Grant Castleberry Interview

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on

the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for

even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for

you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial.

Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and

glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

Mike Abendroth here, and as I regularly say, we are about the person and work of the Lord Jesus who

never compromised.

It�s pretty amazing to think that Jesus said, �I always do what�s pleasing to the Father.

And so while we started off maybe kind of a discernment ministry, it�s now about the Lord Jesus

and His church and His servants and His pastors.

And as you know, if you listen regularly, we have Wednesdays reserved for guests,

authors, pastors.

But before I introduce our guest, don�t forget there�s the new book that I compiled out called Gospel Assurance,

a 31 -day guide to assurance.

People said, �Ah, I don�t read devotionals, so I changed it to guide.

� So maybe more people will read it.

It�s a bunch of Puritans on the topic of Jesus and assurance.

And so the theme really is what Spurgeon said, �If you focus on assurance, you�ll lose it.

But if you focus on the Lord Jesus, the dove of assurance settles down on your shoulder.

� So it�s a book about Jesus and the doctrine of assurance.

Today I have with me Grant Castleberry online on No Compromise Radio.

Pastor Grant, welcome to No Compromise Radio.

And it�s great to be here.

I feel like I�ve been following you and listening off and on to No Compromise

probably since 2012, �13, somewhere in there.

Wow.

How did we meet, Grant?

Great to be on.

Well, I�m glad to have you.

How did we meet?

I started following you on Twitter when I was in the Marine Corps, and I think I

maybe met you for the first time in person.

You know, we probably started talking on Twitter before this, but I think I met you for the first time at a ShepCon.

Okay.

Was I nice to you?

Yeah.

I think you recognized me from Twitter.

I think you�re like, �Oh, you�re Grant Castleberry from�, you know, because you and I had been exchanging messages for a

while.

But yeah, you were nice.

Okay.

Good.

Well, Pastor Grant is the senior pastor of Capitol Community Church.

He�s been doing that for about three years.

And I saw you, Grant, and I thought, �You know what, chiseled Marine pastor.

� You know, out of everybody that was there, you looked the part.

And I thought, �Oh, if my daughters could marry men like you, I would be very happy.

� Oh, man, you�re kind.

So, Grant, before we get into your current ministry, how was it being a Christian and a Marine?

Was it difficult?

As people say these days, it�s more difficult to be a Christian.

Or was everything fine?

Did you have a good chaplain, etc.?

I loved it.

I absolutely loved it.

And you know, interestingly enough, I don�t know if you know Ray Merringer from your Master Seminary days.

I do.

But I was on this crux of, �Okay, do I go straight into ministry or do I go in the Marine Corps ?

And I went out and visited GMS, and my dad and I met with Ray,

and I told him just really my dilemma in discerning the will of God.

And he just said, �Look, you definitely should go in the Marine Corps first and learn how to

lead and be an evangelist.

� And then he said, �Then, you know, get out and come to seminary.

So really, the Lord really used him, and I decided to go in the Marine Corps, and man,

it was just� The Marines trusted me in a way

that they wouldn�t a regular chaplain.

So I was just a regular Marine officer, and that gave me lots of

access and opportunities to present the gospel and to speak into Marines� lives in a way that they

really respected.

Not that they�you know, they do respect the chaplains, but the chaplains are also from the Navy, so there�s that,

right?

But as a Marine, I was able to speak to them, and there�s also a lot of other believers in the Marines.

So I was able to connect with them everywhere I went pretty quickly, and we really,

you know, encouraged each other and spurred each other on.

So it was a great experience for me.

What was the hardest time, Grant, in the military where you thought, �Okay, I have biblical principles

and I�ve got some kind of command.

� Was there ever a time you had to filter through those two and say, �No, I can�t, sir ,� or something like that?

Oh, absolutely.

Pornography is, as you can imagine, rampant everywhere, and I had multiple times�even one time my commanding

officer put pornography in front of my face and told me to look at stuff and things like

that.

So there were definitely situations like that�mandatory parties that I had to attend, and all those

things in which, you know, I had a real opportunity to stand out as a light and just

say, �No, I�m not going to do that.

You know, that�s my Christian convictions, not

to look at that.

� So I had many opportunities like that.

But, you know, we all face those opportunities in the world.

So, you know, those aren�t unique, I think, to the Marine Corps, although it is challenging when it�s part of your

chain of command, one of your officers in charge is compelling you to do something like that.

Grant, almost related, as we get now into the ministry that you currently have at Capital Community,

you�re preaching through John, and by the way, listeners, I think you know one of the best things you can do if you go to

a church website, you�d like to check one out for a new church, maybe a visiting�you�re a visitor and you�re

out of town or something, you need to check out a church, I go to the church site and then I, before I even look at

leadership, I go to sermons.

And I see, oh, is there a pattern, I mean, a one -off topic or something, fine, you know,

Christmas or whatever, but I want to see if there�s a series, verse -by -verse, Lectio Continuum.

And so when I go to CapitalCommunityChurch .com, I find the current series, The Gospel According

to John, and of course all of us know that John is about the Lord Jesus.

Here�s my question, Grant.

You come from the military, a lot of law there, do this, don�t do that.

How do you balance that when that�s maybe in your fabric, your wolf, the warping wolf of your life, and

of course our consciences are law only.

Now you�re talking about the Gospel, the good news about Jesus.

Is that, do you ever have to work through that tension?

I came out of the law environment, I�ve got a law conscience, and now I�m talking about the Gospel.

How does that work?

Yeah, well, you know, obviously just being transformed by grace

enables you to understand grace, and constantly being in the Word of God, you�re constantly

confronted with the reality of God�s graciousness and mercy to us, and

that we don�t deserve our salvation or even a ministry, right?

Second Corinthians 4, you know, that we have this ministry by the mercies of God.

So just being confronted with those realities, and of

course every day you�re reminded of grace and mercy.

And even in the Marine Corps, you know, Marines do stupid stuff all the time.

And there is that factor of, okay, you know, this is what the Uniform Code of

Military Justice says that you deserve and all those things, but in this situation, look, I want you to have good

behavior, we�re going to extend mercy, we�re not going to drop the hammer on you.

So there are certainly instances, even in the Corps, where you could have

that aspect of mercy.

You know, just my own experience

in a

site, it�s being reminded of those truths.

Grant, great answer.

What�s your favorite part so far, as you�ve preached through John, you�re up through John, at least

according to the website, maybe you�re into chapter 8.

Now, what�s your favorite part so far, you thought, �Oh, this is so amazing or, �I can�t wait to tell the

congregation this.

� I�m sure it happens every week, but if you had to boil it down to one thing, what�s most impressive to you so far?

Hmm.

I love how, in the Gospel of John, not that the other Gospels, the Synoptics,

don�t do this per se, but I love how John orients everything vertically,

and how there�s that vertical switch that

happens, Nicodemus, John chapter 3, �You must be born another, and you must be born from

above.

� It�s this reality of God bringing about salvation.

John chapter 4, Jesus is speaking about the living water to the woman at the well,

saying, �Look, I�ve got water you don�t know about or she thinks it�s physical water, and Jesus is

bringing it vertical, talking about the Holy Spirit, the new work of life that he brings.

And then the disciples come to him at the well, and they�re asking about food, and

Jesus says, �I have food you don�t even know about and they�re, again, thinking physical.

He�s thinking, �My food is to do the

will of my Father who sent me so on and so forth.

So yeah, I think John just has that glory element, that transcendent element

that gets to the heart of the character of God, and really, just as the

prologue says, that Christ has revealed the Father to us, he has made him known, the one who is at

the Father�s side.

So, just seeing the glory of God and the character of God displayed in that transcendent element has just been

awesome for me personally, and just has been energizing for the preaching as

well.

The Church has responded well, they�re loving the Gospel of John.

Oh, it�s so good, man, it�s so good.

And they�ve responded well, and of course, right now, I�m actually still in John chapter seven, and

John chapter seven is about, as you know, just unbelief.

It begins with the unbelief of Jesus� brothers, the unbelief of the crowd, the

unbelief of the religious leaders, and just facing and tackling this reality of

unbelief in the world.

Why don�t people believe in Jesus?

Why don�t people receive this free gift?

And just tackling that is so relevant, and people are so fascinated by

that, and it cuts right across the grain to the

21st century.

So it could have been written today in terms of its application.

So it�s been marvelous in getting right to the heart of Christ,

very doxological, getting people to worship Christ.

So yeah, it�s been a really, really great thing

for me and the congregation.

This month, we�re pausing on John, and I�m doing

what we�re calling �Family Month.

And in the morning, doing five messages in October on

God�s design for the family.

And then Sunday night, I�m doing a parenting seminar called �Parenting and the Fear of the Lord.

So that�s what I�m doing in October, and then November, I�ll jump right back into John

chapter 7.

That sounds excellent.

Sometimes on Sunday nights, I�ll do the same thing.

We�re talking about parenting, or we�re talking about marriage, and just over and over and over going through those

things.

The world constantly sells us on the destruction of the family and parenting, and so

good for you that you�re reinforcing those truths.

Grant, what are you going to do when you get into chapter 9?

We, you and I, both go verse by verse and kind of slow, and then all of a sudden, here�s this one

sweeping account of this man born blind, full of tragedy, sarcasm,

irony, humor, and out of anyone, if he

needed a good shepherd, it�d be that man.

His parents aren�t good shepherds, the religious people aren�t good shepherds, but finally in chapter 10, there�s a

good shepherd.

How many weeks do you think it�s going to take you to get through chapter 9?

One or more?

Well, looking at my history, I�ll probably say it�ll definitely be more, because I tend

to move fairly slow, and maybe that�s just because of my, you know, I�ve

been a senior pastor for three years, so that might be due to my inexperience.

Yeah, it�ll be interesting to see.

I�m looking at it right now.

You could do one kind of an overview, and then go back and kind of...

Yeah, my guess is I�ll probably do two to three messages, and I have done that before where I do a

broad overview, and then I did that in John chapter 4 with the woman at the well.

I did a broad overview, and then I went back and picked up some themes, you know, the theme of worship and

the theme of the living water.

So I could see myself doing something like that in John 9.

Nice.

This is just a joke, but I�d throw out the question anyway.

It�s just meant to be humorous.

Maybe you�re just taking a month break in October to focus on the family and parenting and other things like that,

God�s design for the home, because you�re trying to figure out should you or should you not preach

John chapter 8 verses 1 and following.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What would you do there with John 8 and 1 and following?

Well, I tell people all the time that if it�s in the Bible, of course, then I want to preach it.

I want to be careful not to tell the people, �Oh, you know, we cut and paste what we don�t like.

But at the end of the day, Grant, if John 8, 1 and following is not in the best

manuscripts, then how could I spend 50 minutes preaching it like it was really in the Bible?

Same with Mark 16.

I think it ends in verse 8.

How could I preach the rest in a whole sermon and then get up in the pulpit and not give folks the living

word?

And so probably what I would say is see how the end of 7 connects with 8 -11, whatever

the verse is, if memory serves.

And this is, of course, the heart of Jesus.

And this is something we could see Jesus doing, and it�s not in the best manuscripts and therefore you can get a

little picture here of what Jesus might have looked like.

But now let�s get to the main passage.

I just couldn�t preach it as if it were the Bible if I was convicted that it wasn�t, and I�m convicted that it�s not

in the text.

But hey, this is my show, so you�re not supposed to be asking me the questions.

If I come on your show...

You never know what you�re going to get.

No, no.

Here�s my plan with that.

I think I�m, you know, obviously,

you know, it was in the Texas Receptus, and then, you know, you�re talking about the later manuscripts, Codex

Vaticanus and

Sinaiticus, I think�s the other one.

You know, so it�s not in those and some of the other manuscripts, so, you know, there�s real questions about

the authenticity of it, so I

think whatever reason in the providence of God it has

been, I do think that that probably happened.

Again, I�m probably with you, I probably think there�s a good likelihood that John didn�t write it, but I

also am not persuaded 100 that he

didn�t, and then preached the passage.

So, that�s where I�m at right now.

All right.

Well, we could probably do a Twitter poll.

I�m just kidding.

I�m just kidding.

Talking to Grant Castleberry today on No Compromise Radio.

Grant, tell our listeners a little bit about the ministry there at the church.

What will they expect if they�re going to visit?

I don�t mean casual clothing and blue lights and fog machines, but I guess what I�m

asking is, I mean, this is the direct question.

What kind of liturgy would they expect?

Style, etc.?

Yeah, so our liturgy, you know, I would say the prevailing theme is that we want to

worship God in His holiness, and we want to be awakened

by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God to who He really is, and

to worship Him.

So we definitely desire that it be about Him, that it be God -centered, and

not be centered on man and man -felt needs, and so,

yeah, you�re not going to see the smoke machines and the blue light and

all that stuff, because we�re not there to try to entertain people.

We�re there to facilitate the worship and honor of God so that people

encounter Him in the worship.

So you�re going to come in, there�s going to be a simple call to worship from the Psalms,

there�ll be two hymns, then we have a scripture reading.

Right now we�re reading right through, we�ll be in Psalm

29 this week, and then we have a few announcements,

and following the pastoral prayer, we have one more hymn, and then we

have a sermon.

This past Sunday, I went 50 for

the sermon, and

what we�re doing that week, we either do one or two hymns of response afterwards,

after the message, and then we sing the doxology together, and then the benediction.

Sounds like my kind of church.

That is wonderful.

I was preaching through Ecclesiastes 5 last week, and he�s talking about guarding your steps before you walk into the house of the Lord,

and don�t talk too much, and you get the idea of the creature, creator distinction, and God�s

holiness, and I think it just takes away, Grant, all the kind of consumerism that�s

there.

We don�t consume God, we don�t pick and choose, we�re there to worship, thankfully, because of Jesus, we�re no longer

blasphemers, but we worship, and anyway, that�s good.

Let me ask you a couple more personal questions.

Okay.

You have been married to Grace Anna for, I don�t know, 13 years or so, and I think she

might be known to some of our listeners for her father�s radio ministry, gospel ministry.

Tell us about that, and do you have to live in the shadow of, �Well, my dad would do this, my dad would do that.

My godly dad would be more humble.

Yeah, you�re speaking of Carl Brogy.

So, Carl Brogy is my wife�s father,

and it�s kind of an interesting story.

My parents helped plant a church in Beaufort, South Carolina, and

my father was subsequently killed in a Marine Corps plane crash, and four years

after that plane crash is when my wife�s dad, Carl Brogy, was called to pastor that

church.

And that church started a radio station, and my grandparents essentially fronted the money for the radio

station, so the radio station was dedicated in memory of my father.

And really through those events is how I met the Brogy family and Grace Anna.

But yeah, Carl is a formidable figure,

really in the old -school Dallas Seminary fashion.

He very much in Austin and Walvoord

and Ryrie and a lot of those figures that you know from Dallas

Seminary.

But yeah, he�s really held the line and stood for truth and been faithful at that

church community, Bible Church, for years now.

And he has a radio ministry called Search the Scriptures, which I think broadcasts up where you are, up

near, around parts of Boston, so I think some of your listeners

could hear him there.

But yeah, it�s been a tremendous blessing to have him as

a model.

I served on his staff for a year as a pastoral intern, and just somebody to go to, especially

with pastoral questions on how to handle different issues.

So it�s been just a tremendous blessing to marry into that family and to have him as my father -in -law.

Grant, when I was on the local station here, as you alluded to, he�s on up here in Central Mass,

especially in Worcester, and the station asked me if I would interview him for, I don�t know,

some celebration of Search the Scriptures, or I don�t know the all details.

But I met him, and I interviewed him, and now I get to interview his son -in -law.

So see?

It works out well.

Wow.

Providence of God.

I know.

I know.

We only have a couple minutes left, Grant.

Tell me what you�re reading these days.

I love to ask pastors what they�re reading, because sometimes I think, �Oh, I should be reading that or the folks that

I�m broadcasting to, they need to get that book too.

Anything good that you�re reading that�s exciting?

Well, I�m doing a dissertation on Martin Lloyd -Jones.

All my spare reading is spent on Martin Lloyd -Jones.

But I would just encourage your listeners, if they haven�t read anything of Lloyd

-Jones, I�m trying to

think what the most accessible thing

that he did, which was really good.

And right now I�m working through his sermons

on Ephesians, and he just has a way of the

logic of the passage, dedication,

and ultimately to worship.

So he�s just� I�ll refer to him as one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century.

So that�s been

beneficial to me.

I would recommend from Lloyd -Jones� Is that Habakkuk, a little Habakkuk book?

That�s on Faith on Trial, is Psalm 73.

Oh yeah, that�s right.

There�s another one on Habakkuk that he did, I�m trying to remember the name of that one off the top of my head.

But Faith on Trial, man, that is just solid gold.

I mean, I would trade anything in a modern Christian bookstore for that one book, Faith on Trial,

by Martin Lloyd -Jones.

See, when people talk like that, Grant, then it motivates me to go get the book, and our listeners as well.

I really appreciate you, your ministry, I�m glad the Lord providentially brought us together.

CapitalCommunityChurch .com.

Pastor Grant, thanks for being on the show.

Hey, it�s been a pleasure, thank you so much for having me.

And just, Mike, respect you immensely and tremendously, and thankful for your ministry.

And keep on.

Amen, God bless.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West

Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of

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