Don't get down when you're seeing the worst,
Cause the last will be the first.
What a day I'm telling you,
All things will be new.
Living up in a down world.
Yeah we're living, yeah we're living,
Living up in a down world.
Oh!
This is Jimmy and Annette and of course Chevy
and we are so excited.
This is our 40th episode.
We're coming to you from the Hill Country.
Girl, you are on fire.
I'm excited.
You are on, why are you so excited?
Well, 40 is a great number.
I know, I know.
You know I love that number.
Unless you turn 40 and people have a meltdown.
I know, but you know 40 is better than turning 60.
So you know, I wish I could turn the clock back.
Me, January, the big six too,
and I feel better now than I've ever felt in my life.
I know.
On every level, mentally, physically, emotionally,
everything, spiritually.
Your preaching is even better.
What is it about?
I mean you're going to...
I've just doused myself with gasoline,
a lot of matches, people come and watch me burn.
You are on fire.
Actually one of the old revivalists used to say that.
That's why, that's where I got that.
Oh really?
Yeah, there is a, there's a,
revival fires are burning here in the Hill Country.
Well they are.
And they're burning in our hearts first.
Oh my goodness.
Big time.
We had such an amazing, not a prayer last night.
Well and yesterday morning too.
Well yesterday was one of the best.
I say this every week.
That's the best message I've ever heard.
And then the next Sunday I'm saying that is the best message.
I don't know what else to say.
I don't know, but I sure appreciate it.
Well God is really using you.
And you, you've pretty much laid everything down
and said God just use me.
I don't even care how.
And you're just, God is using you.
Thank you babe.
You've even laid down your guitar.
I know I tried to play.
I had a little time this afternoon.
You and Tina had to go do a consult, a consult over in San Antonio.
Well we went shopping.
And yeah, some therapy, retail therapy.
But anyway, so y'all got some hang time.
And I thought, wow, I've got a couple of hours here.
I'm going to, man I've got eight guitars hanging on the wall here.
And something happened during the sabbatical where I thought
I'm going to have all this free time to play my guitars.
Well most people thought you would play your guitar every day.
You hardly picked it up.
I hardly picked it up, which is so.
So do you want me to put all these in the paper and sell them?
No, not yet, not yet.
You know we did have a septic thing happen today.
We did, a little hit.
We had to pay $3,400 for that.
He told me we're getting a deal.
You called that a deal?
I know.
He said if we weren't local it would be $4,500.
You know, he's a salesman.
He sounds like a used car salesman that says,
oh I'm going to give you a deal on this.
It does, doesn't it?
Yes.
So maybe we need to sell some guitars to pay for that.
Rhett was a nice guy.
Wow, okay.
Let's move right along.
Hey, they don't care about my guitars.
No, and neither do I at this point.
But here's the thing though.
What was cool though is there is something shifting in me.
And it did start during the sabbaticals.
I got really focused on God.
And I said, you know what?
Well, first of all, I didn't know how tired I was until I wasn't tired.
And all of a sudden it was like all I want to do is be with God.
And of course you and Chevy, Mr. Chevy.
Well, and I want you to want to be with him more than Chevy and I
because that's the order at Chevy.
As I want you to do the same.
Exactly.
So I just really laid into pursuit.
And it wasn't like dramatic or anything.
It's just that I focused.
And we're still focused.
Absolutely.
That's what I don't want anyone to think about because people, a lot of people
obviously have asked us about our sabbatical.
And it wasn't a mountaintop experience.
It's just we dug into what we don't often have time to do.
And that was extended time in God's Word.
Although now that we got rid of TV last February when you came back from a
conference and said the Lord's been telling me for a year to do that.
Really probably even longer than that.
I just admitted to a year.
Okay, now we know the truth.
It was probably 10 years and I just, you know.
But I love that you came back from that and said, you know, God spoke to me.
I got to do something about it because I've been putting this off.
And you were real honest with me.
And I said, let's do it.
So we did.
But that began a process of elimination.
Like an elimination diet.
Exactly.
Some people call certain diets elimination where you're eliminating certain foods
and whatnot, which we're doing in the physical sense.
But also we're doing it in the spiritual and the mental emotional sense.
We had no idea what was going to happen.
No, we didn't.
But the peace that surpasses all understanding that guards our heart and our mind
came in droves.
It's been phenomenal.
I just can't even describe it.
Just having that peace.
And for those that are following our podcast, we want to say welcome to the show, guys.
Sorry, I just jumped right in.
We almost shouldn't even call this a show.
We're not a show.
We're just two people who love God passionately and each other passionately.
And want to be used by God.
And we're doing a podcast because our dear friends, Adam and Tina Curry, said,
you guys should do a podcast.
Well, no, no, no.
You should do a podcast.
You just included me.
Well, at first it was me.
Yeah, it was first it was me.
And I yanked you off the couch and said, please, please, I don't want to do this by myself
because we do everything together.
We literally do everything together.
I really haven't realized how much we do together.
It's unbelievable, our lives.
But a lot of it has to do with our past lives.
And you learn from your past mistakes.
And you do a course correction.
And that's pretty much what we did.
Well, we determined that we're going to do better this go around than what happened to us.
And we're still here 30 days, 30 years later.
It feels like 30 days.
So amazing. Tom flies.
But yeah, 30 years of wow, I call it because it really has.
But we're coming up on 31 years, November 20th.
I know that's right around the corner.
I can't believe you can remember that.
So I wanted to say welcome to our guests.
We just so we're like squirrel, squirrel, gnat, squirrel, fly.
We were like, OK, what are we going to talk about?
Well, we're buzzing.
We just are mind.
It's not because we're drinking coffee right now.
Well, we are.
It's only half calf.
Yeah. And it's late.
It's I know seven twenty in the evening and we're having coffee.
No, it's half calf.
So it should not bother us at all.
It's so good, though.
It is called life boost.
Too expensive, but it is too expensive.
So we found some cheaper.
Yeah. But we're using the last of what we got.
So good. Clean, low acid.
So it doesn't impact your stomach at all.
And it's just trying to give them business.
No, I just like details.
I like talking about.
Well, maybe maybe we'll send them a clip and say, hey, we're we're boosting you on.
So you know what I'm excited about tonight?
What? Everything.
But I'm really excited about thinking and sharing just some of the notes and we have a lot of letters and we got a review on our website.
Just some beautiful stuff that God's doing in people's life.
And then they value for value.
They're sending us notes of encouragement or satoshis or some we've got PayPal.
Yeah, I've got new donors.
And so I'm excited about calling their names out just to say thank you.
So but I digress.
Yes, I'm just saying that's coming because we just want to say thank you to everyone.
Our we feel like our podcast is catching a lot of traction right now.
Things are happening.
We're more comfortable.
That's true.
And we've just got a lot to talk about.
We do, because God is so freaking amazing that we can't help but talk about him.
Jeremiah, the prophet, said, I can't I can't not talk about him.
It's like a fire shut up in my bones and I'll be consumed if I don't say it.
I mean, that's what he's talking about.
And so we feel the same way as you know, anybody gets good news.
What do they want to do?
You want to share it?
They talk to their friends.
They jump on social media.
Hey, here's my daughter.
She made a honor.
You know, whatever it is, they bumper sticker on their car.
Yeah, those are that's a little over the top.
But anyway, unless someone listening does that.
But anyway, hey, it's your kid.
You can do what you want.
Exactly.
Be proud of them.
Yes.
Anyway, but this idea that when you have good news, you have to share it.
You want to tell people.
And so we you know, when we first were learning, you know, we were first doing the podcast.
First year, we were like, yeah, OK, we got it.
What are we going to talk about?
Let's take thousands of notes, eight pages of notes.
Now it's like, oh, man, there's so much God's up to you.
What are we not going to talk about?
We're looking to see where he's working.
Yes.
And then we're joining him in his work.
Where did you get that?
I got that from Experiencing God.
Via your husband.
Of course.
But we're also and then then we're sharing where he's working.
And a boy, which is fun.
It is because it gives you an opportunity to look at life in it with a different lens
because we're looking for OK, what can we share that's good that God is doing that is going to be good news to the people that are listening?
And what is the end product of that?
You learn how to live up in a down world.
That's why we call this and this podcast and we have down days.
Oh, everybody does.
If you just concentrate on everything that's bad, that's going in your life.
Yeah, you're going to be down in a day.
Nobody got time for that.
No, I don't.
I don't.
Life's too good.
Life's too short.
I made a comment last night.
My runway is not as long as it used to be.
And so, man, I'm going to run through the end of this thing.
It better be longer than you're saying.
Oh, no, no, I'm not saying it's like I can see the end.
It's a long runway.
It's a long but but it's not as long as it used to be simply because of our age.
And so it's like we're going to live to be 120.
Whatever we live to be, we're going to run through the tape, finish strong, finish the race.
We're not going to quit short and stop short of it because there's too many good things to do,
even though the world is losing its freaking mind right now.
And things are crazy, wars and rumors of wars.
The Bible even talks about that.
And now we're having all that with, you know, first it was Ukraine.
Now it's Israel and Hamas and Palestinians and all that going on, which we are praying for diligently.
Yes, we are.
Diligent praying for Israel.
And so speaking of prayer.
So I did a whole series on the Lord's prayer, the Lord's model prayer, we call it.
And it was called Lord, teach us to pray, because that's what the disciples ask.
And then what did Jesus say?
When you pray, say.
So we all know that.
So we've been focused on that.
But what it has done, it's elevated in our church a passion for prayer.
And we're getting testimonies.
Every week, people are telling us, man, I prayed for this and this happened or I learned this about prayer that I didn't know.
And I'm praying more.
And I built a war room in my house.
Yes, we heard that.
And so there's this movie.
We watched it this.
Yes.
Why don't you tell them about war?
It's a great movie.
The movie War Room came out in what, 2015, I believe.
I think you're right.
Priscilla Shires in it.
And I can't think of all the different actors, but she's not even an actress.
I think this was her first movie.
She is a she's a she a pastor.
She's a teacher.
Yeah.
Her father is Tony Evans.
Dr. Tony Evans.
One of my favorite pastors and preachers.
Yes.
Who am I listening to today?
And that dude will light you up.
He was at Gateway this weekend.
Yeah.
But anyway, she got cast in this movie.
She said it was the hardest thing she's ever done in her life.
But she was exquisite for someone who this was her first acting gig.
But it's I don't want to tell the whole story, but the gist of it is she was in a marriage that was going downhill.
And she was God hooked her up with a woman.
She's a realtor.
She hooked her up hooked her up with a woman.
He did that has an amazing prayer life.
And she helped her be able to use prayer, the power of prayer to change her situation.
And God did some amazing, amazing things in the whole family.
And in the why is it called war room?
Because she you turned her closet into a war room.
She took the I don't know that I could take everything out of my closet.
She took every closet space.
No, she took everything out because she didn't want any distractions.
And she had notes all over her closet on what on what to pray for, for her husband.
It was powerful, very powerful.
And what happened when that movie came out, it was so impactful for people that Christians all over America and probably other places, too.
But I know in America started building war rooms in their home, like taking a closet or an extra space.
And turning it into a place where they dedicated it for prayer and get on the kind of the old get on your knees and fight like a man.
You know, get on your knees and do war.
Go to battle for your family.
Go to battle for your kids.
Battle for your job.
I mean, battle for your spouse.
And so that lit things up.
Well, it's been we saw it when it came out.
Of course, we were motivated.
We didn't do a prayer room because we pray all the time.
Practice presence.
But I will say it's kind of it's reinspired me.
So we watched it what Friday night you said?
Yes. Yeah, it was so we were both crying.
I mean, it was powerful.
So look it up.
It's called War Room.
And I think it's paid.
It's three dollars.
Minimal.
But it is worth watching.
And it's so inspiring.
And the lady who's the main character, when she does that prayer at the end, my gosh, I could I could have bit the end of a crowbar off.
I mean, I was like, it fired me up.
I want to get a clip of her prayer.
I just listen to it because it was so real.
So on fire, so war doing war on behalf of people.
So anyway, I recommend you see it.
Definitely.
I mean, say go see it.
See it in your house.
Stream it and let it inspire you in your own prayer life.
Well, it already was fueling the fire.
We're already on fire.
So it's like pouring gasoline on because we knew our prayer night was coming up.
So let's get into that because that was something that really is remarkable.
What shocked me.
OK, we've had prayer nights before in the past and you'll have about 10 or 15 people show up.
You know, you talked about a story.
Well, Pastor Jim Symbola, who wrote Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire and actually has a praying church, I mean, big time.
They have a Tuesday night prayer service that sees fifteen hundred to two thousand people coming, which is a new pray that is to our prayer night.
And we watched it last night.
And that's been going 50 years.
Yes.
And we actually watched it.
We streamed it the other night just to see.
And oh, my gosh, I mean, they are still going strong.
But he said that the least attended service in most churches in America is the prayer night.
Which a lot of churches have a Wednesday night prayer service.
So you'll have just a handful of people come in and then they'll pray for the needs of the people in the church.
We decided we have never had a prayer night at this church.
You've been preaching on prayer.
We've had worship and counter night.
Right.
That's a big value.
Worship.
Yes, worship.
And we incorporated worship in this prayer night.
But we really didn't know how many people were going to come.
And what was interesting is last week on Monday night, and I remember that because Tuesday we had staff meeting and I brought it up.
And I dreamed about our prayer night.
And I dreamed that I walked in and it was, you know, dreams are weird.
It didn't look like our church.
No, only my dreams are weird.
Everybody's.
And it was like risers, like choir risers.
And everybody that came, it was like we were taking a, I don't know, like a big picture of everybody that showed up.
And they were all on the choir risers.
And I walked in and I saw them and I was shocked to see how many people showed up.
That was the same feeling I had when we walked in last night and our sanctuary began to fill up.
I was in tears looking around going, oh, my gosh.
Well, we got there 30 minutes early and there were already a bunch of cars in the parking lot.
We drove up.
I'm like, are we late?
It's not the same thing.
Did we miss something?
But this is what came out of this for me.
It really helped me see the maturity that we have in our church because typically it's people.
I mean, obviously not everybody can come because there's, you know, people have obligations.
They have children.
We didn't have any children's ministry to help with that.
But typically the people that come to these are more experienced in God, more mature.
I was literally floored.
All ages.
I was floored.
It was from young to old and old to young.
It was beautiful.
And there was a buzz in the air.
The air was electric, the atmosphere.
There was this expectation and faith.
Part of that is because I've been preaching at a new level of intensity, but because God's elevated that in me,
obviously as the lead pastor, that's going to help other people to begin to step up.
I'm not taking credit for that.
I'm just saying God does what God does.
And all we're saying is do what you want to do, God.
And so I've been talking about revival because that's one of the things the Lord really put in my heart over the sabbaticals that he wants revival more than we do.
He wants us to be revived.
Yes.
It's time for us.
To be awakened.
Yes.
And not live down in this down world.
And the only way we can live up is to point, is if we're pointed to Jesus, period.
That's it.
The only way.
That's it.
Yeah.
So we show up, we walk in, there's already people getting seats and it's like, wow.
And more and more people are excited and kept coming.
It was amazing.
So I think we had around 200 show up, which is about 40% of our Sunday morning.
We had 500 on Sunday.
So that blew me away.
I did not expect that.
And I even had sort of in my mind, I was like, okay, I'm not going to be disappointed if it's just a few.
We'll go with the goers.
Go with the goers.
Whoever shows up.
And I was the whole night.
We had 300 people watching online.
That's true.
Yeah, we had several hundred actually online with us.
So we're like, whoa, okay.
So 500 folks showing up either online or in person.
But again, what was powerful was the atmosphere because I started off pretty strong.
I got up and I started talking about Israel and about our need to pray and why we need to pray and go to battle.
But also not just praying for Israel against someone, but praying for the Palestinians to come to Christ.
There's innocent people.
Absolutely.
People caught up in it.
Like in any war, there's always the innocent people who are just trying to survive and make a life.
Absolutely.
And they get swept up in radicalism.
And they don't even want to be, but by proximity, by their race, by wherever they are, they get caught in.
So we're praying for everyone.
We're not just praying for Israel.
We're praying for Palestinians.
Think about all the people that are being displaced right now and all the Americans that have been killed out there
and Americans I've saw today on the news that are trying to get out of there.
I mean, I just, my heart just, I mean, it's the same thing I felt for Ukraine.
Any war where there's innocent people.
Any war is hell.
And that was a quote from one of the great generals and commanders, war is hell.
And it's true.
It's hell on earth.
And the Bible says that in the last days, there'll be wars and rumors of wars.
It's going to be this ongoing and it's feeling a lot like that right now.
So all that, I said, we have to get on our knees and fight.
We don't fight with physical weapons.
We fight with the weapons of the Spirit.
And so I got pretty fired up and I was shocked at the response.
People were like calling out, crying out, amen, in agreement.
And there was, it just, it was almost a holy roar that came up at various times
and spontaneous responses and reactions.
And all this told me was that God is showing us that He's getting us ready
because we're not just praying for the world.
We're not just praying for that.
We focused on, I took us through eight movements as I was praying about,
Lord, how do we want to do this?
And the Lord gave me the word movement.
This is a movement and this is a movement and this is a movement.
So I took us through eight movements that were focused on,
I'll just give you the short version of that.
The movements were Lordship, Adoration, the Kingdom of God, Repentance,
Spiritual Warfare, the Fear of the Lord or the awe of God,
Revival and Spiritual Awakening.
And the movement eight is Receiving Our Marching Orders.
It was a prayer of empowerment, impartation and commission,
commissioning them to go out and take the good news everywhere they went.
And God, I'm just still blown away.
We also had a Messianic Jewish person who I've never met before who happened to be there.
Just happened to be there.
Happened to be there.
So we brought him up on stage and Tommy Hayes, who's one of our equip class teachers,
and he has a wonderful ministry called Messiah Ministries, and he's a powerhouse.
He and I laid hands on this gentleman and prayed for Israel and prayed for God.
It was remarkable.
What are the odds of a Jewish person being at our church that we don't know on a prayer night of all times?
So anyway, fantastic evening and it just vaulted some things up in us.
It reminds me of a prayer night we had in Brownwood that we had God to talk about.
I know where you're going with this. Wow.
Because many, many years ago, it was 1999, our daughter, our oldest daughter,
had been married, was in a great marriage.
She decided to walk away from it, but she left without letting anybody know where she was going.
And what reminded me of this too is we've been listening to Jim Symbola,
he preached a message on our house should be a house of prayer.
He preached this in 1994, and in 1994, he's preaching the best message I've ever heard on prayer in my whole entire life.
We've been listening to it all week, over and over and over,
but he tells a story about something that happened to his daughter,
and you and I began to talk about, oh my gosh, we have a very similar story.
Same story. I was blown away.
So anyway, our daughter left, and her husband called us and said,
she's left, I don't know where she is, I wouldn't let her take the kids, and she's gone.
And they were out in Southern California. We were in Texas.
We had just planted a church in Brownwood. The church was blowing up.
We were doing well, and we get this news, and what happens to us is we're devastated.
Devastated. Because we don't know where she is.
And I remember we had a pastor, I think he's from Canada that we met at a conference.
Remember that? And we contacted him, and he said, take communion over her.
That was another thing.
I couldn't remember where that came from.
It was that pastor from Canada.
And he said, take communion over her. Be deliberate about your communion.
So we did. Remember we took it then.
As soon as he told us, we went and got juice.
We were desperate.
We were desperate. So this went on for months, and we couldn't find her.
And Thanksgiving passed, Christmas passed, New Year's passed,
and we don't know where our daughter is. And she's what?
How old is she? 21? 21. She's young. She's young.
And we had gotten the news that a young girl was going to give us a child.
She had gotten pregnant, and we were in the middle of adopting this child.
And we couldn't even tell her our good news. I'll never forget that.
And then one day, we decided, because our church was so supportive of us,
here we are, brand new church, only been going a year and a half maybe,
and we're devastated about our daughter, our wayward daughter,
because we don't know where she is.
And I remember her husband giving us a phone number saying,
he heard this could be a phone number where she's at.
Couldn't find her.
And I tried that number a few times.
You tried it many times.
Nothing.
I'm a machine of somebody I didn't recognize.
And we may have told this on the podcast, but this is so important.
In terms of prayer.
Right. Yeah, in terms of prayer.
And then I remember that we decided to have a prayer night,
and we had a prayer night at our church.
It was an off night.
It was like a Tuesday or whatever.
Yeah, it was an off night.
A typical night.
And we were praying and praying, and a woman who was sitting on the road with me,
I remember I was like on that second row, and she said,
I had a dream about your daughter.
And she drew this outline of her face.
And described what she saw.
And she said, the Lord told me that she is going to be in contact with you
and home in two weeks.
Okay.
I know.
You hear something like that.
You hear something like that, and you're like, well, thank you.
Be careful putting a time stamp on that.
You put a time.
Yeah.
I was excited, but I was a little cautious at the same time.
I'll never forget this.
I can't remember who this was.
It was probably an angel.
It's been a long time.
Yeah, probably.
But I'll never forget that because within a week, I think it was within just a few days.
Actually, it was that week.
That week.
I remember.
Yes.
You came into the room and said.
Can I tell this apart?
Yes.
I can tell your apart.
This is amazing.
Thank you.
Hand off.
So I was in another room.
You were sitting in the living room.
We actually had an apartment in the church.
It was a weird deal.
It was weird.
But it was a big apartment, actually.
So we were living in our work.
It was a little too much.
But we were blessed.
All right?
God was moving.
So I was in the other end of the apartment.
And for some reason, I just had this impression.
Call Alicia now.
Call that phone number.
Yeah.
Call this phone number.
And I'm like, uh.
So I think I walked in and said, do you have that phone number or something like that?
And I'm like, yes.
And you're like, what?
And I said, she didn't answer.
She never has answered.
This is not where she is.
And I said out loud, very firmly, I'm supposed to do this now.
So you gave me the number.
I made the call.
And she answered the phone.
And the reason why she answered is because she was in the bathroom contemplating suicide
because she had made a huge mistake.
And she saw this was back when we had caller ID on our regular phones.
Regular phones.
We didn't have cell phones back then.
And she saw your name.
And she had just cried out to Jesus and said, give me a sign if I'm not supposed to do this.
And you called.
Oh, my God.
At that precise moment, you called.
And I said, do not hang up.
Do not hang up.
Whatever you do.
Whatever you've done.
It doesn't matter.
We love you.
And she held on.
Oh, my goodness.
So we ended up having a beautiful conversation.
Of course, we didn't know the depth of what she was in because she kind of just snapped out of it
because she was talking to mom and dad again.
And she was herself.
And you made arrangements within a few days.
To go get her.
Jump in a van, drive to Southern California, and pick her up.
And I shared with her that I had some news and that we were going to be adopting a child.
And that child was in Southern California.
Could we, if I pick her up, can we drive over to that town and see the little girl that was giving us her baby?
And she was fine.
And she said, but I have to tell you something.
I'm pregnant.
And a heart kind of sunk at first.
But then it was like, you know what?
That's okay.
We'll have two babies in the house.
I remember saying, we'll set up two cribs.
We'll do whatever it takes.
We had an attitude of, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
We will figure this out.
This is what love does.
This is what God does.
Love says, I don't care right now.
What's more important is your life.
Life.
And what is more important than getting you safe into a safe place.
Yes, absolutely.
So we will figure it out, even though we don't know what we're going to do.
We will figure it out.
And that's the best answer sometimes you can give somebody.
We don't know what we're doing, but we'll figure it out.
We'll figure it out.
The great thing is, is by the time we got her back to our home, it was within that two week period of that woman.
And I remember rejoicing going, oh my gosh, she did hear from God.
Because there's a lot of weirdos out there that will say things.
And you're like, really?
But this was the power of us having that prayer night and praying for this specific situation.
Before we skip too far ahead, remember we had been praying every night for her through this little booklet by Gloria.
Copeland.
No, not Gloria.
Germaine Copeland.
Not related to Gloria Copeland.
Germaine Copeland, she's a prayer warrior.
She wrote several books.
And this one was called, Prayers That Avail Much, which I have still on my nightstand an updated version of it.
I just bought one for Tina so that she would have one.
And I still use that several times a week.
Before we go to bed, I'll read three or four.
And all she does is take scripture and turn it into prayer.
So you're praying the Bible.
You're praying the Word of God, which is the best way to pray when you're praying God's words.
But we prayed for Alicia through that because it's topics and it's like praying for a wayward son or a wayward child or whatever.
So we were praying for that.
And God answered our prayers.
Didn't do it in the timing we thought he would.
He didn't do it instantly.
We went through some weeks and months of just pain and panic.
And in the middle of that, we're planning a new church.
I'm working two jobs.
And we're planning for a child, a new baby to come in.
Now we're about to adopt a baby.
Anyway, just so much was going on.
I mean, it was a whirlwind, like a hurricane or a typhoon was happening around us.
But in the middle of all of that was God teaching us, stretching us, walking with us constantly, just in little ways saying, I've still got you.
I'm here. I haven't left.
I'm not going to abandon you.
I'm not going to leave you.
I'm not going to forsake you.
Go back to the Word.
What does it say?
I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you.
And He was with us through the storm and taught us how to pray.
That's why prayer is so important.
We prayed with communion over her.
We had Sunday night prayer night.
I mean, we prayed daily.
We cried out to God.
We travail over this situation.
I've never had a baby.
Never will.
But knowing, watching a mama go through that kind of travail and pain and then at the end of that, there's this joy and this life at the end of that travail.
We were travailing because in a sense we were trying to birth something, we're birthing movement, we're birthing change.
And that's something we need to just help you understand.
And we're constantly reminded of the power of prayer.
But also, prayer is heavy.
It can be laborious.
But here's the thing, the joy we find it, because there's joy at the end of that.
You know, I mean, for the joy it set before us.
So there is something, there's a reward.
I guess I don't even want that word.
There's a result.
Let's say it this way.
Prayer garners results.
Why would Jesus tell us to pray if there wasn't going to be results at the end of that?
Well, that leads us to our devotion today, which could not have been better timing.
We're listening to, we do a devotion called The Way of Life.
This is our third time through it because it's so good.
Every time we finish it, we start it over because it's so good.
It's 41 days.
Yes, 41 days.
It's The Way of Life by Bill Johnson on YouVersion.
And today's was on prayer.
So we're going to play a little, was it one minute clip.
So you can hear what Pastor Bill Johnson says about prayer.
By the way, we will be at Pastor Bill Johnson's church in two weeks for a conference.
I'm so excited.
Can't wait to be out in Redding, California with Pastor Bill.
Yes.
All right.
So I'm going to put this up so you can hear it.
So if any of you are from Redding, California, we're going to be there.
We can do a meetup.
Oh my gosh, it would be cool to meet somebody.
That would be.
Absolutely.
All right.
Here we go.
If the Lord gives us a direction in prayer, then the outcome has to be measurable.
Or we tend to get our joy, our pleasure from praying and not from answers.
And Jesus designed prayer to be a method by which we are encouraged and have fullness of joy.
In fact, in John 16, he said, he said, in that day, you will ask the father in my name and anything you ask for will be done.
And here's our phrase, that your joy might be full.
What happens in religious communities, if we don't have practical understanding of what heaven on earth looks like, then we derive our joy from having gone through the discipline of prayer.
The discipline of prayer is great, but that's not supposed to be where we have our joy.
It's supposed to be a pleasure to serve the Lord in that way.
But the actual fullness of joy comes through answers.
And so my whole deal is let's find out how we can measure the impact of an answered prayer when he says heaven can come to earth.
What does it look like in the practical sense?
So that's that's really what we're doing.
Wow.
When I heard that today, even though this is my third time, my fourth time, because we actually put all of those.
I've watched that video 20 times.
Yes.
On a track.
And oh, my goodness, that was just beautiful.
What he's saying, I mean, just to boil it down in simple terms, is that that we should be able to see results from prayer, that that it's not about just having a discipline of prayer to have a discipline or a practice of prayer to have a practice.
It's just religious repetition.
I'm not in this for religion, and I'm not in this for repetition.
I'm in this to see God move.
I'm in this to see the kingdom of God advanced.
I'm in this to see revival, spiritual awakening.
I'm in it to see answers.
Not that I'm trying to get answers like stuff for me, but I'm talking about things about the kingdom, about people coming to know Christ.
Some of you that listen, you've written into us and you said, gosh, you guys are helping me rediscover my faith and come back to God.
And that is what we live for.
We live for you.
We live for those moments where you connect the dots to maybe something you knew when you were younger.
You knew about Jesus or you had a faith and then something life happened and you got away from that.
And our prayer, I mean, we pray, by the way, Annette prayed tonight before we came on the show.
Not only did she open the show, but I asked her to pray and she prayed heaven down over you.
You that's listening right now.
And when I say while you, I mean you who just heard my voice.
She prayed for you that you would hear the truth and you would know the truth and it would set you free.
Absolutely.
That's what truth does.
And so that's what prayer is about.
Just like Pastor Bill was saying, Jesus gave us prayer, gave us this beautiful tool so that we could see things move and see things change.
And so what God has been doing in us is reminding us of this amazing gift of prayer and how overlooked it is.
Because sometimes we get disappointed.
Things don't happen in timing that we think it should.
Or the way it should.
Or we try to tell God how he should do it.
Exactly.
That's on us, not on God.
And I, you know, we've got to get to the point to where we know he, it's like a parent who's trying to tell a child something.
They're not telling them don't go run in the street with, you know, scissors because they are trying to keep them from having fun.
Give me a break.
Yeah, yeah, kill joy.
Yeah, they're trying to protect you and keep you from danger.
That is what God does for us.
He knows best.
He sees the end from the beginning, his word says.
So he knows best.
So he's trying to keep us from danger, basically.
Exactly.
So things will happen that we're like, that's not how I intended it to happen.
But God knows best.
Beautifully said.
And one of the greatest places to start, if you're kind of in this place of, well, yeah, I would like to pray, but I kind of don't know what to say.
That's legitimate.
A lot of, I mean, we all had to start somewhere, right?
And it's hard when you go into a group or a church and they go, hey, would you mind saying the prayer?
And you're like, no, no, no way.
It's scary.
It takes time and it's like anything you learn.
But there is a place you can start and you can find it in the book of Matthew, chapter six.
Yes.
And it's called the Lord's model prayer.
And it's Matthew, chapter six.
And it says this.
Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
There's your starting place.
By the way, it's my ending place, too, because I've re-embraced the Lord's model prayer.
And I found as I studied and exegeted those passages, I've gone through the Greek language and just mined out the jewels.
And it is it's more powerful than I ever knew.
In fact, I'm so excited about I pray it ten times a day.
I think we're going to put it on a bookmark.
Yeah, we're going to put the interpretive version of it where I'm adding in the Greek words and what it literally says.
And just to give you a heads up of what that would sound like and how I pray it.
I say, my father in heaven, holy, holy, holy is your name.
Kingdom of God, come.
Will of God, be done.
See, it's a declaration, it's a proclamation.
And then I say, what's after that?
On earth as it is on earth right here, right now, as it is in heaven.
Give us our date.
No, give us our bread today.
Give us today.
Tomorrow's bread.
I'm sorry.
I'm not.
I usually just say it.
We usually have it written down somewhere.
I just rattle it off.
So it's harder when I break it down.
But give us today our bread for tomorrow, because that's what it literally means.
It's about God's abundance and increase.
And then forgive us our offenses as we forgive those who offend us.
Boy, aren't there ample opportunities to do that?
There are absolutely.
What I found when I prayed through that prayer after after about a month and a half during the sabbatical,
I started forgetting who I was praying, who I was on that list because I had forgiven them.
I'd let it go so much that they actually went out of my memory.
And I remember one morning I'm praying and I'm like, why can't I remember these names?
I had to really think about it.
And the Lord whispered to me, not in an audible voice, but in my mind, this sense of it's because you've forgiven them.
You're healed.
Absolutely.
And then I'm like, there's nobody on the list.
So please don't anybody get on the list.
Stay off my list.
But anyway, so then and then the next part is very misunderstood.
It is.
It says and lead us not into temptation.
Well, that's actually a Hebrew prayer form that is worded like this in the Psalms.
Father, I thank you that you will never lead me into temptation, but you will deliver me from evil and the evil one.
So anyway, that's the Lord's Prayer.
So there's there's your starting place.
So we're going to put that on a bookmark.
And if anybody wants one, write us and we'll we'll send it to you.
We're going to work on that this week.
Yeah, yeah, we've got that interpretation because it's it's it's the original language.
It's how Jesus intended us to pray it because it's a proclamation.
It's an imperative.
And so he doesn't say when you pray, ask is when you pray, say, so we lean in and we declare.
And here's the confidence you can have.
This is what I love about prayer.
When you're confident that you're praying the will of God and what's more the will of God than the word of God.
Exactly. When you're praying what Jesus told us to pray, you can be confident that there will be results.
There will be measurable results as Pastor Bill was talking about.
And so we want to encourage in your prayer life.
If you don't know where to start, start with the Lord's model prayer.
Then when you get advanced, stay with the Lord's model prayer.
I think in our church, because it has it's sinking in so deeply into our heart, the hearts of our people.
I think you need to start off every message with that prayer or end with that prayer every time,
because that's what he says the model prayer is.
Why not every week?
I actually intended to do it yesterday morning, but I was so off to the races.
I was so psyched up.
I was on the ground running, but last night we did that together.
It's powerful. It's beautiful.
When the whole church body says it together, it's got to make God's heart burst.
When he hears his kids praying exactly what Jesus taught them to pray.
And so yeah, that was amazing.
So we want to encourage you in this.
You don't know where to start.
Start with the Lord's model prayer and know that God gave you this as a tool to get results.
So it's not just about the practice of prayer for the practice of prayer.
It's about seeing God move.
And so we want you to experience revival where you live, in your community, where you are.
Pray for your city.
Pray for your county.
Pray for what's going on around you, even as we pray for things in the world.
And if you have a wayward child, let us know.
Because we have the faith that God will bring that child back.
And so we love hearing stories where we can pray and intercede for people who have the same situation that we had.
So let us know.
I am looking at you.
Actually, I took a couple of pictures of you a minute ago.
Is that what you were doing?
I am because I'm looking at you and just going, girl, this is a girl on fire.
I mean, she's on fire for Jesus.
Well, it started with you.
You are never more beautiful to me than when you're fired up about Jesus.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
I mean that.
Wow.
Did I just say that over the Internet?
Yes.
So anyway, back to our show.
So I want to share some things with everyone here.
Some encouraging things and just hope that you are encouraged.
But listen, we got some Boostergrams.
So I want to share some of these.
Boostergrams are when you're on the podcast platform 2.0, podcast 2.0, value for value.
And what value for value works is if what we're doing adds value to you and brings value to you
and it means something to you, then you can return that value through time, talent, treasure.
We've got opportunities to do that on our newsletter, our website, livingupinadownworld.com.
I needed to mention something.
Well, I'll mention something about Adam and Tina because about last night at the prayer thing,
but I'll bring that up when I read his Boostergram.
So that's important to me to say this.
And so value for value means you just simply go, okay, man, that helped me.
I'm encouraged.
I want to add value to them because they added value to me.
And you can do that livingupinadownworld.com.
We have opportunities for you to do it there or on any of the platforms like Castamatic, Fountain.
They have opportunities for boost.
And Boostergrams are really fun because you can write a note along with the Satoshis that you're sending.
So here's some Boostergrams I want to share with you that and Annette,
I love it when you get excited about these not because of their value,
but because it's people taking the time to write something and encourage us.
That's what is really valuable.
So I want to start with this one.
Sir Sean Riser. Sir Sean Riser wrote this.
I've been listening to you since you were on sabbatical.
I found you via the Extended Curry Podcasting Universe
and have binged your back episodes while recovering from some medical issues.
I'm so proud of you, Sir Sean. Hope your recovery is going well.
He says this, you have made the recovery easier.
I have a question. I'm a traditional church man, raised Catholic.
These days I identify as a Lutheran.
I keep hearing the term worship team from you and the Currys,
which Adam says that's a K.A. band from you and the Currys.
Is this just a choir with modern music or am I missing something?
God bless you both. Thank you, Sir Sean.
Annette, you want to answer that question? What is a worship team?
A worship team is a team of musicians and singers that are just worshiping the Lord.
They're bringing contemporary modern music.
Also known as a Christian band.
Christian band.
It is. We have electric guitars. We have keyboards.
Drums.
Full on drums. Bass guitar.
Yes. Several guitars.
Yeah, several guitars. I'm a lead guitar player.
Non-denominational churches typically have Christian bands leading.
It's very contemporary. The music we do has been written recently.
We do very recent music from a lot of different churches that just write amazing worship
that's really relevant in our culture and our time.
We also appreciate and have a high value for the hymns.
We have a lot of songs that are modern hymns where we will mix up a classic hymn with newer music.
It just kind of brings it up into our time.
It's a great question and we appreciate that.
Man, I'm just glad you're doing better, Sir Sean.
So blessings to you, my friend.
I also received a boostogram from Sir...
Oh, Sirv in Silence. You run all those letters together. It looks funny.
Sirv in Silence.
He said, I just wanted to say thank you and I love you guys.
You are a beautiful blessing to the kingdom.
Sirv in Silence, thank you so much.
Thank you for your kind words. That means a ton to us.
Who are you texting?
Is this Tina?
No. I just got a text from Naomi.
Oh, we love Naomi.
Yes.
Yeah.
Alright, so and then we got a boostogram from Dee's Laughs.
Dee's Laughs.
And oh, by the way, Dee's Laughs did a striper boost.
She got a little striper boost there and she says,
bless you all. This is an Adam Curry donation.
So I guess that's a Via Adam Curry.
And then the next one, let's see.
Oh, here's one from One Adam the Podfather Curry,
Adam C. 1999 with 77,777 saps.
That's a striper boost.
He says this, I love hearing all the notes,
boostograms and donations of value.
Living up in a down world is one of my must listens always.
I love that.
Here's what I wanted to say about Adam and Tina.
First of all, for those of you who don't know,
they attend our church and we're best friends.
I mean, literally he's become my best friend on the planet.
But here's the thing, it's kind of a weird thing.
It's Tina comes and sits with Annette every Sunday morning during our second.
We have two services, so she comes and sits in the second.
And so they hang out on the front row.
But the hard part is that Adam can't come on Sundays
because he's doing no agenda.
He's getting prepared for no agenda, which is a lot of work.
If you've ever listened to no agenda, I don't know how they get all that.
I don't either.
It's unbelievable what they put together.
Three and a half hour podcast, mind-bending,
and a lot of content, a lot of information.
So he spends that whole morning.
He does take time.
He watches our first service, which is a nine o'clock service,
and then usually texts me right after between services.
Good show. Round two coming up.
We always talk about it. It's funny. We laugh at each other.
They're not saying, praying for your podcast, and go for it.
So we've got that kind of friendship,
and that kind of encouragement happens back and forth.
But here's what I loved.
Because we did it on a Sunday night, Adam was able to be with us, wasn't he?
Yes.
Wasn't that beautiful seeing him on the front row with his wife, with Tina?
Seeing them together, worshiping God.
Worshiping with his hands lifted up.
Both of them just together.
Bro, we've got to figure out how to get you on Sunday morning.
I know.
How can we carve out that time?
I know.
I'm hoping. So anyway, hoping and praying.
Because man, when he's in the house, and I also feel like my best friend's there
on the front row, I feel more secure.
Like all is well with...
Yeah, I feel covered.
So I'll get you sucked when you're there. I feel that way.
And when I'm not.
And if you're not, it feels weird.
Exactly.
So Adam, you're making me feel weird by not being in church.
Well, he wants us to have a Saturday night service so that can happen.
Yeah.
You never know.
That's a lot of logistics on that one.
But you know what?
We're going to have to go to three services.
I mean, our church is blowing up right now.
We had a record attendance this last Sunday.
And so we're like, we've got to figure this three-service thing out.
Anyway.
So Adam, man, love you so much.
Are you kicking me because I'm drunk?
No, I'm playing footsies with you.
I'm going on or are you just kicking me?
Sorry.
Well, that's my shin and those are your shoes. That hurts.
No, I don't have shoes on.
No. Okay.
So anyway, it was just, I was so blown away to see them together worshiping.
I actually snuck a picture of them, which I'll put maybe in the next newsletter.
It's just so amazing seeing them there together.
So anyway, thanks for the boost, my friend.
Much love to you.
And then we got a donation.
This is awesome.
It's $25 from Stephanie Wyatt-Francis.
Stephanie, we want to say thank you for taking the time and just showing us some value and some love for that.
That means a ton to us.
We really do appreciate it.
God bless you.
And just, man, keep living up in a down world.
David Wicker. I love this guy.
I'm looking forward to meeting David Wicker in person.
I feel like he's a brother already.
I get several emails.
He writes you every day.
Yeah, every other day.
And he's always sharing stuff about revival and links to things.
And so, David, you're a brother, my friend, and thank you for your donation.
And we really appreciate it.
I appreciate your friendship.
I mean, even though we haven't met yet, I just feel there's brotherhood there.
So thanks a lot.
Really, really appreciate it.
And then we got a beautiful note from Danny Lodewa.
D-A-N-I-L-O-D-U-S-O-S-W-A.
Okay.
I don't know.
But it starts with Danny, so I'm going to stick with Danny.
It says this, greetings from Ireland.
Oh, that's my homeland.
It is.
When I did 23andMe, I am 98.3% Irish.
We might need to go back and do a meetup there as well.
Dublin.
Dublin's my family.
So not Northern Ireland, but Ireland.
Greetings from Ireland, and thank you for making an inspiring podcast.
It restores my faith in humanity.
Oh, gosh.
Danny, that's a huge statement, really.
And God bless you.
Oh, man.
I'd love to do a meetup in Ireland.
We were able to go, what, a few years ago?
Yes.
And it was, oh, man.
And we did go up north, too.
We went up to Belfast, and it was beautiful.
But there's so much more we want to see.
We didn't get to see any castles.
I know.
We didn't really explore.
Yeah.
We hung around Dublin a lot.
But anyway, beautiful country.
We love it.
And God bless you.
And we're just happy that we get to play a role in helping you live up in a down world.
So God bless you.
And keep listening.
We want to help you all we can.
And then we got a review.
We got a review last week from Iris, who's from the Netherlands.
But now we got one from Rebecca.
Where's she from?
Five-star review, it doesn't say.
And she says this.
I love this.
She says, this has been a really refreshing podcast.
My husband suggested I listen to this podcast, as he is a huge Adam Curry fan.
Oh.
Well, so am I.
And so it says it's really been refreshing.
I started with episode one and have now gotten through episode 30 in about two weeks.
That is unbelievable.
That's got to be some kind of record.
Oh, and our first few were so bad.
I know.
Hey, we were learning.
We're learning.
It's a whole new thing.
But hey, we're number 40 today.
I know.
So he's got 10 to catch up with.
She says, this is so sweet.
Just wanted to thank you for sharing your journey and say that this episode about giving up our rights to be offended, really blessed, and convicted me all at once.
Me too, by the way.
It convicted me.
Thank you for the reminder of what it truly means to walk with the grace of Jesus, the ultimate example of giving up His right for offense.
Well said, Rebecca.
And thank you for the beautiful review.
And anyone else out here, go to our website.
You can write us a note.
I'll always get back with you.
You can give us a review.
That's always encouraging.
And you can make a donation value for value there.
And so we want to hear from you.
We love, love, love hearing from you guys.
We've been talking with Adam and Tina a lot about.
In fact, we're going to do a meetup in Austin.
We're going to do a Curry and the Keeper, No Agenda, Living Up in a Down World.
All three of us together are going to go do this.
It's Austin, November.
You told me the other day.
Anyway, November when they have a great group out there.
I've gone to one of the meetups with Adam and I had so much fun meeting people that have listened to our podcast.
Most of them are big fans, obviously, of No Agenda and Curry and Keeper.
But we've kind of caught their draft a little bit and we've become friends with a lot of them.
And it's just such a blessing.
And then Sir Brian with I don't think I mentioned Sir Brian last.
Maybe you did.
Yeah, he just sticks with you.
Sir Brian, man, we love you, bro.
Hey, I didn't diss you with my phone number.
I think I said this last week.
But we changed our phone numbers and we went on sabbatical.
So that's why you haven't been able to text me.
So anyway, blessings to you.
All right, baby.
Girl, you're still back on.
Are you still learning Naomi?
I know.
Well, she needs some information and I was just kind of looking while you were.
Well, did I tell you you're beautiful?
You did.
Wow.
I'm seriously.
I'm smitten with you right now.
Well, I love you, baby.
It's because you're oozing Jesus.
We're all much better looking when we're oozing Jesus, right?
Exactly.
Hey, we love you guys.
Thank you for being a part of this show just by being with us and hanging with us.
We want to hear from you.
We want you to get your prayer life on fire.
Just light it up.
God bless you and have a great week.
Thank you.