Speaker Identification

Speaker 1 - Host: Bradley Dean. The transcript repeatedly addresses the host as "Bradley," and the host later refers to himself as "Bradley Dean." He also discusses his ministry, travels, radio work, family, and events in the first person.

Speaker 2 - Prerecorded Praise/Worship Vocalist(s): Multiple recorded musical voices are heard during the opening worship portions. Their individual identities are not stated in the transcript, so no names are assigned.

Speaker 3 - Prerecorded Spoken Voice: A brief opening spoken quotation about the believer being a "soldier of the cross" appears before the host's principal teaching. The speaker's identity is not established by the transcript.

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Speaker 2 - Prerecorded Praise/Worship Vocalist(s): [Opening song; several words in the automated transcription are unclear.] The audible refrain centers on "God is in control." The lyrics also include the ideas that godless men may conspire, God's ways are higher, and believers should take heart even through the fire. The refrain "God is in control" repeats.

Speaker 3 - Prerecorded Spoken Voice: There is not a square inch of space, nor a minute of time, when the believer in Christ can withdraw from the responsibility of being a soldier of the cross. Satan must be driven from the field, and Christ must rule. [The prerecorded quotation repeats the same central statement.]

Speaker 1 - Host: We have been taught a version of what they want to call Christianity - a compartmentalized version of it. I was thinking about it this morning. As a matter of fact, I don't need to break into it so quickly, but I'm going to follow the leading here. I was thinking, "Lord, I am literally spent for what I am called to do here. Is there a time to breathe in between?" Well, the bottom line is yes, there is. But the other bottom line - and it really is the bottom line - is that we have to be on guard continuously. We are to guard our hearts diligently. We're given warfare, which I'll get to in just a moment. We're to be on the offensive and not on the defensive. We've been taught the exact opposite in this country, and I want to tell you why, friends. Too many people have dropped the Bible, listened to those from the pulpits, and allowed them to tell them what to do and how to do it rather than the Word of God. We are to sell ourselves out to the Lord Jesus Christ. Going back to my thoughts, the question was, "Lord, am I not giving You enough?" Because I'm all the way in. So I'm looking in the mirror and saying to myself, "There's got to be more that I can do here in His service, so I can receive more of who He is for the people I'm called to go to."

Speaker 2 - Prerecorded Praise/Worship Vocalist(s): [Praise song; portions of the sung words are indistinct in the automated transcript.] The repeated, clearly audible refrain is "Something about the name Jesus," followed by repeated praise that Jesus is "the sweetest name I know." The performance includes repeated invocations of Jesus, calls to lift hands and say amen, references to the Holy Ghost moving, and extended non-lexical vocalizations. [Several individual lyric lines remain unclear and are not reconstructed.]

Speaker 1 - Host: This is how you praise the Lord. From the soul, from the heart. I was just talking about it during the last segment, how we are to seek the Lord of our whole heart, our whole mind, all of our strength, all that we have. As I'm getting a download over here, I'm thinking about Jeremiah 29:13: "And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart."

Speaker 1 - Host: Not part of your heart, not some of your heart, but all of your heart. I was talking about how we're going to be kicking into the topic of the spiritual warfare as one in which we must grow. I brought up the fact that we're supposed to be on the offensive and not on the defensive. You know who's on the offensive today, friends? The bad guys are.

Speaker 1 - Host: And guess who's been teaching the American people how to sit back, throw their hands up in the air, and just have the Lord take care of things. Now, there's a time for that, but that's not this time. That's not where we're at in the present in any sense of the word. Matter of fact, the church is supposed to be on the offensive every step of the way, because you know, as I do, that Scripture tells us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. Why is that?

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, again, going back to the preachers a hundred years ago, a different breed of men, oh my goodness, folks, go a hundred years before that. That's a different breed of men. But I want to go back to a guy named John G. Lake. He said the great majority of the Christian world is still weeping at the foot of the cross.

Speaker 1 - Host: Yep. And that's where they've been taught to stay. They've been taught to just stay right there, right in front of the cross, and repent and repent and repent and repent, but never get busy about being about the work of the Lord's hands. Wait a second. We're supposed to move.

Speaker 1 - Host: We're supposed to follow the Christ. He said the consciousness of man is fixed on the Christ who died, not on the Christ who lives. Then he said they are looking back to the Redeemer who was not on the Redeemer who is. And that's exactly what we're going to be talking about today. Being on the offensive, he also said, God's call to the Christian churches today is to come forward and to come forth from their hiding place just as Elijah came forth and met the king, declaring the ground on which you meet the enemies of God and meet them in the name of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 - Host: We're supposed to take authority and power over all of what's going on here. As a matter of fact, Scripture teaches us just that in Luke 10:19 as well. And again, that's just the beginning. We've got a couple more praise and worship songs to go through in the process. Again, we started a little early.

Speaker 1 - Host: We're waiting for our church family to get in. We've got about half of them right now, and we're going to continue on. It's the blood. If you would learn how to plead the blood over your family and over your children, you would see a transformation like never before. Somebody just say, "The blood." Oh, come on. This is the stuff we used to do for communion. These are the songs that carried us.

Speaker 2 - Prerecorded Praise/Worship Vocalist(s): [A blood-themed worship medley continues. The clearly audible refrains include "the blood," "the blood of Jesus," "there is power in the blood," and "nothing but the blood," with repeated invocations of "Oh, Jesus" and "Thank you, Jesus." A long stretch of sung lyrics and vocalizations is badly garbled in the automated transcript; unclear lyric wording is not reconstructed.]

Speaker 1 - Host: We're talking about spiritual growth in the warfare, not outside the warfare, but in the center of the warfare. And I'm getting a couple things here. I want to share with you in just a couple minutes. But before I do that, I want you to remember of this. Concerning the preachers of old and how it is that they preached during their particular time.

Speaker 1 - Host: The Lord hasn't changed. Man has changed. If you go back to a guy by the name of Charles Spurgeon, he was the one that said, no soft words. He said to tone down the Word of God is treason against the Most High. Now, what is it today?

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, you better not raise your voice. You better not break into the kingdom of God so that the Lord might release his anointing upon the people. And I'm thinking of Micah 2:12-13, the breaker anointing. And what does that anointing do? It breaks the yoke of bondage over those that were called to go to.

Speaker 1 - Host: Isaiah 10:27. And it also talks about it. Personally, on a personal level in 1 John chapter 2, verse 27 as well. But listen to what Spurgeon said. He said, Spurgeon rejected polite, mealy-mouthed preaching that praises human goodness instead of addressing and confronting sin and bringing forth eternal judgment.

Speaker 1 - Host: He said the sharp edge. He stated that a preacher should not file off the edge of their message for fear of offending somebody. Oh my goodness, folks. There's no nice way to say to people, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. There's no gentle way to reprove someone for sin, friends.

Speaker 1 - Host: There's just no nice way to do it. It's like waking somebody up in the middle of the night and flashing a light or a flashlight or a torch, if you're from England, right into their eyes. Spurgeon goes on wounding to heal. He said the goal of cutting deep as a preacher is to strip away self-righteousness so people do not look to themselves, so that a person realizes their spiritual death and turns to Christ for spiritual life.

Speaker 1 - Host: Spurgeon goes on and says, ministers who do not aim to cut deep are not worth their salt. God never sent the man who never troubles men and their consciences. Consciences means with knowledge. Just the last event that we did here in the state of Minnesota, a guy that was one of the speakers, I was the third speaker. I'm always kind of the cleanup guy.

Speaker 1 - Host: He had walked over to the other speaker. There were three of us and he says, why is it that every time Bradley gets up, the room fills up, it's like electric in the room? Like there's something different in the room. People wake up, they're locked in on what he has to say because that's what we're called to do. If you want to do something for the Lord said Wigglesworth, you're going to have to first get their attention and I'll tell you who gets their attention.

Speaker 1 - Host: The living God gets their attention when we submit to him, when we consecrate ourselves unto Him. I'm going to finish this, I'm going to play a couple more songs here for ya. Spurgeon goes on and says, avoid a sugar gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. He said, seek the gospel which rips up in tears and cuts in wounds. Isn't that different from what you see today, Americans?

Speaker 1 - Host: Isn't that different from what you see in the American version of Christianity? Oh, in so many different ways. No longer do we see that men are the salt of the earth. No, now we see that they're compromised. They're a part of the problem.

Speaker 1 - Host: They're influenced by the spirit of the world and then they try to influence the church by the spirit of the world to win them to Christ. How does that work? It just doesn't, friends. It just doesn't. So we're going to continue on here.

Speaker 1 - Host: I've got a beautiful song for some of you that are new here. A little boy and his dad singing a song, a spiritual song and I highlight this for the very purpose that this little boy is looking at his daddy the way that we should be looking at our daddy. And you say daddy Bradley? Yes, we've been adopted into the family, right? Isn't that what the Bible tells us?

Speaker 1 - Host: We've been adopted into the family. No longer is he God to us, but now he is Abba Father. This little kid exemplifies that. And remember a child is the model of heaven and this is exactly why. Look to this little boy looking at his daddy.

Speaker 2 - Prerecorded Praise/Worship Vocalist(s): [Song performed by a child and his father; portions are garbled.] The clearly recognizable ideas include asking the Spirit to lead where trust is without borders, to walk upon the waters wherever God would call, to be taken deeper than one could wander, and to have faith made stronger in the presence of the Savior. [Unclear lyric wording is not reconstructed.]

Speaker 1 - Host: Look at the way the little boy rejoices in his daddy's presence. It's interesting: the Bible says that unless you become like a child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And that's exactly what I'm looking at right here. So, folks, we're going to play one more praise-and-worship song. We're trying different genres of music. I love all sorts of music, but I'm trying to appeal to the ways people can enter into the presence of God. That's exactly why I do what I do. It's not to appease men; it's to appeal to them in the way they enter in. If our end aim is praising the Lord, it doesn't matter what the genre is.

Speaker 2 - Prerecorded Praise/Worship Vocalist(s): [Closing praise song in this worship block; several words are unclear.] The repeated refrain includes "when I come to the end of my journey," references to the battle being won and the cross of redemption, and the repeated line "we'll understand it better by and by." [Unclear sung words are not reconstructed.]

Speaker 1 - Host: Okay, so that concludes what we're doing concerning praise and worship. We've given people the time, so here we go. Folks, I want to go over to Ezekiel 36 really quick and show you, scripturally speaking, the born-again experience. This morning I posted: Jesus didn't call you to be a Catholic, a Pentecostal, a Baptist, or any other denomination. He called all of us to be born again. I remember growing up and hearing people say, "Oh, they're one of those born-again people," and it's like, well, there's no other kind. This denominational nonsense is man-made. I've covered this quite a bit to unify people under the umbrella of who we are in Christ, not outside of Christ, because there's only one of Him - not 45,000 denominations.

Speaker 1 - Host: And we're all called to be born again. And when you go over to Ezekiel 36 and you look at verse 23, it says, I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, say the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. Then he says, for I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land, then I will sprinkle clean water upon you. You know, the washing of water by the Word; 'sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.'

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all of your filthiness, and from all of your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart, not fixing up the old one, but no, doing away with that and giving you a brand new heart, also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And then what does he say after that? He says, and I will put my spirit within you. What does he put in us and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and you shall do them?

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks, do you realize that when you look at Scripture, the Lord doesn't send to anybody, but sanctified ones? Do you realize that? Sanctified unto obedience, unto the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, and you are establishing the sure mercies of David ordered a right and sure, taking that over to 2 Corinthians 5:17, where old things pass away; behold, all things have become new. Another post that I made was: true, sincere Christianity is hating that which the Lord hates and loving that which the Lord loves. I said that backwards at first - forgive me - but yes, that's exactly right.

Speaker 1 - Host: It's amazing to me how many people say that they're, they've been converted, but they keep going back like a dog to their vomit, or a sow to their mire. It's amazing how they keep partaking with the old man that they said that they've been converted from. I see it all day long, especially in the music scene. They say they've been converted, and then you've got to stand back and ask the question, well, what have you been converted from? Because you're still doing all the old things that you said you were converted from.

Speaker 1 - Host: How dare we go back to the road that Jesus died to save us from, people? Yet we see it all day long. When you go to Isaiah 52:11, what does it say? He said, "Go ye out from thence; touch no unclean thing." 2 Corinthians 6:14 begins a related teaching on separation from what is unclean.

Speaker 1 - Host: And then he says, you out of the midst of her be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Be clean. Why is that? Because those that bring the fire must endure the flame. And you're not going to get to that point until you understand the elementary stages of who we are called to be.

Speaker 1 - Host: And that's what we're going to be talking about today, growing in grace in the midst of the spiritual warfare. Now, before we get to it, I will pray, but I want to kick off this quote from R.J. Rushdoony. He said, "A faith which hopes for escape from the world is doomed neither to escape nor to triumph." [The next clause of the quotation is partially garbled in the automated transcript.] His point is that those confident in the sovereign and omnipotent God, who has called His people to victory, will experience both battle and victory. You can't have one without the other, people. You're not going to partake with the other if you don't partake with the first. I mean, like I've said before, there's so many people that want to dance around the cross.

Speaker 1 - Host: See, they want the crown, but they don't want the cross. It doesn't work that way in the kingdom of God. One of the things that I brought up to people across the country and on the radio programming, the church program as well, is that when David was first anointed king, the Lord didn't just put him right on the throne. Not at all. No, he had a warfare to get there.

Speaker 1 - Host: The first thing He gave him was a bear. Then He gave him a lion. And then after the bear and the lion, after the Lord trained him among the sheep, what did he do? He gave him a goliath. There was no easy path.

Speaker 1 - Host: There was no wide path. See, this is what is in contrast today concerning the scriptures. We've been taught backwards in so many different ways. We've been taught easy-ism concerning what's coming from the pulpits today. We've been taught, you know, the God of endless forgiveness is in this, that, and the other thing.

Speaker 1 - Host: You just come to the altar and church yourself into the kingdom of God. And don't worry about it. His grace will take care of everything else. Folks, this is the first time we've ever been taught.

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks, this nonsense, this heresy has done great damage to the people that have heard these messages. You have to undo this nonsense. And that's exactly what we aim to do. Father, we thank you in Jesus' name for the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. And I thank you again for the blood that washes us from our sins, all of our sins.

Speaker 1 - Host: And as we were just singing here, Lord, as unto you, that you'd wash our sins as white as snow. The Word of God tells us that you've taken our sin, our transgressions, and transgressing your law. You've taken those sins that were laid upon Christ, and you put them and cast them behind your back. Never to be seen or heard of again. You've cast them as far as the east is from the west.

Speaker 1 - Host: You put them and you washed us in the blood of the spotless Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God which takeeth away the sins of the world, John 1:29. And we thank you that unto him who washed us from our sins in his own blood, we thank you that you've done it all, Lord. And we thank you that we receive the imputation of your righteousness concerning all of it, that we receive all of it from the heads to our toes, Lord, that we belong holy to you. And I thank you for the Holy Spirit again who teaches us all things and guides us into all truth.

Speaker 1 - Host: Lord, I thank you for the Holy Spirit that feeds the people that have come to church today. And I thank you that Father, you feed them where they're hungry. And I thank you that we continuously grow up in righteousness and that we go forward. And again that we find our faith not in the wisdom of men's words, but in the power and the demonstration of the Spirit of the Most High God, 1 Corinthians 4:20, 1 Corinthians 2:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:5. The list goes on and on.

Speaker 1 - Host: John 14:12, I go on and I go on and can continuously go on. But folks, I thank you, Lord. I thank you for praying for these people, Lord. I thank you for hearing their prayers and again fulfilling the desires of their hearts for your glory in Jesus' holy name and that you keep us hidden under the shadow of the Almighty and that you uphold us with the right hand of your righteousness as you maintain our cause and maintain our rights. In Jesus' holy name we pray.

Speaker 1 - Host: All right, I want to kick off onto something that we were talking about just a little bit last week. And this is usually how it will happen, people. The Lord will just drop something down on my heart and it will stay with me for a couple days and then I'll write it and then I'll understand exactly what it was that He wanted me to share with the people as with myself. I'm first a partaker of the fruit. The Lord gives us understanding in all things that we receive the Word of God.

Speaker 1 - Host: We receive the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls. Well here it is. And again, we're just tipping into this for a moment. But last week I kind of tipped into, in contrast, again, to what we see today. And it's important that we make distinction, friends.

Speaker 1 - Host: There is a reason the Lord gave us prophets. There's a reason that He gave us the Word of God to make distinction between the false and the real. I mean, there is a reason He gave us Ezekiel 44:23. There is a reason He gave us the example of judging in righteousness, John 7:24, and also Matthew 25 when He makes distinction between the sheep and the goats. Yes, it is judging when you make distinction.

Speaker 1 - Host: You're not going to get away from that. But I want to make sure people understand that when I'm making distinction, I'm making distinction according to the judge's Word. So I'm not judging anybody. I'm giving you what the judge says, okay, in making that distinction. And I'm thinking again, Matthew 25, where He talks about the sheep and the goats on that final day, how they'll be separated.

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, folks, that's happening all day long. And yes, we all make judgment calls every step of the way. So again, I'm just making distinction here. But have you noticed that those that were called by the Spirit of God, did you notice that they all felt weak? They all felt inadequate.

Speaker 1 - Host: They all felt unworthy when the Lord called them. This should be an encouragement to everybody else that has a problem stepping into what it is that they've been called to do. It really should be because until you cross that threshold, you're never going to understand until you get out of yourself and you surrender to Jesus Christ 100%. You are never going to understand what He meant when He says, where you lose your life is where you'll find your life. You'll never understand the life that Jesus came in to give you a life more abundantly until you lose yourself for His purposes.

Speaker 1 - Host: Okay? But notice those that were called by the Lord, they felt weak, inadequate, and unworthy. Oh, totally. And I can tell you folks, it's there all the time. That's why we're dependent upon the kingdom of God.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's why we're dependent upon the Spirit of God. That's why we're dependent upon the bread of life. That's why we're feeding on the bread of life all the time because we see our own unworthiness. We see our own inadequacies. We see our own weaknesses.

Speaker 1 - Host: And by the way, that is a part of growing in grace. So let me ask you in contrast to again what I'm talking about here, how many have we seen that are self-assertive when it comes to the call of God in America today? How many? How many are self-assertive? How many have been taught to be self-assertive?

Speaker 1 - Host: How many have included themselves to partake in that which they have no part with when it comes to spiritual matters? America's filled with them. America's filled with them. See, I'm speaking about those who want to be in a position of pretended spiritual authority, who have never been given such by the Lord. These are those that the Lord condemns, by the way, in Luke 16:15, he said, that which is highly esteemed among men, they're an abomination in the sight of God.

Speaker 1 - Host: And let me go back to Charles Spurgeon and let me go back in 150 years and remind you of the old time preaching and what it is that they saw that we need to see in the present. He said that the church that is loved the most is the one that God abhors the most. Exactly. Everybody talks about Joel Osteen. Everybody talks about none other than Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar and Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn and all these other heretics.

Speaker 1 - Host: Yeah. Look at the people just flocking into those buildings to give them all of that which they have. And yet not knowing or taking the time to know the Scripture that those who preach that gain is godliness, the Bible tells them to withdraw from not to go to. You know what I'm talking about? You know, if you want to be a part of the good old boy club, you got to do the same thing.

Speaker 1 - Host: You have to be self-assertive. You have to be self-called. You have to put yourself in a position and elevate yourself above the people rather than being a servant to the people. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah.

Speaker 1 - Host: Everyone that I just named, they put themselves in a position where they are served by Americans. Let me tell you in government, you're doing the same thing with politicians. People in this country teach politicians and treat politicians like they are rock stars. No, they are not. And I want to tell you what?

Speaker 1 - Host: The only ones treating them like rock stars are serfs. Those that are ignorant of who we are and what it is that we've been called to do. They are here to represent the law. They are here to serve the people. Well, guess what?

Speaker 1 - Host: So is the church first and foremost. And when we lost that in the church, we lost that with our said representatives because the people haven't taken the time to know the difference, right? That's exactly right. Hey folks, when we go to church, it's time to take responsibility. That's what church is about.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's what it's all about, right? We repented because we've offended the Most High God. We're taking responsibility. Now we're asking Him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and He gives us the power to do what He calls us to do. Then we are led by the Holy Ghost to live a life pleasing to Him and in service toward people.

Speaker 1 - Host: Remember Jesus said, "I did not come to be ministered unto. I came to minister unto." And He said, so are you. That's what you're called to do. That is to serve the people. I'm not talking about being their doormats.

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm talking about being an ambassador sent by the Lord, the Most High God, to serve the people according to His Word. Period. But again, I'm talking about those people. And by the way, I can bring this to a prime example because it's been egging me on again over the last week. It's been agitating me to no end.

Speaker 1 - Host: Because I see all these said preachers out there today. And what are they doing, friends? They're going from meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting with the same people all over the country. See, it's the good old boy club. And see, they never preach in such a way that actually brings men to repentance.

Speaker 1 - Host: They just bring information. See, now they've been information-bearers to the people in the sense of this is what's wrong with the country. Rather than preaching repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And then tell them the second part of that concerning justification. And how it is that we're supposed to follow the Christ and become fishers of men.

Speaker 1 - Host: Just like He said in Matthew 4:19, this applies to every single one of us, regardless of whether we are an apostle, a prophet, a teacher, an evangelist - any of those in Ephesians 4:11. We are all called to do the same thing. Every single one of us is called to do the work of an evangelist. Did you hear what I said? We're all called to do the work of an evangelist.

Speaker 1 - Host: But that's not what I see. I see all these people, and I've been with several of them friends, where I am not even called back anymore. Folks, I take that as a badge of honor because I'm not going to sit there and play the games that they're playing.

Speaker 1 - Host: And I know exactly what they're doing. They're trying to create a group of people that will support them throughout the days of their lives. And I'll tell you what, that's not our job. It's our job to go out there and bring forth the Word of God. Is not my word like a fire, say, the Lord, like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Speaker 1 - Host: Absolutely. Are we not all called to go out and cry in the wilderness and make straight the paths of the Lord? Absolutely. Every one of us is supposed to do the same thing. But too many people are afraid.

Speaker 1 - Host: If I get too bold and I actually obey the Spirit of God, well, they might not invite me back. Hey, if that's the case, then you know you're doing your job because it's not hard to get to that position in America in any sense of the Word. I brought up a couple weeks ago about how they're having this pastoral meeting all over the country. These selected groups are out there raising up other individuals throughout the United States of America and teaching them how to win their culture. But in fact, they never won their own.

Speaker 1 - Host: This is what people take heed to. And until they understand what it's like in the spiritual life, what they're doing is they're actually teaching something that's completely false. And they're also going outside of Scripture, which the Lord told us not to do, but they do it anyways. This is what's popular in America today. This is what's popular.

Speaker 1 - Host: They don't want people that have a testimony. They don't want preachers that are on fire for the gospel, but yet they say they want revival. But they want revival according to the way man lays it out, not according to the way the Spirit of God leads. That's exactly what it is. And when I say this, it is not an exaggeration in any sense of the Word concerning what I see across America.

Speaker 1 - Host: There are very few who are actually getting in the face of the culture and setting the record straight in the power of God. And that's what we're called to do. We are to go out in the power of God. We are to go out and expect the miraculous concerning the things that the God of Heaven is calling us to do. But let me go back.

Speaker 1 - Host: Self-assertive people love to be held in high esteem. They love the praises of men. They receive the accreditation and ordination from other men. And that's how they're qualified. They're qualified by men, not by God.

Speaker 1 - Host: Again, they're self-qualified and self-sustaining again because they love the praise of men rather than the praise that comes from the Lord alone. These are those that gloat in their own self-righteousness, a self-righteousness that Paul in fact found to be but dung in Philippians 3. That's exactly what he said. See, because Paul, he didn't have his own righteousness. And where he did have righteousness, he understood where it came from.

Speaker 1 - Host: Because he said that which is found to be in Christ. Again, read Philippians 3:4-14. These again are those who have led this country into the state of hell and decadence that it is rapidly becoming concerning America's reality. Again, Psalm 9:16-17, it's your job to write these down. It's your job to study the Scriptures.

Speaker 1 - Host: And what's been the outcome of these carnal men friends? Look around. That's all I have to say. I can bring it right there. What's been the outcome of these carnal men who have been tolerated by the congregants who don't read their Bibles?

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, look around again. Look at the culture. Look at the report card. Because it is prevalent. You know, it's been said that those who want to be in the pulpit are called of the devil.

Speaker 1 - Host: It's 100% true. And those that do not want to be in the pulpit, they're the ones that are called of the Lord. Make distinction. John 3:6, those that are born of the flesh and those that are born of the Spirit. And in contrast, what are we seeing today?

Speaker 1 - Host: These are unlike those we find in the Bible who are called of the Lord, those that were sought of the Lord. Oh, here. I want to show you something really quick. I think it's important for people to see this because again, this always comes to my aid when I'm talking to those people that think they know what they're talking about when they're trying to demean Scripture that's plainly taught in the Word of God, namely in the Pauline letters. And when I look at Isaiah 65:1, what does it say right here, friends?

Speaker 1 - Host: I just want you to see it for yourself so it can begin to put these building blocks in place as we lay the foundation by the Spirit. What does it say? It says, I am sought of them that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought me not. Wow.

Speaker 1 - Host: Okay. I want to say that again, real slow to the self-assertive. What does the Lord say? I am sought of them that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought me not.

Speaker 1 - Host: What do we have in the pulpits of America today, friends? Those that are self-assertive, those that are taking heed to the commandments of men and making void the commandments of God because if they took heed to the commandments of God, they would be stepping out in obedience and into the impossible. There's the difference right there. Those that are called to the Lord, they feel inadequate.

Speaker 1 - Host: They feel unworthy. They feel unqualified. I mean, they'll even go so far as to suggest that the Lord is somehow missing it when He chooses them to get the job done concerning his will. And 1 Corinthians 1:27, what does it say people? God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

Speaker 1 - Host: We say it again, God has chosen the foolish things of the world that confound the wise. Can we all raise our hand and say amen to that? Can we say what Scripture says concerning the second part of that Scripture? 1 Corinthians 1:27, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Can we say amen to that?

Speaker 1 - Host: See, we find a prime example of this in the New Testament, namely in Acts 4:13. When the Pharisees - the self-righteous, assertive ones, as I'm describing them - saw Peter and John, Scripture tells us that they saw the boldness of Peter and John. They weren't afraid. They were forward in the face of danger. They perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, and they marveled and they took knowledge of them. They took knowledge of Peter and John that they had been with Jesus. Our identity is in Christ. We are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 - Host: Isn't it interesting that every Halloween you'll see kids put on these capes, they'll put on these masks because they want to basically emulate their favorite scary character? And you'll see the churches across America doing the same thing. Isn't that something? It's a satanic holiday. By the way, trick or treat for those that didn't know, and I don't know why we're going here, but we're going here.

Speaker 1 - Host: Trick or treat is something that Druids used to do in the ancient times, and what they do is they go knock on castle doors, and they would basically tell the people trick or treat. And that meant give me something that you have, because if you don't give me something you have, I'm going to put a curse on your house. But going back to the point I want to make, the Bible says we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Notice with Peter and John, they perceived that they had been with Jesus. They saw Jesus through Peter and John.

Speaker 1 - Host: Does the world see Jesus through your life? And notice what was going on here. Notice the setting here, friends. Peter and John were preaching Christ in him crucified. They were preaching the resurrection of Christ.

Speaker 1 - Host: That was a death sentence by the Sanhedrin during that particular time, the Pharisees and the Sadducees during that particular time. Let's not forget the Herodians. But that was a death sentence for what they were preaching. I mean, how many people today are afraid to let anybody know that they're even a Christian anymore? And these guys were boldly going around and ruining the parties of these religious hypocrites by preaching the truth of the matter that they might not serve dumb idols.

Speaker 1 - Host: They wanted to kill them. They wanted to imprison them. They wanted to behead them. Matter of fact, 11 of the 12 were martyrs. And you should see how horrific their death sentences were.

Speaker 1 - Host: They weren't running from preaching. They weren't ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They boldly brought forth a gospel message and they didn't care who was there. You know, I remember one time a lady said to me and I can remember it like it was yesterday. And I remember going out and about because I've been doing high schools.

Speaker 1 - Host: I've been doing radio meetings. I'm going to be doing one next week in Johnstown, Colorado with 1360 AM out there. And what I'm doing folks is I'm preaching into radio stations all across the country and then we're doing events with those people. A good majority of those people are not Christians. They're heathens.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's what we're called to go to. That's what it means to go outside of the camp and bear the reproach. And that's what we've been doing. That's where you find your life. Not going inside a building and teaching Spanish-speaking people Spanish, like the American version of Christianity's been doing.

Speaker 1 - Host: They play it safe inside of the building, but they dare not go outside and actually bring the gospel to the lost. I mean, God forbid they actually obey the Lord. I mean, it's insane. It really is. And again, that's not an isolated incident either.

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, you say, well, Bradley, why so harsh when it comes to this? Because I see where our country is going. Do you not? We are in danger right now. We are a country in distress right now.

Speaker 1 - Host: We should all be standing up again, going back to the 81% of the people that profess to be Christians. We should all be standing up onto the banner of Christ and not merely just hiding behind prayer, but also going out to the battlefield just like David, just like Samson, just like Gideon. And notice throughout the war, they were continuously dependent upon the things of God, though they felt inadequate, though they felt weak. They felt worthless. They felt unqualified.

Speaker 1 - Host: Yep, I feel it every day of my life. And then I find my life in him. Over and over again, folks, we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. No, no, no.

Speaker 1 - Host: We preach Christ. And if we have to, we'll use words. A famous preacher one time said, preach the gospel to the whole world by the way that you live is what he was saying. And then he says, even if you have to use words, that's right.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's how you raise your kids, right? That's what real leadership is. Isn't it when we follow the Christ? As we follow him and we raise up everybody around us by living the life of Jesus Christ. Hey, folks, you don't get one without the other when it comes to Bradley Dean.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's not my life. I am who I am when I go to the grocery store or wherever I may go, friends. That's who I am. This isn't a show. We don't take off our hat and live compartmental lives.

Speaker 1 - Host: And then we surely don't try to pretend something. You ever see people that call themselves Christians and then they get around their heathen friends and they act just like their heathen friends? No wonder why. Nobody respects you. No wonder why nobody wants to be around you.

Speaker 1 - Host: You're worthless. The devil can't even use you. You're a hypocrite. That's what you are. You're a hypocrite.

Speaker 1 - Host: You're a pretender. You're a pretender is what you are. You are the very reason the country is in the state that the country is today or at least you're a part of the problem. How many times I've seen people Christian parents living double lives in front of their kids? And then when the kids get out, they live double lives too.

Speaker 1 - Host: And then the parents get after the kids for actually emulating the way they were raised by their dad and mom. The fault is with you, not with your kid. Now it's your time concerning the kids. I'm speaking to the kids. Now it's your time to read the Bible and correct yourself so you can follow the Christ, lead the way, and correct the errors you've seen in those who went before you. It's not enough to just sit there and tell everybody how bad they are and find fault with everything that people do in their lives. No, it's another thing to actually practice what you preach and make up for what they left off. That's what we're called to do. That's exactly what we're called to do.

Speaker 1 - Host: And I'll tell you what, when we do that friends, everybody's going to see the fault of the hypocrites. Everybody's going to see the fault of the pretenders. All day long, I get to see this. Again, not going there, but I'd like to go there. I was just talking about in Acts 4:13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took the knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

Speaker 1 - Host: Just hang on a second, folks. I want to say this, I want to go back to the point that I was making. I just got this. There are some of you people out there, and I know you're listening to me right now. By the Holy Ghost, I know that you know what to do, but you don't do it.

Speaker 1 - Host: Do you understand that you're going to be judged for what you do and what you don't do? I don't know if you guys remember this back in the 90s. I haven't watched this filthiness that has come out from Hollywood or television for 31 years, but I do remember a movie called Saving Private Ryan, which much of it was premised on factual matters. Not all of it, of course. A lot of it was just garbage Hollywood.

Speaker 1 - Host: But do you remember, if you've seen that movie Saving Private Ryan, do you remember when I believe his name was Opem? I could be saying that wrong, but he was the little Weasley American soldier. And he was supposed to go back and he was supposed to get all of the ammunition to give to the soldiers that were basically trapped inside of a building upstairs. And what he did is he just skittishly went over to get the ammunition. And he avoided the war at every given step.

Speaker 1 - Host: I mean, obviously he was trying to save his life, but much of it was beyond that. He was a coward. He was fearful. The Bible tells us in Revelation 21:8 that the fearful are among the first listed among those cast into hell, because they take counsel from their fears. They're not selfless.

Speaker 1 - Host: They're not there or appointed by God to preach the gospel. But what Opem did is he went and he finally got the ammunition. And what was going on upstairs, unbeknownst to him, was that a German soldier was fighting an American soldier, and they were rolling around on the floor. And Opem is just slowly walking up the stairs. Slowly walking up the stairs with the ammunition.

Speaker 1 - Host: And what happened is the German ended up taking a knife and thrusting it into the heart of the American soldier. If Opem actually did what he was supposed to do, he would have been up there and he would have saved the American life. He would have saved that American life by killing the German soldier who stabbed him to death. Matter of fact, it even got to the point where Opem actually had the opportunity to shoot other people and he didn't shoot them. I'm not justifying the war, friends.

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm using these as metaphors. I'm using these as examples that you might understand what I see. And I'm telling you right now, I could name your name right now. I could say your name. You know exactly what you're supposed to do and you don't do it because you don't want to break ranks with the good old boys.

Speaker 1 - Host: You think somehow or another that you're saving face by stating the position that you're in right now. Well, everybody around you sees that you're not saving face. You're actually losing face and you've been doing it your whole life. And it's going to cost you, listen carefully, and it's going to cost you much of what's going on in the state of Minnesota, which is going to affect hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people in the state, because of what you have withheld. You're a coward and you need to repent.

Speaker 1 - Host: Let me say it again, you're a coward and you need to repent. You have all the ammo that we need in the state to right the wrongs. Metaphorically speaking, folks, lest my enemies want to say, oh, Bradley's talking about getting ammo to take over the state. Oh, I'm not kidding you folks. That's how ruthless and raunchy the useful idiots are in the mainstream media.

Speaker 1 - Host: Hey, folks, do you realize we're in a war? We're in a war. Some of you people out there that watch me every Sunday, you haven't even come to the realization that we're at war. Hey, folks, America is occupied.

Speaker 1 - Host: Do you realize you're occupied? America has been taken over by that which is foreign to who we are, because we've given ourselves over to that which is foreign to what God has called us to be by His Holy Spirit. That's exactly what's happening. I don't want to get ahead of myself. We're talking about those that are called of the Lord and how they're supposed to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, how we're supposed to be identified in Christ, but also with that, how we feel weak, how we feel inadequate, how we feel worthless.

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, guess what, friends, that's exactly who the Lord calls. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle." He said, I shouldn't even be an apostle. He said, because I persecuted the church of God, he said, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:8-10.

Speaker 1 - Host: Hey, let me give you a couple examples of what I'm talking about concerning my preface this morning, friends. Remember Moses? Do you remember Moses's attempts to excuse and justify his hesitancy to serve God when the Lord called him? The first thing he says is, who am I? You know, the problem is right there, he's looking to himself.

Speaker 1 - Host: He's not looking to God. He's not looking to the governor of all nations. He's not looking to the creator of all things. He's looking to himself. That's the wrong way to look, but that's what Moses did.

Speaker 1 - Host: He said, who am I? The second thing Moses said in his hesitancy, in an attempt to justify it, he said, they won't believe me. And the third thing Moses said to the Lord is, he said, I have a speech impediment. I can't talk right. Hey folks, all three of those right there are enough to excuse a man out of the call of God all day long, right?

Speaker 1 - Host: That is, unless the Lord has a hold of you. I want you to understand something. The grace of God, it's not your hold of the Lord. The grace of God is his hold of you. Because if he has begun a good work, he'll also finish it, right?

Speaker 1 - Host: The Lord told Moses, "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh." Notice who the Lord sends this weak individual, this pathetic individual, this unqualified individual to. He sends him to the face of Pharaoh. Oh my goodness, grace. Oh my goodness gracious people. The Lord sends him right to the king.

Speaker 1 - Host: I mean, talking about feeling like there's nothing left of yourself. It's like, Lord, I already told you, who am I? I already told you they're not going to believe me. Lord, I already told you. I have a problem with my speech impediment and now you're going to put me right in the center of all of this and you're going to have me on top of all of that confront Pharaoh and command him to let your people go.

Speaker 1 - Host: And the Lord sits back and says, that's exactly what I'm telling you to do. That's right. That's when you know it's him and not you. He said, "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." There's no nice way to do it people.

Speaker 1 - Host: Another thing you might want to consider is can you imagine Moses during this particular time actually having a board meeting and telling the rest of the board what the Lord had just told him that he was going to do? If Moses took a poll to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, it would have never happened in a million years. That's another thing folks. Boards, hey folks, there's wisdom in counsel, no question about it, but be careful who you get your counsel from. Because what I see again out of experience and again, I don't think there's any arguing about it concerning the state of the nation.

Speaker 1 - Host: These board members are controllers. That's all they want to do is be in control. Let me tell you something.

Speaker 1 - Host: You cannot control the Spirit of God. He will not be straightened. Micah 2:7. Moses says unto the Lord, who am I, that thou shouldest send me unto Pharaoh, that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, what about Saul? Let's go to the next guy. King Saul, when we look to him in response to the Lord's call to be king, what did he do? Hey, listen to me. Be encouraged.

Speaker 1 - Host: He said, the Lord said he hid himself. You can't make it up. You can't make it up. 1 Samuel 10:20-22. When Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

Speaker 1 - Host: Then when he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken, and when they sought for him, he could not be found. Therefore they inquired of the Lord further. If the man should yet come thither, and the Lord answered, behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff. I mean, I think of Jonah. I mean, what did he do?

Speaker 1 - Host: He ran from the call of God. The Lord made sure that he fulfilled the law of God, didn't he? Yes, he did when he sent him to Nineveh. He even used heathen men to throw him overboard from the ship he was trying to escape in. People, this is good. This is exercising our discernment to understand what the Lord is doing. If you don't want to do it, you're probably called to do it. I say this to my church family all day long. I say this to you that what you want from the Lord, he's probably raising you up to be for the people.

Speaker 1 - Host: It's exactly right. It's all of the cross, folks, not some of the cross. What about Gideon? The mighty man of valor. Did you realize that his first excuse was that his family was too poor and that he was the least in his family's house?

Speaker 1 - Host: In other words, what he was saying is I don't have the money to push forward this campaign. That's what he was saying. Judges 6:14-15 and the Lord looked upon him and said, go in this thy might that thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites? And then the Lord says, have not I sent thee? I'm the one that's doing this.

Speaker 1 - Host: And he said unto him, oh Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, he's looking to himself and his family. My family is poor in Manasseh and I am the least in my father's house. It's the same reoccurring theme. Hey folks, we're not called to look to ourselves.

Speaker 1 - Host: If we're saved, we already realize that we can't look to ourselves because if we do, we'll never be saved. But if we look to Christ and to the hand of God through the Spirit of God, how could we not be saved? How could we not serve the living God? Amen? Okay, what about this one?

Speaker 1 - Host: The Lord gave Gideon a promise to be with him every step of the way to victory over the Midianites. He was victorious, wasn't he? Hey folks, was the Lord right or was Gideon right? The Lord was right. He won the day because the Lord said unto him, surely I will be with thee and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

Speaker 1 - Host: Judges 6:16. I want to ask you that again. Who won the day? Man's excuses as to why he shouldn't serve the Lord or the Lord who gives us the victory in Christ Jesus. Your excuses go for naught.

Speaker 1 - Host: When you come to the end of your excuses, then and only then will you find out what I'm talking about. The reason why the Lord chooses the foolish is to shame the wise. I see it all day long. Folks, I see the real work of ministry in going out to the people we're called to go to. There are very few who understand that.

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks, again, it's not being exclusive. I'm just telling you what I'm observing. There are very few who understand. We're not supposed to go to Mexico and teach them Spanish. We're not to go to the same church buildings across the country and preach Jesus to them. Folks, they are where they want to be.

Speaker 1 - Host: They're self-deceived. They like it that way. As the Lord says, my people would have it so. They're okay with the state of their country because every single week they go to church and are deceived into believing that God is going to take care of everything for them while they do nothing themselves. That's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 - Host: Again, why does the Lord choose the foolish? He does it to shame the wise. The reason that he chooses the weak is to shame the mighty. Why? The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Speaker 1 - Host: What do carnal men do? They gloat in each other. They love the praise of men. That's why they play it safe. That's the best way to say it.

Speaker 1 - Host: They play it safe. And those that play it safe never get the job done. Believe me. Look at your communities. Folks, how many churches are there in America?

Speaker 1 - Host: A man whose name is transcribed approximately as "DJM's Kennedy" told me that abortion reigns because over 300,000 pulpits remain silent. I gave you the statistics with George Barna concerning the self-described church overseers, namely they call themselves pastors, the self-assertive ones, that when asked concerning the issues of the day, 90% of the pastors agree, yes, they should be confronted. And then the next question is, well, how many of these issues are you attacking and how many of these issues are you bringing to the attention of the congregants? He said it's less than 10%. And then he said, how many of you 10% now are willing to get your people motivated in politics?

Speaker 1 - Host: Everybody lives politics. I don't know where some of you people are dividing the line and saying, you know what? There's a line between church and state. And the government says we can do this and the government says we can do that. No, you have it backwards.

Speaker 1 - Host: The church tells the government what they can do and what they can't do. And the line between church and state, as I understand it, is an erected wall barring government from barring you from doing your job concerning spiritual influence in our institutions and among our people in the United States of America. People, come on. See, you see that the Lord chooses the weak and the humble so that those whom he chooses will rely completely on him instead of themselves. He'll make sure of it.

Speaker 1 - Host: Ask King David, read the book of Psalms. See, the initial problem with these that were chosen by the Lord was that they were looking to themselves rather than looking to him, the one who provides all power and grace and fulfilling his will through them. See, it's a lesson that those of us who belong to the Lord, who feel weak, inadequate, and unworthy must learn ourselves. It's imperative. It is absolutely imperative.

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks, we're talking about growth. Now I'm addressing those who understand what it's like to be in the position of one who responds to the call, or is quickened by grace and driven to respond to the call, which is His will. When we talk about spiritual growth, which this leads into perfectly, and concerning the theme of building a Christian character, right, let's go ahead and focus our attention on the practical steps that we may take in order to grow up spiritually. Again, we're not to just let the Lord do everything. No, we're to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. I want to go over to 2 Peter 3:15.

Speaker 1 - Host: Matter of fact, I'm going to bring it up here for you. And I want you to see 2 Peter 3 again. We're going to verse 15 really quick. And again, people go to baseball games.

Speaker 1 - Host: I guess they bring gloves, right? How many people today bring their Bibles to church any longer? We go to verse 15 and what does it say? It says, 'And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.' If you want to understand longsuffering more than you do now, read Psalm 107.

Speaker 1 - Host: Even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto us. As also in all of his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest. They pervert the Scriptures, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction. Then he says, 'Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.'

Speaker 1 - Host: Some people will say, Bradley, why do you constantly drive that line between that which is of the Lord and that which is not of the Lord? Because I hate people that, and I should say I hate it when I see people represent which is not biblical Christianity. And by the way, you should be thankful when people take the time to make distinction. And it's a good place to be and it's a good place to put yourself. But it's also a good place to put yourself in front of the Word of God so you can study it for yourself rather than somebody interpreting it for you.

Speaker 1 - Host: Now, what it says here is, beware lest you also being led away of the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness. That means fixed in direction. How often does the Word of God warn us to beware of the error of the wicked? Over and over again. And then it highlights who we are supposed to be aware of.

Speaker 1 - Host: I think of 1 Timothy 4:1. Then it goes on, it tells us to make distinction between the false prophets and the real prophets. I think of Ezekiel 13, Jeremiah 23. I think of Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 18. I mean, why has the Lord spent so much time teaching us to distinguish the voice of false prophets from real prophets?

Speaker 1 - Host: The real prophets are not saying things that are nice to the people and the false prophets are saying everything that they want to hear. They're petting them in the direction of their feathers - telling them what they want to hear. That's not what real prophets do. Read Hosea 6:5. And I don't care if you're an apostle, a prophet, a teacher, a pastor, an evangelist, you should all be holding to the prophets.

Speaker 1 - Host: Because when we believe the Bible says we will be established. Then he says, by the way, in verse 19, or 18, forgive me, it says, but growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the first thing he says is, beware lest you also being led away of the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness. Then he said, but growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Notice what he says in context. It's not just all beloved, let us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever and ever, amen.

Speaker 1 - Host: No, no, no, let's hold in context. What did he say before that, dude? Okay, and you didn't address anything that leads men astray.

Speaker 1 - Host: You didn't address any of the errors that the wicked are bestowing upon the sheep that belong to the Lord. You've done none of that. You've done none of those things to show them to strive into the kingdom of God or to press into the kingdom of God or to strive to enter into the kingdom of God or to understand the earnestness of the Spirit to do so. None of that's been hit. I'm always going there.

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm always going there because these are the things that have been kicked to the side when in fact they shouldn't be on the side of the road. They should be right in the way of every step that we take so we might eat them up. So we can keep taking more ground and more ground and more ground. One of the things that I realized after being born again, I realized that I had moved now from paganism into the Christian faith and had passed an irreversible line. It's like going into the mob friends.

Speaker 1 - Host: Once you're in, you're not getting out. It's very much like that and I praise God for that and it's a positive, not a negative. But one of the things that I realized is when I moved from paganism into the Christian faith, I'd passed that irreversible line of demarcation from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light that we've been delivered from concerning the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light through his blood and whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. But nevertheless, I understood very quickly that there was no magic in the Christian faith. The way that it's being sold to the people through the prosperity movement, which has caused much damage concerning the Church of America because they have taken the bait in so many different ways.

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, when I looked at that, I realized there was no magic in Christianity and that my new birth was precisely that - a new birth, right? Yep. We feed on the milk of the Word. And as I read the New Testament, I realized that I was called not to childishness. I was called by God to put off the things of a child and to put on the things of a man.

Speaker 1 - Host: But that I was called to maturity to grow up into the fullness of Christ. And I'm sure that's every Christian's experience. We want to grow up, but we want it to happen quick. See, we live in a microwave society, people. If we want something, we want it right away.

Speaker 1 - Host: You know, it's been said that when people go shopping, it's really true that, and I'm not talking about you antique shoppers. I'm talking about people going into a store and saying, you know what? I thought I always wanted one of those. And you know what? I really want to get that.

Speaker 1 - Host: And so you talk to your wife or you talk to your husband and you say to yourself, you know, I'm going to go ahead and get that. No, the wise partner is going to say to you, I'll tell you what, I know you don't really need it. And I know you're probably going to use it for a minute and then you're not going to even look at whatever it is. And you're not going to look at it again after that. Right?

Speaker 1 - Host: You guys know what I'm talking about. Just give it a couple days. And if you really want it, come back and get it. That's really the way to look at things. Rather than rushing headlong and then finding out, I just purchased something that I didn't really want.

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, as they say, patience is the weapon that forces deception to reveal itself. And that patience, friends, will also produce what is inside of us and what is not inside of us. So if I hold off and give it a little time, patience works its course. I'm going to find that nine times out of 10. I'm probably not even going to go back and pick it up.

Speaker 1 - Host: And that runs parallel to Christian growth. You want to grow up so fast. I do too. I'm studying this and I'm a baby Christian, but I want to be a full-grown Christian.

Speaker 1 - Host: And then what comes to my aid even is I'm saying that to you right now, friends. Do you know that it tells us in the book of Hebrews 11, the faith chapter? Do you know that it tells us that the elders obtained a good report? I get to have church here too, friends. The elders obtained a good report.

Speaker 1 - Host: Matter of fact, if you look at Scripture, can somebody show me in Scripture where you find a young man sinning willfully? When you look in John 8, for example, we're off on a little bunny trail here. But if you look at John 8 when the woman is caught in adultery, it's interesting when they came over to Jesus and said this woman is caught in the act of adultery. That's the seventh commandment. They said to him, so the law of Moses tells us we're supposed to stone such.

Speaker 1 - Host: And then Jesus gets down in the sand and he writes, he draws a line and he said, which one of you is without sin? You be the first to cast the stone. By the way, for people that haven't read into that a little bit more through commentary, also understand that many of those men were probably guilty of committing adultery with the very harlot that they brought to Jesus. But also keep in mind that Jesus got down in the sand after he drew the line and people suspect that he was writing the Ten Commandments, the law of God, that convicted them of their sin. So when he said to them, which one of you is without sin, he already wrote in the sand what they were guilty of.

Speaker 1 - Host: And the Bible tells us they went out from the oldest to the youngest, not the other way around. The oldest to the youngest. Also keep in mind when Jesus said, where are those that condemn you to the woman that was shown mercy by the Spirit of God, Christ himself who is the light of the world, what did he say to her? He said, neither do I condemn you, but what does he say right after that? In John 8:11, what does grace teach us?

Speaker 1 - Host: Go and sin no more. That's what he said to her. Go and sin no more. He also talks about it in John 5 and in 1 John 3:6 and 3:9.

Speaker 1 - Host: Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, not to give people a permission slip to use Christ as a minister of sin. Nope, just the exact opposite, right? But let me go back to this point now that I'm making here.

Speaker 1 - Host: As I realized in the New Testament that I wasn't called to be a little kid, I was to grow up and I wanted to mature, I wanted to grow up right away. I wanted to be that full-grown man right away. Well, the seed is within me, but now it has to grow, right?

Speaker 1 - Host: And as I read the New Testament, I began to understand that I was called to maturity. I was called to grow up in the fullness of who Christ has called me to be, right? And, as I said earlier, I'm sure that's every real Christian's desire. So what I did is I took care to know what was in front of me. I took care to know the people that I had around me.

Speaker 1 - Host: That is vitally important and I know I'm talking to some people there. Hey folks, bad company corrupts good character. There are four types of people in your life, those that add, those that take away, those that multiply and those that divide. And King David made it very clear for all of us and take heed to what I'm telling you because he said, I'm a companion of all of them that fear the Lord and of them that depart from iniquity and walk in the Spirit by the Spirit of God. He said, I'm a companion of all them that fear the Lord and of them that keep His Word, keep His precepts, do what he has commanded them to do.

Speaker 1 - Host: Again, that is so important. Hey folks, I want to say something, and I'm speaking to some of you people here. Some of you people need to realize when these people fall off, the Lord's doing you a favor. Because you're not going to bring them into what you didn't call them to do, nor did the Lord. So how can you? What you have to do is give them the law, give them the Word, let it lay on them and let the Holy Ghost work it out.

Speaker 1 - Host: It's not your job to drag them over the top of the hill. But I want to say this: some of you have to understand the Lord has done you a favor. I remember Martin Luther rightly said, he said, you know, for the people that I wanted to be with me in what I was called to do, they'd have been nothing but a hindrance. They'd have been a problem because they were carnal men. And they were at war with the Spirit of God.

Speaker 1 - Host: And here's another case in point in 1 Corinthians 2:15, and it talks about the Spirit of Antichrist, and it also talks about in verse 19, where they went out and they were made manifest because of what they went back to. What you'll notice is a lot of people will say that they're Christians, but when they're not around you, they're really living who they really are. That's real character. And they're not serving God, they're serving themselves because they're still feeding on the bottle of the Spirit of the world, which is the Spirit of Antichrist. If you want the Lord to be the author of someone's faith, then you have to let him be the author of someone's faith.

Speaker 1 - Host: And the finisher of someone's faith. Just keep praying. And I want to say to the mamas out there too, and the daddy's out there praying for your kids, keep praying because I can tell you, being on the end of someone praying for me, everything that person's doing is miserable outside of Christ, but let the Lord work it out. Okay?

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm not saying, I'm talking about letting the Lord work it out when you tell them what the Word says concerning what it is that they're doing against the Word of God. Who's to say, listen to me carefully, you don't have a prodigal son on your hands. Luke 15. Okay?

Speaker 1 - Host: I wanted to throw that at you because again, I think sometimes what happens is people get involved, and then what they do is they play the enemy of the cross, rather than allowing the Spirit of God to lead them to the cross. Let him do the job. He's more than able. Let me say it again, he's more than able to finish what he starts.

Speaker 1 - Host: Keep praying until you see the results. Okay? Don't make it your problem. It's not your burden. Your burden is to pray for that individual, not to save that individual because if you have to prop them up in the beginning, you're going to have to prop them up in the end, and what you're going to find out is all the time that you spent propping them up.

Speaker 1 - Host: It wasn't the Spirit of God. You are trying to mimic the Spirit of God, which only brought what? And what you're doing there, folks, and you can take it how you want to take it. I've seen it a thousand times. But when you do that, what you're actually doing is making things worse by trying to work it out for yourself instead of letting the Lord work.

Speaker 1 - Host: The Lord doesn't need your help. Tell the people or tell the family members what it is the Word says and leave it there. Okay?

Speaker 1 - Host: Now let me go to another group of people. You're over there, and it's interesting how, again, you call yourself a Christian, and what you love to do is go hang out with those friends. I want to tell you why that is: because you're not saved. You're not saved. I'll tell you what a man of God that is born of the Spirit of God wants.

Speaker 1 - Host: He wants to be around others where the conversation becomes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not the other way around. And don't you dare tell this guy right here how you are winning them to Jesus. Really? You win them to Jesus by compromising the Word of God and becoming like them in order to win them to Jesus? Really?

Speaker 1 - Host: I remember a guy we had in the ministry years ago, and I remember he had told me how they had a Christian club in their high school, and he said the one that was leading that up, he noticed that she was at all the parties in the little town that he lived. And he said not one time did she ever tell me a thing about Christ. Why? Why is that? Because she didn't know anything about Christ.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's why. So for you out there that are compromising and saying I love to be with them, it's because you don't desire that conversation to become the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here let me just show you this so you can see for yourself what the Word says. So many people get mad at me for saying or conveying to them what the Word of God tells them. And for the life of me, I don't understand that.

Speaker 1 - Host: I really don't, but that's okay. That comes with the territory. I'm a big boy. I can handle it. I'm going over to the King James Version right now, and I want you to see it for what it says.

Speaker 1 - Host: Okay. What does it say in verse 33 there? It says, be not deceived. Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners.

Speaker 1 - Host: Your friends and those you have around you are extremely important when it comes to your spiritual walk. I want to share something with you really quick speaking of that. When I first became a Christian, I would work during the day and about halfway through the day I wanted to get home because I wanted to be in the Word because it was the only place that I felt right. And that went on for months and months. And it got to the point where my cup was overflowing.

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks, saturate yourselves in the Word of God until your cup overflows. Okay. Saturate yourself in the Word of God. Stay there because when you get around people, you're going to notice that it's just going to pour out of you unto them. Freely it has been given to you.

Speaker 1 - Host: Freely it is given out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. And that conversation is going to become dominating and it will become the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, in saying that, I remember a guy I had around me before I understood that I was in ministry. I was already ministering, unbeknownst to me at that particular point.

Speaker 1 - Host: But I remember a time where he got mad at me and he said, the only thing that ever comes out of your mouth is the Word of God. And folks, it wasn't like I was conjuring that up. It wasn't like I was trying to make that happen. I was just in the Word all the time where I wanted to be and what was really cool about it is my mind was being renewed and my heart was being filled because of that new birth. And it was feeding on the incorruptible seed and the milk of the Word.

Speaker 1 - Host: And so what he did is he ended up calling a meeting with the pastor. No joke. He called a meeting with the pastor and I can still see us sitting right there. And this pastor I'm speaking with, he's still in my life today and I praise God for him.

Speaker 1 - Host: But I remember him sitting on the right side and I remember me sitting here and this other guy sitting over on the other side of the table. The pastor was a prophetic guy, very prophetic. He said to him, 'Okay, so what are we getting together for?' And this guy looked over at me and he said, you know, I just, every time I'm around Bradley, that's all that's ever coming out of his mouth is the Word of God. And I'm like, I'm a baby Christian and listen, when I was in the world, I was the guy that if somebody said something about me, I'd go over to them and confront them for what they said.

Speaker 1 - Host: I was a fighter. I mean, physically. I mean, I got a trophy right here that says I was a fighter. I was a Golden Gloves champion. And where I was raised, that kind of had to be, right?

Speaker 1 - Host: Especially not having a dad in the picture. But I'm sitting there and I almost felt like crying. Like in a weird way, it hurt my feelings. It's like, whoa, and again, I'm not a punk. But I'm okay to share that with my church family that I just kind of felt like, whoa, that one like really came out of nowhere.

Speaker 1 - Host: He looked at the pastor and said, "That's all that ever comes out of his mouth - the Word of God." I remember my pastor's face getting red. He looked over at the other guy and said, "That is exactly what should be coming out of his mouth."

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, that friendship was short-lived. And I also noticed, speaking of be not deceived, evil company corrupts good manners, be careful of those that you have around you. Because they are contagious one way or another, or they're just blatantly carnal and they're rejecting the Word of God and it is at enmity with the Spirit of God. You're trying to merge what the Lord has severed. Okay, he's doing you a favor.

Speaker 1 - Host: Yeah, sometimes it's hard. Hey, folks, when I first got saved again, going back to that, even to the point where I'm at today, and it came in steps, but it was interesting. All of those people that I had in my rock and roll world, it was literally like somebody came in and picked up the phone and called all of those people. Remember, I told you that I'd have parties. I'd have 100 people there.

Speaker 1 - Host: I mean, I was treated like a rock star and I'd have 100 people there and I felt alone. I felt like nobody was in the room. I was being so heavily convicted and I praise God for it. But I'm saying that for the purpose, all of my friends, those that, you know, the world will love its own. It was like the Lord just picked up the phone and said, you're done with Bradley.

Speaker 1 - Host: You're done with Bradley. "You're done with Bradley" - over and over again. Where were all my friends? Oh, my goodness. You know, when it was hard about that, it was leaving all of my, what I thought were friends, which I really knew weren't my friends, into the church where I saw a counterfeit love.

Speaker 1 - Host: I was like, whoa. It's like, wait a second. Okay.

Speaker 1 - Host: So those people aren't a part of my life. I'm kind of out here by myself, Lord. And before I knew it, I was accepted into my church family, but then again, when I look at the word and I would see how they were living there, it was like, I don't want that around me. And it's not, and I'm talking about a friend. I'm talking about somebody you can use as a sounding board.

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm talking about somebody that knows the Word and they're going to tell me the truth, regardless if I like it or not. Folks, there were times - and I want you to listen to this, because somebody needs to hear it - when I was a baby Christian and I was around people who had been in ministry for 30 years; some of them were raised in ministry. I was so heavily convicted that I'd go in there and ask, what's wrong with me?

Speaker 1 - Host: I mean, I would literally stand there in front of my best friend, I thought, and I'd say, what's wrong with me? And they'd look at me like I was on my way to the moon or something. Like there was something wrong with me. There was something wrong with me. I was heavily convicted and I didn't understand conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

Speaker 1 - Host: I didn't understand that the doctrines were given unto us to reprove, to correct, to instruct in righteousness. I didn't understand any of that. And I surely didn't understand that when the Lord reproved, corrected or instructed or he chastised, I surely didn't understand that was the hand of God, not the devil. So I'd ask my friends, what's wrong? Nobody would say anything to me.

Speaker 1 - Host: Why? Because they didn't care about growing in grace. They didn't care about following Christ and holiness. See, those that have been forgiven much, they love much and you know, church family, what is gratitude? Gratitude is the mother of holiness.

Speaker 1 - Host: Because we're thankful, we follow him in holiness. And I think of Romans 6. I think of 1 Peter 1. Jesus said, be holy for I am holy. Hey folks, remember He said, for those concerning in the body of Christ, remember: blessed are the pure in heart.

Speaker 1 - Host: He said, for without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. It talks about in 2 Corinthians 7:1, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. I think of King David where he said, I've hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Yep, and church family looked down right now. We just lost 10 people.

Speaker 1 - Host: They don't want to hear about it because they're not grateful. They're not thankful. That's okay. Hey, unless you drink my blood and eat my flesh, you have no inheritance or part with Me, in John 6. Many of them left because they didn't understand.

Speaker 1 - Host: They all called themselves the disciples of Jesus until Jesus preached to them. But going back, friends concerning grace. Care about who you have in your circle. Oh, I get it. I must have offended some of the people that want their family members around them. I want to tell you something and I want you to see this because I see this quite a bit as well. It's something that needs to be said and it needs to be talked about because you never hear this. You literally never hear this unless you're reading the Word of God for yourself. And I want you to see it.

Speaker 1 - Host: It says this in Luke 14:26, if any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yeah, and his own life also, what did Jesus say? Let me say it again, Christians. What did Jesus say to you? When they take precedence over me, you have no part with me. See, we say it like this so I can give you some clarity.

Speaker 1 - Host: You know, people compartmentalize ministry with their family. They always say the right things. They say, first God, then they say, then my family and then my ministry. Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. It's all of the Lord from him through him and to him.

Speaker 1 - Host: Okay. When I say you don't get one without the other in this ministry, it's absolutely 100% true. When somebody in your family takes precedence over the things of God, you better understand something. Listen to me, ma'am. You're creating an idol out of that person.

Speaker 1 - Host: Okay. I love the Lord with my whole heart, mind, soul and strength. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. That's first. Whatever he adds to your life is secondary.

Speaker 1 - Host: Look at the test that Abraham had to go through and Genesis 22 with the promise. Everything must be secondary. When Jesus said, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, he's saying they don't take precedence over me in your life. He said, if any man come to me and hate not his wife and children, he's saying your wife and your children, they don't take precedence over me. Or your brothers and your sisters, they don't take precedence over me.

Speaker 1 - Host: And your life also, your life does not take precedence over me. No, it's me first. And then everything else is added unto you. He's not telling you to hate anybody. He's saying that your love for them should be compared to hate concerning your love for the Lord.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's what he's saying. I like when, and I'm being facetious, I love when people, I should say, take the Word of God out of context and say, look what he's saying. He said, listen, if your eye offends you, pluck it out and cast it from me. He's saying, cut off your right hand and cut off your left hand. You know, Jesus, he got these skeptics out there.

Speaker 1 - Host: Jesus is telling you to cut these off and to pluck, no, He's giving them as parables, metaphors, and examples, because he teaches in the natural that you might understand in the spiritual. Let me say it one more time. I see it all the time, especially in marriage, where men or women, what they do is their husband or wife takes precedence over the things of God. You've got it backwards and it's not a good place to put yourself. You're never going to be liberated there.

Speaker 1 - Host: You'll never be liberated there. You're liberated when you serve the Lord your God because everything flows from my walk with Him and my union with Christ in the cross. Everything else comes as He adds and takes away. That's liberty. Do I love my wife?

Speaker 1 - Host: I love my own flesh, of course. Do I love my kids? Of course I would die from my kids, wouldn't you? Absolutely. But you know what folks?

Speaker 1 - Host: I love the Lord more. And I'm not going to make an idol out of somebody that might be a burden for the rest of my life. That's called idolatry. It really is. Like you want me to read that for you one more time because some of you people need to see this.

Speaker 1 - Host: If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yeah, his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Hey folks, you call yourself a Christian, but have you read all of what he said? Deny yourself, take up your cross. I mean, I always see these examples in the Scripture and I remember in one particular case, I believe it was Luke 12 where, it talks about how the gifts were given and they were called to the supper and, right away the people that were called to the supper, the Lord giving us an example through parables again, those people that were called to the supper, it's interesting how they all made excuses. They all began to make excuse.

Speaker 1 - Host: And what they did is they showed the Lord, through their response to the one sent to call them to dinner, what was more important to them than Him. Do you understand? And it's not good. It's not folks get rid of that stuff. It's not saying don't be responsible for what's in your life.

Speaker 1 - Host: Absolutely not. You're more responsible. Remember how I told you and I hope that people are thinking with me right now. isn't it interesting how the Lord gives you more Luke 19, the gifts of the parables, the talents? Isn't it interesting the more and the smallest of things that they were faithful with, the Lord gave more to them?

Speaker 1 - Host: And even those that weren't faithful, the Lord took from them and gave to the faithful. And then those that multiplied five times over and ten times over and the Lord gave it to them, he says enter into the joy of the Lord. Hey folks, if you're serving the Lord, your family should serve the Lord. That's how they should have been raised up. You can't do anything better than that.

Speaker 1 - Host: And again, the only thing I can share with you is my example. My kids were raised on the road. My kids were raised watching their daddy get beat up by the media, lied about by the media, accused of things by the media. My kids grew up and saw how unjust the so-called justice system in America is. My kids have grown up to understand what to avoid in the American version of Christianity in which it lacks.

Speaker 1 - Host: But they're secondary. And guess what? When they see daddy serving God with his whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, what are they going to do when they're on their own? They're going to serve the Lord, their God, with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength just the way that they saw their dad do it. And they never saw their dad deter.

Speaker 1 - Host: Thank you for the grace of God. Let me say it again. They've never seen their dad take his hand off that plow. And speaking of which, you want to go off on some words of knowledge and words of wisdom people? How many people that are watching right now, you say that you're in ministry, but yet somehow or another, you're on vacation all the time.

Speaker 1 - Host: Let me just take it to this because this we all know. You've heard of sabbaticals. You know, yeah, every year I take 40 days off. Every year I've taken 40 days off. Wait a second.

Speaker 1 - Host: When you have a ministry, that baby, you are responsible for it and you cannot just hand it off to anybody. And even if you try to hand it off to somebody else, you're still contemplating what needs to be done because that person doesn't understand it. Why? Because that's not their baby. I see, prime example, business owners all day long.

Speaker 1 - Host: I can't find good help anymore. Nobody wants to work. Nobody cares about the business the way that I take care of the business. Just heard a guy say that the other day, a cement guy. He said, I think I'm just going to get rid of everybody because for the most part, they don't want to work and just do it the way that I know how to do it so I can serve a good product.

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, let me go back to ministry. How is it that people in ministry can take 40 days off a year? Can I tell you something folks, church family, I've been in ministry for 31 years. I've never, ever one time taken a sabbatical. Never one time.

Speaker 1 - Host: I don't understand it. If I'm out and about and I'm doing what it is that I'm called to do in ministry, my mind and my heart is constantly on what it is that I oversee as being faithful to that which the Lord has given to me. And I'll tell you, when you come back from a scenario like that, even for a day or two, the whole time you're gone for a day or two, your mind remains on it. It's not control, by the way, people. That's not control.

Speaker 1 - Host: What's the root of control is fear. That's not what it is. No, no, no, it's making sure that things are maintained the way that the Spirit of God gave them to you to maintain. That other person may not understand it. But I can tell you this, friends, that I've never found in my years of ministry. I've never found the time to do it.

Speaker 1 - Host: Even when I'm out and about, I'm in the Word every day. I'm in the Word all the time. I'm paying attention to what's going on in our world because I'm responsible for it. I'm responsible conveying that message to the people. I need to know the times like the sons of Issachar knew the times.

Speaker 1 - Host: I am totally immersed in the Spirit of God concerning what it is that I'm called to do because I'm going to give an account for it. I see people out there every year, every year. Matter of fact, case in point: my little brother from another mother in northern Minnesota told me about a pastor. He said every time I seem to reach out to him, he's on vacation. Yep.

Speaker 1 - Host: And then when people visit his church, they're trying to figure out why the community is going to hell in a handbasket literally. It's because of what he's not preaching. He's too busy entertaining himself. Well, you might say I'm mixing apples and oranges here.

Speaker 1 - Host: No, I'm not. It's what I observe. It's what I've been a part of here. I want to say this and make it clear to my church family.

Speaker 1 - Host: I am not looking to find fault. I am quickened to correct fault. That's the purpose of the church. That is. When I turn Bradley on, he's telling us everything that's going wrong with the world.

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, those same people, guess what? If you go to their feeds and you go to their social media platforms, you know what they're doing? They're entertaining themselves with a bunch of full-grown men with tights on fighting over a pigskin. So they're trying to splatter my character for doing what it is that I'm called to do because they're over there entertaining themselves with their freedom. They could care less about the babies being murdered.

Speaker 1 - Host: They could care less about 91 people going missing every hour in this country. They could care less about the corruption they see in the church. They could care less about the corruption that they see in government. No, no, no. The man that's been sent by the Lord cares about all of it.

Speaker 1 - Host: And so should you. And so should we because we have an obligation before God to right the wrongs. Okay.

Speaker 1 - Host: I just want to ask you a question if you don't mind. I just looked down for a moment and I see what you're saying. Your pastor takes a lot of vacations or works on his own personal interest. Yeah, I understand. But can I ask you a question and we're going to hit this sooner or later.

Speaker 1 - Host: Why is the pastor leading the church? Hey, all of you who take the time to read the Word of God: has anybody taken note that the word pastor is named one time in the New Testament, in Ephesians 4:11? Is anybody taking the time to note throughout the book of Acts?

Speaker 1 - Host: It's the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists. And the teachers. Is anybody taking the time to look throughout the book of Acts to understand that churches were in the houses? Is anybody taking the time to read 1 Corinthians 12:28 where it says, and God has set them or some in the church? What's the first thing He sets in the church, people?

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm asking you. An apostle. What's the second thing he sets in the church? A prophet. Why?

Speaker 1 - Host: Because the apostle and the prophet work together to establish. What's the third thing? Teachers. After that miracles, gifts of healings, helps administrations, variety of tongues. Why is the pastor leading the church, people?

Speaker 1 - Host: See, you have the tail attempting to wag the dog. The pastor has no business leading the church. It's the apostle. You know, a lot of pastors have been put into position, and it's interesting: they're apostolic, but people call them pastors. I know a couple people. They call them pastor so and so. And I remember I was in front of his congregation once and I said, why do you keep calling him pastor so and so? He's not a pastor.

Speaker 1 - Host: I said he's apostolic. He's got the five-fold ministry rolling with him. And I looked over at him and what's terrible about it. I looked over at him and he's nodding his head. Yes.

Speaker 1 - Host: But he allows his congregants to call him a pastor. If anybody comes over here to listen to the radio or the church service and doesn't know the Word of God, I can tell you right now, if you're looking at me like I'm a pastor, you are sadly mistaken. You need to look at the characteristics of the body of Christ. Because I can tell you right now, folks, I am not a pastor, not at all. Again, pastor is named one time in the New Testament, but somehow or another, the pastors are over the congregations throughout this country.

Speaker 1 - Host: And yet it's supposed to be the apostles and the prophets and the teachers. No, you know what happened? Because of the apostolic movement, really what happened in the turn of the 20th century, people forgot God in their prosperity. The Lord warned us of that in Deuteronomy 6 and 8. Right?

Speaker 1 - Host: He said, "Beware lest you forget Me." It was the Lord that gave him power to get the wealth. Now, since they've had their prosperity, and the devil knew this, of course, give them all the prosperity they want because sooner or later they're going to start to forget him and they're going to start going after the hand of the Lord rather than the heart of God.

Speaker 1 - Host: And that's what they did. So they left off the commandments for prosperity. And they figured if they wanted prosperity, then what they better do is start telling people what they want to hear rather than what it is that they need to hear. And so what the Lord or what they did is they ended up falling apart because the apostolic movement started getting really weird in the 50s. You started seeing all these massive false apostolic movements, all these false prophets coming on the scene in the 50s and the 60s, completely gutting the message because they wanted prosperity.

Speaker 1 - Host: They wanted to be loved by men. Who doesn't want to be loved by men? My goodness, who doesn't want to have friends? But I care more about the approbation of God than I do with men. I can tell you that first and foremost.

Speaker 1 - Host: Why? Because like Jesus said in the end of chapter 2 of John, he said, because he knew what was in man. Therefore, he didn't commit himself to man. I think a lot of times people, what happens too is they get around people speaking on another topic here, another point. People go to church and what they do is they lean into the pastor and they make the pastor their God.

Speaker 1 - Host: And because the pastor tends to their needs, right, as he calls himself, what do they do? They adhere to him rather than to God. I'll tell you this, and it's safe to say because it's still the same story today. If I ever put my affections on somebody or something before Him, it's just a matter of time before the Lord allows that attachment to fail me. That's not a curse, friends.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's a blessing. That's not a curse. That's a blessing. Why? Because He's creating dependence upon Him.

Speaker 1 - Host: We talked about that earlier. But again, I just wanted to lay that out there for you. I know a lot of people that call themselves pastors. I shouldn't say a lot, but a couple. They allow their congregations to call them a pastor.

Speaker 1 - Host: When they're not pastors, they're apostolic. And they function in the apostolic. The fivefold ministry. So again, make distinction because the way the church operates today is completely upside down in America. Not only are they carnal, but they're operating under the title of being a pastor rather than what God has called the church to be concerning spiritual oversight.

Speaker 1 - Host: Okay? So let's move on to the next point here. Hey, folks.

Speaker 1 - Host: For my church family, again, I just want to tell you, thank you for joining me every Sunday and hanging with me during this time because I think again, people don't understand that it's the business of the church to raise up disciples and not spectators. And for those that hang in there, I understand what you're going for. And again, I'm honored to be a part of it because again, I love my church family. You know, one of the things I noticed too, friends, is that people who know my ministry and are in ministry are doing meetings now and calling them 'raising up disciples.'

Speaker 1 - Host: And it's like in this particular case and what I'm thinking of right now, it was the furthest thing from this guy's mind to be doing that. But he sees that's what we're doing over here. And now he's picking it up. Well, he should pick it up and he should have picked it up a long time ago by raising up disciples.

Speaker 1 - Host: And again, that's our end aim here is to get out there. And if we really truly do have disciples out there, I know that I'm going to be as busy as you are because sooner or later, we're going to be a part of one of your events in your local city, right? And that's what we're called to be a part of and we're happy to do so. But let's go on here. We're talking about growth and grace and I'm going to get to some meat here in just a moment.

Speaker 1 - Host: But again, I want to highlight the fact that I wanted to grow in grace, and that should be our objective. But I also looked at how many of them that had gone before me in the faith, Hebrews 13:7, and I look to teachers, prophets, apostles, mentors, and, of course, always to the Bible itself. I am seeking ways to advance my Christian life by studying those that have gone before me. And that's why the Lord tells us to feed on those that have gone before us in Hebrews 13:7, because I'm always seeking ways to advance my Christian life and grow.

Speaker 1 - Host: When I first started in the church, I had a lot of excitement and zeal. I was on the mountaintop of experience. You guys all know what that's like. And I just assumed that I was going to move rapidly from faith to faith, from strength to strength, from grace to grace to glory to glory without anything impeding my way.

Speaker 1 - Host: And I got to tell you friends, I was sadly mistaken, but I can tell you this friends. I've never lost the zeal and I have never lost my desire to continuously stay on top of that mountain, even if I'm not there all the time. I also came to the kind of preaching I would hear from preachers in the pulpits who would stand up and make glowing promises to congregations by saying, just come to Jesus and all your problems will be over or resolved. One of the things I realized is that when I came to Jesus and walked through the door of becoming a Christian, it was nothing but warfare and that's what we're addressing here. I brought up earlier, how in Romans 13:14, that the Bible says we put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Folks, if you want to understand warfare, just begin to live out your faith.

Speaker 1 - Host: Oh my goodness, it's just going to come with it. The enemy is going to confirm the call. When you look at Galatians 3:27, for as many as you have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Right? And we addressed that earlier as well.

Speaker 1 - Host: Well, when you look at the fathers of the faith that have taught us that one of the marks of our growing spiritually is an increased awareness of our fallen condition so that the conviction grows more intense in one sense rather than less. Yeah. So when we grow up, we become more aware of our own deficiencies before God. But on the other side of that, it also increases our awareness of the need to press into the kingdom to receive more of what will fulfill that void within us, per se. And with that, I want to move down just a little bit and go over to E.M. Bounds, because this is really the meat and bones of understanding growth in grace in spiritual warfare. And the first thing I want to do is I want to highlight Ephesians for you so you guys can all understand what this is first and foremost concerning our spiritual walk. And when I go over to Ephesians 6:12, what does it say? It says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Speaker 1 - Host: What's the first thing he tells us, Church? Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God. Take on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. He said, stand therefore, having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet, shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Speaker 1 - Host: And verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And then he says on top of that, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Okay.

Speaker 1 - Host: So it's a warfare. If it weren't warfare, the Lord would not have given unto us the whole armor of God. Pay attention to the fact that the whole armor of God, friends, is put on the front, not on the back, which again expresses the very idea that we're supposed to be on the offensive and not on the defensive. Okay.

Speaker 1 - Host: Listen to what E.M. Bounds said concerning growth and grace. He said the Christian life is no picnic or excursion. He said it's not entertainment or a pleasure trip. It involves effort, wrestling, and struggling. Acts 14:22.

Speaker 1 - Host: We enter into the kingdom of God through many trials and tribulations. Christianity demands putting forth the full energy of your spirit in order to frustrate the foe and be in the end more than a conqueror. Romans 8:37. He said it's not a flower-strewn path. No rose-scented affair.

Speaker 1 - Host: He said from start to finish, it is a spiritual warfare. You're always going forward. The enemy's always trying to distract you. He's always trying to impede your way. Ask Paul.

Speaker 1 - Host: He goes on. He said our purpose is to frustrate the foe and to be in the end more than a conqueror. It's not a flower strewn path. He said it's no rose-scented affair. He said from start to finish, it's a spiritual warfare.

Speaker 1 - Host: It's a battle, not a game. And from the moment they draw their spiritual swords, he said Christian warriors are compelled to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2:3. By the way, you can even equate spiritual growth, friends. Our spiritual growth is tending to a garden.

Speaker 1 - Host: Let me just use this as an example for a moment if you don't mind. Has anybody out there ever taken the time to grow roses or to grow vegetables in a garden? Has anybody ever taken the time or have you noticed, I should say, that's probably more proper? Have you noticed that when you plant a garden, the first thing that you're going to have to do is plow up the dirt? This all goes back to Hebrews, or I'm sorry, Hosea 10:12.

Speaker 1 - Host: And after you plow up the dirt, you've got to get the soil right. And then you plant the seed concerning what it is that you expect the harvest from. But in the process, it's not like you just plant the seed and that you water the seed and you put a little fertilizer on the seed. And then you can just leave your garden alone and nature is going to take its course. And before you know it, in three months, you're going to come back.

Speaker 1 - Host: If it's a vegetable garden, all of a sudden you have these full-grown vegetables and all is well. No, you have to tend it. You have to tend to that garden all year long, don't you? For those months in between after you plant the seed, you have to make sure it's maintained. You have to make sure it's watered and it's fertilized again and again and again.

Speaker 1 - Host: You have to make sure that you have some sort of barrier, at least here in the state of Minnesota, around your garden to make sure that the beast of the field or the birds of the air are not consuming what may be growing. What's sprouting forth from the earth? On top of that, you have insects. On top of that, you have weeds.

Speaker 1 - Host: You have to constantly tend to your garden. So is the Christian walk. Constantly, hey folks, every year, I'm a clean freak. And when it comes to the yard that we have for the studios, it's immaculate. I had a neighbor one time say to me, yeah, Bradley likes cutting the trim.

Speaker 1 - Host: Bradley cares about the details. I remember walking into a local restaurant one time and a lady said, are you the guy that lives here and that has that really nice yard? Do you take really good care of your yard? I said, yeah. And guess what they know, friends?

Speaker 1 - Host: They know who I'm representing. And I'm not taking care of the yard as some performance because of who I represent, trying to sell people on the idea that I do it so Jesus doesn't get a bad name. Nope, the Lord already put that in me. I take care of it because it's his yard.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's why I take care of the yard. Hey folks, obedience is the fruit of salvation. Just so you know, obedience is the fruit of salvation. Okay, so with that, I take care of my stuff.

Speaker 1 - Host: I take care of what he's given unto me and the Lord knows it. If you were to go outside and you were to get in the vehicle that we used to go on trips from point A to point B, they're immaculate. They're super clean. But you know what I also do? I never look to them as the giver, even though I take care of them. I never put them in the way of the Giver. I already talked about that.

Speaker 1 - Host: See what people don't realize though, when it comes to the yard, going back to the yard, you got to take care of it all year long. Now there are natural elements I can't control. If a tornado comes and rips something up, I have no say over that. There's nature working against what I'm tending to again. I'm sure that many of you have gardens and I'm sure that storms have come along and they may have ruined your crop. You have to guard your heart with all diligence.

Speaker 1 - Host: You have to guard your walk and your growth and grace with all due diligence every step of the way. How many of you have been filled up in the Word, and I'm going to go back to the grass in a moment? How many of you have been filled up in the Word and you feel like you're in the right place? And then all of a sudden, you're done with your study time. You walk away and all of a sudden the enemy throws a dart at you.

Speaker 1 - Host: And when he throws that dart at you all of a sudden, before you know it, you're thinking in the way that you shouldn't be thinking. It's like, wait a second, that's not me. Have you ever been driving and you get these horrendous thoughts? And I'll tell you what happens when I'm assailed like that. What I'll do is simply say, 'No. That isn't me.' Hey folks, the enemy's always shooting darts at us. Just like nature's always working against a perfect crop. It's growth in grace, is it not? It's a warfare, is it not?

Speaker 1 - Host: Yes, it is. Every step of the way. We're not going to get away from that. Try to get away from it.

Speaker 1 - Host: Go out. Now go back to the grass. Go out in your yard right now. And just try to leave it there for three months and let it take care of itself. Hey folks, it's the same with so many who profess to be Christians in the body of Christ today but never take time to read the Word and learn how to tend their own gardens.

Speaker 1 - Host: It's the same thing in so many different ways. And thank God for these natural analogies. Do you know that I have to fertilize the grass every year? Because if I don't, weeds will just come up out of nowhere. You ever notice that if you don't take care of your garden, weeds will come up and try to choke out what is healthy? Boy, we're getting into the parable of the sower, aren't we? In Matthew 4. Yeah, we are. Notice how the enemy is always trying to choke out what the Lord has put in us. In the natural, weeds come out of nowhere. In the same way, these thoughts can seem to come out of nowhere. And I was just highlighting that.

Speaker 1 - Host: Hey folks, you're not responsible for the birds that fly over the top of your head. You're not responsible for the birds that fly around your head, but you are responsible for the birds that you allow to nest in your head. That's why the Bible says you're supposed to take every thought captive and make it obedient to the Word of God. Okay, I don't know why you're online right now.

Speaker 1 - Host: Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and mute you for the show here. And you're apparently distracting people and you're doing it on purpose. And if I see you do it again, We're just going to go ahead and delete you for the rest of the service. You're not on anything that we're having a conversation about.

Speaker 1 - Host: And apparently that's what you're doing over there. You're trying to distract everybody. Hey folks, you don't have to be looking at your live chat. You don't have to be talking about Donald Trump right now. I mean, you have to understand this is a prime example of what I mean.

Speaker 1 - Host: This is a prime example of what I'm talking about. Those things that distract you from what you're called to do. That's another way. How many times? Like I said, I don't watch television.

Speaker 1 - Host: But you walk into a restaurant and you got to get something to eat when you're on the road like I will be next week. They got televisions up there. And all this spirit of antichrist is continuously inundating the American people. I have to take those thoughts and I have to make them captive. And I have to make them obedient to the Word of God because I have to keep growing in grace.

Speaker 1 - Host: So the Bible says, and the Lord said, to keep your eye single, not double because a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. Let not that man think he'll receive anything of the Lord. It has to be single because if it's not single, guess what? The light that may be in you may be wickedness or evil. And the Lord tells you to avoid that.

Speaker 1 - Host: Some people say, 'Well, Bradley, you're just overemphasizing what the Word says. You're going into greater specificity than is needed.' Not at all. Not at all. Folks, until you receive it from Christ, you can't give it.

Speaker 1 - Host: And I can tell you right now, Christ is not a compromise. The Bible says he was without sin. He's the holy lamb of God. He was the sacrifice. He even shed his blood to seal his testimony in it.

Speaker 1 - Host: Therefore, if that's what he did in great lengths to give it, then I want to make sure I live for what it is that He died to give me. 2 Corinthians 5:15. And so should we all? That's why we should all take heed. Let me show you something here and I'm going to go over again just to show you in Hebrews that the severity of not taking heed because, I mean, this is crazy.

Speaker 1 - Host: He tells us in Hebrews 3, take heed. That means pay careful attention, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. That's not what I was looking for. I'm going to go over to Hebrews 2. Forgive me because I believe that's where it's at.

Speaker 1 - Host: Yes, yes it is. Hebrews 2: 'Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed.' Listen to the wording: earnest heed to the things which we have heard. He said earnestly, we are to hold faith. Pay careful attention to the things which we have heard. Lest any time we should let them slip.

Speaker 1 - Host: Wow. Brethren, now you're getting into the zone of being militant. Yes, because Christianity is militant. Look at this. Let me just give you a couple.

Speaker 1 - Host: You know one of the things that I love about the giftings at least that I have here is how the Lord will just highlight something and I'll get stuck on it. It's highlighting gems that have been made obsolete through omission or willful omission, certainly concerning the Word of God, those things that need to be brought to the light. And it's what I'm talking about right now. What does it tell us in 1 Timothy 1:19: holding on to faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck concerning their faith? We are to take heed, friends. Our whole lives are supposed to be spent for this purpose. Again, we're looking to raise disciples by the Spirit of God.

Speaker 1 - Host: I don't care about followers. I don't care about spectators. The world is filled with them. I don't want to partake in that lot. We have a job to do.

Speaker 1 - Host: And if it's really about pleasing the Lord, then this is what we're going to give our attention to. So, folks, concerning my ministry and going from thought to thought and from topic to topic, Word of knowledge, Word of wisdom, mainly discerning of spirits, or the gift of prophecy, and highlighting what it is that so many need to hear. And might I add so I can give you understanding when Jesus was being thronged by the people? He was talking to all of the people.

Speaker 1 - Host: He was being inundated with questions from people that he was randomly answering. It's not like Jesus just went out there in the street and told everybody just to sit down. Now he's going to preach to them and not that he didn't do that. But I'm saying, folks, that when we have church here, we have to understand that there are people that are coming in that want something different from the menu that the Lord offers in the Word of God. And I'm saying that because people who come over here sometimes are like, wait, the guy was just here and then the guy was just there.

Speaker 1 - Host: Yep, because that person needed something you didn't know they needed. And I didn't know, but the Holy Ghost knew. And then before you knew it, I was over here giving that guy something. And then before you know it, I stopped and I'm talking to a mom that has a heart for one of her children and she needs to be ministered to right now. That's right.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's right. That's how church should be every day. That's how church should be all the time. Hey, let me give it to you this way. What's it like in a personal capacity?

Speaker 1 - Host: It's like this on the radio as well. But let me tell you in a personal capacity, I'll have people over to the house. I'll start having conversations with them and they're saying to me, I was just thinking about that. I hear it all the time. I was just thinking about that.

Speaker 1 - Host: Oh, well, that's funny that you say that. No, it's not funny. It's the Spirit of God. He wants to bring to light some of the things that you haven't seen yet because it's still in the dark or he wants to give you a rhema word or he wants to give you some sort of an epiphany or he wants to give you a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge or he wants to direct your path. That's what he does or he wants to remove something that's in your life right now that's holding you back that's impeding you from growth.

Speaker 1 - Host: Like when I went over to when the Lord says, unless you hate your father and your mother, your brother, your sister, your child, for My sake. See, that's stuff people need to hear. That's the cross of Jesus Christ. That's the stuff we were talking about at the outset of the show. So many people mean to say, 'Just don't even talk about it,' because it offends people. The cross is an offense to the sins of man. Oh, well, I can hear somebody saying, oh, but Bradley, but, you know, the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's all man-made. Oh, is it? Is that why the gospel of Jesus Christ wars against man's desires?

Speaker 1 - Host: No, it's testifying of itself what the cross is. Those that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its lusts and affections. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ that live within me. Really?

Speaker 1 - Host: It's man-made. No, no, no, no, no, folks, if it was man-made, it would appease man. Then men would look at it and find approbation with it. And that's what they've done by removing the cross and removing the things that people need to hear. And here's the other thing.

Speaker 1 - Host: You're never going to grow up folks in the natural getting up every morning watching cartoons. No, you have to go to the teacher. And as Christians, you're going to be in school the rest of your life. And if you're really His, you're going to love it and you're going to grow in grace. All of what I'm highlighting today, friends, has been warfare against our call.

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm going back to the garden. That seed is going to keep breaking forth, but I have to take care of my garden. I have to, as a Christian, take every thought captive. I have to, as a Christian, continuously keep my eye single on the Author and Finisher of my faith. And work out my own salvation as I keep my eye fixed on him and receive the fruit thereof concerning the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's what I care about. And I hope that's what you care about because we're never going to grow up, folks. If we're just going to keep, you know, can you imagine going to matter of fact case in point? Thank you, Lord. I just saw a radio personality yesterday talking about the state of Minnesota. Yeah, I guess I could take it there too.

Speaker 1 - Host: Did you know that over 700,000 students every year in this country can't even read their own graduation diplomas? You want to say it again? Over 700,000 that graduate in high schools in America today can't even read their own diplomas. That's all by design. And it's a perfect parallel to what I'm telling you.

Speaker 1 - Host: If you want to grow up, then you better get at the feet of your Teacher. Our kids can't read folks because the people in this country, namely again, the 81% have been derelict in their duty to raise up their own children. They allowed the state to do it. They allowed their sworn enemies to raise up their own kids. Prime example, what are they doing in schools today?

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks, they're doing nothing in public school, but illegally indoctrinating your kids. Ask me. Just did a high school in South Dakota. Just ask me. Why are they dumbing them down?

Speaker 1 - Host: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Why are they dumbing down your kids? Because they're easily controlled. They're easily enslaved that way. And there's no excuse for it in America.

Speaker 1 - Host: None whatsoever. Going back to that radio personality, I just heard him say yesterday that the average students in schools in Minnesota right now cannot even work out their own math problems. Hey, church, all of you, all of those that are with me right now, do you not have a care for this? Let me ask you this.

Speaker 1 - Host: How are you going to make a change or bring about a change if you don't do your own due diligence to pull them up? Hey, because I want you to understand something. We're only as great as the least of us people. And you know who is after the kids in this country, the tyrants, the bad guys. That's who's dumbing down your kids because the people that shouldn't be allowing it to happen, they're entertaining themselves watching cartoons or they're watching some sports match.

Speaker 1 - Host: While their country goes to hell in a handbasket. I was going to make a point there. And if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to it. I remember a guy, and it was a guy that supported us who thought somehow or another that the ministry was going to be bought and paid for or controlled by him. And I knew he was online one day and I just went after it.

Speaker 1 - Host: And the Lord brought me right to it. That's what the Holy Ghost does, friends. He brings you to what needs to be confronted. He doesn't beat around the bush. He doesn't do that.

Speaker 1 - Host: He doesn't circumvent. He doesn't go around like what you see today. Gosh, I'm saying two things here. Had a prophet dude one time say to me, John the Baptist was an absolute fool. I looked at him and I said, oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 - Host: This man just called John the Baptist - who obeyed the Lord to the fullest by calling out the king for all of his evils - a fool. In Luke 3:19, he had just called him a fool. That man's no longer here, by the way. Be the John the Baptist, the greatest born of women. Follow John the Baptist because there's an appearing of Christ after he preaches.

Speaker 1 - Host: He was the one that went before him. Hold to the prophets, people. But let me go back to this guy.

Speaker 1 - Host: I could feel his conviction. I could feel how he was trying to take his reproach and throw it back on me, like King David talked, like Jesus talked. He was trying to repay me evil for the good that I was preaching to him because he didn't understand the definition of good. And I was in Luke 19 one time and I was talking about the parable of the talents and I was just talking about what happened to the man that looked at the Lord and said that you're an austere man. You're very hard and you're very strict.

Speaker 1 - Host: The Lord said, you judged yourself out of your own mouth. And he said, take that servant, that worthless servant, the unprofitable servant and take him and cast him into hell. And utter darkness is what he said. And I was preaching on it. And sure enough, I could feel it.

Speaker 1 - Host: I knew exactly where it was coming from. He calls me up and he says, you know what, we're going to take a break for a while. And I just chuckled. And I said to myself, no, what you just did was reject the Word of God. Just like the Pharisees did.

Speaker 1 - Host: They rejected the counsel of God against themselves. Hey, this word that I preach applies to every single one of us, including me, first and foremost. And when I preach it to you, understand that what I'm doing is telling you things that nobody's ever taken the time to tell you. That's love, brother. That's not hate.

Speaker 1 - Host: And what you do is you hated me. You wanted to repay evil to me because you wanted to hold on to your idols. Sure enough, right after you did that, I went over and I noticed on a social media platform, everything was football. Maybe he should read the book of Jeremiah, chapter 11, where it talks about how they had idols in every city, in every city, and God condemned them. People, America, my church family, I have a question, and I'm asking it in general. How is it that people who call themselves saved have no care for the lost? How is it that a people that call themselves Christians have not a care concerning what's going on? In the sense of us not taking responsibility and righting the wrongs and leaving this to our posterity. Because might I remind you our forefathers didn't do that.

Speaker 1 - Host: Our forefathers did it the other way around. How is it that it's so prevalent today that I hear from parents say, oh, to H-E-double-hockey-sticks with those young people. They complain about the kids, they complain about their own reflection. They were the ones that raised those kids up and they're mad about it.

Speaker 1 - Host: No, you don't like it because they're your reflection. Just like in America your reflection is your government. So what you complain about is what you tolerate. So what you don't like about what's in them is in you because until you correct yourself and take that beam out of your own eye you're not going to be able to fix it concerning them. And you're not going to be able to tell them how to take it out either.

Speaker 1 - Host: But how is it that we call ourselves Christians but we don't even understand what real love is. Because when I look at the prophets and I look at the apostles and I look at the evangelists and I look at the Word of God I noticed that none of those men of God ever pulled any punches. They always said the hard things to each other. Politics is filled with this.

Speaker 1 - Host: The pulpits of America are filled with this. They flatter with the tongue. What does the Bible tell us about those? That flatter with the tongue. The Bible says they destroy your soul.

Speaker 1 - Host: What does the Bible say on the other side of that in Proverbs 27 verse 5? It says faithful are the wounds of a friend. Can I show you something really quick? Church family. Again before we bring this to a close.

Speaker 1 - Host: I want you to see this. I'm going over to Leviticus 19:17. I want you to read it with me because this highlights it. It's exactly what it says in Leviticus 19:17.

Speaker 1 - Host: King James Version. What does it say right here? It says you shall not hate your brother in your heart. It talks about this in 1 John over and over. I'm not supposed to hate my brother.

Speaker 1 - Host: What does it say? It says but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor. I don't like the translation at all. Lest you incur sin because of him. What does it say here?

Speaker 1 - Host: Let's just go right to it. What does it say? Thou shall not hate thy brother in thine heart. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke your neighbor and not allow sin to be upon them. You can also go over to 2 Chronicles 19:10. As a matter of fact, let me go to 1 Timothy. I want you to see this as well.

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm doing this for the new people folks real quick since we're on this. What does it say in the book of Timothy? That is not what I was looking for. Forgive me. I'm in 1 Timothy.

Speaker 1 - Host: The Bible says that we're to rebuke those. I'm going to pull it up. It's 5:20, not 6:20. I want you to see this.

Speaker 1 - Host: What does it say right there? Those that transgress God's law, remember repentance is before God, not hell. Hellfire preaching is unbiblical. But it says, those that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. Why does someone step outside of themselves?

Speaker 1 - Host: Why would somebody - let's say, for example, somebody in my church family right now whom I knew was living in known sin - not be addressed? What would you think of me if I knew that you were in sin and I saw that the end of sin is death, Romans 6:23, yet I didn't say anything to you about it? What would you think of me? And then ask yourself the question because I'm going to ask it for you and to you. What about all those people around you that you know that you need to address but you haven't?

Speaker 1 - Host: Where's the love? There's so much of that counterfeit, feigned love today, folks, that people need to understand that the love of Christ is a risen, Holy Ghost love. It's not a carnal reprobate love. Okay, we're not to equate that love to man's fallen state. We are to equate it to Christ's risen state because again, he is the standard, Acts 17:31.

Speaker 1 - Host: Let me go back to E.M. Bounds because I'm going to give you some meat here. He goes on talking about spiritual growth in grace. He said, what a misconception many people have. He said, from start to finish, the spiritual walk is a spiritual warfare. He said it is a battle.

Speaker 1 - Host: He said it's not a game. E.M. Bounds. From the moment they draw their spiritual swords, Christian warriors are compelled to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Well, Bradley, can you show me that in Scripture?

Speaker 1 - Host: Yes. Look at 2 Corinthians 11. Look at what Paul went through in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me go back over to a guy named John Calvin who rightly said, whosoever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of his fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome and unquiet life crammed with the very many and various kinds of evil.

Speaker 1 - Host: Whoa. Oh, that's a far cry from God. 'God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.' Isn't that right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 - Host: Yeah, that's a far cry, but he's exactly right because it goes back to Acts 14:22. Let me go back to E.M. Bounds talking about spiritual growth and that we must endure this to reach the objective. Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 1 - Host: You guys are in that. Okay. I'll get to this. You guys remember Pilgrim's Progress? Do you remember that the kingdom when people got to the end of their road and they were standing outside of the kingdom of God, figuratively speaking allegorically, John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress?

Speaker 1 - Host: Do you remember his story where a man got to the very end and he saw the kingdom of God and he wanted to get into the kingdom of God, which also if you take it for what it is, it's also a means of understanding real prayer and importunity. And I'm thinking of Luke 18 and I'm thinking of the unjust judge and the widow who persistently pressed him until she received her answer. And I'm going to take it over to the story John told. He said, once he approached, he noticed that there were men standing there with swords that were doing their best to keep him out of the kingdom of God. Do you remember who he was?

Speaker 1 - Host: He said, Hey, take my name, write it down. Who was he? He was fearless. And he's the one that fought through to get into the kingdom of heaven. And that's what we're all called to do because once we get there, we're going to be empowered because remember all of you that talk of love again holding to the Scripture here friends.

Speaker 1 - Host: Remember the Bible says that he first loved us, right? We love him because he first loved us. And then he starts talking about perfect love casting out fear. And those that are not made perfect in love are still, they're still fearful. And I can tell you what that comes down to is you haven't understood that you've already lost your life for the purpose of Christ.

Speaker 1 - Host: And it reminds me of the band of brothers again, a great parable. I remember when Lieutenant Spears was talking to a private name, Blythe, who was scared of being in World War II, which I'm sure we all would be. And Spears said to this private, he said, you haven't understood yet. He said, we're all dead. He said, and the only way we're going to understand what we're called to is to understand that we walk into war as men who are already dead.

Speaker 1 - Host: And we're caused and raised up and empowered by the Holy Spirit for the war that's before us. And again, it is a war. Anybody that is truly a Christian is going to understand it. Maybe even if we had phone lines right now, you could call in and tell me about your testimony and the spiritual warfare. It is not going to come without spiritual warfare.

Speaker 1 - Host: Yeah, that's another point. I think of all the times that we do events and across the country. And once we start an event, the people setting it up start trying to figure out why everything spins out at the gate or threshold as they cross into obedience by the power of the Holy Ghost - 1 Corinthians 2:5 - and step into the Spirit of God. That's the warfare. And what they do is many of them will just stop right there because they've never endured it before.

Speaker 1 - Host: And they think in their carnal minds that something's wrong when in fact spiritually everything is right. Everything's right, not wrong. Okay?

Speaker 1 - Host: I'm going to finish this E.M. Bounds quote here. My goodness, folks, talking about a different gospel. He goes on and says, 'What a misconception many people have of the Christian life.' He said, how little the average members appear to know of the character of the conflict and its demands upon them.

Speaker 1 - Host: How ignorant they seem to be of the enemies that they must encounter if they are to serve God faithfully, if they are to succeed in getting to heaven and receive the crown of life. E.M. Bounds goes on. He said, they scarcely seem to realize that the world, the flesh and the devil will oppose their onward march and will totally defeat them unless they give themselves to constant vigilance and unceasing prayer. You might say, 'Bradley, I understand that what you're saying is in the Word of God, and I believe what you're telling me. But I've been a Christian my whole life. I've never done anything for Him; I've just claimed to be His child. I know what you're saying about warfare is in the Word of God, but I've never experienced it before.'

Speaker 1 - Host: Wow. How does that work? It sounds like somebody that's never made a difference in this life or in anybody else's life, including their own. Listen, in Revelation 12:17, this is what it tells us. Satan himself, called the dragon, was wroth with the woman, the church, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed.

Speaker 1 - Host: And what does this say right after that? I want you to see this again, church family, which keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. What does he make war with? Hey, folks, a lot of times people go on throughout their whole lives, never understand anything I'm saying right now.

Speaker 1 - Host: I can tell you just the exact opposite. I heard a lady say this one time and she was right. She was a Christian woman. And she said it was amazing to me. She said other people were Christians too, she said, that they claimed to be.

Speaker 1 - Host: And she said it was interesting what they could do and what they could get away with. She said, but I noticed that within my own walk, I wasn't like permitted to do any of that. And I thought, oh my goodness, I know what this lady's talking about. First thing you think of as a baby Christian is what's wrong? But when you're 31 years into it, you look around and say to yourself, oh, that was right on.

Speaker 1 - Host: The Lord was keeping me separate from those that weren't His. When you belong to him, he won't allow you to do what others can do and get away with. The Bible says that he chastises those that belong to him. That's so we might be partakers of His holiness.

Speaker 1 - Host: When He afflicts us, what He does is for our good, not for our bad. I don't know why I'm exhorting you and admonishing you in this again. But somebody needs to hear that. Friends, search yourselves and understand those chastisements and afflictions, because the Lord is using conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment to drive those things out of your life and out of your heart.

Speaker 1 - Host: The first thing the Lord does is he gets us out of the river of sin. The second thing he does, he gets the river out of us. You want to say that again? First thing he does is gets us out of the river of sin. The second thing he does is get the river out of us.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's right. I also want to say this, growth in Christ is not a putting off. It's a death. And there is going to be a warfare every step of the way. That's the confirmation.

Speaker 1 - Host: We're talking about spiritual warfare as something through which we must grow. We must grow through all of this. All of that which means to impede our growth, we need to go on beyond it. We need to go beyond it. We need to press through it and we need to keep growing.

Speaker 1 - Host: And by the grace of God, we need to be crucified to the old life and conformed to the image and likeness of Christ. And we'll know that we're growing in grace because we're going to keep acting more and more just like who we have our eye fixed upon. I love that. I do.

Speaker 1 - Host: You see these? I love the parable. You see these guys all the time, they go into the gym and you see them on social media feeds. They go into the gym and they got all these mirrors around them and they got all these weights. And you look around friends, if you look around long enough, you're going to start seeing like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu and Frank Zane and some of these bodybuilders.

Speaker 1 - Host: And what they're doing is they're lifting weights and lifting weights and lifting weights because they want to look just like them. Are you with me? We keep our eye fixed on Jesus. Guess what we're going to do? We're going to become by the Spirit of God.

Speaker 1 - Host: Titus 3:5 through the renewing and regeneration of the Holy Ghost. We're going to become just like Him. And praise God for the work of the Holy Ghost. Praise God for the work of the Holy Ghost. I want to say this again in ending E.M. Bounds' quote. He said at this one point - and I mean to highlight it - He said the professed churches, this is in the 1800s. J.C. Ryle talks about it. But he said at this one point, E.M. Bounds said, he said the professed church's greatest defect is this. There is little to nothing of the soldierly element in it. He said the discipline, the self-denial, the spirit of hardship.

Speaker 1 - Host: Oh, and yes, it really sucketh. I said that in King James Version. And I'm being funny, but yes, it's not fun. But he said there are no soldierly elements in the Christian life. He said, where's the discipline?

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks, I'm telling you right now, 100%. This is a disciplined walk. He said, there's no self-denial. Hey, folks, that's the first prerequisite.

Speaker 1 - Host: He said the spirit of hardship and determination that belong to military life, and are so prominent in it, are lacking in Christianity today. This was in the 1800s. Remember, in Jason's house in the book of Acts, the authorities accused Jason and those in his house. If you look at Jesus, they accused Him of sedition as well.

Speaker 1 - Host: They accused Paul of the same thing. But going back to Jason's house, remember they said that he turned the world upside down? He wasn't turning the world upside down. They were turning the world right side up. Why is it that people feel good about it being dark rather than bright?

Speaker 1 - Host: My goodness, folks, we're in this country. And again, for those that don't know their history, we have been called the light of the world because of the fact that we held to God's judgments and, as I see it, a biblical standard of righteousness. In this country, we're called to be the light of the world. By the way, I say this to my radio family, but Church, do you realize that countries all over the world are waiting for you to reclaim through reclamation the light that you're called to be, which only Christ can give?

Speaker 1 - Host: They're looking to you as the light of the world. Why? Because you have what's been given to you friends. What's given to you, my church family, is what they want. The world is dying to know the Christ you claim to have.

Speaker 1 - Host: They don't need counterfeits. They need genuine Christianity. And that's what we're talking about here. E.M. Bounds says, friends, the Christian life is warfare from the beginning to the end.

Speaker 1 - Host: The life of the Christian is warfare. It is intense warfare. And it is a lifelong contest. Do you know that we die daily? The Bible teaches us that we die daily.

Speaker 1 - Host: Look at the Old Testament. You see the sacrifice in the morning. You see one in the afternoon. We die daily, Paul said. Why?

Speaker 1 - Host: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. That I might decrease, and that He might increase. Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks on top of this. Maybe we should talk about fasting next week. I need to get onto sowing and reaping because that is an excellent teaching. It truly is. We're going to get to that sooner or later.

Speaker 1 - Host: And we also need to get to prayer. But folks, what about fasting? Isaiah 58, verse 12. Fasting is not about you disciplining yourself to change God. It's about him changing you.

Speaker 1 - Host: And it also shows you what the fruit of that fast will do on the other side. Read Isaiah 58 when you get a moment. We'll talk about that in the up and coming services. But let me say it one more time.

Speaker 1 - Host: And then I'll end with Philippians 3. Calvin said, whomsoever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of His fellowship ought to prepare himself for a hard, toilsome and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil. And D.L. Moody - regardless, folks, with all these preachers that I'm highlighting, I chew up the meat and spit out the bones.

Speaker 1 - Host: I hold to the Word, but they were great men of God. They were men that were known by God, not the other way around. Yeah, thank you. He said, when I first got into the Christian life, he goes, I thought I got into the boat. That was in the stream.

Speaker 1 - Host: And I could take my oars and put them inside the boat and just go with the flow. He said, I soon found just the exact opposite. I had to put the oars in the water and go against the flow. That's right. That's right.

Speaker 1 - Host: That's right. Hey, folks. What we don't need is any more of these effeminate, wimpy confessors to stain the character of the Jesus that we find in the Bible. Enough. Shame them by following Christ, just like Eleazar in Samuel. The Philistines came upon the land.

Speaker 1 - Host: What did they do? All the children of Israel during that particular time, they all ran. They were afraid. They took counsel from their fears. They shamed the name of God, but there was one man. Put that up against Psalm 78:6.

Speaker 1 - Host: But what did Eleazar do? Like in so many scenarios throughout history, everything pivoted on one individual. This particular case was a man named Eleazar who took the sword of the Lord and he went after the Philistines. Well, everybody else ran.

Speaker 1 - Host: He ran after those who were assailing, just like David with Goliath, just like so many others throughout the Bible. Esther with Haman and Mordecai. All the list goes on, Gideon with the Midianites. Oh, the list goes on and it goes on.

Speaker 1 - Host: Christians are called to go the other direction. The world is dark. We're the light. Folks, it's not hard today to be the light of the world.

Speaker 1 - Host: And even if you have a little light, I'll tell you what, the way the media attacks you, they'll do you a whole lot of favor by helping you illuminate that light by attacking you. That's fantastic. Had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. D.L. Moody said we've got to put our oars in the water, guys.

Speaker 1 - Host: I do this seven days a week. I'm getting mentally tired. Right. I got about eight minutes left here, but I want you to understand something. We don't just put our oars in the water. We have to go against the flow. That's what we have to do. Our Christian life isn't like roses or a garden that goes unattended - not at all. No, it requires daily tending.

Speaker 1 - Host: And so is the life and the growth of a Christian. Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14, 'Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.'

Speaker 1 - Host: Do you get it? He said, 'Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.' He said, 'I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.' Hey folks, if we're midway through our walk in Christianity, stay the course; stay steadfast.

Speaker 1 - Host: Stay fixed in direction. Jesus said he who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, is not fit for the kingdom of God. Bradley, I'm tired. I'm weary. Yep.

Speaker 1 - Host: Me too. But think about this: we get to sleep for eternity if it's required. Let me put this to you.

Speaker 1 - Host: Remember when you were in the world before you got converted? Remember all those parties when you stayed up until three, four, five, six, seven o'clock in the morning just because you wanted to? You had all the strength in the world to stay up, didn't you, to do all those things that your fleshly heart desired? Yeah, you did all that. That was no problem.

Speaker 1 - Host: Staying up late every single night - just ask me. I lived that life. I toured the country doing it in a rock-and-roll band. Okay.

Speaker 1 - Host: So when I get into the Christian life, folks, that strength should exceed what it is that I need to get done concerning the time that's been allotted by the Lord in fulfilling His call. Paul talked about just that. He said he had to make up for where others failed. And when it comes to myself, hey, listen, I had the strength to do it.

Speaker 1 - Host: Then there are no excuses. 'Lord, here, I'll do this. And Lord, they're not doing that either. Can I have that as well? Can You give that to me too? I'll do my best to right that wrong.'

Speaker 1 - Host: I'll do it so that His kingdom and His will might be done on this earth as it is in heaven. Friends, that has meaning. It really does. It has meaning. Here's the other thing.

Speaker 1 - Host: And I'm going to end with this. I have to. Folks, we're called to be ministers of the flames of fire.

Speaker 1 - Host: We're going to be ostracized. We're going to be demonized by the good old boys in the carnal version of the American church. That's okay. We've already seen what they've done. They've had a long time to prove what it is that they can't bring and what they can't do.

Speaker 1 - Host: We, on the other hand, have to have the Holy Ghost to get the job done. But He's given unto those that obey. You need to put yourself in the mirror of God's law, Exodus 20, where you see sin, you need to repent of it. Ask the Lord for the Holy Ghost. Let Him work repentance in you and bring forth the fruits of repentance.

Speaker 1 - Host: And when you see that, you're going to begin to understand the spiritual life, and it's a growth in grace. And the last thing we want to do is stop midway. Nope, we want to finish the course. So we need more grace. We need more grace.

Speaker 1 - Host: Folks, here, I'm going to do this. I just want to say this. Go to the store, sonsoflibertymedia.com. And in ending here, I do my best to say this as coolly as I possibly can. Folks, again, we're being spent in seven different directions.

Speaker 1 - Host: We're not doing this begrudgingly. We're doing it with a willing heart. And I'm honored that people would ask us, but I got to tell you, friends, we need the people who asked us to be a part of this service to support the ministry because we're spending time on the outside seeking other avenues to shoulder the burden that you that asked us to do the service aren't shouldering, and it's not right. And so we're looking for cheerful givers because we can do more than what we've done. And I'm telling you, we can do a lot more even though we don't have the strength.

Speaker 1 - Host: Go to sonsoflibertymedia.com. It's super easy. I want to ask that you become a son or daughter of liberty. I want to send you something in the process of that. Whatever you sign up for, do let me know which books you want.

Speaker 1 - Host: I'll send you two different books. But again, go over there. Become a son or daughter of liberty. If you have to send in a check, I do want to show you this. This is the church.

Speaker 1 - Host: And again, I want you to see this for yourself. It's the address. It's The Sons of Liberty for mail-in donations. The Sons of Liberty, P.O. Box 1126, Annandale, Minnesota 55302. Again, it is mail-in donations.

Speaker 1 - Host: The Sons of Liberty, P.O. Box 1126, Annandale, Minnesota 55302. I also wanted to let you know that we're going to be in Johnstown, Colorado. Next week at 6:30 at an address transcribed approximately as "10th Street Parish Avenue," with KHNC 1360. After that, the same month, we're going to be 12 days at the Minnesota State Fair. We'll be there from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Speaker 1 - Host: And then we have an event coming up in Princeton as well. If you want to partake with having us in your backyard, now's the time to book us. That is 1-866-233-0747, 1-866-233-0747. And I also wanted to let you know one more time, those who are online: go to the comments section.

Speaker 1 - Host: You will find the mail-in donations on the left side and also online donations. Because friends, as you all well know, even on radio, we don't have sponsors. And without the people supporting what it is that we're doing here, it's not going to survive. And there's much to do. Again, sonsoflibertyradio.com is who we are, what it is that we've been doing, and what we're continuously doing.

Speaker 1 - Host: We'll be on the radio from 2-3 Central Standard Time tomorrow as well. And in the process, friends, I've got to say this in ending: we love you by what we do.