Not Ashamed of Jesus!

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. What happened in this church where this brave pastor did something a lot of pastors don't have. He had Dr. Michael Brown come preach, Matt Peterson, why would you have this cultural crusader stand in your pulpit for 50 minutes and bring the Word of God? Well, I've respected and loved him for many years, and the message that he brings, the heart that he has is really one of love, but it's sound in the Word. And he has a love for Jesus, for the Scriptures. And what he brings has been really helpful to us and to the whole community, and all the radio community as well.

And so I just trust him and really appreciate him. This church is called Awake Church. It's not a woke church, it's a wake church. And there's a difference, but Pastor Matt loves the Lord and God's doing a lot here and working on a new facility, all kinds of things are happening. Dr. Brown is speaking on a lot of issues that a lot of Christians are afraid to touch. What the Bible says about homosexuality, what the Bible says about pro-life.

And so he's really, Dr. Brown, you've accumulated, acquired, aggregated some enemies over the years, haven't you, sir? Yeah, well, I mean, they passionately believe in their cause. You know, they really think that abortion is a decision that should be left to the woman.

And if two people love each other, whether they're men, women, why shouldn't they be able to marry? So they look at me as the enemy. They look at me as the hater, the bigot. So we're going to overcome that feeling of hatred towards us. We're going to overcome that with love, overcome the lies with truth.

So I understand why we have enemies, there's a target on our back, but the good news is God's with us. And Jesus said if we want to follow him, we have to deny ourselves, take up the cross, follow him. And if we save our lives, so we want to be popular, we want everyone to like us, accept us, we lose them. We become slaves to the opinions of others. If we lose our lives, then we save them.

So the way to be free is to obey, stand up, speak out, and then God will be with you. You're challenging Christians across America, maybe even the world, to do something on April 14th. It's kind of a big day. It's the eve of everyone's most hated day, tax day, April 15th.

But what's going on April 14th? This is kind of a big deal. Yes, in honor of Esther 4-14, where Mordecai says to Esther, look, if you're silent in the face of danger for your people, help will come from another place. But who knows, maybe you've come into the kingdom for such a time as this. So Esther 4-14, National Not Ashamed of Jesus Day. Take a minute, go to notashamedofjesus.org, notashamedofjesus.org. On that day, we're asking every believer in public, do something to draw attention to the fact that you are a follower of Jesus.

Here's the message. We're here. We're not ashamed. We love Jesus.

We love you. If it's something you wear, if it's bringing a Bible, if it's reaching out to someone, if you're in the home only, do it on social media, get word out. National Not Ashamed of Jesus Day. Go to notashamedofjesus.org.

Together, we'll raise our voices, and we are, by God's grace, a mighty army in the land. Okay, go to that website, and wow, maybe it's time for some Christians to come out of the closet. Maybe it's time for some Christians to say, hey, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to do that which he has promised and committed under that day.

Because that day has come, and Christ is coming back. Pastor Matt, you gave a very gracious, shameless plug to the Truth Network and 97.7. You guys, I'm walking out of this church, I'm so blessed. I came to sit on the back row and hear one of our Christian radio hosts, and I get, you know, you prayed for me. Dr. Brown gave a gracious shout out to me, brought me on stage and was so kind. But Pastor Matt, what's it like to hear this guy on the radio? You did this shout out to 97.7.

You said it was one of your presets. But to have him come into your pulpit and preach, to share that, be able to share that with all these people, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people in here. You know, it's wonderful. And it's, you know, when I think of Dr. Brown, you know, he's one of these guys that I feel like is a voice that speaks for so many who don't have a voice in some ways in a broad sense. And the way that he communicates truth and again loves people.

That is because we get labeled so many times as haters, and it's just not the truth. And so it's a blessing to us, and I'm really thankful. Thankful for your radio station. Thankful that you have him on here, and keep him on.

Well, I had him on the very beginning. I got an article. I don't know how it hit me. It could have been McLaughlin, the crazy man up there, somebody, you know, who said, Can you be gay and Christian? I thought, well, who isn't asking that question? And I thought that the guest, I didn't know who it would be, but I saw Dr. Michael Brown.

I'd seen that name connected with other things. And so the Lord worked to get him on, and I'm listening to him talk. I'm like, why isn't this guy on the radio crazy? You told that story a little bit today, but Dr. Brown, I think the thing that encouraged me, Matt just said it, Pastor Matt just said it, is that we have these people that are enemies of the cross, which I was an enemy of the cross at one time, before Christ. I was on my way in a bad direction.

You were. Something happened in 1971, but we talk about how Christians, and how you're trying to model this on your show, from the pulpits and from the microphone, to engage even the enemies of the cross with the grace of God, with love. I mean, people listen to your show, and they're like, he's talking to an atheist. How can he be nice to him? Yeah, well, God treats us with incredible kindness along the way, and incredible patience. And I want to show that same patience and kindness to others who differ within the body, and who differ outside the body. And we know that that message, it's uncompromised, it's the truth, it calls for repentance, but let it be seasoned with love. Wow, and what's your challenge to everyone out there, especially this big April 14th day from Ezra 4-14, an epic verse.

Esther, not Esther, Esther 14-14. Don't ever get that wrong in front of a Hebrew scholar, I just kind of dropped the ball on that one. But Dr. Brown, what's your final challenge getting out of here, and for Christians to do the same thing, like wherever they go, to just one day, really every day is that way, but you're kind of using one day maybe to really stimulate something here. We love Jesus, we love you, let that message get out.

What's the website again for that? Notashamedofjesus.org. Wow, Dr. Michael Brown, check out his books, he loves Jesus, he's talking about revival, he's talking about the resurrection of Christ. And Pastor Matt, your challenge, your takeaway after hearing this guy preach on the resurrection, without the crucifixion there could be no resurrection. Psalm 23, how many pastors can preach Psalm 23, quote the Hebrew and the English right there, and someone might have thought he was speaking in tongues, but he interpreted right on the spot.

What's your takeaway and challenge to everyone after this sermon today? Well, you know, Jesus said he was the light of the world while he was in the world. Then he said to us, you are the light of the world. And so it speaks of this day, us being the light, and standing, let's shine, people actually are hungrier than we think, they're needier than we think, and they're looking for what we have and we may not realize it. And so we've got it, let's be that hope for other people by pointing people to Jesus. Alright, and check out the line of fire, and if you're really unlucky, you might hear it today that I'm guest hosting, or Matt, maybe a guest down there, you've got a radio voice, my brother. I don't know, maybe.

He went deeper on me. We all have a face radio, God bless you. Hey, April 14th, and go to the website, get involved, share it with your family, and let's let our light shine. The king is returning, who are we going to take to heaven with us, right?

That's right, we're going to be with him always, and so let's shine for him now. And Hydrating Humanity, your ministry, real quick, plug that real quick. Yeah, Hydrating Humanity, we work in East Africa providing clean drinking water, hygiene education, and we show the Jesus film to 20,000 people a year, we lead meaning to the gospel. So, hydratinghumanity.org to learn more.

Go to that, you'll see Matt there, this is a great ministry. It's scary the number of people that don't have clean water in Africa, and through water, you're able to deliver the water of life, right? Absolutely, it's all about living water, but we first got to keep them alive. Give them clean water first, and then we'll give them the living water. If they die before you can share the gospel with them, it's not a good thing. So, he's taking that all over, get involved with that, and the website one more time. HydratingHumanity.org.