Winning the War Within w/ Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell

Summary

Girls Gone Bible: Winning the War Within w/ Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Episode Date: June 19, 2026
Hosts: Angela Halili & Arielle Reitsma
Guest: Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell

---

Episode Overview

This powerful episode of “Girls Gone Bible” welcomes back Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell for a conversation about spiritual urgency, perseverance through suffering, spiritual warfare, heartfelt promises to God, and contending for faith amidst opposition. Through honest testimonies and deep theological insights, the trio explores what it means to pursue God with authenticity, humility, and fire—offering encouragement and challenging exhortations for listeners hungry to live out genuine Christian faith in turbulent times.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sense of Urgency in This Spiritual Season

• Pastoral Urgency

  • Pastor Philip repeatedly stresses that “time is running out,” referencing current events as parallel to biblical prophecy (04:12–06:11).

  • He urges believers to take their walk with God and their call to disciple seriously, emphasizing that the Church may be living in the last period of the church age.

    “God is…sending warnings. Trying to awaken his children to realize that we are probably living in the last seconds of the church age.”
    — Pastor Philip, (04:53)

2. Pursuing and Maintaining Spiritual Fire

• Staying On Fire for God

  • Pastor Philip acknowledges that even leaders experience seasons of spiritual drift or feeling distant from God, normalizing these experiences.

  • He compares “fire” not to external loudness, but to intimacy with Christ (14:47–19:16).

  • Spiritual fire is rekindled by honest prayer, Scripture, community, fasting, and honesty about struggles.

    “God desires for us to be on fire. And when we say God desires for us to be on fire, what we’re saying is God desires for us to be very, very intimate with him.”
    — Pastor Philip, (19:16)

3. Suffering as Part of the Christian Life

• Normalizing Suffering and the Discipline it Brings

  • Pain, distance, and questioning God is part of the journey, seen all throughout the Psalms (20:27–25:56).

  • Western Christianity tends to view suffering as failure, while biblically it’s considered a grant, a gift for refining faith and identifying with Christ.

  • Authenticity in leadership is highlighted; showing one’s humanity brings hope to others.

    “If we try to eliminate [suffering] from our story, then we will pull out of the pages…some of the best chapters of our story.”
    — Pastor Philip, (25:56)

4. Trusting God as Healer Amidst Personal Affliction

• Preaching Healing versus Experiencing It

  • While dealing with mysterious health issues and waiting on healing, Pastor Philip still boldly preaches and prays for healing for others (30:21–34:10).

  • He proclaims that personal circumstance does not alter God’s character or His Word.

    “My sickness does not change his character. My sickness does not change his nature. My sickness does not change the truth about God’s word.”
    — Pastor Philip, (32:56–33:07)

5. The Power of Promise & Integrity in Ministry

• Two Promises to God
  • 1. If restored to ministry after a major personal failure, he’d preach faithfully and anointed until called home.
  • 2. Pledges never to bend Scripture—whether preaching to a full or empty room—and to preach with integrity, unmoved by people’s approval (37:20–45:13).

    “I will not be handcuffed by the approval of people. I’m not going to give an account to them. I’m going to give an account to the one who gave me a second chance.” — Pastor Philip, (44:02)

6. Battling Fear, Pride, and Platform Temptation

• Greatest Fear Is Disconnection from God

  • Pastor Philip is unafraid of threats or opposition. His greatest fear is pride, arrogance, or self-reliance creeping into his heart, potentially separating him from God and forfeiting God’s favor (45:41–56:35).

  • He maintains humility by recalling he is merely “the donkey Jesus is riding,” not the center of God’s work (50:57).

    “Eat the fruit. Stay away from the glory. God is not doing that [pouring out favor] for you. He's doing that for him.”
    — Pastor Philip, (51:16)

7. Authenticity Over Christian Masks

• Performative Christianity vs. Real Vulnerability

  • Danger of masking real struggles with "Christianese” is exposed (56:58–63:49).

  • The example of Paul’s transparency is highlighted—real strength comes from vulnerability and letting God’s power display in weakness.

    “I boast all the more in my weaknesses that the power of Christ can be displayed in me.”
    — Pastor Philip, (60:11)

8. Criticism, Discernment, and Spiritual Warfare

• Handling Critique as a Public Christian

  • True critique can be valid and should be humbly considered, but there’s also slander rooted in jealousy or direct satanic attack designed to shut doors of the Kingdom (65:02–71:06).

  • Discernment is critical; not all criticism is correction.

    “No one is above critique... but there is critique that hides behind the guise of critique, but it’s really the sin of slander.”
    — Pastor Philip, (66:44)

9. Accountability and Leadership Structure

• Who Holds Pastor Accountable?
  • God, wife (Lena), his children, elders/staff, and close friends all have the authority to rebuke or correct him (73:41–75:28).
  • Lena’s unimpressed attitude keeps him grounded.

10. The “Man of God” Complex

• Guarding Against Leader Idolization

  • Pastor Philip actively prays against being idolized, striving to exalt Christ and make himself less visible in ministry moments (76:48–80:27).

  • Vulnerability from the platform breaks unhealthy admiration.

    “I am a dude from the street that God saved and just chose to use who's still trying to figure it out.”
    — Pastor Philip, (79:59)

11. Raising Masculine, Accountable Men

• Encouragement & Rebuke for Men of This Generation

  • The demasculinization of men is seen as spiritual warfare. Men must be given space for vulnerability, but also be held to radical accountability (81:00–85:55).

  • Teaching sons (and men) to “own their crap,” apologize, and seek intangible virtues (integrity, character, purity) is crucial.

    “Our generation needs godly men. Enough is enough. …We need to tell more men to desire things that are intangible that will make them better men.”
    — Pastor Philip, (85:55–86:23)

12. Announcement: New Book "Contend"

• About “Contend” (Releases Oct 13)
  • Book written from the message of Jude, intended to “awaken the Body of Christ to the hour that we are in, the times that we’re living in, and the need for the bride to contend for the faith.”
  • Emphasis on contending both outwardly (in culture) and inwardly (in our hearts); available for pre-order (87:44–89:28).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Urgency:

  “If we're not about that life right now, I feel like we're not about anything.” — Pastor Philip, (06:11)

• On Intimacy & Fire:

  “There is a fire of a old woman that sits in the back of a church and nobody knows her name…but when she kneels to pray, demons tremble…” — Pastor Philip, (17:30)

• On Suffering:

  “There's no walk with Jesus without suffering…If we try to eliminate that from our story, then we will pull out…the best chapters.” — Pastor Philip, (24:56–25:56)

• On Preaching While Sick:

  “My sickness does not change the truth about God’s word… I don’t have to be healed to preach healing.” — Pastor Philip, (33:01–32:49)

• On Pride & Platform:

  “I'm not going to try to protect a platform I did not build by trying to appease people that are not going to be the judge I stand before.” — Pastor Philip, (44:05)

• On the “Donkey” Analogy:

  “We are just the donkeys that Jesus is riding on.” — Pastor Philip, (50:57)

• On False Christian Perfection:

  “Trying to look perfect, that's fake. The Christian life is suffering, trials, tribulation, hardships.” — Pastor Philip, (63:49)

• On Fathering Sons:

  “I teach my two sons that real men take accountability and that real men know how to apologize and real men just own they crap…” — Pastor Philip, (83:52)

---

Important Timestamps

• 03:36 – Pastor Philip’s approach to ministry and honoring individuals as people first
• 04:19–06:11 – End times urgency and spreading the gospel
• 14:47–19:16 – How to maintain spiritual fire and intimacy with God
• 20:27–25:56 – Suffering as Christian normalcy and biblical foundation
• 30:21–34:10 – Preaching healing while personally ill
• 37:20–45:25 – The two promises Pastor Philip made to God
• 45:41–56:35 – Platform, pride, and what truly causes fear in his heart
• 60:11 – Boasting in weakness for Christ’s glory
• 65:02–71:06 – Discernment for criticism vs. slander/satanic opposition
• 73:41–75:28 – Structures of accountability in his life
• 76:48–80:27 – The “man of God” complex and intentional de-idolization
• 81:00–87:19 – Exhorting men toward accountability & biblical masculinity
• 87:44–89:28 – About the book “Contend” and its purpose

---

Final Thoughts

Pastor Philip’s transparency, theological grounding, and burden for the hour offer listeners not just encouragement, but a call to deepened intimacy, courage through suffering, and faithfulness in the small and the public. The episode is a refreshing, challenging, and grace-filled roadmap for believers ready to “contend for the faith” in a world desperate for light, truth, and authentic leaders.

Book Rec:
Contend by Philip Anthony Mitchell – available for preorder now. (87:44)

---

For More:

• Follow @angelahalili & @ariellereitsma
• Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell on Instagram & at 2819 church
• Preorder “Contend” on Amazon

---

“The Lord would never create a life for us that makes him unnecessary.”
— Pastor Philip (29:29)

Transcript

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

[Angie]

of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] today we'll attempt a

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

feat once thought impossible. Overcoming high interest credit card debt. It requires merely one thing. A SoFi personal loan. With it, you could save big on interest charges by consolidating into one low fixed rate monthly payment. Defy high interest debt with a SOFI personal loan. Visit sofi.com stunt to learn more. Loans originated by SoFi Bank NA member FDIC terms and conditions apply.

[Ari]

NMLS 696891 all right, guys, we are so excited today. We feel so honored because we have someone extremely special that has blessed us for a second time on Girls Gone Bible. A man who has genuinely changed my life. Someone who's completely transformed the trajectory of my faith. 2019 is my church, and every Sunday I encounter the Lord on my floor as a digital disciple. And it has completely changed me as a woman. Pastor Philip Mitchell, and thank you for having me. His obedience, your purity, your urgency, your deep love for people. I just said to. To your team that when I see you, I truly see Jesus.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Wow, man.

[Ari]

I appreciate that you are as real as they come. And because of that, you are saving millions of people across the world. And we love you and we are so honored to have you here today.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Man, I love y'. All. Y' all are my sisters, and I'm deeply honored to be here. Thank you for your kind words. I could say the same about you. You know, every time I'm in your presence, I feel the spirit of God and I feel the love of God. And even like Angie and I was just talking offset, you ladies, you are the real deal, right? You are the real deal. You. You live this, you suffer well. You are serious about Christ. You love God's people. And so I could say all the same things about you all. And I love you with all my heart. Thank y' all for having me on the podcast again.

[Angie]

Thank you, Pastor Phillip. Just letting everyone know, we don't have tissues, but I got it ready. Because you guys remember last time Pastor Philip walks In the door. I mean, I, I, I took, like, an hour to do my makeup. The second he walks in, we're bawling our eyes out. He's praying for us. So we just want everyone to know that this is not a man who walks into a room and says, hey, guys, here I am. No, he walks in and says, hey, there you are, and here's Jesus. And let me for you. So someone who intentionally walks in and, like, wants to know what's going on with us. And let's be honest, you meet so many people in this space who don't see the person in front of them when it's like, a ministry context. You walk in and you're like, okay, cool. Let's do the job. Let's do the thing. No, you walked in and you said, hey, you guys are people before we're doing ministry. So thank you for being who you are.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Absolutely.

[Angie]

Seriously?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Absolutely.

[Ari]

Oh, it's so funny every time. I'll watch your sermon, and we'll do a podcast. You always know when I watch you because I start flipping out on everybody. I'm like, I don't know what you want me to say. Time is running out. And Andrew looked at me and be like, you can watch Castor Philip. I'm like, crap, I did. Just relax.

[Angie]

We'll be in an Uber. And I was like, I don't know about you, but time's running out. So what's up?

[Ari]

Like, leave that to Pastor Phil.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I'm like, fine. But it is, though.

[Angie]

No, it is.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

But it is. Right? It is. And we. We. We could laugh about it now, but it is.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right. And I, I, I say that a lot because I want believers to know that we don't have all the time.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

We think we have. Right. I, you know, when I acutely aware of the events that are happening right now in the world, both in our nation and outside of our nation.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

In the Middle East.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I'm looking at things that's happening with China and Russia.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Looking at how all these things are running parallel to biblical prophecy.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And there's just this. This burning sense in my heart when I kneel to pray that God is, like, sending warnings. Warnings. Trying to awaken his bar, his waken his children to realize that we are probably living in the last seconds of the church age. Right. And I just think people need to know that so we can take our walk more serious, but also take our call to spread the gospel and multiply disciples more serious. So even when, like, for example, Ari, when You and I was talking off camera and Angie and I was talking about this, too, how you ladies are going to continue your tour. Right. And how you. And I was just talking about. You could care less about a podcast. It's more than a podcast for you. It's more than a podcast for you ladies. You want to be with God's people. You want to be in the room. You want to teach and preach and wrap them in your arms. You want to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. You want to look them in their eyes when they're shedding tears. Right? And. And. And you're talking like this. But, but that. That burden that is in you is that end time burden that we need, that goes beyond a studio, goes beyond moments like this, that we have to get the gospel to God's people.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

As many people as possible. So when I even think about you ladies extending your tour to be with God's people, I think that even is the Holy Spirit guiding you ladies to do that. Right. We need to be out there in the highways and byways, making Jesus known, compelling as many people as possible to come into the kingdom. If we're not doing that, I don't even know what we're doing. I feel like if we're, if we're not about that life right now, I feel like we're not about anything. Right. So just when I think about the extension of your tour and you know, me saying that time is running out, I just think through multiple voices that Christ has raised up in this hour. He is trying to sound an alarm both in our nation and around the world that now is the hour for us to be serious about the things of the kingdom.

[Angie]

100%. When we were preparing and we've put so much prayer into this, like you are, it's so hard because first of all, the point of this episode today with you is we want to know what the Spirit is saying. We want to know what God. Where his heart is, y. What the warning is, what the encouragement is, what the exhortation is. I. As we were praying earlier, I was just praying that, Lord, like, let there be an exhortation today for the body, just like the disciples did in. In the letters to the churches. Like, like, please speak today in a way that guides people because he's moving and we need to know where he's going. But then there's also so much that's on your lifespan, specifically, like, it is undeniable. There's a move of God happening through you that is translated beyond Your city, beyond your church and beyond America. Like all over the world, people are getting saved off of your sermons, off of your teaching, off of your preaching. And so you probably hate this term, but like you, you are the man of the hour. There's something so significant on your life right now. And we honor what God is doing through you. I first, I just want to ask one question that's, like, burning on my heart. You have such a sense of urgency, and you're serious about the things of God.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Angie]

And the joy of the Lord is our strength. So I imagine, like, you have to experience joy, right?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I do. You do experience joy off the platform.

[Angie]

Off the platform.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Outside of podcast rooms, I experience the most joy when I'm alone with the Lord in my prayer room. I experience the most joy when I'm alone with my wife and my children, my family. When I'm with them, I experience a tremendous amount of joy. I love watching movies with my kids, taking walks with my wife, riding bikes with my sons. I experience a tremendous amount of joy off the camera when I'm with my family. But for me, when I'm on a platform, it's life or death. When I'm ministering to people, it is life or death. The joy of the Lord is in there, but it takes a backseat to the call in those moments of to make Jesus known. I feel that anytime we are speaking, whether you ladies on tour in a room, or I'm preaching at Sunday morning at 28:19, at our gatherings or wherever I'm traveling in America, around the world, I feel like that can be the last time somebody may hear the gospel. Who's sitting in that room? Right. That may be the last time that somebody hears the proclamation of God's word. There's been testimony, stories of people who have left our gatherings and did not make it home. There was a brother in our church who left a gathering with a group of believers and jumped on a motorcycle to go home, and he did not make it home. A few months ago, there was a family coming from another city to our gathering. And that young man, he was in his 20s. He lost his life that week, and he was planning to be in the Gathering in 2019. And so life is fragile.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And it is held in the palm of God's hands. And no one knows what day will be their last. I never know what Sunday will be my last. I never know what podcast would be my last. Right. And since I never know what Sunday will be my last or what podcast would be my last or what conference would be my last. If that is my last. I want to make sure that the scriptures were properly proclaimed, that Christ was exalted, that the audience heard the truth, and that I represented God well in that moment. Right. And so if any Sunday is my last or any podcast, my last, they said, well, that was Philip Anthony Mitchell's last preaching. That was his last interview. Was Christ exalted? Did we get around to any kind of gospel conversations? Was there fidelity to the scriptures? Was it properly exegeted and not isogeted? So for me, it's that serious. And that's not to say that we can't have humor and satire and proclamation, but I'm just not wired that way.

[Angie]

Yeah, right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

For me, it is life or death every time I stand to minister. And so people may not see what appears to be like joy in those moments, but I experience a lot of joy outside of those moments. But for me, those moments, they are life or death. That's what they feel like. For me, I feel like, I feel like even moments now where, you know, millions may watch this podcast or moments where I may be traveling or on the Sunday that is coming, I feel like those moments for me, I feel like I'm on the front line of warfare. I'm on the front line of battle. And I feel like for me, it's just not. There's just not time to play around. Right. So there is joy. Right? There is joy. It's just, it's off the platform, it's in the secret place and it's with my family and it's with the people that I love when I'm spending time with them.

[Angie]

Absolutely. I'm Kiana.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And I leveled up my business with Shopify. Once I figured out that Shopify was a thing, I never turned back. I can create a site with my eyes closed. Shopify thinks ahead of us, you know, and it thinks about the customer more than anything. Every day I'm thinking about some other new business, but Shopify is doing it to me because it's so easy to use. It's like, I can't stop. I'm addicted. Start your free [e-mail]

[Commercial Announcer 1]

you can never have too many tools. Shop Dewalt Deals and Lowe's. Get a free select Dewalt 20 volt max power tool when you buy a select 20 volt max 5amp hour battery kit. Plus get a free additional Dewalt 20 volt max 8amp hour battery when you buy a Dewalt 10 inch 20 volt max dual bevel compounded Miter saw. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's, valid through 624 while supplies last selection varies by location.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

I started Ornod in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non technical people. We're able to admin everything on the back end, front end and sell things online easily. If Shopify were a bike accessory, I think it would actually be the bicycle. It's the thing that you do the thing on. We run the business on Shopify.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Start your free trial on shopify.com. yeah.

[Ari]

Can. Can you tell people I just. You just have a fire that it doesn't burn out.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Ari]

And a purity. I was just talking to your team and one thing they said is you just. You make sure that they burn with purity.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Ari]

Can you talk about just keeping that fire with the Lord?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Ari]

And the purity of the heart? Because that's what you have.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I think, I think in our humanity we all experience seasons of drift. I think we are prone to wandering. It's in our fallen nature. I think we all go through hard times and challenges and trials that extinguish our fire from time to time and push us into places where we feel cold and maybe distant from God. Right. And I say that as a preference to what I want to say to encourage the people who are watching, who may be in a place right now where they feel far away from God or their fire has waned to some degree. I want to level set and say it happens to all of us. Right. I'm sure it happens to you ladies. It happens to me. There are times when I feel like my fire may burn a little dim and it has to be reignited. I think for me, when the Spirit of God was poured out on 120 disciples on the day of Pentecost, the Lord poured out his spirit. He manifested himself in tongues of fire. It was the first thing that the Holy Spirit touched in men was their mouth. It said something like tongues of fire appeared in the room over them and it rested on all of them. 120. And they began to prophesy and speak in other tongues or other languages. And when I think about that, the first thing that Holy Spirit touched on men when he was poured out on day of Pentecost was their mouths. And the mouth is connected to the heart. And so if we read the text carefully, we understand that God, he set those 120 on fire. And I think it's God's will for his people to Be on fire. I don't think it's God's will for us to be lukewarm. And I don't think it's God's will for us to be distant from him. I think it's his will for us to be on fire. Even if it is a quiet fire. There is a fire that is voracious and loud that bears the name of Philip Anthony Mitchell. But then there is a fire of a old woman that sits in the back of a church and nobody knows her name, and she's not famous, and she doesn't have a global platform, she doesn't have a global podcast. But when she kneels to pray, demons tremble, right? And when she goes into a prayer closet, she shifts atmospheres. And so it's not about a platform and a name. It's just, how intimate are you all with Christ? Right? The fire is symbolic of how close you are to Christ. If God is a consuming fire, then how do we get close to him and not be burned? Right? If God is a consuming fire, I don't see how we can be intimate with him and not be burned. And so when we talk about fire, it's really how intimate are we are with Christ. I think the more we read and the more we pray, the more we consecrate, the more we fast, the more we distance ourselves from iniquity and sin, the more we pursue holiness and purity of the heart, the more we grow on fire. And when that fire is cold, we have to go back to the source. The source is Jesus himself, Right? It is me going back into the secret place and being honest. See, yeah, this is. It's all right. It's just me. It's me going back to the secret place and saying, lord, I am in a dry place. Right? It's me going back to the secret place and saying, lord, I have drifted away from you and being honest. It's me getting around community who's on fire and being able to tell them that I've drifted from the Lord. Can you pray for me? It's me putting myself in gatherings where people are on fire is me watching across a camera 2019 where people fight. It's me acknowledging when I am in a place where I know how far away from God and doing the necessary things to throw wood back on that flight. The community through the scriptures, through prayer, through fasting, through holiness, to purity. I think God desires for us to be on fire. And when we say God desires for us to be on fire, what we're saying is God desires For us to be very, very intimate.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

With him.

[Angie]

That's such a great distinction, because I think so many people can hear being on fire as being bold and being the loudest one in the room and being the biggest one in the room. And that's not the case.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

No.

[Angie]

We didn't even plan on going in this direction, but really quickly. You talk about suffering a lot. We talk about suffering a lot. I went through a season within the past few months of my life where it's been difficult, and the fire that I feel when I'm on top of the world wasn't there. So what do I do when I don't feel as on fire? When I don't feel like I love Jesus as much as I did before, When I feel like my problems and my pain are bigger than Jesus? It's just the truth. It's not the truth, but it feels like it's the truth in the moment. And during that season, my main focus was staying faithful when I was vulnerable, staying faithful when I was frail. Can you talk to people about discipline when you're suffering and just like, how you can be disciplined in a way that doesn't lead to being religious, but being disciplined in a way that leads you back to the fire?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah, that's really good. I think it's important for us to level certain, say, to allow those who are listening to understand that that is normal. Right. I think we should normalize suffering and pain and the outgrowths of that that make us sometimes draw away from God. That is not abnormal. And I think there is grace in the Scriptures for that. When I. When I read the Psalms, I love the Psalms because my mother, specifically my mother and my father when I was young, they would, I would say, force me to read the Psalms, even though I wasn't a believer and that seed was in me. So when I get saved, I would come back to the Psalms often. And one of the things I love about the Psalms is that the Psalms, the largest book that we have preserved for us in the Scriptures, it gives us the full array of all human emotion, right? So in the Psalms, we see everything from radical joy to radical sadness, Right? We see the human emotions from being on mountaintops and being in valleys. And so when we read the Psalms, we see the full, full array of all human emotions on the spectrum from the far right to the far left. And the fact that it is in there and the fact that the Psalms were written by David and Moses and other men inspired by the Holy Spirit, it gives us permission. Watch this to feel.

[Ari]

Yeah, Right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

It gives us permission to be broken. It gives us permission to cry, to weep, to mourn, and to even question God in moments like God, why do you feel so far away from me? It gives us permission to watch us to be humans who God understands. I love when the scripture says that we were made from dust and our frailties. Right. And I say that because what the enemy does sometimes when we go through seasons like what you're going through and what you are going through when we go through seasons like that, the temptation would be for the enemy to make us feel so condemned for our feelings and make us feel like God is mad at us for our feelings. But we have to remember that he is a loving father. He's the same person that not only aspired the psalms through those writers, but invites us to come back to him in those times where we feel broken. Right. And so I want to first. I want to first respond by just saying to the person who's watching, I want to normalize pain. I want to normalize suffering. I want to normalize the human things we go through. That almost creates distance between us and God. I want to say to somebody, watching those things are normal and they should not condemn themselves when they feel that way. Right. God gives us grace to feel, and he's given us emotions to feel. So. So that's number one. But number two, I think that we need to have a better hermeneutic and theology of suffering. I think in the west, we treat suffering like failure, Right?

[Ari]

Exactly.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Like a disease.

[Ari]

Yep.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And because we hide behind veneers of false perfection, because of our platforms and our acclaim and our fame, we have people who move around the body of Christ. And we look at them and where they are, and we think they have no problems, they have no issues. And I think that does people a disservice. I think one of the most beautiful things we can do for the body of Christ, especially when you're a person who has influence, is pull back the curtain every now and then and let them see your humanity. Let them see that you can be vulnerable. Let them see that you're going through suffering. Let them see you're going through pain. So they have hope that even the people we call our heroes, they are suffering too. Everybody's dealing with something, Right. And this is why I teach our church that we have to learn to live well, but we also have to learn to suffer well.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And we have to have a good theology of suffering. Suffering is part of the Christian experience. Let me say this Again, suffering is part of the Christian experience. There is no walk with Jesus without suffering.

[Angie]

Yes.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And there is a beauty in suffering. And the beauty in suffering is. Is when we are suffering for righteousness and when we are suffering because we're in the will of God, then in those moments, even through pain and through tears, we can whisper in our brokenness, say, lord, thank you that you have allowed me to suffer with you and to identify with your suffering, that I get to step into suffering with you. And as we step into suffering with him, we are brought closer to him in our suffering. We are shaped in our character because of our suffering. Our faith is strengthened because our suffering. We identify with Christ in our suffering. There is something beautiful in suffering that unites us with Jesus in such a way that just being on mountaintops will never do right. And I think when we teach it that way, we can learn to wipe tears from our eyes while thanking him at the same time.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

That God, although I'm in pain right now and suffering right now, I know that you are with me in this and that you are shaping something in me as a result of this, and that you will walk with me all the way through this valley until we meet the base of the next mountaintop that we will climb together. And so if we try to eliminate that from our story, then we will pull out of the pages. Even though what I'm about to say sounds counterintuitive, we would rip out of the pages of our story some of the best chapters if we don't allow suffering to be a part of our story and embrace it as sons and daughters. We have to. Yeah, we have to. And extract from it all of the good things that come out of suffering. And I believe because of the Scriptures that there's some suffering. It is God's gift to us. You know, you remember the Apostle Paul when he's sitting in a prison cell, he penned several letters to the churches in the prison cell. One of them was the letter he wrote to the church at Philippi, which was the first church planted on the continent of Europe. And he's sitting in a Roman prison cell. He writes this letter to the church at Philippi. And around the back half of chapter one, he says he talks about suffering being a gift that's granted to us from God. He connects suffering and granted. Like, who says that in the same sentence? Right. Who uses the word suffering and granted in the same sentence? And so when we see sometimes suffering like a gift from God, sometimes we have to look past the pain and say, God, what are you trying to do in me as you are allowing me to go through this suffering? Like he's working something in you right now, Angie, as you're going through your season of suffering? I won't talk about it on camera. You and I talked about it off camera. But what you're going through right now, God has allowed that. Right. And he's allowed that for some good in your life. And for you, Ari, some of the things that you go through in your own suffering, like God allows that for some good. Good in your life. And to the brothers and sisters watching who are suffering now, not suffering for foolishness. Yeah, let's separate that right. Not. Not suffering for iniquity because of rebellion and disobedience and sin. I'm not. I'm not talking about. There's a type of suffering people go through because of disobedience, and there's a type of suffering people go through because of rebellion and pride and iniquity. So I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a suffering that we go through for righteousness and a suffering we endure because God grants it to us. God, what are you doing in me in this? What can I learn always? How is it shaping me to be a better man and a better woman? I'm suffering right now. Right. I'm suffering in my body. Right. I'm suffering from social persecution. Right. I'm suffering from death threats on my life. I'm suffering from. There's all command of things right now in my life that I'm suffering from. And in it all, the Lord does not completely remove it.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

But he's gracious in it. There is fruit in it. There is lessons being learned in it. Right. And in keeps us on our knees. Right. The Lord would never create a life for us that makes him unnecessary.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right. So even our. Your most favorite preacher, the platform that we covet, we think if we get there, if we have the big staff or we get to the bag, or if we finally get married or if we get the fill in the blank, I'll be suffer free. You will never create a life force that makes them necessary. So he will always leave a little bit of suffering in our life. And it's for our good.

[Ari]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And it's for his glory.

[Ari]

Do you feel like you being sick, going through your health issues has changed your faith? How do you look at God as healer? Has that changed at all? And how do you do? How does that look for you? What does that look like right now?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right now? I am dealing with a mysterious medical condition. I'm seeing a specialist. I'm believing God for my healing. I was in a gym, you know, I posted, you know, when I was laid up in a medical bed. And. And I did that because I want people to see that my life is not perfect and that I'm suffering with. With the brothers and sisters in. And at the same time, the Sunday after I was in that medical bed, I'm preaching. That Sunday Acts Chapter 2, about the coming of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit hijacks two of our gatherings. You know, I preached three times on a Sunday, and he just pours out his spirit, God, in a mighty way upon us. In our last gathering, I feel the spirit of God instruct me to just preach healing to the people, do an altar call for healing. And I'm doing an altar call for healing while I'm sick in my own body. And I'm. I'm believing God for healing while I'm sick in my own body. Right? And like, the doctors are trying to rule out prostate cancer and they're trying to rule out kidney disease, and they're trying to rule out all these other things. And I have 100% faith as I'm doing that altar call that God is healing people in the room while I'm sick in my own body. While people are standing at the altar and while they're coming down from the risers and while they're bawling their eyes out with their face on the altar, there is nothing in me. There's not even an ounce of doubt in me in that moment that God is healing people in the room. Both he's healing physical bodies. He's healing minds who have been battling with all kind of mental trauma. He's healing hearts that have been battling with. With emotional trauma. And there is not even a ounce of doubt in my heart in that moment. So good that God is healing people in that moment and healing people across the camera. Not even. Not even a smidget of doubt is in me while I'm sick in my own body. Right. Because I believe that I don't have to be healed to preach healing. Yes, I can preach healing because it's

[Angie]

a biblical thing to preach because it's who he is.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I could preach healing because that's who he is.

[Ari]

Yeah, that's right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I could preach healing because Christ is a healer.

[Ari]

That's right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Even while I'm carrying sickness in my own body, I can still preach because my sickness does not change his character.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And my sickness does not change his nature.

[Ari]

That's right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

My sickness does not change the truth about God's word.

[Commercial Announcer 1]

Right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

There is nothing that you and I are going through that changes the truth

[Angie]

of scripture, that is.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And there is nothing that you and I are going through that changes the character of who he is. Right. So it does not matter if I'm sick in my body. I can still preach healing because he is a healer. I could preach healing because the scripture teaches us these signs and wonders will follow those who believe they will lay hands on the sick and the sick shall recover. Right. The scripture teaches us about the power of prayers. The prayers of the righteous availeth much. Right. And so me battling my own medical issue does not negate me from having faith for healing for brothers and sisters. And at the same time, while I'm laying hands on a sister or brother, I'm laying hands on myself. Right. And so I'm not gonna notice believe Christ as a healer or his ability to heal because I'm battling my own medical issues. My. I don't want to say condition, my temporary circumstance.

[Ari]

Yes.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Does not negate the goodness of Christ and his character and his nature and his word. As I'm talking to you right now, I believe I will be and I believe I am right now healed in Jesus name. I believe that. And I'm not worried. It's not going to hinder me from not only doing God's work, but believing for healing for other people.

[Ari]

Instacart understands that not all bananas are created equal. Some people want them green, some want them ripe, some want them ready. Right now with Instacart's preference picker, now available at most retailers, you can choose how you like certain items like banana ripeness, deli thickness, even avocados before your shopper even starts. So instead of crossing your fingers and

[Angie]

hoping for the best, you get groceries

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

picked the way you would pick them.

[Ari]

It's a small thing, but it makes a big difference.

[Angie]

Download the app and get bananas just how you like.

[Ari]

With Instacart.

[Commercial Announcer 1]

You can never have too many tools. Shop Dewalt deals at Lowe's. Get a free select Dewalt 20 volt max power tool when you buy a select 20 volt max 5amp arrow battery kit. Plus get a free additional Dewalt 20 volt max 8amp hour battery when you buy a Dewalt 10 inch 20 volt max dual bevel compounded miter saw. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's, valid through 624 while supplies last selection varies by location.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

High interest Debt can be a real vibe killer. Credit cards, personal loans, and more can make you feel uncomfortable, even in the sanctuary of your own home. Well, what if you knew that SoFi can help you leverage your home's equity to feel more at ease? It's called a SOFI Home Equity Loan, and it could consolidate your debt at a typically lower interest rate than existing debt with lower monthly payments, and all while keeping your existing mortgage rate. View your [e-mail] payoffdebt today Mortgages originated by SoFi bank and a member FDSC and MLS number 696891. Terms and conditions apply. Equal housing lender it's not.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Y' all gotta pray for me.

[Angie]

Absolutely. And we're asking everyone to join in.

[Ari]

Everybody be praying for. For him. Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Pray for me. And. And can I just take a moment to just thank everybody who. Right. If you. If you. If you're watching this podcast and you have any knowledge of my post that I made or my temporary momentary affliction moment and you have prayed for me, can I just say to your audience, thank you. Thank them for anybody who has prayed for me. I appreciate that so much. It means everything to me.

[Angie]

Oh, you are so loved and cherished and thank you, Jesus, for your life. You are. We want to ask a couple of questions. I really want to ask you if there is like a promise that you made to God and these are like very intimate questions. So if there's anything you don't want to share, that's totally fine. Is there anything in your walk with Jesus like a promise that you made that you kept, that you never broke that has you believe potentially is one of the reasons why the Lord has trusted you so much in this season.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Wow. You know, the Holy Spirit told me you were going to ask me that today.

[Ari]

How?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

You know, this morning when I was getting ready to come here, I was getting dressed. The Holy Spirit told me that someone would. One of you two would ask me this question. And I don't even know why. Right. But the Holy Spirit told me one of you would ask me this question so I could testify. Two promises I've made to God. Two. When I was two years or so into my walk with Christ, I was a new believer and I had an epic failure in my life. I hurt a lot of people in that season. I hurt my family. I hurt church members. I had an epic failure in my life. And after that failure, I was in a back room of a church facility and I was staring at a podium and I was looked at that Podium. And I said, man, Lord, I walk with you for two and a half years. I guess that's it. I'm done, right? There's no bouncing back from my mistake. And I guess the 2 1/2 years that I walk with you and the 12 times I got a chance to preach, it was good while it lasted. And I was staring at that podium when I said that, thinking to myself that my time serving Jesus in ministry was over. And I walked away from, like, ministry thinking I would just. I would just be a lay person all my life.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And two years after that, I was in Bible college, and they asked me to preach at chapel. And I had not been behind a pulpit or done any kind of ministry for, like, two solid years. I was like Peter, who felt like I dishonored the Lord. And I walked away from the Lord like Peter did. Like he went back to being a fisherman. But the Lord, he met me and he restored me. When they came and asked me to preach chapel, when I thought I was unusable, And I fasted for a week, And I studied the text, and before I got up to preach that chapel, I made a promise to God that if he would anoint me again to preach, I would be faithful in my proclamation until he called me home.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

That was.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

That was in 09. That was almost two decades ago that I made that promise to the Lord if He would anoint me to preach again, I would be faithful in my proclamation and I would honor. I would honor him every time I stood on a platform to proclaim his word. I've kept that promise to him for almost 20 years. I've kept a promise to him for almost 20 years. By God's grace, I. I intend to keep that promise to Him.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Until he calls me home. Right. So like I even said to our church during our Acts 1 and 2 series, I said to them, my whole ministry and my whole life is a second chance. And I intend to make good with my second chance. That is one promise I made to the Lord that if he would give me this grace, I'm. I intend to keep that promise. And the Holy Spirit told me you would ask me that.

[Angie]

That's so crazy.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I just. I just need to get that off my chest. Yeah, I've never talked about that on a podcast.

[Angie]

Thank you, Jesus. Did you have a second one that you wanted to.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yes. The second promise I made to God was when we changed the name of our church from victory to 2019. In January 23, 183 disciples in our church. I'M preaching in an empty high school auditorium to 183 disciples. And there are seats everywhere. You can come an hour late and still get a seat. I made a promise to God that I will be faithful to preach to whomever you put in front of me, whether the room is full or the room is empty, I will not bend the Scriptures. And I made that promise to Him. I intend to keep that one, too, with his strength, until he calls me home. Those are two promises I made to God. And if he would. If he would continue to give me grace, I. I intend to keep those promises. So I will be faithful in my preaching and steward in the anointing he's entrusted to me. And I will. I will not be afraid to preach the truth.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Whether it fills up a room or clears it out. I will not be handcuffed by the approval of people. I'm not going to give an account to them. I'm going to give an account to the one who gave me a second chance. And I'm going to give an account to the one who has poured out his spirit on 2819.

[Ari]

That's right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

That's the one I'm going to give an account to.

[Ari]

Right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I'm not going to try to protect a platform I did not build by trying to appease people that are not going to be the judge I stand before. I'm not going to do that. So I'm content to be misunderstood. I'm content to be persecuted. I'm content to get death threats. I'm content to be lied on. I'm content to be called a demon, a false prophet, all the things I'm content to suffer. All of that for the name of Christ when in silence. I know. I know that I'm doing everything I can to be faithful to the one who gave me a second chance. Even if people don't understand who I am, what I am, what I preach, or my movements, even if they don't understand that I'm content to be faithful to the one that gave me a second chance. So, yes, that's a long answer to say. I have made two promises to God and I intend to keep them.

[Angie]

Praise Jesus if it cost me my life. Unreal. I can't believe the Lord showed you that this morning. That we were going to.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah, he did. He did. That's no lie. He did. As sure as there's a God above, the Holy Spirit told me one of you two was going to ask me that question and I need to be prepared to testify.

[Angie]

Wow.

[Commercial Announcer 1]

Lord,

[Angie]

we wanted to ask, has there been a moment through all of this where you've been more afraid than you've been excited? And what did Jesus do with that fear?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I've never been afraid of death threats, and I've gotten those. I've wore vests on my podcast tour with my brother Tim. I've never been afraid of people coming in my DMs, you know, saying, you know, they're gonna get me and all this other stuff. I've never been afraid of opposition from false religions. You know, we have. You know, it's not unknown that there is a camp out there that really hates me, and they try to show up at our gatherings and make a big display of themselves on Sundays. It's like, they have no platform without me. Right. I think if you're really men and women of God, have your own platform without trying to tear somebody else down. Right. Like, why do you have to show up our church? You know, it's like you're trying to just get content.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right. It's like, y' all don't even exist without, like, showing up at our church.

[Angie]

Wait, that is so crazy. And I'm going to use that in the future for people who are.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah, they have to use your platform to build their own. You know, it's like if you. If you're really of God, just do God's work.

[Angie]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Why you got to keep showing up at 2019? Right. So stuff I'm not afraid of that I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of threats and people showing. I'm not afraid of any of that stuff. I'm not afraid of men.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

The one time I have been afraid of God in all of this is moments when I have felt maybe, like, pride creep up into my heart or I feel like arrogance may have crept up into my heart, and I feel like, yeah, that's in there.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I feel that maybe I said or did something that was characteristic of being prideful or arrogant or thinking more highly of myself than I ought, or because of God's blessing in my life, my team, I probably work with the most dynamic group of human beings anywhere. I have a dynamic staff. When I think about God's favor on our church, the favor I experience in my personal life, my travels, the doors that have opened, the rooms I've sat in, the people I've met, the handshakes, the relationships I have that I will never talk about on camera. Right. When I take inventory of all those things, if you're not careful, those things can they can almost. For a person who's not grounded, almost make you think that this is for you and that Jesus has done all of that solely for you and he's poured out all that favor for you and all of that is for you. And then in a moment, self reliance can emerge and pride can emerge and arrogance can emerge. And when that emerges in my heart every now and then, that is when I feel the most afraid.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Ari]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Not because of men, not because of threats, not because of people trying to show up with knives or guns, or not because of false people trying to show up on Sundays, or not because I gotta wear bulletproof vessel. Those things don't. I'm not afraid of men. What makes me more afraid is when things creep up in my heart that might separate me from God, that's when I'm most afraid. That's when I'm most afraid. And that's when I have to go back to the prayer room and hang myself on the cross again and say, God, crucify this in me again and take this out of me again. And that's when I have to remind myself that all of this that has happened in my life over the last couple years, Jesus has done this for himself. Yeah, I'm just, I just get to steward. I just get to be a part. But he's done the platform he's given me, he's done that for himself, that his name could be proclaimed. What he's done at our church, he's done that for himself, that souls can be saved and harvested. What he's. What he's done in my life, he's done that for himself, not for me. I am the donkey that Jesus is riding on. Like you remember, I took my church through Matthew for three years.

[Angie]

Yeah, three years.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And in the end of Matthew, there is that scene when Jesus is riding in to Jerusalem on the donkey, fulfilling biblical prophecy. And the scripture tells us the people are screaming hosanna and they're laying branches on the floor as he's riding into Jerusalem right? Now, could you imagine if that donkey could talk? Say, like, wow, they're laying branches on the floor for me. They're screaming hosanna for me. Like, imagine, imagine if that donkey could talk, right? And we could hear him in his prideful state saying, wow, look at all these people throwing branches on the floor for me. Look at how they're shouting hosanna for me, right? Look at how they are healing and giving me praise for me and forgetting that the person that they're talking to, the Person that they're throwing the branches for is not you. It's for the person on top of you. Right? And it's the same thing for all of us. Right? We are just the donkeys that Jesus is riding on.

[Angie]

Right?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And so I tell, like, some of the young men around me, like, even our worship leader, his name is Trey. You know, he wrote a song, right? Now, our camp wrote a song. He wrote a song, and the team came around him and added pieces to the song Call for Christ Alone, that has gone out to the whole world.

[Angie]

Unreal, right?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And he. And I was having a private conversation, and I said to him, I said to him, I said to him, I said, listen, man, I'm going to come in and talk to your team about the temptation for pride and arrogance and all this other stuff. But I said to him in private first, your influence is going to grow, and the influence of the team is going to grow and everything. And I told him, eat the fruit. Stay away from the glory. When God blesses 28:19 worship. And if he blesses the songs that we write, remember, God is not doing that for you. He's doing that for him. And we just get to be a part of that as stewards. Right. Because if you really want to, he could just strip us of this platform right now. Right. And so. And so, again, that is a long answer to the question. When I'm most afraid, it's not because of men.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

When I'm most afraid is when I feel like things have crept up in my heart that is an insult to God and an insult to the cross of Christ. When those things creep up in my heart, that's. That's when I'm most afraid. Right. And. And that's why, you know, like, there's a. I made an announcement about my very first book that's coming out in October.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Of this year called Contend. And there's a chapter in that book when I talk about contending inwardly on the inside. Right. I wrote the book based on a message that I preached in London about Jude. I preached a message in London when we did our 2019 crusade in London. I preached a message from the letter of Jude. And the book is around that message from Jude. And there's a chapter in the book that talks about contending on the inside. And it's for everybody who is struggling on inside with, like, shame, depression, regret, feelings of betrayal, loss, all the things that come up on the inside that choke the faith out of us.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Where it's like, you're going to church, but you feel dead on the inside.

[Ari]

Yeah,

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

you're coming around, brothers and sisters, but you feel dead on the inside. You're trying to open your Bible, but you don't even feel like reading, right? You want to pray, but you feel like God is not going to listen to me. And I pray. We all know what this feels like. When you feel like. Or there's some person who feels like God is disappointed with me right now, or he's angry with me right now, or I've really messed up, God can't use me. And we know it is to wrestle with those feelings on the inside. So there's a whole chapter I write in the book about contending for the faith on the inside, right? And so when I'm talking to you right now about the thing I fear most, that's me contending on the inside. That's me fighting for the faith on the inside against that which separates me from God. Pride, arrogance, thinking this is all about me. Self exaltation, all those things, not only do they separate us from God, but they give him no incentive to keep pouring out favor. So does God. Look at you. So, oh, you think this is about you? All right, let me turn off the faucet of favor long enough to show you that you cannot do any of this in your own strength. This is my doing, right? So look at your podcast. Like, you have a global podcast. You ladies, you travel the country, you travel the world teaching, preaching, laying hands, believing God for healing, right? You have over a million people following you on your platform. Over a million people. That's a massive platform. Less than 1% of. Of all Instagram followers will ever have a million people following them on the prime. Less than, less than 1%. I think it's like 1.4, maybe less than 2%. Right? What's sitting on your life right now? Like, y' all are my sisters. Y' all know I love y', all, right? What's sitting on your lives right now is divine favor, right? Whether people don't understand or why these two girls. Why. Why them? I saw somebody one time try to. Try to persecute y', all, so. Oh, girls gone Bible. Like, they, they, they, they, they, they took a name that was like, a name from, like, something sexual and try to make it into something godly, and they try to persecute you. I'm looking at this, like. And I was about to get in the comments. I'm from the street, and so I've been telling my team, there's a part of Me, that's still not, like, oh, fully sanctified. Like, the Lord is still working. So I was. I was. I read somebody try to say something about y', all about why you hijack, like, a pornography name and try to make it into a. And I was about to. I was about to get in the comments and just correct the ignorant person. Let me say it like that, right? I was about to let them have it on your behalf. Right? But then I think about, okay, they're mocking something that God's hand is on and he's poured out his favor on and has been a blessing to the whole generation. Right? It is. It is undeniable that God's favor is on your lives. I know that God's favor is on my life, but when we start thinking it's about us, there's nothing for him to just. Just switch that off just a little bit.

[Angie]

Oh, my gosh.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And say, okay, let's see how y' all can do this in your own strength without my favor. Try that for three months and see how well you do. Right? And so it's so true. Yeah. That's what I'm afraid of most. Those things that. That creep up in me that are insult to the cross.

[Angie]

We literally just had an episode where we talked about something that's been on my heart so much over the last few years, few months. I think, like, tell me your opinion on this. But I think, like, especially when you come from the world and then you get saved and you adopt all of this, like, beautiful Christian language where you're. It's so easy to emotional and spiritually bypass what's really going on underneath. And we, like, put on this Christian mask where we speak Christian knees. And it's just, like. It's this thing that we all do. Most of us do. Like, I will admit, I speak spent a few years, like, obtaining all this knowledge and thinking that I'm this person when really there was so much going on underneath. On underneath that I was able to just completely avoid because I got to live this Christian life and have this Christian mask. And the second your life bottoms out, the second you hit a bump in the road and the mask can't cover anymore, it can't cover what's really going on underneath. I realized, I think the last few months of my life, I've been made so aware of, like, this performative Christianity where we say the right. Like we say the right things. And, like, it is encouraging at times. Biblical truth is important, and there are, like, these amazing, encouraging things that you can say. But when we use that as a cover and a mask, rather than, like, really addressing what's going on underneath, I've realized, like, this external picture that we put out of what we want people to see. See.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Angie]

That's not life with Jesus. Life with Jesus is everything you just talked about, those everyday woe is me moments where you're just made so aware of how much you missed the mark, how far you are from really being like the sun. And like, that's what the Christian life is. It's all about those moments, everything you just talked about.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

You know, what's so powerful about that? Can we be honest?

[Angie]

Yes.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I can just completely translate. So. So before this podcast started, when you and I were on the couch over there and, you know, we would just had a moment for you to just cry and be vulnerable. Right. And you, I asked you, Angie, like, how are you really doing in this particular area? And you just told me. Right. I think about that because you mentioned that now on the podcast when you said, you know, you're going through a very difficult season. Do y' all remember when the Apostle Paul said, you know, I boast all the more in my weaknesses that the power of Christ can be displayed in me? Right? Here's a man who was educated, well off financially, well connected, famous, he wrote two thirds of the New Testament. He has divine revelation not given to any other human being. I mean, if somebody had a right to boast, it would have been that man. Or to keep a veneer of perfection like, oh, it would have been that man. But that man writes, yet I boast all the more in my weaknesses

[Ari]

that

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

the power of Christ may be displayed in me. I glory in my sufferings that the power of Christ may be displayed in me. You would think, like, man, Paul, you're the great apostle Paul. You was trained at the feet of Gamaliel. You're a Pharisee of Pharisees. You know, a Jew of Jews, right? Like, man, you, Paul would be that man with such a huge first century platform to keep a veneer going, keep a mask. But every time we bump into one of his letters, we see him talking about him being a jar with issues on the inside. We bump into him in the back half of Romans 7, and he's talking about his wrestle with sin. The thing I want to do, I don't do. And what I don't want to do, I do. We bump into him in Corinthians, talking about his persecutions and his sufferings, and even being pushed to the point of despair. And we keep bumping to him in these letters where he's just talking about his issues. We bump into him when he's in the Book of Acts, when he's shipwrecked at sea. Like, for almost a year, we keep just bumping into a man that has every reason to keep a mask on, but life would not allow that for him. Not only did life not allow that for him, his writings did not allow that for him. He tells us a lot about his sufferings. He did not keep a veneer. And I just pray we learn something from the apostle Paul, right? I don't know anyone personally that has a platform like Paul. Yeah, I don't know anyone personally that had revelation like Paul. And I don't know anyone person that's written anything like Paul. Like, I. I don't have a seminary degree, but I read a lot of theological books. I'm a ghetto theologian, right? Like, I'm a hood theologian, right? Like, I don't have a seminary de. I want one. I went to seminary and I had to drop out the first semester because of family. Yeah, I would like to go back.

[Angie]

Totally.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I would like to go back. Listen, I. Y' all pray for me. I would like to go back, right? I'm a. I'm a ghetto theologian. But when you. But when you think about probably the most robust theological document ever recorded in history did not come from a seminary school, came from Paul when he wrote the book of Romans to a church he had not planted or visited. Yeah, right. When you. When you think about a man that has that kind of platform, revelation writing skills, man, if there's anybody that could have kept over there of like, man, I got this. I'm perfect. Like, it could have been that dude Paul. But yeah, nah, we don't see that in him. Just see a man that keeps talking about his problems and his issues and his sufferings in a trial. And although he does not mention it, right. Although he does not tell us in details, he does even confess his wrestle with sin. Like, the man confess his own wrestle with sin. And I think we just read past that so fast. The thing I don't want to do, I do. And what I should be doing, I don't do. And he talks about this wrestle with sin and who's going to deliver me, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. And so I just think the veneer is fake perfection in this life. Trying to look perfect, that's fake. The Christian life is suffering, trials, tribulation, hardships. And I think there's Even a strength in letting people see a little bit of vulnerability and letting them know that I'm going through something too, and I could still be faithful to Jesus while I'm going through it. I think. I think that shows a measure of strength than a false veneer of perfection. You feel what I'm saying?

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Angie]

100. What you said earlier was everything of like, I can preach that the Lord is good even when my situation isn't.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Angie]

I can preach that he's good even when I feel like he's not.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Angie]

Because it's not about my feelings. I just. You spoke to something a second ago about persecution and that little bit of, you know, unsanctified, whatever in you that wants to say something, nothing back.

[Ari]

Pop off.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Pop off?

[Ari]

Yeah. I want to pop off all the time.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Ari from.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

From.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

From Boston. You know how to pop off, Ari?

[Ari]

No, I want to.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Ari from the hood.

[Angie]

Every time you're seeing you're getting death threats, I'm like, ari's from.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Ari's from Boston. She's from the hood. Ari know about. You know about the Boston streets?

[Ari]

I sure do.

[Angie]

Oh, she does.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Murder pan.

[Ari]

Yeah. Maan Mad pan.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Murder pan.

[Ari]

Murder people. Exactly.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Angie]

So I. And I want to read this the way that it's written. Criticism in a season like this is rarely only disagreement. Right. It's often spiritual. How do you tell the difference between an attack that you should ignore a wound that needs healing and a correction the spirit is actually using?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

So I think no one is above critique. Yeah, Right. No one. No one. No one alive except for Christ himself. No one is above critique. And yet to avoid critique is to do nothing.

[Angie]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And to not be seen and not be heard. So if you're living faithfully for Christ, it could be a high school student, a single mom, a business professional, an athlete. I have relationship with athletes who are trying to live faithful for Christ in the NBA, in the NFL, whatever the case may be. I have relationships with people in the entertainment industry who have come to faith and trying to live faithful for Christ in a very dark industry.

[Ari]

Right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And so the scripture teach, no one who tries to live for Christ, they're not going to escape this life without some measure of critique and persecution. It's not going to happen. Jesus said, if they hated me, they will hate you too. If they call me a devil, they will call you a devil too. So let's just first establish is no being faithful to Christ without critique and persecution.

[Angie]

Okay, good.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

But when we hear it, we have to have enough humility and discernment to separate them into categories. So there are critiques that are valid. There is validity in those critiques. And if we are humble, we listen to them, we internalize them, we take them to prayer, and we try to use them to become better men and better women to shape our character. There is critique that I think is righteous and we should listen to. I have been critiqued about things I said. You know what? This person is right. And I need to take this to Jesus in prayer.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And I need to work this into my life and I need to change in this area. So there are some critiques I do listen to. Right. I may not respond in the comments, but I may have listened like, you know what? This person is right. Then there is a type of critique that is born out of the fallen, broken nature of other human beings. Jealousy, covetousness. Right. People jealous of your platform, covetous of your platform. They want to be in your seat, but they're not. So the only way they can feel good about themselves is to tear you down so they could prop themselves up. So there's a type of critique that's born out of the fallen nature of men. And it's really not critique. It's critique that hides behind the guise of critique, but it's really the same sin of slander. It's the sin of slander that hides behind the guise of critique. We call it righteous critique, but it's really the sin of slander. And that is unholy before the Lord. That is ungodly. Right. And then there is a type of critique that I think is just highly Satanic in which persecutions and things are being said about servants of God that are direct influence of Satan himself, using an unsaved mouth to speak lies about servants of God in an attempt to diminish that person's credibility in the world so that they would not listen to that person. So we even see this in the life of Jesus. When the Lord is being persecuted by the Pharisees, he calls them sons of Satan. Right. What were they doing? They were jealous. The Scripture tells us they were jealous of him. And Jesus calls him son of Satan. So at least they fit two of those narratives. There's jealousy in their heart because his ministry is outshining theirs in their mind. So there's jealousy in their heart. So they're continuously to antagonize him with their mouths. But they're also sons of the devil, so Satan is working through them. Watch. In an attempt to discredit the ministry of Christ So that less people will stop listening to Christ.

[Commercial Announcer 1]

Right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And this is why Jesus said to the Pharisees that they shut the doors of the kingdom in people's faces.

[Angie]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And the interpretation of that text is that because of their constant maligning of his ministry, they're causing people to turn away from listening to Jesus shutting the doors of the kingdom. The same thing is happening right now.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

There are people that will say evil things about you and evil things about me. That is completely satanic. And what the devil's doing is hijacking an unsaved mouth to speak evil about Ari, evil about Angie, evil about Phillip. And then unsuspecting people listen to that. They read that. They're watching a YouTube video. They're reading a post. Oh, Angie's like this. Ari's like this. Philip is like this. Right. He's a demon. He's a devil. She's a this. And the unsuspecting person who don't have discernment will listen to that because it's well packaged. And then you know what they do? I'm not watching their podcast no more. I'm not. I'm not streaming 2019 no more. I'm not turning no more. And because the wrong voice got into their ears, into their heart, they're deceived by the devil. They turn away from the voice that God has raised up. And then the doors of the kingdom get shut in their face. They go away into lies and delusions.

[Angie]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Distant from biblical truth. And that is what the devil's doing right now. There are voices that God has raised up in these last days. Like yours. Like yours raised up in the last days. And the enemy will try to work through jealous women, jealous men.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Pawns of the devil. To say X about Angie, X about Ari, X about Philip, X about whoever. Just trying to pick off as many people as possible from listening. Right. From listening. So that they. They wander into now false doctrines. They start listening to people that God did not raise up. Is happening right now in America, all around, especially in our country. And it is worse because of the proliferation of social media has given a platform to fools and a platform to demonic voices.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Can you imagine? We live in an era where people call real men and women of God false prophets. Maybe because a mistake they made on the platform or something. You don't agree about this person? A false prophet.

[Ari]

I've heard.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I saw somebody call me and say, I'm full of a demon.

[Commercial Announcer 1]

Yeah.

[Angie]

See, that's the stuff that makes the unsanctified Part of me come out.

[Ari]

Yes.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Come on. Like, I saw somebody, Somebody called me

[Ari]

a, A demon that is like, give me their number. I'll be very nice.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

A dance. This is crazy. Wow. But, but you know what they call Jesus A demon?

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Angie]

Oh, yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

They say, oh, this, these miracles he do, he does that by the power of Satan.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right. So you think that's the God in a body? Men called him a false prophet and a demon.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

What chance do we have?

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

We just got to be faithful in the midst of all that mess and pray for people to have more discernment.

[Ari]

Well, because I was going to ask you. The Bible says, do not judge for you won't be judged. But then it says judge righteously.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Righteously.

[Ari]

And so I want to know how you balance that in your sermons and in everyday life with loved ones, because that's something that I even struggled with.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah. I think for me, when the scripture says, do not judge lest you be judged, it's meaning we should not condemn men unjustly. Condemn men. Right. And we have to make sure that we remember that we to ourselves have a sinful nature. So that's why he talks about the toothpick that you see in somebody else eye, but you don't see the telephone pole sticking out your own eye. So there has to be if.

[Angie]

What version is that?

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

That's the PAM version. That's the PAM version. That's a good version. That's the PAM version. We, we, we see the toothpick in everybody else's eye, but we don't see the telephone poles sticking out our own eye.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

So it's in that context Jesus says, do not judge.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right. That is. Let's remember when we are access, obviously we are assessing other people. Let's remember that we too are sinful creatures, but there is a righteous judgment in which we're speaking out against evil and things that are front to the gospel and things that are front to the kingdom. And I think those are righteous judgments. And I think in those we have to speak.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And things like that.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right. So there's a difference. Yeah.

[Angie]

I. We are really big on accountability.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Angie]

Accountability is huge. I want to ask you, who are the people who can still tell you no? Do you have any people in your life who can still tell you no?

[Ari]

Lena. Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah. In this order. God.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Lena. God. Lena. You're not gonna believe this next one, but my children love my children. They rebuke me. My children rebuke me. My children, the elders in our church and My staff.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And my mom and family members who I know have my best interests at heart. And brothers. I have brothers in my life. Lateral relationships. Men of God who I know have my best interest at heart. They can tell me no. They can say, don't go there. They can say, pray about that. They can say, you shouldn't have said that from the pulpit. They can say, you should apologize. That category of people. I just said they can tell me no. They can rebuke me and I will listen.

[Angie]

What do you do with.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

That was a good one. Nobody's ever asked me that before. High interest debt is one of the toughest opponents you'll face unless you power up with a Sofi personal loan. A Sofi personal loan could repackage your bad debt into one low fixed rate monthly payment. It's even got super speed since you could get the funds as soon as the same day you sign. Visit sofi.compower to learn more. That's s o f I.com p o w e r loans originated by Sofi Bank NA member FDIC terms and conditions apply. NMLs 696891 do you. Because like, and Lena will be the first person to tell me, no, my wife is not impressed with me. Me at all.

[Angie]

See, I love that she's not impressed with me.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

She's not impressed with. She's not impressed with platform. She's not impressed with state. She's not impressed with no famous person. Lena is the most unimpressed person with all of this stuff. She's not impressed with none of that. Lena wasn't even following me on my own podcast. Somebody on our staff had to say, you know, hey, Ms. Lena, you're not even following your husband. Like you should follow his podcast. Like, she's not impressed with anything.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

So.

[Angie]

So she's just so strong. She is.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

She's strong, she's pure, she's wise, she's godly, she's holy, she's unimpressed.

[Angie]

She's gorgeous.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

She is beautiful.

[Ari]

She's beautiful.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

She just keeps me grounded. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Angie]

How do you. I just have a question.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Shout out Lena.

[Ari]

Shout out Lena.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Angie]

There's a huge thing probably in America mostly, right? Like you go even in, even in like other denominations. Like you look at like Greek Orthodox or Catholicism, like the man of God famous preacher. It's not really a thing.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Angie]

It's typically in like non denominational Protestant streams where you see like this man of God complex where a man of God, they become the pinnacle and at times in many people's eyes, like, can replace Jesus.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Angie]

How do you. In your life. Is this a conversation. Is this a thought for you of, like, moving away from the man of God complex? Of, like,

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I've. I've struggled with. With that because, like, it's not uncommon that there are a lot of people who attack my name and my ministry and use the word idolize around my name.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Say all people idolize you. And it always bothers me when I hear that. I hate to hear that. Right. And it makes me sick in my heart. And there was a. There was a time when I just was. I was in denial. I was saying, no, that that's not true.

[Ari]

And.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah. But I actually met a sister in the faith who said she had idolized me. And. And I was shocked when she said that. And I, from that day would pray aggressively.

[Angie]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

That if there is any form of idolization, it would become just admiration. I think there is admiration that some people wrongly mistake as idolization, and some people just use the word idolize just to discredit my ministry.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

But where it is maybe legitimate. What I've tried to do is I always pray that God would keep me on the ground in my heart, he would keep me humble, and that in my proclamation, my life, I would do everything I can to exalt the person of Christ. So if. If you listen to me preach, you hear me say things a lot. Like, I encourage people to read the Scriptures for themselves.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

So they're not just dependent on my sermon. I want them to go read the Bible for themselves.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I would do everything I can to make Christ the center of all of my proclamation and not myself. I. Like, there's people in those studio right now. They travel with me. They'll tell you, like, if I. If I'm walking off a platform, I finish proclaiming, I walk straight off a platform, and I try to leave that building right away. I don't hang out.

[Ari]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

You know, for people to Lord, praise on me. I'm off the platform. I'm gone. I'm. I'm in the van. I'm out of there. So I try to do everything I can to just stay away from glory.

[Angie]

Glory.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Angie]

And I would say to your vulnerability and your honesty, about your brokenness and your flaws and your weaknesses. Like, I feel like every time you get on the platform, you're like, you. You begin with your own frailty and weakness. And I just feel like that's probably what breaks the idolization too. Right.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I would hope so.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Because I am frail.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And I am weak. And what people don't see is before I walk up on a platform, I'm behind that black curtain, man. My head is, is on the stairs and I'm asking God for strength.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Before I walk out there, I still, every time I go to preach, I still feel weak. I still feel sometimes insecure. I still feel ill equipped. I'm. Man, I

[Ari]

so comforting to hear.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I am.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I don't have a cape. I am a very normal. I am. I am a dude from the street that God saved and just chose to use who's still trying to figure it out. Right. I don't have a cape. I don't have a cape. I'm just a dude from the street that God saved who's just trying his best to be faithful. And I'm still trying to figure it out.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right. I don't have all the answers. I don't have it figured out. Right. And so I, I just do my best to try to exalt the person of Christ so that I am not the person that is exalted. Right. And I don't know what else I can do but do my best to exalt the person of Christ.

[Ari]

I want you to speak about the men. And I want to say this in such a way where I don't offend men.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Ari]

But I'm seeing so many women struggle right now with men and finding a partner and someone that is strong, a strong man of God that can lead, but also that is tender.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Ari]

And so can you just speak to the, to the men that. On how to be strong and tender in a world where it emasculates masculinity.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I think this is one of the biggest. Issues of our generation. And I think it's a strategic plan of the enemy to rob men of biblical masculinity and to just remove men from the lives of children and homes and family. I think it is strategic of the enemy.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

When I was a school teacher, I taught middle school for about four years. Maybe about 75 to 80% of the students lived in homes without their fathers.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And as I began to study this psychological damage of that, there was this correlation between the absenteeism of fathers and men and a lot of human brokenness in adults. And I think that's strategic. And so I want to say I think a lot of it is spiritual warfare against men. And there's a lot of men right now who are suffering, who are going through our silent sufferers and doing everything they can Trying to be husbands, trying to be good fathers. And there are men out there who are just struggling and don't know what to do.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

I want to say at the very top that I think a lot of it is us, is a systematic spiritual attack against men and to ruin the biblical masculinity of man. So I think it is spiritual. That's number one.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Number two, I think we have to create safe spaces for men to confess and to be honest about what they're struggling with without them feeling like they're going to be judged or condemned or persecuted. So men have to have community where they can be their authentic selves and find voices that would speak life into them and speak to the person that God has called them to be. So that's number two. And then the third thing, I think men has to be rebuked. Right. I think we have to. First, number one, notice. I think it's spiritual attack. Number two, there has to be a comfort for men who are hurting and suffering. But number three, there has to be a rebuke for men that just don't want to take accountability and responsibility.

[Angie]

That's great.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

We have to be challenged. We have to be confronted. We have to be rebuked. We have to be encouraged to stop being boys and care about our wives, our girlfriends, our sons, our daughters. We have to start to understand how our decisions affect the lives of our children, our wives, our girlfriends, our family, our community. We have to stop pointing the finger and blaming everybody for what we're going through. There is a category of men who we just have to say, you know what? Enough is enough. We have to own our mess. I teach my two sons that real men take accountability and that real men know how to apologize and real men just own they crap, is what I tell my sons. Yeah, can I just. Can I just speak frankly? I tell my sons, Malachi and Josiah, I said, don't. Don't make excuses. I said, I don't. We don't allow that in this house. Own your crap. That's what I say to them. You didn't take out the trash. Own that you got into a beef with one of your sisters and you were wrong. Own that you dropped the ball on something your mother and I told you to do. Own that. So I teach my sons, don't make excuses. I don't. I. It makes me allergic. I hate to hear men just making excuses and, you know, just own your crap. Take it to God. Repent, cry. Let the father love on you like a son or like the Father, you did not have. Own your crap and just have a desire to say, you know what? I want to be a man of character. I want to be a man of integrity. I want to be a holy man. I want to be a pure man. I want to be close to Jesus. I want to have a biblical. Like, just have a desire for those things that men are not taught in the street and not taught coming up through school. Like, just. Just have a desire for the things that make you a better man on the inside first.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

That just becomes much easier for you to be a better man outside to the people who are all around you. It's like men in our nature, we have desire for everything that you can touch. We want cars and money and fame and status, but we want all of that. That helps men in their insecurity, stroke their egos and all those things. But we need to tell more men to desire the things that are intangible that will make them better men.

[Ari]

That is so good.

[Angie]

And even I think radical accountability would offset to most of the issues with men.

[Ari]

I just.

[Angie]

I think it's ownership, it's accountability.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

It is. It is. So I just think. I think it's those three things. I think it is. We need to. It is spiritual in nature. What is happening to men. There's a category of men that need to be comforted, that need to find places where they confess and find love and find comfort and healing and all the things. And then there's a category of men that just needs to be confronted. Yeah, bro, Enough is enough.

[Angie]

Enough.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Come on, now.

[Ari]

So good.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

You have too many people depending on you. Let's make a pivot. Yeah.

[Angie]

Praise Jesus.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And we need it. We need more godly men. We please, in this generation.

[Ari]

I mean, I'm seeing women have kids

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

on their own, and we're seeing too many single women who love God, who are believing for godly husbands. We need godly men in this hour. Right. I think all the ladies can say amen to that.

[Ari]

Amen.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

We need godly men.

[Angie]

And if we had more time, I would want to ask you how, as a leader, do you disciple a congregation of men into part three? Masculine. Okay, we'll do a part three.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Part three.

[Angie]

And by the way, I love the Pam version of. You should write a whole.

[Ari]

We'll talk.

[Angie]

We'll talk.

[Ari]

Thank you so much, Pastor Philip.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Man, Thank y'. All.

[Angie]

Can you just tell us a little bit about the book? Tell us about Contend.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

We want to hear about it. Yes, we. We made an announcement about the book. I have a book coming out in October. October 13th. Is that correct? October 13th. Right. I think October 13th. That's right. The book drops October 13th. I believe if the date doesn't change. The book is called Contend.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

It's about the message of Jude. And I'm not right. I didn't. I didn't write this book. The book is not. It has not been written to get to a bag. Right. God has been very kind to me. The book was written to awaken the body of Christ to the hour that we are in, the times that we're living in, and the need for the bride to contend for the faith in this hour, both in culture and in our hearts. And so it is. It is. It is meant to help the believer to strengthen themselves in conviction and on the inside. It'll lead them back to the scriptures. It'll lead them back to Christ. It'll put a fire up under the reader. That is my prayer. And it comes out October. It's available right now for pre order on Amazon so they can go look up, you know, Philip Anthony Mitchell content. It's available for pre order. And I just pray that it'll be a blessing to the body of Christ. Yeah. It's the version of me that people don't see. I love to write. I've kept a journal for like 20 something years.

[Ari]

Wow.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right. And although I'm a very urban dude, I write. I have. I have depth on the inside.

[Ari]

Oh, we know.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah. So I poured it out in my writing.

[Ari]

I can't wait to read this.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

It leaks. It leaks out on my. On my feeds.

[Angie]

Yeah.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Right, Right. And so it. This is. This is the next iteration of my ministry. And I hope that it could be a blessing to some people.

[Ari]

Oh, it will be.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Thank you all for allowing me to talk about that.

[Angie]

Oh, my gosh.

[Ari]

Yeah.

[Angie]

I kind of low key want to have a whole episode where we just talk about the book, but we'll talk about that later.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Yeah.

[Angie]

Thank you.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[Angie]

I appreciate doing in you through you. Thank you.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

And what he's doing in y'. All.

[Ari]

Thank you. We love you.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

We love you.

[Angie]

We love you, Pastor Philip ggb. We love you so much. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn his face towards you and give you peace.

[Ari]

Shalom. Shalom.

[Angie]

We love you guys so much.

[Pastor Philip Mitchell]

Afrobechalos de Vault DEALS and LOWS Obtain grati sune ramienta de Vault Selecta de veinte voltos Max Al comprarun qui de bateria de cinco amperios ora evente voltios Max Selecto ademas de vagratis una bateria al compraru, una sierra ingletadora, compuesta de vault, de wisse, de vias bulgadas y veinte voltios Max.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

High interest debt can be a real vibe killer. Credit cards, personal loans, and more can make you feel uncomfortable, even in the sanctuary of your own home. Well, what if you knew that SOFI can help you leverage your home's equity to feel more at ease? It's called a SOFI Home Equity Loan, and it could consolidate your debt at a typically lower interest rate than existing debt with lower monthly payments, and all while keeping your existing mortgage rate. View your [e-mail] payoffdebt today. Mortgages originated by SoFi bank and a member FDIC and MLS number 696891. Terms and conditions Apply. Equal Housing Lender.