1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Don't get down when you're seeing the worst. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Because the last will be the first. 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:12,000 What a day, I'm telling you. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000 All things will be new. 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000 Living up in a down world. 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Yeah, we're living. Yeah, we're living. 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Living up in a down world. 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,000 Oh. 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,000 This is Jimmy and not Annette today. 10 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,000 In fact, I have a special guest today. 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,000 We call him around here PB. 12 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,000 That's short for Pastor Brian Mendel. 13 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,000 But for the show's sake, it's going to be Jimmy and Brian. 14 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:40,000 Will that help? 15 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,000 It gets a little weird calling each other pastor all the time face to face. 16 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Oh, yeah. Glad to be here. 17 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,000 Welcome to Living Up in a Down World. 18 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Thank you for having me. 19 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Super excited about having you. 20 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 Annette went on a birthday excursion with her friend Tina. 21 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:53,000 Yeah. 22 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,000 And she just got back yesterday and she said, 23 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,000 I'm not doing it. I'm not doing the podcast. 24 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,000 She's like, I'm off this week. 25 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:00,000 She stayed home this morning. 26 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000 I'm back up here at the office and in the studio today. 27 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,000 So I knew that was going to happen. 28 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,000 So I'd reached out to you earlier and said, hey, man, can you, you want to be on the show? 29 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,000 And I'm pumped to talk with you on here. 30 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,000 Thanks, bro. We got a lot to talk about. 31 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Yes, we do. 32 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,000 God's up. Aslan is on the move, as we say. 33 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:17,000 He is. 34 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,000 He's moving big time in our midst. 35 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,000 I mean, we had an amazing Easter Sunday. 36 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:24,000 Oh, my gosh. 37 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,000 Give a little recap of what we prayed for and what we ended up with. 38 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Yeah. I mean, we've been praying big, hairy, audacious prayers in general here at the church. 39 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:38,000 But, you know, specifically we were asking the Lord to bring a thousand people to Easter services 40 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,000 in the little town of Fredericksburg, which is a, that's a big ask. 41 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:42,000 It is. 42 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,000 And he did. A thousand thirty-six people showed up over three services 43 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 and they spread out over three services. 44 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:50,000 That was a miracle in itself. 45 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,000 It worked amazingly well. 46 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:57,000 Everybody had an amazing experience with the Lord and it was just smooth. 47 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:02,000 And we both walked out of there saying, I think, man, that didn't feel any more chaotic than normal. 48 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:03,000 I literally left. 49 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,000 We drove out of the parking lot and, you know, a typical three Sunday day. 50 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:13,000 And I told Annette, I said, I don't feel any more tired or more stressed or anything 51 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:18,000 than we would on a normal Sunday because everybody executed and it went really well. 52 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,000 And like you said, we just believe everybody had a great experience. 53 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,000 And I know I did. It was phenomenal. 54 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:25,000 Oh, yeah. 55 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,000 And yeah, I mean, so grateful, so grateful for our team. 56 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Well, it just reminded me that, you know, when you bring things before the Lord 57 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:40,000 and you ask him to come through and ask for wisdom, he has a way of just bringing peace over everything you do. 58 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:41,000 And that's what I felt that morning. 59 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,000 I was like, this is peaceful. This is great. 60 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,000 This is what we're supposed to be doing. 61 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,000 I think this is my favorite Easter service that I can ever remember. 62 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,000 Simply because I was so proud of how our people pulled everything off. 63 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,000 But two, we didn't try to do something like over the top crazy. 64 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:01,000 You know, a lot of churches, no knock on them, but there's a lot of churches that do massive productions and pageants and all that. 65 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:09,000 Oh, by the way, if you hear beeping, hammering, drills, yelling, it's the sound of progress. 66 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,000 They are continuing the construction. 67 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000 This has been part of what's kept us from doing some of our podcasts or thrown us off 68 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000 is because it has been super loud around here. 69 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:23,000 But we're getting all new offices, a whole bank of offices, but happens to be right next door to us. 70 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,000 So anyway, if you hear stuff beeping, don't worry. 71 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:30,000 Nothing's going to blow up. You're good to go. Your car's not on fire. You're great. 72 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,000 So, yeah, great weekend. 73 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Also last weekend, just got to bring this up a little bit, Annette and I, and we also brought Tina Curry with us. 74 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:48,000 We actually were invited to go to a fundraiser for an organization called America's Future. 75 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:57,000 And it's an organization that does a lot of work in the area of child trafficking and rescue and just a phenomenal organization. 76 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:01,000 They're also very committed to raising up the next generation of leaders. 77 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 So a lot of next-gen type stuff that got our attention. 78 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:12,000 The other thing that got our attention is we were invited to go to Mar-a-Lago in Florida, West Palm Beach, for that fundraiser. 79 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:13,000 That's a big deal. 80 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,000 What? OK. And mostly paid for. 81 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:22,000 I mean, the people who invited us were very generous and blessed us with that trip. 82 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,000 And we're like, how could we not go even though it's two days before Easter? 83 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,000 It feels like stuff like this just keeps happening. 84 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,000 Things like this are happening. I'm telling you. 85 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,000 The way I say it is, is we don't generate waves. We just catch the ones that come by. 86 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:42,000 So I'm not trying to create anything or make something happen other than be smack dab in the middle of God's will. 87 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Say, Father, whenever, whatever, wherever, we'll go. 88 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,000 And he just keeps bringing these crazy opportunities. 89 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:55,000 So it was really great. General Michael Flynn spoke. It was very compelling, very powerful. 90 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Vivek, I cannot. Everybody says it. 91 00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,000 I'm not even going to try. 92 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Ram Swaney, he spoke as well. He was a guest speaker and he was compelling. 93 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,000 And the whole time they're saying this is not political, this is not political. 94 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:14,000 It might have been a little political, but it was mostly about taking care of the next generation. 95 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:19,000 And then, interesting enough, Donald Trump made an appearance. 96 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 So he shows up. This wasn't a large group of people. 97 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 There might have been 120, 150, maybe, max. 98 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:34,000 And they were also doing a screening of a movie, a documentary called Into the Light by Mike Smith, 99 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,000 who was a former Hollywood stuntman for 20 plus years. 100 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:39,000 Right. 101 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:45,000 And he broke his back and then ended up beginning to open his eyes and see the corruption in Hollywood. 102 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Well, that led him down the rabbit hole, finding corruption in our government and everything else. 103 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:56,000 And he's really just given his life now to exposing darkness. 104 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,000 That's why it's called Into the Light. 105 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,000 We watched the screening of that together. 106 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:06,000 And right before we did that, man, there was this big commotion at the back. 107 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,000 You look and there's like all kinds of guards and definitely people that look very serious. 108 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,000 And Donald Trump showed up. 109 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,000 He had been in New York City that morning at the funeral of the fallen officer. 110 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,000 And so I thought he's not going to be here. 111 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:25,000 But man, he made an appearance. He got up. He spoke a little bit, shared some things. 112 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:33,000 And whether you're pro Trump or not, pro whatever, Biden, whoever happens to be the big ticket, 113 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:41,000 I think the presence of any either sitting or former president, they carry something big on their lives. 114 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:46,000 When they walk in the room, it's not just because of the bodyguards, security and all that, 115 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:51,000 but they just carry a leadership component that is palpable. 116 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,000 That makes sense. 117 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Well, and I mean, the fact that people like that are in the room shows that there's some importance 118 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:00,000 and some weight to the things being talked about. 119 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:01,000 Absolutely. 120 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,000 And it's funny because we talk about things being political or not political. 121 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,000 But the reality is anything that matters at all is always going to have some political component to it. 122 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,000 Absolutely. How can it not be? 123 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:19,000 In fact, you really segued nicely into that because one of the things I wanted to talk about today 124 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:25,000 is the intersection of Christianity and culture. 125 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:31,000 Should churches and pastors speak into culture or do we just need to stay in our lane, 126 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:37,000 stay in our boxes, in our churches, and just lead people to Jesus and make disciples? 127 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:43,000 Yeah. Well, I think the easy thing to do is to, quote unquote, stay in our lane. 128 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,000 But what does that really mean? 129 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:52,000 I think that that turns into being code for playing it safe, doing what's comfortable, 130 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:57,000 doing what doesn't ruffle feathers, doing what is the least offensive. 131 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:02,000 And yet, my Bible constantly talks about how the gospel is offensive. 132 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:06,000 But Pastor Brian, what about the separation of church and state? 133 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:11,000 Well, yeah. Man, that is, I'd say, often misunderstood sentence right there. 134 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,000 Trust me, it's come up. It's already come up. 135 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:21,000 Well, you know, the separation of church and state was designed to protect the church from government overreach 136 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:26,000 and government reaching in and controlling and dictating what the church is doing. 137 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:32,000 It was never designed to keep the church from influencing the state, influencing culture, influencing government. 138 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:40,000 I mean, the entire New Testament from ax on forward is replete with story after story of how Jesus' people 139 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,000 were turning the culture upside down. 140 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:47,000 Yeah, they were even called those people that are turning the world upside down. 141 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,000 Exactly. 142 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,000 And that wasn't just in synagogues. They weren't just hanging out around campfire. 143 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:53,000 That's right. 144 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,000 They were engaging leadership. 145 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:02,000 John the Baptist speaks to the governor and calls him out and says, you're off the rails. 146 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:08,000 Your morality, your judgment is coming because this isn't the New Testament. 147 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,000 This is under the grace, so to speak, instead of law. 148 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:16,000 And yet, he calls out and it cost him his life. He paid a high price for that. 149 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:17,000 That's right. 150 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:18,000 But he spoke truth. 151 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:25,000 Jesus himself called Herod, King Herod, a fox in front of a group of people. 152 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:32,000 So Jesus spoke truth to power. John the Baptist, the baptizer, he's not a Southern Baptist, 153 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,000 John the baptizer spoke truth to power. 154 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:42,000 And then you've got another incident where the apostle Paul was brought before Felix and his wife, Jerusalem. 155 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:48,000 Felix wanted to know this stuff he's talking about, Jesus, come tell me about that. 156 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:55,000 Paul launches into this speech, talks to him about righteousness, about judgment and wrath. 157 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:00,000 And Felix loses his mind. He's like, okay, that's enough. 158 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:07,000 He actually tells him to be quiet. And he says, go away and I will call for you when I'm ready for you. 159 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,000 Because the scripture says Felix was scared in the NIV. 160 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:19,000 He was scared. So you've got these great people that we go, oh my gosh, Jesus, John the baptizer, the apostle Paul. 161 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Now let's start down the list of the Old Testament prophets who spoke truth to power. 162 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:26,000 How about Esther? 163 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:33,000 Oh my gosh, what a heroine sounds bad, but she's a giant in the faith. 164 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,000 For such a time as this, Mordecai told her. 165 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:43,000 I heard a pastor say one time that the whole book of Esther is a political intrigue thriller. 166 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,000 That's brilliant. That's spot on too. 167 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:54,000 You got a woman of God called by God, given a position of authority to speak into government. 168 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:59,000 And she did nothing to get that position. God literally miraculously positioned her. 169 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:05,000 That's right. And it wasn't like she had an opportunity to do something good. 170 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:07,000 And it was sort of a take it or leave it opportunity. 171 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:13,000 I mean, it was everything fell on her obedience or her disobedience. 172 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:19,000 And it even says in one point in the book of Esther, you know, if you fail to act in this moment, 173 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:24,000 deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your family will be judged. 174 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,000 Was that Mordecai that was saying that to her? I think it was Mordecai. 175 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:32,000 He also is the one who said right at the next verse, if I remember that correctly, 176 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:36,000 he said, could it be that you were born for such a time as this? 177 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:41,000 So if you've ever heard that cliche for such a time as this, it comes from the book of Esther 178 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:46,000 as she was speaking to power and navigating the political scene. 179 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:53,000 And so it's so interesting how I remember being at a place in my life not that long ago 180 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:59,000 where I just thought, you know what, I need to stay in my lane. I'm a pastor. 181 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:04,000 I'm called the shepherd, the sheep, you know, but I forgot some important things. 182 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:09,000 One of them was the Lord's model prayer where he says this, and when you pray, say, 183 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:15,000 our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. And in the very next phrase, arrested me. 184 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:25,000 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth. That as it is in heaven, that got all over me 185 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:31,000 and began to really, the Holy Spirit worked that down into me where I began to make these. 186 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:38,000 It's like I had a different lens on where I began to see the world as, oh, they're just lost. 187 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:42,000 They're broken. Or as my granddad used to say, they're going to hell in a hand basket. 188 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,000 You know, let them go. Let them go do their thing. And yet, Jesus' prayer, 189 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:52,000 when the disciples said, teach us how to pray, was a charge. It was a mandate. 190 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:59,000 And we see in Matthew 28, what's called the Great Commission or the apostolic mandate, 191 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:05,000 we actually see the answer to that prayer. And the answer to that prayer is you and me. 192 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:10,000 That's right. And everybody listen. We got to go. We got to put the go back in the gospel. 193 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:17,000 In that, he talks about, we are to go and make disciples of the nations. And there it is. 194 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:22,000 So your kingdom come, you will be done on earth. We're to go and disciple the nations. 195 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:29,000 You put those two together. That's a powerful mandate. And does that involve politics? 196 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,000 Everything in life involves politics. And really, let's get it straight, right? 197 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:39,000 I mean, politics has inserted itself into all of the meaningful things in our lives. 198 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:43,000 Nailed it. And then tried to kick us out of those things. 199 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,000 And so really, it's not about, it's something political. It's like rather than the politics 200 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:55,000 and agendas of parties coming in and dictating to us what we should think and why we should think it, 201 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:00,000 it's time for us to speak back what God is saying, what the Bible is saying, 202 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:05,000 and bringing truth into those environments so that we're not let off course. 203 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:09,000 There you go. So where do you think, where did the breakdown come? 204 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Because you know, not 50, 60, 70 years ago, which in historical terms is a spot. 205 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:20,000 I mean, it's like a barely a mark on a page. It's a very short time. 206 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:26,000 So in a very short time, there's been a massive reversal where at one point we understood 207 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:30,000 because of the Declaration of Independence mentioning God four times, 208 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:35,000 the Constitution having biblical principles throughout it, even though they can quote the Bible, 209 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,000 the principles are there, and then you've got the Bill of Rights. 210 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,000 I mean, you go down the list, which are protecting separation church and state, 211 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,000 which again is to protect the church from government overreach, 212 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:50,000 not protect the government from the church or the culture from the church. 213 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:55,000 So in a very short amount of time, we didn't just go down a slippery slope. 214 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,000 We fell off a cliff. We did. What's your take on that? 215 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,000 That's a big question. I think like most things, it wasn't one big event. 216 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,000 It was death by a thousand cuts. There you go. 217 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:13,000 And little by little, pieces of ground being taken away from the church and from believers 218 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:20,000 and us being convinced as followers of Jesus to be quiet about things that we needed to not be quiet about. 219 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,000 And like, oh, it's just prayer in schools. It's not that big a deal. 220 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:27,000 You can pray in your churches. You can pray in your homes. You can pray anywhere else. 221 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,000 But we just don't want to offend anybody at school. 222 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:33,000 We're going to take the Ten Commandments off the walls. 223 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:39,000 We're going to redirect the founding documents of our universities 224 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:43,000 and begin to change the kind of core tenets and curriculum. 225 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:49,000 And we're going to take creation out of science, and we're going to insert evolution. 226 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,000 And so, one by one... 227 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,000 Not to mention the murder of millions of babies. 228 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,000 Murder of millions of babies. 229 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,000 We're going to change our view on when life begins. 230 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,000 That's right. That's right. 231 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:07,000 And then mixed in with that, I think we've been sold a bill of goods about this idea that we're a democracy. 232 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,000 And that's not actually the truth of what we are. 233 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:17,000 It's not truth. In fact, I hear that language on the news and in news feeds nonstop from the left saying, 234 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,000 we're a democracy. And I'm like, dude, you need to go back and read the documents. 235 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,000 We are a constitutional republic. We are not a democracy. 236 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:31,000 That is such a misrepresentation. And they're trying to reframe the Constitution. 237 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:32,000 That's right. 238 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:37,000 And you say something loud enough, long enough, strong enough, people will begin to believe it. 239 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:41,000 For example, climate change. Do we want to open that can of worms? 240 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,000 Climate change is a scam. 241 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:56,000 Do you know that since the 1930s, globally on average, we are only one centigrade warmer than we were in the 1930s? 242 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Right. 243 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000 We are not warming. The planet is not warming. 244 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:04,000 We are actually still in the end of the recovery of the last ice age. 245 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:05,000 That's right. 246 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:06,000 I mean, we're still there. 247 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,000 In the broader scheme of long-term history, we're actually on the cooler side of things. 248 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:11,000 We're cooler side of things. 249 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:12,000 Yeah. 250 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:16,000 So that kind of stuff. So what happens is I'm thinking about climate change because that's all you hear now. 251 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,000 Right. 252 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,000 Oh, the climate, the climate, we've got to, you know, so here's what we're going to do. 253 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,000 We're going to talk about government overreaching control. 254 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,000 You're now going to be driving an electric car 10 years from now. 255 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:26,000 Yeah. 256 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:34,000 Everybody's going to be driving, notwithstanding how much power, how much it takes to build an electric car, what it does with the batteries. 257 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:40,000 All the man, it is such a scam. And all it is, it's a leverage for overreach. 258 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,000 And there are trillions of dollars swirling around into people's pockets. 259 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,000 Well, they've created industry around it. 260 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:46,000 Yeah. 261 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:52,000 Complete industry. But the sad part for me is not just the industry has been created, but now it's being forced on the American people. 262 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:53,000 That's right. 263 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,000 And globally, actually, this is around the globe. This isn't just America. 264 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:02,000 And so we've got this slippery slope that turned into a cliff. 265 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,000 Like I said, death by a thousand cuts. But suddenly you look up and like, we're dead. 266 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:07,000 I mean, like we're bleeding out. 267 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,000 Yeah. 268 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,000 And so anyway, wow. 269 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:21,000 We've given up a lot of ground. And we live in the most probably, maybe apart from Israel, the most unique nation in the history of the world. 270 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:26,000 Where freedom was given from the beginning. 271 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:27,000 Yeah. 272 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:33,000 And one of the longest standing constitutions that's ever happened, we've ever had. 273 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:45,000 It's miraculous. Well, I mean, the whole idea of being a constitutional republic like you brought up, I mean, it's unique in the world and in the history of the world for a country to be formulated that way. 274 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:56,000 You know, because the difference between a constitutional republic and a democracy is that you've got a country that was founded on the idea that our rights come from God. 275 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,000 God, there it is. 276 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Unalienable. 277 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:06,000 Unalienable rights that are given by our creator to the people. And it's a government that's run by the people and for the people. 278 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:07,000 Supposed to be. 279 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,000 Supposed to be. Let's be real. 280 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:17,000 But it's not designed to be a government that's run based on popular opinion of the time or majority consensus. 281 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:25,000 It's the idea that the basic tenets and foundations of what's right and wrong, of who we are as a people, of what our rights are, we don't determine that. 282 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:30,000 And it's not based on our whims and feelings and the way culture changes over time. 283 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:35,000 It's permanently established by God. And that is what governs us as a nation. 284 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:51,000 But what's happened, and man, you just nailed it, but what's happened is that we've, not we, but people have come along, groups have come along, powerful interest groups have come along, and said, yeah, but there are no true absolutes. 285 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:57,000 So let's do away with absolutes. Let's make sure that we're relevant to the times that we're in. 286 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:09,000 And then you have now situational ethics. You've got relativism. Then you've got the influence of Marxism, socialism, communism, Maoism, all coming in. 287 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:15,000 And again, death by a thousand cuts. That's a great line that you said a minute ago. I really want to just accentuate that. 288 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:25,000 Death by a thousand cuts, where now this is so seeped into the culture. And what they've done, which is brilliant, but Satan is very smart. 289 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:37,000 He's a liar and the father of it, and a strategist. What they have done is they realized, and cigarettes and cars did this years ago, where they build brand loyalty with the next generation. 290 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:48,000 They start advertising marketing to kids. Now that's an old trick. I mean, one of the oldest tricks in the book, because you look up a generation from now and look who's running the country. 291 00:20:48,000 --> 00:21:01,000 So now we've got it. Hey, there's the hammering. Bring it on. So there, now you've got, you've got this grooming of a culture, grooming of the next generation. 292 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:11,000 And now they are all beginning to come into their upper teens, into their twenties, and they're still living at home. They don't want to get a driver's license. They don't want to work, by God. 293 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,000 We want the government. We want to depend on the government for our sustenance. 294 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:26,000 Well, you know what makes me upset when I think about things like this is there's no end or shortage of Christians out there who are upset about these things or upset about what's going on with the next generation, 295 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:36,000 and can rail about it online and on social media and things like that. But I see very few who are willing to do anything actually courageous. 296 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:44,000 Yeah, I'll call those keyboard Christians. They're sitting behind their computer spewing stuff online, but not getting up off their blessed assurance and doing something. 297 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,000 Yeah. I mean, I love what Pastor Alan Jackson says when he talks about this. 298 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:58,000 The answer to this is not finding the right leader or another politician. Exactly. The answer isn't a protest that's going to happen. 299 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:05,000 But really the answer starts with every Christian pointing the finger at themselves and going, where do I need to repent? 300 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:12,000 How do I need to commit to discipleship in a deeper way personally? How do I need to live out my faith more authentically? 301 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:22,000 Because we know that whenever a body of believers are walking closely with Jesus and they're filled with the Holy Spirit, it changes things. It transforms things. 302 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:27,000 The power of God shows up. The miraculous happens, and He can change hearts and minds. 303 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:33,000 I mean, the Bible says that the heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord, and He can turn it any way that He wants. 304 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:39,000 But He's waiting for us as His people to take our place before He's going to move on our behalf. 305 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:43,000 I love the line I heard a while back. We are not without great hope. That's right. 306 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:54,000 And so, you know, the idea that a small group of people turn the world upside down in Jesus' generation, His disciples, it can happen again. 307 00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:01,000 And it's happened classically and it's happened cyclically over the years, generations. And so we can turn this around. 308 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:07,000 And that's why I started speaking out from the pulpit. I've had some—I wouldn't say I've had bad blowback, 309 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:15,000 but I've had some people just caution, caution, be careful. You know, you don't want to get political. And I'm like, too late, too late. 310 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:26,000 The world is political. And if we as leaders do not speak truth to power and speak truth to culture from a prophetic standpoint, 311 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:35,000 like the prophets of old who spoke to kings, the prophets who addressed the ills of the culture and how we've moved away from God, 312 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:41,000 I think about, man, one of the—Nehemiah going to Artaxerxes. Now, they had a good relationship. 313 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:47,000 So he was speaking truth to power not in a combative way or a conflictive way, but he came in a spirit of appeal. 314 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:55,000 That's right. And because of his relationship and his standing, King Artaxerxes said, yeah, and here's a blank check. 315 00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:00,000 Do whatever you need to do. And he went back and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, brought the glory of the city back. 316 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:05,000 And I believe that can happen today. I'm not saying we're going to go buddy up to government, 317 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:11,000 but I'm saying we should never be afraid to step into these arenas and speak truth to power. But don't go with a fight. 318 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:18,000 Don't go with a mentality of, you know, they're my enemy. There's only one enemy that you and I have, and every listener listening. 319 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:26,000 And that is Satan. That is a very real power. And the prince of the power of the air, he's called in Scripture. 320 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:32,000 And he works through fear and intimidation tactics. If he can get you to sit down and be quiet, he'll leave you alone. 321 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:43,000 That's right. Because I'm so at peace because it's just me and Jesus. I'm just going to go, man, just Lord, it's you and me, me and my papa, me and my father. 322 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:50,000 And it's like God's going, yeah, it's good. Now go do something. Go put the go back in gospel. 323 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:59,000 That's right. When I, Book of Acts has always been such a powerful thing for me. And when people say, hey, we just need to stay in your lane. 324 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:05,000 You know, don't get outside. I mean, you know, you're a preacher. You should be preaching the gospel. 325 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:16,000 But then I look at the Apostle Paul, who was compelled, who was motivated, who had visions of a man from Macedonia saying, come over here. 326 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:25,000 Come across the lake. Come over here. How about when he goes to that city and disrupts the entire economy by getting a fortune teller delivered evil spirits. 327 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,000 Got him killed. And got nearly got him killed because when you start touching money out of people's pockets. 328 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,000 Follow the money, touch the money. And boy, you to follow the money is one thing. 329 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:39,000 But when you touch and expose, that's when the enemy's like, oh, we got to stop this right now. 330 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:48,000 Yeah, because really this applies not just to thinking about government and local and national government, but a lot of times this is where you work every day. 331 00:25:48,000 --> 00:26:02,000 I mean, I exactly prior to coming to the bridge, you know, about four months ago, I came out of the corporate world for nine years, you know, working in a entrepreneurial, fast growing company that went from about 30 employees to a thousand over nine years. 332 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:10,000 And got to see a lot of change and development as more and more money began to come into the company. Things like COVID happened. Things are shifting in culture. 333 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:23,000 And I remember there were some moments along the way where I felt ill equipped to reckon with how I was going to live my faith authentically in the midst of some of the pressures that were coming even through my work environment. 334 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:41,000 For example, when the whole pronoun mess started coming out, you know, and there started to be this pressure nationally and corporately that, you know, hey, if you don't call somebody the pronouns that they want to be called, regardless with whether they line up with reality or truth or not, that, you know, you're a bigot. 335 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:48,000 Yeah, hate speech. Yeah, you could lose your job over this. You know, you could be reprimanded. You could get demoted. You're a denier. 336 00:26:48,000 --> 00:27:02,000 And I mean, I felt some of that even in my job. And there were moments as, you know, more of these situations began to arise where I really had to reckon with myself. Like, what am I going to do? Am I going to do what is more comfortable in this situation? 337 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:14,000 Or am I going to be truthful? And I had to realize, man, there could be a cost to this thing. You know, there could come a moment where doing the right thing means I lose my job. 338 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:25,000 Wow. And what am I going to do? Speak into that, Brian, because man, I'm just so with you on this right now. And I'm just feeling you. But I'm also feeling the angst of people who are listening to us. 339 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:41,000 Speak into those who are on the other side of these microphones or driving down the road, maybe driving home from work, you know, to listen to this podcast. What would you say to them? I mean, these are people who are doing life. They're trying to make it do it the best they can. They're trying to keep their head down. 340 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:50,000 What would we say to believers and new and young believers who are caught in some of these situations in culture? 341 00:27:50,000 --> 00:28:10,000 Yeah. Well, I think there's a reminder of what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus, first and foremost. He said, you should count the cost before you follow me. And the implication is there is a cost, you know, and that while the blessings eternally outweigh anything you'll ever go through in your life, 342 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:33,000 there are moments along the way where sticking with Jesus isn't going to be comfortable. It isn't going to feel like a blessing in the moment. But if we believe that God is our source, if we believe that we're sons and daughters, if we believe he loves us and he's for us, and we believe what the scripture says, then we know that he's going to see us through every situation. 343 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:48,000 It may not be the way we want or how we want, but that's really where the rubber meets the road of like, why am I even following Jesus? Am I doing it because of something I thought I was going to be able to get from it? Or am I doing it because he's holy? He is God. 344 00:28:48,000 --> 00:29:11,000 And that's all I need to know. And it's not easy because I've had to reckon in my own heart at multiple points over the last six to eight months of just realizing like, wow, I'm kind of following Jesus in this area of my life because I thought it was going to get me things I wanted, not purely for just who he was. 345 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:25,000 And I think God's had me, he's had me working on that and he's put me in some uncomfortable situations to say, what are you going to do here? What are you going to do here? But he's never left me. He's never failed me. He's never dropped me. He's never abandoned me. 346 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:32,000 And that's, I mean, that's, I'm walking through that right now. We're trying to sell our house still in Nashville. 347 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:47,000 Hey, here's a prayer request folks, prayer alert, prayer flair. Yeah, we moved to Fredericksburg on a word from the Lord from Nashville and put our house up. It's a crazy time to sell a house. It hasn't sold. It's been six months. 348 00:29:47,000 --> 00:30:04,000 I've got two houses now and two payments and it's crazy. And it's been tempting to succumb to the fear and the anxiety that could arise from that. But I find that every time I bring it back to him and say, God, I know you told me to do this, the peace comes back. 349 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,000 Yeah. 350 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:10,000 And I may have to keep bringing it to him, you know, five, 10 times a week. But every time I do, the peace comes. 351 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:11,000 Beautiful. 352 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,000 I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. 353 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:19,000 Man, that's beautiful, brother. Let's bring this down to making it real for real life. 354 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:20,000 Yeah. 355 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:38,000 You know, making it real for real people. There's a great quote of, for years, I have said this a thousand times and probably different aberrations of it. But Dr. Rice Brooks said years ago, and here I just, I have it written here. 356 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:45,000 For every step you take away from the cross, there will be a crowd of people cheering you every step of the way. 357 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,000 Yeah. 358 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:54,000 And I'm thinking about culture today. Culture today has moved so far away from our foundations as a nation. 359 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,000 Yeah. 360 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:02,000 You know, the pilgrims literally came over here because of tyranny and control and because they wanted to practice their religion freely. 361 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:03,000 That's right. 362 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:20,000 That was how it all started. You read the Declaration of Independence, you can't get away from it. And then the Constitution sets it up and then the Bill of Rights later brings these protections and boundaries over free speech, right to protect yourself, separation of churches, all that, all laid out. 363 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:31,000 Our nation has drastically moved away. Even some political pundits have said things publicly that the Constitution is just a piece of paper and it can be changed. 364 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,000 I think it's the next thing they're going after. 365 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:46,000 They will go after it. I don't know that they'll get it. I think it will create a map. So here's how I see things right now. The sleeping giant keeps getting poked. That's the church. 366 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:53,000 Can you imagine if the church came together? Mind you, the church is a wide spectrum of beliefs and people. 367 00:31:53,000 --> 00:32:06,000 I've got friends that are pastors, that are leaders in churches, and they are so on the other end of the spectrum from me. Some of them are wondering if they should still be my friend, but I won't let them get away from me because I'm going to be your friend even if we disagree. 368 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:18,000 I'm going to love you anyway. You can't do anything about it. I just keep confounding them. And I'm going to stay with that because I'm going to love them no matter what, even if I disagree, which our culture needs to remember that. 369 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:19,000 Absolutely. 370 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:24,000 So, like he said, for every step you take away from the cross, there will be a crowd of people cheering you on. 371 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:31,000 There was a time in our culture where it was a small crowd cheering you on. It has become a roar of crowds. 372 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:32,000 A roar. 373 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:40,000 Massive crowds. Myriads of people who are cheering you on when you start taking a step away from the cross. 374 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:50,000 I've got some of my own family who have recently, and some over the last few years, have stepped away from their faith. Young. And we're talking next-gen. 375 00:32:50,000 --> 00:33:00,000 And they have taken steps away even declaring, I don't believe in God anymore. They're angry. They've been hurt. They've had things happen in life that were not good or fair or just. 376 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:05,000 And so they extrapolated from that that God's not with them or he doesn't even exist. 377 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:11,000 And so as a grandparent, you know, it's a heartbreaker. Boy, that'll take you to your knees real quick. 378 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:19,000 But what happened is the moment they started taking steps away, there was a crowd of people around them. 379 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:28,000 They are surrounded by people saying, yeah, you're right. You're right. You're brave. Yeah, you're so courageous. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for speaking your truth. 380 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,000 You know, man, that stuff's happening right now. 381 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:38,000 Man, it makes me think of the prophet Isaiah when he said, woe to those who call good evil and evil good. 382 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:50,000 And it seems like that's so much of what we're seeing right now is things that are flipped on their head, you know, things that God says are good are being called evil and hateful and bigoted. 383 00:33:50,000 --> 00:34:00,000 And then the things that God clearly says are evil are being called good and loving and right and progressive and all the things. Right? 384 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:05,000 Yes. Yes. I remember where it started. It started with a word called tolerance. Do you remember this? 385 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:11,000 I mean, this is 15 years ago when this really started. And I remember us being a little alarmed at the time. 386 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:20,000 Like, man, we're hearing people talk about tolerance, tolerance. And it became a replacement or an extension of the definition of love. 387 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:26,000 But the reality is love is not tolerance of things that are harmful. 388 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:32,000 Love speaks truth, and the scripture tells us in Ephesians 4, speaking the truth in love. 389 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:33,000 That's right. 390 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,000 But what happens is they get out of order, they get out of sync. 391 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:49,000 If I love you and the bridge is out and you're careening towards that bridge, you know, in a car, I have a responsibility to get out from your car, wave you down. 392 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:59,000 Warning, there's a bridge. You're going to drive off a cliff at the rate you're going. And for me, that's not love to go, I don't want to offend them. 393 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:07,000 I don't want to get in their way. I don't want to impose my knowledge upon them that the bridge is out and that they're going to die. 394 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:15,000 Because that would be selfish. That'd be self-serving. And so is that love? 395 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:16,000 No. 396 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:28,000 So, if we sit down and be quiet, if we say we know the truth and we believe it's truth, because really what this reveals is how many people really believe this is the truth and name the name of Christ. 397 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:34,000 Because if you're not convinced, you will be quiet. You won't speak up. You will succumb to the culture. 398 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:40,000 Yeah. I mean, it really breaks down whether it's become religion or if it really is a relationship with a living God. 399 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,000 There it is. 400 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:48,000 Joyce Meyer coined this phrase years ago, believing believers. Are we believing believers? 401 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:58,000 Because you can name the name of Christ, you can get baptized, you can get your certificate, you can attend church, you can do your U-version Bible, 15 devotionals every week. 402 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:04,000 But it comes down to will you stand or will you lean? 403 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:05,000 That's right. 404 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:09,000 The culture is leaning. Christianity stands. Jesus stood. 405 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:15,000 You know, in the book of Revelation, Jesus is speaking to seven different churches at the beginning of the book. 406 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:25,000 And one of them, he's rebuking the church. And what he tells them is you tolerate that woman Jezebel. And Jezebel is the spirit of the age. 407 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:26,000 Right. 408 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:36,000 Or you could say the spirit of Antichrist. It's the spirit of the world that was creeping into a church. And Jesus said, you can't tolerate this. 409 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:37,000 Yeah. 410 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:41,000 That was his instruction. 411 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:44,000 False gods, idolatry, overreach and control. I mean, go down the list on that. 412 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:45,000 Yeah, absolutely. 413 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,000 Yeah. 414 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:47,000 So we have work to do. 415 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:57,000 We have work to do. One of the, I heard I was listening to or watching a podcast with George Barna, who's just a brilliant statistician. 416 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:04,000 I can only take so much of him at a time, to be honest, because his stats are so scary that I can only take so much bad news. 417 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:11,000 But he was on this great, great podcast, Pastor Alan Jackson. And he said this, he said, we are in a war. 418 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:25,000 Now he's referring in the context of that was referring to the next generation, youth and children, that if we don't wake up and reorient ourselves to raise up the next generation, we will lose this thing. 419 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:34,000 Ron Luce of Teen Mania said many years ago, we are one generation from absolute... 420 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:35,000 Paganism. 421 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:43,000 Paganism. Thank you. I lost the word. It was a P word. We are one generation from total paganism. And he said that years ago, years ago. 422 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:48,000 But listen to this quote. Hold that thought because I know you're about to rip. Here we go. 423 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:59,000 This is the quote from George Barna. We are in a war and we are losing the war because we are not raising up warriors. We're raising up spiritual pansies. 424 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:05,000 And he was referring to the next generation. But the indictment isn't on the next generation. The indictment is on the now generation. 425 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,000 How we've instructed them and raised them up. 426 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:19,000 Do you know I heard that quote and I started a text. I didn't finish it because we started this. I'm writing my grandkids right now. I'm going to write them say, just want you know, I prayed for you today. Love you guys. 427 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:28,000 You guys are champions. I'm just going to build them up. So I started it. I've already got it just set up. I'm waiting on one phone number from one of my granddaughters. 428 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:39,000 You know what I've seen is we've gotten to this place where we treat each other, we treat everyone like they're so fragile. They can't hear anything that's not pleasant. They can't hear anything that's difficult. 429 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:49,000 I have a quote for that. I do. This is from Alan Jackson. He says, I'm not in favor of churches who want to deliver a message that is predominantly grace. 430 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:53,000 He says, I believe in grace. If you look up grace, you'll find my picture. I love that. 431 00:38:53,000 --> 00:39:03,000 He says this, but I think our message has to begin in truth. It's like going to a doctor who only wants to give you good news. That's called malpractice. 432 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:08,000 That is. If all the church does is say smile and be happy, you're not helping people. 433 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:19,000 That's not. Wow. I mean, the most transformational moments I've had as a believer were also the hardest moments with the hardest things to hear that I needed to hear. 434 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:29,000 And if there wasn't somebody who loved me, who was willing to tell me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear, I would have never been the man that I've become. 435 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:40,000 Absolutely agree. 100%. I can go back on my life and remember when someone said something to me and I was offended by it. I'm so offended. 436 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:44,000 Now, back then you couldn't do much about offense. You didn't go on Facebook and type out something. 437 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:53,000 You just took it and you're like, well, I'm so upset. I don't want to be their friend anymore. And then you get down the line and go, they were absolutely right. 438 00:39:53,000 --> 00:40:09,000 I needed that. I look back on every... Now, this is going to be really anti-establishment. My dad spanked me profusely. And you know what? I earned every one of them. 439 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:20,000 I mean, there was only one time that there was an unjust thing because I got blamed for something I didn't do. And when my dad found out, he apologized to me. He repented of it. 440 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:33,000 And so, I earned every spanking I got. But you know what? I was taught. And the struggles that we endure, the things we go through, they actually build resilience in our lives. 441 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:44,000 I'm so thankful I played sports and that I had coaches in my face. They were bringing the best out of me by getting in my face. They were bringing better performance. 442 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:54,000 They knew that I was capable of more than I was giving. And they knew how to pull it out of me. Now, today, if a coach just says that, they'll quit the team. You hurt my feelings. 443 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:57,000 And yet, how much do we need resilience today? 444 00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:11,000 Oh man, more than ever. So, we see what the enemy has done in setting up the next generations for failure. And they're going to be the next leaders of our country living in mom's basement. 445 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:23,000 Well, the George Barnistad on this current upcoming generation, Gen Z or whatever it is now, what I read is 1% of them have a biblical worldview. 1%. 446 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:35,000 That's from ages 8 to 12, that generation. The next one is like 2%. Gen Z I think is 3. So, it sort of staggers in those little time blocks. 447 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:37,000 It's almost flat lined. 448 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:47,000 It is. And he said it will get below 1% if we don't act now. And so, one of the things he talked about was reorienting everything back down to your family. 449 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:55,000 Because here's what's under attack. There's three fronts that we're on massive attack right now. The first one is faith. The second one is family. 450 00:41:55,000 --> 00:42:05,000 The third is freedom and liberty. Freedom. It's three F's. It's easy to remember. But these are what are under attack. And that's not political. This is a spiritual war. 451 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:14,000 In fact, the whole thing, because we have to bring politics in it because that's our culture, that doesn't mean we're political in that sense. 452 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:22,000 But it's about, because Jesus, God, the kingdom is all far beyond the red and blue. And whatever the independent color is. 453 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:23,000 So far. 454 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,000 Because they haven't figured out what RFK's color is. 455 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:26,000 It's purple. 456 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:34,000 Whatever the third color is. It's so far beyond that because this is a spiritual war. It comes right down, right back to that. 457 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:46,000 Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It's against principalities and powers and dominions and spiritual forces in heavenly places, Ephesians 6 talks about. 458 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:51,000 Well, and we've been called to a two-part response. I mean, the first part of our response is to get on our knees and pray. 459 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:52,000 There it is. 460 00:42:52,000 --> 00:43:02,000 Because we can't do this on our own. If God's not with us, if he's not leading us with the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, then we have no hope of turning the tide. 461 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:05,000 So it starts in prayer, but it doesn't stop there. 462 00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,000 Because then we got to go out and we got to do. 463 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:11,000 The book of James says, you know, faith without action is dead. 464 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:18,000 There it is. I'm going to steal from my sermon for this Sunday. I don't like to do this, but I'm going to do it anyway because I can't help myself. 465 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:24,000 I wrote down this quote, and it's basically this. 466 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:35,000 We go into our closets to pray. Jesus said, go in the secret place and pray. But we come out in the power of the Spirit to engage and to act. 467 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:45,000 The book of Acts has in it as a root, act. I mean, that's what it is. We put the go in gospel and we put the action into acts. 468 00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:52,000 I mean, we do what we're supposed to do. Don't be hearers only of the word, be doers of the word, James says. 469 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:59,000 And so I think that what God is trying to do in a lot of us is stir us to action. 470 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:05,000 And I think there's a shot over the bow. And I'm going to say something that's very unpopular right now. 471 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:10,000 But our nation is already in the foothills of judgment. 472 00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:18,000 You can't deny that because everything that's happened recently has happened so fast. 473 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:25,000 Transgender movement, I mean, LGBTQ, RST, UNV, I mean, it's gone so off the rails. 474 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:32,000 I forget how many my daughter, who's Gen Z, told me how many pronouns there are now. 475 00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:39,000 And they can't even keep up with them. They keep inventing like 91 or something was the last count. 476 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:46,000 So, I mean, everything. 70 million babies killed. Oh, man. Sheesh. Murder. 70 million. 477 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:57,000 Just mind bending there. Mind bending. You know, I had someone tell me yesterday, and this really, he's a believer and a friend. 478 00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:02,000 And he said, you know, he said, ever since the Republicans, you know, we overturned Roe v. Wade. 479 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:08,000 We did our victory dance, but we've lost almost every significant election since then in primary. 480 00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:14,000 He said, I think we're going to need to give ground on this. And I said, at what cost? 481 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:21,000 At what cost? At what cost do we give ground to the left to give them back their choice for abortion? 482 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:27,000 And because what's a few million babies in the bigger picture? See, see, and I wrote him, he was by text. 483 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:35,000 I said, this is a massive ethical dilemma. Well, just the spirit within me, even when you said that, it's visceral. 484 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:39,000 It's impossible to do that, no matter what the potential gain could be. 485 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:48,000 When I read that, it was during our staff meeting, I was like stunned. So if I went out for a minute during staffing, it was because that popped up. 486 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:56,000 Wow. And he was like, you know, just first trimester kind of thing. I was like, OK, where does that logic train end up? 487 00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:01,000 Wow. You know, we either stand for truth or we lean. Yeah. 488 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:09,000 And boy, I restrained myself because I could have got real involved in that conversation, could have turned into a debate, but I'm not going to do that. 489 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:16,000 Yeah. I will speak to it. I did speak to it. I said, where does this end? Where does this logic train go? 490 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:26,000 That we start winning the election, we start we get a majority in the Senate and House again, we get the president, you know, American Idol, if you might say, that we want. 491 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:32,000 You know, does you think that's going to matter in the bigger thing when this is not that problem? 492 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:38,000 This isn't a political issue. This is a moral life, righteousness issue, spiritual war. 493 00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:44,000 Anyway, sorry to go off on that. That just really that was yesterday while we were in while you were leading our staff meeting. 494 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:50,000 I'm going, what? I mean, like almost out loud. What? That's where we're going. 495 00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:57,000 Whereas believers, we can say we're going to compromise now and give some ground. Well, you know, apply that to everything. 496 00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:04,000 You're on not a slippery slope. You're back off the cliff. You hear these things, you know, and I think this is for a lot of people out there. 497 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:12,000 And I know some of these people, it's easy to just get angry. Right. And then to just come across as angry. That's not helpful. 498 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:23,000 No. You know, we need to be wise and we need to be prayerful. We need to be discerning and we need to be following the Lord in these things and not just flying off the handle. 499 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:27,000 There it is. Because that doesn't fix things. It's OK to be passionate. 500 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:37,000 But when you go out online or you go through a text or you're in a conversation, you have to you have to curb your enthusiasm. 501 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:47,000 Yeah. In a sense to say, OK, if I come out with what I'm feeling right now, I'm going to overwhelm and it will not be productive in a good conversation. 502 00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:53,000 So when I wrote him back, I didn't write everything I just said. I'm thinking a lot. 503 00:47:53,000 --> 00:48:05,000 But I wrote back, this is a massive ethical dilemma. And I left it there because I thought if I start writing now, I mean, I might as well leave the staff meeting and go do this. 504 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:09,000 Because I thought, no, this is for another time. And I don't want to do this by text either. 505 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:17,000 But so what do we do? I think, you know, rather than rather than getting angry, I think what we do is we resolve that we're going to be immovable. 506 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:25,000 Yes. You know, that as all these other things are trying to move us further down the shore, that we're going to be on solid rock here. 507 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:30,000 We are not going to be moved off of truth. Good, PB. And I've got a word for that. 508 00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:41,000 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you may or you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 509 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:47,000 So there's what we're standing against. We're not standing against political pundits. We're not standing against… 510 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:57,000 We have to speak truth into that. But the stand is a spiritual stand. And I even say, I tell men, get on your knees and fight like a man. Man up. 511 00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:06,000 You want to man up? Then get on your knees and fight this war in your prayer closet. But then get off your knees and go do what God tells you to do. 512 00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:14,000 It says, for our struggle… This is in Ephesians chapter 6. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, 513 00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:21,000 against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 514 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:31,000 Wow. You know, one more thought I have. I think it was Elijah, you know, when he… after he called down fire on the prophets of Baal, 515 00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:40,000 and then he gets threatened by Jezebel, and he gets freaked out, and he runs into the wilderness, and he's hiding, and he's scared for his life, and he wants to die. 516 00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:45,000 And God comes to him to comfort him and refresh him and get him ready for the next go. 517 00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:53,000 Right. And one of Elijah's complaints to the Lord was to the effect that, you know, he was the only one left. 518 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:59,000 Yeah. That there was… there's nobody else out there that follows you, Lord. There's nobody else like me out there. 519 00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:03,000 I'm the only one. And God's response to him was to say, I got people everywhere. 520 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:06,000 Seven thousand, in fact. That's right. Thousands. 521 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:13,000 Yeah, thousands. And I think it's easy to feel that way ourselves, like, gosh, does anybody stand for truth anymore? 522 00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:17,000 Does anybody believe the Bible anymore? Does anybody follow God anymore? 523 00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:28,000 And the truth is, they are far more than we realize, and most of them are waiting for somebody to give them permission to speak up about it. 524 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:35,000 That is true. You know, I would encourage you as a listener, so good, PB, as a listener, I mean, there are resources out there. 525 00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:43,000 I mean, I wouldn't recommend a couple right now. Go online, go on YouTube and put in the search box, Alan Jackson. 526 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:51,000 A-L-L-E-N. He's a pastor in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Great church. And he has even short videos. 527 00:50:51,000 --> 00:51:00,000 If you don't have much time, but you just want to catch something quick, he's got short videos on the border crisis, on abortion, on every topic. 528 00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:01,000 He's so good on that stuff. 529 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:12,000 He is one of the clearest, I would say he's a clarion voice. His voice is piercing the darkness and bringing wisdom, common sense, and clarity. 530 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:22,000 And I would encourage you to do that. Also, other great sources. Somebody I've really come to appreciate, I read a book by Eric Metaxas. 531 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:23,000 Oh, man, he's so good. 532 00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:26,000 That book is called Letter to the American Church. 533 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:28,000 Yep. There's a documentary that goes with it, too. 534 00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:34,000 Fantastic. Yeah, that's a great, you don't want to read the book, watch the documentary, then you'll want to read the book. 535 00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:42,000 And whatever works for you. So, Letter to the American Church by Eric Metaxas. He also has a radio show and podcast, which you can look up. 536 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:50,000 His name spelled odd. I used to think it was Metaos, but it's Metaxas. It's M-E-T-A-X-A-S, Metaxas. 537 00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:55,000 And, or maybe X-E-S. Either way, you can find him easily. Letter to the American Church. 538 00:51:55,000 --> 00:52:03,000 Another resource that's come into my orbit in this last year is actually a family that started coming to our church, Rick and Kara Green. 539 00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:04,000 They're great. 540 00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:09,000 So, he is a fantastic podcast. He had Ricky Schroeder on his podcast this week. 541 00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:10,000 Really? 542 00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:13,000 He had Ben Carson last week. He had Kirk Cameron the week before. 543 00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:14,000 Oh. 544 00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:18,000 So, and he's also a part of the wall builders team with David and Tim Barton. 545 00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:19,000 Barton, yeah. 546 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:25,000 He's on that team. He's one of those. He's a constitutional expert, former attorney, was a legislator in Texas. 547 00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:33,000 And he started an organization called the Patriot Academy where they are raising up. They're doing exactly what we're talking about. 548 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:37,000 They're raising up the next generation of warriors, constitutional warriors. 549 00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:38,000 Wow. 550 00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:44,000 Who, and they take a gap year. They come and they spend a year on campus, and their campus is right here in Fredericksburg. 551 00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:49,000 They're moving it from Dripping Springs, Austin, to Fredericksburg. That's how they ended up in our church. 552 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:56,000 We became friends. And they'll house these students. They got 40 tiny homes they're building to house students. 553 00:52:56,000 --> 00:53:04,000 And then they've got, they're reproducing the original legislative halls. So, I mean, it'd be like you're walking into the Capitol. 554 00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:10,000 That's so good because, I mean, the war is most heated on the college campus. Would you agree with that? 555 00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:11,000 Absolutely. Absolutely. 556 00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:16,000 And so, we need to be arming our kids before they get to college to know who they are. 557 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:19,000 They're prepping them in that gap year for what they're going to walk into. 558 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:20,000 Yeah. 559 00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:29,000 So that we don't lose kids. You know, it's such so, it's become strange for me. We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars now for an education. 560 00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:35,000 And then we send them off to get them educated in the culture's world view. 561 00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:36,000 Indoctrinated. 562 00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:43,000 Moved away from God. Moved away from decency and morality. Moved away from a moral spiritual compass. 563 00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:47,000 And we're paying them to do it. All for a piece of paper. 564 00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:51,000 I mean, at the end of the day, what's more worth your while? 565 00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:57,000 The next thing you know, you got college students doing sympathy rallies for Hamas after they attack Israel. 566 00:53:57,000 --> 00:53:59,000 Man. But, okay, we're trying to land the plane here. 567 00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:01,000 Sorry. Oh, I just opened up the can of worms. 568 00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:07,000 That doesn't help. Man. That may be next time. Maybe we'll do a part two. And then we'll gladly head it over again. 569 00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:14,000 So, Pastor Brian, thank you for being with us. We didn't even get into your amazing carnivore journey because you are a fellow carnivore. 570 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:15,000 That's right. 571 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:20,000 And for our carnivore friends. My gosh. This man, he's got a story. We'll pull that up next time. 572 00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:21,000 Thank you for having me today. 573 00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:25,000 But we're going to have you go. A couple of things. Yeah, absolutely. We'll do this again. 574 00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:31,000 A couple of things to remember. Go to our website, livingupinadownworld.com. There we have opportunity. 575 00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:35,000 If you want to support the podcast, you can do that. We call it value for value. 576 00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:41,000 If what we are doing adds value to you, then you can add some value back to us. You can do that through PayPal. 577 00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:47,000 It's right there on the website. You can listen to us on podcasting 2.0 platforms like Fountain is my favorite. 578 00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:54,000 And you can boost, do a boostagram. Send us a note. Send us some Satoshis and let us know you're listening. 579 00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:59,000 We want to hear from you. We love getting prayer requests from you. We love just encouraging you. 580 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:03,000 Sometimes you send in great questions. We love trying to answer that. 581 00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:06,000 If we don't know the answer, we'll either find it or we'll figure it out together. 582 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:13,000 So do let us know you're listening. Do a review. That helps us out big time on the bigger picture of podcasting. 583 00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:19,000 And we would love to hear from you again. We are for you. We want to help you live up in a down world. 584 00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:23,000 But we also want to help you realize even though it's a down world, it's not a hopeless world. 585 00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:29,000 There's always great hope. And our Lord Jesus Christ is in this thing. He's working the plan. 586 00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:35,000 By the way, this is all prophesied going to happen. So don't be surprised at the way things go. 587 00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:42,000 But in our season of life, we have a responsibility. And that is to be the answer to Jesus' model prayer. 588 00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:46,000 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 589 00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:51,000 Man, we love you guys. We're so thankful for your time with us. 590 00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:55,000 Thank you, P.B., for being with us. Man, I feel like we just got started. 591 00:55:55,000 --> 00:56:00,000 We barely hit the tip of the iceberg. I think we got a lot more to talk about. 592 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:03,000 All right, man, we'll have to we'll get Damon on here. 593 00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:08,000 We might throw another mic on here and get all of us on. Come on. We can do that. 594 00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:24,000 All right, man. Much love to you, brother. Thank you. We are out.