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The Bryce Crawford Podcast
Philip Anthony Mitchell: He Tried to End His Life… Now He’s Warning the Church (EP 190)
01:31:51
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- [00:00]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
AI is going to be part of the end time prophecy. I've seen a video of me preaching somebody's church I've never been to. I seen a video of me on TikTok standing behind somebody's pool pit preaching. I never even met this man.
- [00:08]
Bryce Crawford
Things are getting so real right now,
- [00:10]
Podcast Host/Announcer
you can't even tell the difference.
- [00:10]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Maybe God is trying to use any willing, non compromising, not afraid, non punk voices to speak the truth. Because when God speaks, he echoes. I'm using every available voice to sound an alarm. I am coming, and I'm coming very soon. On the age of 24, I attempted suicide once, which was unsuccessful by the grace of God. When Jesus found me in a bathroom over a toilet seat. He says, the church in America, it is dying, is losing its fire. You want to go back to your nation and do something about it? I fall down on my hands and my knees. A man died there, bro. I left a man in Israel. I came back a different man.
- [00:54]
Podcast Host/Announcer
What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford Podcast.
- [00:56]
Bryce Crawford
I'm Bryce, and today I am excited to sit down and have a conversation with this guest. We got Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell with us this morning.
- [01:04]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
What's up, Bryce?
- [01:05]
Bryce Crawford
Come on, man. You cracking a little grin. I like it. Come on.
- [01:08]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I appreciate you having me on the podcast, man.
- [01:10]
Bryce Crawford
I gotta tell you something. I don't know if you know this, but I want to. I wanted to honor you publicly because I think you have a deep heart for people, and I think social media doesn't do justice on what people's lives look like behind closed doors. So last year I was preaching at Vukan and I left the night. Night one, we did like a live podcast in a room, couple hundred people, and I'm leaving. It's 11:30 at night. I see a dude in a hoodie circling the venue, praying it was you. Late at night, 11:30, praying, praying. And I remember waking up the next morning and seeing on your story, you crying out to the Lord on behalf of the people in Miami and my generation. Early morning in the hotel room, and I'm like. And I observed from afar, and what, what when the Lord came in that room was a response to the heart of your prayers. And so I just want you to know, like, I glean from that, I respect it. I have reaped the benefits of the fervent prayer of the righteous from the. The prayers that you've cried for my generation. So I wanted to, like, publicly honor you and say thank you. I've Seen that with my own eyes that people on social media didn't see, man.
- [02:21]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I appreciate that, man. I want to publicly honor you, too. You know, we was talking about this off camera, but I think it's worth noting that I appreciate what you're doing for the culture, for the body of Christ. I think there's an entire generation out there trust you, believe in. You believe in your ministry. You're having a great impact on this entire generation. And I want to encourage you in what you're doing that your voice matters right now. Your voice matters in the culture. It matters to the church. It matters in this hour. And so I commend you for what you're doing, for being so young, but standing on business and being an uncompromising voice in the culture. I think because we live in a generation where compromise is rampant, voices like yours matter. Right? So I commend you for what you're doing, too, bro.
- [03:08]
Bryce Crawford
Thank you for saying that. That means a lot. You know, I want to get, like, briefly into your story, like what it looked like following Jesus. But you, a lot of people don't know. You've been a pastor of that church for a while, 28, 19. You've been pastor over there for a while.
- [03:21]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I've been pastoring for 13 years.
- [03:22]
Bryce Crawford
And not a lot of people know that. A lot of people think that you came out of the woodworks like, oh, look, who's this pastor. He's being bold. But that boldness, and correct me if I'm wrong, came from after a visit. You went to the Holy Land and you experienced something over there. But a lot of people haven't seen your faithfulness for the decade before prior that you were faithfully pouring into the city of Atlanta. And so before you even became a pastor. What was life like growing up, up? How did you become a Christian man?
- [03:50]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I was, you know, this is widely known. But, you know, I was raised in Queens, New York, born to Christian parents, but was in a very urban environment. That environment had a lot of influence on my life. And so most of my days were spent in the street. And, you know, and that's not any fault of my parents. They did the absolute best they can do. But I was just drawn to the community outside of my home. So I pretty much lived a very dark life. I probably went out into the street maybe around age of 12. And I lived a dark life until I had to leave New York because of legal trouble around age 18. Ended up in North Carolina. Continued that dark path for another decade. And it was a Season in my life where I was very hopeless, very empty around the age of 24. Attempted suicide once, which was unsuccessful. By the grace of God, he sent someone to my apartment that night. That kind of their presence talked me off a ledge. And it was in that season when I was suicidal and hopeful, when Jesus found me in a bathroom over a toilet seat and brought me into the kingdom personally for himself. And so that's how. That's how I got saved. Wow. Yeah, man.
- [05:05]
Bryce Crawford
What was that experience like when Jesus was encountering you? Like, for you? What did that look like, man, for
- [05:11]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
me, and this story is widely known. I was. My girlfriend at the time who became my wife. Got into a car accident. We was living together, so obviously we was doing everything wrong. We wasn't saved. And she came back to the apartment and she put on gospel music. And it was the first time in my life I ever heard gospel music. And she was. She had her hands raised, and she was thanking God for her life. And I was staring at her walk back and forth. And I thought to myself, whatever that is, I want that. You know, it seemed like joy. It seemed like peace. It seemed like all the things I did not have, right? So when I crawled into that bathroom, I started yelling at God. I did not know God existed, right? I saw my parents pray. I saw my parents serve God, but I did not understand his. His existence. And so when God met me in that bathroom that day, it was like I had tears of sorrow that dried up. I knew that something had transpired in my heart. I think for the first time, I felt peace. And that night, I tried to lay with my girlfriend. And now for the first time, I felt conviction for sin, right? So I knew something had transpired in my heart. And then I began to read the Scriptures, just very, very aggressively. I started out in Proverbs, and then I read Daniel, and then I read Revelation. I don't know why I went in that order, but my walk with the Lord started out just very, very serious. I was so broken when he found me, and I was in so much darkness. Everything in me wanted to just pursue him. Anything I do, I do. A hundred I do, all the way. I don't do it halfway at all. So when the Lord saved me, I was just radically set on fire for the Lord. And it doesn't mean I made mistakes in the beginning, things that I regret. But I went after Jesus with my whole heart from the very beginning.
- [07:06]
Podcast Host/Announcer
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- [08:21]
Bryce Crawford
of your fire for this urgency of the gospel kind of birth? Because I mean from the beginning of your walk with Jesus it's like, okay, here's some practical wisdom and then here's what's going to go down one day. Yep. Do you think that's where that all birthed?
- [08:33]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I do, I, I do think that played a big role in my ministry and in my life. You know, that was also around the time Mel Gibson had put out the Passion of the Christ. Yeah.
- [08:42]
Bryce Crawford
Gosh, that movie's great.
- [08:43]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Right? And so that was the first movie I saw post Salvation. Oh snap. So that movie had just come out. My wife and I went to go see that movie and I remember walking out of that movie in tears. I didn't talk for a week. Right. I didn't talk, I didn't talk to. She was my girlfriend at the time. I didn't talk to Lena for a week. I didn't talk to anybody. I was so overwhelmed by that movie. So I had just seen the Passion of the Christ at the same time I'm reading through the Book of Revelation, I'm reading Daniel. So that kind of marked me from the very beginning. So for me, and I would look back on this and think that maybe it was God's providence that led me to those particular books. So from the very beginning, I always had my mind fixed on the end. Yeah, there was. There was always something in me that was thinking about the end, thinking about eternity, thinking about the judgments at the end, thinking about the rewards for believers at the end. So that was always in the back of my mind from the very beginning. And. And I think God wanted it to be that way, at least for me. Right. And so also to seeing the Passion of the Christ, those graphic images of the final hours of the life of Jesus really marked me. Right. And so the cross had a great weight for me from the very beginning. From the very beginning, the cross was meaningful to me, although I did not fully understand the depth of the holiness of Christ and the full ramifications of what he did on the cross until I came back from Israel. But from the very beginning, I was marked by what happened on the cross. And so I think it had a deep effect on me. And I would say that that was really my foundation from the very beginning. Right.
- [10:18]
Bryce Crawford
Wow.
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Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
The cross, the end times, thinking about eternity, those words that Jesus sent to those seven ancient churches. Essentially, he sent seven copies of the book of Revelation to seven churches. And that was in my heart from the very beginning. So I do think it was type of a guiding light of sorts of in conjunction with reading proverbs and understand the importance of God's wisdom above man made wisdom, although that did not save me from making mistakes. Those things were in me from the beginning. And I think the Holy Spirit would water that over time.
- [10:57]
Bryce Crawford
Oh, my goodness. I literally, two nights ago, I watched Passion of the Christ again.
- [11:02]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [11:02]
Bryce Crawford
And so when you're saying that I'm here because it's fresh on my mind, you know, like you. You could watch a movie from a while. I love that movie. But then you watch it again and you catch some extra details. And I'm just thinking about when he's getting flogged with the cat of nine tails right now. I can't even imagine watching that fresh into Surrender to Jesus and then reading the Book of Revelation where, you know, that always blows my mind when John's like, I look to heaven and there's the Lamb that was slain on the throne.
- [11:31]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yes.
- [11:32]
Bryce Crawford
Oh, my gosh. I mean, what was that like? Did you kind of put those two pieces together?
- [11:36]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah, I think for me, the impact that had on me is that around that time I was also introduced to the ministry of Billy Graham. My mother and I attended his very last crusade. Billy Graham's final crusade was held in Queens, New York. And so around this time, I also had a chance to go. His last crusade was, I think it was around 2005. So when you put all these things together, I had just seen the Passion of the Christ. I had just finished reading the book of Revelation. I had read Daniel. I'm reading through Proverbs. And at the same time, my mother and I would go see Billy Graham's last crusade. And so from the very beginning, there was not only a deep, deep, deep impact that has happened in my heart as it relates to the cross, but then there is a desire to let as many people as possible know about what Jesus has done on the cross. And so I have this desire, this dream. I want to be an evangelist. I want to be like a black Billy Graham, right? And I would ask God in my prayer time, could you ever use a black man, like, at the level, use a Billy Graham to take the gospel to the world? So that was my dream in the beginning, to be an evangelist. I was so marked by the movie and so marked by revelation that everything in me just wanted to tell as many people about Christ as possible and my shyness in the beginning. I remember I made these little cards. They were like business cards. I mean, people don't really use them as much today, and at least not your generation. Y' all just tap phones and. And share contacts. But I made this little card on one side. It had from Romans, an explanation of, like, Romans 3, 23, 6, 23, Romans 10. What we used to call the Romans Road was on one side, and then a prayer of salvation on the other side. And I was shy in the beginning with sharing my faith. So I would go through places and I would just toss that card at people. I would go through the. Drive through McDonald's and toss the car through, drop the window. You know, I'll be at a restaurant. I'll always slip it in the thing when I'm at a restaurant. So everywhere I was going, I was leaving those cards. And that was my first attempt at sharing the gospel. When I got a little bolder, I would go into park parks, I would stand on park benches, and I would just preach the gospel to anybody that would listen. I would walk the street and I would preach the gospel. Anybody that walked by, right? Long before there was a platform, a pulpit, a camera, I was preaching the gospel. I was just so burned by what was going to happen in the end, in conjunction with What I saw Jesus suffer on the cross and reading those things, my heart was just, I need to tell as many people about Christ as possible. Now. I don't think that ever left me. Although God called me to the pastorate grudgingly, I didn't want to be a pastor. So I don't think that ever left me. Even now, as a local pastor, in my heart, I am an evangelist. I am most excited when I'm talking about the cross. I'm most excited when I'm glorifying what Christ done for us on the cross. Right. So I think that evangelist is in there. Right. Although God called me to do something I did not want to do, I passed her out of obedience, not out of glory. But that's what that was like for me. There was a burning from the very beginning to tell as many people as possible about Christ.
- [14:46]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah, I've heard so many pastors, I've verbally heard a pastor before say, hey, I'm glad you're an evangelist and I'm a pastor, and your job is to preach the gospel. And I was like, my. Like, it is a responsibility of every believer to preach the gospel.
- [14:59]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I'm not.
- [15:00]
Podcast Host/Announcer
I'm not the only dude that's supposed
- [15:01]
Bryce Crawford
to preach the gospel.
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Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Right.
- [15:02]
Bryce Crawford
And I mean, it's evident, like, in the way that you. In the way that you exhort the scriptures and break them down in the exegesis. It's like, wow, there is a heart for the. The cross. I love Michael Kulianos. I just saw a clip of him the other day. He said that, you know, we've grown so mundane just saying the cross and the gospel, and we've, like, that should move us as people. And that rocked me to the core because, I mean, we're in America. We can just kind of walk around and be like, oh, I'm a Christian. And some people will be like, oh, whatever. Some people are like, yeah, me too. And some people aren't at. Very few are living it out. So I think that's extremely compelling. You know, something that I want you to talk about is all that stuff that you're describing. No one thinks that that's what happens. People look at social media and they look at outward, you know, impact and outward eyeballs, and they say, oh, yeah, that just came out of nowhere. Like I said, people thought you came out of nowhere. You'd been pastoring for over a decade in Atlanta. Yes, but at the same time, if people knew what you went through and people knew what you go through now, they wouldn't want half of what they think that they want.
- [16:07]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah. You know, I don't believe that there is any real overnight successes, as we would call it. I spent 10 years on the backside of a mountain before anybody knew my name. Right? And I think even knowing my name, that's not even that important, Right. One of the things I have learned, Bryce, in these last three years, with everything God has done with 2019, I've had a difference of opinion about the whole sector of church that just focuses on growth and platforms and all these things. Everything that's happened in 2019 has been sovereign, right? My ex peace sitting in the room, you know, I mean, we talk about this in staff meetings. We're not smart enough to manufacture any of this. Bryce, even what's happened with your ministry, I mean, you two are impacting the whole world, right? Are you and I smart enough to have really manufactured that for ourselves? You know, are we really that creative? Right? For whatever reason, God's hand is on your life. For whatever reason God has chosen to show you favor, right? For whatever reason, God has chosen to use Bryce in this generation to be a voice to this nation, to the globe, to the entire generation, right? Even considering your past, you know, being far away from God, God getting a hold of you at a time when you were suicidal, just like I was. And then we see how God just breathed on your ministry. I mean, could you have really manufactured all of that? No. You know, could I have really manufactured all of this? No. And so I think that there is a man made pride in which we try to take credit for some of the things that God has done instead of deflecting that glory to say, no, God has done all of this. So now I think about some of this stuff. I think, you know, any fool with a gift to the microphone could probably gather a crowd to some degree. This is different than when God breathes on something and it was manufactured by the Holy Spirit. We eclipse God's glory when we try to take credit for that, right? And so when I think about everything happening right now, I say to. I said, you know, the most important thing, Bryce, is for us to be faithful. Everybody just needs to be faithful. They need to be faithful to Jesus in every sphere of influence, every day of their life and whatever he has called them to do, right? There is a. There is a pastor right now in Bryce, in West Virginia somewhere, right? He lives in a town with 2,000 people and he has 25 people in his church or there's 50 people there. And he loves the Lord. He loves his wife and his kids and he's faithful and he has character and integrity and he has a prayer life and all the things. I mean, does God love that man any less than he love you? And I know, right? The game, the, the goal is faithfulness. Everybody just needs to be faithful.
- [18:51]
Podcast Host/Announcer
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- [19:59]
Bryce Crawford
confidence shouldn't come at the cost of your health, right?
- [20:02]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
And. And so there is. The way I feel, even right now about where I am is I'm just trying to be faithful, right? To what God has called me to do. There is nothing happening right now with 2019 that when we change the name, I asked God for, right? Everything I'm experiencing right now, I didn't ask God for. These are things that I dreamt about for the first 10 years of my pastoral ministry, but I dreamt about him with a lot of vanity in my heart, right? I was faithful to the word. I was faithful to my church, but that vanity was in my heart. That longing to be known, that longing for a big platform, that longing for a big church to make me feel, and all of that was really trying to stroke my insecurities. But it was vanity and it was there and it was buried. And over time, God had to work that out of my heart. Beginning with that trip to Israel in December 2018, God had to work that out of my heart, right? So when people see me now, like, no, no, I didn't just come out of nowhere and then my platform means nothing if I'm not faithful. No, I've been. I've been faithful to Jesus for over two decades, you know, I've been faithful to the lord for over two decades. I've been grinding for over two decades. I've Been in pastoral ministry for 13 years. 10 of those years in the dark, you know, And I've tried to quit more times than I can count, been hurt more times than I can count, betrayed more times than I can count. Have disappointed Jesus more time than I can count. I am. I am a man that's just trying to hear, in the end, well done, right? That is, that's what I'm trying to do. And if God has breathed on 2019 on my life is to make him known. Right? Is to make the cross known. Right. It's not for personal self aggrandizement, any of those things. Like our staff, you know, two of them in the room right now. We say all the time Jesus is building and we're stewarding. That's all we are.
- [21:57]
Bryce Crawford
I love that.
- [21:58]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Right. I'm not an owner of 2019. Right. I'm really just a steward. You are steward. We're all the stewards, right? Because the Lord has told us we're going to give an account. Right. For what we're doing right now. So I approach ministry, like now as a steward. All of this man, is for God's glory, right? It's not. It's not for mine. Yeah, yeah.
- [22:16]
Bryce Crawford
So what, so what exactly happened in the Holy Land for you? I hear, I hear that all the time. So many people, like, they go to the Holy Land and it just does something to them. But for you, what, what specifically happen?
- [22:28]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
In that season, our ministry was maybe about 8 years old, and I think I was pastoring on empty. All right? I spent a lot of time trying to be creative. You know, if I come up with a dope series, I could get more butts and seats. You know, if I had a dope graphic I could get more butts and seats. And it was. It was starting to become that. How creative can I be? And I had this moment when I realized I'm faithful in my proclamation, but I'm really doing this. And I'm empty on the inside. I have no clear sense of identity, no clear sense of direction. So I went to Israel for 10 days. I was fasting and praying, and I said, God, I really need you to meet me here. I need clarity. I need a sense of direction. I need a sense of identity, like, who am I? I feel like my voice sounds like an amalgamation of men that I admire. I want my own voice. I want to know, what am I supposed to be doing, right? And so I'm there for 10 days. I'm fasting, praying. Those 10 days, I hear nothing from God, right? I travel the whole nation, from the north and the Golden Heights all the way to Jerusalem in the south part of the city. It is the last day my tour. I have not heard from God. It is December 8th. So it is the day after my birthday, right? It is December 8th, and it is raining. It is cold, and I am almost upset, like God. I am about to leave in a few hours. We are about to hop back on this bus to head back to Tel Aviv. I have not heard from you. We go into the garden tomb. We come out the tomb, and I hear singing in a language I did not understand, but I can feel the presence of God, right? And off to my side, I see this group of people, maybe about 30 or 40 of them. They look nothing like me, but I don't care. So I slip into their gathering anyway. And I'm just in the back. And I'm the only black dude in the back, right? It's very obvious I don't belong, right? And I can feel God's presence. And I lift up my hands. I'm worshiping God. My wife creeps in. And then a dude from my bus creeps in. And then this other sister from my bus creeps in. And this was so providential. The guy motions to me to come to the front. I walk to the front. My wife goes. The guy goes. The young lady goes. He starts speaking to me in a language I did not know it was Portuguese. By God's divine providence. The gentleman who was with me spoke Portuguese. He was from Brazil. So he starts interpreting what this guy's saying. My wife is watching, she's crying. And then the woman who snuck in with me, she's recording the whole thing. So I have the whole thing I posted this on my Instagram many years ago. He says to me, in his native language, he says to me, he says, I've been to your nation, and I've seen a church in America. It is dying. It is losing its fire. It is dark. And God says to you, young man, do you want to go back to your nation and do something about it? I cry out to this man. I say, yes. I fall down on my hands and my knees. And then that company of believers, they were from Brazil. I learned. They all laid hands on me. They began to pray for me. My wife is weeping. The other young woman is recording the whole thing. And as he's praying for me, he's charging me, go back to your country. Cry aloud. Spare not set the bride of Christ on fire. Right? So I. I take that whole encounter. I tattoo the whole thing to my arm. That's this whole sleeve I have is that story right from the date, the place, the word that I got, everything. So I tattooed that whole thing to my arm. And the text that I got flying back from Tel Aviv was Isaiah 6. So I put that on the inside of my arm.
- [26:16]
Bryce Crawford
Wow.
- [26:16]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
You know, some people probably going to crucify you and I because you got to sleep, and I got to sleep, and they're going to say, we're ungodly, godly. But I'm flying back from Tel Aviv, and the thing that marked me on that trip was not only that encounter at the Garden Tomb, but when I was in Jerusalem, I saw a reverence for God I'd never seen inside the United States amongst the Christians and the Jews, right? For them, faith was not chained to a day of the week. It encompasses every part of their life, right? And so I saw a respect for God and a respect for His Word and a reverence for the kingdom. I had never seen the United States. I met a scribe on the top of Mount Masada who was sitting in a cave, and he was copying the Old Testament by hand with ink. He was like in Deuteronomy. And he did that eight hours a day, five days a week. And he said to me, if I make one mistake, I have to start the whole thing over. That's how much respect he had for the Word of God. And I never seen anybody with that level of respect for the Word of God. So I'm flying back from Tel Aviv and I am convicted. I said, man, I seen a level of respect and honor and reverence for God. I had never seen the United States there. I saw God as holy for the very first time, like supremely holy. And I feel like the encounter that Isaiah had, He was around your age, Bryce, When Isaiah had that encounter, he was around 20 years of age. Because you're 21, I'm 22, you're 22. So when you read Isaiah 6, when Isaiah sees the pre incarnate Jesus, high and exalted, he sees him in his full beauty and he recognizes his supreme holiness. And against the backdrop of seeing God for who he really is, he saw himself for who he really, really is sinful. He saw his nation for what it really was, sinful. And. And Isaiah is around 20 when he has that encounter. He's around, he's around your age, he's around 20 years of. He's a young man when he has that encounter. That's what happened for me in Israel. I had an Isaiah 6 encounter, right? And so I'm flying back from Tel Aviv, I'm reading through Isaiah 6 and I am conflicted in my soul, right? Once you have been exposed, you cannot be unexposed. You can try to hide it, you could try to suppress it, but it's in there. I had seen God for all of his holiness. I had been marked by that charge that I was given to go back and set the country on fire, to awaken the bride is what I was told to do. I had been marked by the holiness I saw and the reverence for the scriptures. And I could not be unmarked, right? And so I knew on that 14 hour, 17 hour flight coming back from Tel Aviv, I would never be the same. And I remember when I got home, I took four Sundays off from preaching because I said to myself, I can't go back in the pulpit the way that I left. I took four Sundays off, I put up elders to preach and I wrestled with God for 30 days. And during that 30 days, God told me, just preach about my holiness. And so the very first series I did coming back from Israel was a series through Isaiah 6 on the holiness of God. Some people got mad, some people left the church. Some people thought I was too radical. They thought I was too on fire. They thought I was too aggressive, too brash. I never looked back, right? December 2018, I made a decision. I will spend the rest of my life crying aloud, sparing not about the holiness of God, the purity of God, reverence for his scriptures, winning souls, multiplying disciples, living for eternity, no matter what it cost me, right? I made a vow to God that I would do that. Because even if you know people across the camera, they don't Understand, right? They will make videos about me until they're blue in the face, right? They will pay their bills, right? On slander, the sin of slander, using my name for propaganda. They will do that until they blow in their face, right? None of this is going to stop what God has called me to do, right? Because at the end of the day, I'm not going to give an account to them. I'm going to give an account to the one that told me, cry aloud and spare, not set the bride on fire. Awakening the church in America, that is my charge. And I'm gonna do those three things until he comes to get me or they come and get me. Whichever one happens first, that is my responsibility. I'm not gonna back away from that. Right? So that is really all what happened to me. I think that's, like, tattooed to my heart. I tattooed that to my arm and. And I just. I'm a man died there, bro.
- [31:12]
Bryce Crawford
Wow.
- [31:13]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Right? Like the old Philip Anthony Mitchell died there, right? I left a man in Israel. I came back a different man.
- [31:21]
Bryce Crawford
Would you say that, that because you'd been faithful to the Lord? Granted, I know exactly what you mean when you said, oh, I was preaching on empty, like, I've been there before. I understand. Because you get in this little, like, place sometimes where you think, at least for me, this was about, like, six months ago, where I got real with myself, and I'm like, dang, I'm trying to conjure up some sort of words because I think that what I say is going to. And there's so much pressure on, like, what I've got to do rather than just being, like, faithful to reading the Scriptures and God, like, what do you have to say? But. But would you say when you say the old Philip died there, but you were already following Jesus, so what? So was that just, like, a moment in your sanctification journey? I mean, how would you. Do you get what I'm saying?
- [32:06]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah, I think if you and I would be honest, bro, I think there's a lot of bro believers right now who are doing Christianity full of compromise on the inside. Right. Christ is Sunday morning. Christ is a necklace. You know, Christ is their youth group, but they're not burning on the inside. Yeah, right. You know, and there's a lot of ministry right now happening, disconnected from Christ. I mean, you have people singing on platforms, don't have a real relationship with the Lord. You have people preaching that don't have a real, real relationship with the Lord. And because. And you know this, you know What I'm about to say, according to what Paul wrote to the Church in Rome, you know, gifts come without repentance. People can use their gifts to do whatever they want. Price. You're gifted, right? Let's be honest. You're a gifted communicator, right? If you could walk away from God on the inside and still go move a room, you got, people can sing, they can hold a note, they could be living foul in the dark and still get up there and move a room. I don't mean with anointing. I'm just talking about with sheer gifting, right? You got people who got administrative gifts. They can be administrative, can move an organization, move a room, move and still not be fully sold out to Jesus on the inside. Because our gifts come. So God ain't going to take away the gift. You can use it any way that you want, right? And so I think it is very possible to do Christianity and do ministry and be far away from God on the inside. Right? And there's two types of far away. There's a distance that is. That is born of just brokenness and pain and shame, in which the Lord is like, wooing us back softly. But then there's a different type of distance that's born of iniquity, where you're distant from God because you love sin and you love iniquity, and you enjoy that more than holiness. So your distance from God is straight out of rebellion and disobedience. That's a different kind of distance, right. Where the Lord is dealing with you. So. So I think it's possible to do that. So for me, before that encounter, I had, I think I was just preaching on empty of a revelation of the furious holiness of Jesus and a seriousness about who he is, what he has called us to do, and the account we're gonna give in the end. I was faithful, but I don't think I was really serious at my core. And I think that's what transformed me. Does that make sense? I would also, too. I also used to. The other thing too, that happened to me and you, and I was talking about this off camera, is that I. I saw material things as the reward. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like a platform, a big following on social media, a certain economic status. I saw those things as the reward. You know, I could try to hide it if I want to, but those things were there, Bryce. And I think my encounter in Israel kind of burned that out of me. Right. So like I was saying to you and your team, you know, Because I really love what you're doing. I love the impact that you're having on the culture. And you're so young, and I was saying to you off camera how a lot of people, they start with a lot of fire and zeal, but they just don't finish well. So, like when I was saying to you and your team, you know, it's very easy for your age, but the level of influence that you have, the platform that you have, the gifting that you have, the anointing that you have, it's very easy for you to see opportunities as the reward. The right phone call, you know, the right bag, the right opportunity, the right contract. See, that's reward. And if those things are reward, then the devil could dangle carrots in front of you and lead you in a compromise. But if the reward is outside of this life, if the reward is the cross, if the reward is Christ himself, if the reward is the crown that you are not going to lay down at his feet, if that is the highest reward, it makes it more difficult for the devil to dangle those carrots in front of you.
- [36:04]
Podcast Host/Announcer
If you've been watching for a while and these videos have actually helped you, let me tell you about the best way you can support what we're doing here. We just launched the channel membership. Every week, I'm posting members only episodes, which include raw conversations, more of my real life and what I'm walking through, and Q and A's where I respond directly to your questions. I spent a lot of time in the comments responding to as many of you as I could, but as the channel's grown, I just can't keep up anymore. So this is my way of staying connected with you more directly. I'm also doing a monthly live stream where I answer your questions in real time and talk through things we don't always get to talk to on the main channel. It's eight bucks a month, about two bucks a week, and it directly supports what we're doing here and helps us keep reaching more people with the gospel. So if you want to support the ministry, just hit the join button and you're in. All right. Enjoy the rest of the podcast.
- [36:47]
Bryce Crawford
You know, I. I've talked about this thing in particular with my wife and, like, another guy in our team division.
- [36:52]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
How long you been married, bro?
- [36:54]
Bryce Crawford
Two months. Not even.
- [36:55]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
You've been married for two months?
- [36:56]
Bryce Crawford
Not even.
- [36:57]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yo, congratulations, bro. Come on, man.
- [36:59]
Bryce Crawford
Come on.
- [37:00]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Come on, man.
- [37:00]
Bryce Crawford
Let's go.
- [37:01]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Congratulations, man. Thank you. Finds a wife, finds a good thing. He obtains Favor from the Lord.
- [37:06]
Bryce Crawford
That's right.
- [37:06]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Congratulations. Hey, thank you.
- [37:08]
Bryce Crawford
I appreciate that. I want to. I want to get. I'm gonna get some marriage advice from you.
- [37:11]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Oh, yeah? Yeah.
- [37:12]
Bryce Crawford
You're gonna throw it down on me? I'm only two months in, so it's whatever. But you know something that only my wife and another guy on our team Divish, have talked about was that materialistic thing that you saw. I was telling you off camera, like, it. I'm not gonna lie. Like, at the beginning, when you get into it, it does seem like, oh, that's the gift from God. So it's like, of course, the more money, the more opportunities in this. And then it was really like, the past couple months, I started getting sobered, and I was like, that. That's not success. That's not success. And so then it really. What it's done to my heart. And I'm. I'm really having a hard time with this. It's made me so brokenhearted. It makes me just want to say no to everything. Like, that's what it makes me. It makes me want to say the total opposite. At first, it was, I got to say yes to everything partially because it's, oh, well, opportunity is never going to come again. Of course it's from God. And then the shift changed, and it's what was never about opportunity in the first place. Like, God, thank you. That you have, like, given me strength to see that and know that. But now it makes me go, like,
- [38:10]
Podcast Host/Announcer
it almost makes me have trust issues with people.
- [38:12]
Bryce Crawford
I'm like, do you really, like, care about me or do you. What do you want from me? I don't want to. I don't want to say no to that and that. And I don't want to.
- [38:18]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
No.
- [38:19]
Bryce Crawford
I don't want to. Like, I don't want to show up and do that thing anymore or do that. It makes me just kind of want to, like, isolate. But how do you. And that's what I'm really wrestling with. It's like, how do you differentiate a no versus Satan trying to get you to shelter in and not do what God's called you to do?
- [38:36]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah. I think this is an area I'm still growing in. Right. I want to be fully transparent. Right. I think there's an area I'm still growing in, and I think I've made a lot of mistakes in this area because I've been a local pastor for 13 years, but it's only in the last two years I've been itinerant in ministry. Like traveling, speaking, things like that. And a lot of doors are opening to me right now. More doors than I could keep up with.
- [39:04]
Bryce Crawford
Well, you were itinerant before.
- [39:05]
Podcast Host/Announcer
Just people weren't inviting you, right?
- [39:06]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
They weren't inviting me. Same thing. My itinerant ministry was in the street, literally, right? Nobody was inviting me. Same thing. But the doors that open to me now is more than I can imagine, Right? Let's just, you know, be honest, right? And I think we got to know the difference between a God door and a good door, all right? When we have to choose between an evil door and a good door, that's an easy decision. The harder decision is between two doors that look good and knowing, like, this is a God or this is not door. So, like. So I think for me, in the beginning of traveling, I went a lot of places. I don't know if every place I went, I was supposed to go. I didn't know. The doors open, I went, right? And now, you know, I travel so much. I walk out the door so much. I leave my family so much, right? I've seen them cry. I've seen them shed tears. Me leaving, I've seen it had an effect on my family. So for me now and for you, I want to walk through the doors that the Holy Spirit wants me to walk through, right? I want to say yes to the things I need to say yes to. And I think for you, I'm telling you because it's very important for your generation, y'. All, Also, we have to learn the value of no. No is a very powerful word, right? When we don't use no, we become a slave to opportunities, right? We think we have to do everything. Then we develop a Jesus complex in which we think we are the end all to fixing the whole culture. And we got to be careful with that. We got to know. Bryce has to know. Philip has to know. What is Bryce's assignment? What is Philip? Assignments. Like, you remember when the Lord went down to the pool of Bethesda? I've been to the pool of Bethesda, right? And if you read the text very carefully, he's there during a feast. So that means Jerusalem would have swole in numbers. Normally, there'll be a handful of people hanging around that pool. But if we read the text, right, and we understand culture might have been a couple hundred people around that pool because it's happening during a feast. How many people did he heal that day? How many?
- [41:06]
Bryce Crawford
One.
- [41:06]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
One. One man who had been there 38 years, right? So now this is the way I study. I'm a pictorial person, so I'm putting myself in the text. So if you and I put ourselves in text, I mean, Jesus went down to that pool, and he had to step over people to get to that one man. He had to walk past people to get to that one man. Excuse me. Okay, pardon me, Excuse me. Pardon me. He had to get around all those people to get to that one man. He heals how many people that one man. Now, could he have healed more? Maybe. We don't know. The gospel writer didn't give it to us. But what the gospel writer did give is a pool full of sick people. And Jesus heals one man. His assignment that day was that one man, right? We got to have the same discipline to know what is our assignment and what is not. Every cry, every is not my assignment. Every open door is not my assignment. We have to have enough discipline in our own soul to not be so platform driven, to think that every door that opens, I need to be on that platform, right? So we got to have the like. For example, I don't know if I should say this on the podcast. Gosh, man. Okay, okay. The. The current administration sent me an invite to be a part of the National Day of Prayer that's coming this year, right? There's a National Day of Prayer coming this year? In the middle of the year. They sent me an invite to be a part of that day. All right? If I was platform driven, I would have immediately. As soon as the invite came, first day, I would have responded like, how could you say no? I'm from Queens, right? I'm a dude from Queens with no real seminary education. The White House calls, you go, right? But that's not what I did. I took that invite, and I took it to our prayer team. I took it to our staff. I took it to my executive pastor, who's here, and I put it before them. What do y' all think about this? Would y' all join me in prayer about whether or not I should go? Because I know if I go, it's gonna come at a price, right? It's gonna come at a cost. Social persecution, right? And this would be, like, the highest invite in the land, right? In my flesh, I would just say, go, right? Who thinks twice? But because I have been so much. Right, and because I've made mistakes, I had to remind myself, you listening, Bryce? I'm only a steward of my ministry, all right? I will give an account for all of it, right? So now when invitations come, I have to pray over them. I take it to the prayer team, pray, right? If it's God's will, I go. If it's not his will, I can't go. And you and I have read this in the scriptures when Paul was busy going. And then one night, he has a dream. God says, no, don't go over there. Go over here. And he sees the man standing on Macedonia. Watch this. Come over here and preach to us. Paul wakes up from that dream. Watch. He heads west towards Macedonia, right? He preaches in Macedonia, in that area. Eventually, he'll plant a church in that area of the world. That church he planted was Philippi, the first church planted on the European continent. That letter that he writes to the Philippians from prison, he's writing that letter to the first church planted on the European continent. And maybe that one church help Christianity to spread west, we will never know. But we can lean on the text just a little bit, right? What if the Lord don't send him west? What if he goes the opposite direction? We don't know, right? Would you and I be sitting here today in a world where Christianity is welcomed in the West? We don't know. So the point I'm trying to make to say all of that is we have to know our assignments. You have to know yours. I got to know mine. And ours is to not run through every single door. Ours is to run through the doors that God intends for us to run through as we become a slave to opportunities. Pray for me, too, Bryce, that God will help me make a decision, the right decision, about whether or not I need to go.
- [45:47]
Bryce Crawford
Absolutely, I will. Yeah. And, you know, that made me feel a lot more human, too, because sometimes I know exactly what you mean. I've been in places where I'm like, I'm not supposed to be here right now. Like, I know I'm sitting there, and I'm like, what am I doing here? I'm not supposed to be here. And so thank you for saying that, because sometimes I. I don't know about you, make you feel a little crazy, you know? Oh, do you know, should I. Should I have done. Should I backtrack? I'm sorry. Like, you know, get in that position. But you mentioned your family, and that was the advice I wanted to ask you, was, hey, I'm so encouraged by you and your wife. Like, every time I see a sprinkle or a. A glimpse on social media, I'm like, man, they love each other, and I love it. But.
- [46:33]
Podcast Host/Announcer
But you.
- [46:33]
Bryce Crawford
You also mentioned it, and I think this has been the hardest Thing. Like, it costs. Like, you have to count the cost when you leave, you have to count the cost. Like, you know, we're. We're on our tour right now, and Maddie and I prayed, and we knew that we were counting the cost. But, like, I've been away for almost a little under two weeks, and that was hard and it was challenging, and Satan was coming our way with many different things and having a different time zones and talk and figure it out and being away and long days and late nights. And now we got to see each other this morning, and it was beautiful.
- [47:04]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Is she here?
- [47:05]
Bryce Crawford
She's on her way.
- [47:06]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Okay, cool.
- [47:07]
Bryce Crawford
We went to church this morning. But, you know, I think that how do you guys count the cost in marriage? Like, how do you guys do ministry and marriage? How do you make time for your family and at the same time walk out, what God's called you to do?
- [47:22]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Everything you say yes to, something else is going to suffer. Right? So I think the longer you're married and do ministry, your yes has got to be more calculated. All right? The first seven years of my marriage was bad. It was very tough. A lot of fights, you know, threatening each other with divorce, all the things, right? Our first seven years was not good. It was bad. I would take the blame for most of it, 95% of it. I was very selfish, immature. And so I almost lost my wife. Right. I think having her right now, I really have a second chance. She being with me, I feel like it's a second chance. My ministry is a second chance. Been married now over 21 years, right? So you two months in, I'm two decades in, right? I think the beauty of my wife, Lena, I love her because Lena's one of the most godliest, virtuous, wise, humble women I've ever known, right? She's changed my life, and she is a ride or die, right? She understands the bigger picture, and she understands where our rewards are gonna be, right? And so for her, she did something that was very liberating for me. And I pray your wife would do me this for. For you. Right? Lena would say to me, when I have to leave to go do stuff, she would say, go do what you got to do, man of God. I'll be here when you get back home. You go out there, preach God's word, and I'm going, hold down this front. Essentially, we're both doing ministry because I have children. I'm out there preaching. She's at home discipling our kids, right? And she allowed me the freedom to go Do God's word. She never made me choose between her and God. She never boxed me into a corner like that. She would always tell me, do you feel like God has called you to do this? Yes. Go do it. I'll be here when you get back. Right. She's never put pressure on me for money. She's never put pressure on me in terms of what home we live in, what we drive. She's never put pressure on me in terms of what she wears. She's never put pressure on me in terms of the scope of our ministry decide. She's never, ever put that pressure on me. The only thing my wife wants from me is. Is just she wants in terms of my ministry. She wants me to be faithful. She wants to know that I'm hearing from God. If I'm not hearing from God, she and I have a problem. She's going to come confront me, right? She wants to know. So if I tell her I feel like God is saying, she'd be like, are you sure? Like, yes. Okay, then let's do that. So she's always giving me the freedom to go and do what God has called me to do. And she's. I'll be here when you get back. I'll hold down this front, right? So that has been a blessing to me. I know that's not every man's story, right? For some men. I know a brother right now who is. He lives in a prison. He could barely do God's ministry. Every time he's going to do something, his wife makes him feel guilty for doing that. And so it's constantly a battle between his spouse and God. And I feel sorry for men that have to deal with that. I pray for them. It's a very difficult situation to be. I'm fortunate that's not my job. Lena's very gracious, right? Because she understands the bigger picture, right? And so for me, I never had an issue there. The bigger issues with my children, God willing, you'll have some, right? And I learned the painful lesson of being too busy to the point that they were suffering. So I was sitting in my office one day and I seen a pink piece of paper in the trash can. And I don't write on pink paper, right? Like, I use yellow legal pads. So I'm like, who put this pink paper in my trash can? Where does pink paper come from? My trash can. So everything around me, I keep clean. Like, I'm aesthetically, like, I'm a clean dude. Organize everything, like my car, my offices, everything is immaculate. It's just the way I am anal about that. I don't know. I got OCD in that area. So I noticed that piece of paper in the trash can, that pink one, because nobody was in his office but me. And I went and got that piece of paper out of the trash can and I opened it up and it was my daughter Israel. And she wrote on there, she said, I love Jesus and I love our church and I love my dad, but I don't see him, though. And she put a big sad face with tears coming out the sad face. Oh, my goodness, right? And my heart was devastated, right in that moment. I was so broken. Like, man, I was so busy doing work and not really my kids are suffering on the inside from my absence. So I had to make a pivot, right? And the pivot I made was that I'm gonna create a type of schedule in which my family time is always scheduled. They have days that belongs to them. And I don't let nothing encroach on nowadays. Not ministry, not meetings. I will walk out of a meeting if my family calls me, I will walk out of a meeting if my family needs me, I will call our team and say, I'm not coming in today, my family needs me, right? If I have to choose between my kid performing at high school or me going to a preaching engagement, I would turn down a preaching game to make sure I'm sitting in the audience to hear my kids sing. So that day I had to make a decision that some way, somehow, I want my kids to leave my home and not hate Jesus on the way out, right? So I have built in rhythms, family rhythms, right? In which this is their day, this is their time, and those, those are sacred to me. I will not answer the phone, I don't check emails. I'm not going to break that rhythm unless it's an emergency. But there's still a cost to pay every time I leave the door to hop on a plane to go somewhere. They understand that their father has been called to itinerary ministry. So they give me grace. But I don't mean they don't feel that. I just think now they're a little bit more gracious because they understand they're older, they're teenagers, and then. And some of them are young men and women. I have a 21 year old, Bryce. Oh, wow. Did you know that, bro? I didn't know you could be my son.
- [53:07]
Podcast Host/Announcer
Dang.
- [53:08]
Bryce Crawford
I feel like you're my dad.
- [53:09]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah, right. I gotta, I gotta. I got a 21 year old he's a beast. His name is Malachi. He's preaching, he plays instruments.
- [53:17]
Bryce Crawford
If your name is Malachi, his name is.
- [53:19]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
He's. Oh, he's a beast.
- [53:20]
Bryce Crawford
Bring that heat, right?
- [53:20]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I got a 21 year old. I got a 20 year old. That's Israel. Yeah. I got a 20 year old. I got another 20 year old in my house. I got a 16 and 13, right? So they're a little bit more forgiving now. But the one who makes up the difference is Lena. Wow. When I'm gone, she'll take them out for ice cream, they go to restaurants. She'll fill that gap to try to push back against the void. They feel the void, but she try to fill that space. Right? So you and your wife. What's her name?
- [53:49]
Bryce Crawford
Maddie.
- [53:50]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Maddie, right. One thing is going to be very important for you and Maddie beginning to have agreement, all right? To just be in agreement about the scope of your ministry, which is big. The scope of your calling, which is big, right? You have a generational calling. Bryce. Let's just be honest, right? You have a generational calling. God's hand is on you in a very mighty, mighty way. It's obvious that his favor was on your life. And it's obvious he's raising up your voice to be a voice in this generation that is only a fool cannot see that, Right? So churches are going to call, cities are going to call, nations are going to call, Right? And if you and Maddie not in agreement, it's going to take a toll on your marriage. So you got to make sure from the beginning, you and Maddie having conversations about this, that she understands the bigger picture of eternity, the bigger picture of your call. She needs to understand your calling so she can partner with you and your calling, so she doesn't make herself competition between you and God. So when you say, babe, I feel like God is telling me I have to go here. Maddie says to you, I don't know what she calls. You go ahead, babe. You go do God's work. I'll be here when you get home. As long as y' all to an agreement, you can survive travel and distance. I just got to be in agreement. Amazing. That makes sense.
- [55:10]
Bryce Crawford
Wow, it's so good. Yeah, I'm encouraged, man. Yeah. I didn't want to be the guy that was like, yo, you could be my dad. But like, hey, hey, I like it.
- [55:19]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
How about you, Bryce?
- [55:20]
Bryce Crawford
Hey, I thank you. Thank you, man. No, you know, speaking of Malachi, not your son, but Malachi, chapter four, that scripture talks about the hearts of Fathers turning back to sons.
- [55:31]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [55:32]
Bryce Crawford
Sons turning back to fathers. Like, that rocked me to the core.
- [55:34]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah, man.
- [55:35]
Bryce Crawford
You know, I. I spent so much of my life when I was 17. I was serving at any conference I could get my hands on. I'd pass the tithe bucket around. I'd be in the green room, you know, serving in there, whatever it may be. And I met so many le. I tried to latch on to so many fathers. So many fathers. Like, man, this is it. This is it. This is it. And it never. It never happened until. Until a dude from Ohio named Marcus.
- [55:56]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Come on.
- [55:57]
Bryce Crawford
He said he.
- [55:58]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
He.
- [55:58]
Bryce Crawford
He let me come travel with him. I traveled with him for a year.
- [56:01]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah. And.
- [56:02]
Bryce Crawford
And that scripture has rocked me to
- [56:04]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
the core as beautiful.
- [56:05]
Bryce Crawford
And that's why I'm grateful for, like, fathers like you, you know, because you. You make. You make my generation feel empowered to, like, walk this faith out.
- [56:14]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [56:14]
Bryce Crawford
Because so you talked about it earlier, like, so many dudes want to die with the baton. They don't want to pass it on.
- [56:19]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [56:19]
Bryce Crawford
And if I didn't have a Marcus in my life and we didn't have guys like you in our life.
- [56:23]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [56:23]
Bryce Crawford
Then we would feel the same way. We would feel like, well, I don't. I want to die with this baton.
- [56:28]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah. And I think that's beautiful. I commend you for that.
- [56:32]
Bryce Crawford
Well, I appreciate you.
- [56:34]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
No, man, listen. You need to hear me say this, bro. That's highly commendable that you did that. That's so commendable that you did that. If serving is beneath you, then leadership is above you. I started out just like you. I was cleaning toilets and listening to music, worship music. And I had joy doing that, bro. I was loving Jesus and just cleaning toilets, being a janitor at my church, you know, cleaning stuff, and I had so much joy just serving anybody I can serve, but also looking for fathers. Yeah. Right. And I think this is, like, the most fatherless generation in world in history.
- [57:13]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [57:14]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Right. I remember when I was a school teacher, like, 75% of my kids had no dads, no fathers. Right. And I think that's a plot. We don't have time to get into that, but I definitely think that's a plot of the enemy. So when people come into a relationship with God, it's hard to connect with him as a father.
- [57:28]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [57:29]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Right. But the fact that you were serving, serving, serving and looking for fathers, there are people watching right now. They feel the same way. Yeah. And they want mentors. And here's what we do. Bryce. I need to say this to your audience. I'm sure a lot of your audience are Gen Z's and millennials. There's a lot of them who have a right desire for mentorship. That is a godly desire for coaching. There's nothing wrong with that. But what they do is they see people who are famous or people they like, and they automatically say, that is the mentor I need. No. So we try to manufacture our own mentors based on platform. And what we see, not knowing that person might be toxic on the other side of that camera. The best mentors are the ones that God divinely places in your life, because God knows you personally. He knows your issues and your hangups. He knows your heart breaks, your qualms. He knows the difficult part of you and the beautiful part of you. So God has already fashioned mentors that are tailor made for Bryce. So I think mentorship is best when it is divine. When God supernaturally causes you to cross paths with people and you feel a divine connection with that person and they have a genuine interest in you that has nothing to do with taking something from you.
- [58:41]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [58:41]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
And it could be a person that don't nobody know their name.
- [58:44]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [58:44]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Right. Don't nobody know the name. But there are people that God has fashioned for you. And so I would say that even people watching right now, we all need mentors, we all need coaches, but we need the ones that God intends for us to have. I think a lot of us just see famous people and say, this is the mentor I need. No. Why? You don't even know what that person's character is like. Yeah. All you see is platform. You see leaves, but you don't. You don't even know if they got Fear Fruit. And there's some people we admire in culture, and if you got close to them, you wouldn't like them. Right. You wouldn't like them. And so. And so, no, we don't need mentors because they're famous. We need the people God intends for us to have in our lives. You understand what I'm saying? I agree. All right. And so. And so I would. I would, I would say to you, I'm so thankful to hear that you was a faithful servant. You sold seeds of servant servanthood. You're reaping a harvest for being a great servant. But then God brought a man into your life to be a father to you. Does he have a mega platform?
- [59:42]
Bryce Crawford
I mean, he's. I'm not. Not really. Not at the time we met, the whole.
- [59:45]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Did the whole world know his Name at the time?
- [59:47]
Bryce Crawford
No, no, we met. We met at a conference I was serving at.
- [59:52]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah, but he was tailor made for you. Yeah. Right. And. And so I think that's what more of the generation is, to encourage a generation to not just run after people who they think they need, but run after the people God intends for them to be in their lives. Yeah, we. We should pray mentors into our life and not just try to latch on to people because we think, fill in the blank. That makes sense.
- [60:14]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
- [60:16]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [60:16]
Bryce Crawford
I wanna. I wanna shift on prayer really quick and then. And then I want to talk a little bit about end times. I think that's something to talk about.
- [60:23]
Podcast Host/Announcer
Yeah, I mean. Yeah.
- [60:24]
Bryce Crawford
I mean, yeah, we need to know, but it's like point of time, talk about. Yeah, with prayer, I mean, you're a man of prayer. Prayer is, is. Is an essential. Not just. I mean, it shouldn't be just an essential to your life. It should be an essential to the Christian life. And I'm going to get really vulnerable here. Like, I love to pray. I love to pray for people. I love to pray. I'm going to be completely honest. Like, sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall.
- [60:43]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Pastor.
- [60:44]
Bryce Crawford
No, like, do you. Do you ever even have those moments, even though that you have cultivated this intimate, this deeply intimate communication line with God?
- [60:54]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [60:54]
Bryce Crawford
Do you still have those days where you feel like you're just talking to the wall?
- [60:57]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I do. I think I'm having that moment right now. Wow. Right? You know, our church is in the middle of, like, you know, property searches and major projects. I'm seeking God for guidance right now, and I'm not getting anything. Like, just crystal clear. Right? Crystal clear. So even right now, having walked with Jesus since 2003, right now I'm in a season where I'm praying about and I'm not getting a clear answer. It almost feel like it's bouncing off the ceiling. And I think we go through that, and I think the beauty in that, Bryce, is that God teaches us to trust him even when we can't trace him, and to be faithful even when we can't figure out what he's doing. I think if every time we prayed we got an immediate answer, it would be too easy. I think sometimes when it feels like he's not listening or when it feels like he's leaving us in a little bit of a fog, I think he's still cultivating something out of character and perfecting our faith to just keep trusting him. Even when we can't trace him all the way. And so there are major decisions I'm trying to make right now for our ministry. When I say major, I mean major, major decisions that if I make a mistake, they could be catastrophic. Financially, spiritually, all the things. And I'm before God every day, and I'm still not getting clarity on all these things. So what do I do in the meantime? I keep doing what I know to do. I keep being faithful. So I think there are times when we all go through that. I think if we say we never been through that, there might be a little bit of pride there. I think all of us go through seasons where we feel like God. Are you listening? But I think in those seasons, he's still just as close. He's near. He never forsakes us. I just think he's perfected us. I said to somebody the other day, I'm so glad you asked this question. I said to somebody the other day, somebody was asking me this the other day about them feeling distant from God and whether or not God was still close. I said. I said, yo, bro. When my kids was real little, I would take them to the park. And when it was like, maybe six, seven, I would let them wander a little bit further away from me. And the park would be real big, but I just let them wander, right? And they'll get so far away from me. I can see them looking around, the kids, and they don't know where I'm at. I'm sitting on the bench, but I'm watching them from a distance where they are. They think they can't. I'm nowhere around, and I see them looking around. Where am I? But I'm sitting right where I am. I never left. Wow. I got my eye on them even though they can't see me. I'm watching them. If anybody ran up on them, I'll be there.
- [63:27]
Bryce Crawford
Wow.
- [63:28]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
If I seen a dog coming, I'm there. I got my eye on them from a distance, even though they can't. It's crowded in the park. So now I see them looking for me in the field, they can't find me. But I never left. I'm still in the same place I was when they started walking. All right, so even. Even when children get far away, even when they feel like God is far away, they can't see Him. He's still in the same place he was when they started wandering on the throne. Wow. Never leave, never forsake Him. When he's ready, he can shout loud enough. I Could yell out, malachi, Israel, come back over here. It's time to go home now. They'll look around. Oh, Daddy, there you are. And they make a beeline for me, but I never left. So even when God feels distant, he's still in the same place. Wow. He's still watching. He's still just got their eye on him. And when he's ready, he'll shout. And when he's ready, he'll talk. And when he's ready, you're here. And I'll hear. And we make a beeline for him either to come back if we're far, or say, now I know what to do. So I could. I could shout at Malachi. All right, come on, it's time to go now. That's come back. You're too far. Oh, Malachi, get off of that swing and get on the other one. That's an instruction. So even when he's far away, he could break the silence whenever he's ready and even give us an instruction. Yeah. Or tell us, come back home. Wow. But he never left where he was.
- [64:42]
Bryce Crawford
Dang, that's so good. Wow. Yeah, I think. You know, I heard a Billy Graham quote one time where he was like, oftentimes when you don't feel. Feel God there, that's when he's the closest to you.
- [64:51]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
He never left. He's right there.
- [64:52]
Bryce Crawford
I love that analogy. That's so good.
- [64:54]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah. He never left.
- [64:55]
Bryce Crawford
And I think people feel that distance, too, especially with the end time star and the thick and I mean, shoot,
- [65:02]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
bro, we in war right now.
- [65:05]
Bryce Crawford
It's.
- [65:06]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
It's crazy, bro, listen, we in a war right now that's escalating. And you got end time nations who are flirting whether or not to get involved in this war. Like, can we talk honest? Like, right now, as you and I are recording, the US Is in war with Iran.
- [65:23]
Bryce Crawford
Yep.
- [65:24]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
But then you have end time nations that are flirting with getting involved in this war, like Russia, like China. China is mentioned in the Old Testament, is mentioned in the scriptures, is Russia. These, like, these, these. These nations, geographically where they are, are mentioned in the scriptures as end time nations. They're flirting with getting involved with this war. Right. I think anytime Israel's at war, we should be paying attention.
- [65:47]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [65:48]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Anytime there's conflict in the Middle east, the believer should be paying attention. Right. Because you read the Scriptures and I do. Right. The scripture tells us there's a man coming. The scripture calls a man of sin the Antichrist. He's going to be a political figure. I believe he's going to be handsome, well spoken. Right. I believe I know what religion he's going to be a part of. He's going to emerge and the scripture says when he comes, he will sign a seven year peace treaty with Israel. There is no need for a peace treaty if there's not war. Right. There is no need for a peace treaty if there is no war. The Antichrist has nothing to sign if there's no conflict in the Middle East. So whenever there's major conflict in the Middle east, at least in our generation, we should be paying attention to that. Right. Because watch, there must be conflict for him to bring that treaty. Right. I wouldn't even be surprised if he's alive right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he's working his way through the political ranks. I wouldn't be surprised if he's in college somewhere. You can feel his spirit in the earth, that Antichrist spirit. I would not be surprised if he was alive right now. Right. But anytime there's conflict in that part of the world, that region of the world, we should be paying attention because the man of sin is going to rise with that peace treaty for Israel. That means Israel. And that part of the world has to be in conflict for that to happen. It's part of end time prophecy. So no one who's a believer who reads the scriptures should be surprised that there's conflict in that part of the world. What we should be doing is, do we have oil in our lamps? Will we be like the virgins who are ready or the virgins who are not? The people who sit in church every Sunday and not ready and the ones who are the ones who have an Issachar type spirit and the ones who don't. Right. So we need to be like the sons of Issachar, those who rightly discern the times and we know what to do about it. Yeah. You just have too many believers that are not discerning the times.
- [67:46]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [67:47]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
They're going to church, but they're blind.
- [67:48]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [67:49]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Going to conferences blind, Reading devotions, blind. They're not paying attention. Yeah. To what's happening right now. I think we're living in the last days of the church age. That's my personal opinion.
- [67:58]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [67:58]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I think time is running out. We. That's why every place I go, every city I go, every country, I tell the believers of that room, time is running out. Yeah. And we need to echo that. We need more people to keep. Time is running out. Time is running out. Time. We don't have that much Time left, Bryce.
- [68:16]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [68:16]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
We are living. You watch sports?
- [68:18]
Bryce Crawford
Oh, yeah.
- [68:19]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
You like football?
- [68:19]
Bryce Crawford
I love football.
- [68:20]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Okay, it's the fourth quarter. We got three minutes left to go, right? And we down by seven.
- [68:27]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [68:28]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
That's the urgency we need right now. Wow.
- [68:30]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah, I agree. I think. Yeah. You know, a lot of people, they want to say, oh, I've seen it so much on social media. They. They talk about. They.
- [68:38]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
When.
- [68:38]
Podcast Host/Announcer
Oh, when you talk about the end
- [68:39]
Bryce Crawford
times, it's fear mongering. This ain't fear mongering. It gives me an urgency. See, every time when I think, oh, shoot, tomorrow could be the day that Jesus comes back, or we're in the thick of it, or you see. You see missiles fired in the Middle east, you see this, or. I mean, especially with technology, I don't think AI is inherently bad, but things are getting so real right now, you can't even tell the difference.
- [69:00]
Podcast Host/Announcer
I saw a video of a panther jumping through a window. I thought it was real.
- [69:03]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
It was fake. Me, too.
- [69:04]
Bryce Crawford
It was fake.
- [69:05]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Me too.
- [69:05]
Podcast Host/Announcer
And I'm like, yo, what the heck is going on?
- [69:07]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
This is actually insane.
- [69:08]
Bryce Crawford
And. And. And I'm like, so. It's so wild to me. But, you know, I think one of the.
- [69:16]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
One of the reasons that.
- [69:17]
Bryce Crawford
Why I think that my. My generation that's crazy. Struggles to grasp the end times because they put so much hope in tomorrow.
- [69:25]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
A couple of things you said are so profound. Can we walk through some of the stuff you just said?
- [69:29]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah, we can.
- [69:31]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Let's just go backwards, right? Let's go backwards, right? AI is a dope tool, but I think AI is going to be part of the end time prophecy. Right. Even when the scripture tells us in Revelation, when the Antichrist comes, he sets up an image of himself in the temple. And that image talks and it blasphemes God and it causes people to worship. Like a talking image. Is that a hologram? Is it AI? I mean, a talking image. AI is going to have a lot to do with the end, right? AI is going to deceive a lot of people on social media. I've seen a video of me preaching somebody's church I've never been to. It's crazy. I was standing behind the pulpit, right? Like, I was standing behind the pool. I saw it on Tick Tock, bro. Like, it was like, oh, we didn't know Pam get down with someone. So, like, I seen a video of me on Tick Tock standing behind somebody's pool pit preaching with the pastor right next to me, and I'm like, I never even met this man, right? Like, I never been there. And that's not a knock on the man or the tree church. I'm just saying I've never been there, right? It's. It's crazy. I see whole AI stuff with me saying I seen a dude make an AI video of me saying that I was his mentor and it was my voice. You remember this? You remember this? Yo, it was. It was my voice saying, this is my mentee. I affirm him, I want everybody to come to this church this Sunday, sit on my couch in my home office with my voice. And so we, man, we had to. We had to. You remember that? And we had the home office. We had to get out. We had to. We had to get out that dude, you know what I'm saying? From. Anyway, so. So I think AI is gonna. AI is, Is gonna play a major, a major role in the end times. There's no, there's no doubt about it. But I want. Then let's, let's digress to what you said next. You said a lot of people think that if you preach about the end times, you fanmonger and like, okay, yeah, okay. People need to read, Bryce.
- [71:27]
Bryce Crawford
I agree.
- [71:28]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Okay, Right. We need to read. Right? Yeah. Okay. Didn't Paul teach about the end times all the time? Right. Did not Jesus talk about the end times all the time? And they was doing that in the first century, right Now, Okay. If Paul and Jesus and the apostles talked, preached, wrote about end times with warnings very strong in the first century, how much more should we be doing that now when we have less time than they did? They're preaching end times to people that lived 2,000 years ago. Yeah, right. You and I are over 20, 25 years removed from the resurrection of Christ. Should you and I and our generation not be talking about the end times with more veracity and intensity and urgency now because we have less time? It's like you said, you like football.
- [72:20]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [72:20]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Okay, okay. The coach gives you a speech before the game, he gives you another one at halftime. But it's fourth quarter and you're losing. You don't think that speech is going to intensify? Should anybody say to the coach, now, you can't encourage us in the fourth quarter to be serious now. Like, nobody's going to think that. Yeah, right. So I would say to believers, I want to say this on camera, right? You and I never met before. It's the first time we met. Right, Right. But I'm sure you've talked a lot about end times. On your platform.
- [72:53]
Bryce Crawford
Oh, yeah.
- [72:54]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
And on your social media pages. Yeah. And so have I. Yeah, but we've never met.
- [72:58]
Bryce Crawford
That's right.
- [72:59]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
We never prayed together.
- [73:00]
Bryce Crawford
That's right.
- [73:00]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
We've never been in the same room together. But you've talked about the end times. Probably a lot. So have I. That burden is in you.
- [73:07]
Bryce Crawford
Amen.
- [73:07]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
You're feeling that when you pray. Yeah. Okay. But who you fill with the Holy Spirit. Who's in me.
- [73:13]
Bryce Crawford
Holy spirit.
- [73:14]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Right. So maybe God is echoing in the culture. Do anybody that would listen. This is what I want my bride paying attention to. Why is Bryce talking about the end times? The Holy Spirit is leading him to do that. Why is Philip talking about the end times? The Holy Spirit is leading him to do that. Why is John over here talking about the end times? Maybe. Maybe we're not trying to fear monger. Maybe we're hearing what we need to say. Because maybe God is trying to use any willing, non compromising, not afraid, non punk voices to speak the truth. Because when God speaks, he echoes. And maybe what people are hearing in the culture is the warning of God. My sons, my daughters, wake up. Yeah, y' all don't have that much time left. And I'm using every available voice to sound an alarm in the country, in the world. Y' all need to be on mission. I am coming, and I'm coming very soon. So maybe we're not fear mongering. Maybe we're doing what's supposed to do because God is trying to awaken his bride. Wow.
- [74:22]
Bryce Crawford
I agree. I mean, can you imagine? Like, we.
- [74:26]
Podcast Host/Announcer
We talk about, like, we get, like,
- [74:27]
Bryce Crawford
five hate comments and everyone's like, oh, the end times is going down. But then, like, Jesus just utters a spirit and it's like, completely dark. The veil tears and an earthquake goes down. Come on, I just preached that last week.
- [74:37]
Podcast Host/Announcer
Did you really?
- [74:38]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah, I just preached that text last week.
- [74:39]
Bryce Crawford
I'm just thinking about that right now. Like, imagine those guys, they probably, like, thinking all hell's about to break loose right there. I mean, it did, but, like, you know, they're. They're freaking out. I'd be freaking out too.
- [74:48]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah, yeah. Darkness, temple, you know, temple, shadows, earthquake. The veil, tears. All that's craziness, right? Yeah, but I just think God is echoing.
- [74:57]
Bryce Crawford
I agree.
- [74:58]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
I think he's trying to get us on mission. I think the Lord's trying to pull the bride out of apathy and out of being indifferent. Right. It's. You know how Jesus says, no man knows the day nor the hour, but what if we did? What if you and I knew that in 2030, in October of 2030, that was going to be the end of the church age as we knew it, and we knew that verifiably from heaven, would they be mocking us for talking about the end times? Some people will, but more people probably saying, I need to start getting my life together. Right. And God didn't give us that date. He just gave us, like, things we can see in the seasons. Yeah. Like when the leaves start falling off the tree. You know, it's fall and winter's coming. Yep. The leaves are falling off the tree, bro. Right. We seeing things on the news that's coming right out of the pages of the scripture. Yeah. Right. You have to be really blind right now not to realize that when the closer to the end.
- [75:58]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [75:59]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
So the leaves are falling off the tree. And that's why Jesus used to always say the same. Bryce, those who have ears to hear, let them hear. That's everybody will not hear. They just have to suffer the consequence for not being prepared. Wow. You know, we just got to try to get as many people prepared as possible.
- [76:19]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I. My brother Keenan and I were talking about the end times. I heard him preach this thing out of Revelation one time. Rock me to the core. And I, I, I, it moved me so much. I sat on it for a little bit and I was like, it gave me that new, this, like, new profound urgency. He was Talking about Revelation 20, how God's going to wipe away every tear.
- [76:40]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yep.
- [76:41]
Bryce Crawford
And he was saying how his, his interpretation was, you know, we're going to watch our loved ones and our family members, you know, three, five verses before that, God cast every non believer into hell.
- [76:53]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Verses 11 through 15.
- [76:55]
Bryce Crawford
And then he wipes away every tear.
- [76:57]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yes.
- [76:58]
Bryce Crawford
And he's like, you know, do you don't think that we're going to watch our loved ones and family members be cast into hell and that's the last time we cry?
- [77:05]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [77:05]
Bryce Crawford
And that's the last little bit of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- [77:08]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yes.
- [77:09]
Bryce Crawford
Suffering.
- [77:10]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [77:11]
Bryce Crawford
And gosh, when I heard that and I read it, I mean, it's one thing to hear it. You know, faith comes by hearing. I'm like, yeah, wow.
- [77:18]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [77:18]
Bryce Crawford
But that stirred me. And I, like, went to the scripture, I was like, oh, my God, it's right there.
- [77:23]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Verse 11 through 15.
- [77:24]
Bryce Crawford
It's real.
- [77:25]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
The White Throne judgment. And for that reason, I pray with tears for people who are not sick, beginning with my own family. You know, I'm not Sure. If there's a week that goes by I do not shed tears and prayers for everyone I know who's not safe. Every friend, every family member. I'm covering my children. I want to make sure they all make it. I think if men knew how graphic eternal separation from God is, how graphic hell is going to be, which is temporary. The last place will be the lake of fire. That's what we know according to Revelation, chapter 20. If men knew how graphic that was and that the fact that it's eternal, I think we would care more about people who are not saved. You know, I say this to my church all the time because I'm trying to give them, like, you know, people read the Bible, but they don't think about what they're reading.
- [78:20]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [78:21]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
You know, the scripture says after Judas committed suicide, he was the Son doomed for perdition. So we know that Judas didn't make it to glory. Right. I say this to my church all the time. I said, what year did that happen? It was around AD 33, around the year Christ died. That means if we take the Scriptures for what it is, that means Judas would have been there for two millennia. And he'll be there for another two millennia and another two and another two. And then if we take everything, Jesus said that the worm doesn't die. Men gnash their teeth for pain. They're chewing their tongue. They're conscious of their suffering, and they're not going to get out. You know how tormented it is to be in a place separated from God? Now you're separated from his grace, his love, his mercy, his blessing, glory. You're tormented. You have a body fit for destruction. You're in darkness. You feel the fire, but you're never going to get out. There is. There is no reprieve. There is no purgatory. There's no second chance. When we think about how graphic that is in terms of suffering, and then we think about how long it's going to last. Forever. And if we just some way somehow wrap our minds around the graphic nature of everyone who dies separated from God and what that person is going to endure forever. If a person would sit down long enough to think about the nature of that, that level of sentencing, they might start praying for people they know who are far away from God. Yeah. They will probably start supporting ministries that are serious about the spread of the Gospel. They will probably say, you know what? A part of my money, a part of my check has to support churches. Bryce Ministries has to support ministries that's serious about telling People about Jesus. They might start praying for aunts and uncles and parents, and they might start thinking about people walking around who they know, who don't know God. Especially since we know. Do you know when you're going to die, Bryce?
- [80:34]
Bryce Crawford
No.
- [80:35]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Do I know? No. No. Last week in my church, a young man was headed to our ministry. He was 20, 22 years of age, died in a motorcycle crash.
- [80:47]
Bryce Crawford
Oh, my goodness.
- [80:49]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
On his way to 2019. That Week with his family, we did a memorial for them on stage. He was a believer, so we know where he is. What if he wasn't? Yeah.
- [81:03]
Bryce Crawford
He'd be right next to Judas at
- [81:06]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
22 and not getting out. And does anybody know when their last day is? No, but you got people that hear the gospel invitation all the time and push away. I'll get right next week. How do you know you're going to have next week? I've done funerals for teenagers, babies, adults. I've known teenagers that died in car crashes. Right. That's the whole thing. Like you and I seeing it tomorrow. You got plans to go be with your wife later? Yeah. You got plans to do stuff tomorrow? Yeah. How we know we're going to see tomorrow, we don't. But for you and I, we got assurance you're going to pillow your head. You're going to lay in your pillow tonight, you got assurance something happened to you tonight. You know where you're going to be. Yeah. What about your cousin that don't know Jesus or the person watching right now? They, Grandmama, that don't know Jesus. That's what they say in the south brass. Grandmama, I'm from New York, so I'll say Grandma. Grandmother. But, but, but. No, I'm being serious. Right. And the Lord described these things in graphic detail. Yeah. How about when he told the story of Lazarus and a rich man?
- [82:05]
Bryce Crawford
I was just about to bring that up.
- [82:06]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
How about that? Right? Tell story a poor man, a rich man, they both die. One goes to glory, the other one goes to hell. Yeah. And watch. And from hell he cries out for water. Yeah. Get nothing. Go tell my family that this place is real. No, we will not. They got the prophets. They don't want to listen to the prophets in this life. They're going to end up in the same place as you. And he's conscious that he's not going to get out. Yeah. Right. So I think if more of us. Dang it. If more of us thought about what that's gonna be like for family members and friends, People at the job, people in the gym, People we say we love. Yeah. More of us thought about how horrific it's going to be for people to die apart from Christ. It's like jumping out of an airplane with no parachute. Right. Like, if we. If we thought about what that's going to be like for people to wake up on the other side of death without the righteousness of Christ, we might just pray a little bit different. We might labor a little bit different. We might. We might. We might care a little bit different. We might be a little bit more faithful. Yeah. We might be a little bit more generous. And it's not just my worry. Right. I think where we are Christians, we should all be concerned about people who are far away from God, right? Yeah. It's going to be horrific the amount of people who are entering eternity apart from Christ. Bro, I'll be in the Uber. I'll be praying for the Uber driver, having conversations. I was in the Uber with a driver who was Muslim. We get into a conversation about Jesus. He was very gracious. We had a good intellectual conversation about Christ. And he was open and I was open. It was. It was a good conversation, bro. I did not convert him, but I did leave a seed for him. Right. That the Holy Spirit could come behind me and water that seed.
- [84:40]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah.
- [84:41]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Like we sitting in the Uber with the unbeliever right in front of us. You know, a conversation, a prayer, anything.
- [84:48]
Bryce Crawford
Yeah,
- [84:52]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
it's going to be an awful and dreadful day when that great. Right. Throwing judgment comes. You know who's going to be worse for Bryce? Not the atheist, Bryce. It's going to be worse for the person that's been in church their whole life and thought they were a Christian.
- [85:12]
Bryce Crawford
Matthew 7.
- [85:14]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Lord, many will come to me on that day and say, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, go to conferences in your name? And I went to church in your name, and I went to a Christian school in your name and all of that. The atheists don't call him Lord, Bryce. Right. The Muslims not calling him Lord. The Hindus not calling him Lord. The people calling them Lord are people who think that they are okay with God. And that's going to be the person I feel the most sorry for. Yeah, it's painful, bro.
- [85:43]
Bryce Crawford
It is painful. And I think, you know, I'm just thinking back. Gospel of Luke, Jesus, he says, the harvest is ripe.
- [85:54]
Podcast Host/Announcer
That's the craziest words ever.
- [85:55]
Bryce Crawford
The odds are in our favor as
- [85:57]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
believers, but the laborers are few.
- [85:59]
Bryce Crawford
Not enough people doing it.
- [86:00]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
The harvest is ripe.
- [86:02]
Bryce Crawford
And that's why I'm grateful for bold voices and fathers like you who are willing to. To stir the pot in a good way. Like stir believers hearts to say, hey, let's go throat punch the devil. John the Baptist said, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, but the violent take it by force.
- [86:20]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
That's why I'm grateful for voices like yours. You know, it's necessary. Even if it come with persecution, it's necessary. Yeah, right. When I think about your voice, you know, like I've kind of like try to tap in, you know, I followed you back on ig, so I'm kind of tapping in, watching what you're doing. When I hear you talk, you know what I hear? I hear Colossians 1:28, right? Him we proclaim. Watch the first word warning everyone. That's what Paul wrote to the Church of Colossae. Him, we proclaim. Right. And the first thing he says is warning everyone. And then teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature before Christ. So ours is to warn and to teach, right? Not just to teach. There's a lot of teaching out there, not enough warning. Then we can't just warn and not teach. The culture needs both. That's what I hear in your voice. Warning and teaching. That's what Paul told us to do. Henry proclaimed, preach Christ, warn, teach. That's what we're supposed to be doing. Proclaiming, warning, Teaching. Proclaiming, warning. Teaching. Proclaiming, warning. Teaching. That's what the culture needs. That's what I hear in your voice. Your voice is needed. Proclaiming, warning, teaching. Everybody wants teaching. They don't want no warning. Right. They love that. The stuff that make them feel. Oh, the proclamation and the teaching. Oh, they love that. Nobody want to be warned. Yeah, but that's what Paul said. Proclaim, warn, teach. We need all three. Yeah. Because the one in the middle people don't like. Yeah, they don't like. They don't like that one.
- [88:14]
Bryce Crawford
Bryce, I would really love for you to pray for our audience to close it out for like a dude. A fresh boldness.
- [88:20]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah.
- [88:21]
Bryce Crawford
That believers can listen to this and that. They. That they hear the heart behind it. And they're like, no, be sent. Like, go and be bold for that. Would you. Would you be willing to pray for him?
- [88:29]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Yeah. Thank you, bro, for having me on your platform. I enjoy talking to you, man.
- [88:36]
Bryce Crawford
I enjoy talking to you.
- [88:37]
Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell
Thank you, my man. Bro, let's pray. Eternal God and of a wise father, Bryce. And I give you glory and honor and praise and homage for who you are and Bryson, I thank you that when we was both in darkness, in your mercy and compassion, you kept us alive long enough that you would rescue us from that darkness and bring us into the kingdom of light. And that you've anointed us now to be voices in this darkness. And we want to always be thankful for that. Father, I want to pray for the person listening to this podcast right now, watching whoever they are, wherever they are, first God. I pray for the believer, that you would remind the believer of the price that your son paid for them on the cross, that they would see what Christ had done from the cross and they would turn away from the cross and live a life of complete surrender unto you. I pray you would cause them to love the things that you love and to hate the things that you hate. I pray you give them a ferocious desire for holiness and for purity and for the kingdom. I pray God you will set them on fire. You deliver them from being lukewarm and from being indifferent and full of apathy and lethargy and pride. I pray you would open their blinded eyes that they would see what has happened in the culture and that their hearts will be burned like your prophet Isaiah. I pray God you would give them an Issacharian anointing, God, that they would see what is happening, God, and they will be moved to do something about it. I pray you would awaken the bride wherever she is, in the United States, in the uk, across the continent of Africa and around the world. I pray you set the bride on fire and help our Lord to be on mission in these final hours of the church age. Deliver us, God, from vices and chains that have us bound, from ambitions and things that are ancillary, that seem noble and things that are sinful and deceitful in the dark. Let us be a bride full of character and integrity and holiness and purity and full of fire and omission for you. I pray that for the brother or sister who's watching right now, awaken your sons and daughters and burn them in their hearts like you did Isaiah and Father. We pray for the unbeliever right now that they will tremble under the weight of the gospel, that they will know they are sinners and they are foolish, far away from you. And I pray right now they will feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit wooing them to repent and to surrender their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for the salvation of the person who's watching. We pray for the salvation of family members and friends. We pray the gospel will go out to the whole world and reap a harvest. God, in these final days of the church age, May the Lamb who was slain receive the rewards of his suffering. Let revival break out around the world. I pray for my brother Bryce, my little brother, in the faith that you would bless his ministry to prosper and to thrive and to be fruitful. And you continue to elevate him as an end time voice, to proclaim, to warn, to teach. Bless his marriage, his wife. Keep them in all of your ways. I ask all of this God in the mighty and the majestic and the the matchless name of our soon coming king, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
- [91:51]
Bryce Crawford
Amen.