#92 S4 EP 12: Jason Perry's Metamorphosis: From Atheist SEAL to Devout Pastor and the 90-Day Crucible Challenge

We pray in the name of Jesus that your Holy Spirit will just roll around this world , changing lives and impacting positions . We pray in the name of Jesus counseling any assignment of the enemy that will be sent back into the pits of hell where it came from . We pray in the name of Jesus once again that your Holy Spirit will just have its way .

We beg your forgiveness for anything we might have said , done or thought that's not pleasing your sight that you'll gracefully forgive us and cast it back into the pits of hell where it came from . These things and all things we ask , all in Jesus mighty and master's name . We say thank you and we say amen , amen and amen , Amen , Hallelujah .

It makes a difference in , in not just who you are , but in who you've been made to be , in a sense . And this young man , he has a background of Navy SEAL cop , paramedic , now pastor , and you heard him introduce himself .

He got a lot going on , but before that , and I don't know , he's gonna tell us um , how did you go from an atheist to a christian pastor ?

We were raised without God because of the wounds that he sustained at such a young age , and I was the first to break away from my family in the curse of atheism . On top of that , I was educated in the Northeast in the public schools where creationism is not even offered as an option .

It's science , science , science as they understand it , and if you believed in a creator or anything other than that , it was thoroughly discouraged . And you know , you might as well believed in leprechauns and and fairies . You know . So you know , and that real .

That indoctrination was so hardcore in Boston , where I grew up , and my wife experienced that the same thing , and Maine as well thing in Maine as well .

And if you are not discipling your children and those around you onto Jesus Christ , then the world's going to flood in and they're going to have a very dark , dark existence . You know , we all have to raise our kids to hopefully bury us one day and , you know , endure the trials of this life .

And the only way to do that is with a biblical worldview and to disciple your children onto jesus christ . So when they go into the buzzsaw of secular you know , the secular world , they can withstand and lead others to our lord and savior amen .

So my thought about atheism I just I want , and what we want people to really get , is that God created science and God created it all , and just the worst thing that we can do is not to believe yeah , to not believe that there is a heavenly father who loves us , irregardless of our background and you know what the past generations went through .

We have a father who loves us and I think it's it is , it is truly the message of the gospel that he loves us .

We got to think , understand that when he says my people , he's not only talking about the ones that follow him , even the ones that don't follow him , because at the end of the day , genesis 1 said that he blew the breath of life into the nostrils . That means everybody , that he blew breath into your nostrils .

Whether you believe on him or you're not , you're still his people . That's right .

What we need to do is you know , really show that you know of a book that really was profound in my life was I don't have enough faith to be an atheist . That was a cataclysm for me to shift over to Christianity , because I believe that was rational .

I believe that was a scientist , a lay scientist , and I used to think that Christianity was this big , giant crutch and that there was no evidence for it and all these things . And then , through Frank Turek's book , I Don't have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist . It really gave me . The first third of that book is a rational scientific case for creationism .

So I found in the first third of that book , going from atheist to agnostic and realizing that to believe that random chaos created order is just insanity , and it really started to chip away and he was able to deflect all of my talking points that I had been given through the public school system and other atheists . He handled them quite , you know , amazingly .

And then the second two-thirds of the book is the case of Christ and how the Bible can be trusted and how it's in an authority and all those things . And you know . So , again , when we approach people and we're trying to share the gospel , we really have to figure out where their wound is and what's the best way to reach them .

And there's two main people that you come across when you're doing this . One is the intellectual rationalists right , and they were what I was , and you know , and , and , and you know . So that book I don't have enough faith to be an atheist is a great one .

The other one is more of an emotional plea and that is just showing them who Jesus is and the words that the gentleman in this podcast was saying . You know that God loves us , that he wants us to come to him , he wants to save us , and you know he really is the hero of the story and we really are the villains .

And once you understand that , your whole life shifts and it becomes so much more full Because you're not living for just yourself , you're living a life of service , and anyone who's ever done that knows that that's truly the most fulfilling life . That's how we were built .

One was the centurion who had the most faith in all of Israel , who caused Christ himself to marvel at his faith , christ himself to marvel at his faith , the second being Cornelius , who is literally the first Gentile saved , who was also a centurion . God didn't find pacifists out there to speak highly of and to call to him .

He chose men who were willing to fight and lay down their life for others . And that's what warriors do they lay down their life for others . So you know God , you know Christ said no greater love is there than this and for someone to lay down their life for their friends .

Warriors do it for their friends , they do it for their enemies , they do it for people who don't even like them . So again , you know there is a war going on and you guys used a lot of that language in your opening prayer and only warriors can resist that . And that is embracing the shepherd role .

Shepherd role because the shepherd must protect his flock or else they're not going to survive as his sheep . So we are called to do that , and there's countless models of that in the Bible , from Noah to Joseph to Nehemiah to David . who David had , you know , a heart after God . What was David ?

David was a warrior , Right Again , because warriors are constantly putting it all on the line and showing that greatest love that Christ talks about and you know to kind of piggyback off of that .

When it comes down to being a warrior and being a voice for Jesus , a whole lot of folk don't even know who he is and what they're fighting for .

You know what I mean and I think that that is pivotal for you standing the test of time , because trials and tribulations are certainly going to come our way all the time and the only way that we can stand the test is to know the why . You know .

We have to get in there and know what His will is . Then we have to lead from the front right . We have to lead by example . That is what Jesus Christ did . We have the greatest model of any leader in history and it was Christ . He led from the front . And then how do we do that ? We do the next right thing .

So when you've got a million decisions and you're wondering , left or right , which way do I go ? Do the next right thing according to his word , okay , to his will for your life , not your will for your life right .

We'll always take the wrong way , we'll always take the off ramp , but if we know His Word and we know His guidance from reading well , then we can do the next right thing and lead our families right .

Our primary job is to have—is to glorify God , and then after that it's discipling our families , and after that it's everything else right and we have to really get back to discipling which has been lost . It can't be done in 90 minutes on a Sunday . It's something that has to be walked out every day , as Christ did with his disciples .

What does God want you to fight for ? It's just as important as the whole Ephesians 6 of putting the whole armor of God . You're not going to go to battle with something you're not putting heaven on .

I think that's a big problem in the community , the , in the community of christ , in the body of christ people don't know how to use what they got unfortunately , the church has been very feminized and weakened over the past 60 , 70 years , to the point where you know they , many of them , have retreated into their walls .

You fix the family . You fix the church . You fix the church , you fix the community . You fix the community . You fix the city , the state , country and then the world , you know . And that all from a biblical viewpoint . Unfortunately , so many of our people are cultural Christians .

They're told they believe in God , but they've never read the Bible , they don't know his word , and so they kind of create their own false religion and then they run around calling themselves Christian , which is shameful .

Okay , you got a helmet on your head , but if you don't have the pads on the inside of it , the helmet's not really doing no good and it's equivalent to having the helmet of salvation on , putting the word in , but don't understand what you're reading .

You know again , it's really easy to fake you're a Christian . That's something we do here on our 44-acre farm . That's hard work and when you're out there in the cold and the wet and you're building a fence or , you know , trying to wrestle with a cow or giant hogs or any of those things , you can learn a lot about a person's character out there .

And they can't fake it in that environment and that's where that's why we make it a true discipling ground out there doing hard things and men really need to do hard things to accomplish things to build that fellowship .

You know , showing up for coffee and donuts while someone reads the Bible verses can be part of it , but if you're not taking that and connecting it to something kinetic and hard and challenging , well , you're going to have a very shallow faith amen .

It's not to give God the best of your time , to spend time in the Word , right , or listening to sermons and in prayer . That's the only way to fail . And then you just start over , right ? The next one is family Every day , deliberately , right , the Christmas challenge is deliberate . So , 90 days , god gets the best of your time .

90 days family you have to pour into someone the love of Christ every day . It could be your wife , it could be your kid , it could be the clerk , the checkout clerk at Walmart . It doesn't have to be a blood relative . It's finding someone to pour into the love of Christ , okay , and serving them .

And that is fitness becoming an able , functional body to be a vessel for the Holy Spirit . If we are decrepit and crippled and sitting on our couch and we're not up and out , well , we're not going to be very effective from that position . So being vibrant and being full and alive and healthy shows that you have the proper alignment .

You're not finding comfort in food , you're finding comfort in the Lord , and the church really struggles with that . The church really really struggles with that one . The next one is fundamentals , which is your skill set . Okay , the skill set is what makes you valuable to yourself , your family and your community .

So it's constantly trying to grow your competency and it can be everything from learning how to change a toilet and becoming the hero of your house , because men have really outsourced their authority to the handyman . They're not the heroes of their house . Every sitcom in America makes fun of men and makes men the joke of their house .

That's by design , because an attack on fathers is an attack on the father . So , learning how to be the hero of your house not only how to protect your family and defend your family , but also to change a light socket , to fix your car , to be able to do things , to come through , to be that hero for your family .

The last one is finances , and this is making sure that you are able and not tame . You're giving God your best first fruit and you're avoiding two pitfalls . One pitfall is being a slave to debt and poverty and the other one is being a slave to worldliness and stuff and making sure you're using your blessings , your war chest for god , to bless others .

So that is basically . It's the way we all should be living . I just know that I needed a formalized version of that and it's really a 90 days to start living a christian way of life .

Fundamentals finances it just seems like an awesome challenge , but definitely a challenge , something that we need to keep us on the right track , because we need to not really be habitual but be intentional .

it's christianwarriormissionorg go there , check out this challenge , and you'll also find sermons and forum ways that you can give store all of that . Check out his website , because it absolutely just seems like a powerful way to stay connected to Christ , amen .

And so , jason , would you please do us the honor of giving what it is that God has given you to give us and close us out with prayer .

Lord , we stand willingly here to be your tools . If one of us needs to be a hammer and you want to use a hammer , let us be the hammer , let us be the screwdriver , let us be the wrench , let us be the saw . Lord , we only want to do one thing , and that's glorify you and serve you .

So now I would ask you , lord , to grab each one of us , because we can be a stiff-necked people . Grab us , pull us to you and throw us in the direction you'd have us go . We willingly go , lord .

And now , lord , I pray a prayer of protection over this audience , over the persecuted church , over our first responders that serve every day at home , our troops overseas , our veterans of yesteryear Pray for the world that we don't go into World War III . Lord , I pray for the protection of Israel and I pray for our beloved America .

That America would turn from her sin , hit her knees , repent , seek your face , and that you would heal her , and that once again we can become one nation under God , indivisible , with liberty and justice for all .

And I now call everyone to put on the full armor of God , to strap on the shield of faith , pick up the sword of the Spirit and to boldly step forward into the shield wall , locking shields with our brothers and sisters to the left and right as we march to take ground for your glory and your kingdom forever . Amen .

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