Pastor Jesse Bradley on The Power of the Second Thought - The Faith & Goal Podcast w/Paul Allen

None

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Faith and goals. Here's the hostof faith and Goal, the voice of

(00:31):
the Minnesota Vikings, Paul Allen.It's faith in Goal forty. Happy to
be by your side. Happy tobe by your side, whether times are
good or bad, happy or sad. God always is by our side,
even when we think he's not.And there's calamity overcoming the Covenant. And

(00:53):
I'm preaching to myself too right now, by the way, this is not
a finger wagging moment. I'm lookingright in the mirror and I'm preaching to
myself. Slowing down during the darkness, ignoring the constant text messages, phone
calls, emails, whatever I andwe receive, Praying to God's will to
help with things you and I justcannot get hold of. Peace and quiet

(01:18):
time are so important to a dailyroutine. Sometimes I go to bed at
like eight thirty to purposely slow myselfdown. How do you as a Christian
find peace and rest to handle thedistractions every single day? Offers? Recently,
I had a two hour coffee chatwith Pastor Dan from Shepherd of the

(01:41):
Lake Church in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Now, one of the goals with
the confab was for me to learnmore about what goes into Lutheranism. God
has my appetite for learning more aboutreligion, and religion's quite voracious at this
stage of my life. During theChat, a passage emerged from the Gospel

(02:05):
of Matthew. It's chapter eleven,verses twenty eight through thirty and has been
referenced on faith and goal several times. The Bible implores believers really all but
implores believers to find rest and peaceand for a variety of reasons. But
when Jesus was preaching to beaten downJews oppressed by the foolish laws, he

(02:29):
said, quote, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me, for I am gentleand humble in heart, and you will
find rest for your souls, formy yoke is easy and my burden is
light. That's an open invitation,then now and forever, to pray to

(02:54):
God through Christ, to find restand peace in him. It's like quote,
Father, if it's in your will, please help me with this problem.
I can't gain the mental strength tostop or fix it, and only
your loving grace and or power canchange what's transpiring with me, and I'll

(03:19):
wait as long as needed, knowingYou're always by my side. How about
the Book of Philippians, Chapter four, verses six and seven. Guided and
inspired by the Holy Spirit, whichis God, the apostle, Paul wrote,
do not be anxious about anything,but in every situation, by prayer
and petition, with thanksgiving, presentyour request to God, and the peace

(03:42):
of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.
In Christ Jesus. That's quite direct, yet very warm, comforting,
and very real. Don't be anxious. The don't be anxious anxiety impacts every
single one of us one way orthe other. What Paul is teaching,

(04:05):
however, is having the anxiety andworry and sour feelings that's going to happen
to everybody, and that's just fineand dandy to a certain extent. But
becoming a prisoner to it, that'snot fine and dandy in the eyes of
God. Thus, as the passagestates, in every situation, every situation,

(04:29):
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.
Easier said than done for me andmaybe all of us. And there ain't
no doubt about that. But Inthe passage, the Paul who used to
be Saul is preaching to podcast hostPaul, who is sharing with those who

(04:50):
will hear it and maybe pray toGod. The Bible teaches guards our hearts
and minds through his son, thesacrificial Lamb, known as Jesus Christ or
God on Earth. Jesse Bradley isa pastor at Grace Community Church in Auburn,
Washington, just outside of Seattle.He's a Christian, An author,

(05:14):
and a man whose dream of playingprofessional soccer was becoming a reality and boom
ten years of turmoil, disease,fear, negativity, and physical and mental
anguish due to said disease he incurredwhile in Africa. Those were the dark

(05:35):
days for Pastor Jesse. It remindsme of what Paul wrote in Two Corinthians,
Chapter twelve, verse ten. Thisis from the King James version.
He writes, Therefore, I takepleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distressesfor Christ's sake. For when I am

(05:59):
weak, then I am strong.For when I am weak, then I
am strong. So how did Jessebecome strong during his darkest or weakest days?
Let's find out. Faith in Goalforty starts right now. The faith

(06:21):
Jesse Bradley Jessebradley dot org to learnmore about the soccer loving pastor and it's
at Jesse Bradley via Twitter. Pastorexcellent meeting you and how is life up
Seattle, Washington Way, Paul.We appreciate you as well, voice of
the Vikings, your iconic call theMinneapolis Miracle, and just all you do

(06:43):
for the community and your own personalfaith story too. It's inspiring. So
thanks for all the ways you're makinga difference. I'm in Seattle now,
but I grew up, you know, on that Minnesota Golden Golfer campus.
My first apartment where we lived wasliterally in the football parking lot sooks and
you know, I saw Bobby Knightjust passed away. But we'd go to
the games in the barn. Itwould be shaking William's Arena. So many

(07:06):
great memories. And when I toldmy parents I wanted to be a professional
asthet, I was two years oldand it all happened right there. So
my heart's still in Minnesota in somany ways. Lots of family there as
well. So that's where your sportscareer began correct, that's right. I
went to Spa, played three sportsthere. We won the state championship in
soccer twice in the Metrodome back inthe day, you know, about five

(07:29):
thousand fans and just amazing experience fromwatching the vikings there and then being able
to step on that field. AndI got to be honest, I was
scared. I was terrified. Myjunior year played awful, but we still
won, and then my senior yearwe wanted to shootout and buzz logos.
Of course, you think of MinnesotaUnited. He was my coach for so
many years. Alagos family, manyLagos, so a rich tradition of soccer

(07:49):
and Minnesota as well. So thenyou probably know an old school friend of
mine, Amos McGee. You knowAmos absolutely. We would carpool the school
together and then from rides and goget donuts after practice. And he was
a great player as well and doinga phenomenal job. I really appreciate Aimo
and you as a pastor. AsI mentioned earlier, at Grace Community Church.

(08:13):
It's in Auburn, Washington, butit's just very close to Seattle.
This question for you, Jesse,if there were an inviting slogan outside Grace
Community Church, where you preach,what would it say? And what I
mean is like it's okay to notbe okay, or maybe come for the

(08:33):
Bible, leave learning the art ofthe bicycle kick something like that. That's
great. Yeah, we should getyou on the PR team. You know,
you got some creative ideas there.We talk a lot about the hope
of God. The hope of Godis available to everyone. It's relational,
habitual because we cultivate habits and ultimatelyindestructible. You know, I think of

(08:54):
the Verse where Jesus says, cometo me, you all who are weary
and burden, that I will giveyou rest for your souls. And Jesus
has living water. We have somany people right now across America, you
know, American Psychological Association, we'venever been more stressed. We have a
Census Bureau saying half of America feelshopeless. We're looking for hope. We're
searching and starving, and ultimately,it's not found in something created, although

(09:18):
there's so many blessings, but it'sin a relationship. And we really like
to talk about grace. Obviously atGrace Community Church, Grace is an undeserved
gift. Jesus died for our sinsand he's risen. According to Barna,
over half of our country thinks yougot to earn your way to heaven through
good works and being a good person. But that's not how you get there.
It's not how you start a relationshipwith God's not striving and achieving,

(09:39):
it's receiving. And I know asan athlete, I had a performance based
identity, that roller coaster ride ofinflated, deflated, pride, shame,
and it wasn't until my career endedthat it really shifted for me. And
that's where I realized who I amis not what I do. And grace
means that you're secure, you're loved, you're forgiven, you received the gift.

(10:01):
And I didn't grow up going tochurch. I know Minnesota as a
tradition of a lot of Lutherans andCatholics, a lot of churches where I
lived, but I had none ofit. Didn't believe God existed. And
when I went to Dartmouth College thatwas the first time I read the Bible.
It was in a class introduction toa religions. It wasn't planned.
I wasn't seeking God but the Bible'spowerful, and if you've never read it,
open up the Gospel of John.Read a chapter a day. Just

(10:24):
open up your heart, because God'sgoing to meet you there. He already
knows you, loves you, pursuesyou. I kicked the tires. I
wanted to make sure it's reliable,the scripture, the evidence for the resurrection,
historical evidence, like I studied itall before I believed. I know
facts lead the faith, and there'snothing greater. There was an emptiness.
I can say it this way totwo stories in our life, the outside

(10:45):
story of the inside story. Ihad success on the outside, but the
inside was empty and I couldn't figureit out. I had checked the boxes
and all the goals. I hadthings going well in school, friends,
you know, sports, pro soccer. But on the inside and emptiness and
this real relationship, that's the void, and nothing can fulfill that as much
as you pile into your life unlessGod's there. The emptiness continues. And

(11:11):
we have a hope, not onlydaily but eternally. It's in Jesus.
And I just love to share aboutJesus because how he changed my life.
Well that there are people who youknow won't read the Bible, or haven't
read the Bible, and maybe flippantlywill formulate the opinion that it's too Pollyanna,
you know, it's it's this mandid this for three plus years and

(11:33):
then he died on a cross,supposedly was resurrected, and now all of
the sins are forgiven, so they'lllook at it like that as to pollyanna
ish when quite honestly, I mean, and you just really touched on a
man beautifully, Pastor Bradley, theBible is so brutally honest that when you
take time to recognize, yeah,Moses was a terrific figure and a world

(11:56):
changing figure, but he didn't getto go into the Holy Land for certain
reasons. And like King David,was an adulterer and arranged for the murder
of a man. Yet people willthink Star of David Matthew was a tax
collector, ripping off his own theJews, and over supporting the Romans who
were adversarial. So the Bible isvery honest about all of that, and

(12:22):
I think that's an underrated beauty ofthe Bible. What do you think about
that? Great point? Great point, Paul, Because it's a real book,
real people, real stories, theflaws, the warts, the weaknesses,
and we can relate. It's relevant, and all of Christianity comes down
to the resurrection. If there's noresurrection, we're not talking about Jesus today.

(12:45):
And the question is, you know, where's the body? No one
found it? And what's the evidence. You have people willing to die saying
they saw Jesus over five hundred witnesses. That's compelling. A five hundred people
tell you they saw something, youshuld at least pay attention. And then
we have that historical evidence of thechange lives. You know, no one
is going to die for a lieif they know it's a lie. But

(13:05):
we have, with the resurrection andthe Bible itself, the evidence, the
number of transcripts, the accuracy thetranscripts, the closeness in terms of date,
the original transcripts. I mean,all of this is laid out for
us. God wants to love us, you know, in a way that
makes sense, that's logical. Andalso there's evidence, historical evidence, so

(13:26):
we can love God with all ofour minds. And you don't need to
turn off your mind when you readthe Bible. In fact, go deeper
would be my encouragement and with Jesushimself. There's more Bibles sold than any
other book, so it's the mostread. His teaching stands out, his
miracles stand out, I mean,from feeding the masses to walking in the
water. But he's unique. Heclaims to be the son of God,

(13:48):
and throughout history some people have madethat claim. Jim Jones obviously false claim.
Many have made the claim. Whensomeone makes the claim, C.
S. Lewis says, you onlyhave three options. This is what got
me thinking. Jesus claims to beGod, and the Resurrection supports that he
didn't just do the resurrection. Hesays, I am the Resurrection. He
makes the statement I am, andeveryone who studies a Bible knows, and

(14:11):
going back to Exodus, God's nameas I am. He and the Father
are one. So when he makesthat claim, you've got three choices.
Intellectually, you can't just say he'sa good teacher, a prophet, and
a nice man. Instead, he'seither lord, liar or lunatic. He's
a lunatic out of his mind becausehe actually thinks he's a savior and he's
not. Or he's a liar becausehe knows he isn't. He's trying to

(14:33):
deceive people, or he's the Lord, and intellectually, we've got to make
some decisions. Even with the differentreligions that I studied, there's some commonalities
like love your neighbor. Yes,we celebrate the commonalities. But you either
choose is Jesus the Messiah or ishe not right? There can't be a
thousand gods, one god and nogod. Intellectually, it can't all be

(14:54):
true. So one God with Jesus. You got to make a decision.
That's the cross. You only gotthree options, and it took me a
while. I was resistant. Ikind of gave God the heisman and said
nope. But eventually, if you'reopen to the truth, you know,
it's like sitting on a jury.Look at all the evidence, and when
the evidence comes in, you're getto need to make a face decision either

(15:15):
way. But it took less faithto follow Jesus than it did to reject
Jesus because it's so compelling everything hesays and does. And I encourage anyone
today who hasn't made that decision tofollow Jesus's Lord and savior. No one
can make that decision for you,but there's no greater decision, there's no
greater relationship. And when you dothat, just know this is a house

(15:39):
on the rock, not the sand. And it's not a blacebo effect.
It's not a blind face. Youreyes are open, your mind is open.
And Jesus said He is the Truth, and the truth sets us free.
So walk in the truth today,walk in love today, receive his
grace today. Hey man, that'sbeautiful. Jesse. Now from Saint Paul
Academy to the University of Minnesota withsoccer and then to Dartmouth. All right,

(16:02):
after you graduated from Dartmouth, whathappened to you in Africa? I
was living out my dream and asto play soccer overseas Scotland, Africa,
Zimbabwe. I took a prescribed medicationto prevent malaria and then it built up
toxic levels in my system and itwrecked me. It was brutal and life
was going one way and it wasn'tgoing that way anymore. Physically, I

(16:23):
had heart symptoms, tachycardia, raceand heartbeat one hundred and sixty beats a
minute, atrial flutter, heart murmur, pain in the less side in my
chest day and night. That wasone of about ten physical symptoms and then
had I also experienced ways of anxiety, panic attacks, depression, all side
effects of the medication. I wasfighting for my life for one year.

(16:45):
Took ten years to fully recover thatintense and yet in the middle of that,
God showed up. God does hisgreatest work in the most difficult and
darkest moments, and he can bringgreat experiences by his grace out of ties.
And so many shifts happened in mylife. I never thought I'd be
a pastor that wasn't on my raidar. I thought I'd be a goalkeeper,

(17:06):
probably till I'm forty. I startedto develop some new habits, so gritty
gratitude, thanking God every single dayinstead of just over focusing on what I
lost and then letting God in.I had a view of God that he
was only interested really in my successand when I did well, and I
didn't know he wanted to come intothose areas that were dark, that were

(17:26):
confused, that were struggling, andthe disappointment, the grieving. I didn't
know how to grieve. My copingbefore that was really just try harder and
do better in school and sports,and I didn't know how to let God
in I didn't know how to letpeople in, even like pour up my
heart, tears received healing. Allof these things were new to me and
I was in crisis mode at thetime. But God was teaching me and

(17:51):
growing me. And C. S. Lewis said, no, pain is
the megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Sometimes we don't want to grow until
we really need to know and needto grow. And I couldn't make it
alone. I needed God, Ineeded other people. I needed to make
some changes in my life. Somethings needed to shift. And I even
started to chart the progress being ableto walk, because if you go through

(18:12):
something chronic, you don't feel likeyou're improving. And I had to look
at the wall and say, allright, a year later, I can
walk ten more minutes than I couldbefore without my heart this rapidly, you
know, beating one hundred and eightybs a minute as I just walked slowly.
So all of this, even relearninghow to drive, it was humbling.
But God, the fruit grows inthe valley, not the mountaintop.

(18:36):
I believe that, and that's wherethe deepest work happens. Then you know,
out of that pain, in thatrecovery, that restoration story. I've
been able to share that with people. Talk about the hope I experienced.
It's greater than our challenges, andeven though I was grieving, I had
a hope. It's far greater.It's an indestructible hope. And I love
to share this hope because all ofus are designed to give hope, receive

(18:57):
hope, and do that daily.And it's a message that you know,
I've been able to share around theworld. I thank God's opportunities to be
a regular on major television networks andto tell the story. And I encourage
everyone to share their story, everyonewho's listening, because your story is powerful.
It might not seem to you likeit's going to be life changing,

(19:19):
but it'll inspire so many people.And I had to get much more vulnerable
than I ever wanted to, muchmore transparent. I had to enter in
and share things that were not comfortableabout my low points, and then I
found that people didn't judge me,but in fact we connected together and then
they started to share new things andthere was healing in those conversations. So

(19:40):
whether it's one on one or ina podcast interview, I found that it's
good to take relationship risks. It'sgood to let people in share your story
because it's going to build up otherpeople, and then they're going to share
their story. And we need eachother and we need to share our stories
courageously, honestly and ultimately my storyit's a healing story of what God has

(20:00):
done in my life and then someof the people God has used, because
God will bring people into your lifeto build you up, to speak truth,
to hold you accountable, to encourageyou when you're down, and to
bring out the best in you.And then you're going to collaborate. You're
going to do things with other peoplefar beyond what you could do alone.
And to step into that that journeyright there, it's worth it. As

(20:23):
hard as the most difficult days were, the dark knights the soul, as
hard as those were, I lookback and what's come out of that has
been greater than the loss and thepain and the suffering. So again I
encourage you to share your story.Paul. You're doing it your faith.
You're not just hiding it and youknow, embarrassed or you know, keeping

(20:47):
it totally secret. Faith is personal, deep and in some ways private,
but at the same time it's alsopublic. Because today, you know,
we have the model in America inGod we trust, But what does that
mean? People are confused spiritually andGod, Jesus is the same yesterday,
today, forever. He is ourhope, even in the Middle East.

(21:10):
There won't be peace in the MiddleEast until the Prince of peace returns.
And we can now put our hopein Jesus. And he's a healer.
He unites you and gentile. Backduring the Bible, there was a wall
of hostility. Jesus broke it down. Jesus brings people together. There's going
to be people from every nation,tongue, and tribe in heaven. And
God's love is for everyone. AndJesse before we hooked up, I read

(21:33):
a passage from Second Corinthians when Paulpreaches in Second Corinthians quote when I am
weak, then I am strong endquote. So how mightily does that resonate
with you, not only during thatdecade of disease, but every single day
of your life. Absolutely, it'sa daily reliance, and reliance is healthy

(21:55):
spiritually. God's power is made perfectin our weakness, so we don't have
to fake it, put on afront, try to be someone imposter syndrome
we don't have to do that stuff. We're human. We get tired,
sometimes we get frustrated. Sometimes we'renot sure what the next decision we should
make. What the wisdom that weneed. Like in God gives the promise
when we go to him. He'llgive wisdom to anyone who asks. Today.

(22:18):
If you've got some decisions financially,your marriage, you got some job
decisions. God is faithful. Ifanyone lacks wisdom, ask God, who
give generously to all. And Ibelieve as we seek God and listen to
God, Jesus is our good shepherd. He speaks to us. Spend time
in the Word, and God's goingto give you clarity in your decisions.
He's going to give you courage todo the right thing because his direction is

(22:41):
not always the easiest past. Sometimeswe think the most comfortable, easiest path
that's from God. No, actuallythe self sacrificing, giving to other people,
serving paths that's not the easiest.He's going to give you courage for
those conversations that are difficult too,and then compassion and love for people.
This has nothing greater than love,and we run out of love. Like

(23:03):
on our dashboard when we drive,we check the oil. We check the
gas well. During the day werun out of love, we run out
of patience. God is the onewho never runs out. He refuels us.
We go to God. He islove, and he builds up the
love we need. So in ourrelationships we have it. We forgive,
we speak words of life. Thismakes the difference. I love the phrase

(23:25):
abide and respond from John chapter fifteen. Jesus says abide, which means remain,
and it was from the vineyard,the branches of vine If you abide
with Jesus, you'll bear much fruit. Our role is to abide. God's
going to bring the fruit, andthat fruit of the spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness. You don't get joy by focusing on

(23:47):
joy. You don't get peace byfocusing on peace. You get peace by
focusing on Jesus and then the joy, the peace. It'll be overflowing because
He is the God of hope.So daily walking with God, receiving for
God. Make sure your receiver isn'tbroken. Some people they try to be
self sufficient, tough, pull themselves. Listen, we need to receive.

(24:07):
You can't share what you don't have. Receivings first, that's the abiding,
closeness, trust, receiving get filledup and then the overflow comes and people
are going to see the fruit.That's beautiful. And your book, The
Power of the Second Thought. It'syour newest book and power thought dot org
where people can order it and theycan learn more about it powerthought dot Org.

(24:30):
It's called Power of the Power ofthe Second Thought. So let's start
here with that. Generally speaking,Uh, is there a problem or what
is the problem with the first thought? And overall, what's the book about?
Thank you? Every day we havethousands of first thoughts. That's a
psychologist tell us. We know ourminds are active, they're incredible, they're

(24:51):
wonderful. A lot of the firstthoughts, though, are not good,
and they might be selfish or mean, or inaccurate, impure. What do
you do? First, recognize thinkabout what you're thinking about. Recognize those
first thoughts. Second, reject theones. The Bible says, whatever's true,
noble right think about such things,So reject the thought. I call

(25:14):
them hope seeds. They might berewinding old tape. So your past mistakes.
But these thoughts that come in,these hope thieves. If there was
a thief that showed up at yourhouse. You wouldn't open the front door
and say, come on in,hang out, let me make you a
meal. Do you want to spendthe night in the guest bedroom. Here's
the combination of the safe, havewhat you want. You wouldn't do that.
Well. The real estate between yourears is so valuable. And don't

(25:36):
harbor, believe, or entertain thesefirst thoughts that are destructive, that are
negative. And the last part isreplaced an intentional second thought. When Jesus
was tempted, he quoted the scripturethree times. The Bible says, take
every thought captive, make it obedientto Christ. If you don't guide your
thinking, if you don't take yourcapsules your thoughts captive, your thoughts will

(25:56):
take you captive. And your thoughtscan take you to some dark places.
So again, recognize the first thought, then reject what's not good and replace
it intentionally. Second thoughts so betterthan first thoughts. This is a habit
that you can cultivate daily. Godwants to renew our minds, and even
memorizing or meditating scripture that makes agreat second thought. So when you're tempted,

(26:17):
go to your second thought. Whenyou're discouraged, your second thought.
Anxious go to your second thought,and when your thinking's right, it flows
into every part of your life.The power of the second thought is the
name of Jesse's book. Pastor Bradleyand Topowerthought dot org wants again to learn
more. Just a couple left here, Pastor, thank you very much.
In fact, a couple of weeksago you shared tidbits from the book on

(26:40):
Fox News Digital. How do youbelieve that is and or was received when
you do things like that, becausein a roundabout way, hearing the importance
of the gospel of Jesus Christ beingthe only way to heaven isn't necessarily why
people tune into channels like that.That's right, and any time you share

(27:03):
your faith there's a risk. It'salways a blessing to the other person because
they have an opportunity to turn toGod and receive God's love. They might
do it right away, they mightdo it down the road. They might
be angry at first but later openup their heart. So simply we plant
seeds, stay faithful, trust Godwith the results. I'll say this that
anytime you go public and baptism isa reminder of our faith and how Jesus

(27:27):
lived how he tells us to live. Let your light shine like, don't
be ashamed of him. As wego public and baptism, it sets the
tone for our walk with God.And as you go public and share your
story that, yes, there's goingto be a range of responses. The
more visible in public you make yourfaith, the more objestion persecution comes.

(27:48):
But you know you can endure allthose comments that come on social media.
You can endure people and the hatred. I simply respond with kindness and love,
and that's my to it. Butpeople hated Jesus and they're going to
hate you if you follow Jesus.At the same time, I'll say this,
people have been so receptive, sokind. The number of examples of

(28:11):
life change in incredible, inspiring storiesthat come back far outnumber the criticism and
people throw in shade. And peopleare hungry right now. There's kind of
a sense right now that we needGod and people are looking. They don't
know where to go. People arenot necessarily coming to churches, even though
I believe that's really important to finda local, healthy church, solid church,

(28:34):
but people are searching on their phones. We've got to go to where
people are. It's real simple.Go to where people are, even beyond
the four walls the church, andpeople are on their phones, they're watching
television, they're listening to podcasts.And when you share it authentically, clearly,
lovingly, like they know that yourmotive is just that you care about
them and no one told me,and out of my story, I just

(28:57):
have a passion for everyone to beable to hear and know that this relationship
is real, that is good,and that there is hope not only for
today, but even hope in theafterlife because Jesus he overcame this, he
overcame death. So yeah, keeptaking risks, trust God with the results.
And I'm just surprised how open peopleare. There was a study done

(29:21):
recently across America and what was veryclear, not everyone was open to church,
but people were open to Jesus.And people really want to learn more
about Jesus and they don't know whereto turn. They don't have a friend
sometimes that knows much about Jesus,so they google search, but they don't
just want facts and ai they wantto talk to someone. They want to
hear a story. And I readthe Bible and I read Christians lives I

(29:41):
was reading both and people are watching. They're trying to pay attention and do
you have something that they don't currentlyhave. That's what was the difference for
me is I saw that Mike,this guy Mike on the tracking he had
something I don't have, and itwas God and it was very clear,
and eventually I made that decision tosay yes to guys. Last one,

(30:02):
Jesse, and thank you very muchfor the time on faith and goal for
zero faith and goal forty and offthat many people attend churches, I don't
know, maybe once a week,maybe a couple times a month, and
come, generally speaking, come forpositive reinforcing messages. And you're the lead
pastor at Grace Community Church, soI'm sure you deal with this because that,

(30:23):
however, the positive positivity and orreinforcing things like that isn't necessarily the
case with the reality of the dailygrind of man and ugly things transpiring in
the world. So how do you, pastor the congregation handling the balance between

(30:45):
giving hope through the Cross and resurrection, yet not ignoring the reality the Bible
taught thousands of years ago the deceitof the devil rules the world. That's
a powerful question right there and talkingabout habits. Before the pandemic, the
average was just over once a monththat people would come to church. Now

(31:08):
there's less people coming to church andbefore the pandemic, but it's absolutely taking
off in terms of digital ministry.And so when I preach now it's not
who's in the room, but mostof the people I'm speaking with and connecting
with are outside the room. Evenaround the world. We had one Hope
campaign and it was tied to theWorld Cup. In four hundred and eighty

(31:30):
thousand people made first time decisions tofollow Jesus. And when we bring content,
we see thousands at a time turningto Jesus. So the local church,
it's a bullsand. It's in theroom, and that's the best be
in relationship. To be in theroom. We need those connections, We
need the presence of each other,look each other in the eyes. But
at the same time a lot ofpeople aren't ready yet, and we can

(31:52):
reach them right where they are andwith content, with stories, and we're
doing both. Going back to interms of content, my goal is to
be faithful to God's words. God'sthoughts and ways are above ours. You
know, it's not about my opinion. Or if you go to a church
and you don't open up the Bible, like, probably need a different church.

(32:13):
Because God has spoken. We havethis love letter, we have this
Bible, and we after the Biblesays yes, and if it contradicts the
Bible, no, Like God's wordis truth. The Bible stands forever.
There's a few things that are forever, and that's God, people and the
Bible. And this is God's word. So God's word is taught. And
ultimately my goal is be faithful becauseGod will speak through his words. It's

(32:37):
living and active, It'll change heartsand absolutely be real. It's a temptation
for every preacher and pastor to beliked to give what the people want to,
you know, kind of tickle theears, scratch of the itch like,
and don't do anything that's going torock the boat. Well, if
I'm insecure, that's the path I'lltake. Or if i just want to

(32:58):
fill the church, that's the pathI'll take. But ultimately, I'm accountable
to God. So it's got tobe truth and love. Jesus is full
of truth, full of love.Everyone wants a love message for the truth
out that help right initially it hurts, but wounds from a friend can be
trusted and so out. That helps. But I personally need truth, I

(33:19):
need accountability. I need people inmy business and calling me out. So
I'm not trying to do anything thatI don't appreciate. Value as well.
IN need every day and we're allbuilding each other up. Iron sharpens iron
and sparse flight. When iron sharpensiron, sometimes there's some tension in there.
You know, I was using anexample of a guitar string, and
alone a guitar string has great potentialand purpose. But until it's connected to

(33:42):
the head of the guitar that's Jesusand the body of the guitar. We
need the head, we need thebody to get connected, and there's tension
on there. Without the tension,there's no song. But now listen to
the music and the melody that canhappen when that guitar string is looking bigger
than just itself. And when yougo to a church, don't just show
up and like rate the church,critique the church. What does the church
do for me? No, goto serve. Go to serve other people.

(34:07):
Serve other people, encourage other people, and build other people up.
Use your talents get involved. It'snot following. Jesus is not a spectator
sport. It's a participatory and it'sdaily this together united. Jesus prayed for
our unity. Our church went frompredominantly white to now all cultures and ethnicities,
and it's wonderful. It's not easy. We're learning how to unite forgiveness.

(34:31):
We're learning understanding, listening well toeach other. We're on this journey,
but it's so rich. It's ataste of heaven. And we need
to walk in truth, walk inlove, walk in unity. Is there
a cost? Yes? Is thatthe easy road? No, But it's
absolutely worth it. That's where God'spresence and glory is. That's where lives
are transformed. And there's no greatergift than God's presence. You're not going

(34:53):
to get God's presence if you don'tbring truth. God is always there with
truth. Love is always there withtruth. The two are together, Love
and truth like railroad tracks, they'regoing together, same direction. So yes
to God's word and it's exciting.I've got nothing better to see than lives
transformed, marriages restored. People thatwere thinking about suicide now full of hope

(35:15):
and joy. People discovering their talents. Like my goal is to empower people.
It's not just about one building,one hour, It's about twenty four
to seven. This relationship. It'snot about a church staff. It's about
everybody. There's no two tiers,two levels. Everyone's equal, every man,
woman and child. We live,work, learn, or play abiding
with Jesus bearing much fruit. That'swith Needa. That's how the nation's going

(35:38):
to change. God wants to bringhealing, but we need in the homes
healthy, in the churches healthy.The only way you're going to get health
is by abiding with the one whois healthy, Jesus, and then he'll
do the rest. He gets theglory. I'll close with this saw one
fifteen verse one. Not to usthe Lord, not to us be the
glory, but to your name,because of your love in faithfulness. And

(36:00):
I'm convinced that when we look backover our lives, our stories are about
God's love in God's faithfulness. Sotrust God today with the small things,
the big things, the future things. God has plans far beyond what we
can imagine. When I went throughmy tragy in Africa, I had no
idea how God would redeem it.Don't give up, don't stay in the

(36:22):
value of the shadow of death.Past failures don't define you, problems don't
define you. Keep walking through thevalue of the shadow of death. Jesus
is with you. One of theif not the deepest, most thoughtful and
wonderful messages ever shared in the historyof faith and Goal and Jesse Bradley,

(36:42):
Pastor Bradley, for that, wethank you best of luck with your book,
Power of the Second Thought again.People can learn more at powerthought dot
org. May God bless you andyour family and thank you very much for
joining us. Thanks so much,Paul, really appreciate you. Keep up
the good work. Thank you seeabud's pastor Jesse Bradley from a Grace Community
church just outside of Seattle, andthat also is Faith in Goal forty.

(37:07):
Thank you very much for listening offthe way the pastor closed things there and
with calling on Psalms. The bookof Psalms, mostly written by David who
we referenced earlier, is we arethe sheep and we follow a shepherd.
And if you once you read moreabout that and learn more about that,

(37:27):
it just grabs your heart in sucha beautiful way. There's an opportunity for
you to do that in the bookof Psalms in the Old Testament. We
thank Jesse for joining. We thankEric Nordquist for producing Faith in Gold,
and I'm Paul Allen. Keep thosepalms to the sky and thank you very
much for listening.