Faith and Freedom with Brad Dacus

Of course, every sermon I give, I give people the clear gospel and opportunity for people to pray and receive Jesus Christ through the Lord and say, that's my, that's my favorite part of the whole sermon and to see those hands go up and I'm telling you, Barry, I've been doing this a good while and I'm noticing a higher proportion of people raising their hands to receive Christ, a higher percentage. It's an exciting time to get out of the bleachers on the field and to live our faith and share our faith. And welcome to the Ignite with Barry McGuire podcast where Barry's book and passion for spreading God's love are guaranteed to ignite your life. Now listen in and prepare to have your life ignited. Hi everybody, welcome back to Ignite. I have an exciting guest today, exciting because every time we're together, we're quickly sharing our individual stories about the last conversation we had about share faith and his stories are even better than mine. I mean, I got a lot of great stories, but he is often, often, I got to talk about Brad Dacus, the owner of President of Pacific Justice Institute, welcome, Brad in front of the talk to you on a screen and, and, but more importantly, let our followers, if they don't already know who you are and what you're doing. Oh, thank you, Barry. It's great to be here. I appreciate it. Tell him about, tell him about Pacific Justice right quick. Oh, you bet. I found a Pacific Justice Institute back in 1997. It was clearly a God thing because he broke through a lot of barriers. We got it going and we're defending religious freedom, parents rights against the government, the sanctu of human life, all without charge. We know Barry, we have over 130 cases right now in active litigation, 37 offices, coast to coast, and God has been blessing us with a fantastic win rate, especially the last few years, probably the highest win rate we've ever had. And we're just seeing God move and seeing him giving us incredible victories. We had a great victory just very recently for a Christian couple in Oregon. They were told they couldn't be foster parents because of their Christian faith and with regards to not wanting to hypothetically affirm gender confusion in a child if they possibly had one that was that way. And they said, we can't compromise our faith. And we fought a lawsuit and we just went on appeal, Ray Hackier, attorney in Oregon, did a fantastic job and it's just so exciting to break through barriers for people who want to live their faith, whether it's in the workplace, in the public square, doing things like foster care, adoption, in universities. It's just an exciting thing to do. So we defend religious freedom, parents rights, and we don't do it just because we like the Constitution. The Constitution, Barry, to us is like the 50 yard line, it's a great goal, but it's not the final goal. The final goal is further in God's kingdom. That's the touchdown for us, and we love to not just defend, but also empower people to live their faith and share their faith. It's an exciting time. Well, I give us a couple of examples, quick, let me show you what the stories of share your faith. Give us a couple of examples very quick of the maybe two that are completely different in the breadth of cases you take on, pro bono. Oh, you bet. We're defending in New Jersey, people who are teachers who are told by the attorney general that they have to use pronouns. If a child says they want to change their pronoun, change their name, they have to do it. Even if it's a Christian teacher and they know I cannot affirm confusion, much less change of pronoun. That's blasphemy to the creator, it implies a creator made a mistake. They said, no, no, no, no religious exemption, you have to do it. We have fought a lawsuit against the attorney general, New Jersey. We have these kind of cases across the country right now. And then, of course, we're also defending Christian preschool. On the other side of the country in San Diego, church run Christian preschool, they were shut down. One of the reasons they were shut down by the intolerant government of California was because they, quote, compelled the little children to sing Christian songs and hear Bible stories. It's a church run private Christian preschool. So we filed a petition for certainty in the United States Supreme Court in this case. So we got some exciting cases going on all across the country and we do all our work without charge. That's who we're about, what we're about, making a difference, trying to make sure everyone gets help. No one's left on the side of the road for God's sake. If folks are in distress right now and need your expertise, how do they, how do they reach you? No, it's really easy. And they can also get our legal insider at our website, if you can request help. It simply, simply go to pj i dot o r g p j i dot o r g. And in fact, we have something we just debuted, it's a church kiosk, kiosk for churches in their lobby. And in these kiosks, Barry, your love this are brochures on how people can live their faith in the workplace and schools, the public square evangelize. So it's empowering churches. I love to preach. And I, it's my, I love to preach, but I only preach in so many churches. Well, this allows us to help every church out there that's, that believes in the word and have it every, every Sunday to provide them that, that's support for the church and the pastors. And these are all free and people can sign up and they can get one of those that they're church without charge on our website. So there's exciting things coming down the road and we're really thrilled to see what God's doing. You, you, you are tireless folks, understand this is a huge, it's really a ministry. It's a huge ministry. It's coast to coast, 100, how many cases right now? Over over 130 cases right now, we help thousands every year. So understand the pressures, if you dare call them that, they're really opportunities. But in addition to that, almost every Sunday, Brad is in a church somewhere preaching the gospel. You do that continually. I mean, I can't even comprehend how you do all that and additionally everything else you do. Yeah, it's, it's a real joy to preach from the word right now, preaching out of Esther chapter four, it's expository, verse by verse for such a time as this is the name of it. And of course, every sermon I give, I give people the clear gospel and opportunity for people to pray and receive Jesus Christ to their Lord and save. That's my, that's my favorite part of the whole sermon and to see those hands go up and I'm telling you, Barry, I've been doing this a good while and I'm noticing a higher proportion of people raising their hands to receive Christ, a higher percentage, clearly the Holy Spirit is moving. And I've talked to other pastors and other churches. It's an exciting time to get off out of the bleachers on the field and to live their, live our faith and share our faith. Well, I think you, I know you agree with this as well. And I must say, thank you, Charlie Kirk. I mean, it's a huge loss. But we care and I've been sharing our faith every day since 1976. This is our 50th year. And it's always been easy. It's always been fun. But now it's like you can be blind and stupid. I mean, everybody wants to know everybody, everybody wants to where God is right now. So the opportunity, the fields are white for harvest. The laborers are few and that's why we have ignite America. That's what we're trying to get you off the beds and the games are having some fun. You know, the problems in America are not the problems that are created by the world. The world is lost. Do you understand that? Right. They're lost. Satan actually has placed mass over their eyes so they can't even see. In fact, they see evil as good as what they see and evil as bad. So that's why they're proclaiming all this nonsense and incredibly ludicrous, stupid, demonic stuff and doing it with fervor, you know, because they're lost. They're not evil and they're going to stay lost unless we love on them. Unless we tell them God loves you. And I know you and I share this very clearly, but we have a lot of mutual friends in public service. And they've forgotten the main goal, getting people to heaven. And so while they're fighting public policy, and some of the great issues are going into what they're reaching, you can get some pretty easily. But they do it with such militancy today on behalf of God, quote unquote, and they're fighting that battle and they're hating that people on the other side of that battle and losing all of us if the people on the other side of those battles are people just like us that need God. And they're saying this is hateful and we can't do that. We need to hate the sin, but love the sinner. We need to fight the battles, but at the same time recognize our more important role, our only calling in life. He said, this is what you do. You love your neighbor. It's yourself. Right. And when we love people on the other side, you do it so beautifully with your ministry. Everybody watched you both your foe and your supporters are moving closer to Jesus because you got this, man. Well, I agree with you 100%. You know, you know, it's easy for Christians in our society today to be so politicized in our world view, our thinking that we see, you know, the side that we're on is, okay, we're the good guys and the other side, they're the enemy and we need to oppose them. And well, I get that. You know, we need to be faithful with the truth, but people are not the enemy. They're just lost. There's only two groups of people. Those of us who used to be lost and those of us who are, you know, exactly. And Jesus died for us and he doesn't want us to write off anyone. I mean, Jesus was such a great example of this throughout his ministry. Other people in the world and his disciples and others would have written off, he just, he just reached out to him right where they are. And that's what I love about the true gospel. The true gospel is a God who loves us and can take us right where we are with whatever baggage we have. Our God is a God of love that takes us right where we are. I was once visiting with the gentleman who was a transgender activist and I was connecting with him and it was a, it was a great story on how God brought us connected us together and, and we're all about a TV program together and afterwards I said, hey, is there a way we can get together? I just love to connect with you, understand you and, and open the door for communications and then we met again and then, and then the third time I told him I said, and this always put this on my heart specifically, I said, you know, I know, I know you've, you've, you've had some bad experiences and, and you know, some, some churches a long time ago wouldn't allow you to go to church dressed as you are and I says, I get that, you know, but don't let, don't let human, you know, in, in, in, in practicality, don't let human deficiencies, shortcomings, deprive you of that personal relationship that God wants to have with you right now. He knows everything you've been through, he knows all your baggage, everything you've gone through and he loves you and wants a relationship with you right now. And you know what's interesting is he, he looked at me, Barry and then he, then he looked at it in the, and the distance and he sort of folded his arms like this and I thought, okay, he's going to cut me off. This is body language, cut, he's going to cut me off, but he looked at it and then he, and then he says, I start watering and he finally said, it's interesting. You should say that because the last two weeks I've been thinking about the need for God in my life again. And, and I just thought, awesome, that's the kind of God that we have, you know, we, we look at the outside but God's looking at the inside and, uh, and what's the worst that can happen? We can get rejected, you know, I mean, even let's say, let's say someone takes, and they shoot us, um, there's no better way to go than for Jesus. I mean, I, that's how I want to, I'm just going to go that way than in a hospital. Absolutely, absolutely. I tell people, you know, if somebody wants to shoot me, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to say, great, make my day. I have some from the body. But just a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, can you give me maybe 60 seconds and you can shoot me? Okay? Do you know God loves you? Yeah. I mean, no, he loves you. He loves you as much as he's ever loved anybody and after you shoot me, he's still going to love you. Yeah. Okay. You can shoot me now. It's, it's freedom, the lives that you and I live, it's freedom. We get to celebrate God's love to us and flowing through us. Isn't it amazing? Yeah. Yeah. It's so much fun. You know, I have more fun than we deserve. I mean, we're always, uh, laughing, they can see us, they wonder how we could have so much joy, but you get joy when you're sharing the Lord. He says, when you bear fruit, by joy, I mean, with you and your joy will remain full. It's, it's pretty true, isn't it? I mean, we have, you and I both have more fun than we deserve. You know, you, you, you are totally right. And I think a lot of people don't realize how much they're missing out in terms of the joy. If we want to, I tell people, if they want to experience God's joy to the max, if they really want to experience life to the max, fulfillment to the max, choose to be obedient. And that includes to, to share your faith. And you know, a study was done and it wasn't that long ago and it said that more than seven out of 10 people were pulled who don't go to church or the seven out of 10 of those who don't go to church were said that they would go to church if they were invited by someone who want to at work and invited to church. And it's, it's so easy. And then when we do just step forward and do that, just that little action of just bringing them that much closer to the Lord, there's a joy that comes with that. I mean, God blesses us with that, that joy that comes with that. And then when we hold back, I don't know about you, Barry, but those times when I, I hold back, I don't have the joy. Yeah. No, it's quite the opposite. It's, it's, it's possible to do that or just by being focused on something else not meaning to, you could pass that opportunity, but I think God sets these, these, I mean, we see where you were in the middle, but he just set it up. I wonder how many of those divine appointments I walk by. I'm distracted and I picture God going, boy, babe, you know, I work so hard with that together. And Barry just blew me off. Yeah. I've done it. I've done it. And, and you know what's neat also is when we do blow, when we do get distracted, God says, hey, I still love you. Get back on the horse. Get back on the horse and, and I, and that's also really freeing to, that we don't have a, a God who uses guilt to compel us, but rather the love of Christ and the grace of, of Christ. There's no end of God's love. That illustration just gave, and they're all this way, but you think of what God had to go through to work on him before, put those thoughts in his mind two, two weeks earlier, right? Right. Right. And then he put it right with you and he prompts you to talk to him right at the right moment. Think of how the Holy Spirit was conducting orchestrating all that for you to have this privilege of sharing with him and leading him closer to Jesus. I mean, is that amazing? You know, it is, you know, and some people say, oh, you, you travel, because I fly a lot to speak and preach, I'll preach it in any church, big or tiny, no matter where it is, I'll pay for my flight, pay for my hotel. So I, anyway, so you do that and you have no honor or room, no love offering required, you get invited, and you stick to the word. But you know what's exciting is on these plane trips. I just wish I had, I did a better journaling, just, just a plane trip experiences on planes. I remember it was one time God sat me next to these two people who were from India, both and either of them knew each other, by the way. It was just a weird coincidence, coincidence, we're not a coincidence, coincidence. And I'm sitting right next to them and I'm talking to this to the, the, the female next to me and, and there was a male sitting on the other side of her and I said, so tell me up. So you're for me to go. I said, interesting. I said, so are you from a Hindu faith or, you know, I'm a Christian, but are you from a different faith Hindu or she goes, yeah, it's my background. She says, but a lot of my friends, you know, I've become Christian. I said, really? I said, are there a lot of Hindus becoming Christians? She goes, oh, yeah. In fact, my two best friends just got baptized. And then she asked me, she said, so, so what does it mean to be a Christian? And of course, I was too busy writing my sermon to be able to talk to her about this. So I, no, I'm teasing. So, um, so of course, I got to share with her, you know, what it was, what it means to, to be a Christian and, and how you become a Christian and, and the other gentleman heard it too. He wasn't a Christian either. Um, and it was interesting. Some people asked her question, well, then did you, did you pray and lead them in the prayer to salvation? I said, no, I didn't. They, they, they weren't ready to take that next step. Um, you can tell you follow the Holy Spirit. You know, you don't, you know, cram it. But, uh, but it was great as long as they were rolling to respond and we were, it was, it was awesome. And they heard it. Move everybody every day closer to Jesus. You made me the first person or the 20th person that crossed the line, but you wouldn't move them closer. One of the early frustrations I had back 50 years ago was when I thought I had to get through saved that moment. And when it didn't happen that moment, I got mad at God. It was frustrated myself and like, it's my timing. It's not my timing. Right. It's God's timing. And I just want to love them as far as they'll go. And then they're in God's care. They're not, they're not my responsibility. My responsibility is to share with them, right? I had, I often talk about being on a plane and care that I got separated. By the way, Suzanne, can we talk about Suzanne for your wife? She, she's you, man. She's, she's, someone's more than you. She's fantastic. What a power couple. You are. She's, she was a full-time youth ministry for 10 years. And she's the one that went to the high school campuses. She did this, you know, outreach right after Columbine tragic. She was out there. And she knows about living her face and sharing her face and discipling kids. And it's just a, it's been a huge blessing to have her as well as my partner. She is your part of your ambassador. What's her height? Um, I think it's five, two, five, four. Yeah. And what's your, and what's your height? About six, two and a half. You see this couple, um, quite, but, but in power, no. I mean, they're each powerhouses and they go out and we go to a lot of conferences together, folks, where it conferences all over the country. I get to spend some time with Brad, but I don't. I mean, sometimes, several times I've saved you seats at, and, and I want to come and hear the speaker. It's somebody really important. I want to hear the speaker and you say, okay, I'll be there and you come and you're there for about 10 minutes and then you're gone because you didn't come to hear speeches. You've come to work the crowd, man. I don't know anybody who's more out of a conference. Every time I see you, there was somebody different and you're laid it down and there just, you get them captivated. Did you do that three days straight, man? You get the most of your investment into these conferences. I said, well, I should be more like Brad. He's, he's, um, he's impacted a lot of lives right now. Or I'm going to get my life impacted. So it's, I have a lot of respect for, for your personality and you're, you're just all in. You're just all in. Well, as, as are you, Barry, and you're, you're an inspiration to me and that's why I love spending time with you. I love your ministry. Ignite. I'm not just saying that it is so on the bullseye of, of extortation with the body of Christ needs, which is to be exhorted to live our faith, to share our faith. You know, you know, I was once on a radio show is a secular news radio show. And the guy, he, you know, he's, I don't think he was a believer and he says, Brad, what case? What law do we need to turn this nation around? To have, you know, major impact. And I thought, there's only, I got to tell the truth. And it was secular, right? It wasn't Christian at all. I said, well, you know, since you asked, there's only one thing in the long term and the big picture that's going to turn this nation around, it goes, what is it, Brad? Tell us. Tell our audience. And I said, it's for people throughout America to come to a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and to receive him as their Lord and Savior. And then it was a dead silence on radio. And then he finally goes, uh, uh, uh, uh, well, what else? And I said, well, a long term, that's it. And then I, and then I thought I'd give him a little mercy and I said, but, you know, there's some short term measures we can, you know, do to keep the dicks from breaking right now. He goes, what is it? Tell us, talk about those. So, but the bottom line is it's, it's people living their faith coming to Christ. Through the changing of our hearts of, of Americans, that's what changes everything, uh, from politics, et cetera. And that is what you're doing with your ministry ignite. And I love it. And I, uh, I just, it's just a joy to see what, how God's using you through that. We both, we both get asked, which for only the America, what happened? We're in chaos. Well, where's God in all this? The simple answer is folks, you give this to them and it changes them. It's, it's very simple and they can't argue with you. Ask them the question. Let me, let me just ask you two questions. First one is, uh, even if they're not Christians, they'll answer the same. It's funny. Everybody answers the same. I say, um, do you, do you think that if you're closer to God, would you agree that if you're closer to God, you have more love and kindness and friendship and happiness and all that? They always say yes. Oh, yeah. The whole bunch of, I did it with a bunch of guys in a bar one night and they had been into it a little bit. But even they said, yeah, yeah, of course, of course, of course, I said, okay, so let me ask this is the following question, uh, would you, would you agree that then the further way you get from God, the more chaos and crime and hate and anger, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, where you just answered your own question, America or the last 60 years has moved away from God. Right. You can't win this battle in Washington or anywhere else. It's a love issue. We've moved away from God and for those of us who know God, it depends on us where America is only hope. I would dare say the most patriotic thing we can do is lead people to Jesus because we lead people to Jesus. They won't see evil's evil. Those evil's evil. I mean, they won't see evil's good. They'll send out the evil's evil good as good and they'll be on the right side of the issues and they'll be proclaiming Jesus and I hate the ultimate multi level marketing machine, you know, yeah, get one and they'll get others and that's the business we're in, isn't it? Yeah. And we're seeing that revival is last year or more than any other time in my lifetime since the Jesus revolution, uh, it is, it's exciting to see we have more Gen Z's going to church per capita than baby boomers. So it's, it's, it's not just, uh, you know, sometimes we get depressed and we say, oh, everything's going down the drain. No, no, um, that's not the, the, that's not in scripture, you know, go either way, hide in the hills, get your, your emergency kits and wait for Jesus to come. It's go out there and live for Christ, whether you're in a cycle of persecution or a cycle of, of open opportunity. Yeah. We're in this. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, they say, what do I ask me? Where would you like to run? I'm not going to run anywhere. I'd be right here. I wouldn't be right here for claiming this if I get the concentration camp, there's going to be a lot of people around me need Jesus. So, hey, this is great. Uh, our half hour is up, but I asked you ahead of time. If you stay over for a second half hour, can you do that? Oh, I, it's a joy. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. Thank you. It's just going so fast talking to you. Uh, he has bread and egg. Yes. They had a Pacific justice. It's amazing. Heart. So winter. Thank you for being on and we'll, we'll pick you up on the other side. All right. Thank you everybody for watching. See you next time. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please let us know, subscribe now to continue receiving my podcast and add your comments that will attract more viewers. See you next time on the Ignite with Barry McGuire podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review to help us reach more listeners. Remember, sharing your faith, ignites your faith. See you next time on the Ignite with Barry McGuire podcast.