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 Chevy, of course.
We are on episode 41 and we're so happy that you're going to join us today.
Girl, you're so good at this.
This is why I'm handing all this over to you.
I don't understand that.
I think you're good at this.
No, you're really good at this.
It's shocking at all to hear your beautiful voice.
Oh, is that right?
And that beautiful Texas twang.
I love everything about it.
You're a fan.
You know I was made fun of when I was a school teacher in Southern California.
Well think about it, that was in California.
I know, but it's lingered all these long, long years.
Just the pain and agony.
And they made fun of my accent.
Honey, they were children.
I know, but children hurt me.
They hurt me.
Oh my gosh.
I know.
You're scarred.
I'm trying to get over it by opening the show.
And I appreciate it and you did fantastic.
Thank you.
And Mr. Chevy is with us.
He heard me say his name.
He's needing lots of attention.
He's very needy, isn't he?
Well, we've been gone most of the day.
We've had a long work day.
Boy, did we ever.
Annette and I are co-pastors.
I'm the lead pastor and she's associate pastor at Bridge Church in Fredericksburg, Texas.
And this was our annual calendaring day.
And if you've ever done strategic planning and calendaring, you know that that's a long day.
And it's a lot of looking at dates and putting together activities for a solid year.
So we scheduled all the way through the end of 2024.
And we got it done by what, two o'clock?
We were tired though.
We were all feeling it by the end and did a working lunch through that.
But anyway, we have a fantastic staff and team at our church that we, they're more like friends and family than anything.
But we do this thing together.
So this was a big day.
So we're dragging just a little bit.
And then Chevy is like pawing you because he really needs a lot of attention.
Y'all kept me in the cage all day.
All day.
I've been in the puppy jail all day.
He's funny.
So show number 41, we're plowing through this year.
This has been, we're seeing some neat things begin to happen with this podcast.
And first of all, I want to say a huge welcome to everyone that's listening and who has encouraged us.
You've sent in letters, reviews, notes, emails.
I mean, we're blown away, first of all, that you trust us with even sharing prayer requests of heavy things that are going on in your life.
And whenever I read something over the air in terms of Thanksgiving or whatever, I won't ever want to betray anything.
And I'll be, I'm always really careful with what we say because we thank you for your trust and we want to continue that.
But I do also like to recognize people who are writing in and encouraging us.
We have some that are donating also and supporting this effort.
And so thank you so much.
It means a ton to us just to hear from you.
And so thank you so much.
And again, thank you for joining us.
Living Up and Down World is the name of our show.
Did we even say that?
I don't know if we said it.
I don't know if we did.
That's the name of the show.
And it's not it's more than the name of a show.
It's actually a philosophy of life.
It's a theophisy.
It's a theology of life where we believe that God's called us to live up even if a world is down.
And the Bible calls it a fallen world.
So that's where I took that from.
Made this title up back in college.
Really?
I wrote a paper in class and we were asked to write a paper and we were like, what's the topic?
And they said any topic you want.
For some reason, this phrase popped into my mind literally.
It's a miracle I can still remember it from college.
Living Up and Down World.
So I wrote a whole paper on it.
And that title stuck with me and I thought I'm going to use that again someday because to me I like it.
It's really my life philosophy.
If you think about it, I'm a positive person.
So kind of always up most of the time and 99 percent of the time.
Then there's that ugly one percent.
But anyway, so that's the name of the show.
So thank you for being with us.
We are honored and thrilled that you're listening today.
And if you're a first time guest, thank you so much for giving us some time.
We want to make it worth your time.
I want to share a few things.
All right.
So we're going to have a few days so we're kind of we're running on fumes this evening.
But we had some neat things happen last week.
Well, not so good for you.
I left you alone for two and a half days.
I know that was heartbreaking.
Wasn't it?
I don't think we've been apart in how long?
I mean, well, since February.
Pink impact when you went to Gateway Church.
Big Ladies Conference, which was amazing.
But yeah, I made sure I kept myself quite busy with Chevy and work.
I worked more than usual.
Right.
And you probably watched some carnivore videos.
I did.
Some information from Dr. Ken Berry.
Jim Symbola.
Oh, man.
He is the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle and obviously in New York and Brooklyn.
And just an amazing stuff.
That man has been preaching and leading that church for over 50 years.
He's one hundred and twenty seven years old.
He's in his eighties.
I would say he's in his eighties.
I think eighty one and still going strong.
And he looks amazing.
And he's still the lead pastor of that church.
His lead pastor.
He looks very healthy.
I mean, he is not.
He is definitely one to look up.
Oh, yeah.
We've read some of his books.
We talked about it last week.
Right.
The book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.
Oh, my gosh.
It just prompted me to start going online and go on YouTube, see what I can find in all
of his teachings over all these years are there.
Yeah.
We and I love preaching.
We were so in love with Jesus, but we love listening to teachers.
And so we have how we grow.
It is.
And I mean, you know, we're we're teaching others.
That's what we do.
We lead a church and have for many years, 38 years for me, 28 for you and it with me.
And that's working together.
But we we have to get our buckets filled, too, just like everybody else.
And so we have some favorites that we listen to and others.
Pastor Robert Morris, Joyce Meyer, just from the ladies side.
She's amazing.
And then kind of a new favorite for me that I've really been impacted by is Christine
Kane.
I mean, she lives in L.A. now, but she's from Australia and she was a youth pastor
back in the day in Sydney, Australia.
And she is a powerhouse, fireball, fireball, powerhouse.
I mean, my goodness, she's strong and I really appreciate it.
Joyce Meyer is mentoring her so you can see why she would be so strong.
For like 28 years they've been together.
So anyway, we listen to we love just listening to different teachers and preachers
and just keeps us encouraged.
To some people they would think that's boring, but to us it feeds our spirit.
Life giving.
Yes, it's very much life giving.
Yeah, it helps us live up in a down world, doesn't it?
We get inspired.
We could do that or we could turn on the news and keep it on all day.
Oh, yeah, that would be so encouraging.
And because there's so much truth in mainstream media right now.
And so, yeah, I'm obviously being sarcastic and unapologetically so.
I mean, where there's lies and untruth, it needs to be called out.
We need to not be afraid to speak up.
So that's what we did.
And that's what you did while I was gone.
Yes.
And like I said, you did some carnivore videos.
We're on a carnivore journey, we're on day 111 today.
Wow, 111.
So 111 days of doing carnivore, ketivore.
We call it ketivore because we mix keto and carnivore.
Yeah, yeah.
And it's been remarkable.
I can't believe our energy.
Normally by this time of the day, if we had a day like today, we would be like,
is it bedtime yet?
Well, we've had a lot of storms today.
Yeah, it's been very overcast, but we've had rain, thank goodness.
We needed it badly.
It looks like we're going to rain all week, right?
Yes, for about a week, yes.
Are you looking at our notes or is Tina writing?
No, I'm looking at our notes.
Tina's been traveling.
So Adam Curry, Adam's my best friend, he's my BFF.
And usually when the girls are gone or one of the girls are gone or whatever,
we do a bro date.
And so we've had several.
So we did a bro date on, what was it, Saturday night.
So normally we don't do things on Saturday night because he has his big
No Agenda show on Sunday, huge.
And so he's got a lot of prep work to do.
And then I'm doing a lot of prep work and finalizing for me because I do two
shows on Sunday.
Two shows?
He calls it show.
We always say, have a good show.
And so I preach twice.
We have two services at the Bridge and we're growing right now.
So it's really just a lot of movement and action and I love every second of it.
So I preach two back-to-back messages about 45 minutes each on Sunday mornings.
That's a lot of preparation.
And I don't preach with notes.
I preach extemporaneous, which means I have to do a lot of study and thinking
and processing.
So it's a lot of brain power.
So we don't usually do things on Saturday night with folks.
But Tina was out of town.
And I insisted you go on a date with Adam.
You did.
You're amazing.
You sent me on a date with another man.
It was shocking.
Well, I felt like I didn't want him to be alone while she was gone for a few days.
She went on a hiking trip in Utah.
But then I come to find out he had something going every night.
So I could have kept you at home.
He's a socialite.
He's Adam the Podfather Curry.
But anyway, we hung out.
We had a great time.
He has this phenomenal restaurant here in Fredericksburg, probably one of the top.
It may be the top restaurant.
It is.
It's called Vaudeville.
So if you're ever in central Texas, Hill Country, Vaudeville, look it up.
It's amazing.
I had a rack of lamb.
He had duck.
I mean, we were tall cotton.
So it was good.
And I was able to carnivore by eating a precious lamb.
So I was able to stay carnivore.
And we had a great time.
Whenever Adam and I get together, we talk about our subject matter is God, the world, and other things.
And everything goes.
And it's just nonstop from the moment we sit down.
Waiters and waitresses are always eavesdropping, like, what are those guys talking about?
It's crazy.
So we have a great time.
So love my bro.
And so we're always looking for opportunities to go do a bro date.
But thank you for sending me on a bro date.
You're welcome.
That is amazing, actually.
Well, and I didn't have any plans, but I made plans with someone that...
That's true.
A dear friend, Karen.
A friend I haven't had time with in a long time.
She's awesome.
We went to Backwoods, and I had my carnivore meal.
Backwoods BBQ in Fredericksburg.
I had brisket and sausage, so I was good.
Oh, you went total carnivore.
And she wanted to know all about carnivore.
Yeah.
Who knows?
Oh, we don't mind telling people.
We feel like carnivore evangelists sometimes.
I think Adam thinks we're carnivore evangelists.
Probably.
And so Tina had this big hiking trip that she'd planned like a year ago with, what, like 10 ladies?
She opened it up to a whole bunch of people, but I don't know how many ended up going.
She invited me, and I said, if there's a beach trip, I'm there hiking.
No.
Hiking in the mountains of Utah.
Yeah.
Although we are going to Colorado.
We are.
So let's talk about that trip in a second, because we got really blessed with this.
So Tina went, and they hiked for like four days, right, in the mountains.
Her first day, she took a pretty bad spill coming down a trail, and she cut her hands up,
had to go to the emergency room.
She showed us pictures online.
Yeah.
She showed us pictures we were praying for, and then she got up the next day, and she seemed to be able to kind of get right back in it.
She was repelled.
Yeah, repelled.
Oh my gosh.
That's handwork.
I can't even imagine.
Proud of her, though.
She didn't let it take her trip out.
She perseveres.
I've never met anyone who perseveres like she does.
She's fire.
Didn't surprise me.
I'm proud of her, actually.
But she's coming home tonight.
I didn't see any pictures of the puffer coat, and that's like a big controversy in their home right now.
Well, I just have to tell you, during the day, I looked at the temperatures there.
It's Brass, Utah.
It was in the 60s, but not was in the 20s and 30s.
Wow.
So she would need it at night.
Okay, gotcha.
But I don't know if she needed it.
Who knows?
She said they were glamping.
It wasn't camping.
It was glamping.
Glamping.
So if you want to hear more about that story, you'll hear all about it this week, because
she got back today.
Tomorrow night.
Yeah, tomorrow night she'll be currying the keepers.
So yeah, check out Curry and the Keepers.
Curry and the Keepers is one of our favorites, and we love them.
So yeah, they're a twinsy show.
I had a really cool thing happen last week.
I was invited to a theological roundtable.
Now, I know that doesn't light anybody's fire.
That sounded kind of boring to me.
I'm sorry.
I was in Bible nerd heaven with 50 other men that are pastors and leaders who came together
to spend two and a half days in God's Word, 2 Timothy.
I mean, deep diving.
Guys presented papers.
That would be interesting.
It was fascinating.
As long as the language was to where I could understand it.
I was back in seminary days.
I mean, I used terminology I haven't used since seminary.
Well, then that might be tough.
We were diving into Greek and Hebrew, and it was amazing.
And it was wall to wall.
I mean, we got there and we hit the ground running, but it was in this beautiful place
called Tesoro Escondido Ranch, which is up just north of Mineral Wells, Texas.
And it is in the central Texas hill country.
It's a little different than our hill country.
But there's a ridge that overlooks the Brazos River.
And I mean, it's just awe-inspiring.
That ranch is run by Dudley Hall and TD Hall and the Hall family.
They're amazing.
So I got to be around some giants in the faith.
And had a neat thing happen, I won't make it long, but a bishop out of the Anglican
Church who's a world, a global leader was there.
He didn't announce himself.
He was unpretentious, 74 years old, sitting on the back row, acting like he's nothing.
Turns out he was in my breakout group.
We'd get in these table groups and discuss.
And when I found out he was a global leader in the Anglican Church and has millions of
people under his care and supervision, actually about 5 million at this point, I just, I
buddied up to him.
I became his shadow.
I was like a puppy dog because I learned a long time ago that if you want to be a turkey,
hang around turkeys.
But if you want to fly with eagles, get around some eagles.
Exactly.
And you'll elevate.
Eagles will elevate your game.
And you'll become an eagle when you hang around them.
So when I get around people like this, I don't ignore them.
I follow them.
And so I...
Because you're not intimidated.
You're excited.
You're honored.
No, I'm excited.
It's a blessing.
And so as we were getting ready to depart the last day, I just said, Bishop Bill, would
you do me the honor of laying hands on me and praying over me?
He made a joke about it.
And then later he goes, all right, I'm ready.
He laid hands on me and I heard the word inside of me, but I heard it in Daniel Kalinda's
voice because when Daniel Kalinda laid hands on me and prayed and kind of hit me in the
stomach...
Years ago in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, he yelled, fire.
And I mean, it was like something blew up inside of me.
Can't explain that.
I'm just saying it's a work of the Spirit.
So when Bishop Bill laid his hands on me, I thought he was pushing me down because of
the weight of his hands.
He's not a large man, but when he put his hands on me, it felt like gravity, like weight.
And then there were other guys that were part of my table and they laid hands on me as well
at the same time.
And I just sat there and tears just began to come to...
I just started to leak.
I mean, two-eyed cry as he prayed over me and they were in agreement.
And then he said some amazing things over me that confirmed exactly what God is doing.
We call that prophetic encouragement, which the Bible says it edifies and it brings comfort
to men, to people.
It edifies you, it comforts you and confirms the work of the Lord.
And I heard Daniel Kalinda's voice again as he laid hands on me, fire.
It's like fire in my belly.
Well, you've definitely been on fire these last few weeks.
Yeah, it was a reminder of that.
It was just God saying, I believe confirming His word.
But He gave me some other beautiful things that I won't go into that were encouraging
and really have a global scale.
And I'll tell you what my takeaway from it, I shared this with our staff today, is that
I've been believing too small.
I haven't asked big enough.
God is challenging me in this season to go big.
Go big or go home.
And so I'm beginning to pray dangerous prayers that I maybe didn't want to risk or have the
responsibility of, but I'm ready.
And God's done that work in me.
Well, we were listening to Pastor Craig Groschel speak last week at Gateway.
He was there on Sunday.
And he was talking about praying bold prayers, that it's time that we stand up and pray boldly.
And he made the comment, once you do that, I mean, there's a real enemy that's after
you then.
So you'll be tested.
You'll be met with resistance.
Yeah, you'll be met with resistance, but it's okay because God is with us.
And so we both said, okay, God, I mean, because we're all in.
We are all in, period.
We push all of our chips to the middle of the table, so to speak.
We understand spiritual warfare for sure.
So yeah, this really goes along with what happened with you at that roundtable.
God's putting boldness and courage and a fire in you that is...
I mean, our church is shocked to see, honestly, how you have come back with all of that.
And the way you've been preaching and the authority is...
People are not going to forget this time.
It's going to mark time right now.
I think the reason that God is increasing that boldness and that courage is because
we need clarion voices standing up for truth right now because there's so much lies and
false, weak leadership.
And pastors that are tickling the ears of their people because they're afraid they're
going to lose money from people.
They're afraid they're going to lose their reputation.
They're so afraid that fear of men, we've talked about, that they don't want to stand
up.
And God said, He calls us to be strong and courageous.
For me, I fear the Lord more than I fear man.
And when I say fear, I mean reverence.
I mean awe.
I don't mean like I'm trembling in the presence of God.
I'm actually thankful.
And I love my Abba Father.
But I want to please Him more than I want to please anyone.
And so now, I think my sabbatical shifted me.
I knew God was shifting me.
And all through that thing, there was a shift.
I felt it the whole time and sensed it.
But I now preach for an audience of one instead of an audience of 500.
And I'm doing it without fear because I feel like after doing it, I did that series on
heaven called Heaven in the Real World, and it's so awakened to me to the reality of heaven
like I've never been awakened to it in my entire life.
But what it did is I no longer fear death.
I have no fear.
When you realize what is awaiting us, not only do you not fear it, you start to long for
it.
Well, I think for most of us, it's not death so much.
It is the pain of how we're going to die as Christians.
Other people, a lot of people think everything's just going to go black one day.
It's so sad to feel that your existence is just going to stop, but it doesn't.
It just begins.
No hope.
You live in dread of just nothingness.
And I live in hope and expectation of amazing things that you can't even wrap your mind
around.
So that's part of what is driving this.
The other part, I think, is an anointing for this season because the world is losing its
mind right now.
I mean, when I say living up in a down world, I came up with that 40 years ago, that title.
And the world didn't seem as down then as it is now.
It's way more apropos now.
And I don't want to just beat up on the world.
That's not me at all.
I'm very positive in nature.
But the reality is, is government has let us down.
I mean, authority has let us down.
Civil government, state government, federal, and now this global whatever is going on.
I have a question I always ask, who's flying the plane?
And right now, it's hard to tell.
It seems like a lot of powers that are unnamed and unseen are flying the plane right now.
It's very obvious the clown shows not flying it.
And so now I want to get off.
This isn't about politics.
This is about the reality of the world in which we live that is very dark right now.
Therefore, me and others, you listening, we need to let our voices be heard.
But I mean, voices for righteousness, voices for good, voices that are life giving and
speaking light and life into a dark world.
That's what we're called to do.
But we also need to call the spade a spade and call out sin in leadership and call out
call out greed and lust and the love of the things of the world and materialism and all
these things that have created these power hungry leaders in our culture that they care
more about money than they do their constituents.
And now that sounds political because it's in the political realm, but that is what is
driving so much of what's happening around us.
I'm not talking politically.
I'm talking about humanity and life.
So we've got a lot of dark things happening, a lot of idolatry happening.
And we there needs to be strong voices calling it out.
Every generation sees there are men and women who stand up and let their voices be heard.
And for whatever reason, I feel like God's tapped me for that.
And so well, it goes along with the sermon that you preached on Sunday about Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego and how they stood up knowing that God believing that God could
come through, but even if he didn't, while you know, when they stepped in that fire and
but God came through.
Isn't that one of the most powerful lines in the Bible?
Love that story.
I've got it here.
In fact, it's right here in Daniel chapter three.
So what it is, it was an evil king, the king of Babylon, his name is Nebuchadnezzar.
And he had this he had captured like an amoeba.
They were just taking over country after country after country.
And this is around 589 BC.
They laid siege to Jerusalem and they invaded Israel and Jerusalem.
And about two years later, Jerusalem fell.
They destroyed the walls around Jerusalem.
The temple, they do that in order to humiliate the city to take down their walls, to leave
them unprotected.
And then they destroyed Solomon's temple, which was considered one of the ancient wonders
of the world.
And they destroyed it.
I mean, like turned it into rubble, which we've been there.
The rubble is still there all these years later, you can actually walk around and it's
mind bending to think that men in in BC, we're not talking AD, we're talking 589, 870 BCs.
And then in 586, they took Jerusalem captive and they took all these people from Jerusalem,
their homeland up to Babylon, which was just devastating to all these people who said,
you know, this is the land God gave us.
Now you took us away.
So in the middle of all that, Nebuchadnezzar just appeased people, talk about politics.
He starts finding some of the Jewish young men that had leadership on them.
They stood heads above everybody else and he started tapping them for political power
and governing to try to keep the peace among the Jewish people that are now settled in
Babylon.
So he was a politician from the get go, but he was dark and he decided to build an idol
that was 90 feet tall, made out of solid gold, nine feet wide.
He erected it out in the desert.
And he demanded that when this music was played, apparently it was pretty epic from the sound
of it.
It kind of reminds me of when music, I mean, there's in Israel, remember the...
Oh yeah, all over any Arab nation or where there's Muslim presence, they have these huge
speakers all over the city.
And three times a day, they go off and then they drop and pray to their names.
Drop and roll kind of thing.
That kind of, when you were talking about that at church, that reminded me of when we
were in Israel.
It's bizarre if you're not in that religion and faith, which we obviously are not, we
are Christian to the core, but it's very eerie to hear that playing and it's these voices
that chant or a song.
Yeah, it felt very like a dark presence over, especially in Israel.
And so when they erected this idol, I mean, nobody knows exactly what it is, but it's
probably...
When you say a statue of himself, most likely...
Yeah, most of the Elosians think it was him, that he actually made an idol of himself to
worship him.
And so when they played this music, everybody's supposed to stop, bow down to the ground,
fall down and worship this idol.
And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these Jewish boys refused to bow down.
And so these occult leaders, they're called Chaldeans or astrologers, but they're actually
leaders of the occult and the black arts, tattletale, they went to the king and said,
there are some Jews who are not obeying you and they're not obeying you to bow down.
Which meant there are some...
There were some Jews who did.
They gave up their own identity and beliefs to bow down.
Which is what's happening in this world.
Exactly.
It's so parallel.
Oh my goodness.
Is it ever?
And so the king was furious.
He said, anybody who does not bow down will be thrown into a burning furnace.
And he turned it up seven times hotter than normal.
Hotter than a blazing furnace.
So he confronts Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were young governors.
And so he knew them.
And he said, I'm going to give you another chance.
Which was shocking that he even gave them another chance.
Apparently he saw he liked them.
I mean, it wasn't like he wanted to kill them.
And so they played the music and they said, we have no need to answer you, King Nebuchadnezzar.
We will never bow down to any god.
We will not defend ourselves.
We will not bow down.
And it's such a poignant moment because the king goes into a full on rage.
They overheat the furnace.
What I think is interesting is the soldiers that were, they bound them together and the
ones that were taking them into that, because you walk into this furnace kind of thing.
And they burned to death.
It killed them.
It was so hot that as they were taking them up there, apparently the flames are flying
out of this thing and it actually killed them.
And so, and then it says that they fell bound because they tied them up.
They were bound.
They tied them up together.
I've seen pictures.
Yeah, they tied them up.
And so they fell into the furnace.
And within a few moments, King looks in the, he can see into the furnace and he says,
look, and he says, wasn't there three men that were thrown in and you know, the Chaldean
or whatever said, yes, oh King, there were three men.
He said, there is four walking around and one looks like the son of the gods.
Which is not the son of God because he hasn't even.
Right, little G, son of the gods.
He had no point of reference for God, Yahweh like us.
And so that's called a theophany in theological language, a theophany or a Christophany.
If it's a Christophany, it's a pre-incarnate Christ.
It's an appearance of Christ before he was born, which we knew happened in AD.
But this is probably a theophany.
It may not have been Jesus.
We don't know.
We can't say that for sure.
But we do know it was God or a messenger of God, a godlike creature caught.
It was God in God's presence.
And the King tells them, yells at them to come out.
And they come out and the people there, all the other governors and leaders came around
them and were shocked because their clothes weren't singed or burned.
It says they didn't even smell like smoke.
So in a very real sense, they went to hell and back and didn't smell like smoke.
So it didn't even, the fire didn't even touch them.
But I love what they, the comment that they made when he was putting him in the fire.
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, yeah.
He said, when he's, you know, they said, we're not going to bow to you and our God will save
us.
But even if he doesn't, we will still not bow down to you.
How many of us have that same, you know, courage to say even if he doesn't.
So let me ask you, Annette, have you ever had anyone check you up in your faith?
I mean, just get in your face and check you up.
I don't think I have like you have.
I have.
I know.
Yeah, more than once.
I don't think I have.
Yeah, I was a brand new Christian working for an electrical company up in Panhandle,
Texas.
I moved over to another community and it was an old, greasy garage, typical car garage
with a bunch of car parts and cars up on jacks and stuff.
And this big old dude, and he was huge because I was at that time, I was six foot tall.
This guy had to be six four, six five, and he was probably 300 pounds.
He was huge.
All covered in grease.
He had a Harley sitting over in the corner.
He was a biker dude to the core, chains off of him.
He walks up to me, I had on a Christian t-shirt because I'm a new Christian, so I'm excited.
I want everybody to know I'm a Christian.
And I'm like 20 years old.
I'm a kid, 1920.
This dude walks up to me and he gets in my face like stands within a few inches of me.
He looks down at me and he says, and this really with no expression, do you really believe
that?
He's looking at my shirt.
And this could only be the Holy Spirit because without even hesitating, I said, yes, sir,
I do.
He sat there for a minute and then he said, so do I.
So do I.
He said, good answer.
He said, I'm proud of you for sticking up for what you believe in.
And we need people to be bold.
And I was like, huh, thank you, Jesus.
And I've had it happen another time.
And then, well, and then you obviously so I took a lesson from his playbook.
And through the years, anytime I see someone, not every time, but you know, for an elevator,
it's a, you know, I don't want to just make embarrass anybody, but I will.
I'll say things like, do you really believe that?
Like these two guys in the elevator in Dallas recently, we were there for the Gateway Conference.
We jump on the elevator, we're getting ready to go home.
These two young guys jump on the elevator with us and you could tell they'd been at
the conference.
They had Christian t-shirts on and stuff.
And I looked over the sky and I said, you really believe that?
He said, yes, sir, I do.
That's a good answer.
I do too.
So yeah, I've checked up a lot of people through the years.
Now he'll be telling those stories.
I hope so.
Maybe it will help him.
He was bold.
So I appreciated him.
He didn't, he didn't hold back.
All that to say is that we need people to stand up when the whole world is falling down.
If you think about it, these, these Jewish boys, all they had to do was stand when everybody
else fell because when the, when the siren went off or the music went off, the signal,
they didn't have to do anything.
A lot of times we think that standing up means you have to do something that you're not doing.
But if you're already standing, you don't do anything but stand and everyone else falls.
And when everyone else, and you have to look around, is the culture falling right now?
Oh my gosh, culture's falling right and left.
But all we have to do is stay standing.
Right.
It reminds me of Ephesians chapter six.
It says, having done all to stand, stand therefore, having put on the helmet of salvation, the
breastplate of righteousness, the armor of God, it says stand.
So all we have to do is stand when, when no one else is.
So it's not like we do something.
It means we don't do something.
We actually stay standing.
I want to encourage you in your faith journey because you may not get checked up like I
did, but you know, the world is not like it used to, used to be.
The world is not friendly to Christians anymore.
At least America is not.
I mean, there are things happening all over America right now that we never thought would
happen in terms of, of intolerance and hatred and accusation and, you know, because we don't
give in to everything that the culture is leaning to in wokeism and all that.
We don't give into it.
We don't agree with it.
So now we're considered haters only because we're standing for the, what we believe the
word of God tells us to do and be.
Incorrect because we're not haters.
We're just not lovers of those things.
That's right.
And we're not out parading or protesting or carrying signs or doing anything.
We're just trying to live our lives for God.
And it's just a different world right now.
But here's the thing.
I remember that song by Aaron Tippett years ago.
Oh my gosh.
I don't even remember.
If you don't, it says, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
I mean, it's a great country song and I'm not even a country fan, but I like that one
because I like the line of that.
If you, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
I think that's a lot of, there's some wisdom in that because we do, we have to take a stand
and be unashamed of the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And the scripture tells us, I love what Paul says, I am unashamed of the gospel of Jesus
Christ for is the power of God unto salvation.
And that's the thing is we need to, we need to not hide who we are, not be ashamed.
And this is not the time to be silent.
I agree.
I totally agree.
Are you saying amen over here?
You're my amen corner over there.
Chevy's my amen corner.
Well, listen, I just, I want to encourage you.
Here's how we stand up.
First of all, we tell our gospel story and our gospel story doesn't mean this is how
perfect I am because I figured it all out.
Our gospel story sounds more like, you know, I don't know everything quite yet.
I'm learning, but here's what I know.
And then what do you know?
Well, I know that God loves me even in spite of my mistakes, even in spite of my, you know,
my strikes, you know, it's a swing and a miss, even in spite of my poor choices or my bad
habits that aren't, haven't been redeemed yet.
I'm on a growth track.
I'm in process and God's working in my life.
And so we tell our gospel story.
That's one way you stand up.
Another way you stand up is to not give in and participate in everything that's going
on around you just because it's happening around you.
You don't have to do what everybody else is doing.
And it may mean you don't get invited to some things anymore.
It may mean you're not going to be the most popular person in the room, but you don't
have to do what everybody else is doing.
Right.
Especially if it compromises your faith.
Exactly.
Yeah.
I do want to encourage you.
I know this is some heavy stuff, but I mean, these guys were willing to die.
They were willing to lay their lives down.
There's so many stories like that in the Bible because you've got Abraham and Isaac.
Yeah.
Got Esther who got Josh, young Joshua.
You talked about Esther the week before.
Young Joshua.
You're going to talk about Daniel.
I think this week.
Daniel and the lion's den talk about facing death.
Yeah.
Not long after this, Nebuchadnezzar strikes again.
I mean, Daniel gets tossed into a lion's den and ends up petting him.
I mean, like a bunch of kittens with him.
And so he shows again the power of God.
And not that God always protects because sometimes things happen.
And people do lose their lives and many in the Scriptures lost their lives because of
the gospel, because of following Christ.
And so Dietrich Bonhauer, he was a prisoner of war but a great theologian.
He died in a jail cell just before the war ended, like 16 days.
If he hadn't died before that, he would have been released and free.
But he wrote amazing, amazing...
I can't remember the name of his book.
I can't call it offhand.
But he said this quote that always stuck with me.
Jesus bids a man come and die.
That's heavy.
And the question is, not only are we willing to stand up for our faith, but if worse comes
to worse, are we willing to die for it?
Wow.
So I asked that question in church on Sunday.
It got very quiet.
Because you know, we've got...
Our borders are all open.
We know there's crazy things.
And we're just three hours from the border here.
Where crazy things are happening in this world and you know, who knew...
I mean, Israel would be attacked the way they were so abruptly and caught everybody off
guard.
So now the Middle East is flared up.
9-1-1, same thing.
Caught everybody off guard.
If you don't think about it now, what are you going to do when the time comes, if the
time does come?
Hopefully it won't.
Right.
But you know, it has come for a lot of people.
It has.
There are believers dying all over our planet right now, particularly in Eastern countries
and Africa that are Muslim dominated.
I mean, there are people literally dying for it.
Dying for their faith and dying for Christ.
I know this is heavy, but the thing is, Jesus was willing to die for us.
So why wouldn't we be willing to die for Him?
And so yeah, it's heavy subjects.
And actually when I shared that in church on both services on Sunday, I had a couple
come to me and you could tell they were heavy.
It was really heavy on them.
And they said to me, we had no idea.
We've never heard this said in a church before in all of our years.
And we had no idea where you were going to go.
We had this conversation, me and my wife, and she's standing there just last night.
Wow.
We were sitting around the table, the dinner table after we'd eaten, talking.
And we started saying things like, what would we do if we were threatened?
What would we do if we were told to renounce our faith?
What would we do if we were invaded and taken over and now we don't have any freedom anymore?
They said we had this conversation last night.
So they were blown away because they were like, this is confirmation.
I think after preaching it on Sunday, a lot of people are probably having that conversation.
I hope so.
And part of my role as a teacher, not just a preacher, but a teacher is to provoke thought
and provoke conversations.
And it's not about fear, but it's about, okay, how are you going to live the rest of your
life?
Exactly.
Are you going to live for him or are you going to live for yourself?
Yeah.
Are you going to live in fear?
And so I choose faith over fear.
Right.
There you go.
So I want to encourage you.
We know that this podcast goes out all over the world.
We've heard from people all over the world and I've got the analytics map that shows
that we're literally all over the world.
And so we know that.
And so I know I'm speaking into cultures right now that may be facing this a lot more than
we are right now.
And we're for you and Jesus is for you.
And let me just say this, think about what would you do if you were at the tip of a spear
or the tip of a rifle or a knife told to recant your faith or die?
And you need to decide that now what you would do so that if you were ever to face that,
you wouldn't try to be making that decision in the moment in fear.
And I know that's heavy thinking, but it's just living with situational awareness and
realizing if we have to give our life, bottom line for a believer is it's a win-win proposition.
If you live, you win.
You get to breathe another day and live another day.
But if you die, you're in the presence of God where we long to be.
We remember our hearts, our minds and our hearts remember Eden, but our spirit longs
for heaven.
And so it's a win-win proposition.
So I want to encourage you.
You may not have to die for your faith, but you may have to speak up.
You may have to speak up in a friend group.
Not compromise your faith.
You may have to speak up in a family situation.
Exactly.
Christmas, Thanksgiving, boy, this is when it gets hard on people during the holidays
when they have to get around people that don't show the faith that they have.
And what are you going to do?
Let's start at home, like right here.
What are you going to do here?
We don't even have to go as far as what's going to happen if someone tries to hurt me.
What are you going to do during the holidays when you're around your family and they don't
believe anything that you believe?
How are you going to handle that?
Are you going to compromise or are you going to stand up in love?
Everything we do, we should do in love no matter what.
Of course.
We never pour it down people's throat.
But you may be the only Bible your family, your friends ever read.
Exactly.
So let them read you and let them see that you're not perfect, but see that you're leaning
into faith and leaning into Jesus.
So we love you.
That's our topic for the day.
This is heavy, heavy stuff.
We want to shift gears now.
We want to, we've got some beautiful things to share and just want to say thank you so
much for reaching out to us.
I'm going to start with some boostograms.
I'm not going to go in particular order here, but Ralph Pacheco with 10,000 sats total,
he writes this note, Hey, hey, hey, I want to hear about Jimmy's guitars.
Oh, do you have some for sale now?
Well, I'm just saying, does he have two hours?
Cause we could talk about them.
I've got about eight of them hanging around me right now.
I know, but I thought you were going to put them up for sale because you're like, whoa,
whoa, whoa, slow down, slow your roll girl.
I'm getting more warm up to the idea that I don't need eight.
So we'll see what happens.
Are you sure there's only eight?
Well, if the Lord has me give them away.
Okay.
Well, that's your problem.
You have to do what God tells you to do.
He says, I believe playing an instrument can bring you closer to God.
I agree with that, Ralph.
My son is 13 years old.
His school has one of the most amazing music programs to see all those kids performing
music at such an impressive level.
It gives you a religious feeling.
My son plays standup bass and a Hoffner bass, Paul McCartney style, share your love of guitar
with the children, get them on stage playing some chords.
They will receive the gift of music through God.
Ralph, I totally agree with that.
It has been a blessing my entire life.
Well, you taught our son how to play guitar.
Yeah, he became a worship leader.
Yeah, I actually gave him my favorite guitar, my handmade Japanese.
Oh my gosh, an amazing guitar.
Alpereggio, I gave it to him his senior year.
And then what?
Two months later, it got stolen.
It got stolen.
Someone broke in our home.
It broke in our house in California.
Stole it.
It was not cool.
But anyway, yeah, he became a worship leader and now he's a lead pastor.
And I think it's because he found the gift of music.
So thank you, Ralph, for your blessing.
And then also coming in at 77,777 Sats, that would be Adam the Podfather, the Podfather,
the Podfather Currie.
He says this, listening to bed with my bride sleeping peacefully by my side.
I don't know if he meant that to rhyme or not, but it's pretty cool.
He said, I had to pause the podcast to thank our father for answering my prayer to make
living up in a down world the best God cast in the universe.
Oh, wow.
From Daymanet's opening to the boostograms and value messages and all your wisdom in
between this is perfect.
Much love, my friends.
I need to frame that.
I need to put that in a frame so that every time we do a show, we can just read this to
ourselves.
Thank you, Adam, bro.
Seriously, you're my best friend.
I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you.
That's true.
That's true that you guys inspire you and Tina just inspired us to take the step and
jump out here and podcast land and we're loving it.
We're having a blast.
So thank you.
One of the...and just even reading Adam's boostogram reminds me of what value for value
means and if this show encourages you, you can...and it adds value to you.
You can add value back to us.
One, by boosting us on any of the Podcast 2.0 platforms like Fountain or Cast-O-Matic
and there's many others out there, you can actually do boostograms where you can send
us a note and send us some satoshis.
And that's a great way to just say, hey, we like what you're doing, Jimmy and Nat.
Thank you, guys.
Another way you can show value and this is huge for us is if you think that what we're
doing is helpful and helpful in your walk with Christ and helping you get inspired and
encouraged to live up in a down world, then send our link over to your friends or send
our link over to your family, people that you think could benefit from hearing a God
podcasters, you know, do what we do.
And that's a huge value for us because our heart's to get the good news out and to get
the message of Christ out and help people truly, truly live up and experience life in
Christ.
So that's one way you can...huge way you can help us there.
Here's another boostogram.
This is from Pocket Parley with 5000SATs and they say this, so blessed to add your terrific
podcast to my playlist.
It's another great tool to help me and my family on our spiritual journey.
If I may recommend checking out our Pastors, Pastors, I think Pastors podcast.
It's Pastors, but I think it's Pastors, like pastor.
Signs of the Times out of Calvary, Knoxville.
Oh, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Nice.
It hits on prophecy and biblical news of the week.
Thanks and God bless you guys.
Thank you so much.
And thanks for the reference there, Calvary, Knoxville.
That's awesome.
Tennessee.
I wonder if it's a Calvary Chapel.
Calvary Chapel.
It may be.
I don't know.
We love Calvary Chapel Church.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, thank you, Pocket Parley.
Thanks for the SATs, but also for the encouragement there.
We have another boostogram from Sir Brian with an I showed back up.
Today in the last minute, 4444SATs total.
Now listen to what he says, 4444S for the fourth man in the fire in the 40th episode.
And Dame Annette, that was fantastic intro.
A fantastic intro.
You should stay at the helm.
I agree.
I so agree.
Oh, wow.
Love you, Pastor Jimmy.
It's all right.
You didn't hurt my feelings because I am in total agreement, Brian with an I, that she
should stay at the helm.
Can't wait to see you all at the meetup.
Thank you both for your guidance.
This is the meetup we're going to be at.
We're going to do a triple meetup in Austin.
What's the date on that?
Do you remember?
December.
December or November?
Oh, gosh.
You look that up.
And while you're at it, I'm going to talk about it.
So there's going to be a triple threat meetup with Curry and the Keeper.
No agenda, living up in a down world.
Me and Adam did this before.
We had a blast meeting all the folks in Austin.
November 18th.
November 18th is Saturday afternoon.
Yes, from four to six.
I'm doing a memorial service that morning and it's in Austin.
I don't know the location.
At a restaurant or somewhere.
Yeah, yeah.
It's like a bar and grill thing.
It's like this cool place out back.
But I did that with Adam and it was so cool to meet these amazing people.
Emma shocked at how many knew about our podcast.
So he said, you're going to find people.
And I'm like, yeah, I was shocked.
But Sir Brian with I, looking forward to seeing you again.
And yeah, we will be there.
But the girls are coming too.
So Tina and.
Yes, we're all coming.
The keeper and Damon that will be there.
We leave the next day for our trip.
Yeah, we're going.
Where are we going?
Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
We were gifted because this is Pastor Appreciation Month.
Yes.
And an anonymous person or church.
We know who it is, but gifted us with a cabin out in Pagosa Springs, Colorado on this beautiful
ranch that's a retreat center.
And so we're going to go out there to celebrate our thirty first anniversary.
And it's the week of Thanksgiving.
We'll be off anyway.
We'll be off.
So it's going to be beautiful.
So we'll thank we'll celebrate Thanksgiving.
We'll be thankful.
Celebrate our anniversary in the Rocky Mountains.
Super excited about that.
Last thing, Sir Brian, I says thank you both for your guidance.
Sir Brian, we love you, man.
Looking forward to hugging your neck and seeing you soon.
Now we've also got some just some beautiful notes from people who wrote into our website.
By the way, our website is living up in a down world dot com.
And you can send us a note.
You can do a review.
You can send an email.
You can comment, whatever we would love to hear from you.
So this is from Ashley Slater.
Hello, Jimmy and Annette.
Just want to reach out and say I truly enjoy your podcast.
I know you two have a lovely friendship with Tina and Adam.
And if all goes as planned, I am going to spend my 40th birthday in Fredericksburg and
attend your church that Sunday with Tina, Adam and my husband.
Did she say when?
I don't know yet.
I sure hope I get to meet you two while we are in town.
I'm sure we will.
We'll we'll know.
I am new to faith.
Isn't that beautiful?
That is actually we're so proud of you.
I have pushed hard against it for many years, but I am definitely being nudged and I'm making
steps toward understanding more fully the difference between having faith and believing
your podcast and the stories you share helping me along in this journey.
I just wanted to say your podcast is a blessing.
Thank you.
No crickets today for you guys.
That's funny.
That's beautiful.
Ashley, we are so proud of you.
40th birthday coming up.
I don't know the date, but I would we would love to meet you and connect and just hug
your neck and say way to go.
We're cheering you on.
So thank you for that beautiful note.
Isn't that cool?
Oh, and there was one thing we didn't share about Adam that is a breakthrough moment for
us.
He was able to attend church Sunday morning first service.
Typically he has to watch it online.
And Tina attend second service.
But with her being gone, he changed his schedule because he said God's been convicting him
to be in church.
So he came and it was so good to see my two best friends on the front row, my wife and
Adam.
And I forgot to compliment him on his teeth.
His teeth are stunning.
I just was so I think I was just so excited that he was there.
And he does teeth are fantastic.
And I forgot, Adam, you looked amazing as always.
But I know you're so happy to have this process finished.
And it's done.
Hopefully it looks fantastic.
Nothing else will ever have to happen.
Yeah, no, he looks great.
But it was just so amazing for me to be doing what I do preaching those services and see
my best friend on the front row and then you my other best friend.
I didn't know if he should sit next to you and I should sit on the other side.
But anyway, I had to say that because I'm so proud of him for being there.
We got another great this is exciting to me but Trinity devil, devil this is her name.
And she wrote in and what Trinity has been a contributor through several months.
So it was so cool to hear from her.
So she says, Hello, been listening since episode one, it's finally time to thank you for sharing
your journey.
You have brought God into the forefront of my life and have nourished my journey in faith
more than anyone else.
I'm often moved to tears when I listen to the most recent episode.
And you were discussing exactly what has been heavy on my heart.
The way God is working through you both as a testimony to his love and awesomeness.
Thank you both for changing my life.
Oh my gosh.
Wow, I know I'm just blown away.
And she shared something a little more personal, so I'm not going to share that just about
family situation and ask for prayer.
So I've been praying for that situation.
And she ends with you both are the best and means such a great deal to me.
Thank you for sharing your life.
Many thanks and much love Trinity.
So sweet.
I don't even know how to say what to say.
I'm almost I'm rarely speechless.
But Trinity, that is one of those beautiful letters that we've ever received.
And we're so we're so honored, honored and thankful and humbled that that we can help
you in this journey and be here to encourage you.
We're here for you.
And oh, just we want to meet all of you in person.
Everybody that writes, somehow, some way, we want to meet you.
And so and we've been able to meet some.
So I think a lot more in the future.
Right?
Here's another one.
This is from Nancy Moore.
I'm not going to go into all the details on this one, but I'm going to give the highlights.
She said, You've brought comfort to my son and I.
Oh, and we listen today to your podcast about bent, not broken.
Wow.
I know that spoke to both of us.
Know that you are definitely reaching people in a big way.
You both are certainly helping a young man who has suffered heartbreak.
He's 20 years old, by the way, multiple times in his young life.
He was baptized Catholic, but is on his own journey with Jesus as he should be.
Both of you are a part of that, along with Adam and Tina.
We also watch Bridge Church Services on YouTube, which we both really enjoy.
And because of the podcast and the services, my son and I have had some awesome conversations
about Jesus.
What's most amazing about that is that my son doesn't talk to many people.
He suffers from a condition.
He talked to me and his dad, and now it's me.
But I know Jesus is helping him find his voice and his people.
Thank you both so much for being who you are and doing what you do.
You are definitely helping us live up in a down world.
Sorry, this was so long.
She writes, don't be sorry.
It blesses us.
Blessings to you both.
And thank you again, Nancy Moore.
Oh, that's beautiful.
Nancy, thank you and your son, awesome son.
We are so honored to receive this from you.
And thank you for showing us some love.
And that's another way to show values, to write and encourage.
It's not always about money and dollars and stuff.
It's about value is bigger than money.
It's more about the heart.
The heart.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Nancy.
By the way, Nancy, I've spent time in prayer for you specifically about the situation and
lifting you and your son up.
Thank you.
Gosh, doesn't that mean?
Doesn't that blow your mind?
One last one.
This is from Sir Bia's Grace.
I love David Wicker.
I do too.
I want to meet him.
David's become a buddy.
We've got to meet.
He's become a bro.
We've got to meet.
He's a bro.
David, thank you so much.
He writes often, so we get a lot of things going back and forth.
But I just want to share this.
It's so encouraging.
He says, you don't need to hear this from me, but great sermon yesterday.
So he watches our podcast from Bridge Church.
He says, I have, I think, a new routine for Sunday.
After I worship and serve at 1122, that's the church he attends.
It's called 1122.
I jump in the truck and kick your sermon on.
I walk Greta.
I walk with Greta, I think.
Yeah, I walk with Greta and finish yours while walking.
You preached on one of my favorites.
I love that event in our Bible, the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
We just talked about it.
And I've always learned it to be a Christophany.
I've always heard and been taught that the other in the fire was Jesus.
I love your take.
We don't know.
We do know it happened.
You did a very great job.
Again, for what it's worth, I was stoked for you and your congregation, which included
me and Greta.
He says, this technology has done a lot of harm, but what the enemy meant for evil, think
how fast the lie of coronavirus infected our earth.
That's how fast all can hear his gospel.
That's a cool, good take.
Good take, David.
We all saw the lie spread like wildfire.
How about the truth?
We're with you, brother.
You better preach.
And then he says, come Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all, serve by his
grace.
Do you really believe that?
It's so good.
That's wonderful.
Do you really believe that?
Wow.
Thanks, David.
Listen, that's the end of our show.
And I mean, what a privilege.
Are you going to sneeze?
I see a sneeze building right now.
Don't do it.
It's like the more you think about the more it's probably going to happen.
That's true.
Hey, we love you guys.
Do check out our website, livingupinadownworld.com.
And you can also listen to all of our messages and our worship service at bridgefbg.com.
Bridgefbg.com.
Come check us out.
We love you.
She's about to.
She's right there.
She's trying not to.
We love you.
Have a great week on purpose.