This is the Truth Network. I'm standing between two kings, literally. Clayton King, Jacob King, you guys. I mean, what's it like to be next to this guy, Clayton? What do you say about this young fellow here?
This young evangelist. He's a he's a he's a young sprout coming up. Yeah, you know, he's one of my favorite humans. I'm more than his dad. I'm his biggest fan, and I'm very proud of him for how he serves the Lord, for how he loves Jesus, for how he handles his ministry, for how he puts value on integrity and character, and being the same person when nobody's looking as when everybody's looking.
Wow. What is it like to hear your dad? Say those words of praise, man, and encouragement. How about that? Yeah, and he's led the way.
He and and my mom have been the two greatest influences in my life. I've watched them live this out and and be an example of what it means for any young person who feels like the Lord is calling them into vocational ministry, whether it's vocational or not. They've they've been the the sheet that you should follow, the representation.
So it's it's an honor. He's a he's a great man. He's a great father. He's a great example that I get to follow. Wow.
Now, Clayton, set the stage. It's a little bit loud in here. There's a A whole lot of people. We got. We're at the Clayton King Ministries booth.
Where are we? What's going on, and why is this such a cool thing to be at for everyone? Yeah, we're at Thomas Road Baptist Church. This is the Liberty University Thomas Road, both in Lynchburg, Virginia, and I just finished preaching at Refuel, which is a pastor and church leadership conference.
So we've got hundreds of men and women from all different denominations, different states, that have come here to be encouraged and refueled in their calling in ministry.
So I just got to preach from First Kings nineteen, the story of Elijah, and what do you do? When you want to quit, because Elijah wanted to quit, he prayed for God to take his life. He was so depressed, discouraged, and and depleted. And so there's a pattern in First Kings 19 of what we can do whenever we're tired and we want to give up. Wow, you've been in ministry long enough, young Jacob.
To know that there's burnout, to know that you know people get tired, they want to quit. How does this message from your dad this morning resonate with you? What hits your heart about that? About Elijah and that story? Yeah, I think I think Elijah shows us that there is time for rest.
There's time for rejuvenation. There's time to take breaks. I'm. We were talking about this on the drive up. We're both wired in a way that we we always want to be doing something.
When I have when when I have a week off, I get restless. I want to get Back after it, preach, tell people about Jesus, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's that's what we're called to do—to glorify God and to make Him known. But there's time to take a break too, and we need to. We need to sit and ask the Lord to sustain us, to refuel us, to realign our minds with the purpose of God.
God created the world and then rested on the seventh day because His rule and His reign was established, and then He gave us a Sabbath to follow, as He did.
So that we could rest and trust that it's not on our shoulders to to accomplish this, Elijah experienced a great victory on a mountaintop, and then there was a valley experience, and and he showed us that there's times for us. To take a step back, trust that God will provide, which He did. If you keep on reading First Kings, God brings rain, He ends the drought, He takes care of everything. He's the God, He's the provider. Baal and Asherah were the false gods, the providers that they were supposed to be worshiping, and and Elijah said, "No, we worship this guy," and and God provided.
God provided for Elijah in that moment, even when he took a step back. Clayton King, you just encouraged a bunch of pastors, but people listening right now that may not be pastors. What do they need to know about the guy standing up there preaching every week? What do they need to know about how to pray for him? What do they need to know about what he's going through?
You just hit the forty-year milestone in ministry. Congratulations, brother! Calling the ministry at fourteen years old, right? Still preaching the word. What do people need to know about that guy to really give them a deeper appreciation for God's work through that man?
And that he—he's—he's a struggle. He's an earthen vessel, just like them. Your pastors and your leaders are normal people. We just have a different gift set and a different. Calling, we struggle.
We get depressed. We get discouraged. We get upset. We lose our temper. We struggle with anger.
We struggle with our health. We struggle with our weight. We struggle with our thoughts, and we are just like you. The only difference is God has called us to lead in a different capacity.
So I don't encourage you to do. Pray for your pastor. Pray for your leaders. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Pray for them and encourage them.
Send them a text. Give them a phone call. Pat them on the back. Tell them you love them. Tell them you appreciate them.
And when you're tempted to. Criticize them. Don't. It is Pastors Appreciation Month, so we love our pastors. We're grateful for you, brother, and we're grateful for you to take this time to come up and pour into all of us.
And you're on our buddy Zach Clinton's podcast, and he asked a special bonus coverage, special other guest to join. What was that like being on a national big show like that? I mean, this one's pretty big too. But being on being on built different with Zach, with having him on your son. It was so much fun.
I mean, it's like Third John chapter five. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
So for Jacob and I to get to preach and teach together, which we do quite often, but to be able to have this podcast together today, where it was un rushed and unhurried, was really cool because we got to talk about things that just happen in normal life. It's a real treat for me. We're going to come back to you when we close, Clayton, about this tsunami of souls being saved, being baptized that you've seen. You've seen that too, Jacob. I'm looking at the book by your dad called Reborn.
We're at refuel. Before you can be refueled, you got to be reborn.
Someone out there listening right now that doesn't know Christ—they're listening. God's after them. God's chasing them. People are praying for them. What do you say to that person out there, real quick?
That's—they're lost. They need to follow Jesus. I don't care how long they've been in church. They're close to church. They're far from God.
What do you say to them, real quick? We messed up a long time ago, but God loved us enough. To set a plan in motion, thousands of years ago, to restore our relationship with Him, to fix us and to save us, Jesus came down. He died a death that He did not deserve, paying the punishment of all of our sin, and He rose again on the third day. And He tells us, if we believe in Him, ask Him to save us, tell Him that, declare that He is our Lord.
He will save. He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. There is no greater news. I am the the recipient of this. My life has been changed by the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and I hope that in this moment, God is softening your heart.
And if that's the case, find somebody near you. I don't know if there's a way that they can get in touch with you, but let this be an immediate response because I believe the Lord is using this to speak to you and say, "Come home." Clayton, when is it the right time for someone to come to Jesus, and what's God doing? That you've seen in front of thousands of people, this movement of God, describe it for us and reinforce what He just said for us, will you? Yeah, the right time to come to Jesus is always right now. Right now is always the right time.
He is always one prayer away. He's always right there if you're calling His name. Romans ten thirteen is the promise: anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He's a very present help in time of trouble. That means He's never busy and He's always there.
And the moment we're finding ourselves in culture, the right now, I think we're seeing the beginnings of a great awakening, and I believe. That it now is the time with urgency and passion to just tell people how Jesus has changed your life. Take a risk, be bold, go for it. Don't say no for people. Evangelism is just joining a conversation that Jesus is already having with somebody, and we can all do it.
Wow! And you know, you get a lot of calls at Clayton King Ministries. They say, "Hey, we want Clayton to come speak." How cool is it to say, "Well, Clayton's booked up for the next three months," but Clayton has a son who'll come and preach? Isn't that cool to be? To send him out, it is literally one of the best things in my life.
I trust this guy with my whole heart, and it's mostly because his mom homeschooled him for seven years. That's why he turned out so. You know where the brilliance comes from. That's it. That's it.
That's it. Yeah, I'm so thankful. I'm living a dream right now. God has answered all of my prayers. John Piper said something to me, and I'm dropping that name.
He came to preach at our church a few years ago. I've met him one time. John Piper. When I told him about Jacob preaching the gospel, he put his hand on my shoulder. And John Piper, this great, this great man of faith.
Great Father in the church looks at me in my eyes and says, "Brother, trust me when I tell you, you could die and go to heaven a happy man, knowing that your son is following Jesus." Hallelujah. Jacob, take us out here with a website for folks to find out about Crossroad Camp's amazing camp that's been going on for decades. I mean, wow! Big camp for kids, parents. Your kids are going to hear the gospel.
Many have been saved. Many are in this this conference that have been saved at Crossroad Camp, and also just how to get you to come out and speak. How to get all the awesome books you got? Reborn over here. You got overcoming.
I mean, what what's the best way to reach the ministry? Best way to reach our ministry is typing up ClaytonKing dot com. You're going to find all of our Resources on there. We have a speakers page where you can book us. You can find out about our summer camps, our winter conference.
We do short-term mission trips. We do Bible trips. We do all sorts of things. Easiest way to find us is to go to ClaytonKing.com. You can also check out our our personal Instagrams, our personal social medias.
Just Google Clayton King, Google Jacob King. Type us in on on social media. That's the best way to get connected.
Okay, I want my kids and grandkids following him, Clayton, on social media, and I want them following you because every time. I might open up the Facebook. There's 3,000 folks got saved. Or there's pray for me as I'm going to be preaching here, here, and here. And I stop and I pray.
And I hope you folks will pray for these men of God and young men of God as they're out spreading God's word. Thank you all for being on. Thanks for being the Father Son duo. And and the the one thing about your dad you like to pick at him about. I mean, what is that one thing that like you know you're going to say it is going to is going to cause him to smile, but you're also going to you know get under his skin a little bit.
Bald and blind. Oh my soul!
Okay, what do you got for that? What do you got for that? I can still take him.
Okay, I'm gonna move out of the middle of these two right now. We're gonna get a little selfie by your banner, and I'll post it on on the Instagram, so you'll see that at least I have a face for radio. These guys are good to go, though. Bless you guys. Thank you.
