John Bevere on Israel, AI, and the End Times (EP 204)

The Holy Spirit told me 50% of the church is not ready for the return of Jesus. Most people see it incorrectly. They see it as an event. It's not an event. It's the wedding of the ages. The wedding of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. The scariest thing about deception is being deceived. Because the person who deceived believes with all their heart they're right when in reality they're wrong. Why, Paul? Because they didn't love the truth. It's not that they didn't have the truth. It's that they didn't love the truth. We must pay very close attention to the word we've heard lest we drift away. You never drift knowing you're drifting. We need to go to that clean air environment. We're in a corrupt atmosphere. So, we got to go to a clean air room every morning and get into the word. If we never tell people in order to receive Jesus, you have to break up with everything that drove the nails through his hands, we're going to think, I can still look at pornography and love Jesus. Jesus is not asking for you to be perfect in behavior. He is just saying he wants to be all yours.

Hey, before we get into today's episode, I want to share two quick things with you. First, if these videos have meant anything to you, if they've encouraged your faith or helped you see the gospel a little bit more clearly, I just want to ask you to subscribe. A lot of people tune in every single week and haven't hit the button yet. It only takes 2 seconds and it helps us keep putting these conversations in front of people who need them. And the second thing, this one I've honestly been really excited to say. I'm officially announcing our ministry's biggest live event to date, Open Heaven Live Podcast Tour. It's happening November 8th this year at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas. This is going to be a night centered around worship, faith, real conversations, and genuine community. I believe God is going to move in a powerful way, and I would love for you to be in the room. Tickets are on sale right now. You can head to brycecrawford.org/tour or just click the link in the description below. And please only get your tickets through my official site or that link below. I recommend not buying from random resellers online. I believe this is going to be a really special night and I hope to see you there.

All right, let's get into the episode. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce and today I'm with a very special guest. We have John Bevere with us. How are you doing, >> Bryce? It's so good to be with you. I'm doing very well. >> I'm so glad you're here. I I admire a lot of the stuff that you do online and and I think your podcast is awesome. You just had a new book come out which we're going to talk a lot about. that I mean the subject of the book is something that I think people have been talking about for a long time. Oh yeah. >> And and so I'm I'm really excited especially especially now more than ever. I feel like end times stuff is and the return of Christ has become so popular. Um so I'm I'm really looking >> Well, before you go, can I just say how proud I am of you? Thank you for the way you are representing Jesus so well, especially to the young generation. I'm just so I want to say this as a 66 year old man. I am so proud of you. >> A thanks for saying that. >> I'm honored to be on with you. >> Oh, I'm honored to be with you. Thank you for saying that. That was really sweet. You know, this is so random. Uh last year I remember it was really popular online where people were talking about how they thought Jesus was going to return in September. >> Yeah. >> And I I remember watching this one guy in particular. I think he was from Australia. >> No, he's South Africa. >> And you know exactly what I'm talking about. He was selling his belongings online. >> Oh, no, no, no, no. I thought the guy that said it was going to be started the the the date. No, I didn't know that. >> So, this this young kid, he's probably about my age, started uh selling, he documented every day him selling everything that he had for this day in September that Jesus was going to return. Then the day comes and then he woke up the next day and he went online and he said, "Uh, guys, I'm sorry. I was I was wrong. I was wrong." And I was like, "Wow." like, man, I have a lot of respect. You know, you went hard and you own up to it. And not even kidding, a week later, he was like, Jesus is going to come back this date next year. >> Oh no. >> And I'm like, oh my goodness, what is going on? >> Oh no. >> So So I'm excited to get some get some clarity on on end time stuff and hear your perspective.

>> Do you know this is exactly what kept me from it? So I've been in ministry 43 years, right? And um for four decades. Now, now think about this. This is two times older than you are. Okay. Four decades, people are coming up to me. >> Do you preach on the end times? I'm like, no, no. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. And I said, I'm not called to. And it's because of this very thing. I saw people, this was my idea of of speaking about the second coming of Jesus. I think it's going to make people either lazy, have escape mentality, or argumentative. like they're going to argue premid post tri uh catch uh tribulation catching away or rapture whatever they want to call it >> and so I I just avoided I was more interested in making disciples than than talking about this well in 2021 Bryce >> in prayer the Holy Spirit starts drawing me and so I didn't dive in for hundreds of hours I I dove in for thousands of hours >> wow >> and I never thought I'd write a book on this like I thought I'm just being obedient for me personally Well, what I started noticing actually was really good. I started becoming more passionate about ministry than I had ever been before. >> Now, you got to remember I'm in ministry now four decades. >> Yeah. >> Um I was literally weeping. Like there's there's a couple tennis courts by my house and I go there at 5 in the morning and that's where I pray. And I'm I find myself weeping. Lord, just please let me win souls to you. And my family started saying, "Hey, Dad, you're um you're getting a little bit, you know, calmer. You don't get so up uptight about things as as quickly as you used to." And then my wife, get ready for this, starts calling me your favorite husband. I said, "What in the world does that mean, Lisa? Favorite husband?" And she goes, "I like this 2.0 version better than 1.0." So, all of a sudden, I realize I'm completely wrong on the way I see end times affecting people. And as I'm studying this, I find out that the second coming of Jesus, now this is mind-blowing what I'm about to say, is the second most talked about subject in the entire Bible. >> I found out that the early church fathers of the first three centuries wrote about it more than anything else other than salvation. >> Wow. >> I found out there were 318 scriptures in the New Testament on the second coming. That's one out of every 30 verses. the there are 300 prophecies about his first coming. There's over 2400 about his second coming. The seven-year tribulation is the most written about time period in the whole Bible. Even more than the three and a half years Jesus first walked in the earth. So I So now here's what goes through my head. Ready? Okay. It takes a little bit to get through here. I go, why does God talk about this so much? Number two, why aren't I talking about this so much? And most importantly, number three, what is the wisdom? >> And so that's what I I had to find the answers on.

>> So you spent, like you said, thousands of hours studying the second coming. Man, I love that. 40 years avoiding talking about it and then just a burden God put on your heart and now it's become this alarm that you've been sounding in writing, in sermons, on the podcast, everything you name it. Which honestly something I've really been encouraged by is I feel like a lot of stuff over the years, granted, you know, Pastor David Platt, he's plowed a lot of ground for end time stuff over in in years past. And so you have, you know, I remember him having like a super long series on it years ago. Um, but you know, and then Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell, he talks about it a lot, but you know, the depth that you go into it is is mind-blowing. And that just comes from the burden that you have. Well, first of all, most people see it incorrectly. They see it as an event. It's not an event. It's the wedding of the ages. >> It is all about a groom who adors his bride, who gave his life and suffered what we can't even imagine because he loves his bride so much. And he's just waiting for his dad to say, "Go get your girl." >> And it's about a bride who's loves sick for her groom. So, it's really more about a wedding. And so when people hear about end times, unfortunately, so many teachers have made it into fear. Um, they've made it ambiguous. They have created uncertainty with people. I find that it's more about a wedding. And when you think about a wedding, I wasn't fearful of my wedding. I was actually quite excited about my wedding. And so I think that paradigm shift. And the other thing I found out is this. Um, why why Well, the other thing I I if if you're running a race, okay, it's a 5K race. >> And when do you run the fastest in that race? >> Probably at the Is it at the end? >> At the very end, the last 100 meters when you see the finish line. Wow. >> So, this might be some of the wisdom behind why God has it has has it spoken about so much by leaders in the early church as well as in scripture is to always create an urgency within us.

>> Out of the out of the thousands of hours and the commentaries and the scriptures that you read, what was the most shocking Bible verse about the end times that you read? >> I think Revelation 19:7 and8. >> Okay. The wedding of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. >> Doesn't say God made her ready. It said she made herself ready. How did she do it to her? It was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So we're talking about our obedient actions. They literally create the material. we make our wedding dress out of. Now, think about this >> because what was the number one thing a girl did to get ready for her wedding up to 200 years ago? There was no Vogue magazine. There was no bridal magazine. There were no bridal shops. She made her wedding dress. >> So, when I look at my own wedding, I remember walking into that church. Now, Lisa had to leave me to go up to Indiana, her hometown, and get ready for the wedding two months before we got married. And she was working like 40 hours a week. I was amazed. I'd call her and I she would be like, "So many things going on." I'm like, "Man." And when I got up in that church, I'm I was like blown away. The flowers, the the runner, the the beautiful arch that was there. I mean, I realized, oh gosh, she's been working so hard. the beautiful bridesmaid's dresses, everything like that. But nothing nothing caught my attention as when she showed up at the back door with her dad. >> I mean, that dress, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I mean, I had never seen anything so gorgeous in my entire life. And I lost it. Can you imagine if when I flew up there, she had an old wrinkled dress on, her hair was unkempt, and she showed up at that back door that way? >> What would that say to me? >> This wedding day is not very important to her. >> Might be right now, but it wasn't two months ago. >> We're preparing for a wedding. Mhm. >> Now, if you're a unbeliever and you never want to serve Jesus, you're preparing for a war >> because he's going to come back as a warrior and he's going to come back with 10 thousands and thousands of his saints on white horses. That's one aspect of the second coming. But believers don't need to fear that. who he's coming when he comes back for us believers, those who absolutely love him with all of our heart, mind, soul, body, and strength, who have been victorious, who've laid our life down to serve him. It's a wedding. >> Wow. >> And I wasn't dreading my wedding. I was excited about my wedding. >> Wow. That's beautiful. When, you know, I guess something that I really have a hard time with when it comes to the return of Christ is every generation always believes that they're the generation that needs >> the way God wanted it. >> Interesting. Yes. So, do you think that our generation now will see the return of Christ? >> I absolutely do without a shadow of a doubt. And the reason is Jesus said, "Assuredly I say to you, that generation will not pass until all these things are fulfilled and talking about all the signs of his second coming." One of the big signs that no other generation has had is Israel came back and took back their land and they became a nation. May 14th, 1948. Then Jesus looks at them and says, "Hey, you didn't recognize the time of your visitation." And he said, "Jerusalem, you will be torn down and you will be ruled or trampled on by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled." Now, if you look at all the history, the last 1,800 years, Jerusalem has been ruled by gentile nations. >> But in 1967, the Jewish people got it back. Now, that's a super sign right there. That is the biggest sign any no generation has ever seen that before. And so, if you look at that, Jesus said, "The generation will not pass away." Now, what's a generation? I I went to the one I really like is Nelson's Bible dictionary. It says it's a given space of time that people live on earth together because you see generation in the Bible is sometimes it's 40 years sometimes it's sometimes it's actually 20 years sometimes 40 sometimes 70 sometimes 100 >> I believe what Jesus is talking about is a generation of a hundred years and the reason is of of what that word how that word is defined in Nelson Bible dictionary so if you think about it today we still have one We have a a handful of people that served in World War II. So World War II was 1945, right? >> They had to be at least 15 20 years old to serve in it. So that would have brought it back to 1925. They were born. Well, it's >> 2026. So you see it's a 100red years. They're they're they're pushing 99 100 years old. These few veterans that are left. So when I look at Jerusalem coming under Jewish rule, I take it a hundred years and I come to 2067. >> Now, I'm not going to make that my only I'm not going to make that my only uh uh reference point. I want to look at other reference points. You want me to go deep because this is a little geek geeking out here. >> I want you to go deep. >> Okay. If you look at Adam was created roughly, we actually know the years. There are some people, Bible scholars that say it's 3925. But anyway, roughly 4,000 years before Jesus was born. Let's go with one of the figures that a Bible scholar, brilliant Bible scholar, he said 39:25. If you add 2,000 years, you come to Abraham. >> You add 2,000 years, you come to Jesus. All right? There the early church fathers wrote this regularly. You see it in the book of Enoch. You see Job writing about it in the Bible that mankind had 7,000 years on the earth. It was broken up into four ages. The first one's the age of chaos or the age of creation. That's Adam to Abraham 2,000 years. Abraham to Jesus is 2,000 years. That's the age of the law. >> If you take 1925, add 2,000, excuse me, 49 3925, add 2,000 years, you're at 1925. At another 2,000 years, you're at where? 75. >> Now, what's interesting is the Essenes, who were the people that actually saw the corruption in the Jewish leadership, pulled away and started their own community 150 years before Jesus was born. The Essenes predicted to the week that Jesus would ride in Jerusalem on a donkey because they valued the word of God. And from the prophecies of Zechariah and Daniel, they were able to figure it out because they had the accurate ancient Jewish calendar. They predicted to the week. But these Essene people always said they were so skillful with the word of God. They're the ones that hid the scrolls in the caves of Kuman. >> Okay. So when we discovered the the the the scrolls in 1948, we now start discovering about this this community. Well, they said that the last 50 years of a an age is when most prophecies are fulfilled. So, let's just look at Jesus's la the last 50 years of the age of the law would have been from 25 AD to 75 AD. Correct. >> Correct. >> All right. Jesus is crucified in 32 or 33 AD. Right in there. We know that for sure. Right. >> But when is the temple destroyed? 70 AD. M >> all right the second temple's destroyed in 72 AD so the law is over at 72 AD no more sacrifices hadn't been since. Are you seeing where I'm going right now? So 3925 1925 75 last 50 years you have the the resurre the crucifixion the resurrection then you have the destruction of the temples. Okay. Now you go another 2,000 years. Where are you at? >> 2075. >> 2075. that corresponds with our 1967 plus 100 years. You're in the same ballpark cuz Jesus said we would know the generation. We would know the season. We would not, and I can't emphasize enough, know the day or the hour. >> Now, why is 2075 so important? Because if you go to Hosea chapter 5 and 6, you see the most remarkable thing. Hosea said that God was going to rend and tear the Jewish people. That happened in 70 AD when Titus came in. Almost a they some some historians say 600,000 Jewish people were killed in Jerusalem when Titus destroyed its walls in 70 AD. >> Wow. >> Others say a million. Not only did they destroy the Jewish people, they were hiding their valuables, their coins by swallowing them. When the Roman soldiers found out, they started disembowing them. It was a slaughter. >> Oh my gosh. >> They tore every single brick down. They tore every single block down on the wall because they heard the Jewish people were hiding valuable things inside the wall. So, it's a massacre. And as a result of what the Romans did and that went from 70 AD to 135 AD, the last stronghold in Jerusalem was the Bar Cobara rebellion. In 135, every single Jewish person had been cast out of the land either by murder, by selling into slavery, or they got out before the Romans came. >> And eventually they were in every nation of the world. Now stop and think about it. They're in every nation of the world for 18 over 1,800 years, right? They keep the same language. They're speaking Hebrew today in in in Israel. They keep their traditions. They keep their religion. I mean, it is a miracle. And God said this, "I'm going to gather in Isaiah 11. I'm going to gather my people back from the nations of the world for the second time." First time he gathered them back from Persia. Remember when when Israel Am I getting too geeky on >> No, no, no. Keep going. Keep going. So now we look at this. They've been they've been away from their nation for 1,800 years. So God says in Hosea chapter 5, I'm going to tear and rend the Jewish people. All right? And then I'm going to return back to where I came from. Now this is God speaking. >> Last two verses of Hosea 5. I'm going to return back to where I came from. Well, wait a minute. To return back to where you came from means you had to leave, go somewhere, and then you go back. Jesus left the father, came to this earth, provided our salvation by his love, and went back to the father. Then God says, "After two days, I will revive you." Now, who's the you? He's talking about the Jewish people. >> Now, what does Peter tell us never to forget? Because scoffers are going to come up in the last days. They're going to mock, "Where's the promise of his coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, everything remains the same as from the beginning of creation. Atheists don't call church fathers fathers. Atheists don't call creation creation. They call it evolution. >> Yeah. >> He's saying you're actually going to have people in the church that are going to be scoffing about the second coming of Jesus because they're they're going to say every generation's talked about talked about in the 12th century. People set dates. They're like I was okay. I wasn't an allout mocker or scoffer, but I didn't want anything to do with it. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So now Peter said, "But you cannot forget this one thing. A day with the Lord's a thousand years, and a thousand years is a day." In other words, one of God's days is a thousand of our years. So if you apply that to Hosea and you go 2,000 years from the 70, remember when he rendered them in 70, right? >> You're at 2070. Okay, so this perfectly correlates. Now listen to what he says. After two days, he'll revive us, the Jewish people. Do you know when the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, Paul writes in Genesis 9, or excuse me, what am I saying? In Romans chapter 9, 10-11, when the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, all of Israel will be saved. >> Israel right now is one of the most corrupt nations in the Western world. >> Yeah. I mean, seriously, they're having the LGBT big big world conference there because they want to be the LGBT capital LGBT capital of the world. I mean, they are so far away from God right now in in a lot of respects. But Paul said they're all going to be saved. And that excites me. But he said the time of the Gentiles is going to be fulfilled. Which means the time in which God turned his heart, his passion to predominantly the Gentiles will be fulfilled. then all of Israel is going to be saved. If you look at the book of Hosea, it says they're going to look at the one that they they pierced and they're going to realize they're his Messiah. >> But the Antichrist will rise up and he will kill twothirds of the Jews. One-third will go through the fire. It's all in the book of Zechariah. All this is there. It's pieced together. It's a little bit complex. That's why I'm I'm a little concerned. I'm a little geeking out on you right now, but it's like a puzzle. Prophecy is like a puzzle. My kids have a hundred piece puzzle, right? And it's a picture of Noah's Ark. If you put a couple pieces together, it looks like it's in the Arctic. If you put because you get two polar bears. You put a couple pieces together, looks like it's in India because there's two tigers. Yeah. >> You put a couple pieces together, there's two panda bears, looks like it's China. >> But you put the whole thing together, you know it's the Middle East. It's where Noah's Arc was. >> And that's the way prophecy is. The reason people get in arguments is because they don't put in the time to really study out the scripture, which this Revelation is the only book in the Bible that says you're blessed by hearing these words, by reading these words, and by preaching these words. There's a special blessing. So God loves it when his people inquire. If you look at the old prophets in 1 Peter chapter 1, it says they searched and inquired diligently to see what manner and what manner of time the Messiah would come. Now I can say also the Essenes did that and here are the Essenes that predict to the week that Messiah comes because they were so serious about seeking God and studying his word. It's remarkable. So when you're when you're pondering the return of Christ or for you personally, are you looking at what the Essenes are saying or like where where do you hold because I know you said you know 2067 here 2070 2078 2075 I think. Are you just saying in that ballpark generally anytime between now and 2075 but here's what's more important keeping my heart right. >> The only description of the church that Jesus is coming back for is a holy church. Now, holy doesn't mean legalism or being dullled. CS Lewis wrote, "How how misguided people are who think holiness is dull. When you meet the real thing, you find out it's irresistible."

Hey guys, I want to take a quick second to talk about Liberty University. As a lot of you know, I just graduated from Liberty, and for me, it was about a lot more than getting a degree. It really shaped the way I think about my work, my ministry, and the calling that God has placed on my life. Education can do one of two things. It can just hand you information, or it can actually form you. And I'm grateful that my time at Liberty prepared me personally, professionally, and spiritually for what God has me doing right now. So whether you're trying to grow in your career, step into ministry, or just get more equipped for wherever God is leading you, Liberty is worth looking into. If you've been thinking about taking the next step in your education, go to liberty.edu/bry to learn more. And when you use that link, Liberty will wave your registration fee. That's liberty.edu/bry. All right, let's get back into it.

What I find is it's more important to be prepared. Here's what the Holy Spirit challenged me on. >> When I first started writing this, I was I was like, "Lord, I don't want to get this wrong. I really don't want to get this wrong." And he said, "Go back to the first coming." And the Holy Spirit asked me, he said, "Was there controversy?" "Yeah." "Was there ambiguity?" "Yeah." "Was there mockery?" Yeah. All I see about a second coming, I saw with the first coming. >> He said, "Did people miss it on the first coming?" I said, "Yeah." Did people get it right? Well, yeah. Study it out. Because you know what Winston Churchill said? >> What'd he say? >> The House of Commons, 1948, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. >> So, I went back and I thought, who got it wrong and who got it right? >> Wow. >> So, who were the obvious ones that got it wrong? Pharisees. >> Pharisees. >> Yeah. >> But before we throw stones stones at the Pharisees, >> to become a Pharisee, you know what you had to do? Memorize >> the first five books of the Bible. >> I had to quote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy from memory in order to become a Pharisee. >> Wow. >> Can you imagine how many people would not be in ministry today if we had to quote Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and Acts from memory? >> So, these guys are serious. >> Yeah. But they can't recognize the son of God when he's 30 years old raising the dead. >> Okay. Now, let's look at the Essenes. Remember I said, >> yeah, >> the Essenes broke away because the corruption in the spiritual leadership of Israel 150 years before Jesus, >> they took the word of God seriously. A lot of Bible scholars believe John the Baptist was in a scene. He was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation. A lot of Bible scholars believe that Simeon was an Essene. Now, let me set up Simeon. He's only found in one gospel, the Gospel of Luke. I want to set this up. You got this young couple. I mean, Joseph's probably your age. Mary's probably a late teens. They got a 40-day old baby. And they come from another state. Okay. So, we're in California right now. They come from Arizona. They come to Los Angeles where the temple is, right? >> Yeah. Now, the temple is not like a cathedral. There's probably a cathedral somewhere in downtown LA that has about two people in it on a Wednesday. The temple is not one building. It's buildings. Herod greatly enhanced it 40 years before Jesus came. There are multitudes of people in the temple area every single day. >> So, here comes this virtually unknown couple with a 40-day old baby. They walk into the temple and this guy Simeon does a beline right towards him, holds up the baby and cries out, "The Messiah." It freaks Mary out. Freaks her out. So, here's a guy who recognizes Messiah when he's 40 days old. And here's the people that could quote the first five books of the Bible, and they can't recognize him when he's 30 years old, performing amazing miracles. >> Yeah. >> What's different about this guy? Simeon had a relationship with the Holy Spirit. But we have one verse and one verse only and that is Luke 2:25 where it says that Simeon was righteous. He was devout and he was eagerly waiting for the coming of Messiah. >> All right. Three things. Righteous. What does righteous mean? Means he acted out of his constitutionally just character. That's the formal definition. My definition is he took obeying God seriously. Okay. So, he's not one of those people that are like, "Ah, yeah, you know, if I feel like it, I'll obey him. If I don't, I won't. If it interferes with my schedule or he really takes obeying God seriously." Number two, he was devout. The definition of devout is one who takes the word of God seriously. Here's another definition. He fears God. >> All right. Number three, he's eagerly waiting for the coming of Messiah. He holds up that baby, blows Mary away. Anna, who has been praying for 80 years in the temple, comes up, takes the baby. She doesn't talk to everybody in the temple. She talks to everybody who are eagerly waiting. Now, both those Greek words are the same. Okay? Him eagerly waiting and her speaking to the people that were eagerly eagerly waiting. Come to where Jesus tells us what to do to be prepared for a second coming. It's Luke 12. M >> Jesus said, "Stay dressed for service, keep your lamps burning, and you be like men who are eagerly waiting for the Messiah's return." The reason I say eagerly, he's just said waiting. It's the same Greek word. So, one of the things we are told to do is to be eager about his second coming because that keeps us in a place where we will recognize it. Living obedience to God keeps us in the place and our fear of the Lord keeps us in the place >> of being ready. >> Wow.

We we talked a little bit about Israel here. Israel became a nation in 1948, >> right? >> Big deal. How important is that prophecy of Israel establishing itself as a nation according to the return of Christ? Isn't it interesting that Isaiah writes 600 years before Jesus is born that God will gather them back to their land for the second time? Now, they're in captivity or about to go into captivity when he writes this. We all know the first time they returned back to their land returned had to been after Babylonian captiv captivity and then the Persians. Yep. >> But God says, "I'm going to do it a second time." So, when was the second time? It could be none other than 1948. And if you look now, God has been gathering the Jewish people from all over the world, every nation. And in almost like like drawing them where they don't even understand why at times, back to their land. You look at all the Russian Jews that came back when the wall fell in 1990, 1989 actually, and and communism kind of started releasing people. Millions of Jews have come from Russia. They've come from America. They've come from every almost every known nation in the world. That is a miracle. And the fact that they kept their customs all those generations, they kept their religion, they kept their language, and now today they're a nation again. I don't think we understand the scope of that miracle. No nation has ever ever done that before. Not even come close. >> Not even a hundred years that we know of. >> Wow. >> Wow. >> So it's a miracle. >> Yeah. >> And that's exactly what Jesus said. >> This is the fig tree. If you look at it, he says when the fig tree begins to bud and Israel is is talked about as a fig tree by God in the Old Testament. >> Yeah. >> But then he says and all the trees. If you look at the Ottoman Empire when it broke up, you have Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia. All of them are named, they have national trees. They all became nations between 19 uh 1940 and 1960. >> So all the trees started budding. >> Wow. >> It wasn't just Israel, the fig tree. He says in Luke's gospel, the fig tree and all the trees. So all those nations started forming between 1940 and 1960. It's miraculous. >> Wow. >> I mean this is this is what causes God to stand apart from all other idols and false gods. He said I am the one that tells you the end from the beginning. No other false god does that. >> What I say will come to pass >> and we have watched it before I >> Bryce because we don't talk about it enough. We don't realize how great of a miracle it actually is. It's remarkable. >> Yeah, that's powerful.

When now, you know, you've referenced before how when the end times happen that, you know, a lot of people's perspective of end times is just going to be pure chaos, but it's not going to be pure chaos. It's going to start out normal. That what do you think is going to be? Well, I don't know. I I guess I think I I reflect on my own life and many times that I've been deceived over the years before being a Christian, even moments as I've been sanctified in the Lord, knowing, man, I've been deceived here. I've been deceived here. The nastiest thing about deception is that you don't know you're being deceived when you're being deceived. So, what do you think is going to be the biggest deception amongst the end times? If when the end times occur, it's not going to be all this chaos. It's just going to be like an average Tuesday. Well, first of all, you you've you've made a very powerful statement. The scariest thing about deception is being deceived. >> Because the person who deceived believes with all their heart they're right when in reality they're wrong. >> If you look at James tells us, obey the word of God. Don't just hear it. Deceiving your own self. That that that should be one of the most alarming statements in the whole Bible. That literally you will deceive yourself. If you look at Paul, he writes to Timothy, he said, "In the last days, impostors are going to come and they're going to deceive and they themselves are going to be deceived." So, not only are they going to deceive others, they themselves. Now, God sends strong delusions. We are told in 2 Thessalonians, why does he send strong delusions? Why does he turn them over to deception? It's not that he makes them deceived. He turns them over to what their nature will be without him. Does that make sense? >> Yeah, that makes sense. >> Okay. So, when Eve sins, right? Okay. Let's just take it back. Before I talk about that, let's go back to the garden. >> The garden needs to be talked about by everybody because we really get the understanding of how dangerous sin is by looking at the garden. >> You got the two main trees. The tree of life. >> Yeah. >> And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. >> Yeah. >> What is the tree of life? God is my creator. He is perfect love. Therefore, he knows what makes me and he knows what breaks me. >> When you have kids someday, let me tell you what Christmas is going to become to you. It's going to become a work day. >> Okay? >> All right. I have four sons. When they were toddlers, Christmas day was a work day. They open the gifts and dad is building the gifts all day long. Now, I'm your typical guy. You know what I do? I rip open the box, throw the pieces on the floor, throw the box and the instruction manual over in the corner and I build the toy. Spend an hour building a toy. I'm finished, but there's still five pieces on the floor. I hit the switch and it doesn't work. Now I'm Who am I mad at? I'm mad at the manufacturer, right? How dare you sell me a defective toy on Christmas? I can't even call your eight number 800 number and complain. I mean, I'm I'm I'm I've wasted an hour of my time. What do I do because it's Christmas Day? I go find the instruction manual, deconstruct the toy, build it the way the guy who built it built it, and oh my goodness, now I'm finished, and there's no five pieces. I hit the switch and it works. That's the tree of life. >> God is my creator. He knows what makes me. He knows what breaks me. What is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? It doesn't say when she saw the tree was evil and it would make her wicked. when she saw the tree was good and it would make her wise. >> It's when she chose and he chose >> what was good for them outside of what God says. >> Wow. >> I know that's a big wow. >> Okay. I choose what's good for me. Now, what happens? A nature comes in and that nature is called sin. >> Right? Now, we just reduce it down to, hey, doing wrong and doing what God doesn't want. No, no, no, no, no. Sin is to go off the mark of God. Remember, now God knows what makes me and breaks me. >> Yeah. >> So now what I'm I have a nature that what I'm drawn to is the very thing that will destroy me. >> Not instantly because it has pleasure at the at instantly. It eventually leads me down the road of destruction. Are you seeing this? Yeah. >> So God comes along and says, "I'm going to give you my laws." But we can't keep those laws for 2,000 year for well yeah was it two no uh 1500 years we can't keep those laws. It proved hey because of the nature we have I will naturally gravitate to what will destroy me. >> Yeah >> God gives the law and the law is what is good for me. So we look at the law as restrictive. It constrains my life. It ruins my life. It dulls my life. No, it is actually what will give you longevity and a healthy life. M >> but we have a nature now I'm talking about before the cross >> that we're going to gravitate to what actually is going to destroy me. >> Yeah. >> Jesus comes not only does he pay the price >> to free us from the penalty of sin. He pays this the price to give us a brand new nature. >> Peter calls it the divine nature. So God literally puts a brand new spirit in us. Now our spirit is drawn to what God says because we know it's ultimately what what is best for me. >> Yeah. >> So a person who's actually walking in fellowship with God knows I want what God says because it's good for it. It it is what's ultimately good for me. >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> When I disobey the word of God repeatedly, I now become delu I have a strong delusion. I am deceived. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Now why are they deceived? Second Thessalonians, Paul tells us in the last days, they're going to be so deceived. Why, Paul? Because they didn't, listen to this, love the truth. It's not that they didn't have the truth. It's that they didn't love the truth. >> Wow. >> See, there's a lot of people that attend churches in in America. They have the truth, but the question is, do you love it? >> Wow. That's strong. >> Okay. Now, if you don't, you're you're so susceptible to being deceived. And see, this is what set Simeon apart from the Pharisees. He valued greatly the word of God. >> So, the word of God is actually what will bring me life. You know, I was talking to my son on the way here this morning. He's got a friend that like is really fighting pornography and really, really horrific thoughts. And I said, 'You know, I said to him, I said, Jesus said, 'You'll know the truth and the truth will make you free.' I said, he said, yeah, Dad, I'm very familiar with I said, it's the truth. It's the truth that makes you free. I said, but can we talk about the words before that? He said, what? Jesus said, if you continue in my word, you'll know the truth. He went, "Dad, I never realized that." I said, 'Yeah, listen. Paul gathers the leaders of Ephesus at the place called Myitus. And these are the elders that he ordained in Ephesus. Now, Ephesus was the biggest church in Asia. Okay. And Paul, he he started that church. >> Yeah. He looks at these leaders in Acts 20 and he said, "You will not see me again until heaven." Now, Bryce, think about it. These are guys you really care about. They're your sons in the faith, and they are the leaders of the church. >> Yeah. You can't text them. >> You can't email them. You can't pick up the phone and call them. If you write a letter to them, it takes six months. Do you understand what he's saying to them? You're you're you're you're not you're not going to hear from me words out of my mouth again until we're in heaven. You're not going to see me. I can't call you. I can't send an email. Boy, are you going to be careful on what you say to them? You're gonna really think hard. You know what he said? The final words he said to them, "And now, guys, I commend you to God." And I said to my son this morning, stop right there. That's where your generation stops. >> I commend you to God. I love God. I want to have a relationship with God. That's not all he said. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you your inheritance. >> Wow. >> I said, "Do you understand? You have a lot you have you have a friend that wants to be free, but he's not putting in the hours of spending time with God in his word. >> Yeah. >> See, I find this is this is the thing. I've been in ministry for 43 years, and I've had people say, "Gosh, you're you're still so passionate about Jesus. You still love him so much. You're in your you're in you're going to be 67 in two months, right?" They're >> how how did you keep this fire? And I have to say it's my time in the morning. >> There are two tennis there there, excuse me, there's six tennis courts two blocks away from my house. I'm usually out there every morning at 5:00 a.m. And then I open up my Bible. And if my sons were sitting here right now with you and me and you said, "Hey, what's your dad's favorite book?" They'd go, "The Bible." Because I've been reading it for 47 years. When I wrote this book, I saw things I'd never seen before in the New Testament. Wow. And I've been reading it for 47 years. So Paul says,"I commend you to the word of his grace." And that word of his grace will build you up and give you an inheritance. So in essence, it listen what the writer of Hebrews says. He said, "We must pay very close attention." Okay, that right there, Hebrews chapter 4, okay, we must pay very close attention to the word we've heard lest we drift away. Okay, I grew up in Michigan. I grew up on White Lake, Michigan. >> Okay. >> I loved fishing. Sometimes you're out there, you're so excited about fishing, you forget to throw down the anchor. I'm fishing away and 30 minutes I look up and I don't even

recognize where I'm at. I drifted. You never drift knowing you're drifting.

That should put a healthy fear in us, right?

Yeah.

Okay. We must pay very close attention. That's why I keep reading the Bible over and over again for 47 years, and I actually enjoy it.

Yeah, because before I read that Bible, we have a teacher and I always say, "Holy Spirit, I can't understand this book without your help." Even in being saved for 47 years, I still say, "Please, please, please open my eyes and teach me." That's why I've seen things this year that I've never seen before in scripture.

You know, um I made a post. I I I've got I've got close to a million followers on Instagram and I made a post and it was it was it wasn't a bad post, but there were hurting people and it could have made the hurt a little more.

Didn't think it through, right? It was it was it was a bad move. And I make that post and the next day I'm reading Second Peter or First Peter, one of the two. Has nothing to do with Instagram. Has nothing to do with what I posted. But all of a sudden, I go, "That post, I need to take that down, it doesn't do any good, and it could upset some people."

Yeah.

And it's not about the truth of scripture. And I it it it could be taken wrong. And I pulled it down. 10 minutes later, my wife walks up. She's got a national leader on the phone. And the national leader was so respectful. said, "John, we've used your books for all of our disciplehip of leaders. We love your ministry, but the post you put up yesterday. It could really hurt some people."

I said, "Before you go any further, I took it down 10 minutes ago."

And she goes, "What?"

I said, "I took it down 10 minutes ago." I said, "I was reading the Bible and I all of a sudden I knew, see, if you look at chemical factories in the United States, there's a federal law. You know what the federal law states? You must have a gas detector in every room in a chemical plant. Why? Because you got all these toxic chemicals and you got to protect the people in case there's a a chemical leak."

All right.

Yeah.

So, the number one manufacturer, at least when I looked this up a few years ago, number one fa manufacturer of these gas detectors is Huitt Packard. So, I went to their website and I pretended like I'm a technician who's calibrating, right?

Yeah.

Because the Holy Spirit spoke to me and he said, "Son, my people aren't aren't calibrating.

They're not calibrating."

And I'm like, "Okay, calibrating. I have an engineering background." I'm like, "I remember, but I really don't." So, I thought, "Calibrating, calibrating gas detectors." Okay. So, I go to the technician's page on how to calibrate.

Yeah.

The gas detectors.

Yeah.

Do you know what it said? Bryce, you're going to flip out when you hear this. In bold letters, we strongly recommend that you calibrate these gas detectors every day because the atmosphere will corrupt them. I went, "Oh my gosh." In bold letters. So then I start reading about how they calibrate. They have to go take them into a clean air room, clean air environment. They reset them, recalc calibrate them, and then put them back up. Every day we need to go to that clean air environment. We're in a corrupt atmosphere, right? It says the atmosphere will corrupt them. We live in a world that is ruled by the prince of the power of the air. We live in a world that is ruled by Satan.

Okay. The whole course of this world is according to his ways. It's contrary to the kingdom. So, we got to go to a clean air room every morning.

Yeah.

Wow. and get into the word which is able to build us up and give us our inheritance.

Yeah.

And recalibrate so we don't drift away. Because you know what? When those things get out of calibration, nobody's going to know until somebody dies.

Yeah.

You're not going to know until somebody falls over or gets really, really sick.

So the person who's backsliding doesn't know they're backsliding.

Are you backsliding right now? You look at somebody and they go, "Oh no." But 33 million Americans walked away from the faith between 2000 and 2020. 33 million Americans.

Yeah.

Why? We stopped reading our Bibles and we stopped praying.

Hey, quick break. Let me tell you about today's sponsor, Upside. Gas, groceries, and eating out are three things we all know add up fast. Even on the tightest budget, there's no escaping them. But here's what you can control. Getting cash back when you fill up, hit the grocery store, or go out to eat with the Upside app. Free Upside app gets you cash back on gas, groceries, and dining. Here's how it works. Open the app, claim an offer, pay with your card like normal, and get paid. That is it. And yes, it's cash back, not points you will never use or credits that expire. Cash back you transfer straight to your bank account. I check upside before I fill up, before I eat out, and before I grocery shop. It's not something I have to remember anymore. It just becomes part of the routine. Before I even pull into the gas station, I check the app. I use this and you should, too. There are over a 100,000 participating locations and you can earn cash back on top of your existing credit card and loyalty rewards. Upside has given back 1 billion to its users. To find out how much you could earn, download the free Upside app and use promo code Bryce to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas using promo code Bryce. All right, now back to the episode.

Praise God that the Bible sales have gone up, that church attendance is going up. So since 2022,

we're seeing a rise, which is awesome.

And you're a big part of it, Bryce. You got you got your whole generation is can't wait to hear your next podcast because why? I've watched you. You're a preacher of the truth, but you care about people. And see, it's that combination.

I'm sorry I interrupted you, but I have to.

No, you're good.

I want to brag on Bryce. I see preachers who love truth and they veer off into legalism. I see pe preachers that love love but they don't put enough emphasis on truth and they veer off into wokeism. We have to preach the truth but do it with a loving heart. And you're doing it

and I'm so proud of you.

Oh, well thank you for saying that. Uh I appreciate that and thank you for everything that you've been doing and all the resources and the impact that you've been doing and and for for bringing wisdom to us too today. Um, thanks for saying that.

We uh, you know, something I think about is you you you mentioned earlier you avoided talking about the end times for 40 years and you're one of the few people that I think are are humble enough to admit that and started talking. There's a lot of people that that are just still not talking. What do you think that what do you think it costs the church when they stay silent about the end times?

It costs them being eagerly anticipating. Now, why is it one of the things that I saw in the Bible that I didn't realize until just the end of last year and the beginning of this year is how many times we're told to be eagerly waiting for the coming of Jesus. Corinthians 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:7, Paul writes to the Corinthians, "As you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul writes to Timothy, he said, "The crown is not only for me," he's talking about the crown of righteousness, but for everyone who is eagerly looking for his coming. Hebrews chapter nine, Christ will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly looking for him.

M

okay it's all over the New Testament. I was like oh my gosh just like Simeon right? Okay so here's the question. Why is that so important? First John chapter 3. John is the one who saw the entire book of Revelation. Right.

Yeah.

He said when Christ comes 1 John 3 2 and 3. When Christ comes, we will see him as he is. And all who have this eager expectation, listen to this, will purify themselves even as he is pure. Oh my gosh. Wait a minute. Listen to this. Purify themselves. Doesn't say God's going to purify them. Does God purify us? Absolutely. But the Bible says that we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We have to cooperate with his grace to work what's done inside of us out.

Yeah.

All who have this eager expectation purify themselves even as Jesus Christ is pure. Do you understand why God wanted to have every generation looking forward to the second coming even in the 12th century even in the 14th to give them the power to protect them from the forces of this world that will cause them to drift. Remember, you drift unknowingly away. That eager expectation gives you the power to walk away from pornography, walk away from substance abuse, walk away from divorcing your spouse for no reason at all, no biblical reason at all.

Walk away from all the things that would allure us away. And with the information age, with information doubling every 13 hours now, isn't that crazy?

Yeah.

every 13 hours with all that we have available. The the world has such a power to pull people away from the truth because of all we're putting in front of us every single day. I'm not saying stay away from it. I look I keep my pulse on, but I want to make sure I'm more rooted in the word than I am what everybody's saying on Instagram.

No. True. True. I mean, I think the hardest thing for me has been, you know, like for example, AI, which I'd love to hear your thoughts on, too. You know, if if you think that there's some correlation with it that, you know, I have a question there. But, you know, I AI is a cool tool, right? Because it's an instant robot. I can ask that thing a question, whether it's what's the address here, give me five recommendations, tell me 10 things about John Bevere, you know, it'll just tell you, it'll spit it. But it's causing

I've been seeing a lot of my generation lose critical thinking skills. like a robot. And so I think that's causing a lot of people to lose this anticipation and eagerness cuz I see the temptation. I mean, I'm Gen Z. It's like I get it just in general. It can be hard to read your Bible. There's days you don't feel like reading your Bible. There's days that you don't feel like doing this. But then when you do it, I love what David Platty Platt says. He says there's spoils, new spoils every day in the word. And when it I'm like the same way as you were. Like the thing that sets me up best in the morning for Bryce to be the best version of Bryce to be the best child of God is working out and Bible time in the morning. When Bryce gets those two things, I'm better husband, better friend, better everything. If Bryce doesn't get the Bible time and the workout, then I'm the worst version of Bryce. And And so I think AI calibrate.

Yeah, you got to calibrate. I loved that analogy that you just got to because the atmosphere it it is real. So with AI, I mean, what are you seeing with AI? Do you think that AI plays big into the end times?

Yes, absolutely. But now I'm going to say that with a caution. Don't go to the fact that it's evil because I said it's going to play into the end times.

I think it's a great tool. Like you said, it's got to be an assistant. It can never replace the Holy Spirit's leading.

So, you have to constantly ask yourself, is this something that I should be really more seeking out from the Holy Spirit? Like, I'll be honest with you, my Bible program has AI. I have 75,000 books in my Bible program. My AI will read all 75,000 books like that. Well, what does it give me? The tools, but then I'm looking for the Holy or the the the research. And I'm looking for the Holy Spirit to say, "Oh, focus in on that one."

Yeah.

Like I was getting ready to speak to my staff just recently and I said, "I want all the writings from my commentaries on what is evil." And I got and I, you know, I started looking at it and I and I pulled parts out that I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying that that that And I I I read it before we because we do staff prayer every morning. We have 50 staff members here in the United States and we do staff. We're all on Zoom. We're praying and I, you know, one person leads for about five minutes and it was my day to lead and I led and um my son, my oldest son got so excited. He said, "I actually just got the part of my message for this weekend in Colorado that I'm preaching that I was looking for."

Oh my gosh.

And so I used AI as a tool.

Yep. But I depended on the Holy Spirit for what am I going to share?

Yep.

Right.

So, um I'll never ever ever write a book using AI. I'll use AI to do the research. When I did the Essenes Yeah. in this, I was asking my because my AI on my Bible program, they put walls up on it so it can't go to chat GBT or Claude or any of the outside. Yeah. It can only read the 75,000 books I have in my library. Okay.

So, I did the study on the Essenes. But Bryce, what happens is every book I've written, this is number 25 or 24. Every book I've written, the Holy Spirit I did I didn't know onethird to one half of what I wrote. In every book, the Holy The Holy Spirit gave it as I was writing. I mean, there was one chapter in this book. It took me three days to find out what he was saying.

Yeah.

I literally was stumped for three days and I was at a standstill and I said, "Lord, what's going on?" And three days later, I went, "Oh my gosh." And so I tell people, you know, one-third of this book I've never heard, never heard somebody preach, never thought of before in my life. I always say my name's on these books because I was the first guy to get to read them. I mean, if God can talk through a donkey, he can certainly write through a human being, right? So, you know, what do we have that God didn't give us, right? So, why do we act as if he didn't give it to us?

Yeah.

So, that's why I get so excited when I'm writing. I mean, there's been times I've jumped up in my hotel room going, "Oh my gosh, that is so good." And you'd see me and you go, "What an arrogant guy." I'm not being arrogant. I I just read something I've never heard or seen before, and I'm so excited about it, I can hardly stand it. Right. That's the word of God. The word of God is such depth

that you can read a book for 47 years and still love it.

Yeah. Wow. I heard one of the most famous evangelists on the planet in the end of the 1980s make a statement. He was speaking in front of a stadium of people and he said, "Look, I've been reading my Bible for 40 years. It it kind of gets old." And and you know, one year later, he fell from ministry because of immorality that he had been engaged in that was undercover for a while. And I thought, "Okay, there's why the Bible became kind of a boring book to him."

Wow. See, the only description of the church he's come back for is holy. Let's let's let's talk about that elephant in the room. Holy. What does that mean? That just means I'm completely his. Okay, let me let me give you an example. The Bible tells us to remain in fellowship with Jesus. And you know what it says? It says in first John, those who keep his commandments remain in fellowship. Okay. Now, let's talk about let's we talked about the law. The law proved that I could not keep his commandments. Even though they were what was best for me, my nature couldn't keep them. The new covenant, it's totally different. We have the divine nature. Now, we have the ability to keep his commandments. But the question is, are we going to yield to our flesh or are we going to yield to our spirit?

Right? All right. I've been married 44 years. I am more in love with Lisa than the day we married. And I say that honestly.

Why don't I commit adultery against my wife? Why? Well, number one, I fear God. Number two, Lisa is a sharpshooter. She actually is a sharpshooter, and she told me she would make it painless.

Okay, she's Sicilian, bro. Okay, she's a she's a strong woman. Okay,

I believe it.

Uh she to she knocked her 14-point buck down, knocked him down in his tracks. My eight-point buck ran and ran and ran. Somebody took us hunting and I couldn't believe it. You know, she she put the bull she put the bullet in the bullseye that that big from 115 yards. I was all over the map. Anyway, enough said.

What's the big reason I don't commit adultery? Because I don't ever want to lose those moments that her head's on the pillow, mine heads on the pillow, and she whispers intimate secrets from her heart that I' she wouldn't tell anybody else.

Yeah.

I don't ever want to lose those moments with this magnificent woman. Because if I sleep with a couple women in my neighborhood, that's the first thing that goes. I'm I'm not My head's not even going to be in the pillow next to hers.

Yeah.

And if I keep it up, I lose the marriage.

Yeah.

Why don't I want to commit adultery against Jesus? Now, James makes it clear. You seek a relationship with the world. You make yourself an enemy with God because you're an adulterer. You're committing adultery against his son who died for you.

Yeah. Why don't I commit adultery against Jesus? Because I don't want to ever lose those times that he whispers something in my heart that I've never ever known before.

Yeah.

People ask me all the time, where did you how did you come up with 24 books? That's it's those those intimate times. And if you lose that, you start drifting and then the deception and then it all it all boils down. That's what happens.

So what you just said about people being an enemy of God that I I love Dr. Frank Turk. He says you either get justice or grace and he's like and I don't want justice. It's like for some reason judgment the judgment of God seems to be a sensitive topic within the church. Why doesn't the church talk about the judgment of God as much?

Think about it. What is going to put more butts in the seat on a Sunday morning when we talk about the inspiring aspects of scripture? When we talk about the encouragement of scripture, but if you look at Paul, he says to Timothy, I charge you in the sight of God who will judge the living and the dead. Preach the word. And then he tells what the word of God will do. It will rebuke, it will convict, and it will encourage. two out of three are corrective. He said because the time will come and we're in that time that they will not endure sound teaching but they'll find teachers who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear.

All right. We are in a time period where I can build a church big and fast by using the inspiring and the encouraging only scriptures. If you look at Acts 20, he looks at those leaders. Let's go back there. We were there a little while ago. Paul looks at him and says, "If anybody suffers eternal death, it's not my fault." New Living Translation, "If anybody suffers eternal death, it's not my fault." Why isn't it your fault? Because I didn't hold back what was needed for your relationship with God.

Listen to the word hold back. What I believe is getting us in trouble right now in the church in America, it's not what we're saying, it's what we're not saying.

Wow.

So, we're not we're not

Okay.

Well, nobody talks about passivity.

I'm I'm I'm I'm going to go a little deeper into this. This is actually going to be my next podcast and it's on my heart. So, can I talk about it?

Talk about it.

What's the foundation, the first foundation of our relationship with God? Okay. Um it's it's it's a hard question, but I'm going to give you a hint. Think Hebrews 6. What's the first foundation? Okay. I don't want I I don't want to put you on the spot.

Love. Would it be love?

No, the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 6 verse 1 and 2, let us leave the elementary teachings of Jesus and move past the foundational teachings, foundational. And he lists them. There's six of them. The first one is repentance from dead works. The second one is faith in God. You know what he just said? You don't have true faith. You have a counterfeit faith if you don't have repentance. Now, we don't hear repentance talked about. Why? Because it's scary to people because they're a lack of understanding.

But let me let me go a little one step further before I talk about this word repentance. What was the first words out of John the Baptist's mouth? Repent. What was the first words out of Jesus's mouth publicly? Matthew 4:17. Repent. Repent of your sins. Turn to God for the kingdom of heaven's at hand. When Jesus sent out his 12 and they went everywhere preaching, what did they preach everywhere? That men should repent of their sins and turn to God. When Peter on the day of Pentecost has thousands of people are saying, "I want to get saved. I want to get saved. I want to get saved." What does he say? Repent. First word. What does Paul preach not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles? Acts 20 again. And Acts 26. I preached that men should repent of their sins, turn to God, and bring forth fruit worthy of repentance.

Okay, what is this word repent? So, I'm in prayer one day and I said, "God, it's so religious now because the people made it legalistic. How do I share repentance in a way where it's not religious?"

Yeah.

Right. And he gave me the answer. Jesus is the groom. We are the bride. Right. Yep.

Okay. Paul makes a statement Ephesians 5. A man shall leave his father and mother be joined to his wife. The two shall become one. But do you know what his next statement is? This is new living translation. This is actually an illustration of the way the church and Jesus. So God gives us a living illustration that we see every day. How a man and a woman are joined together. Right? Okay. Can you imagine? I'm not going to use you and your wife. I'm going to use a fictitious name. Matt has been dating Sarah and he's deeply in love with her. They've been dating for like two years.

Y

Okay. So, he knows she's the one, right? So, he goes out and buys the ring, plans the evening. That moment comes. He gets down on one knee, opens up the ring box. Sarah, I love you with all my heart. Will you be my wife? She squeals with delight. Jumps up and down. Yes. Yes. Yes. This is the most exciting day of my life. She jumps into him. all fours kissing him like this is so amazing. So they start talking about their married life, right? And she looks at him and she says, "Now Matt, I dated Kevin in high school for two years. I I'd like just maybe a night or two with him a year and then Tony was my college bow and we dated three years. I'd like just a night or two with him a year. Now Matt, you will be my favorite. You'll be my favorite. I love you more than Tony, I love you more than Kevin. You'll have me 360 nights a year. I just want, you know, three, four, five nights with those guys a year. Is there any guy in America that would say yes to that?"

No.

You're my favorite. I love you more than matter or more than Kevin or Tony. Nobody would say yes. Yet, I look at Jesus, our groom. How does he open up the little ring box? First of all, he leaves what we can only imagine right now with our mind and he comes to this earth and he allows he is allowed to be tempted in every single sin. Yet he doesn't sin At all points he was tempted. Then this is what I discovered when writing this book. The king is coming. He got turned over to the temple guard about nine o'clock at night. He stood in front of four squadrons of soldiers. First one was Annis. Second one was Caiaphas. Third one was Herod. Fourth one was Pilate. Three of the four beat him until they were physically exhausted. Isaiah actually prophesied 600 years earlier they would beat him so severely his face would be so disfigured from the beatings he wouldn't even look like a human being. Then they put these thorns in him. Those thorns literally pierced right into your skull. They were so so blood's dripping down. They rip out his beard. They blindfold him while they're beating him, too, by the way. Then he's in front of the Romans and the Bible says that the captain of the guard calls all of them. They're all mad. This Passover is making me work double shifts. So they're really mad at this Jew and they start wailing on him until they're exhausted. Then comes the scourging which he is tied naked to a two- foot tall stone and they shackle him in so he can't budge. I held a scourging whip. It was so sharp that it literally dug into my skin. Just the weight of it.

Whoa.

You've got a left-handed Roman and a right-handed Roman, and they're going wham, wham, wham, wham. And they don't do it 40 times, 39 times. The Jews did that, but not the Romans. They went until you went through the skin, the muscle, and exposed the spine as well as the hipbones because he's naked and they're hitting him all down back there. Okay. Then he goes to the cross and they put the nail right where the media nerve is. And the media nerve is the most sensitive nerve in your entire body. Do you realize every time he pulls up to keep from suffocating, the pain is unbelievably excruciating? Our creator knows he's going to go through that. And the Bible says he could have called for 12 legions of angels at any moment. And he didn't because of the joy set before him.

Who was the joy? His bride.

Yeah.

Us. You, Bryce, me. We were the joy set before him. Now, we think he's going to come back for a bride that says, "Let me let me flirt with let me give my number to let me sleep with the very things that drove the nails in your hand." That is is that is deception to the max. M

if you never told a young girl, if her friends, her parents, her teachers never ever ever told a girl. In order to get married, you have to break up with all old boyfriends. You can't date any new guys. You're done dating. If you never told her that, when Sarah looks at Matt and says, "Yeah, I just want a couple nights. You'll be my favorite." She thinks everything's fine. She doesn't think anything's wrong. What did our families teach us? What did our teachers teach us? What did societ taught us? You had to break up.

Yeah.

We don't preach that. See, that's repentance. When a girl walks down an aisle of a church with a white dress on, you know what she's saying? She's saying goodbye to 3.9 billion guys. This is the one and only guy I'm flirting with for the rest of my life. I'm giving my phone number to the Right.

Yeah. If we never tell people in order to receive Jesus, you have to break up with everything that drove the nails through his hands, we're going to think, I could still look at pornography and love Jesus. I could still get plastered drunk three times a week and still love Jesus. It's okay because my teachers have told me that. My teachers have never said it's wrong. My teachers have never told me that my behavior is actually going to destroy me. M they're withholding from me that which will save me. He saved us. Don't get me wrong. We don't earn a relationship with Jesus. However, it never said that we couldn't go back into bondage. And that's what I mean by he didn't teach me what would. So that's why Paul says rebuke correct with all authority.

Yeah. So talking about those the false teachers that teach the doctrine that itch the ears. What does a false teacher look like in 2026? Not only he he will avoid anything that will call us to holiness to being set apart for Jesus. He or she uh their lifestyle will be compromised. Their teaching will be a partial teaching. partial truth can be just as dangerous. If we omit all the things that call us to be completely his, we are allowing people to just wander off and be sucked in by the world.

I'm I'm I'm going to give you an example. Jude, Jude chapter 4, Jude says in the coming days, he said, "And what's happening now and in the last days, there will be people who creep into our churches unnoticed who say that God's marvelous grace allows us to l live sinful lives." I have a staff member who went to a wedding six months ago. When he was at the wedding, he met one of the groomsmen. It was a big wedding party. groomsman found out he worked for Lisa and I and Messenger International. He was so excited. The groomsman, he was like, "Oh my gosh, I love their ministry." D. So then the groomsman has to go back to where the the the groom is the dressing room. And in there is the pastor officiating the wedding and it's a big big lots of groomsmen. I don't know how many I should ask him, but but it was a big wedding party. And and the pastor looks at him and goes, "Guys, have a great time tonight. It's all covered by grace. My team member told me later on that evening at the reception that same young man was so plastered drunk he couldn't even dance right anymore. He pulled him aside, got him sobered up and said, "What are you doing?" And he said, "The pastor told us what he told us. Hey, tonight have a great time. It's all covered by grace." that pastor crept in unnoticed telling him that the grace of God allows him to live an immoral life.

Yeah.

So in essence, a false teacher will lead you down a life of disobedience, whereas a tr here's here's what a false prophet does. He'll draw you to himself. She'll draw you to themsel. A true prophet will draw you to the heart of God. When you leave the meeting of a true prophet, you'll want to go seek Jesus more than you've ever wanted to seek him before because he draws you to Jesus's heart.

Wow.

And doesn't compromise his word to do it. That's good. You mentioned the fear of the Lord earlier. You have one of these books here that you wrote specifically on the fear of the Lord? My favorite verse in all of scripture, if I could pick one, is Psalm 25:14. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him. With them he shares his secrets. What does a healthy fear of the Lord look like? Especially in an age that is either scared or eagerly waiting with all the buzz around the end times. What does a healthy fear of the Lord look like?

Well, first of all, let's say this. The fear of the Lord is not to be scared of God. It's actually being terrified of being away from God. If you look at Moses, Moses leads Israel out of Egypt, right? Where's his destination? Si. Remember he said to Pharaoh seven times, "Thus sayith the Lord, let my people go that might worship me in the desert." He didn't say, "Let my people go that they can have their own land." Why do you want to bring them to their own land before you first bring them to the promiser? If you bring them to the promised land before bringing them the promiser, they make the promised land into a place of idolatry. So Moses wants to go see because I see something amazing about Moses. Moses had the most beautiful home in the entire world he lived in. He could have anything he wanted. He could have any Ferrari in the collection.

Yeah.

He could throw a party anytime he wanted. He leaves Egypt and he never once says, "I want to go back. It was better for me." I look at Israel who's abused by Egypt. Their kids are put to death. They leave Egypt and they're constantly saying, "We want to go back. It was better for us in Egypt."

Yeah.

Wow. What a difference. Why is that? Because Moses had one encounter with God at the bush. Israel had a chance, but they ran away. Because God looks at Moses in Exodus 19 and God says, "Go down and tell all three million of them, the whole reason I delivered you out of Egypt was to bring you to me. I want you to be a kingdom of priest." Do you know what God said to all three million people? I want you to be able to approach me for yourself and for others. He wanted them all to be a kingdom of priests. So he said, "Moses, go down. Tell them to get ready for the next two days." Anyway, because on the beginning of the third day, I'm going to come down in their sight. He comes down on the third day and the people all scream and run away.

Yeah.

Moses makes this statement. He looks at the people. He says, "Do not fear because God's come to test you to see if his fear is in you so that you may not sin." Now, wait a minute. Are you talking out of two sides of your mouth? Do not fear because God's come to see if his fear is in you. He's saying don't be scared of God because you can't have intimacy with somebody you're scared of.

Wow, that's so good.

He said, "Don't be scared of God because God's come to see if his holy fear is in you." Do you know that the fear of the Lord was Jesus's delight? His delight. Isaiah 11:3. Shouldn't we delight in what he delights in? Do you know the fear of the Lord? it. The Bible says it's the fear of the Lord by the power of the fear of the Lord that we work out our salvation. We mature our salvation. So what is the fear of the Lord? It's when we stand in awe of him. It's when we venerate him. That's a big word. We honor, esteem, respect him above everything or anyone else. When we when we walk in holy fear, now we take his heart and now we love what he loves and we hate

Yeah. Listen to the word hate what he hates.

Yeah.

Bryce, you say God hates. Yes, God hates. There are several times in the scripture it says God hates things. Now, I'm going to tell you who he doesn't hate is people. You ever hear a religious person, a legalist say, "I fear God. That's why I hate those sinners." You don't fear God at all because you hate who he loves. God loves those sinners so much he sent his son to die for them. Yeah. You actually hate who he loves. Don't tell me you fear God. You don't fear God. You're religious. Yeah.

Okay. You You hate what he hates. You hate the sin that destroys the people he loves.

That's good.

So, I'm going to bring you back to when I was your age. I'm a young minister. I've walked away from a very, very highpaying job as a mechanical engineer for a big corporation in America. And I'm working for my church. And now I'm, you know, that I do that for four and a half years. And then I'm a youth pastor for two years. And then we start Messenger International in 1990. The first year I'm out preaching. I'm I'm going to these churches and my words were hollow. Do you understand what I mean by hollow?

Yeah.

There wasn't any power in them.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm preaching the Bible and I'm spending two hours in the morning in prayer and I'm like I was frustrated one day. I said, "I didn't even want to go into ministry. I left an engineering job. I didn't even want to do this. And yet, I go out and preach and my words are hollow." And I screamed this out, Bryce. I said, "Why isn't there a stronger anointing on my life?" And the Holy Spirit spoke to me and he said, "Because you tolerate sin." I went, "What?" He said, "You you tolerate sin not only in your own life, but in other people's lives."

Wow.

Then he said, "Read Hebrews 1." So, I'm I'm I remember I was in a church sanctuary. I was on a trip. I went and grabbed my Bible off the altar. Nobody was in the building and I opened up to Hebrews 1. I started reading and I realized Hebrews 1 is when God the Father inaugurates Jesus as King of the universe. It's the day he's raised from the dead. And so, God the Father looks at the Son in verse 9. Now, listen to these words. Because you have loved righteousness, he said, stop right there. Every Christian loves righteousness. He said, 'But that's not all I said. Because you have loved righteousness and hated sin. Therefore, God, even your God, has anointed you beyond your companions. I went, whoa. He said, you learn to hate sin the way I hate sin, you'll see the anointing of God increase upon your life.

Wow. So powerful. I mean, combining everything we've really talked about today, end times, deception, fear of the Lord, and everything. If Jesus were to return in the next 60 seconds, what would be your final warning or encouragement to people watching or listening?

He told a parable about 10 virgins.

Oh, I love that parable. They have light. He never said to agnostics, "You're the light of the world." They are looking for the bridegroom. They're not harlots. They're virgins. Five were wise. Five were foolish. That kept me up at night last year. Why didn't you say nine were wise? Why did you say five? I spoke to 10,000 people on the I'm being offended. 8,000 people responded. God's presence manifested so strong. And I remember after I was done, I walked over to where one of the other ministers w was in that conference.

Yeah.

He looked at me with tears running down his face. He said, "The Holy Spirit told me 50% of the church is not ready for the return of Jesus." I was speaking at a church where a pastor was older than I am. I had a lot I have a lot of respect for this pastor. He looked at me in the green room and he said, "John, I was in prayer and God told me 50% of the church is not ready for Jesus's return." The only reason I repeat those two men's words is because they exactly line up with what Jesus said. Five were wise, five were foolish. Paul said, "Don't let anyone fool you who tries to excuse sin." This is Ephesians 5. Don't let anyone fool you by excusing these sins. And he listed these sins, right? And he said, "Don't live as fools, but live as wise." So what he's saying is don't allow somebody to fool you by telling you the grace of God will gives you the permission to live an immoral life. We have so many today that because we're not warning and teaching. Paul said to present every man in Christ perfect, you have to warn and teach. Colossians 1:27. Because we're not warning, we're not correcting. We're not rebuking. Remember, doing it with a heart of love.

Yeah.

Because you're really, really distasteful if you rebuke and you don't love the person.

Yeah.

The reason Jesus could speak to the Pharisees the way he did is because he was willing to die for them. When you're going to go correct somebody, you need to ask yourself, would I die for that person? If you're not willing to die for them, you don't need to be correcting them.

Wow. That's so good.

Okay. So, but we're not correcting. We're not rebuking. I I I I stood up in a man's church and I preached I preached on 1 Corinthians 6. Don't let anyone fool you. Talking about foolish virgins, those that are immoral. I said, "Stop right there. I'm first on the list." I was bound to pornography at 11 years of age and I got free. I I I got married and I was in the ministry and I still wasn't free. I was bound to it. But on May 6th, 1985, after a 4-day fast, I got set free, and I'm still free today.

Come on.

Thank God. That's a horrible, horrible bondage. And I said, I'm first on the list. So, I'm not throwing stones. I said, those that are immoral, those that are adulterers, those that are homosexuals, those that are idolattors, those that are thieves. I I started reading the list will not inherit the kingdom of God. And I remember it the Supreme Court had just ruled on same-sex marriage. So this is 2015. I'm preaching this. I'm in a 9,000 member church. The pastor was away and he called me. He called me. He said, "Don't on the next services, don't talk about that. Just let me talk about it." Well, I I don't know that he did. But anyway, I said, "Okay, I'm a guest in your house. There's lots of other things for me to preach on." And my son was working the resource table. I was preaching on the book Killing Kryptonite that I wrote years ago. Two women walk up to the table to my son with tears coming down their eyes. Said, "We've been in relationship for 20 years in a lesbian relationship. I'm I'm a police woman. We need what that man said. Can we please have that book while the pastor tells me not to preach that?

Wow.

Now, did I preach on it in the next three services? No. Because I'm in somebody else's house and there is a lot of other truth I can preach. Okay. But that is an example.

Yeah.

If we don't talk about these hard things, I mean, I had a I had a billionaire look at me. I was in his ranch and he said,"Wh aren't preachers talking about the relevant subjects? Why is it all just inspiration?" And what I learned, Bryce, is the stronger I preached it, the more the people your age loved it. Because the people your age got to know three things. This is the three things you have to know. And you you correct me because I'm talking about you.

I believe in what I'm preaching.

I live what I'm preaching. And I really love you.

Yeah.

If I have those three things, you guys will take it stronger than any any most people in my generation.

Yeah.

If you know those three things.

Yeah. Wow. Gosh. Man, that's so crazy about the pastor. I praise God for everything you're doing. The plowing the ground, making people aware, sounding the alarm, encouraging people in the fear of the Lord. Would you just pray for everyone watching and listening that we could that we can like sit and soak on it and and allow allow this message to drive us into deeper love with Jesus?

Absolutely.

Please be so honored.

You heard me talk about what a bride does in order to marry a groom. This doesn't mean you're perfect. When my wife married me, she wasn't perfect the first day, the first week, the first year, the first 50 years. But I'm going to tell you something. She never flirted with any guy. I've been halfway around the world and I know my the the heart of her husband safely trusted my wife because I'm her man. I'm not ask Jesus is not asking for you to be perfect in behavior. He is just saying he wants to be you. He wants to be all yours. That's repentance. Will you miss it? Yes. Have I missed it? Yes. We quickly confess it and say if I ever have the chance again, I'm not going to miss it. So, all I want you to do is make the decision that that bride makes. I want you to say, "Jesus, you're all mine. All mine from this day forward forever. You're my king, my Lord, my groom. You're all mine and I'm all yours." So, just say this with me. Dear Lord God, thank you for speaking to me in this podcast. I'm so deeply, deeply sorry for the way I have flirted with and engaged with the very things that drove the nails in your hands. I repent today. I break up with those things. In this very moment, Jesus, I give you my spirit. I give you my soul. I give you my body. I give you everything I am. I give you everything I have. From this moment and forever, I am all yours. I'm your bride. I'm your girl. I'm your loyal subject. I want to be a friend to you. I receive you as my king and I look forward to your return return as my bridegroom. And it's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen.