Transcript

Welcome to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's Pastor Jeff.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Thursday morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. It is July 2nd. people all over the nation are getting ready for the 250th anniversary and birthday of the United States of America on Saturday. And so I, think everybody, at least at the church, all the staff at the church, we kind of have, senioritis, or, you know, the holiday fever. And so we'll see what happens today. Psalm 33, verse 12 says, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. And we would all agree that, America was founded. The documents prove it. It was founded on biblical principles. It was founded by majority of Christian men. And, we wanted founded the country to honor God. And we have with American Family Association A new AFA at Home, episode coming out this July 4th called One Nation Under God. Walker Wildmon, the vice president of American Family association, leads these discuss a, video series that he hosts to address America's cultural and spiritual issues from, the leading Christian voices. Topics like marriage and family, morality, stewardship, sanctity of life. And now about America and its foundings. One nation under God. We have Walker, in the studio. Walker, it's great to see you, my friend.

Walker Wildmon: Hey, Jeff, glad to be on the program with you this morning. I'm usually an afternoon guy on my show, but it's nice to jump back in the morning, rotation, at least for today, to talk about this episode that we have out.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. So, you're there with Steven McDowell, Rick Greene, Tim Barton and yourself. Is anybody else included in that video?

Walker Wildmon: It's the four of us. I'm kind of the moderator, if you will, asking the questions, guiding the conversation. But this is an excellent group of men, very smart, very knowledgeable in America's founding era. And what we do throughout the film, we jump around a little bit. That's what happens when you have a bunch of smart people and not myself in the room is you chase a few Rabb. But nonetheless, this episode, which, by the way, is going to air on afr, and I'll give those dates and those times throughout the weekend. but what we do is we just look back at the founding, generation, the founding era, what the context was, why independence was sought, and really just hope to give our audience a refresher on how we got here, how did we get to 250 years? And, of course, we don't cover it all. You just can't do it in 90 minutes. But, we talked about why America exists, what drove and motivated our founding, fathers to put their lives and their livelihoods on the line. I mean, this was a big deal. This wasn't a small task. This wasn't just, hey, let's run for public office. This was, hey, I could die for this cause and my family could die. I could lose my homestead. my, reputation's on the line. This was a big deal, a big sacrifice for our founding fathers. So we walk through all of that, and then we fast forward to today and some of the things that are needed, in order to restore our nation back to, where it once was, as far as putting God first, understanding how the Bible plays a role in our civics and in our civic responsibility, and how, Christianity and the Bible are intertwined throughout American history and American law. And so it's really somewhat of a reset to take us back and hopefully help people restore a sense patriotism and love for our country.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: You know, it's really sad, Walker, that, we're not teaching this in schools, by and large. I mean, homeschool kids get. They learn about civics and they learn about the history of the country, but kids in public schools don't get that anymore. And that's why they're easily duped into thinking America is bad. you know, down with America, we hate America. Socialism is good, capitalism is bad. All the things that we see today. And we desperately need programs like this to help us see this is the truth. Because you've been told lies.

America was founded primarily for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, patriotism, when you look at America's founding purpose, according to the founders themselves and the original, charters of the colonies, even pre independence, America was founded, primarily for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's just a historical fact. And you can say, well, there was economics involved and trade and colonization. Okay, there was some of that. But the overarching 11 of the 13 original colonies had the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ as their primary purpose for existence. It wasn't like point number seven, behind everything else, it was the main point. And you can go read the Virginia Charter of 1606 and how the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was their primary purpose for existence. And I want to read this one quote. There's so many that we could read. But just to keep things simple, Chief Justice Jon Marshall was the fourth chief justice on the U.S. supreme Court. He served from 1801 to 1835, still the longest serving Chief Justice. Also, he was a founding father. So he lived through the Revolutionary War, lived through the founding era. And this is what he said in one of his writings in, 1833, towards the end of his tenure on the, on the Supreme Court, he said, quote, the American population is entirely Christian. And with us, Christianity and religion are identified. It would be strange indeed if with such a people, our institutions did not presuppose Christianity and did not often refer to it and exhibit relations with it. so that's Jon Marshall, 1833, saying, hey, if we ever like, don't refer to God and don't immediately associate with God and his precepts, then we're going to be out of bounds. We're going to be off, course and acting somewhat bizarrely. And so, that was a Chief justice on the Supreme Court. And so Christianity in America are, the history within America is very much, biblically rooted. And you look at, I mean look at the, for example the Bill of Rights. The vast m. Majority of the Bill of Rights are biblical concepts. This isn't like the idea of three, branches of government providing separation of powers. This isn't something that George Washington was like, hey, I have a great idea. No, they knew that man was inherently sinful and that you needed accountability, so you needed more than one branch of government. So that's why we have three. so these concepts that now we're looking back and going, wow, that was brilliant. Who thought of that? These were rooted in scripture. They were looking to the Bible, they were looking to God's created order. They were looking at natural law. And then they, through God's wisdom, decided, hey, this is how we should structure this government to serve the best interest of the people and to preserve liberty. Why? So that the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can take place.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Walker, I had, Peter Lillbeck, he's the president of Westminster Seminary in Pennsylvania. And he's written a 900 page volume on George Washington. And he's looked at all, I mean, the amount of endnotes that the guy has in every chapter just blows you away. I mean, sometimes it's four or five pages long. And I asked him, I said, how do the liberal, historians view your work? He said, they won't even look at it because they have no leg to stand on saying that America was not founded on the Bible and biblical principles. because it's just so plain and so obvious. You know, they try and paint George Washington as a deist. There's nothing that would ever lead, you to believe that. And he made the statement, he said, you know, even, even somebody like Thomas Paine or Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin, he said, they're not deists in the true sense of the word. I mean, Benjamin Franklin telling people we need to pray. A deist doesn't pray. What's the point?

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. And Jefferson, George Washington 100% believed in God and he lived out his faith accordingly. Was George Washington perfect? Absolutely not. But, but none of us are. I mean, you can look at believers throughout human history and you can find areas of weakness and areas of flaws. but to say that George Washington didn't believe in the God of the Bible is just blatantly untrue. even people like Jefferson, believed in God and cited God and cited scripture. So this notion to your point, that we had some, like secular atheists back in the day that were just completely agnostic, and say that like Jefferson and Washington were just completely denying their very own writings and their very own history, that's deeply recorded and backed up by the facts.

Jeff Walker: Being a patriot by definition is simply loving one's country

another thing I wanted to mention as we're talking about this episode, and before I get too sidetracked, let me mention when this is going to air. So as you set it up, this is roughly a 90 minute, episode, nine of our AFA at Home series. It's going to air tomorrow on Friday. It's going to air at 10am on Friday the 3rd. It's going to air at 6pm on Saturday the 4th, and then at 9pm on July 5th, Sunday. So that's 10am tomorrow, 6pm Saturday, 9pm on Sunday. So airing three times on American Family Radio. Also, if folks just go over to afr.net, you can see it right there on the homepage. You can get the podcast available, to listen to at your convenience. Right now it's up at afr. but, to your point, Jeff, restoring this sense of Knowledge and understanding for, America's true history is very, very important to restore a sense of patriotism. And I posted this morning on X and other places that, patriotism is completely compatible with Christianity and the Bible. This notion that you got to pick America or pick God is just completely a false equivalence that shouldn't be, put on people to have to. being a patriot by definition is simply loving one's country and having a love and a passion for one's country. well, that's not incompatible with Scripture because we're also called to love our neighbor in scripture and be salt and light. And so if we're carrying out our biblical mandate to make disciples, to love others and to be good stewards of our civic responsibility, then naturally we should all be American patriots in this context. also the. I'm going a lot of different places here, but, a lot of people want to say, well, we had slavery in the early America. you know, the early American, early, America had slavery and everybody was in favor of slavery. And so how do you get past that? Well, that's part of the story. I'm not a slavery denier here, but I think it was when I said 11 of 13 earlier, I think it was actually 11 of 13 colonies that had abolished slavery. in their drafts of the Constitution, the first draft, by the way, of the Declaration of Independence had slavery excluded, had slavery outlawed. And then I think there were two holdouts, two colonies that were demanding, like, we've got to keep slavery in order to ratify this. So there was somewhat of an argument and a compromise in the early days of America on whether slavery would be outlawed when they drafted the Constitution and when they drafted the Declaration. But I just say that to point. Point to the fact that even in early American history, they were arguing about slavery. There were Christians who were saying, hey, guys, this is incompatible with what we're trying to do here. This is not good. We need to take advantage of this Declaration and this Constitution to go ahead and abolish slavery right now. That was in the 1700s. And so, of course we didn't end up abolishing it and having true civil rights until later on. But I say all that to say that there was a lot of good people that believed in God that were trying to outlaw, slavery going back to the mid to early 1700s and even before that in the colonies. so that's an important historical fact as well.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. One of the things that, Peter Lilback said was with George Washington upon his Death. He freed all his slaves. And he said, you know, if everybody had followed suit, there would have been no civil war, there would have been no slavery, because they would have all been freed. But, you know, I ran across this today, Walker, about the Mayflower Compact written in 1620. Talk about the underpinnings of the Bible. having undertaken for the glory of God, an advancement of the Christian faith in honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these, present solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another. I mean, they state it. This is why we came here. And, to deny that is just to deny the truth. And so I encourage our listeners to, check out One Nation Under God, just in the last minute that we have.

Walker: There was so much debate about the Bible in America's early era

Was there anything that you learned that, maybe you didn't know before when you sat down with those guys?

Walker Wildmon: Yeah, I just learned, how much, debate there was about righteousness. In America's early era. Ah. And America's early generation, there was so much debate about the Bible. Everyone knew the Bible, and they read the Bible and they were intimately knowledgeable on God's precepts. And so we've got to get back to a place where we're all generally knowledgeable on the truth of God's word.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. Walker. Thanks so much for coming in today. Look forward to watching One Nation Under God, episode nine of AFA at home. You're listening to Real Truth for today on American Family Radio. When we come back from the break, we'll be talking to Dr. Jarrett Stevens, the pastor of Champion Forrest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. He has a new book, the Always God. We'll be right back.

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Pastor Jeff Stephens is the pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff, here on this, beautiful July 2nd in Texarkana, Texas. Focusing in, getting ready for the 4th of July and celebrating the 250th birthday of America. Well, I have a, special guest with me today, Jarrett Stephens. Jarrett is the pastor of Champion Forrest Baptist Church. He was, the associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist with Jack Graham for many years. And Jarrett is, he is a special, special guy, probably one of the most beloved pastors that I know because, I know a lot of people at Champion Forrest. That was my home church. That's where I met my wife. That's where I was called into the ministry. That was where I was ordained. I was on staff there for five and a half years. All my kids were saved and baptized at Champion Forrest. And so I know a lot of people there. And anytime you bring up Jarrett's name, oh, I love Pastor Jarrett. He is so my, middle daughter and son in law, Travis. Amy and Travis, they go to Champion Forrest North. They love it when Jarrett comes to preach, at their campus. And Jarrett, just does such a great job. So Jarrett, my friend, welcome to the program.

Jarrett Stephens: Jeff, thanks so much for having me on and I appreciate your kind words. I tell you, you are a living legend here at Champion Forrest, man. There is hardly a week that goes by and I'm not kidding. I had lunch with a guy yesterday and we're sitting here having lunch and he was in the young marriage group back in the day. And he said, now do you know Jeff Schrieve? And I was like, I'm going to be on with Jeff Schrieve tomorrow. And so your name comes up all the time. And I'm grateful for your leadership, and just your friendship to me. And truly, you left your mark at Champion Forrest.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, you're kind to say that. It's a great, great church. And you're just doing such a tremendous job. It is cool to see Champion Forrest grow in tremendous, ways. Now, you're on TV now locally.

Jarrett Stephens: We are, yes. CBS channel, 11 down here. And we're on there every Sunday at 10:30. So it's a great hour for us. We follow Face the Nation. And then during football season, proceed the football show. So it's a really good spot to have.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Yeah. Rush used to call that disgrace the Nation, but we'll call it Face the Nation.

Jared writes a book about God during uncertain times

Okay, so, Jared, you sent me the book, and I've really been enjoying it. It's called the Always God. He hasn't changed, and you are not forgotten. Okay, so what was the, backstory with you writing this book?

Jarrett Stephens: Yeah, well, this was, You know, I tell people this was my Covid book, right here, like, everybody. Gosh, doesn't that seem like forever ago and just, what a world we were living in? But, we were going through all that, and I had people. You remember this, Jeff? People were being laid off, and there was a lot of uncertainty, what's going to happen, a lot of fear. And, so I was just out running one day, and I was just. I used that running time as, just time to process things and think through things. And, this book kind of came to my heart, and really, the subtitle says it all. that he hasn't changed and you're not forgotten. And it was just that whole idea that, you know, the scripture says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we know he's sovereign, and nothing takes him by surprise. And so I just wanted to write this book and communicate that during an uncertain time, no matter what we may be up against, our God hasn't changed. He's the same God, that he was when he created the heavens and the earth, and then when he sent his son. He's the same God when He comes again, that God was with us in our time, in our day, and that we're not forgotten. So no matter what we're going through and no matter what we're up against, God is for us. He hadn't forgotten us. He's right there with us.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that.

Jeff: Jarrett, preaching and writing are two different trains

Okay, so, Jarrett, this is book number two. You're working on. Book number three. explain to our listeners, the challenge for a pastor to take something that is written, for verbal, discourse and, you know, a verbal, presentation versus a written presentation, because it's not the same. It doesn't just, hey, make a transcript. And that's good. We can go with that. It doesn't work like that.

Jarrett Stephens: It's two totally different hats that you have to wear. I was actually visiting with, Dr. Robert Morgan. I'm sure you've probably had him on the show. We had a Great America 250 event here last night, and I brought Robert Morgan in, who Is a prolific author, Pastor, wrote 100 Bible verses that made America. And we were talking about this very thing. You know, he describes preaching and writing as two different trains. One's a freight train and the other's a passenger train. You know, I describe it, as, It's just two different hats, you know, when you're preaching. And I preach from a manuscript, so I'm used to writing out my sermons. it's really 80% for me. It's 80% scripture, explaining the text, if you will, and 20% illustration and application. Well, when you're writing a book, you almost have to put on a totally different hat and flip those percentages, if you will. It's kind of like 80% is illustration and application. Because it's not tell me. It's show me through your words. And, you know, 20% of it is text, if you will. and so, yeah, it really is two different trains of thoughts. And it is for a writer, preacher. And, you know this, Jeff. When we're studying to write a, you know, sermon every single week, the last thing we want to do after writing a, you know, I write a 4200 page manuscript. Basically, that's about 35 minutes for me preaching. And then I've got to deliver that research paper every week. The last thing I want to do is write more words. And so it is a, discipline. And it's a labor of love, but it is a labor for sure.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, it's. I don't know about you, Jarrett, but when I'm the worst at proofing my work, because I always rewrite, just takes me forever because it's like, ah, that could say that better. And, then it's like, I got to put this away and let somebody else proof it for mistakes.

Jarrett Stephens: It is an act of utter, I don't know what the word is, you know, humility. I don't know. But to.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: To.

Jarrett Stephens: To create something and just, like, hand it out there for the world to see. It is a, It's a. It's a strange thing, as you know, because, like you said, you're your own worst critic.

Is this in audio also? It is. Okay, so, when I did the Devil's Newsroom we did the audio

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so, Jarrett, have you, the Always God. Is this in audio also?

Walker Wildmon: It is.

Jarrett Stephens: It's an audio as well. you get to hear me read it. I tell our people here at Champion Forrest, if you're ever having a hard time going to sleep, just pick it up, you know, turn it on. M. That or my sermons will do the trick.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so, when I did the Devil's Newsroom we did the audio. I went to the studio, and we did all that. And it really highlights this. Like, man, that wasn't a good sentence, that paragraph. I didn't like that one. Yeah, but it is what it is at that point.

Jarrett Stephens: That's right.

The book is divided into three tours. And you're our tour guide, Jarrett

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so Tour one. The book is divided into three tours. And you're our tour guide, Jarrett. And so Tour one. The God who's always here. And you answer questions. Does God really see me? And my situation. Does God really hear me when I pray? Does God really speak to me? Now, I have to say, those are questions that everybody has. I don't care how long you've been a Christian. If you're going through a really hard time in life, you start to wonder, does God know? Does God see me? Does God care? One of the great names in the old testament, Genesis 16, where Hagar says, you are el Roi, you are the God who sees me. because we can feel for God.

Jarrett Stephens: Absolutely. And that was, you know, that's why I wanted to start. Where we did with this book is I wanted to, really just affirm confidence in who our God is. You know, you read the scriptures. I'm amazed at how often, you know, we know God is spirit. And, that he doesn't have physical eyes like we have, and ears audibly. He's spirit, but the Bible attributes, human characteristics to him all the time. And you read the scripture, you will see, very clearly, the scripture indicating that, God is he. The Bible says that he's. He's searching the world, looking for those whose heart is steadfast toward him. So he is. He is looking. the Bible says that, you know, he hears, the righteous cry out to the Lord. And he hears them. you read the Exodus account, and it's all about, the Lord. He sees and he hears and he remembers and he acts. And so I just wanted to. In, the first part of this book, I just wanted to really grow the reader's confidence that, you know, whatever it is you're going through and whatever, wall you may be up against, you can take confidence in the fact that, And you can take confidence because the scripture affirms that, over and over and over again that he is a God who sees. He is a God who hears. And I love this one. He's a God who speaks through his word. He is actively speaking today. And so, yeah, that's. That's why I wrote that first part is more than anything, just to build the confidence of People that you, you can cry out to him because he's hearing, he sees your need, he hadn't forgotten about you. And he speaks to you through, through his word.

Early in the book, Jarrett was talking about distractions and you talked about

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, very convicting part. Early in the book, Jarrett was about distractions and you talked about, so we pray, but you know, we're spending time with God while we're multitasking and while we're doing this and doing that and you know, hey, God, I got a 30 second window for you to speak to me and show me something. And boy, that's convicting because we live in such a distracting world. Now, I'm older than you are, but, you know, I come from the generation that didn't have, ah, the Internet and cell phones. And so there are so many more distractions today than we had before. And if you get notifications for every time somebody comments on your Facebook or X or Instagram, whatever, things are dinging and letting you know and that can really mess you up as far as just an undevoted, unhurried time with the Lord.

Jarrett Stephens: Yeah, it's so important. You know, I've got a book on my bedside right now by a Japanese theologian called the Three Mile Per Hour God. Now, I'm not recommending it because I haven't read it all, but the thesis of it is that the average human being walks at a pace of about 3 miles per hour. And kind of the idea is when, when God came in the flesh in the person of Jesus, he probably, when he walked, walked about 3 miles per hour. And so if you want to walk with Jesus, it's not going to be a fast, hurried pace. It's going to be slow, it's going to be deliberate. And yeah, you know, the distractions, they're all around us. And you're going to have to, if you want to hear from the Lord. you know, I was always taught that God doesn't have favorites, but he does have intimates. I think Charles Stanley used that phrase. and, to be an intimate of the Lord is to show the Lord. I want to show the Lord that God, you've got a priority in my life. And so when I'm spending time with you, the phone's up, you know, the notifications are off. You are, the priority. And I think it's so very, important that if, if we're going to hear from the Lord, that we limit those distractions. You know, Jeff, I remember when I got here to Champion Forrest, you know, My goal, I said, my first year, I'm not going to make any big changes. You know, you know, obviously, if something needs to be tinkered with, we'll tinker with it. But my goal the first year, I want to love God's people. I want to. I just want to build relationships, and I want to preach the paint off the wall, you know, to the glory of God. That was kind of my goal the first year. And I remember praying in my time alone with the Lord, Lord, and just, you know, through the. My time with the Lord, the Holy Spirit. I just sensed the Lord speaking in my heart, said, jared, if you'll take care of the secret place, I'll take care of the sermon. And it was just kind of a commitment. You know, I'm going to study to show myself approved. I'm going to. I'm going to prepare sermons, all those things. But it was just kind of God's, hey, if you will, get in the secret place and just spend time with me and know me and, like, we're talking about here, limit those distractions, so that you can hear my voice. I'm not, you know, he downloads his truth, to those who are unhurried. And, so I think I can say with integrity that the Lord has kind of kept his deal with me, as I've tried my best to keep my deal with Him.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that.

Jarrett Graham was at Prestonwood Baptist Church from 2000 to 2020

Okay, so, Jarrett, for our listeners that may not know, you were at Prestonwood Baptist Church from what year to what year?

Jarrett Stephens: I went to Prestonwood in 2000, and I left in, 2020. So I was there for 20 years.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, when you came in 2000, what was your position?

Jarrett Stephens: I came as an intern. So I was, at school, right up the road from you, Jeff Ouachita Baptist University. One of my buddies, his dad was, the sports outreach minister at Prestonwood and knew I was in ministry and called me after I graduated, said, what are you doing? And I said, I don't know. I'm still trying to figure it out. He said, well, we've got some internships open here at Prestonwood. Why don't you come, and be an intern? That followed Preston Wood's ministry. Man, I'm a church nerd. I love, you know, I love, Straight from the Heart ministries. I'll listen to any sermon you preach. I love preachers. And, of course, I had listened to Dr. Graham and knew of his ministry and felt, very honored, that I would even be able to be an intern. There. And that church raised me up. They were so good to me. 20 years of the best years of my life, some of them.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: So when did you, when did you get, into the role of, of being the Saturday night preacher?

Jarrett Stephens: Yeah, the teaching pastor. So, I was as an intern for about a, a year and then I was teaching a Sunday school class, a life group, if you will, on Saturday nights to young adults. And God was blessing it. It was growing. And so the young singles pastor came to me and said, hey, we've got an opening. Why don't you come be an associate here in our young singles ministry. Six months after that, the singles pastor left. And I thought they'd bring somebody in to be my boss, but, they gave me the whole deal. So I was 23 at the time, single, and was over 18 to 32 year olds, which was a big age range and a big group at Prestonwood at that time. And so I had no business doing the job. But they, they, they, they put a team around me and had faith in me and I, I wanted to, you know, serve the best I could. And then about nine years after that, Jeff, our teaching pastor, that was current, that was at Prestonwood at the time, left to go be a senior pastor in the, Augusta, Georgia. And I was riding with Dr. Graham and he said, you know, what do you feel about being the teaching pastor? And I said, sounds like a plan. You know, it was last, I think that was 2010 to 2020, I served as the teaching pastor. And just it was an honor of a life to serve under Dr. Graham. And I, you know, was in rooms and meetings I had no business being in. He taught me so much, Jeff, just about life and ministry and leadership and preaching. And you know, if he showed up to my office today and said, get in a three point stance and run through this wall right here, I'd say, yes sir, and do it.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that.

Pastor Jeff Shreve talks to Dr. Jarrett Stephens about his new book

Well, we're talking to Dr. Jarrett Stephens. He's the pastor of Champion Forrest Baptist Church. A great, great pastor. Jarrett embodies. I heard this from, Jon Bassano. He said, rarely do you find a guy that's a great preacher and a great pastor. You kind of be one or the other. I will say this in all honesty. Jarrett really is a great preacher and a great pastor. He cares about people. He loves the Lord and loves his word and does a great job communicating it. So we're talking about the book, the Always God here on Real Truth for today. I'M your host, Pastor Jeff Schrieve, and we are up against a break, but we'll be back with more. Jarrett Stephens. Don't go away.

: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhishheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.

Dr. Jarrett Stephens wrote the Always God book during COVID crisis

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff here talking to Dr. Jarrett Stephens, the pastor of Champion Forrest Baptist Church. And we're talking about his book, the Always God. He hasn't changed, and you'd are not forgotten. This was written during COVID which is, quite the subtitle for Covid, because, people were in it. They were worried, they were fearful. Many were losing their jobs. They didn't know what was going to happen. we were told that this was the bubonic plague and we were going to be carting our dead to the curb, that kind of stuff. And so, that was a good word of, comfort. God is always here. He's always working. He is always faithful. That's how the book is divided up in those three different tours, as Jarrett calls them. Jared, I did. As we talk about hearing God, you know, does God speak to me now?

Jeff Call left Prestonwood Baptist Church after 20 years to become pastor at Champion Forest

One of the things as we were talking about your time at Prestonwood, 20 years at Prestonwood Baptist Church. Prestonwood Baptist Church is a gigantic church, one of the largest churches in America. Champion Forrest is not, is not a small church by any stretch of the imagination. It is a large, large church. But Prestonwood is, you know, if you go to both, Prestonwood is just one of those that's like, like, wow, this place is huge. I think most people figured you were going to be the next pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church. So it was a big deal for you to leave there to go to Champion Forrest. Tell us how the Lord worked in your heart to get you to do that.

Jarrett Stephens: Yeah. Well, you know, this book, while it was a Covid book, that was at the same time, Jeff, that God was stirring in my heart. Heart, that I knew something was changing at Prestonwood after, you know, 20 years there. And I really had no desire, to go anywhere. I thought I'd be in Dallas at Prestonwood, for all of my life. I met my wife there. We had our children there. We were, you know, 10 minutes from the church. I mean, it was a very. From a. Just, a level of comfort. It was a very comfortable life. And, I don't know, it was around, the beginning of, I guess it was the end of 2019. I just started sensing, something in my own heart, just an unsettling, you know, I've been wanting to be a senior pastor since I was 17 years old. This is all I've ever wanted to do. when God turned my heart toward ministry, I tell people I wanted to play college football, but no coach asked me to play. And so it's hard to play when nobody asked you to. And so, I taught a Bible study as a senior in high school school. And it was the first time teaching that Bible study that I'd ever studied God's word to teach it to somebody else. And in that moment, God just turned my heart toward this ministry calling. And I've never, ever wanted to do anything else but be a senior pastor. And I had opportunities while I was at Prestonwood. You know, a couple of opportunities came across my plate, but I just never sensed that, you know, it was my time. you know, I was taught that you have to have a place to go and you have to have a release to go. And so sometimes I had a place, but I didn't have a release. And I can remember talking about running and doing some processing. I had a church in, my hometown of Bossier City, Louisiana, Call. And I thought, well, maybe I'd been at PRESTONWOOD for about 10 years. And I thought, well, maybe this is my opportunity. I'd been young singles ministry for ten years. and so I talked to that church, and my wife and I went and visited. I really, really didn't want to go back home, so to speak, be that prophet without honor in his own hometown. But, I knew the people and it was the church that I thought, man, this could. This has got some potential. And, we really prayed through it. And I was running one day I could take you in the neighborhood that I was running in by the house that I was running in. And I just sensed in my spirit, the Lord said, jer, what's it going to take more faith to do? And both would have taken faith. I'd never been a senior pastor to take in faith to go to Bossier City and start, the preaching. But at that time, I was the young singles pastor at Prestonwood. The teaching pastor was there. There was no future, so to speak, being a teaching pastor. And at that time, I mean, I was officing in a storage closet. And. And so I, I just felt at that time, you know what? God speaks the language of faith. It's going to take more faith to just take a back seat. And, Be the young singles pastor. And Jeff, I did. I made that decision. I'm telling you. I've got journals in, my, study that I could point to you that it wasn't two weeks later that the dominoes started falling where our teaching pastor was leaving to go to Georgia. Jack gets me in the car, says, what do you think about being a teaching pastor? I had no idea. and. And that's. That started that trajectory to teaching pastor. So when it comes to 2019, and I sense this unsettling, you know, that's. That's again, so much of the message of the book, you know, God, speaking, hearing, from. From the Lord, being there for the anxious and the fearful. Because that. That really scared me. Like, oh, no, you know, the fact that I'm not, you know, that I. I sense that God may be pushing me out of the nest, so to speak. And so, you know, I prayed for a year, Jeff, that if I was to stay at Prestonwood, God, I needed a sense of vision and I needed, some courage, you know, just to.

Walker Wildmon: To.

Jarrett Stephens: To. To, you know, I needed, like you look at Preston Wood, you talk about it being so big. I was like, I don't even know what. What would be next here. You know, I don't even. I had no picture of. Of vision. And so over a year, I never got an answer. If I'm to stay, I need vision and courage. And if I'm to go, I said, lord, I need a sense of. I need clarity, number one, because all my kids here, my life's here, here. You're going to have to write it in the star, so to speak, because this is a, you know, scary. I need. I need to know you're in it. So I need clarity and I need a sense of purpose. And so over the course of a year, Jeff, here's how God spoke to me. first of all, I never got any vision. You know, that prayer for vision, courage never came. The sense of clarity came over a course of a year. And it wasn't clarity to come to Champion Forrest. It was clarity that Prestonwood is not it. And it came over the course of a year. Now, the sense of purpose, because you mentioned.

Jeff: Jarrett came to Champion Forest after praying for a sense of purpose

And I appreciate what you said about being a pastor and a preacher. I do love relationships and go deep in relationships. When I was praying for a sense of purpose, the thought of starting over with relationships made me want to go take a nap. I mean, I just had no desire. 20 years of pouring into people, investing and that was, again, our life. But I came to Champion Forrest, after we started talking to their search committee, and again, over a course of a year, clarity. Not that this was the place, but that Prestonwood wasn't. And then God said, you want purpose? In one weekend of meeting with the search committee and seeing the church and just, getting to know the people, God said, I'm, going to answer that prayer in one weekend. And we knew after that first week of meeting, meeting with the committee and them asking me to preach in view of a call, that this was it, because he had answered those two prayers. But, you know, he answered it, just as I explained in the book. You know, God speaks. How does he speak? Well, he speaks through prayer. In his word, it was just affirmation. In scripture, he speaks through the Holy Spirit. He speaks through pastors and preachers and teachers, wise counsel. And so it wasn't any of this, you know, grandiose. I, joked about it being written. It wasn't any of that. But I tell you, as you know, Jeff, when God speaks, even when it's a quiet whisper, it's louder than any physical voice, audible voice you've ever heard. And that's how it was with me.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. Well, you had never been the main guy. So Champion Forrest was. They were, acting in faith, too, because it's like, okay, Jarrett looks good and, sounds good, but he's never done this before.

Jarrett Stephens: That's right. They took a chance on me. And every time I see a member of the search committee, Jeff, I remember of mine, I say, have I told you thank you lately for taking a chance on me? Because they really did take a chance on me.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. You know, when I came to First Baptist, Texarkana, same thing. I'd never, you know, I was Damond's assistant. I didn't. I'd never pastored before. And, so I appreciated them, taking a chance on me too.

Jeff Houston says you got to trust God in all of the Bible

Okay, so tour one, in the book, God is always here. Tour two, God is always working. I immediately thought of Philippians 2:13. For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. lots of times we don't see how God is working. Adrian Rogers used to say, you know, we see a parade come by from street level. God is up in the helicopter. God sees the whole thing. We don't see the whole thing. And so that. That really leads into tour three, which is, you got to trust God. I mean, all of the Bible, I'VE said this many times, Jarrett. Really, all of the Bible, if you boil it down, is God says, will you trust me?

: Me.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's right. So break, out those two tours. Always working, always faithful.

Jarrett Stephens: Yeah, well, you're right. What a great picture. I always say, you know, a good football team always has coaches in the press box, right? Because when you're in the trenches, you can't see what you see from the press box. The press box view gives you the whole. The whole picture. And that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to elevate people's perspective, to show them, that God is always at work, whether you see it or not, whether you realize it or not. when I was writing, this book, the song came out that was really, really popular. We still sing it, the Waymaker, you know, even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel that you're working. And I think I picked my pace up on my run every time that song came on. So that's really, you know, in listening to that song during COVID that's really where that idea came. And, and I wanted to show people who, you know, were experiencing emotions and going through circumstances, like I said, people being let go. one of my mentors died, during COVID And so, you know, I'm thinking about his wife and children. And so, you know, those that are broken, that he's. He's always working to restore the broken, that he's always working to calm the anxious, to encourage courage, the fearful, to comfort the lonely, to help the angry and to forgive, the guilty. And so I wanted to show, the reader, that, you know, mental health was a big deal during COVID Like, you know, how do you battle these emo. And so I really wanted to take a little bit of those emotions that, people were struggling with and show that look again, regardless of what you feel or what you see, I mean, I'm, you know, in this discipleship 101. Jeff, I know you talked about. About this all the time. Like, if, you know, I love food, and if I ate every time I felt hungry, I'd be 350 pounds. You know, you can't. You can't live off your feelings. We, talk about truth around here. You know, I can feel like two plus two equals five all day long. But the truth is, it is four, and it's going to be four from now till Jesus comes. And so I wanted to wean people off of their feelings and emotions and help them to see the truth of God's word, that he really is always at work. And then that two or three. Just that whole idea of trusting. Look, when I read the Psalms especially, you can see it on your right. It's every page right. Trust and obey for there's no other way. Be happy. Trust and obey. Like, I have, I take notes in my Bible and I've got a, you know, wide margins and on both sides of the page. And when I read through the Psalms especially, I see on nearly every page the word trust and entrust. Like, will you trust me? And will you entrust your life, your children, your kids, your future to me? And again, kind of see where personally this was M. You know, as I'm discerning this call to Houston, I'm like, okay, Lord, will I trust you? And can I entrust, you know, an unknown future to you? And God proves faithful every single, single time. He's never failed us. He's a promise keeping God. And so that's what that chapter is about. It's more just imploring people, to trust in the Lord. And then that whole idea of hoping in the Lord, that's just kind of a future outlook, you know, that what we're in is not always going to be that way. You know, we're here in Houston and it happens everywhere. But just being close to the coast, Jeff, you remember being here, those clouds would roll in. And sometimes they stay for a day, two days, three days. But eventually those clouds roll out. And whatever, you're going through. And I know we've got an audience listening to us today that may find themselves up against a wall and they're hurting and they're struggling and they've got dark clouds over them. I just want to encourage you to trust in the Lord. He's working his plan. I can't explain to you what he's doing. Isaiah 50:5. His ways are not our ways. Ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts. but you can trust him. He will not fail you. And those storm clouds, they are going to pass. May not be tomorrow, may not be next week. But you keep your hope in the Lord. Those storm clouds are going to pass by.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen to that. The always God. He hasn't changed, and you are not forgotten.

Jeff Jarrett's latest book Always God is available anywhere you purchase books

So where can our listeners pick up a copy of this? Jarrett?

Jarrett Stephens: Yeah, it's available anywhere. you can find it in bookstores, Barnes and Noble, obviously, Amazon will have it. all of your, Waterbrook Multnomah put it out. So anywhere you purchase books, you can get the Always God. And, that comes on the hills of the first book, which was the Mountains Are Calling. And so, either one of those books, I'd encourage our listeners to get.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And the third book is going to be called what?

Jarrett Stephens: You know, we're working on the title right now. I did a video series, called Trite Not True Jeff. And I took trite sayings, you know, everything happens for a reason. Or, you know, when God closes a door, he opens a window. you know, you're never more safe than when you're in the will of God. And so I took those cliche statements that sometimes Christians say, and they're well meaning and they sound great, but I kind of drill down in those and say, are they really scriptural? And so just encouraging Christians to, again, think biblically and, to think on truth. Because, you know, as your mind goes, so goes your life. And, your mind was built for truth. And, there's no greater place of truth than God's word. So that's what that book is about. And it'll be out, later next year.

Jarrett: I'm an optimist for this next generation

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, Jarrett, we have just a minute left or so. What are your thoughts on the 250th birthday of America?

Jarrett Stephens: we mentioned this earlier. We had a great celebration last night. I'm an eternal optimist. And so what I see in the younger generations, in my kid, you know, I've got two daughters in college and, two in the eighth grade. And their love and heart for the Lord. So look, I think, you know, while we love our country and, we're concerned about things that we see, I'm an optimist for this next generation. Getting after the Lord, worshiping the Lord. We're seeing these baptisms going on, all over these college campuses. So I'm praying God send us another revival and believe he's going to do it.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen.

Jarrett Stephens: Share what great things the Lord has done for you

Jarrett Stephens, the pastor of Champion Forrest Baptist Church, has been my guest. The book is the Always God. He hasn't changed, and you are not forgotten. Hey, go out today. Shine for Christ. Shine. Share what great things the Lord has done for you and pray that revival would come to America. God bless you.