18:28.360 it's love. It's the five main things that I love. 1:18:29.160 --> 1:18:31.519 And so you know, Jesus said, whoever puts his hand 1:18:31.520 --> 1:18:33.559 to the plow and looks back isn't fit for the kingdom. 1:18:33.600 --> 1:18:37.280 And so I envisioned my hand going out to grab 1:18:37.320 --> 1:18:38.880 a hold of the plow, and each one of my 1:18:38.960 --> 1:18:42.559 fingers as it wraps around the handle represents one of 1:18:42.560 --> 1:18:45.639 my main loves, and so not one peak even Why. 1:18:45.760 --> 1:18:48.200 Because I love my Lord, the one who paid the 1:18:48.240 --> 1:18:50.720 highest price ever paid for anything ever purchased in the 1:18:50.720 --> 1:18:52.720 history of the universe, to redeem me. I don't want 1:18:52.760 --> 1:18:55.400 to wound him. I love my Lady, the one that 1:18:55.439 --> 1:18:57.920 I vowed before heaven and Earth to be faithful to 1:18:58.120 --> 1:19:00.640 my soul companion, the one I'm called to lay my 1:19:00.680 --> 1:19:02.880 life down for. I don't want to wound her. I 1:19:02.920 --> 1:19:08.080 love my lineage, my children, my grandchildren, successive future generations. 1:19:08.080 --> 1:19:11.680 My sin will impact them. I love his lambs. I 1:19:11.720 --> 1:19:13.760 love God's children, the ones that I'm called to be 1:19:13.800 --> 1:19:17.040 an example to and to lead and influence. And finally, 1:19:17.080 --> 1:19:19.200 I love the lost, the ones I'm called to be 1:19:19.240 --> 1:19:22.120 an example to through the Gospel and to reach with 1:19:22.200 --> 1:19:25.240 the truth. So because I love my Lord, because I 1:19:25.280 --> 1:19:27.360 love my Lady, because I love my lineage, because I 1:19:27.400 --> 1:19:30.120 love His lambs, because I love the lost. Nope, not 1:19:30.280 --> 1:19:33.599 one peak even or ever the glory of God. 1:19:33.880 --> 1:19:36.960 So we talked about that literally in our church building 1:19:37.000 --> 1:19:37.760 the other day. Wow. 1:19:38.800 --> 1:19:40.800 Yeah, And you know, Grangel, let me just say, man, 1:19:40.840 --> 1:19:43.360 I've been humbled by the response. First of all, that 1:19:43.640 --> 1:19:46.920 doctor John MacArthur endorsed it, said every man needs to help. 1:19:46.960 --> 1:19:51.719 This excellent book offers. Kirk Cameron endorsed it. Ray comfort. 1:19:51.760 --> 1:19:55.439 Of course, ken Ham wrote the wrote the foreword to 1:19:55.479 --> 1:19:57.880 the book, but in an Australian accent, so you need 1:19:57.880 --> 1:20:02.040 translations understand it. And then the success of the book 1:20:02.040 --> 1:20:04.000 has has blown my mind. You know, Debut is a 1:20:04.080 --> 1:20:07.760 number one best seller, number one new release on Amazon 1:20:07.920 --> 1:20:10.639 in its category, and the number one best seller out 1:20:10.640 --> 1:20:13.600 of you know, all categories. It was one of the 1:20:14.040 --> 1:20:17.080 top books, and so and and I have an email 1:20:17.120 --> 1:20:19.080 address at the end of the book that tells men 1:20:19.160 --> 1:20:21.120 to write in if they have a story of how 1:20:21.120 --> 1:20:23.519 the book has impacted them. And I have been blown 1:20:23.600 --> 1:20:25.920 away by the emails. I'm getting a guy saying this 1:20:25.960 --> 1:20:28.080 has changed my life. This has really helped give me 1:20:28.360 --> 1:20:31.960 practical tools and biblical insight into it. And so it's 1:20:32.000 --> 1:20:35.640 been humbling and I'm encouraged to see what God's going 1:20:35.680 --> 1:20:36.519 to do through Amen. 1:20:36.640 --> 1:20:39.840 You are a modern day Puritan. They you know that 1:20:39.920 --> 1:20:42.759 the Puritans talked about these things and they they fought 1:20:42.880 --> 1:20:46.600 viciously against sin. Yeah, and we've really we've lost that. 1:20:46.640 --> 1:20:48.760 I think I think you nailed it. Where we have 1:20:49.320 --> 1:20:51.920 I said it wrong. We have an overemphasis of grace. 1:20:51.920 --> 1:20:54.519 You can never overemphasize grace. But what I mean is 1:20:54.600 --> 1:20:59.440 the teaching of the doctrine of grace. Yeah, it overwhelms 1:20:59.800 --> 1:21:04.200 the man's responsibility to fight sin, to fight like a man. Yeah. 1:21:04.240 --> 1:21:06.120 And the Puritans knew this. 1:21:06.240 --> 1:21:08.240 Yeah. Well, look and Titus tells us the grace of 1:21:08.240 --> 1:21:11.360 God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching 1:21:11.720 --> 1:21:14.800 us that denying on godliness and all worldly luss, we 1:21:14.840 --> 1:21:17.479 should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. 1:21:17.760 --> 1:21:20.400 The grace of God to bring salvation has appeared to 1:21:20.439 --> 1:21:24.760 all men teaching us these things. So if you're saying that, 1:21:25.280 --> 1:21:27.280 oh I'm under grace and you're living in sin, you 1:21:27.320 --> 1:21:30.160 have not been tutored by grace, because grace teaches you 1:21:30.200 --> 1:21:33.639 to deny on godliness and all worldly luss to live soberly, righteously, 1:21:33.640 --> 1:21:36.320 and godly in the present age. So no be killing sin, 1:21:36.720 --> 1:21:38.680 or sin will be killing you. We have to do 1:21:38.760 --> 1:21:41.760 war with sin. We have the weaponry to do it. 1:21:41.760 --> 1:21:43.760 It's now to stand. It's time to stand up and 1:21:43.760 --> 1:21:44.960 be men and fight. 1:21:45.200 --> 1:21:48.559 Amen. Will you come back ever to Texas? And brother, 1:21:49.200 --> 1:21:50.240 or maybe I'll go to you. 1:21:50.280 --> 1:21:52.920 Come on, let's do it. We want you, We want 1:21:52.920 --> 1:21:55.519 you to come in the studio and do a podcast 1:21:55.600 --> 1:22:00.240 with us as well, and we'll do that country and rap. 1:22:00.400 --> 1:22:02.720 So yeah, yeah, man. 1:22:02.479 --> 1:22:05.599 You gotta grab some unholy waterburger maybe on your way out. 1:22:06.080 --> 1:22:11.360 Oh don't even say that, brother, Thank you, easy, appreciate it. 1:22:11.680 --> 1:22:12.240 Been a pleasure. 1:22:12.240 --> 1:22:12.439 Brother. 1:22:12.439 --> 1:22:13.040 Thanks for having me. 1:22:13.160 --> 1:22:16.120 Yeah, thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith podcast. I 1:22:16.200 --> 1:22:18.760 appreciate all of you guys. You could help me out 1:22:18.880 --> 1:22:22.080 by rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube, 1:22:22.400 --> 1:22:25.600 subscribe to this channel, hit that little like button and 1:22:25.760 --> 1:22:29.479 notification spell so that you never miss anytime I upload 1:22:29.800 --> 1:22:30.920 a video. Yi