Crucified Servant of Jesus Christ

Hi, I'm Joanne Vickner, Memaw with It's Storytime Memaw, an answered prayer for stories that point children to God on the Truth Network for kids. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network.

Today in Raleigh, but I'm with a man of God who's preaching God's Word. He's on the Truth Network. He's on maybe some other stations.

Folks, you're listening to right now. His name is Pastor Chad Harvey. His church is Cross Assembly. Let me ask this question, Pastor.

Put you on the spot. Who is Chad Harvey? Man, Chad Harvey.

I adopted this a couple years ago and I'm trying to live up to it because somebody asked me that question. I said, look, if you want to know who Chad Harvey is, here's my goal. A crucified servant of Jesus Christ. That's really all I want to be is a crucified servant of Jesus.

I heard a great quote from Zinzendorf recently. He said, here's your goal in life. Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten.

Isn't that incredible? That's really my goal in life is just to preach the gospel, to die and go on to be with Jesus and for people to forgive me. As you can hear from the background, it's that time of year. We're outside of a retail area, a secular retail area that's actually playing Christmas songs. We heard one talking about peace on earth. When people come to your church, there's nothing covert about it. They come to Cross Assembly in Raleigh. What do they expect there? What's your name again?

Stu. This is not marketing. This isn't just trying to fill a niche market. Honestly, there's a hunger out there for the unadulterated word of God. There's a lot of Christians out there saying, am I the only person that believes gay marriage is wrong? Am I losing my mind? Am I the only person that believes infanticide is wrong?

I'm losing my mind. Unfortunately, they go into a lot of churches that confirm this idea that you're the only one that believes these oddball ideas like the sanctity of life, the sanctity of traditional marriage. They come to our church and I think they find a lot of other people who believe what they believe. That the word of God is true, inspired, and errant. Traditional marriage is designed by God.

There's sanctity for the unborn. I just think when you come to Cross Assembly, you will find like-minded people and you'll realize, man, there still are 5,000 needs that haven't bowed to Baal yet. I love that. And how important is the word of God and the preaching of the word of God, not just for your church, but as maybe other pastors are hearing this, what would be your admonition? And the people listening saying, this is kind of the kind of church you need to go to. What word would you give?

Folks listen to this show all over the country and the world. Yeah, you know, it's very interesting. Paul says to the Corinthian church, moreover, it is required that a servant be found faithful. Not a servant be found innovative, not a servant be found creative, not a servant be found media savvy. No, it's important that a servant be found faithful. And so I just believe that when an individual is faithful to preaching the word of God, the word does the work. I don't do the work.

My staff doesn't do the work. There's something about the word of God that goes forth and God has promised that when that word goes forth, it will not return void. And so we don't have a complicated church. Honestly, we are a very simple church. Proclaim the word of God.

And if we are faithful in proclaiming that word of God, God will take care of the rest. I love that. You were recently in Charles Spurgeon's church and we had coffee recently and you shared with me something he said about the word and something about a line or something.

What was that? I love this great quote from Spurgeon. Spurgeon said, in essence, you know, people keep telling we've got to defend the word of God. Spurgeon said the word of God is a lion. You don't defend the lion.

You let him out of his cage and he'll defend himself. And I just do believe in unleashing the word of God. And there is a hunger.

This is something I find interesting as well. Not only among Christians is there a hunger for the pure, unadulterated word of God, I'm finding that lost people now are hungry for some type of truth. And when a church will stand up and definitively say, Thus saith the Lord, man, that not only builds up the body of Christ, that actually attracts lost people as well.

I love that. Speaking of lost people, you have a huge heart for missions. Your church gives a lot of money to missions. You send missionaries out. You've texted me from Iraq and you found some crazy author's book. I'll never forget that. That's a crazy story. But what is it about missions that really is on your heart and is close to the heart of God?

Yeah. Well, I just don't think it's fair that we're high-fiving a moonwalk and getting all excited about the second coming of Jesus when half the world hadn't even heard of the first coming of Jesus. And, you know, it's very sad. I'll talk to people in missions and I'll always ask them this question. Hypothetically, there's a man in Africa that is born, lives and dies and never hears the gospel. What happens to them when they die? I've had so many people in ministry say, Well, they obviously go to heaven because they never had a chance to hear the gospel. If the default position of the human race is we're all headed to heaven, call all the missionaries home because the worst thing we can do now is confront them with the gospel and now they have to make a choice. The default position of the human race is we're headed toward hell. That lost man in Africa, that lost woman in Asia who has lived, they're born, they die and they never hear the gospel.

They go into a Christless eternity. And so, man, that's what keeps me up at night. That's what really drives me to have this passion for missions.

And look, I almost said one other thing. The driving motivation for the passion for missions can't just be lost people. There has to be a higher motivation than that. And for me, the higher motivation is the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Why do I go? Because Jesus said go. Why have a global passion? Because Jesus told me to have a global passion.

And so, ultimately, that is the defining motivation for missions. So, real quick, last but not least, we'll get into something not controversial at all. This whole wokeness that's infected the church where entire churches are kind of bowing their knee to denominations that were started. You were in Charles Wesley's home. Methodism. You have a Methodist denomination that's ordaining homosexuals for ministry that's violating God's Word as though it didn't exist.

And yet, what do you say to churches about holding truth, the sacred teaching of truth, and the sacred bond of marriage, which Jesus taught the Bibles clear on? What's your word on standing strong on these cultural issues, even though you're maybe one of the most politically incorrect pastors I've ever met? Is that a compliment? I love that. I totally received that, man. And, look, I told you a little while back, Stu, I said, here's what's going on with pastors.

We never graduate from junior high school. We always want to sit at the cool table in the lunchroom. And, unfortunately, evangelical pastors want to sit at the cool table.

And the cool table is social justice warrior stuff and compromising on some of these issues. And, look, this may fall on deaf ears, but I want to say to pastors who are flirting with this, incidentally, you're going to stand before Jesus one day. And Jesus is going to ask you why you led his church astray on issues like gay marriage and transgenderism. And so I hope that keeps some pastor up at night that's toying with this idea that we must all give an account for the judgment seat of Christ. And, honestly, again, I'm not doing this to grow a church or to have some kind of reputation of being a maverick. I really am haunted by the fact that I'm going to have to give an account to Jesus one day. And so I've got to stick with the truth of the Word of God. That's so good.

I even did a commentary recently. I said, look, if the pastor really brings the Word and really holds the truth in his preaching, he may not have to endorse a specific candidate. Because the people are going to vote based on the principles of God's Word.

All the candidates on that ballot are fallen, depraved, debauched, some worse than others. But it's a principle. It's the principles of life and other things that you've got to be thinking about. But that just comes from a biblical worldview that comes from the pulpit.

Yes, sir. I think once you instill in your people a biblical worldview, everything else will fall into place. And, you know, Jesus said something one time. He said, if anyone is ashamed of me, and then we forget the second part.

He says, or my words, I'll be ashamed of them on the day of judgment. Part of the teachings of Jesus, part of the words of Jesus is life is sacred. Part of the words of Jesus are children, their innocence need to be preserved. Jesus taught very strictly and strongly about people who mess with children.

These are issues that are going on in our society right now. And I'm afraid that we have a lot of pulpits that are not only ashamed of Jesus, they're also ashamed of the words of Jesus. That's Pastor Chad Harvey, the church's Cross Assembly. Best website. Folks want to learn more about you. You're awesome. I think your program has something about being unashamed. What's it called? What's your radio program?

Let everyone know about it. Yeah, it was a Truth Unfiltered. And so, man, we appreciate our partnership with you, Stu. Honestly, there's a subculture of Christians all over this Raleigh area that have really tapped into the Truth Network. And so, man, you guys are reaching a ton of people with the good news of Jesus. Well, listen to Truth Unfiltered.

Go to Cross Assembly if you're in the Raleigh area or download his programs. I've got to put a warning label up, though, Pastor. They might walk in. You truly are comfortably the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, brother, including me when I listen to you. Man, there are times I'll be preaching to the pulpit. I don't mean to say something.

And I look down to my left where my wife sits and her head is kind of bowed down and she's shaking her head. And I was like, yeah, I probably shouldn't have used that word from the pulpit. So I want to apologize ahead of time for anything I may say that offends you. Well, at least your wife is still coming to hear you preach, Stu. Amen? That's it, man. That's it, brother. Praise the Lord. Pastor Chad Harvey, thanks for blessing us today, man. Thanks, man. This is the Truth Network.