Can a Christian Be DEMON POSSESSED!? (NOT What You’d Expect) ft. Jonathan Pokluda | Live Free with Josh Howerton

A lot of times when you feel like God's breaking you, he's actually building you. Demons are smarter than the best technology that we have. They've studied you, your family line for centuries. They understand all of your inclinations. They watched your patterns. Jonah shows what happens when a man rejects God's mission. Paul shows what happens when a man fully embraces God's mission. And today you and I get to choose which one of those we will be. Well, hey, Live Free Nation. Before we jump into the episode, this podcast is recorded right here at Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. But the Live Free Nation is spread all over the country and all around the world. So if you've been watching and thinking, man, I wish I could be part of something like this, we want to invite you to take a simple next step, and that is join us for church online. Every weekend we stream our services live on YouTube, Facebook, and our church online platform. And it's more than just watching a service. There are live hosts in the chat, prayer teams ready to stand with you and people all around the world worshiping together in real time. And so whether you're exploring the faith, coming back to church, or just looking for a place to start, church online is a great way to jump in and experience what God is doing here at Lake Point, we would love to see you in the chat this weekend, and now enjoy the podcast. Well, hey, welcome back to another episode of the Live Free Podcast. My name is Carlos Erazo and I am here today with Pastor Josh Howerton. And today we have a special guest. This is the tallest theologian in Texas, the evangelist. If you were to die today on a scale from one to 10, how certain are you that you would go to heaven?

And the Shaquille O'Neal of young adult ministry, Jonathan Pakluta. I really prefer Wimby. That would work as well. Listen, I don't know if you were in that part of the service. I thought my intro was a little better. My intro was a little, and mine rhymed. I did my best. Oh, you already saw. It was such a great sermon that everything else was a blur. What rhymed? I missed it. You'll see. Okay. I was at a dinner last night with Jonathan Isaac. The ball player? Yeah. He plays in the NBA, loves Jesus. And he's a foot taller than me. So I walked and we've done like a Zoom before. And I walked in, he's like, I didn't know you were this so tall. And I was like, dude, I didn't know you were so tall. He's like staring down at your head. Man, can I share my favorite JP memory? Because JP and I, we actually... Wait, let's tell them what we're going to talk about. Okay, sure. Because this is a biggie. So first of all, this guy, if people don't know, there's a reason he said Shaquille O'Neal of Young Adult Ministry. This guy is stirring like, dude, God's using you in like generationally

historic ways on college campuses. I want you to tell people what you're seeing and why you think that's happening. We're going to talk Acts 27, how God uses and redeems pain in our lives. And then we're going to, because there's two books, I strongly, like I don't strongly recommend all books. There's two books that guy's written. I strongly recommend, you may have written more, but these are the two that they're not really outdated. Every single time. I want you to know this man, I'm going to talk about this a little more in a second. Your ministry has impacted my life and my church, and I'm really grateful for you. Likewise, my friend. So anytime somebody walks up to me in the lobby and they're like, hey, I'm a single girl. Would you pray for me? I want to find a guy, the husband, or, Hey, we're dating literally every time there are scattered all through our church. I'm like, Hey, this is the book you need outdated by Jonathan Bakuda. It's the go-to book. I will use it with my daughters. So that's one. So we're going to rapid fire some questions on, we'll rapid fire dating questions and then hard emotional gear shift. We just finished, you just finished, uh, the run on your book. Uh, your story's got a villain on Satan, demons, spiritual warfare. And it's like a lot of people who write those books, they're honestly kind of weird and not super theologically grounded. And that one is. So we're going to rapid fire those questions. So let me just make sure I get this straight. We're gonna talk about revival, Acts 27, dating and spiritual warfare.

So it all fits under a theme. That's going to be amazing. It fits under a clue. Demons dating. Dude. That's why the anointing on people. You know, it's like the anointing on this podcast. See, unbelievable. Unbelievable. That's, that's the man right there. That's why he's a day one. That is why he's a day one. Uh, before, what were you getting ready to do? Oh, I was just going to say, I don't know if JP, you remember, but, uh, 10 years ago, something like that. Um, the first text that I got from you, it was, uh, it was a photo. Uh, of me that you sent me that my wife took of me, uh, with the hair and you said, I'm showing this to my barber. Uh, do you remember that? You don't remember that. Okay. Okay. Anyway, so that's the first, now he surpassed me. It was very close. Uh, I'm pretty proud of that. It was like a burst fade, wasn't it? It was like a, just a fade like that. Anyways, but now you surpassed me and your hair. I think your hair is better. Well, you've always had that like, you know I don't know. He's got good hair man. Would you call that? Well and good skin. I was like you've gone backwards, man For 20 years or no, no, no, maybe maybe 15 what how long did you like 10 like 10?

I bet I bet I've met but I've known you for 15 because I've been in Waco for seven years. Okay, so then We had more than a three-year overlap here. I think Maybe okay. Let's get here. I'm gonna start calling you the pompadour from El Salvador. I don't know what that is. All right Let's keep going. Okay, I don't want to just like pass around We're really gonna start talking about the Bible here But like I feel like you know, I'm in right now the church building That much of America wishes they attended. I mean you guys just baptized hundreds 741 people People Bro, we're done like what in the world is happening here. Yeah, you feel it I mean, I mean, I'm we're gonna talk about spiritual warfare at the end, but you feel it when you pull on to the campus I'm like, okay God. Oh, you're Holy Spirit's here doing something. Let me say so I want to say something Then we're gonna start talking about the Bible I'm gonna make you do that a little eschatology thing that you've showed me. It freaked me out a little bit You know, it's cool about what you just said. Mm-hmm is I'll get a little motion talking about it The one of the most common things that we hear from people that come is like man I don't know what it was, but I just drove on to the campus And I just felt it felt different. Yeah, if you come to one of our prayer and worship nights Yeah, every year we do to you you preach it one of the last ones literally every single time the thing that the room like we shout to heaven for is That as soon as people drive on our campuses, they would begin to sense the presence of God and we pray for it every year Yeah, and every single year the number one thing I hear in the lobby is you don't know what it was. Yeah I just drove on the campus and something felt different. It was just like man I'm the manifest presence of God is a thing. Yeah yeah, Pastor Louie says God does what he wants where he wants when he wants through whom he wants and I was talking to you. It's been a few months now and I was just like bro What's happening and you're like hey the the heavens of grace just opened up I'm just outpouring of grace and it's like you see it. It's amazing. Thank you. Praise God Hard emotional gear shift. So Carlos you showed me this little thing that is kind of hard not to like be like Hey, is that like legit a little eschatological dovetail eschatological means study the end times?

Do your little thing real quick. Sure So, you know, it's funny because like I've read the Bible my whole life and like I literally just learned this recently So this is a Bible prophecy that some people think that it might be unfolding like literally like right now so apparently like NASA and like the UN and some other sources are basically saying hey the Euphrates River right now has reached historically low water levels here and so because of a five-year drought, apparently it 2025 was the driest year in Iraq and Since 1993 and so there's another report. I think this is the C SIS and the Ministry of Water Resources in Iraq. They're basically warning their people. Hey by 2040 the Euphrates River could be completely dry. Yeah, and so here's what's interesting if you read the Bible 2,000 years ago in the book of Revelation, it talks about the Euphrates River and John has this vision where he basically sees four angels that they're bound in the Euphrates River and Eventually, they're released and then these angels kill a third of humanity as part of God's judgment That's Revelation chapter 9. If you jump to Revelation chapter 16, it says that the water of the Euphrates will dry up Yeah, and it says that its purpose is to prepare the way for this massive army that's coming. They're called the kings of the east So they can easily cross towards Israel which results in this battle The Bible calls Armageddon where Jesus returns with power defeats his enemies and establishes his kingdom now In other words the Euphrates River drying up in Revelation chapter 16 Basically seems to be a sign that opens the door to this final great battle before the second coming of Christ now Here's where it gets really interesting There's been all these photos that have been taken of the Euphrates River And and there's a NASA photo. This is the photo that NASA took and some people are pointing out Oh, hey, it seems like the shape of the river looks like the symbol Omega Yeah and for people that don't know Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and some people are asking man Could this point to Jesus being the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end? This is what it looks like And so, you know when when people see this people will start asking hey, is that is that legit or not legit? Is this real obviously Christians disagree on on this and there's multiple interpretations from the book of Revelations But here's what we do know

So one we have to approach some of these conversations with humility and asking the Holy Spirit's guidance, but here's what we do know Here's what every single Christian agrees on coming back Christ is returning soon because he said he would that's true And so the question is not if he's returning the question is when he is returning the question is not whether he His returning is whether you are ready. And so I think when we have some of these conversations, Christians need to have a posture of humility, not one of fear, but of expectation and joy. Because when you look at everything happening right now, some people freak out, but at the end of the day, we know nothing is happening right now that is catching God by surprise. And so he has a divine purpose and a plan for everything happening today. I don't think we're gonna make it to 2040. That's my hot take. Give me the 60 second sketch on the hot take. Yeah, mine, and I just, I wanna be careful because people will ask me on Friday Q&A, they'll be like, you know, so you're certain, they'll be like, you're certain he's coming back 2033? And I'm like, wait, what? Where did I say, ever say anything close to I'm certain? That's my year. That's what I think. I'm not handing out Kool-Aid. 2000, 2000, 2000. I'm not like, I mean, you know, I'm not, it's like, what would you do different? You know, I think Martin Luther's famously misquoted maybe the plan of tree.

I'm just like, hey, 2033 makes sense to me. That's 2000. So 2000 years from Adam to Abraham, 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus, 2000 years of the church. A day is like a thousand years of the Lord. So that would be six days, seven rest. Like all of that makes sense to me. 2033 would be where I think we're gonna see the return of Christ. 2034, you don't have to throw a party and laugh at me. Like, it's okay, I'm gonna keep sharing the gospel. I'm gonna keep doing ministry. If he tarries till, you know, if I leave, if it's 2070, if it's, you know, whatever, I don't know. I don't presume to know. I'm just saying, hey, if we're gonna look at what makes sense, this one makes sense to me. I know you've had Bavir on here. I mean, he's got some thoughts that I really respect and appreciate. I think Jeremiah Johnson, has he been on? Yeah. We didn't talk eschatology. He has thoughts on it. And so just, you know, as you talk, my friend Jenny Allen has some thoughts on this, but 2033, that's where I'm. Bro, can I, I think you alluded to it.

So we didn't plan to talk about this. Let me do this. And let's do X, for real, we're gonna do X-27. I'll give you, you alluded to this. One little thing that like makes me, I don't know where I'm at on some of that stuff. But one thing that makes me go like, hey, dude, there may be some to that. You alluded to it. So obviously, creational pattern. Work six, rest seven, Sabbath. Then you get into the Old Testament and obviously you got Jubilee year thing. So then the pattern there is work six years, rest seventh year. Then you get to the New Testament, Thessalonians. Hey, with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, a thousand years like a day. Well, man, honestly, okay. If you start going like, okay. Okay, you know, work six, rest one day. Work six years, rest one year. A day is like a thousand years. And then you go 2000, 2000, 2000. Hey, we've been rolling 6,000 years. If you interpret, and there's different, obviously eschatological views. If you interpret the millennial reign of Christ as a thousand years of, watch this, rest, then you would have exactly marked the same pattern.

6,000 years, a thousand years of rest. It's insane. It's amazing. Okay, let's talk X27. Lord, come quickly. We're gonna do that just before a comment hat. We do a giveaway every single episode. So if you're on YouTube or Spotify. That's my favorite hat. Come on, man. True story. That's yours. I see it on IG stories. I rock it. I wear it all the time. I see it. So we'd love to give this away. Comment hat. We'd love to give those away. And also you can go to the store, text the word hat to 20411 if you wanna purchase it as well. But by the way, a couple of subs, we are like literally, I think like 30,000 subscribers away from hitting 1 million. Come on, man. So that's a big deal. We'll throw a party. And then to find our daily Bible reading plan, text the word app to 20411. JP, you should download that up.

We want this episode to be the one that hits a million. Come on. The JP million. That's it, that's it. Hey, by the way, great job this weekend. It's such an honor to have you. It's such an honor to be here. Let me tell you what I like about your Bible teaching is this actual Bible teaching. Honestly, I love and respect somebody that they just open the word. Here's that verse. We read a lot. We read a lot. And reading's not my strong suit, just to be honest. But you just can't skip. It's such a rich chapter. That's right. I have a question for you. Ask me anything. Is there anything that didn't make it to the sermon? First, will you recap what happened in Acts 27? And then I do want to know, is there anything that's like this cool thing about Acts 27? Yeah, we didn't get to get what I get into. What I think is, I think it's potentially the greatest or we'll say one of the greatest leadership chapters in the scripture. And so a lot of times when you're, if you're going to teach leadership, you'll go to Nehemiah.

What's happening here is the apostle Paul is in chains. He's a prisoner on a boat, probably about 180 feet. So don't think like boat in the Sea of Galilee. This is a grain ship, an Alexandrian grain ship. And it's probably about 50 feet wide. 180 feet long and It has two hundred and seventy six people on it. So I mean there's just a lot a lot of people on this boat Yeah, it's significant and and then this storm comes Paul warns the centurion a centurion is some is like a Think over like a general over a hundred soldiers And so he's there so you got soldiers you got sailors you got the the boat owner you got the pilot and you have some prisoners But believe Luke is with him as well Writing I got a little fact on that. Yeah documenting what's happening and Paul says hey guys Hey, just so you know We shouldn't go. Well Paul's actually a shipwreck expert because it's in Corinthians 11 tells us he's been shipwrecked three times So this is an additional to to the threes like guys. How do you know this one's additional because it's written later That's right. Yeah, and so he's he's saying hey We you should not go and so the centurions there he's like, hey, mr. Prisoner, man Thank you for that, but I'm gonna listen to the pilot the captain and the boat owner Okay, if they say we can go, you know, it's cool. You got your chains at all, but we're gonna go And so they go lo and behold. I mean Paul's wise he's smart like this. These are his highways These are the highways that he's traveled on lots of times And so now the centurions like whoa You were right like we're leaning in and what you see unfold in this chapter You know, how do you lead when you're not in charge? How do you how do you lead? You know people over you you see a prisoner now Taking the reins and everybody's looking to this prisoner to say what do we do so much?

So that at the end they're like hey We've got to kill the prisoners and the centurions like now we can't kill this guy like he's he's the one that's We should have listened to him from from the get-go, you know, so it's it's there's so much fascinating instruction happening here One being just divine wisdom from the Lord. That's right He's like hey the Lord showed up and told me last night that we're all gonna make it and so when the sailors go to cut down the Lifeboat and the soldiers come and say hey you can't do that. They're gonna try to escape They're like hey if you guys escape we're not getting out of here. This is the first a lot of people don't know this Army Navy conflict started Started in 59 Dude so a couple little little dubbed even though I wasn't preaching this week in my personal time of the word I just like whatever is gonna be preached. I like studying. Yeah, so there I said there's some stuff I never knew about this path. Okay, so a couple things so you mentioned that Luke's with him Yeah, all right So this is a fun little fact like you got to really be a close axe reader like Bible nerd times six To pick this up. There's only four sections of the book of Acts Where Luke switches from third person Paul journeyed? Yeah, Timothy went yeah, and he switches if you pay really close attention He says we yeah, so like it you don't you don't pick this up axe. This is axe 27 one first first verse when it was decided that We should say Lily. Well, if you're paying attention, you're like, whoa, like if you're paying close to you know What just happened then second thing you start noticing the details in Acts 27 are an order of magnitude different than most of the chapters Yeah, so he mentioned 267 yeah, it's not there's a couple hundred it doesn't say that no No, some dude was like actually looking heard a manifest call. Yeah. Oh, there's like 267 yeah, we know from one of the other verses you mentioned it Alexandria and grain freighter. That's a big deal. That's like an actually specified type of ship. This is really interesting I read this little study if you and you start noticing it

There are 30 not 29 and not 31 there are 30. It's kind of fun little fact There are 30 like specialized in nautical terms Scattered throughout acts 27. Yeah, like very very specific. One of them is really interesting in verse 28 No, it's verse 17 So the the shipwreck starts happening and he specifically says that they use a little phrase as a technical term But one of the things I read said it was like in in Roman military Like nautical journals, they called it undergirding the ship. That's what they say in verse 17 Yeah well what they would do is they would take little ropes and they had a way of threading them under the hull of the ship and Then the dudes would like pull on all these ropes to keep the little slats from busting apart But that that was like an actual Roman military technical exercise See you got stuff like that the soundings verse 28. I'm I know we're nerding out here the soundings in verse 28 It's term in the depth. I mean, it's yeah twice has 20 fathoms. So that would have been 120 feet then 15,000 90 feet Well, then you're like, okay what's going on? You got the we inverse one, you got the details go up in order of magnitude. Well, then you start thinking like, whoa. So like, Acts is written by Luke. Luke's a doctor, doctor's kind of into details last time I checked. And then there's only four times in Acts, it switches from third person to we. And just for the Bible nerds, I'm gonna list them because it's fun. You notice it, next time you read, you notice. And you're like, your heart kind of burns. So Acts 16, right after the Macedonian call. And Paul's like, hey, I'm going over there. And it switches to we, okay.

Acts 20, Paul's returning from Greece. And the we picks up again from Philippi through Troas. Acts 21, Miletus to Caesarea, and then to the Jerusalem arrest. And then here, and dude, here's the thing, is it's not random. If you track what we know about where Luke was and where Paul was, those are the exact four moments that their paths crossed. And Luke switches into the we. And here's the reason I love that. If you're listening to that and you're like, well, that's cool, but what's it mean? Here's what it means, man. The Bible really happened. A real Jesus died on a real cross for the real you. And if you give him your life, he can really change it forever. This is not a story. This stuff happened. That's right, that's amazing. Probably had to become his slave. Like probably the only way that Luke went with him is to see, he and Aristarchus said, hey, we're his slaves. We need to go. We need to get on this boat with them. I've never heard that before. So it's like, you know, because when you're dealing with 277 people,

276 plus Paul, you're at an economy of numbers. Like only so many people can go on the ship because they have food for that. And so it's like, why would these two, how would they get on? And they're like, oh, we're his slaves. We go wherever he goes. Really? He goes there, we have to go with him. I've never heard that for my whole life. I'll do one last little thing that was super encouraging to me. So, you know, pop quiz trivia. So they shipwreck on which Island? What's the name of the Island? Malta. They shipwreck on Malta. I get to preach that next week. By the way, next week, I'm so excited. I think we're 46 weeks into preaching verse by verse through Acts. And next week, last week, we're going out with a bang and I get to do it. I'm really excited. All right, so they shipwreck on Malta. And then, you know, if you're Paul, I don't know why I'm talking about this stuff. It makes me emotional. It's just the providence of God. Hold on, I love it.

You know, you know. We can all cry. All right, man. Don't get the Kleenexes. My eyes are sweating, you know. Eyes are sweating. So, you know, if you're Paul and God already told you, hey, you don't have a choice. You got to go to Rome. And you got to talk to Caesar. And then in this passage, the angel shows, by the way, some commentaries think this was Paul's guardian angel. That's kind of fun. There's also the Christophany theory. The angel of the Lord, yeah. That it was Jesus. But the angel shows up in this passage. He's like, hey, don't be afraid. And he just tells Paul, bro, you're indestructible on this shipwreck thing because you're going to stand in front of Caesar and you're going to proclaim Christ to Caesar. So then the shipwreck happens. And I'm sure if you're Paul, you're like, well, dad, come. I'm trying to fulfill my calling, you know. Yeah, but he knows he's going. He knows he's going? Yeah.

He shipwrecks on Malta. And you may be like, well, dude, if you're Paul, you're like, why? This is so cool, dude. If you're a Live Free listener, when you're done or right now, I want you to Google this and it's going to bless your soul. So Paul is here and he ends up there. It's three months, isn't it? I think he's three months on Malta. Gets bit by a snake. We'll talk about that next week. And he gets to preach the gospel to him. Bro, to this day, 2000 years later, Malta is over 85% Christian. And the churches on the island of Malta to this day, trace themselves in a direct spiritual lineage back to AD 59, when Paul gets shipwrecked on this Dagom Island. And to this day, on February 10th, every year, the entire island shuts down and they celebrate the shipwreck of St. Paul's Day, the day the gospel touched the shores of our island and changed it forever. Wow. And that area is called St. Paul's Bay. Do we have that picture? And so it's just like, that's, if we're- That's it right there?

That's St. Paul's Bay. Look at the bouncing down. Now you can go jump on a floating trampoline there to commemorate the shipwreck of St. Paul. But you're right. Like this stuff happened. It happened, yeah. Two things I want to say to this. One is, and I heard this. Listen, when I'm listening to sermons, I'm listening to Lake Point. One of the things I heard you say is like, hey, if somebody sold you a bill of goods saying, hey, trust in Christ and then get the easy way out. breezy life. You're talking about the greatest missionary that ever lived, who devoted his breath, post-conversion, every heartbeat to advancing the gospel. And he's shipwrecked. He's about to get, I mean, at some point you're like, God, can I catch a break? You know, like he's about to get bit by a poisonous viper, you know, and just, I'm like, can I catch a break? I mean, just go read all that happened to him. And you're like, whoa, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger of bandits. Can I catch a break? And then I think, you know, when the shipwrecks of our life happen, hindsight's 20, 20, like, man, I really wish that wouldn't have happened. Maybe it's an actual wreck. Maybe it's an automobile wreck. Maybe it's a, you know, I ran out of gas on the side of the road. Maybe it's a man. I had the detour here because I took a wrong turn. Like why, why, why did this happen? Well, 80% of those people who have now come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior sure are thankful. I mean, they're going to be in heaven forever and ever and ever. They, they die and they wake up in the presence of God. They sure are grateful for that shipwreck once upon a time, you know, for that detour. They're like, man, I'm now, when those guys are like terrified for their life, you know, they're, they're trying to tie their boat together. You know, they're literally like we, they, they says they, it

says they prayed for daylight. Could you imagine just being in the darkness, prayed for daylight and lo and behold, you know, there's now a Christian island that's grateful for that shipwreck. You know, it's interesting if you think about it based on what you guys just said, it was because of the obedience of one man in this case, that there's a whole legacy that is changed for, for future generation. And if you read this story in Acts 27, in many ways, it's the same story of the prophet Jonah, but in reverse. And so let me, let me explain what I mean. So if you think about it, Jonah runs from God's calling. Paul runs toward God's calling. Jonah brings danger to everybody on board. Paul brings protection to everybody on board. It is because of Jonah's disobedience that the ship goes through a storm. It is in spite of Paul's obedience that the ship goes through a storm. Jonah, if you go back to the story, he is passive while others panic. Paul, like you said, JP, is intentional while others panic. Jonah is confronted by pagan sailors. Paul comforts pagan sailors. Jonah resists his mission to the Gentiles. Paul, in this case, obviously he embraces his mission to the Gentiles. Jonah reluctantly represents God. Paul boldly represents God. Jonah watches pagans pray in panic. In this case, Paul is the one who prays while pagans watch in panic. Jonah shows what happens when a man rejects God's mission. Paul shows what happens when a man fully embraces God's mission. Again, the difference between Jonah and Paul is that one man resisted God's purposes. The other one, in this case, he surrendered himself to God's purposes. And today you and I get to choose which one of those we will be. Let's go. This guy. This guy. And Luke would know that. I think that's on his mind as he's writing the events. He's documenting what they're seeing. It's hard to be on a boat and not think, oh yeah, oh, there's that story that I learned about that guy that was swallowed by a whale, you know. That's right. Was told to go to Nineveh. There you go. Man. Fascinating stuff, man. Way to go, Carlos.

That was fire. So let me ask you this, JP, speaking of, because I know this is something that you addressed a little bit in the sermon. In this case, here is Paul and he's honestly, he's just trying to serve God. He's trying to be obedient. He's trying to be faithful. So what do you do when you are pursuing Jesus, when you're walking, we're trying to walk faithfully and then you basically go, you have an obstacle after obstacle and not just that, but honestly like pain. This is not a comfortable place for Paul to be in. This is not a season of comfort and honestly like a joyful, man, everything's going well. This is pain, pain, pain, suffering. Suffering. What do you do when you're trying to pursue Jesus faithfully and then you end up experiencing pain and suffering? Yeah. The way I said in the sermon is you cannot determine obedience by the outcome. That's so important. I want you to say it one more time. You cannot determine obedience by the outcome. Everything in our American school system, deductive reasoning and logic is you're to look at a situation, you're to determine what you perceive the outcome to be, and then you're to make a logical strategy based on what you should do next. Well, God surpasses strategy. Like we serve a supernatural God that when he wants to fight a giant, he finds an 18 year old with a slingshot. When he wants to save a nation, he wants to change a narcissistic King. He sends three men into a furnace and then he heats it up. nine times hotter before they go in there, so hot that when the people are throwing them in there, they incinerate, they burn up. When he wants to offer salvation to the world, he becomes a human being, he puts on flesh, he lives a perfect life, and then he dies a torturous death on the side of the road on an instrument of Roman destruction called a cross. He's in the grave for three days, and when he shows back up, we have a means of salvation. So he does things that don't make sense, and so there's like large applications to this, but I think people really benefit from the small application right out the gate. Paul says he's in chains, he's there, he's a prisoner, he says, hey, I don't think we should go, I don't think you're going to want to sail. Now what Paul thought and what we would think there is, what's the point? What's the point of me telling the centurion, the boat owner, the pilot, hey, we shouldn't go?

They're not going to listen. They didn't listen. Did he do the wrong thing? No, because him saying that later on earned their trust. Now to the person, hey, they're like, well, they really hurt me. Well, you should go and tell them. It's no point. It's not going to do anything. Oh, really? Oh, you don't believe in a God who changed the hearts of people? You don't, hey, you should share the gospel with your father. He'll never go to church. He's not, you should invite that coworker. They'll never come. Wow. It sounds like you know the hearts of people better than God does, because it seems to me that we serve a God who, you know, sometimes you share the gospel for the 17,000th time and he says, boom, unleash the hounds of it. Now they're mine. Like I'm going to turn their hearts right here. You invite them to church. They say, okay, we'll go. You go and you go to them and you say, hey, when you did that, it offended me. And they go, no one's ever had the courage to tell me that. I repent. I'm sorry. Will you please forgive me? You never know what the outcome is going to be. So like, let's trust God. And I mean, and then in the hardships, this is what the next generation needs to hear.

Just because it's hard doesn't mean it's wrong. Just because it's hard, just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's the wrong thing. So often we're trying to discern the will of God through these open and shut doors. Sometimes God wants you to walk through a shut door. You know, sometimes he wants you to knock until somebody answers, like it's midnight and you had somebody come over and they're like, hey, we're hungry. And now you're like, I have no bread, but let me go to my neighbor's house and knock until they answer, you know, and show up with bread. And because of your shameless audacity, the scripture says, maybe they'll come and answer the door. So I just, I think that we can't look at a situation and say, wow, that's going to be really, really hard. Surely that's not what God wants me to do. Sometimes God, the creator of the heavens and the earth wants you to do things that are very difficult and they're going to stretch you and they're going to seem impossible. And you're going to have to pray in such a way that, God, there's no way I will have success unless you show up and flex, like unless you show your sovereignty in this situation. I have no hope. And, you know, because the tomb is empty, we always have hope, bro. And you start thinking like, especially, you know, all the people that we're praying with in the lobby every week and they're like right in the middle of the shipwreck, you know, and I was texting with somebody literally right before I walked in to record this. It's the biggest shipwreck you can ever imagine, you know, and they're like, what do you do? And dude, you said something right there that if you're either you're in it or you're going to be in it or you're coming out of it, there's only three choices. Yeah, that's right. And you're like, what you said right there is, man, sometimes God's going to put you through something or ask you to do something. Yeah. And man, there's a completely unexpected outcome.

You have no idea. Yeah. There's that old John Piper quote, at every minute God is doing 10,000 things and you're aware of two of them. That's right. Maybe. That's right. So, dude, like I heard, like, listen, man, what we'll say a lot of times at Lake Point is, uh, you know, people debate and I'm a sovereignty guy, so I got an answer to this, but people will debate, man, you know, does God allow pain or does he cause pain and people debate that question. You can debate that. Here's what I do know. He always redeems it. That's right. And dude, what you said right there. So think about applying what he just said to Acts 27. So shipwreck happens, all 267 dudes get delivered. So now all of a sudden you're like, whoa, that guy over there, there's something to, there's something to that guy. Then here in a second, he's going to get bit by a dang snake. And I'm sure everybody immediately was like, oh, see, that guy must be cursed. And then he's healed. And it's actually, it is the trials that result in him having the power of the testimony. Why? Because he believed what JP just said. He's like, man, sometimes God's going. asked me to do something real hard, and he's gonna turn the mess into the ministry. Dude, somebody said it like this one time.

I wrote it down to walk into this because I'm like, somebody's gonna need to hear this. I heard somebody say it like this. They trace that pattern through the whole Bible. And this is what they pointed out. When God wanted to make David a king, he didn't give him a crown, he gave him a Goliath. When God wanted to raise Joseph to the palace, he didn't give him a shortcut, he gave him prison. When God wanted to make Esther a queen, he didn't give her comfort, he gave her a crisis. When God wanted to make Moses a leader, he didn't give him a stage, he gave him wilderness. A lot of times, when you feel like God's breaking you, he's actually building you. And what you gotta understand is that God doesn't give us what you expect in life, he gives you what you need to become everything that he needs you to be to fulfill the calling on your life. That's a sermon. That is what is getting inaugurated at Acts 27. That right there. One of my favorite quotes is John Newton. He said, everything is necessary that God sends, and nothing can be necessary that he withholds. That's right. Man, God is working all things. When you look at the life of Paul, man, you look at his courage, his boldness. Honestly, it feels sometimes like we read Paul

and we're like, man, it's just like, I'm so, not that. Like, he's just so ahead, he's just so bold, he's so courageous, and then you start wondering where is his confidence coming from? And somebody said it this way, the gospel is the most liberating idea possible and it will make you courageous and bold for this reason. Ultimately, it enables you to face suffering because one, because of the cross, you know these two things are true. God is absolutely for you. So one, you know that. No matter what, God is for you. You look at the cross, if you ever doubt, God is for you. Number two, because of the resurrection, everything will be all right in the end. That's it. Man, I'll say a few things on that. One, feel free to correct my theology here. This is just, I have a really high view of God's sovereignty. Like, I'm just like, he is omnipotent. I mean, he's all powerful. He's also all knowing. My high view of God's sovereignty, what it was doing is I, in like the back of my mind and the back of my heart, I was, I kind of blamed God for everything. And then when I started studying spiritual warfare, what I realized is I was blaming God for a lot of Satan's work.

When he redeemed, like they're playing chess and God's just a thousand moves ahead. You know, like God just takes the work of Satan and he's like, oh, I'll use that, I'll use that. And so there's another parallel. You talked about, you know, Jonah, but there's another parallel of another boat and another storm where Jesus is sleeping. And the disciples are like, how can you sleep at a time like this? And he's like, how can I sleep at a time like this? He gets up and he's like, hush, you know? And the storm's like, shoo, it's just like, shoo. And I think, here's a hot take. I think that's a demonic storm. I think that what's going to happen is Jesus and the disciples are going across the Sea of Galilee to the Gerasian demoniac or demoniacs, I think there's two. And the gospel is about to burst forth to the Gentiles and Satan is like, uh-uh, uh-uh, send the storm, send the storm, you know, do whatever you can to prevent the boat from getting there. Because if it reaches that man, who's living among the tombs and cutting himself and in chains, breaking chains, the guy that's terrorizing that community, you know, where the pigs are, the Gentile nation. If the gospel reaches that, there's no stopping it. You gotta stop the boat, stop the boat, send the storm. Jesus gets up, he calms the storm.

Here, Acts 27, doesn't calm the storm, he calms Paul in the storm. So there's a man in the midst of the boat, as the boat's getting torn apart, it's going to wreck any moment there. You know, this was known for shipwrecks. The archeologists have found anchor, anchor, shipwreck, anchor, anchor, shipwreck, anchor, anchor, shipwreck. And so, you know, here Paul, he knows that. Everybody's panicking and there he is, he's like, hey guys, here's what's going to happen. We're all going to make it, but we got to stay together. And you said God revealed that to him. Like he's known, I mean, Acts 23, he's known that he's going to make it to Rome. He knows that, but then he comes and says, hey, we're not going to make it unless we all stay together. So even in the midst of divine revelation from God is obedience. Like he still says, hey, we have a part to play in this. Like God has divinely revealed something to me, but man, we need to be faithful in the midst of that revelation. There's some things we have to do in that. So we need to, we got to, unity, unity is important. We need to stay together. And so I, you know, he didn't calm the storm, but he calms the man in the storm. And like your point, so it reaches.

the Gerasene demoniac, the gospel bursts forth to the Gentiles, and here reaches the island of Malta, a place that they wouldn't have reached, and now it's a Christian. Dude, so let me say this and then I want to I want to start rapid firing weird questions on him. And I want to ask you about stuff going on college campuses, why you think what's happening in Gen Z is happening right now. So this is like, for anybody's listening, like we really can't emphasize this enough, like until you learn as a Christian to walk through seasons of pain in a way that it ends up on the other side having done good things to your soul, I honestly man, God bless your heart, I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you grow as a man or a disciple. I don't know how you do it. And dude, you said something there that like it would be easy for a listener to treat as a throwaway line. That's one of the most important things in my life. You said, I spent some of my life, you said, blaming God for Satan's work. So dude, this listen, this is a really big deal. I need everybody to listen. If you don't understand, with a Bible in your lap and the Spirit in your heart, how to interpret pain in your life, that one thing will wreck. It will wreck your sanctification. And here's what I mean. Now let me just do a little, like, little nerdy theology real quick, but it gets real practical. So in the Bible, you actually gave the perfect example of this. All suffering is a result of sin in the Bible. That's right. Literally all of it. All of it. No sin, no suffering. That's right. But there are three different types of sin that result in suffering in the Bible, and what JP just said is the linchpin on not ending up blaming God for Satan's work. Okay. So a little theological framework. Some pain people experience, it's honestly, dude, it's just because of what theologians will—they just call it general sin. Hey man, mankind fell, and a little theology term, Adam is the federal head of all mankind, the representative mankind, that when the federal head fell and rebelled against God, that had implications for everything under his leadership, and God had put literally creation itself under his leadership. So hey man, news flash, you're both listening. It sucks, but you live in a fallen—you do not live in a perfect world where

everything works like it's supposed to. We live in a fallen world where nothing works like it's supposed to, which means that things like cells in kids' bodies don't work like they're supposed to sometimes, and you end up with little kids that have leukemia. That's not because of a kid's individual sin, that's because of general sin from Adam, and this is the big idea, is when the source of pain in your life is general sin, you need things like doctors, counselors, firemen, first responders, okay? But watch out, because there's a second category of sin that results in suffering, and it is—and this one's like, it kind of takes people off a little bit—but the Bible's just really clear, some pain people experience is because of personal sin. Your sin caused your suffering. I'll tell you a weird one, and I do not recommend applying this at the personal level to people when they're going through a tough time, but dude, like, you get to 1 Corinthians 11, and you got that one passage some people don't know what to do with, where they're all getting drunk on Lord's Supper wine, and they're not letting poor people eat, you know, at the Lord's Supper, and I'm gonna read it to you, because it'll send a chill down your spine. 1 Corinthians 11 30, Paul says, those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ, what he means is, bro, you're taking the Lord's Supper and you're treating it like a Cheez-It. Like, this is not a fun snack. He says, drink judgment on themselves, and then he says, verse 30, that is why many among you are weak and sick, and some of you have fallen asleep. Bro, he literally—there's no other way to read that passage other than, yeah, some of you died because you were sinning in how you took the Lord's Supper, and you fell under the judgment of God, and the pain of your death was because of your personal sin. So that's the second one, and when that's the cause of pain in your life, what you need is you need repentance, and you need wisdom. But dude, here's the one, and you alluded to this. There's a third sin category that causes pain in people's lives, and it's demonic sin. And I just say that. People don't think in terms of, oh wait, demons—bro, that's literally how an angel becomes a demon. They choose to sin. I just finished—shout out Bible Recap—I

just finished the book of Job two days ago. Literally the whole point of the book of Job is his friends are terrible counselors because they understood category number one and category number two, but had no concept of category three. And the whole book is, hey man, it actually wasn't because of Job's sin that he suffered. It's because demons were allowed to sin that he suffered. And when that's the category that's causing the pain in your life, what you need is things like prayer and deliverance. So here's a big idea, and I... See, I know it's a long little theological thing, but the big idea is, hey man, when you start to experience pain in your life, you gotta watch out how you interpret it, because your tendency's gonna be to think one of two things. Some people, every time they experience pain, they go, oh, God's punishing me. But dude, it might be not that God's punishing you, it might be that Satan's attacking you. And that one thing, maybe the little linchpin between sanctification and whatever is the opposite of sanctification, desanctification. Because if you think every time you experience pain, God's punishing me, then you'll have this, you'll run away from him. You'll blame him and run away. But if every time you experience pain, at least part of you goes, man, dude, some of this might be Satan's attacking me. Well, then you're gonna run real tight up against the chest of your heavenly father. Yeah, and I think that's brilliant. It's a brilliant framework.

And I'm wrestling, I've been in a season of wrestling with that because I completely agree on the three categories with an asterisk of, I think that third one stretches over the first two. So general sin was because a demon tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, which caused, broke everything. And then the second one, and I don't wanna overstate, I just don't wanna give, so you guys test this and you guys cut it out if you disagree. So the second one is, it's like, I don't know that when we sin, I would say it like this. When we sin, we let them in. When we sin, you allow the enemy to have a foothold. That's right. And so there's three things constantly at work. There's the world, do not love the world or things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father's not in. So the world is like this thing that they hold out in front of you. There's the flesh, which is your appetite for the things of the world. And then there's demons, there's an invisible realm that they studied your family lineage, they know you, they know your inclinations, they know your temptations. And they're constantly baiting you with the world. They're saying, hey, who are you gonna trust? God, the creator of the heavens, the earth, or your fleshly desires right now?

And so the demons, the third one, the demonic realm, I think they're also at work in one and two. And, I mean, to lend credence, I may use that next time I preach that, by the way. Yeah. On category two, personal sin, there is a reason the New Testament refers to Satan as the tempter. That's right, yeah. So at the very least, the temptation aspect has a demonic origin point. That's right. Let me ask you a question that I know people are gonna be asking after hearing this right now. Somebody's gonna say, man, how do I know if I'm going through a specific kind of pain? Is it personal sin? Is it demonic sin? Is this more of a, nah, this is more of the consequence of what I've decided to do? Or, no, this is some sort of a spiritual attack, something that's just, I didn't see it come in, and there must be more than I get to see right now. Yeah, so as people say, well, why does this happen? Why did this happen? Why did this happen? And the worst thing you can do is begin to shake your fist at God, because at a baseline level, Genesis 3 is the answer. I mean, at least it's because of Genesis 3.

The world you live in is broken and all kinds of bad things happen. Why am I gonna walk to my car in a minute and not get hit in the head with a meteor or fall down the steps and crack my head open? Common grace, I don't know. I mean, because that could certainly happen. And so sometimes we're like, why do bad things happen? And I kind of stay in this place of like, why don't worse things happen? Like, how did I make it through yesterday? Like, you know, there's a demonic target on my back. Like, how did I make it through every stoplight I drove, you know, every traffic light I drove through? How did I make it? You know, somehow something's protecting me, watching over me. And then I think you have to stop and just say, you know, it would be terrible. We would be awful friends of Job to say, oh, this happened to you because of your sin. You know, I think you've got to stop and audit your own life and say, all right, is there something that I'm inviting in? Do I have habitual pornography addiction? Is there a part of my life that's hidden? You know, is there something that I'm unwilling to confess? Because James 5.16 says, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed

for the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective. So it gives us this framework to freedom, which is confession. I bring it to the light and I have believers pray for me. But if you look at your life and you're like, no, I mean, honestly, I'm walking in righteousness right now. nothing unhidden, there's nothing that I'm afraid to be found out of, there's nothing that I'm trying to keep over here, then you would say, okay, man, maybe this is just a spiritual attack, number three, or a problem with the brokenness of the world, number one. Dude, I would say, honestly, man, that's where you start. I would just like, when I'm praying with people in lobbies, I just want to redirect your question. Like if somebody's sitting there trying to go, which category, I'm honestly like, hey, that's a great, that's fine, that's fine. Hey man, that's actually not what the scriptures are telling you to focus your redemptive energy towards. So like, the little thing that I'll say is, man, what most people do when they get into pain, let's do this, and then I'll ask him about Gen Z revival, and then we're gonna wrap fire stuff. Most people, when they get into pain, they do one of three things, and this, I'm gonna have a little preacher alliteration here. Most people, what they do is they wonder, worry, or whine. So they, honestly, they get in pain and they wonder, they're like, oh man, which God, which,

which category, which God, which, you know. Some people, they don't wonder, they worry. They're just like, oh man, when, when God, when, when am I gonna be out, when God, when? Some people, what they do the whole time they're in pain is they whine, and I'll just gently say this, like, hey man, God's God and you're not. And part of the book of Job is this refrain of, in all of these things, Job did not accuse God of wrongdoing. And listen, dude, I know this is tough, easy for me to say from this chair, no matter what you're going through, hey man, listen, you trust the Lord, you do not accuse the Lord of wrongdoing. And some people, what they do is they whine in their pain and they go, why God, why? But man, when you read, there's this one little word, nobody likes this word, this all throughout the Bible, and it's wait. Wait. And it's like, wonder, worry, whine, God's going, hey, wait, those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And when you wait on the Lord, what you do is you're not going, which God, which, when God, when, why God, why, what you're doing is you're doing this. On YouTube, you can see, you're doing this. Honestly, you got your head real low, you got your knees on the floor,

you might have your hands in there and you're going, what God, what? What do you need to teach me? Yeah. Can you make me a better man today? On the back end of this thing, can I come out better than the beginning? And you just go, what do you want to do, Lord? It hurts my heart, oh God, what God, what? And I'll tell you this, man, I've never in my whole life, and sometimes I've been that guy, I've never in my whole life seen somebody who when they walk through a season of pain or a shipwreck in their life, I've never seen someone who genuinely with a pure and humble heart went, God, what? What are you doing? How do you want to make me a better man? That is a prayer I think God answers 100% of the time. And that is where you're actually gonna get redemptive return on investment of your energy. Yeah, that's great, man. Can I ask you about Gen Z revival stuff? Yeah, man. Yeah, absolutely. It's a hard emotional year shift. Are you wrapping the demon conversation? Yeah, I'm gonna get on with it. I just want to give a shout out to the book because, you know.

Well, wait, wait, shit. We'll come back to it. We'll come back to it, we'll come back to it. Oh, okay, just kidding, okay, nevermind. Well, hey guys, as you know, Lake Point Church is a movement for all people to know Christ, live free, and change the world for God's glory. But here's the thing, movement by definition, move. And so, if you're not moving, then the question is, are you really being a part of the movement? In fact, somebody once said that too many churches are like football games. 22 people on the field in desperate need of rest being watched by thousands of people in the stands in desperate need of exercise. Hey, listen, we refuse to be a church like that. And so, if you call Lake Point Church your home church, and if you have not yet joined a serve team, I want to invite you to take your next step right now. Text the word serve to 20411, and we'll help you find your spot where you can serve in person or online on whichever serve team you are being called to serve. Hey, thank you for being obedient to God's calling in your life, and let's keep doing this together. So, I want to ask you this, JP, because there's, honestly, there's like nobody else

I can ask this question. You're like hand right on the nerve of it. Trinity, I want to run through that data real quick. So dude, I've screened, it's both a strength and a weakness. I'm a serial screenshotter of data. It's like my whole life is screenshotting data. So, I've been saving these for like two years. And dude, I don't care what you're reading, like literally every publication everywhere is saying, don't know what it is yet, something's happening in Gen Z right now we haven't seen in 50, 60 years. So, I'll give you some examples of this. Do that first one. So, this was an article, no sex, no booze, we're off to church, Gen Z have found God. It says, study revealed that young adults, particularly men, are going to church in record numbers. Next one is USA Today. Not just at Easter, Gen Z is returning to Christianity. Data proves it. This is dadgum USA. day-to-day. Okay, next one. Go to this next one. I love this. Gen Z, half as likely as their parents to identify as atheists. Let me read the little subtitle. Those aged in their teens and early 20s are more likely to identify as spiritual than their parents. The data in that article, if you click on it, it says people aged under 25 are the, just for dramatic emphasis, least likely group, least likely to call themselves atheists. This is, by the way, not just happening in the United States. So this is one from Great Britain. The Quiet Revival, Gen Z leads rise in church attendance. By the way, we got good friends over at Holy Trinity Brompton HTB over there.

Those guys are seeing like legitimately a generational shift happen. They got full churches in rural England for the first time in 50 years, in some places. We're trying to pour gasoline on that from over here across the pond. Let's go to the next one. Sales of Bibles are booming, fueled by first-time buyers and new versions. Publishers document a 22% rise in Bible sales year over year. Go to this next one. I'll finish off with this one. This is Barna, New Research, Belief in Jesus Rises Fueled by Younger Adults. But then if you click on it, you go a little farther down, you're going to see this. So, you know, how old are you? 45. All right. So we're about the same age. I was three years younger than you. You probably did the same thing as me. Well, that chart shows if you trace it back to the 60s and 70s, virtually our entire lives growing up, we just kept looking at charts and all the charts were this gradual decline on church attendance. For the first time, honestly, in my whole life, in basically a generation, you look over the far side of that data, we're seeing an uptick. And honestly, it's kind of a dramatic uptick. And then you go to that last one and basically you could do this. It's true across virtually every generation. But dude, there's this thing, it says young people, especially men, are leading the shift towards Jesus. So we didn't talk about this before. You're on college campuses all the time. Last time you preached at Lake Point, you look real tired because you stayed up till 2 a.m. baptizing kids on OSU's campus. And we're just hearing it, man. Like I'm seeing you post on IG, everyone should follow him on Instagram. I look tired? Like this is how I find out? Like really on the podcast? Like this is when you wanted to tell me? Man, what's wrong with that hag? 45 looks good, man. But anyway, it's like, dude, people are seeing stuff on college campuses they haven't seen in a long time. So I got no idea what you're going to say. I'm going to ask two questions you can take wherever you want. What is happening? Actually, I'm going to ask three. What is happening and why it's happening? And then honestly, man, all the data, it says it's young men in particular, not only, but in particular. Why is it happening? Why is it men? Yeah, man. There's a God. His ways are best. And if you try any other ways, you're going to come back to his ways or you're going to die in your sin. And by the grace of God, you've had generations try many other things. And we're just saying like, oh, that didn't work. We should go back to him. We've operated in mass confusion. We have existed in the highest, most anxious spots and pools, most depressed, most suicidal. We should try something else. Let's look, you know, is it vaping THC? Should we change our

gender? Should we just like try to party our minds out, our brains out? These guys over here, it's like Acts 27. Hey, this guy in chains seems to know some stuff, you know? Hey, I've got this friend who's really happy. He's not anxious. He's not depressed. He didn't go out last night. He's not hungover. He's not worried if she's pregnant. Gosh, she seems to have something figured out. Let's go talk to him. Talk to him. Oh, yeah, it's Jesus. Hey, Jesus, let's give Jesus. Let's go to church with them. It's not like we don't believe this stuff because we were raised in it. You know, we don't believe this stuff because we've been brainwashed or indoctrinated, you know, regardless of what Jennifer Aniston and I think it was Dak Shepherd. I saw it yesterday. He said, you know, oh, you know, you do this because you're brainwashed into it. No, Jennifer, if you're watching, and I hope you are, I hope somebody forwards it to you. We believe it because we've pursued the evidence. This man, this carpenter born in Bethlehem, a tiny little town, Jennifer, that you would have never heard of except he was born there. He lived in Nazareth as a carpenter. Not a lot of carpenters who have reset time. Jennifer, your iPhone right now says the year 2026. 2026 years from what? The birth of Christ. This man reset time. Well, I grew up, like you said, kind of being brainwashed, I'm saying in air quotes, to know him. And then I went to college and I thought, you know what? I want to do what I want. So they say drug, sex, and rock and roll. In my case, drug, sex, and hip hop. And I did it man. I went to I did the benders in Vegas, you know, I I partied I Slept with women. I hardly knew I did the things that I thought would bring happy I pursued money had the job the penthouse high-rise in uptown the the Jaguar s-type different watches for every day of the week I had the things the trinkets the treasures I'm at a club 22 years ago and someone invites me to church. I go hungover. I sit in the back row I start reading the Bible for the first time in my life. I think it's probably not the Christian God So, let me look at the Hindu faith the Buddhist faith the Jewish faith Islamic faith Mormons Jehovah's Witness Church of Christian Science Scientology and I kept coming back to this man born in Bethlehem Yeah who lived as a carpenter in Nazareth who died on a cross and and and three days later showed up and Not a lot of people show back up. Paul says Over 500 people saw him go ask them and That meant that reality that he died for my sins that he paid for my sins changed everything

so all that's happening in Gen Z right now is they're just learning the truth and And what I think they're you know, one of the wise that do you have you met Tanya Pruitt? Okay, so she's interacted a little bit. She you know, she she Prayed she prayer walked campuses and I think that we are walking in the prayers of like faithful people who've gone before us and just pleaded with God for a generation and And he's answering and he's just he's like hey man if my people will humble themselves and you know Return to my ways, you know and repent from their wicked ways then I'll heal their land And we've gotten close many times, you know, I mean World Trade Center, I think we got close It's happening right now. Call it an outpouring the spirit call it a great awakening and call it a stirring I just I don't have a better word than revival. I'm not afraid. I mean, I don't shy away from that word I'm not it's not like I'm I'm not superstitious. I'm not like oh, we're gonna jinx, you know, if we call it that It's not gonna be I don't I don't know man. I just do the best use the best language I have I'm just telling you that They're being saved by the tens of thousands. That's what you're seeing. Yeah with my own eyes Yeah, well like like with my own I mean I was like let's just and I'm this isn't about me It's not we get it right plays the right time, you know It does what he wants what he wants where he wants to whom he wants. I was at Asbury saw my own eyes I was I was at passion with a 20-minute stall on Agnes day like the spirit fell eyes. I saw with my own eyes 27 different campuses. I've been at 22 or 23 of them Tens of thousands and it's just like hey, do you want to go all-in with Jesus? Did you walk in this room? Not believing not unfully understanding that he died for your sins and raised from the dead And if you came to a full understanding of that, would you just come forward? it's like all right now we're just we're just gonna have to sit here as Thousands come forward from wherever they're sitting and we'll wait man. We'll wait And it's just happening Everywhere we're saying it's happening in high schools. It's happening in prisons right now in prison. I'm hearing about that. I mean, it's crazy We're about to do something

I'm just telling you in prisons There's there's something beautiful happening and it's spreading and I think it's really gonna burst out of the universities and the prisons into the corporations And you know, you guys are seeing it here There's there's a there's a few churches around the country right now where I'm just seeing like hundreds and hundreds are being baptized I'm paying attention to that. I'm like because the the the grace of God's just pouring out over those places and And so we're in the middle of it man Like act 17 says God determines when we would live and where we would live How amazing is it that a sovereign God allowed us you and I and whoever's listening right now? To live in such a time as this and can I just speak to this you have a responsibility a man It's never been easier to share the gospel. Like I have shared the gospel I've shared the gospel almost every day of my life since trusting in Christ True, you know like it just has a discipline like a before the Sun sets. I want to share the gospel somebody and you know for Much of that time. It's been like no man. Hey not interested. Hey, thanks, but no, thanks right now It's just like it's just like hey, tell me more about that Robin. I've been wondering I've been waiting I really been wanting to ask somebody I'm talking uber drivers and servers and security guards and just wherever you're like Hey, man, do you have a faith you have a relationship with God? man, have you ever Wondered if he has a plan for your life and they're like man It's funny cuz I woke up thinking about that and it's just like the door to the gospel is just swung wide open We are without an excuse my introverted 17 year old like she's the biggest introvert like she you know, like she's brilliant people aren't her thing. She's walking through the aisle of the grocery store, you know, I turn around, she's praying with some stranger to trust Christ in the Froot Loop section, you know, in the cereal section, and I'm just like, we are without an excuse right now. Like, tell somebody about Jesus. They're desperate for it. Dude, I just want to verbal highlight what you just said. It's like, my little, you, everybody's, I joke about this, everybody, you get your go-to evangelism. You eventually, everybody kind of figures out their go-to move. So my little,

Can I pray for you? It is. I get three questions deep, how can I pray for you? That's my go-to move. I'm listening. I know, I'm impressed, man, that blesses me. So it's like, what's different is in the, it's, for me, it's, I've especially noticed in like the last six months, is like, when I'm asking that question now, people just start crying. Yeah. That was not true. Yeah. That was not true until recently. It's like, and shout out, by the way, if there is some chance that flight attendant Becky that was on the flight sitting next to me back from Jacksonville, I'm talking about you and what God was doing in your life. Yeah. But it's like, I'm sitting next to flight attendant Becky, and that's all it took. Literally just three questions deep. Hey, Becky, can I pray for you? Yeah. And just waterworks. And what those, if you're listening, or you're somebody like that, or you just happen to be Becky by the providence of God, what that is, is that's the Holy Spirit of God beating down the door of your heart because he loves you and he wants you. And I'm just telling you, that wasn't happening to me two years ago. There's just, it feels like something's different. Now, let me real quick, rapid fire it. Why do you think, and I'm not trying to lead you anywhere. In fact, I don't even, I don't even think I got a great answer yet. Yeah. Why does it keep saying, especially men led by men? You got any theories? Yeah. Man, I think it's like backlash from the whole toxic masculinity. There's just been a satanic, demonic effort to confuse us around gender, around roles. Hey, we're the same. And really to try to feminize men. And I think, and so church, like the, like for my entire life, like church has been a female game, if you will. 70-30. Yeah. I mean, in every, every, you know, I've planned events now for 20 years. And so it's singles events specifically too. And so you're trying to like get those numbers even as much as you can. It's like, Hey, do we close registration? Can we even do that? Just trying to figure that out. And, and now I just, I think guys, they, they've, they've really like, we've led the charge on sin as women have led the charge on faith. And I think they just have come to the end of themselves as a, as a sex, if you will. And they're saying, man, there's got to be something else. It's like that. Oh, who's the quarterback? The greatest of all time. I just draw a break. Yeah.

No, yeah, there you go. It's the Tom Brady quote where he's like, there's got to be more, you know, there's got to be more. He's just got, you know, five Superbowl rings and all, you know, the, the supermodel wife and all the things. He's just like, there's got to be more. I think that's what men generally speaking are doing where they're like, man, there's got to be more to this where we're, because they've, they've run the Solomon experiment. They've, they've gone to Vegas. They've done the things they, you know, they, they've, they've given themselves to working out and to making money. And then they're just like depressed. And they're like, there's got to be more and they're turning to Christ and they're finding the full life. Like, that's the experiment I ran. Like, I'm like sober mind. Like, I'm telling you, I've done all the crazy things. Like, don't, don't make me list them out, but I've done them all. And, and, and I came to this place where I'm like, and I thought Christians were like boring. I'm like those guys, man, those are, they're losers. And I came to the faith and I sat with men who talked about changing the world. And I had this like back of mind thought like, Oh, I think they actually could. I think we could choose a problem right now. And these men could actually extinguish it. I mean, I think right now we could do, do away with pornography or do away with homelessness or do away with like, we could choose a problem, put all of our brains and resources together and fix it. Like, that's what I think's happening here. And I was like, that would be fun. I'm like, I'm going to join forces with these guys. You know, it's funny. I'll say this real quick, but they, there's these group of guys and they would have this lake house weekend. And, um, and they invited me and I went and I thought, you know, are we going to, is it going to be alcohol girls? Like, what are we going to do? And there was no alcohol, no girls. We just, it was, and it was so much fun. It was so much fun that I couldn't sleep that night. Like my adrenaline was so pumping. And I went, I woke up the next day, I called my best friend and said, Hey, we've been missing it. We've been totally missing it. We've been doing it all wrong. Like these guys know how to have fun. They know how to party. And then late. And then I became, you know, I became a Christian, got all

plugged into the church. And I was with those guys later and they go, Oh yeah, we this lake retreat, and we'd always invite a lost person. would do that. You know, so they, and I was like, oh man, that's amazing. So who was the lost person when I went? And they got real quiet. They got real quiet, and I was like, oh man. Got me. Got me. Got him. Got him. That's great, that's amazing. Dude, so this triggered this thought, and then I wanna rapid fire these questions. Dude, I kinda wanna, so you said like, hey, a little bit of potential reaction to, man, kind of like almost a cultural assault on masculinity. It was actually a church history thought popping in my head. Early Christians, the early church, women flocked to the church because culture, it was really an assault on femininity. Women are objects and literally legal possessions and that kind of thing, and they flocked. It's almost like you're seeing that, but for men in our culture, where it's like, dudes flocking to the church because there was a cultural assault on masculinity. It's almost like a first century church thing

on the opposite side of the gender spectrum, potentially. That's fascinating. I hadn't thought about that. Okay, let me rapid, we're gonna close this out. So we're gonna, I get questions about this. Highly anticipated rapid fire. JP's the expert. We gotta plug in your Friday Q&A thing. Oh yeah, dude. So a bunch of my screenshots are your Friday Q&A. I'm like, well, dang him, he answered that better than me. I'm saving that. Very rarely. I'm stealing stuff from you all the time. Stop, dude. We'll put the Instagram handle in somewhere, so you'll be able to find your stuff. There we go, okay. So here's what we're gonna do on two things that I'm like, JP's my go-to guy. We're gonna rapid fire these as short as you can. You don't have to do a dissertation. Like kind of how would I answer it on a Friday Q&A. We're gonna go top five most frequent questions that I get in lobbies on dating. And then we're gonna go top five most frequent questions I get on like Satan, demon, spiritual warfare because of these two books, okay. So here we go. All right, JP, PJP or whatever, how do you do it?

Okay, question number one. How do I know if somebody's the one? There's no one. Find someone. Yeah, there's no one. Oh man. No, there's no one. Bummer. I mean, soulmates started in Greek mythology where they believed that every person was a half of an actual person that Zeus had cut us in half, a Greek gods. And now there's like these two souls and they have to find each other. So it's a really hopeful message because it's kind of hopeless that you have to find this needle in the haystack, this one person that was born around the same time you were and they're floating somewhere in the universe and you got to find them. And really what the scripture gives us is you're trying to find someone among God's people. Genesis to Revelation, in fact, a lot of people know the story of Samson and Delilah and he gets his hair cut. If you look at that story, God's like, hey, you didn't search from among my people and it's opened all kinds of problems for you. This happens throughout the scripture. So you're trying to find someone

who's fully committed to the Lord. Now this has gotten complicated with us because the more options you have, the less likely you are to make a decision. You have more options than you ever have. For most of history, you would have married someone who you were born within five miles of. Now you've got Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, you know, all of the things to say, oh, you can choose from all of these people. As we get better at dating and we get worse at marriage, you're getting married later, less, and marriages aren't lasting. Why? Because I think we're looking in the wrong ways. We've overvalued physical attraction and chemistry. Charm is deceitful, beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. And so I'm not saying that physical attraction doesn't have a place. I'm just saying it's not first place. So find someone who loves the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and loves their neighbor as themselves. You're interviewing for a position, the position of your wife or husband, of the father of your children or the mother of your children. So find somebody who would do a great job at that. And you will be more happily married

than you would be finding someone who is super hot, who makes six, seven figures, and they've got a six pack, all of the wonderful exterior qualities. But if they wouldn't be good at the job description, you're gonna be absolutely insanely miserable. And that's the mistake a lot of people make. So it's not, you're not trying to find the one, you're trying to find someone who fears God and loves him. I'm gonna say something very blunt to dovetail what he just said. If two hot people having great sex resulted in the best marriages, all the best marriages would be in Hollywood. Yeah, porn stars. And that's where the worst marriages are. That's right. That is not what makes a great marriage. And they literally are the university of teaching us how to date because they put out the movies and most of us have learned how to date from Hollywood who has the highest divorce rate of anywhere on the planet. I'm getting that in a sermon someday. It's satanic. Question number two, does the Bible say anything about how to date? Does the Bible say anything about how to date? So dating, this is fascinating.

Dating, the English language in 1939. It's less than 100 years old. And it entered the English language as a euphemism for prostitution. Prior to 120 years ago, no one had been on a date. There was a guy on a radio show who said, yeah, she's taking dates with other men, which he meant she's sleeping with other men. She's exchanging sexual favors for an experience. That was dating. That's how it came to be. And so, and you can think about this. People question this and challenge us all the time. Here's one simple fact that we're kind of, oh, it started with the invention of the automobile. Part of the invention of the automobile, you didn't go on a date. You would go to someone's house. You would sit in their living room. You would sit on the porch. So it's really like, you got to understand this concept, like how we find a spouse today. It's a very new concept, less than a hundred years. For less than a hundred years, people have been doing this. I mean, arranged marriages prior to that, you know, courting for a season. Jana and I were essentially an arranged marriage. Yeah. Still the lowest divorce rates. I'm not even joking. We were as close as you can get to an arranged marriage. Go ahead. Yeah. I love it. And so the Bible speaks to how we are to interact with the opposite sex, to treat her like our sister. I mean, if you think about the classifications of relationships, opposite sex relationships in the Bible, it's like brother and sister. It's like family, betrothed, married, prostitute. There's no other category. Like that's the only category of relationships in the scripture, you know? And so we don't have a seriously dating, talking phase. Complicated. Yeah. It's complicated. Situationship, you know, friendationship, those don't exist in the scripture. And so it's like, oh, our friend, that'd be the other category, but there's no others. And so I always tell somebody, you want to date efficiently and effectively. This like, man, four years of dating. I'm like, that sounds miserable. It's so dumb. Listen, I love you. That's the stupidest thing ever. Absolutely miserable. Okay. This one's quick. Should Christians use dating apps and online services, or is it wrong or unspiritual? It depends. Profiles lie. I mean, there's some groundwork. Profiles lie.

And I don't, I would encourage you not to go on a date with a stranger. And so you're like, how do I use Tinder, but show up and not go on a date? So we, I don't know, you didn't probably didn't know this, but we actually, I worked with a team to develop a matchmaking service. I did know this. This is why I asked the question. Oh, okay. Qualifieddate.com. Shout out. Qualifieddate.com. And so what they're, and people are like, Grifter, you know, I haven't made a dollar off this, by the way. It's not, it's not, not highly profitable. We've spent some money, but, and so we, what we put on there is a spiritual reference. And so we're like, Hey, before you spend time with this person, you should call their pastor. You know, you should call the person at their church that they serve with. And so we're trying to like, take away some of that guesswork. But yeah, I would just say profiles lie. Don't go on a date with a stranger. Last one. How far is too far physically or sexually before marriage? Yeah. Short answer. When your body begins to prepare for sex, you've gone too far, you know? And so it's just like God biologically wired us, you know, for intimacy. Like it's a brilliant, it's his design. Sex is his invention. He is what Elon Musk is to Tesla. He is to sex. What Steve jobs is to iPhone. He is to sex. He created the parts. He put the nerve endings where he did. He made them work the way they do all to create life and to bond a husband to his wife and a wife to her husband. Like this, this is what God did. And, um, and so if you're outside of the covenant of marriage and your body begins to prepare for sex, and we don't need to put up a chart to show you what I mean. He just means like you're getting aroused. Yeah, exactly. And so female male, then you've gone too far. And so people are like, well, how far is too far? It's like it, you know, if, if somebody said how close to the edge of this building can I get, my question would be, well, do you want to jump off? Cause if you want to jump off the building, don't get on the elevator, don't, don't start climbing the stairs. And if we're talking about intimacy, uh, time with someone we're attracted to, let's be honest, we want to jump off. So be wise. A lot of times I'm like, man, I wouldn't, I'd be, I'd limit alone time. I mean, like be in public and stuff. If you, if you attend Lake point, what I'm telling you, if you're dating is it's the, you should do it no matter what the responsibility of this is primarily incumbent

upon the man, because it's your job to begin demonstrating that you would be morally and spiritually appropriate to lead a family. You need to pre decide, pre decide where you will be, where you won't be, what time you will hang out, what time you won't hang out. It's like me and Jana just pre decided we're not going to be alone together. Like we're just not going to do that. You know, while we're there, we've made those pre decisions. Hey, we're going to stop hanging out at this time. because, you know, bodies start doing things more naturally in certain situations, that kind of thing. Yeah. Predecide. Yeah, but that didn't work out for you. I got married. What do you mean? I'm being sarcastic or facetious because it did, right? Yes, it did. You not only have a marriage, you have a good marriage and a fun marriage. Yes. And like, we know that. Like, we watch you guys. We watch your lives. And it's like, oh man, it seems like they love each other. Yes. And they're raising kids who love God and they have a happy marriage. And she seems really, like, excited that he's her husband. And just like, not a lot of people have that marriage. So do what they did. If you need a verse, 1 Corinthians 6, you know, flee sexual immorality. All those sins a person commits are outside the body. Whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who's in you, whom you've received from God. You're not your own. You've been bought by price. Therefore, and here's the bullseye, therefore, honor God with your body. So you just ask yourself, is this honoring to God what I'm doing with this body that he gave to me? Okay. Now we're rapid firing Satan, demons, spiritual warfare questions. Again, strongly recommend. Your story has a villain. Strong recommend. I hit this last week. So here's, let's see how quick you can do it. Can a Christian be possessed by a demon? Yes. Whoa! Go for it. Explain. Yeah. I just, I think you can give yourself over to a demon as a Christian. Here's what I would say. The word in there is demonized. I know you said that. This oppression and possession, it's a false dichotomy that it's not anywhere in the scripture. When we talk about, like right now, I possess this cup. If you're listening, I'm holding a cup. I possess this cup, right? The cup is in my possession. I'm not inside the cup. I

possess it. And so can something, can someone owned by the Holy Spirit be owned by a demon? No. Can they be, can they give themselves over to that demon's possession? Yes. They can be demonized. And so we've kind of created this like false dichotomy that I don't really see in the scripture. How do I, question number two, how do I know if something is demonic versus mental illness versus just normal life struggle like addiction? Yeah. Well, kind of go back to those three categories you talked about earlier. So, so if someone's schizophrenic, I don't think schizophrenia will exist in the kingdom of God. And so it's the result of a fall, which means it's the result of demons. It doesn't mean that they're being actively controlled by a demon. They may have a brain injury. You know, they, they may, something may be off in their mind. They may have a thinking problem that has led it, or they may have done psychedelics or, or something that has caused them to get to this place where they have ongoing issues. They may have damaged their brain. They may have brain damage. Demons may have played a role in any of those things. And so we can't, we can't know for sure because much of the spiritual realm, we can't see. But demon, demonic possession often looks very similar to schizophrenia. And so I don't know that we need to discernment, Hey, what, what exactly is this? You know, Jesus says this kind of only comes out by prayer and fasting. So the best weapons we have are prayer and fasting. And we can do that, whether it's schizophrenia, bipolar, demonic possession, you know, what we would call oppression. The, the solution is the same. Now it doesn't mean you shouldn't go see a therapist. It doesn't mean you shouldn't take medication. I'm not saying that. But with your therapist and with the medication, make sure you pray and fast. Yeah. I will say we have, we've had, there's two, I can think of two times at Lake Point where it's been like, Oh, that was like an overt demonic manifestation. And honestly, part of me wants to say like, Hey dude, you'll know. Yeah. Like the times where it's been like, that's what that was. It was overt and

there wasn't really another way to look at it. It's kind of what I would say. There's been, uh, you know, again, J.P., you know, this grew up in Latin American context, obviously, uh, it seems to me, uh, that here in the U.S. you see that kind of stuff less for some reason. We have, John Tyson mentioned to you, he said something along the lines of like, In a secular culture. The West is Nazareth. The West is Nazareth, right? And basically like, uh, you know, all that stuff kind of stops happening for whatever reason here in the U.S. I was thinking as we were kind of prepping for this conversation, you know, some of the experiences I've had when I've seen, like what you said, Josh, like overt, um, demonic manifestation when somebody, and this is for whatever reason, I grew up in a Pentecostal church, so you kind of see this all the time, I guess. Um, you've seen like people like fall to the ground and like, literally like the movies, like, you know, it's just kind of, I don't know how to describe it. Uttering blasphemy. That's what we've seen, that uttering blasphemy. Screaming, screams that are like, not just like they're yelling, but there's just something else coming out. And even like, uh, but one thing that I was, as I was thinking about. I've seen people like have foam after a prayer and they have some sort of manifestation. I was wondering like, I mean, that's really weird. And as I'm like, kind of going back to scripture, I, for whatever reason, I never knew this was actually in the Bible, like foam coming out of somebody's mouth. I was like, wait, I've seen this more than, you know, and so it's one of those times where like you just read it in scripture. And I was like, well, actually I've seen this before and I always wondered why. And, you know, there's a, there's a whole thing there. We don't need to go into this, but it was, it was just interesting that, you know, again, there's a spiritual side to it and obviously there's physical manifestations as well. Yeah.

So I've been to Haiti six times. I've been to Africa to, to three different countries in Africa, multiple times. I've been to the Amazon jungle three times. Okay. And often on these trips, you'll hear of these stories of a, you know, 12 year old girl picking a man above her head and throwing her or somebody speaking in other ways. I had never seen it never in, in my trips. You'd hear them secondhand. I just had never seen it firsthand. I'm in a country club in America, in Aspen, in one of the nicest country clubs on the planet. And I go to share the gospel with a guy who just got off the course there. He's got his polo tucked into his, his khaki pants and his, you know, his Titleist visor on. And I go to, as I'm talking to him, I go to pray for him and a demon manifested in a country club, in one of the nicest country clubs in America. And, uh, and it just, yeah, it's, it's wild. I think you're seeing it more and more now. Like there's something, they're starting to show their hand. I think it's the same thing. It's, it goes, it coincides with what that thing that I'm calling revival, outpouring, whatever. Agree. Yeah. Okay. We're rapid firing. If you suspect somebody is possessed by a demon, what should you do? You pray. Yeah. You pray. Uh, you know, he's the accuser. He's the tempter. He's the liar. He, his native language is lies. So you speak the truth, the scriptures.

Hey, what do I go to is true. You don't need to be afraid. You do need to be aware. Uh, first John four, four says greater is he who is in you than he, who is in the world. Um, you know, if, if you're not surrendered to Christ, you know, then you need to be afraid. You need to, you need to repent and, and trust fully in the finished works of Jesus on the cross. But if you're a spirit filled follower of Jesus, you need to walk into there with the authority and the pure purity of heart and, and to pray over that person. So you lay hands on them. If they're of their right mind, you, you ask them, you can ask them questions. Hey, is there something, is there anything happening in your life? Is there anything that you've done to give yourself over? Is there a Ouija board? Is there a practice? Is there a book or a movie you're watching? Is there something, is there habitual sin that you haven't confessed? Is there something going on that, that may a foothold may have turned into a stronghold? Um, you can look back on their life. Like me, it may not have been them. It may have been something else. And so, um, you know, just the sins of a demon, as you were talking about earlier, and you just pray and you just, Lord, we, we want to release this person from any stronghold, any demonic assignment, any agreement that demons are legalists. Um, they're looking for legal ways into someone's life. Their, their legalism is, is the, one of the first sins you see in the scripture. Um, you know, he, he said, don't eat, don't even touch. They're adding to the words of God. Right. Didn't say don't touch. He just said, don't eat from the fruit of that tree. So one of the first sins we see in Genesis is legalism. Demons are always looking for a legal right to a person.

And, um, and so that can be, uh, you know, an agreement, you coming into an agreement with them. And so as you pray, we, we cancel that in the name of Jesus, by the blood of Jesus. And you, you see people delivered, you see them set free. Uh, can demons read my mind and hear my private thoughts? Not in the sense that you're asking, but they don't need to. TikTok can read your mind. Uh, you know, the, the algorithms, the algorithms of Instagram can read your mind. You know, Amazon can read your mind. All of a sudden you want a rug and they're starting to feed you, you know, rugs on sale. So your demons are smarter than the best technology that we have. And so can they see your thoughts in the literal sense? No, but they've, they're, they're brilliant being smarter than our most brilliant people. That's right. And they've, they've studied you, your, your family line for centuries. So they know that they, they know that your, um, temptation is pornography, but they know the kind of pornography and, and they, you know, they, they understand all of your inclinations. And so they, they watched your patterns. So in that sense, they can read your mind, but it's, but as you pray to God, it's not like they're hearing your prayers. And, and, um, and so like they, they can't, but they don't have to. That's brilliant. Last one, bonus question. Are, is that, are aliens potentially demonic in origin? I'm going to go on record and say, I believe you're going to see more and more about aliens. Second file was released recently, and I think aliens, most of them, I mean, some of them may be, you know, enemies, earthly enemies, unexplained, but some of them, much of them are demonic manifestations, spiritual beings. And so people will say, well, what can demons do? A lot. I mean, he's called, you know, a trivia question would be, who's the God of this world? And we'd be like, Jesus, God, Jehovah, no, the God of this world, the scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse four, says the God of this world is Satan.

The Prince of the air is Satan. So he has, we read Job and we say, well, he has to ask God to some degree. That's true. But he has a lot of autonomy here on earth just to wreck shop. We're in a, people don't like the word experiment where I don't have a better word. We're in a spiritual test. How about that? A spiritual test where there was an angel created being by God created good. He rebelled against God. He was sent to this earth to see what kind of God he could be. He said, I don't want to worship you as God. I want to be God. God said, okay, let's see what kind of God you, you can be. God creates humans in the Imago Dei and we sit in this test of, are we going to worship the God of this world by going the ways of our flesh? Are we going to worship the God of the universe by going his way, which will always lead to our good, you know? And so as Satan, Satan has knows revelation, he has a good theology, understands he ends in the lake of fire. He, he saw what happened to the cross. He saw Jesus defeat death. He's running a scorched earth strategy. He's just destruction, destruction, destruction, division, division, division. I think in 2020 there was a demonic assignment on the earth of division. Use this, this disease to bring about as much division as possible. Divide them, divide mother and daughter and father and son and neighbor and just divide, divide, divide, divide. And so what did Jesus pray for us? Unity. So what's, what's our weapons evangelism.

Can I say one more thing on this? Okay. There's something to faith more than you think. So what is faith? Faith is belief and trust in God. In Ephesians six, the spiritual warfare chapter, you know, you, you have the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel. And you have the shield of faith, which extinguishes the fiery darts of the enemy. So we have a shield of faith. So our faith is a shield of protection, but that's interesting. In Ephesians six, well, in first Peter five, he says your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, resist him, standing firm in the faith, the way you resist him, standing firm in the faith. Your faith is your protection. It's your shield. It extinguishes the fiery darts of the enemy. Those two scriptures alone would be really interesting. Luke 22, Jesus comes up to Peter and says, Hey, Satan has asked me to sift you like wheat. To which if I'm Peter, I'm like, just say no, like just make like an 80s drug campaign and just say no, you know, I don't understand, but he doesn't. He says, so I will pray for you that your faith will not fail. So there's something about our, you want to overcome the devil, grow your trust and your knowledge of God and your trust in him and your ability to obey him. Because the sheep that is most protected is the one closest to the shepherd. As I walk through the valley, the shadow of death, I will not fear because you are with me, your rod and your staff. Prior to that in Psalm 23, it's, you know, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down, but the pronouns change. It says for now in the, in the valley of the shadow of death, you God, you are with me.

He starts talking, goes from talking about God to talking to God. I'm going to, in the valley, I'm going to draw close to the shepherd. The shepherd is our protection or the, our faith. Our faith is our protection. Amen. Pastor John McCluda, would you pray for us, please? Man, it'd be such an honor. Thank you. God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, we are so humbled to be your servants, not worthy to tie your sandals. And yet you allow us an inheritance with you and father, thank you for the grace and the favor that you have shown this local expression of the body of Christ. Thank you for your love for your bride. Thank you for your love for this pastor. Thank you for your protection on his life. Thank you for Carlos. and just a kindred spirit and just long time partner in ministry. And Father, I pray that the very best, the absolute best is right in front of them. The best days are in front of them. And I pray that just just your grace, you would have an extra favor on every person listening right now, just as they tune in, as they they want their hearts and affections stirred for you through this resource, that you would bless them in their day, wherever they're at. I pray that you would embolden them, that there's somebody in front of them. You want them to share your truth with and that you would embolden them and give them the words, Holy Spirit, to say, to turn hearts towards you for your glory alone. And I just I thank you for the conversations that we've been able to have. If there's anything that I said that's inconsistent with your character or inconsistent with your word,

I pray that it'd be forgotten before they go to the next thing. But if there's anything that we share today that is true of who you are, your character, your theology, the truths of the scripture, I pray that it would stir in the hearts of people and bring about change, that you would conform us to the image and the character of your son. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Live free, brother.