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[00:00:17] The Missional Life - Dan: All right. Welcome back to mission like podcast today. We're honored to have Pastor Todd Kdo with us. Todd is the senior pastor of Remnant Revival Center, the founder of Remnant News and host of the Todd Hodo Show, A passionate advocate for religious, liberty. Todd speaks boldly on faith freedom and the need for revival in our nation.

[00:00:35] The Missional Life - Dan: Todd. Welcome to the show.

[00:00:37] Todd Coconato: Welcome. Hey, Dan and Amanda. Good to be with you. Thank you for what you're doing. I appreciate it.

[00:00:41] The Missional Life - Dan: Amen. Thank you. Hey, Todd, you're a strong advocate for religious liberty and your message is reaching people across the nation. What are some of the biggest challenges you see facing religious freedoms in America today?

[00:00:52] The Missional Life - Dan: And how do you believe we as believers can respond?

[00:00:56] Todd Coconato: Yeah, great question. And a lot of people don't realize the challenges that we're dealing with. They're kind of multifaceted. First, of course, we have our kids. Our kids are under attack. Look at the curriculums in the schools and the public schools right now.

[00:01:10] Todd Coconato: And a lot of this diversity, diversity, equity and inclusion agenda from the left has really seeped its way in the schools and the curriculums. And so they're teaching a lot of the gender confusion type of information at an early age, which I believe is extremely over sexualized and that should be led to, you know, to the parents to talk about that.

[00:01:30] Todd Coconato: We used to call it the birds and the bees back in my day, but you know, these very young kids are now being exposed to this. So, you know, why is that a religious issue? Well, it is because you know, a family of faith, a Christian family doesn't want their kid to be exposed to that. And they're at work and, and trying to pay the bills and just living life.

[00:01:46] Todd Coconato: And meanwhile, here's their kid at school. Being pretty much indoctrinated, being propagandized by a lot of the radical ideologies that have now infiltrated into almost every aspect of our society. You see it in a lot of the companies, they have diversity boards and this whole big push for DEI. And so it's everywhere.

[00:02:03] Todd Coconato: It's everywhere in this woke agenda. And what that does is it, it essentially takes away our religious liberty and the fact that it's, it is a religion. In fact, I think it was JD Vance that talked about this and I agree with it. It is a religion, you know, that it's their form of religion. It's, it's, it's anti God it's, it's trying to take God out of everything, this woke agenda.

[00:02:22] Todd Coconato: I mean, it started many years ago with taking prayer out of the schools. We've seen where they've tried to take the 10 commandments statues away, many different places. And it just continues. They've tried to take in God. We trust off the money. They've just tried to take God out of every aspect of our culture and society.

[00:02:37] Todd Coconato: And so that is an infringement. It is an attack and that's just one layer. There's so many layers you know, in California, they have bills that they're pushing right now and we fought really hard. I pastored there for 17 years and we fought really hard against a bill where they were trying to end homeschooling.

[00:02:52] Todd Coconato: Now, thankfully that bill ended up being tabled because so many people came out. There was a huge public outcry, but that doesn't mean that they won't try again. Recently we found that in California they're actually coming after kids and parents if they don't call them by the proper gender pronoun the kids could actually, this is so crazy, actually be taken away from the parents.

[00:03:13] Todd Coconato: So that's an infringement because we should be able to raise our kids in the Lord and in the word of God and not have the government, you know, they talk about government should be out of the people's business. Meanwhile, they're in the people's business so much that they're now saying, Hey, we'll take away your kids.

[00:03:29] Todd Coconato: Insane. I thought this was absolutely crazy. I said, that can't be true in America. And I actually have a friend who's a religious liberty lawyer and they're based out of California, but they have practices all over the country. Yeah. And he was saying, no, we're, we're adjudicating several cases right now where this is actually happening.

[00:03:44] Todd Coconato: So, you know, I'm a father. I couldn't even imagine if I had to deal with this, where I didn't call my child seven years old, the proper pronoun, And all of a sudden, child protective services shows up at my door and says, Hey, we're going to take away your daughter. I mean, that would be the biggest nightmare ever.

[00:03:59] Todd Coconato: And yet some parents are actually dealing with this right now. And it just goes on and on. I mean, you know churches that have, you know, hire people, we hire people, we have people that work on our staff and, you know, we'd have to pay for in certain cases. You know, if they make it the, the, the federal government law to, to fund abortion, which, you know, has been a lot of land until it was overturned.

[00:04:18] Todd Coconato: And, you know, we've been pushing this on other countries through our policy. And so we're, we're, we're using sanctions and economic pressure on certain countries, like, Hey, you better have abortion in your country. Otherwise we're going to withhold funding, you know, or, you know, it's just crazy how our government has been pushing this and pushing the LGBTQ agenda you know, on the kids on other countries.

[00:04:40] Todd Coconato: So America has just been doing a bunch of very anti God things for too long. And what I'm thankful for is we call it the remnant, but there's a, a large portion of folks. It's actually not so small anymore that are realizing, Hey, we better stand up. We better do something. We better push back against this because what this is, is it's not political.

[00:04:59] Todd Coconato: It's a spiritual battle. And I pray that more pulpits speak out about this because you know, when they talk about abortion, And talk about marriage when they talk about gender. These are not political issues. These are these are moral issues These are biblical issues spiritual issues And I think it's it's the duty of every pastor and every christian really to take a stand For what the bible says in fact the bible talks about that.

[00:05:24] Todd Coconato: Faith is an action, right? It's it's an action word So, you know faith without works is dead and the bible tells us to occupy until he comes and so The church is the restraining force. We're the firewall Against the wicked plans of the enemy. And there's a lot of wicked plans. I mean, I could just go down the line.

[00:05:41] Todd Coconato: We, we for many years had an organization called the Religious Liberty Coalition. I ended up you know, we don't have that anymore. I was the president of it for many years, though. And that, you know, organization had a bunch of Christian patriot lawyers That would take a stand for religious liberty.

[00:05:55] Todd Coconato: And so I knew what was going on all over the country. And you know, now we've kind of passed the baton to other organizations that are handling that, but we still work very closely with them. But during COVID, a lot of people had to make a choice between, you know, taking what the government was mandating in many aspects, you know, I call it the Fauci, ouchie for censorship purposes.

[00:06:13] Todd Coconato: But you know, people were losing their jobs. They were losing pensions. I had police officers that were, you know, just about to get their retirement. And they were being forced to take it. Otherwise they're going to lose their job. They did lose their job. Some of them lost their pension you know, military personnel all over the country that were dealing with this.

[00:06:29] Todd Coconato: We had nurses and doctors and all different types of organizations and companies that were pretty much forcing this on their employees. Otherwise they would have to basically leave or get fired. And so it was a crazy battle for many years and still going on in many cases. And so all these have a tie back to our religious liberty.

[00:06:48] Todd Coconato: There was a time in America and according to our constitution that we had the right to practice freely our faith and that the government would not infringe upon our faith. And now we're seeing a lot of gray area. We're seeing a lot of infringement during the last four years of the Biden administration.

[00:07:04] Todd Coconato: This has continued this very bad direction that the government has taken against religious liberty. And so a lot of folks, if you're not in the battle, you know, you don't realize all these different things are going on. And so, you know, many people are just busy bringing their kids to soccer and, you know, dance class and, and, you know, just driving the kids to school and doing two or three jobs because inflation's crazy.

[00:07:24] Todd Coconato: So, you know, a lot of people don't realize how significant this battle has become. I call it persecution light because we're literally dealing with a level of persecution that we have never seen in the United States of America. And if you go to countries like Canada or the UK or Australia, it's already even worse.

[00:07:42] Todd Coconato: And with you know, if the, if the Democrats were to continue with the policies of the Biden administration, that's what they would like to see is, you know, just more freedoms taken away, more infringement on religious liberty. Yeah, there's a plethora. I mean, there's so many other things of, you know, funding you know, abortion pills and, you know, different things that you would have to be forced to as an employer, basically say, okay, you know, we'll, we'll go with that.

[00:08:04] Todd Coconato: You know, why, why, why shouldn't we have the right to say, Hey, no, I, I'll pass on that because it goes against my faith. But because of activist judges and a lot of people that have been put in positions all around the nation these are now very real battles. I mean, you remember the the baker that had that huge battle because they don't want to bake a cake for an LGBT wedding you know, there's been people that have been serious, crazy battles where they've lost their.

[00:08:28] Todd Coconato: businesses and they've lost, you know, and this type of thing just continues. And, you know, it really kind of got into an apex moment during the pandemic period where they, you know, obviously told many churches, Hey, you can't gather. And the Bible says, don't forsake this. I'm going to gather the brethren, lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

[00:08:44] Todd Coconato: So some pastors said, you know what, we're, we're not going to listen to this. And they met and we actually had cases in America where pastors were We're arrested for having church services. It's crazy, but it happened. So these are the types of things that we're facing. And while these are pretty egregious and scary, if we continue down this path and we don't intervene as the church and take a step and just say, you know, we're going to go to the community meetings.

[00:09:08] Todd Coconato: We're going to go to school board meetings. We're gonna get involved at the local level. We're going to push back. We're going to vote. We're going to do all the things that we can do. If we don't do that, we're going to continue to see this march forward. And what it is, is it's basically Marxism. It's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's now come to America.

[00:09:23] Todd Coconato: Folks like Dinesh D'Souza have done a great job and, you know, making docu films about this, but there's many people that have done it now. And so one of the things that I would say to Christians is make sure That's, you know, where you get your news and your information is truthful because there's a lot of propaganda.

[00:09:39] Todd Coconato: There's a lot of people pushing agendas. And so a lot of people have left the mainstream media and have found the new media podcasts like yours and broadcasts like yours, where they can find information that's factual and they can do their due diligence and research and be more informed.

[00:09:56] The Missional Life - Dan: Wow. So glad you highlighted some of those things.

[00:09:57] The Missional Life - Dan: I mean, it seems like the, the party that be, they, they find these anomalies. And then they begin to push their foot in the door. And then they begin to open up a whole, , forgive that we'll never lingo, but the can of worms, they, they find

[00:10:13] The Missional Life - Dan: these obscure situations and start pushing. And we actually had a guest on the show recently who was a doctor and is starting a new program at their university, and they were actually defending their accreditation because Right, some of these, their accreditation was being questioned because they're admitting students based off of, of their faith.

[00:10:31] The Missional Life - Dan: And so now, it's building into a broader situation and it's crazy. So, and to clarify,

[00:10:36] The Missional Life - Amanda: that was a private Christian university. It was not public. Yeah. Yeah. That's

[00:10:40] The Missional Life - Dan: amazing. That's wild. Yeah. But, but you and I , you know, all of us were, we're kind of those people where let's, let's take a stand.

[00:10:49] The Missional Life - Dan: We see this happening. We want to go you know, fight for this, but then there's a lot of Christians that maybe they're the ones driving their, their kids to the school to soccer games, but they're looking at the Bible and saying like, yeah, like I sense there's something wrong about this.

[00:11:01] The Missional Life - Dan: Like it doesn't look like it doesn't sit well, but I'm also supposed to I'm supposed to, you know, that I should be, you kno my country and they don't should take action becaus the bible says to honor t you say to that? And how,

[00:11:22] The Missional Life - Dan: into the battle as well.

[00:11:22] Todd Coconato: Dan, you know, there's a often thrown around roman you know, we are to honor telling anybody to go out or do something stupid. B got to think about it. Th about me, Chad, Chad, Rac who refused to bow to neb And, you know, it's, it's throughout the Bible that when there is a government that goes against the scripture or is pushing things that go against our faith, then we have to choose the Bible.

[00:11:48] Todd Coconato: We have to choose our faith. So we can't just say, oh yeah, you know, Nebuchadnezzar said to bow down. So we're gonna bow down and don't go against the government. No, because that would invalidate one of the most important stories of the bible and There was another one in the fire wasn't there? And so, that you know, the founders of this nation Wrote the constitution with the bible in mind and that's very important So what's happened is a lot of these activists and you know for lack of a better term A lot of people with marxist tendencies and ideologies have now gotten into positions of power And they're basically, you know, they want to redo the constitution.

[00:12:20] Todd Coconato: They want to eradicate it They want to get rid of it And so that's the challenge. So we have to look at it from a righteous standpoint, prayerfully and ask the Holy Spirit and say, Lord, is this you? Do you want me to just, you know, obey government when the government's trying to kill a baby up until birth or even after birth?

[00:12:37] Todd Coconato: Is that something that I should just look the other way? Or what is the righteous position? When we know in the 10 commandments, it says, thou shall not murder. And there's many other You know, God is a God of life. We know that a sacrifice you can think back to when Molech, you know, there were sacrifices to Molech that were happening basically essentially it's very similar, very similar to what's happening in, in, in the modern abortion business.

[00:12:56] Todd Coconato: And, you know, a lot of people just want to look the other way or this isn't going to come to me. But that's kind of the same mentality that people had in Nazi Germany. If you think about it, there was a guy named Dietrich Bonhoeffer and he was sounding the alarm to many of the issues of his day. And he actually paid the ultimate price.

[00:13:11] Todd Coconato: He ended up you know, getting killed for what he believed, but he did make a huge Mark. But one of the challenges that he faced was that clergymen and pastors, they weren't really supporting him. And he was, he was sounding the alarm, like a voice in the wilderness saying, Hey, the society here is going the wrong direction.

[00:13:27] Todd Coconato: And pretty soon there's going to be some really bad things that happen. And for the most part, people say, well, I'm just going to preach the gospel and they'll leave me alone. Well, that's not exactly how it worked. And there was a massive you know, extermination of millions of people's lives and Jewish people.

[00:13:40] Todd Coconato: And so you know, we've always wondered how did that happen? How did that, you know, how is it that no one said anything? Well, people did say stuff, but the problem is it wasn't enough. And so it took a world war and. You know, a lot of other lives being lost in order to get that situation resolved. But now it's a big stain historically.

[00:13:56] Todd Coconato: And of course we always talk about the Holocaust. So the thing is, is that what we're seeing now is very similar to what happened in 1930s, Germany. And so we have to learn from history and say, you know what? We don't just blindly obey. We obey when it's righteous. We obey when it's according to the Bible, but when it goes against our faith and against the word of God, we have to take a righteous stand because we can't align with wickedness.

[00:14:17] Todd Coconato: Amen.

[00:14:18] The Missional Life - Dan: Amen. I know that you've written a book in the last couple of years called Come Out From Among Us, right? And you had a dream that that really called you and it spoke to you, but he also felt like that dream was relevant for the broader church body.

[00:14:33] The Missional Life - Dan: And it's a time for us To rise up and, and come out. And so can you speak to that? Can you encourage the listener , with your dream, your book and what God spoke to you through that?

[00:14:42] Todd Coconato: Thank you. Yeah, this is one of these things. I'm not somebody that just has, you know, all these visions and angelic visitations.

[00:14:48] Todd Coconato: I know some people have them a lot and that's them, but I'm just telling you for me personally, I've only had two in my entire life. And one was when I got stabbed nine times. That's my testimony. And that was many, many years ago. That's how I became a pastor because the Lord spared my life. And that's a whole nother story for another day.

[00:15:03] Todd Coconato: But you know, I was in bed one night and I had, so because I speak to political matters, I was being, you know, called by all these different places around the country, come and speak, come and speak. And so I was speaking at state capitals and, you know, all these different places. And it was an honor.

[00:15:18] Todd Coconato: And to be quite honest, I saw more holy ghosts in some of those meetings that I've seen in some churches. So I was encouraged by what the Lord was doing. But, you know, I was getting you know, write ups from the mainstream media. Newsweek wrote an article about me, all these different things. And, you know, they're, they do hit pieces basically where they come against people like myself.

[00:15:34] Todd Coconato: And so anyway, my wife and I were in bed one night, we were talking about it. And she said, you know, what hill do you want to die on? And I said, well, I want to die on the hill of the gospel. She said, yeah, I agree with that. You know? So it was kind of like, you know, that is, I mean, so I, I'm all for like preaching the entirety of the Bible.

[00:15:47] Todd Coconato: That's my main, main objective as a minister. But the, the things that we spoke about so far. These to me are part of that preaching because we preach truth and, and the Bible tells us, you know, as Christians, where we need to stand on these things. And it's not really you know, it's not political and there's no gray area.

[00:16:04] Todd Coconato: It's like, you know, you can't be for murder. Like murder is bad, you know, from the beginning. So anyway, I'm, I'm in bed one night and I had, I think it was a dream, but it seems so real. And it may have very well been, I was awake. I really don't know, but all I know is I'm sitting there and the next thing I see this massive angel next to my bed.

[00:16:24] Todd Coconato: And you know, it was probably about nine feet tall or as high as the ceiling is just massive. And so if you think about all the times in the Bible, Where somebody had an angelic visitation, literally almost every time it says the first thing they're paralyzed with fear. And I will say, yes, I felt that fear because it is scary, but then I realized it wasn't a demon.

[00:16:43] Todd Coconato: It wasn't anything bad. I realized it was of the Lord. And so I think that fear kind of went away and it just said two things, said two things that come out from among them and be consecrated, come out from among them and be consecrated. And then as quick as he was there, he was gone. People say, what do you look like?

[00:16:57] Todd Coconato: You look like a warrior. You look like a warrior angel. And it was amazing. And I was undone like Isaiah six. Like I was literally undone. I had to get up, you know, I went into my prayer room. I'm like pacing for hours. I don't want to wake my wife up and I'm like pacing for hours, praying, you know, what just happened?

[00:17:13] Todd Coconato: And that feeling kind of went on for a couple of months. Now I've been pastoring for a long time. So the thing is, is like, you know, it said, come out from among them and be consecrated. I'm like, well, am I not consecrated? Like what's going on here? You know? But what happened was I realized is that I really believe this is a message, not just for me, but for the greater body of Christ is that over the last 30 plus years, I feel like we've kind of got apathetic.

[00:17:35] Todd Coconato: And I think we've kind of got complacent and, you know, people say, well, what do you mean? I mean, we look, we have a church on almost every corner. I'm here in Nashville. I mean, you have as many churches, you have, you know, coffee shops, they're everywhere. And yet our communities have continued to go downhill.

[00:17:47] Todd Coconato: You know, we see more crime, we see more drug addiction, we see more suicide, we see more divorce and on and on and on. But I think something is not connecting. And I think what's happened is we haven't made disciples. We stopped effectively evangelizing and we certainly could do better. And I'm not here to criticize the body of Christ.

[00:18:04] Todd Coconato: I'm from the body of Christ. But the deal is, I think we need to look at the whole situation and say, how did it get so bad? And, and, you know, doing the same thing over and over again is like the definition of insanity. So what can we do different? And this goes back to the dream. I feel like the Lord was saying, look, we need to come out of what I call the Babylon system.

[00:18:23] Todd Coconato: We, you know, the Bible says we're in the world, but we're not of the world. And so we're called to be consecrated. The Bible says, be holy, prime, holy. And so come out from among them means look, don't look like an act like the world. When you have an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, you're not conformed.

[00:18:38] Todd Coconato: You're transformed. Your mind is transformed. You're no longer the same. It says, you know, it's no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me. And the Holy Spirit comes and makes a home in our heart. So we shouldn't look like or act like the person that we once were before Christ. We should be a completely new person.

[00:18:54] Todd Coconato: And that person is a citizen of heaven. And we have the authority in the name of Jesus to pull down strongholds. And, you know, so anyway, there's another thing in the Bible, another scripture that says a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And we think about in Revelation, the Church of Laodicea, The Bible says that he'll spit them out, spit them out.

[00:19:14] Todd Coconato: That's so crazy. Like that means God is literally, cause there's this big teaching on extreme grace and you know, no matter what, you're always saved and no worries. But here in the, in the scripture and revelation, it's literally saying, God will spit you out. There's another scripture says depart from me workers of iniquity.

[00:19:29] Todd Coconato: I never knew you There's another scripture that says I know peter. I know paul, but who are you? We never want to be a who are you we never want the lord to say depart from me worker of iniquity We want to have a personal relationship with him and in order to do that That means we have an active prayer life where somebody who actually prays regularly and inquires of the Holy Spirit.

[00:19:50] Todd Coconato: The Bible says, my sheep, hear my voice. We want to hear the voice of the Lord. And you know, if you love me, you'll obey my commands. We want to obey the commands of the Lord. Now, are we ever going to attain perfection? No, but the thing is, is that we should desire to, to please the Lord. And our life should show that to not only the Lord, but to everybody.

[00:20:08] Todd Coconato: And that's what coming out from among them means. It means not looking like acting like the world, having a lifestyle of repentance and, you know, doing our best to live in accordance with the Bible and pleasing the Lord. And when we do something that's not right, you know, there's a conviction of the Holy spirit.

[00:20:24] Todd Coconato: And so that's what the angel, I believe said. And, and what he also meant was to, you know, watch alignments. You know, who are you aligning with? yoking with? Are you yoking with unbelievers? Are you in business with unbelievers? Are there things that maybe, you know, friendships that maybe shouldn't be that are still there where they cause you to compromise your faith or, you know, the person's pulling you more than you're pulling them.

[00:20:43] Todd Coconato: And there's just so many different things to look at. So I believe the Bible says that he comes back for a church without spotting a wrinkle. And so I believe this is what he means is he's, he's looking for a church that trusts him, that stands out, that takes a righteous stand that doesn't look like or act like the world.

[00:21:00] Todd Coconato: And the other one be consecrated, you know, that's a desire of the Lord's heart for us, you know, not, not to have these areas of repetitive sin in our life where we have open doors and, you know, a lot of great families, amazing families that do love the Lord, but they've allowed open doors in their marriage or in their kids lives or whatever.

[00:21:19] Todd Coconato: And that ends up being an area where the enemy can attack over and over again until that door's closed. And so I just really believe in this hour, we gotta be sober minded, vigilant. We can't be fence sitting like we need to make the real commitment. And that's what the Lord's asking us to do.

[00:21:35] The Missional Life - Amanda: Yeah.

[00:21:35] The Missional Life - Amanda: And I think, , like you said, a little bit of lemon affects the whole batch. You know, it makes me think of, , we interviewed the apologist Alex McFarland a while back, and he talked about the culture in America, truly shifting. Back when the song Imagine came out by John Lennon and Roe v.

[00:21:55] The Missional Life - Amanda: Wade passing in 1973, how that really changed the trajectory of our country for the worse. And , you know, I also find it interesting, the timing of everything that's happening right now. My grandparents walked through World War Two, you know, we're not that far back from things that happened back in that time.

[00:22:15] The Missional Life - Amanda: All the anti Semitism . And now there's people saying, Oh, the Holocaust didn't happen. Just ridiculous reframing of history, things that aren't true, but , we need to remember what happened, you know, like, I think of what my grandparents shared with me, , my grandpa being part of World War II in the army, you know, the fact that he marched in and tore down the Nazi flag in Hitler's hometown in Austria, and that it did happen, that we need to remember that this is, Another cycle of things that are trying to, you know, take our freedoms, you know, it's a much more insidious enemy.

[00:22:52] The Missional Life - Amanda: I think it was much more obvious once they finally figured out what was being hidden at that point, because they didn't have the technology that we have today. They didn't have the internet back then. TV wasn't even out. They relied on radio broadcasts, , and Germany was very good at hiding.

[00:23:07] The Missional Life - Amanda: And now we see that going on with censorship, , YouTube and, you know, people getting flagged and like you shared before, we need to stand against that and know our rights , especially being American citizens, , it's just so critical to, to know what the truth truly is.

[00:23:25] The Missional Life - Dan: Yeah. And I just was thinking too, how There's a lot of people that are looking at the past and saying, man, this is so discouraging. And yet they're sitting here and looking at the president and saying, this is so discouraging. And they don't want to get up and do something because God's going to do what he's going to do is kind of their perspective on that.

[00:23:45] The Missional Life - Dan: And so what would you say to the person that's like just discouraged and depressed? It's like, man, our country is going in the bad direction, but God's going to do what he's going to do. And we just got to kind of let God do his thing. And our job is just to keep faithfully praying. And, and we believe in the power of prayer, but we also believe in the power of, taking action.

[00:24:03] The Missional Life - Dan: So could you speak to those? Yeah.

[00:24:04] Todd Coconato: Yeah. Thank you. I mean, I hear this a lot, you know, people say, well, God's in control. Sure. He's in control. I mean, he's ultimately in control of everything, you know, and, but the thing is this, I mean, he was in control when the Israelites went into captivity, he was in control when the temple was destroyed several times he was in control, you know, so there's a lot of times in history where you can look back at, well, God was in control, but Really bad things happen.

[00:24:25] Todd Coconato: So, you know, the way that we, if you think about second Chronicle seven 14, it says, if my people and people always say, well, does everybody in America have to repent? I don't think so. I think it's, if the people of God repent, because that's what the Bible says. And, and, and Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever is, was the same.

[00:24:41] Todd Coconato: So the truth is he'd have to apologize to ancient Israel if he applied a different you know, you know, To us, in other words, gave us like, well, you can do whatever you want. You're just going to be blessed. No, actually, if the people of God are, you know, worshiping idols and have gotten away from the word of God and, you know, have gone into a whole nother thing, which kind of like what we have we, we deserve judgment.

[00:25:03] Todd Coconato: Now, thank God. I believe there's this remnant that's rising. And I know for a fact that there's more prayer meetings that have been going on last couple months than my whole lifetime. I mean, you know, we've seen people gather at the National Mall. You know, we've seen all different types of events throughout the whole election cycle.

[00:25:19] Todd Coconato: And, you know, so there's there's clearly a movement that's happening. And what I believe is that the Lord and Joseph Z, my friend, you mentioned him in the green room, but you know we both have felt the Lord say that America has one more round that the end is not yet. When the war happened, it started in Ukraine and a lot of people were talking about Gog and Magog and they were talking about the possibility of nuclear war.

[00:25:38] Todd Coconato: And certainly it's a very egregious and concerning situation that could escalate. But as I went deep into prayer about this, I heard the Lord say, and there's a scripture, it says there'll be wars and rumors of wars, but the end is not yet. Okay. And so I believe that the prayers of the saints and the body of Christ right now are holding back.

[00:25:55] Todd Coconato: It's almost like they're trying to bring in the tribulation prematurely, you know? So it looks really bad and a lot of people are super discouraged, but we've got to remember that God says he's with us until the end of the age. He'll never leave us. He'll never forsake us. His plan for us is still hope in the future.

[00:26:11] Todd Coconato: His promise is still yes and amen. So how do we balance being a watchman? And discerning and understanding the times, kind of like walking in an Issachar anointing, you know, knowing and understanding what's going on. And I think that's so that we know how to pray. And then also waking up every day and saying, this is the day the Lord has made.

[00:26:28] Todd Coconato: I will rejoice and be glad in it. The joy of the Lord is my strength. You know, so it's this really interesting time because we have to delicately balance being a watchman and also not having fear. And so it's actually it's kind of funny, but it's like the best of times and the worst of times at the same time.

[00:26:44] Todd Coconato: Being held. Here's the deal with that is that God didn't make a mistake in bringing us into the world at this time, he knew what he was doing. And I believe this is a great moment of opportunity. This is probably the church's greatest hour because we are able to effectively live out our faith. And show the world that even though it's crazy and times are very turbulent, that we can have the peace that passes understanding.

[00:27:08] Todd Coconato: We can have the joy of the Lord and the prayers of the saints are effective. It says the effect of a factual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. And so the prayers are working and we're able to stop and thwart many of the wicked plans. Many, many are the plans of the wicked, but as the church still remains here and we haven't been taken out of here yet, we are that restraining force.

[00:27:30] Todd Coconato: And so what a blessing that God. Trusted us to be alive in this time and we're meant to be the salt and the light We're meant to go out to cast out to drive out to be the church And so don't let the doom and gloom syndrome get ahold of you Don't don't fall into that trap because that's what the enemy wants for us is just to feel overwhelmed And defeated now, you know felt like that after being in the desert for 40 years moses and his generation They looked at the ice on the land.

[00:27:57] Todd Coconato: They had finally got to the promised land You And there it is. And they're looking at it and they're like, the heights on the land are too big. They're too big. We're but grasshoppers in their sight. Well, it took a whole generation until the Joshua generation got in where they said, you know, we know the Lord is with us and we're going into this land.

[00:28:12] Todd Coconato: And that's how we've got to be. We've got to be a look. There are giants on the land and they look big and they look scary, but we have the God of heaven and earth by our side. He is our rod. He's our staff. He lays us beside still waters. And so. We are the winning team. We're on the winning team. We come from a position of strength, and so we can't let the enemy's plan to get us depressed and down and have anxiety and fear.

[00:28:36] Todd Coconato: We've got to break that in Jesus name, and we've got to move forward knowing who we are in Christ. And it's like David, when he fought Goliath, you know, everybody else said, Oh my gosh, he's so big. Here comes David. And what does he got the stones, but here's the deal. He knew that God was going before him.

[00:28:52] Todd Coconato: He knew that it was faith. That was the requirement. And since the beginning of time, until now, God has always been looking for people that trust him. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean on, on your understanding and all your ways, acknowledge him, he'll direct your path. So I think this is an opportune moment.

[00:29:09] Todd Coconato: I think this is a time for a great harvest. We're seeing a revival. happening where people are super hungry all around the country. I mean, if we have a tent crusade in California, it's packed. We have one in Texas. It's packed. I've never seen lines as long as what we've seen these last few years. There's a great hunger and a great harvest.

[00:29:28] Todd Coconato: And we, the body of Christ, if we tend to the harvest, I believe we're going to have the favor of the Lord and the blessing on our lives.

[00:29:34] The Missional Life - Amanda: Amen.

[00:29:35] The Missional Life - Dan: Well said. There's a lot of people that are just waking up to this situation that's going on that are, you know, maybe they're, not as spirit led or whatever that is.

[00:29:44] The Missional Life - Dan: But when you talk to the body of Christ, , whatever part of it they come from, there's this in internal sense, man, like Jesus is coming back soon. Like there's this internal time clock that everyone that follows Christ is beginning to discern or has discerned for a long time.

[00:29:59] Todd Coconato: Yeah.

[00:30:00] The Missional Life - Dan: And yet there's a lot of people that are walking around saying, yeah, I see that.

[00:30:03] The Missional Life - Dan: I, I, I discern it too. I don't know what to do though. And so can you speak practically and even tactically to how can we as Christians begin to get involved and begin to fight this fight at a local level as well as a state and a national level?

[00:30:19] Todd Coconato: Great question. So we can all do something.

[00:30:22] Todd Coconato: And some people say, well, you know, I'm, I'm on retirement budget and I can't really leave my house. My back is bad or, you know, I get all different types of people saying, I don't know what to do. Everybody can do something. We can all be intercessors and intercessors are extremely important. They're prayer warriors.

[00:30:37] Todd Coconato: Praying is very powerful. The devil doesn't want us to pray, but praying changes things. So if anything, we can pray. But for those of us that are able to get out and do different things, and that's most of us every one of us has a little bit of a different mission, you know, so I know some people that are hairstylists and they say, well, can I do?

[00:30:52] Todd Coconato: Well, you have a captive audience all day in your chair, you know, so you can preach the gospel to them. You know, I have a guy that says I'm going to exterminate her. What do I do? I said, go out there and not only exterminate the bugs, but, you know, start praying over the houses you're in and. when you have an opportunity and, you know, get the demons out of there while you're out of there, you know, so there's so many different things that each of us can do in our own situation.

[00:31:15] Todd Coconato: A lot of people tell me, they say, well, you know, I don't have a big following or, you know, you have a platform. I don't have a platform, but listen, if you have two people or five people or your family members or your grandkids or anybody that you can speak into the word of God, think about it. Somebody preached to Billy Graham at one point and got him fired up and look what ended up happening.

[00:31:32] Todd Coconato: We never know who's that next person that the Lord is going to use. And so don't take it lightly. If you have an opportunity to speak to your grandkids or some kids in a Sunday school class, or, you know, I remember my Sunday school teachers, you know, so it's just whatever God has given us. We want to steward that in a way that pleases him.

[00:31:48] Todd Coconato: And I believe that he expands the territory. It's kind of like the parable of the talents, you know? So the thing is, is that all of us can do something, but everybody has a commission and the Bible's given it. You say, well, it's just ministers. No, it's everybody. Every Christian has been commissioned to go.

[00:32:01] Todd Coconato: And to make disciples of the nations and to baptize in the name of the father, son, the Holy Spirit, and to teach them the ways of the word of God. So if each of us took that seriously, that's why at our church, we have a real big press right now for evangelism, because we feel like, look, if we're going to be here in Hendersonville, Tennessee, we want people in the local shopping center, we want people in the community to know, Hey, there's a church here and they believe, you know, and people are getting healed there and set free and delivered.

[00:32:24] Todd Coconato: So we want to go out into the community. It's not just for us to kind of, you know, be babysitters and just be Preaching to each other. We want to go out to the community. We want to make an impact. And I think all of us have a part in this in some level, you know, I know at our church, we have many different needs, you know, we need more children's church workers, we need more people to even, you know, just clean up and things like that.

[00:32:44] Todd Coconato: But all those things. Are part of the supply line. You think about it when you're in a war, you know, it's not just the people on the front line, there's a supply line and you got to get the supplies to the people on the front line and there's people that can fund the kingdom. You know, there's people that's the fuel, you know, there's people that can help and serve in different capacities and they're, they're helping the people on the front line.

[00:33:03] Todd Coconato: So it's not always a frontline person, but in some cases it is, but every one of us has a role. And don't, don't feel like that role is not important. It's super important. And here's the thing I always tell people to no one else could fill your shoes. So even you know, whoever you might look up to in the Christian world and say, wow, that person's so awesome, you know, I could never be like them or whatever.

[00:33:22] Todd Coconato: Well, first of all, it's not true, but second of all, here's the deal. They can't even be like you. So you can kind of be like them and they can kind of be a little bit like you, but they can't fill your shoes and you can't fill theirs. Every one of us has a unique calling and purpose. And so the best thing that we can do is get into prayer.

[00:33:37] Todd Coconato: And start seeking the Lord and saying, Lord, what do you have for me to do today? What can I do that can please you today? How can I be about your business today? And just take it day by day and season by season and just show up like Isaiah and say, send me and watch what God will do. It's amazing. And if depression tries to come on you or you feel overwhelmed or anxiety, remember those things are never of the Lord.

[00:33:59] Todd Coconato: So if you feel that that's actually a tormenting spirit. And something that's not of God, you just rebuke that. And you start declaring and decreeing who you are in Jesus Christ. I'm more than a conqueror. I have the Lord Jesus by my side. He says, you know, come into me all who are weary and he'll give us rest and just start speaking the scripture and watch what happens.

[00:34:17] Todd Coconato: And, you know, there's a lot of people that don't have the joy of the Lord. Make sure you get the joy of the Lord. Wake up every day and just start praising him. Thank you for this day. Thank you for my house. Thank you for my family. Thank you that I'm breathing. Thank you that you've given me another day, another opportunity.

[00:34:32] Todd Coconato: And when we start off our day that way, something ships, I'm telling you, you'll be at the gym. You'll have a divine appointment. Somebody will start talking and you could preach the gospel to him. I mean, you know, coffee shops and then line at a Publix or whatever. God always gives opportunities and we just have to be willing to accept them.

[00:34:50] The Missional Life - Dan: Speaking of accepting the opportunities and the responsibilities, you've really stepped into. Accepting some of those different responsibilities as leading a church, a podcast, being a news resource, as speaking into political campaigns. And so could you share with us a little bit more of your journey of going from really just growing as a Christian into really stepping into leadership roles, even with some of the presidential campaign?

[00:35:14] Todd Coconato: Yeah. And you know, it's really the Lord who opens the doors. What I find is when, you know, Isaiah chapter six is one of my favorite verses. It's like a life verse. And in that chapter, you know, you have Isaiah and he's undone. It says, I saw the Lord seated on the throne and the train of his robe filled the temple.

[00:35:28] Todd Coconato: And what happened was he was undone. And what I, I, I liken this to, I call it an encounter when you've had an encounter with God. And if you haven't listened, I'm not here to condemn you. Okay. I'm not here to discourage you, but if you haven't, yeah. Why not make today the day that you do, you know, so I always tell people, look, ask the Lord, Hey, reveal yourself to me.

[00:35:46] Todd Coconato: I want to go deeper in you. I want to hunger for you more. And when you do that, God, you know, he meets you because he says, draw near to me and I'll draw near to you. So he meets you. And then you just get this fire. And what happens is this is how crazy it is. I mean, you know, we moved to Nashville, Tennessee about four years ago.

[00:36:03] Todd Coconato: I passed in L. A. for a long time and we moved out here and I didn't really know what was going on. All I knew is that the Lord say moved there. And within a few months of that obedience and my wife and I and my daughter, we moved out here. God started opening up crazy doors. He opened a door to minister to the governor of Tennessee.

[00:36:18] Todd Coconato: He opened a door to speak at the Grand Ole Opry. He opened a door to, you know, have this different meeting that we were having. And all of a sudden, all these people were. And then the, you know. around the country were telling us to come to their conference and come to this. And it was what it was, was it was the obedience that unlocked the favor of God.

[00:36:34] Todd Coconato: And so we just stepped into it and you know, we didn't really know what to expect. And then about a year and a half ago, Lord said, start a church out here. Now we already had a church and I didn't really know that was in the cards, but God said, do it. We did it. And we've been just so blessed to see what God has done in this year and a half out here.

[00:36:49] Todd Coconato: All of it is real, just faith. It's like just trusting in God every day. And I'm gonna be honest. I mean, are there moments where I, I get a little nervous or you know, sometimes I get discouraged. Of course, every, every one of us are human and we're gonna deal with those. But ultimately, when you take a step back and you look at your life and you just think of all the times that God came through, think about every time when you've had a discouragement or a challenge, or you didn't know how you're gonna pay a bill.

[00:37:12] Todd Coconato: And yet here you are, God got you through each and every one of those. And so just like he did that, he's going to continue to order your steps. He's going to continue to guide your path. And so that's what I talk about is favor. And when you walk in his favor, it's like, it's just unlimited, the possibilities and God will open doors that he only, he can open, you know, he'll, he'll put you before Kings and presidents.

[00:37:33] Todd Coconato: It's crazy what God will do. And so our job is to say yes, and to just stay in the flow of the Holy Spirit and, you know, to make sure that when the devil tries to discourage us or there's some kind of assignment of the enemy, we break it and we pray and we believe that God is going to get us through.

[00:37:49] Todd Coconato: And remember, our walk is, you know, there's mountaintops and there's valleys. And sometimes when it's in the valley is when you're really your characters formed and your faith is forged, because, you know, when everything's easy, you You know, it's not a big deal, but when, when you're going through it, when somebody that you love is sick or when you're sick or when you're dealing with some major challenge, that's when it really takes faith, you know, and a lot of times the enemy will make it like God's never, you know, heard our prayers or he's not coming through, but then, you know, he's got to remind yourself again, he's come through every time, like, of course, he's going to come through again.

[00:38:19] Todd Coconato: And he does. And so God requires us to have faith. It says without faith, it's impossible to please God. But with the faith of a mustard seed, we can move a mountain. So I always say, if you have big faith, imagine what God can do. He can do anything. He will open doors. You have a purpose. You have a purpose from God and God's hand will be on you.

[00:38:38] Todd Coconato: If you make it about souls and you make it about the work of the kingdom, watch what God will do in your life. Not only will he bring forth the finances and the resources, but it'll open the doors. He'll give you great purpose. And the devil's plan for your life will be thwarted and stopped.

[00:38:55] The Missional Life - Dan: The word that stuck out to me there was the O word, the obedience word, right? It's that God speaks to our hearts, but it's our job to respond. It's our job to obey and walk in obedience to him. And as we are walking in obedience, man, To your point, God will open the doors. He'll just continue to go before you prepare the way.

[00:39:15] The Missional Life - Dan: And I think that's just so important for people to go and step into what God's speaking to them because the world needs us. There's a, there's a world that's out there. That's crying out for, for Jesus. That's crying out and doesn't have the answers that we have. and are so discouraged. A we're just too timid to g it or we just, we, we bit too, it's a little bi and I was thinking about You know, we've talked ab about, you know, history, There is so much power in that story.

[00:39:48] The Missional Life - Dan: It's like we're crossing through the waters. God said, pick up these stones, right? He said, pick up these stones and make a pile on the other side so that you remember. And so that they remember, and you can speak of the work that I've done in the past. And I think that's so important that we remember what God's done in our past.

[00:40:03] The Missional Life - Dan: I mean, you think about David, right? Like before he goes and fights Goliath, he's like, man, I've killed the people. bear. I've killed the lion, man, let's, let's bring this giant down. But how do you not remember what God had done in him and through him before he wouldn't be so prone to jump into the situation like, man, I don't need your armor.

[00:40:20] The Missional Life - Dan: I don't need any of that. I'm going not in my own strength, but I'm going in the power and, and in the covenant of Jesus and covenant of the Lord. And so I think that's really important that we, we are prayed up, that we are remembering what God has done, that we are in the word because, you know, faith comes from hearing, hearing from the word.

[00:40:36] The Missional Life - Dan: We know that the word is Jesus, right? And so when we see God working through, through his word, it gives us the faith to step into and to obey God and what he's speaking into our own lives. So, wow. So, so well said. So so powerful. As we're, as we're wrapping things up, how can our listeners begin to connect with you and follow some of the things that you're sharing out there on social media?

[00:40:57] Todd Coconato: Thank you, Dan and Amanda. And I just really enjoyed our conversation today. And you know, we're all in this together as the body of Christ.

[00:41:04] Todd Coconato: So I appreciate you to find me super easy. You just go to pastor Todd, pastor T O D D dot org. So we made it super simple. And that's our one stop one stop shop. It's got our app and, you know, our podcast and all the different things that we're doing, our events page and everything like that. We'd love to hear from you.

[00:41:21] The Missional Life - Dan: Lizards. We'll have those in the show notes. What a wonderful opportunity to speak with you. And we speak blessing over everything that you put your hand to and your ministry.

[00:41:30] Todd Coconato: Thank you, sir. Well, same to you. I appreciate it. I'm going to keep up with you guys and make sure to stay in touch.

[00:41:34] The Missional Life - Dan: Amen.