Interview: John Hembree (Gospel Clarity, Witnessing, Ministry, Bible College)

Pastor Jesse interviews Pastor John Hembree, a pastor and friend from Northside Church Athens, about his ministry, witnessing opportunities and Bible college experience.
John on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCWMeoLfUmNhA5Nn9MHvIT9A
FBC: https://floridabiblecollege.us/Show more

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and I looked at her in her eyes and I said do you know you are so valuable to God and I said I know that and you can
know it because you got died for by Jesus Christ and she just had tears as soon as I said you're so valuable to God
she had tears just rolling down her face and uh I explained to her that Christ paid for all of her sins and he was
buried and he rose again and going to hell was a free gift and Heaven could be hers In This Very hour if she would just
simply Place her faith in Christ all right well I'm here with John Henry
the associate pastor at Northside Baptist Church Athens or Northside Church Athens Northside Baptist Church
it's off of Danielsville Road in in Athens Georgia John's a good friend of mine who went to school together and
he's actually going to be speaking at Calvary this weekend and so we wanted to fire up the microphones and cameras and
get you on interviews so congratulations John by the way you're the first interview in the new studio so well
thank you I'm so thankful for the opportunity good well I kind of want uh people to learn about you because I mean
you know we're good friends and we're actually traveling to Israel together here pretty soon but I want people to
know your story and how you got saved the amount of time that you were saved
and serving and then your decision to go to college and you know we'll talk about that throughout the course of the
interview but can you maybe start off with your testimony tell us how you sure come to understand that you have eternal life sure I was 10 years old
and I had my oldest brother his name is Cecil and he spent a lot of time with me
and my sister and he was saved he had trusted Christ and but we had not and so
he would he challenged made us a challenge to give us a quarter
for every Bible verse that we learned and so I grew we grew up poor I didn't have a you know a quarter was a lot to
me a little ten-year-old boy way back then so but he picked out salvation verses and you know Timothy says from a child
that was known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise and to Salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus little did I know man I just learned John 3 16 Romans 5 8 Romans
3 23 verses like that salvation verses and I learned those but the Lord started
working through those verses and I realized I am lost and uh
my biggest fear was I was scared that I would go to hell and so um but not long after I'd learned those
salvation verses my brother Jim went to the Air Force he got enlisted uh to go to Germany so my big influence there was
kind of removed although my dad and mom knew Christ is their savior but but the
Lord began working on me with those verses and and I just couldn't stand it anymore we've got a big old Pastor on our old country farm and I was down
there walking and thinking like I don't know I'm going to hell I don't know I'm going to heaven I was scared
and so I couldn't stand it no more Jesse and I went to my dad and mom and I said hey what does it take to be saved and
they told me it was very clear that if I put my faith in Christ that I'd get a home in heaven forever and so I did I
trusted Christ uh 10 year old boy so what did you think before like you
know when when people share their testimony sometimes they I hear a lot of people say well I thought I had to be
good enough that's where I was before I understood salvation like I thought I had to begin enough continue
doing something and if I ever stopped then God would like no longer have any interest in trying to
save me what did you have any kind of preconceived I don't think I had any kind of preconceived thing that I know
of uh it was after I trusted Christ as my savior my brother who was a big
influence yeah Cecil right Cecil uh he had left to go to Germany my dad mom
were very heavily involved in church and and at that point I don't remember much
of anything from church as far as whether they gave a clear gospel or not I do remember going to Vacation Bible
School that was important to me but my dad was hurt at a church and so he just
stopped going that's a lot that's a part of a lot of people's story I know sadly but and so I didn't have any influence
after I was saved so I spent the time from I was 10 till the time I was 21.
just living for self really yeah and nobody
had taught me after you're saved that a good thing to do is to walk with the Lord and right it's your reasonable
service to walk with the Lord so I would I spent 11 years just kind of living for
myself saved but not serving the lord and but when I was 21 my dad asked me to
go pass out some tracks with him because he would go pass out tracks on the street and at that time I didn't know it was
important to give out a clear gospel track that told you that the only thing that's necessary to go to heaven was to
trust Christ as your savior that he died on the cross according to scriptures he was buried and he rose from the dead according to scriptures if you believe
in what he did that savior in scripture you could have eternal life it's a free gift I didn't know that uh there was a
difference but we I'd go pass out tracks and I grew up really shy Jesse I was so
shy the probably the shyest person in the whole world yeah and I wouldn't even say nothing I just hold the track out
and gave it out and if somebody took it fine if they didn't that people would take those tracks and but I started
going to church and I'd bounce around from church to church to church and I'm not saying this to fault churches yeah
but every church I went to would say it it takes a list of good deeds to go to
heaven you got to do this this this this good deed this good deed this good deed and you can't do that bad thing that bad
thing that bad thing so I was told you got to do a list of 100 things to go to heaven and
and it confused me I should have known the difference because my my dad and mom told me it's only about trust in Christ
but if you go to church in the in the pastor holds a Bible in his hand and tells you hey you you want to believe
him because he you think he knows the truth so he told me a thousand things Preachers did that you have to do to be
saved yeah that God never said it took to be saved it only takes one thing faith in Christ so I got really confused
in my mind and and doesn't the devil wants you to do that he wants you to get confused
about what it takes to save you I'll share this too to to add to what you're saying you know you said you got saved
but you never really I would say it'd be safe to say I know you didn't say this but I think it could summarize like the growth was delayed it
was just much delay right and there's there's a passage in second Peter chapter one I think it's around verses
like five six and seven that talk about add to your faith virtue knowledge
Temperance all this stuff and then there's a verse that gets to some people who have not added to their
faith they've forgotten that they were purged from their old sins and that's what happened to me I've forgotten yeah
I'd forgotten uh it wasn't until I was 21 when I my dad asked me to go pass out tracks and I turned him down tons of
times I just turned it because I was serving self I didn't know anything about the importance of serving the lord and you were shy too and very shy very
shy and but it was when I was 21 and seeing those people walked up and down that street and it dawned on me a light
bulb come on that it brought back a memory that back when I was 10 years old
I had trusted Christ and I'm looking at people and I still didn't understand the importance of the clarity of the Gospel
at that point but I looked at people and I was like these people are going to spend eternity in one of two places heaven or hell and
I went home and I was crying I remember a 21 year old young man on my in my bed crying like a baby and telling Lord Lord
I'm so sorry for living so selfishly and not even caring whether people go to
heaven or hell yeah and so but I spent the next nine years the next nine years bounced around from
church to church to church uh not knowing because preachers would tell you that you could lose your salvation
so when I sinned I was like did I lose my salvation that's what you were hearing that's what I was here
everywhere I was here and I was here it took Works to be saved and that you could lose your salvation so I spent
nine years and I don't think that I led anybody to Christ because I really didn't want people to go to hell I
wanted people to go to heaven and uh and I think a lot of times we we try to uh
scare people out of hell too much and start instead of try to loving people into heaven yeah but I just didn't want
people to go to hell and but it wasn't until I was 30 years old that I walked into my dad had been
listening to a man on the radio guess who it is Ralph Yankee Arnold I
wonder if anybody knows who that guy is he was listening to him on the radio and my dad said hey uh John I know you've
been bouncing around from church church remember my dad had been hurt by Churches right and he said why don't you
go check out this church and so I did was it close to his North Side closer yeah it was only like 15 minutes away
isn't that crazy how that works all but think about it I told Yankee nine years of my life right there that I I knew
there was something wrong I didn't know what it was right what it was was I didn't understand Grace
I didn't understand what Grace was and that that works don't save you and that you
can't lose your salvation and so when I walked in north side I was 30 years old and he was preaching on guess what you
can know that you have eternal life and so my ears bent I mean if they if they could have literally done that they
would you know David said incline my ear to my statutes I was tuned in and I was all ears I mean
I was like you can know for sure you're going to heaven when you die and he used to verse first John 5 13. I didn't even
know that verse was in the Bible because that was a problem of mine my brother got me to learn verses when I was 10
year old boy but I didn't learn any after that right I didn't have no no somebody to influence me on growing or
yeah rowing is very very important it's vital to a Christian's success you gotta
be growing yeah so he was preaching on first John 5 13 that you can these things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of the son of God that ye may know k-no day mean I hope yes
think but you may know that you have eternal life and I'm like wow you can know you have eternal life and then he
preached on Ephesians 2 8 9 which I didn't know that verse was in the Bible for by Grace you say through faith and
that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of words listen to manage and he broke that verse down
and explain Grace means favor the only way you can get God's favor that will save you is through faith
and it's not of works and it's a free gift and so
it just made so much sense to me and then he pulled out his wallet yeah and
explained the gospel that if I would trust Christ I'd get the free gift of eternal life well I'd already done that but it had
made so much sense to me I didn't do it again yeah yeah but it just gave me Assurance right I knew that I had done
the one thing God said that would save me into eternal life placing my faith in Christ in the whole what he did for me
not what I do what he did and that day I walked away knowing I had eternal life
and I was able to learn how to share the
clear gospel with other people and I started leading people to the Lord it was the most amazing thing so you have
you got saved when you were 10 get to 20 years later you know we'll just just cut
out the teenage years you're growing and stuff you gotta all this time all this time you're learning you're getting
stuff done but then it does it doesn't happen until you have somebody that's teaching you the not not only the gospel
Clarity of the Gospel like it's got to be clear because I'm teaching personally evangelism right now in the college and
I'm telling students like you know people talk about Jesus Christ the modern church today which is not the
body of Christ the whole contemporary music Church worship stuff they say Jesus name a lot they talk about them a
lot but they don't make it clear how a person can understand they're going to heaven when they die right and anytime
they do have an opportunity like that they absolutely miss the ball I mean they swing and Miss it's a whole bunch
of stuff the list thing that you're talking about you can go to churches and look at the back of their tracks and
know where their Pastor stands exactly and and that's discouraging but I want
people to see how you had you know you put your faith in Christ when you were young you had gone through all this time
of no clear teaching no opportunity to grow you finally get a good grasp on
what you have and how people can hear that the same way that you heard it yeah and then you start winning people to
Christ yeah what did your spiritual growth look like be between when you finally understood the details of the
Gospel so well that you could share it with people and you know before you decided to take another step to go to college can you tell us some stories it
was a difference between night and day yeah uh because if you're not clear on the gospel nothing else will be clear in
the in the scripture if you're off on the gospel everything else is going to be muddy and so once I got the gospel
that understood the clarity of the Gospel then scripture became a lab to me and so I began to study because that was
one of my problems I didn't know scripture like I should and so I began to study and I began to lead a lot of
people to Lord like never before it was like amazing and so um
I'll give you an example of somebody I worked at a hospital in Athens Georgia I
worked there 11 years and there was this girl there
um a teenage girl and they had brought her in suicidal and she was cutting her wrist and uh I walked into
the room and I could tell this that this girl wasn't just trying to get attention she was really I mean she was very
depressed very down and so I I made it a point to be very kind to her and I
started the conversation but I wasn't getting much back but I really wanted to talk to her about how to go to heaven
because if you don't know that what purpose do you have in life you know if you don't even know the direction you're
headed absolutely and so uh I be I tried to I asked her I said would you mind if
I tell you how to go to heaven and she said I really don't want to hear that so uh I was still very kind to her and I
said well look I said if you need any food or any water or well if you need anything if you'll just let me know I'll
try to get that for you and I was about to go out the door and close the door and she said well she said well Sarah
she said I I think you can go ahead and I I'd like for you to talk to me about that right so I began to explain to her
that we're all Sinners and and the payment for sin is death and and to go to heaven we have to be perfect but none
of us are and and all the good deeds that we could ever do can never save us could never be the right payment it's
not death going to church is not death reading your Bible is not death uh changing your life it's not death So
Good Deeds won't save you but then I began to explain to her about the Savior about what Jesus did and I looked at her
in her eyes and I said do you know you are so valuable to God and I said I know that and you can know it because you got
died for by Jesus Christ and she's just had tears as soon as I said you're so valuable to God she's had tears just
rolling down her face and uh I explained to her that Christ paid for all of her sins and he was buried that he rose
again and going to heaven was a free gift and Heaven could be hers In This Very hour if she would just simply Place
her faith in Christ and I asked her did she understand that she said yes I what's the one thing you can do right
now to know you have eternal life she said place my faith in Christ believe that he died for my sins I said that's
right will you do that right and she said yes and she said she said John that was the that's the answer for my
that's what I've been searching for my whole life and I didn't even know it and it was amazing it was just amazing
but I've got story after story after Story of people that I've led to Christ
but I always think I'm thankful for this Jesse what if I hadn't met a man
who understood the importance of being clear on the gospel yeah what if there's a God has put a lot of people in my life
I call them Giants of the faith who stood for the clarity of the gospel and they went through a lot of trouble a lot
of persecution a lot of personal attacks but they stood faithful to it and if
that if if men like that hadn't stood faithful I would have never the gospel would have never got to me you know so
I'm thankful for that but I started reading my Bible getting a good grip on scripture
and I started leading people to Christ but I'd been at St Mary's for 11 years
but there was something inside of me again no one inside of me like
I could do more for the Lord there's more that I could do for the Lord because look there's nothing wrong with
working a secular job but it pulls on you it pulls time out of your out of
your service for the Lord it took it pulls it you can come home tired it's a
pull on you when you could be doing focused on full-time Ministry so I the
Lord began just to work on me about going into full-time Ministry but there was a problem I still knew that I lacked
all the wisdom and understanding from God's word that I needed to be really
effective yeah in full-time Ministry you know Proverbs says wisdom is the principle thing therefore get wisdom get
wisdom with all thy getting get understanding that's right so the Lord began to work on me and uh I'd heard
that uh Pastor Yankee Arnold had started a Bible College here in Tampa and I'd
heard all the stories about young people going to Christian Youth Camps and and you were involved with you know youth
work with uh Freddie Coyle at uh Grace farm right yes yeah and that was that
was something that was a big part of your life as far as part of your Summers were yeah but you're talking about the
Christian camps um Florida Bible College like in the 70s and yeah 60s and all
that yeah yeah but when I was growing up for most of my life I didn't have
Christian Youth Camps I didn't have a good solid Church to go to I didn't have
a lot uh I didn't have a good foundation of Truth in my life and so I was kind of
I call myself a late bloomer because I didn't understand the clarity of the Gospel until I was 30. I didn't start
leading people to Lord until I was in my 30s and uh I I didn't know about Bible
College I'd never been to one and but the Lord began to work on me John if you're going to be effective in Ministry
you've got to have a good working knowledge of scripture amen and so but
Jesse I was scared to death I really was to leave Saint Mary's Hospital in Athens
Georgia there's my retirement there's security there's my paycheck yeah what
am I going to do if I just leave here I am a little I was still a pretty shy person then
and leaving my job and everything and coming down here to Florida where I
hardly knew anybody didn't have a job and I didn't know I just didn't know if
God could take care of me and I was scared and I sat on that two years but
then I got to thinking well if God can save me from hell can't God take care of me everything
else in my life if he can take care of the biggest problem I would ever face going to hell if he could take care of that
that I think he can take care of everything else and finally I said and another thing I thought how can I ever
be in a Pulpit teaching and preaching God's word and tell people you can trust the Lord for
everything for he gets you through whatever storms trials problems you face you can trust him he'll walk you through
it how can I do that if I can't even do it and so yeah it just worked on me and I
was like by the grace of God if he sets Christ's dad for me I think this is the least I
could do not to earn my way to heaven because you can't but I just as a way to thank him I want let's just see what God
can do in my life if I got a good working knowledge of the Bible yeah and
so I came down here and visited and I knew that uh all the instructors down here had
uh had been in Ministry for years and years and years faithful in the ministry they
had a good work and knowledge of the Bible and I was like I'm doing it and I came down here and it's opened up tons
of doors for me yeah I think I think one of the biggest stories that's open for you really is
refined opportunities that maybe wouldn't have come if you if you didn't go to college and yeah yeah and people
are on the fence with stuff like this because it is a financial commitment and and I get that but what what I like to
talk about with you know graduates like you and Trent Justin Tyler all of us
who've graduated before I like to remind everybody like we didn't follow the teachings of a man see
this is this is what is different even from you know other Bible colleges like I think you know
the Masters University with John McArthur well those are just little macarthrites running around like just
doing what MacArthur says to be done right and that can happen in church too you build a Ministry to a man there's
going to come a point where it's like well Pastor let's just say Pastor Smith what do you think we should do well you
guys do this and this and this because I do this and this and this and now you have a bunch of Smith Heights running
around and they're just repeating what he says exactly what makes Florida Bible
College here in Tampa and Calvary Community Church and North Side church at in Athens what makes those Ministries
different is when the when the question is asked by a congregant what should I do we open the Bible we say let's see
what the Bible says exactly now I'm going to do what the Bible says and I want to encourage you to do what the Bible says but I think there's a lot of
hypocrisy in a lot of churches and we were just talking before we turned on the cameras um not not hypocrisy in churches
although that's true but the point I want to make is in colleges because you have professors that some of them
believe you can lose your salvation others believe that God has already predestined those who are saved and
those who are lost so it doesn't matter we're just running out of simulation and there's others who even say openly the
Bible is not the word of God like we we cannot trust it as a completed record so you take a young man or a young woman
you put them in an environment like that what is it going to produce people that think you can lose your salvation people think that God pre you know determined
who saved the loss and people who look at the Bible and say I can't even believe that that's God's word exactly what Foundation you know are we are we
building off of there the foundation in First Corinthians 3 11 says it's Christ but the building material that comes
with that sure kids might get saved and they go to college they say save but they do not add to their faith those things that
need to be added but when you made the decision to come to college I mean I like how it was a difficult decision for
you because you know a lot of people say well if it's not difficult it's not worth doing and you know that's kind of true in some
things but I think definitely when you're thinking about taking a step of additional training or service to the
Lord God would not ask us to trust him if there wasn't a reason for us to trust
him so there it's I look at it as like the uh Father and Son connection you
know Dad has ridden a bike he knows how to ride a bike but little son he don't
know he looks at that bike and he sees a weapon of mass destruction you know he's like he's like but if he trusts his
father's instruction and he follows his dad and he listens to his instruction and properly applies it he's going to be
able to ride that bike just like his dad can and two we don't determine Truth by what we believe yeah you find out what
the truth is and you believe that and Paul said take this as it is in truth
the word of God and not the word of man absolutely so we have to go by what thus saith the Lord what thus saith the
scriptures because it doesn't matter what thus saith Pastor John right it matters what does is what I'm saying
lining up with God's word if it's not then we take the word of God yes over
anything a man said say yes remember one time I was talking to Pastor Tom kakuza and I think it was either on a phone
call or maybe it was in a text message but I had said something something something the word of God is the final
Authority you know it's the final Authority and he corrected me to an
extent and said no it's the only source of authority yeah and that's and that's that's true
because I think what can happen with a lot of young believers especially Believers that are kind of isolated and
I know a lot of this is true of our audience because I get emails routinely
do you know a Ministry in Oregon do you know a Ministry in Arizona do you know a Ministry in Tennessee all these different things and sadly I'll go and
look and Ying I'll find nothing so I know that it's it's hard for people but
the point is when when it comes to that being difficult you've got to learn how to trust the Lord and know that what his
word has already said that is our Authority if God said it that settles it that's not just a cliche I mean at
second Timothy 3 16 all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for all of those areas and
it's going to lead to a man being completed you know perfected and mature yeah but I think what can happen is if
we don't learn to trust the Lord we just we create this version of God in
our head that's really we're not serving God's will we're serving our will and calling it his will exactly and I think
I think it would be safe to say you were at a point where you had thought about this enough you know the school started
in 2013 that's when it was initiated yeah and you came in 2016 15. so there
was you know within those two years would it be safe to say you were wrestling with John Henry's will and
God's will oh yes yeah how did that what what was the determining factor to say
I'm gonna go do this was it a conversation did you find out someone was praying for you
I just I wanted to be used by God yeah I really I hungered I thirsted
I just hate to know I live my whole Christian Life and could have been greatly used by God and wasn't yeah and
I knew to be greatly used by God you got to know the word of God God works through his word and I need I knew I
needed that and I I knew that uh Florida Bible College of Tampa would give me
that and I'm so thankful I wouldn't trade at that time man I've never studied so much in my life but you know it was worth it and you
don't and a lot of times you don't see the value of it until you've gone through it yeah and when I came out of
Bible College those three years here in at Florida Bible College of Tampa I had learned so much that I didn't even
realize I had learned yeah and so until you start applying what you learn what
you learn and I it gave now I'm the associate pastor of North Side would I have ever been that it could have been
but probably not would you have been as equipped I would never have been as equipped I had never taught a a a book
of the Bible through verse by verse and now I've taught the book of Hebrews think about the book of Hebrews if you
ever ever told me one day you'll be teaching the book of Hebrews verse by verse rightly dividing the word of truth
I would have said no way Jose but I've done it and it's I've learned so much
and people have come and said hey that was so good I've learned so much that I didn't even know Hebrews was about that
and so and now I'm teaching the book of First Thessalonians and second thoughts Thessalonians verse by verse through
yeah it's just opened up so many doors being associate pastor I've got to work
with uh Pastor Freddie Cole now he has a separate Ministry of his focused
Evangelistic Ministries he has a a youth uh Center that he calls Grace Farm oh
yeah beautiful now now I teach he he started a gap year up there called the
grace for Life Institute and I teach out there and so uh just so many
opportunities the Lord has opened up for me like going to the land of lakes uh
this Wednesday yeah First Baptist Church First Baptist Church Atlanta lakes with that Pastor Dave Peterson would I've
ever been able to to been able to preach there if I hadn't gone to Florida Bible College of Tampa I don't think so
because people now know that they're clear on
scripture they're clear on the gospel you know they're not going to get up there and say something that God didn't say right
we preach what thus saith the Lord amen you were able to go to Trinidad as a
result of that able to go to Trinidad and I think some people will hear that and go oh look at this this is travel opportunities this is all that
is it safe to say you didn't go to Trinidad for the you know food for the environment for the for the sightseeing
you went to Trinidad to win souls win souls that's that's what I think when I
look at Yankee and Dr Lindstrom specifically those two people because they had a lot of opportunity to travel and go to Israel several times you and I
are going to be able to go here pretty soon I I see men like that and I don't see Rich wealthy uh you know getting all the
pictures and doing all the excursions so to speak every time those men have gone over there it's for the purpose to win
somebody to Christ and I believe if it's God's will that he wants everybody saved and you are put in a position to lead
somebody to Christ and they put their faith in Christ you have like God has used you to bring about his will and
that's that's an important thing whether it's in Tampa or Athens or Jerusalem or
a Tel Aviv airport yeah or you know Maracas Bay in Trinidad all that stuff
is for a purpose and and see what I see in you and why I want to make sure that we get you interviewed and we talk about
these things because I want our audience to know there are there are decisions that you have yet to make that will impact you
greatly and your Effectiveness it's all about being effective Dr Arnold um and
Dr Lindstrom would teach in second Corinthians chapter four if our gospel be hit it is hid to them that are lost
there are two functions of the devil for for every human's life
and it changes once and only changes once the details may change but the main goal changes the first goal is keep them
lost amen oh we're not going to try to make them a Satanist we're going to try to keep them Catholic you want to keep
them Lutheran you want to keep them Mormon keep them looking to themself we want Jesus hidden and when they put
their faith in Christ the hostility increases now and the goal changes I want to keep them ineffective
yeah I want to keep them you know they're saved and and they can do a little bit but I don't want them to grow
in their knowledge and I want to ruin them through testimony I want to ruin them through their sin that they're not you know getting right with the Lord
about or I want to expose the problem in their fellowship with the Lord when a person begins to make the
difficult decisions the decisions that for example you said about Saint Mary's that's your retirement you know it's
like I could stay at St Mary's you were there for 11 years at the time 11 years you put in 20 more years probably going
to get you know a little little severance package or whatever and a pension or I don't know I don't know how
that works and you've got security you'll be comfortable and all that or
you can trust God who is the author of security I mean you want to talk about security he's given
us eternal life yeah and we have an opportunity to trust him but there's a whole world system even the way that you
and I were raised we got to provide for your family you got to take care of yourself you don't want to have no money
in the bank blah blah and that can get in the way because then we look at God and we say I got to
provide for my family I gotta have security I gotta have money in the bank he says go just just do what I say to do
and I think of uh Moses when he said but my lip and my tongue and I am going to speak and God
has said very clearly okay Moses you know that's fine I'll find somebody up now he said who made your mouth that's
right who made uh who was it not I that is a very
impactful approach to how we should look at taking those leaps of faith that that
next step and would you say that you're you're better for it I mean it was three
years and it's 2023 now so yeah almost what eight years yeah since then would
you say it's been worth it oh it's it's it was worth it was worth the trip it was worth the adventure it was worth it
so much so yeah and I think I think it's going to be a big part of your future going forward
you know and our education doesn't stop exactly and you know I had wondered is God going to provide
for my needs hmm God honored that decision that I made to
leave I had a good good job good paying job good retirement I could have been just
saved and satisfied and just wait till I go to heaven but I just knew God wanted more for my life and God has honored
that decision Jesse a thousand times over and he showed it to me a time and
time and time and time again and he's he's met my needs he's faithful
God will God is faithful to bless those who will trust him yeah James 1 says
that he gives to men liberally that there that there that there's no end to his supply of grace and mercy
Lamentations his compassions fail not they're new every morning for us great as thy faithfulness but sometimes people
need to hear it they need to see it and I I don't I mean you know faith is the substance of things not seen and that is
true so we have to be careful by you know not putting limitations on God but I also think that God is patient and
he's kind yeah he's not merciless you know he he is he is the perfect loving father
so I think your testimony may be that loving but Stern encouragement for somebody yeah who's not trusting the
Lord with something they're supposed to be doing yeah I tell people this all not all the time I do tell people when they
ask about not having a clear church and stuff I ask him to pray exactly is it maybe a burden that's being placed on you to
make that clear church that you can't find sometimes in America we have this idea of like well you know I can choose where
I go to eat I can choose where I go to shop I can choose where I go to church and all three of those things should be customizable if I want a church that
does this and doesn't do that I can find it you probably could yeah but maybe you are supposed to be the
person who makes that Ministry for somebody else because you know what people are looking for they go to church every Sunday they're looking for the
truth still yeah they still can't find the truth and how many people do you talk to even people that go to church
that don't know they're going to heaven mm-hmm why is it why why do we have so
many churches on every corner but you ask them if you were to die if if you were to die right now and stand before
God and God was to say why should I let you into you enter into my perfect heaven what would your one answer be
and they they don't know the correct answer they don't know it's by because I've trusted in Christ they'll give you
everything on the sun well I'm a good person I try to live right I read my Bible I'm a member of
this church you know but they don't understand that it's only by faith in
Christ why is that so if there's a clear church that says the way to have eternal
life is by trusting Christ then why aren't you in that church yeah and if there's a and and it goes beyond that
there is a lot of sound Doctrine uh truth that you need to learn because I've got a Life to Live Jesse you know
from the moment I trusted Christ till the time I die or go up in the Rapture that's called the Christian Life God's
going to hold me accountable for what I did with my time and my decisions there well don't I want it to be based upon
truth sound Doctrine and that's why I went to Florida Bible College because I I wanted truth in my life because how do
you live how do you I was telling young people last night at the Tampa Youth Ranch
good choices have good consequences but how do you know how to make good choices are you
really that smart that you can figure out all your own no we need God's word amen we need God's word
shows us what good choices are and what bad choices are and if we'll make good choices God will bless us now and reward
us later but if we make bad choices there's negative consequences we can't lose our salvation but we can have a
wasted life and we can have a life full of regret and bad decisions but it need
not be that way that's right we can avoid all of that we can avoid it we can avoid all that yeah well how can people
pray for you it's you know that we're recording this in January of 2023 I'm sure it'll post afterwards but are there
things that you're in need of prayer for that maybe we can one thing a lot of things first and
foremost if you're a fisher of men and I am I try to lead people to the Lord
everywhere I go I try to reach the lost but also try to reach save people who are in error that
that are have strayed from the truth and they're in error so I try to do that and if you try to do those two things reach
the loss and train the saved how to effectively walk with God you're going to have a Target on your back yeah Satan
hates me he just hates me and he he will put you under spiritual attack so I tell
everybody the best thing you can do for me is pray for me pray for Pastor John
because the devil would love just to get you sidetracked and
distracted and whatever he'll use any means necessary to get a fisher of men to stop reaching the lost with the
gospel yeah and that he'll use any means necessary to try to get uh you from
investing in a saved man's life to edify them build them up and to prevent them
from going in error he will attack you so I would ask prayers for that I'd ask
prayers for uh that I'd always rightly divide the word of Truth amen that I don't give my opinion or this is because
it's true because of what I because I believe it you know I want to give study
to show thyself approved unto God a Workman that needeth not be ashamed rightly Divine and I always ask the lord
lord if I'm if I'm if I'm uh declaring or teaching or preaching your word if
it's not right I want you to reveal it to me oh yeah because it's not worth being wrong search me oh Lord search Me
O Lord show try my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me in the way of life exactly you know what you say
about that too about you know for pastors we're both pastors and we're I mean I'm run we're running a
question answer ministry here on on Bible line and it can be very easy to say I believe I believe I believe
there's nothing wrong with that yeah but I remember Dr Phil Myers telling me one time he's like I want you to consider instead of saying I believe
be confident enough in the scripture that you can say the Bible says the Bible says and that's like I like that and we do need we need to
know what we believe why we believe it and be able to explain it to others but it's all got to be based upon the truth
of God's word and if it's not it's sink and sand so we'll have the audience you know pray for your strength as you
continue to yeah you know be a fisher of men and for your encouragement for protection against you know any kind of
spiritual wickedness that man yeah influence how you're Understanding God's word and I mean as always Sean I'm
looking forward to having you um speak at church here in a couple of couple of days I'm excited but um it's
good to see you I I pray for you one other thing too yeah you have that UGA disease you know the University of
Georgia in Athens disease that I don't know if that's ever curable I'm a salty Florida fan so
we haven't been relevant since like Tim Tebow and 06 and 08 y'all Gators need to get that Georgia Bulldog disease it
looks like because it got us two national championships I'm gonna say this too and I'm I'm sure this will be clipped but it's like
Florida Bible College of Tampa I think I'm one of the only graduates that was actually from Florida
every one of y'all is from Georgia what does that have to say about Florida so
now I have I have a goal here I'm going to go start Georgia Bible College and we're going to have nothing but
Floridians and then y'all will be it'll be so much better hey James you'll enjoy it Jason I would like to say this though
I'm so glad in Florida Bible College of Tampa that I had other young men like
you and Trent Tyler just that were hungry yeah for the word of God I'm so
thankful God surrounded me with good Godly hungry we encourage each
other encourage each other you go to class you're not the only one and I didn't take I regret not taking the time
to build relationships because I was man I was I was I came for one purpose I wanted to get a good handle on the word
of God I was just into my y'all know that but I'm thankful that y'all loved
y'all loved and I've still got great relationships now with y'all oh it's just precious the
people you meet in Bible College and in clear Ministries
oh it's worth it I I compared to it this way as we'll we'll wrap this up but I
really do believe the fellowship between like-minded Believers here on Earth is a taste of Fellowship in heaven yes
because the fellowship that we enjoy is so much deeper than the surface level we
like the same team we like the same color we're from the same place whatever or if it's like we've been through the
same tragedies whatever it is those relationships can run deep but the connection between a brother and a
brother or brother and sister in Christ is that we are in Christ you know one
day we're going to be able to serve the Lord together forever without the presence of a sin nature and we got the
same purpose to reach the lost and to train the saved all right effectually walk with the lord well great stuff John
I appreciate your time and make sure that uh we get you back on here at some point
give us an update maybe you'll be a Florida fan next time I don't think so yeah probably
all right that's it for Bible line make sure you uh subscribe hit the notification Bell send us emails questions at biblemanministries.org also
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Bible College at Tampa we'll put something in the description here that you can start some free classes we'll give you 10 free classes to personally
evangelism keep looking up Jesus Christ is coming soon God bless
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