Highlight: Facing Hardship as a Christian

Facing Adversity Without Asking “Why”

Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, as far as like, um, waiting and, you know, walking through adversity, God has given you quite a bit to walk through. Um, with the death of your wife, of course, um, early on when God gave you the burden for the unborn in the church coming after you, that was in the early eighties, walking all through that with people turning their backs on you.

Of course, your big speaking engagements got shut down as soon as you had really got to give you the revelation to step into the fight for the unborn. You wait all through that for decades, you lose your wife and then you lose your son and then you lose your daughter and it just continues to go on.

So I guess a good question is how do we as younger men look at a man like you and how do we learn how to go through adversity? Uh, how did God take you through that and what did you learn through.

That? Well, um, well, you opened the whole can there. I'm sorry. Um, that's all right. That's all right. Um, I learned early on in this battle, brother, not to ask why, because why was a black hole? There's enough blame to go around, brother.

You know, I'm a sinful man saved by grace. You know, we live in a fallen world, you know, there's such a thing as darkness in the demonic realm. You know, there's things that we're up against as men. But I learned very, very early on that the love of God so captured my heart.

Forgiveness, Grace, and Redemptive Suffering

And, uh, you know, the scripture says he who has been forgiven much loves much. And brothers, I have been forgiven. You wouldn't want to have known me before Christ. I will just tell you that because I was an animal and I was full of a lot of anger and a lot of rage.

And if I wasn't beating up on flesh and blood, I was smashing my head against brick walls with blood screaming down. I was like the mad man of Gadara. Literally, I was demonized. And so when the Lord saved me and he freed me, you know, from that deep pit and put his, you know, put my feet on a rock and gave me this new song to sing, this redemptive song, there was no power on earth, no demon in hell, no situation that would ever, ever take me away from him.

Now, I am human. You know, I am. I was, you know, a husband to my first wife, father, obviously, to my children. I feel the pain. I feel the sorrow of it. I feel the hurt of it like any human being would.

But there's certain things, brothers, that have to be non-negotiable. You know, it's sort of like the William Wallace, you know, deal. You can take everything. But for the Christian, particularly Christian men, you can take anything from us, but you will never get our faith.

There are certain things that are non-negotiable. They're not for sale. And the things that I've learned through that, brothers, is man is going to suffer for two basic reasons. You know, we're going to suffer as a consequence of our sin, okay?

But we're also going to suffer when we do right, when we do good. And that's called redemptive suffering. And the Bible says when we suffer in that way, the Spirit of the Lord and God's glory rests upon us.

Tragedy, Providence, and Restoring Others

So one of the things that the Lord has used through our trials as a family is to teach the body of Christ, how do you negotiate through tragedy? How do you negotiate through suffering and mourning and grief in a redemptive way, in such a way that God uses that to lead others to himself, that brings the prodigal back home, that heals and restore marriages and births more good soldiers of Jesus Christ into the battle?

So when it comes down to, again, what the enemy means for harm, God can redeem and see good come from it. And if there's hopefully, prayerfully, anything that comes out of our life and our family, it is that truth, brothers.

And so, you know, God has kept us. And I do believe that our Christian education is not complete, brothers, until we, like Job say, though you slay me, I'm still going to love you, still going to serve you, I'm still going to obey you, and I'm still going to praise you.

Yeah. Well, man, I know you don't like this, Rusty, but I'm going to heap some more praise on you here. But, you know, Rusty is someone that's modeled to me, you know, not feigning the day of adversity.

And, you know, when they lost their daughter, we went just to encourage him and pray with them. And I go there, that was my intent, again, to go and encourage him. And I left, of course, encouraged by this guy, you know, and I'm like, how is he not just in the corner, just sucking his thumb, a hot mess?

Like, I didn't like, how was that not happening right now? You know, and so, yeah, so brother, I was, I was blessed by that. And that's, you know, you've done such a fantastic job of modeling that not, not just to me, but to so many, so many men,.

And I appreciate that. That's actually a really good point. Because I know, I mean, losing your children too, and a wife is some of the most, the worst thing that you can go through as a human being, is the loss of your child, especially at a young age.

I think Jeremiah was 17, or 16, or 17? 16. And I'm sure the temptation was to shake your fist, and I'm not acting as if I understand or relate to that. The temptation is there, but you decided not to do that.

Trusting God Through Suffering and Loss

Why?

Well, Zach, it's really important to know that Heavenly Father, I went through that with Heavenly Father early on in my life. He had saved me, but I was, like I said, I was like the madman of Gadara. And I had my fights with the Lord.

I mean, there were times when I was saved that literally, I was shouting to the heavens, you know, let's fight. Come on, bring it. You know, send me to hell. I mean, I would do stupid, irrational, foolish things like that, where I, basically, I was a Christian, but I was sinning, and I was bearing all the consequences of my sin.

And I would, you know, raise my fist to heaven and rage. So, brother, God brought me through that as a young man, and I can literally see His hand upon me, even through my times of sin and rebellion and rage as a young man.

He was preparing me, brother. He was preparing me for things that were coming. In fact, I just shared this with my children today. We were in Proverbs chapter 3, and that's Scripture. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not unto your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge Him, and He's going to direct your path. So, January 1, 2018, I go to bed that night, and in my dream, that passage of Scripture is put on repeat the entire evening, from when I went to bed till I woke up, trusting the Lord over and over and over again.

So, I wake up. I go to my bride, Kendra. I said, sweetie, I don't know what this year holds, but I know we better put our seat belt, because we're going to have to trust God in ways we never dreamed possible.

And so, the next day after that dream, Pastor Matt and I are working with this magistrate in Kentucky with an abolition bill. The next day, he commits suicide. The enemy just totally takes him out. Okay?

So, I'm thinking, oh, that's why we got to trust God. Well, that was just the down payment, brother, because that was the year Jeremiah became sick, and that was the year he died. But I want you to see the goodness of the Lord here.

I want you to see the guidance of God, because in that dream, using the Scripture, He was preparing me, because He knew exactly where He was going, but obviously, this was going to devastate us. This was going to devastate our family.

This was going to devastate our ministry. But in His goodness, He was preparing us, and He was basically saying, son, you're going to have to trust Me in ways you have never had to trust Me before. But understand, at the end of the day, it's going to work redemption in the world.

And so, again, that's just the goodness of the Lord. He prepares us. He leads us by His Spirit, and He doesn't forsake us or leave us, especially when we need Him through the.

God’s Goodness in the Midst of Tough Times

Tough times. Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate that, brother.