1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Don't get down when you're seeing the worst, 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,000 cause the last will be the first. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,000 What a day I'm telling you, 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,000 all things will be new. 5 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,000 Living up in a down world. 6 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Yeah we're living, yeah we're living, 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000 living up in a down world. 8 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,000 Oh! 9 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,000 This is Jimmy and Annette and we are excited and glad to be here with you 10 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,000 on Living Up in a Down World, 11 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,000 because that is exactly what we are endeavoring to do every day. 12 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Hello gorgeous, how are you doing over there? 13 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,000 I'm doing great, how are you? 14 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,000 My goodness, you're stunning today by the way. 15 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:43,000 Really? 16 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,000 It has been pouring rain here in Texas, what has happened? 17 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:51,000 We really, really need the rain, 18 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:55,000 because we've been in a drought for several years, 19 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,000 so to have this rain like this is just unbelievable. 20 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:00,000 Very unusual. 21 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000 It brings me down, I need the sun. 22 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,000 I noticed the shift in your mood over the last couple of days. 23 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Although we need it, I want it to be sunny and rainy, 24 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,000 that would be better. 25 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,000 I don't live in Seattle or Washington, never wanted to. 26 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:17,000 This is why we don't live there. 27 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Never wanted to. 28 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:19,000 But we're so thankful right? 29 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:24,000 I mean cause it's actually still as green as it was at the beginning of the summer 30 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,000 here in the Texas Hill Country, which is not normal. 31 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,000 Usually we burn up in July and August. 32 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,000 And our neighborhood is beautiful. 33 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,000 Beautiful. 34 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,000 Hey we said wow, jinx. 35 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Oh my gosh. 36 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:37,000 Got you. 37 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:38,000 How old are you? 38 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:39,000 I know, 12. 39 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,000 We both said that at the same time too. 40 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,000 12.62, pretty accurate, I know jinxing. 41 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000 So hey, episode number 54, 74. 42 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 54, you're really on the brain. 43 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,000 I just got off the phone with Mike Smith. 44 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,000 He's a former Hollywood stuntman. 45 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,000 For like Brad Pitt. 46 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Oh yeah, for the big boys. 47 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Big, big guys. 48 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Big stuff. 49 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 And we were talking on the phone, not texting. 50 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:08,000 He called, we're hosting him because he has two movies, 51 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,000 two documentaries that he has produced. 52 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:15,000 He's got an amazing story, mind-bending story. 53 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:16,000 It is. 54 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,000 And he's going to be here in Fredericksburg at Bridge Church with us. 55 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,000 We're going to have him show one of the movies on the 16th. 56 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Yes, the second documentary and it's called Into the Light. 57 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,000 The first documentary has some F words, 58 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 I didn't feel like it was appropriate for the church. 59 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,000 It might not be appropriate. 60 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,000 He wasn't dropping them, but some of the people in the documentary were. 61 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,000 But the second one is called Into the Light. 62 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:37,000 So good. 63 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,000 It really exposes what's really going on in Hollywood. 64 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:42,000 And in America too. 65 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,000 In America. 66 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,000 In terms of corruption. 67 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,000 The things he's learned and wow. 68 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Powerful, powerful stuff. 69 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,000 We watched the documentary four times. 70 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 And then met him a couple of times. 71 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Met him at Mar-a-Lago when we went in December, no, April. 72 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:06,000 Then we met him and spent time with him in Dallas recently and said, 73 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,000 hey, we want to bring this to our church. 74 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,000 And his wife, Wendy. 75 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:11,000 Wendy. 76 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:12,000 And so we're excited. 77 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:19,000 And we're going to be seeing another new couple in our lives that are 78 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,000 impacting culture right now. 79 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,000 With what they're doing and what they're exposing. 80 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,000 He's risking everything. 81 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,000 He's literally, his career is gone. 82 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,000 He has stepped into the light, so to speak. 83 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,000 He's full of Jesus. 84 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:35,000 God's just rocked his world. 85 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,000 He got saved and it's just radically changed him. 86 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,000 He's been in documentaries around and showing them particularly the 87 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:43,000 second one. 88 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:44,000 And they're very well done. 89 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:45,000 Oh my, well he's a Hollywood guy. 90 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000 So the production's all professional and amazing. 91 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Again, it's called Into the Light. 92 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,000 If you can't get to a church and find it, then you can go online, 93 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,000 Into the Light Movie dot. 94 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,000 No, Into the Light dot Movie. 95 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Oh, okay. 96 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Into the Light, I don't know. 97 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Anyway, come to Furtishburg. 98 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,000 Just come to Furtishburg and watch it. 99 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,000 Google Into the Light Movie. 100 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,000 We want them to come and watch it and experience it with the public 101 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,000 because it is so powerful. 102 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,000 You're going to hear a lot of aha moments. 103 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Oh my God. 104 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:15,000 It was such an eye-opener for us. 105 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,000 It's one of those movies I need to watch over and over because there's 106 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000 so much information in there that you can't get it the first time. 107 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,000 But it is so good to see. 108 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,000 So yeah, it's going to be massive like wow moments. 109 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,000 And just having Mike with us is going to be such a blessing where we get 110 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,000 some time with him. 111 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,000 And hopefully Wendy, hopefully she makes this trip. 112 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Sounds like she's going to. 113 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Sounds like it too, yeah. 114 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,000 All I had to say is steak dinner. 115 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:39,000 He was all in. 116 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Yeah. 117 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:44,000 Well anyway, we met him again recently. 118 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Yeah, in Dallas. 119 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,000 This summer. 120 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000 And we were able to talk to him a little more one-on-one and just Wendy 121 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,000 as well. 122 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:51,000 And Wendy. 123 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:52,000 We met Wendy. 124 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Get to know them a little bit better and then they were just all about 125 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,000 coming to Furtishburg. 126 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:56,000 So they're excited. 127 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,000 But they're going to churches all over America right now. 128 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 I mean he is so booked right now. 129 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000 He's meeting himself. 130 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Which is so crazy because when we met him he was like it's not getting much 131 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,000 traction. 132 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:13,000 And then we went out that we were in the foyer of this hotel event center. 133 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:18,000 And all of a sudden all these people including us came up to him and were 134 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:19,000 like we want to book you. 135 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:20,000 We want to book you. 136 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,000 Most of us were from Texas, some were from California. 137 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:24,000 They were from all over right? 138 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:25,000 Yes. 139 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,000 And it was like he just spoke that and God said no I'll show you. 140 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,000 I'll show you what I'm going to do. 141 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,000 He poured a deluge on him. 142 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,000 It's awesome. 143 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:34,000 We want it to do well. 144 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,000 We really want it to do well. 145 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,000 So go watch the movie. 146 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,000 In fact I'm going to look it up just so people have it because I think this is 147 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,000 that important. 148 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,000 It's Into the Light dot movie. 149 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,000 I'm looking at it. 150 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:44,000 Into the Light dot movie. 151 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:45,000 I did it that quick. 152 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:46,000 Because I already had it on my computer. 153 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:47,000 Oh perfect. 154 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:48,000 And the first movie is Out of Shadows. 155 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:49,000 Which is also an eye opener and great to watch. 156 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Just don't watch it with kids. 157 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:59,580 And in the movie you have a little bit of a 158 00:05:59,580 --> 00:06:04,500 good time so you can watch it with kids. 159 00:06:04,500 --> 00:06:06,160 We just chose not to do the double feature. 160 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:08,200 We just chose to do the second one. 161 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:09,200 It's going to be great. 162 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:10,200 But it's very very good. 163 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:11,200 I'm super excited about that. 164 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,600 So welcome to episode 74. 165 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,280 That's why my numbers are all messed up. 166 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:16,280 Because I was talking... 167 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:17,280 Well you're not a numbers person. 168 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:19,080 I actually kind of am. 169 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:20,080 Oh. 170 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:24,080 We're on day 425 of our carnivore journey. 171 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:25,520 So I am a metrics guy. 172 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:27,000 I do like metrics. 173 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:28,000 Oh. 174 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:29,000 Okay. 175 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,500 Because you're keeping up with that. I'm not keeping up with that. 176 00:06:31,500 --> 00:06:36,080 I'm not a numbers guy when it comes to money, but I am a numbers guy when it comes to 177 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:42,780 metricing things, situations, circumstances, systems. I do. Yeah, I'm very much. 178 00:06:42,780 --> 00:06:48,700 So episode 74 and day 425 of our carnivore journey. Crazy, isn't it? 179 00:06:48,700 --> 00:06:49,540 That is. 180 00:06:49,540 --> 00:06:51,740 So tell me about your day so far. 181 00:06:51,740 --> 00:06:54,080 It's been busy because we're at the office today. 182 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,500 We walked in the door and people started walking in our door, all of our staff. 183 00:06:57,500 --> 00:07:01,880 It's always good because they just love to come hang out and then we end up talking about everything. 184 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:03,380 We have all these meetings. 185 00:07:03,380 --> 00:07:06,800 I have one meeting after another, after another, after another. 186 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,680 But today is our half day. We leave at noon. It's 1130 right now. 187 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,480 Because we'll be back tonight for our biblical citizenship class. 188 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:19,100 We're in session five. That has been phenomenal. 189 00:07:19,100 --> 00:07:23,900 I'm learning so much about the Constitution, about our original documents, our founding fathers, 190 00:07:23,900 --> 00:07:29,780 and our church. We've had first three sessions. We were 137 people. 191 00:07:29,780 --> 00:07:33,280 Last week we were having storms. Could be some more tonight. Hopefully not. 192 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:37,180 I hadn't looked lately, but we've been having a lot. Over two inches yesterday. 193 00:07:37,180 --> 00:07:38,580 I mean just boom, deluge. 194 00:07:38,580 --> 00:07:40,880 Our pool was literally overflowing. 195 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:42,880 It was an infinity pool all the way around. 196 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,880 And it's kind of a fake infinity anyway. 197 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:48,380 Yeah, the backside of it. 198 00:07:48,380 --> 00:07:51,380 But now it really is. I was like, wow. 199 00:07:51,380 --> 00:07:52,880 I've never seen that much water. 200 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:54,880 Very short amount of time. 201 00:07:54,880 --> 00:08:00,880 The ground's already soaked, so any significant rain is going to pool up and cause flash flooding. 202 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,880 Which right now we're just thankful. We're just so, so thankful. 203 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,380 God's good, isn't he? You're supposed to say all the time. 204 00:08:07,380 --> 00:08:08,880 All the time. Oh, sorry. 205 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:09,880 God's good. All the time. 206 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:11,880 And all the time. God is good. 207 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:14,880 You got that girl. You're so with it. 208 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:16,880 So what's going on in your world? 209 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,880 Oh, lots of stuff. My goodness. It has been a whirlwind of events. 210 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:29,880 Even since our last podcast last week, I mean Mr. Adam Curry, my brother from another mother. 211 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:32,880 He finally had his 60th birthday yesterday. 212 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:33,880 He leveled up. 213 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,880 Tina had a big surprise party for him on Saturday. 214 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:43,880 Friday night, which we couldn't talk about because you know, it was a surprise. 215 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:44,880 Mom was the word. 216 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,880 And that was the highlight of his probably whole life. 217 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:50,880 I've never seen him so surprised. 218 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:54,880 So it was a setup. So Tina, this is Adam and Tina Curry, our best friends. 219 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,880 Many of you know them. Maybe you don't. You're listening for the first time. 220 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,880 They have an amazing podcast called Curry and the Keeper. You should check it out. 221 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,880 Adam has an amazing podcast called No Agenda. Check it out. 222 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:11,880 And so best friends and we were, Tina planned this party and it's a big deal. 223 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:13,880 I mean, this is huge. His 60th birthday. 224 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:14,880 People from all over. 225 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:17,880 Over 60, around 60 people showed up to the party. 226 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:20,880 And many of them from many places. 227 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,880 And what was cool about it was it was a total surprise. 228 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,880 Annette, you were convinced that he knew it was coming. 229 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:29,880 I was. I still am. 230 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:34,880 But I know because I know he said, yeah, he's smart. 231 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:35,880 We all know he's brilliant. 232 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:41,880 Only because I can't imagine all these people coming in from everywhere and not slipping. 233 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:42,880 But he said they didn't. 234 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:49,880 I think the highlight, though, for me is that one of his guests that was invited, 235 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:56,880 we have spent some time with recently and called you and said that he wanted to be baptized. 236 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,880 And so we baptized him in our pool on Saturday. 237 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:04,880 Charles Mayfield. I'm going to put a clip of that or a picture of it on the newsletter. 238 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:05,880 I'll get a screen grab from that. 239 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:07,880 And that was beautiful. 240 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:13,880 Tina, we couldn't tell Adam because he didn't know he was coming for a surprise party. 241 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:19,880 And so we sprung that on him and said, hey, you are coming to our house tomorrow at 11 because we're baptizing Charles. 242 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:20,880 And that was beautiful. 243 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,880 And some of his friends showed up from Austin, Harry and Rat, the mafia meat guys. 244 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:26,880 Yeah, they came in and their girlfriends. 245 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:28,880 That was a sweet time. 246 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:30,880 Adam and Tina came over as well. 247 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:32,880 And so that was a privilege. 248 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:33,880 Charles, we're proud of you, brother. 249 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:34,880 Super proud of you. 250 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:36,880 It's a big, big deal for him. 251 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:38,880 Kind of a fresh start, new beginning. 252 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:46,880 I mean, he's when an adult, an older male adult, especially or female, gets baptized. 253 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:48,880 It's so special. 254 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:50,880 It's much more meaningful. 255 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:52,880 It is because they actually know what they're doing. 256 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,880 It's not a kid who is like, oh, that looks fun kind of thing. 257 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:02,880 I had sent him to our baptism class curriculum. 258 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:04,880 And it's just it's a class. 259 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:05,880 It's a thing you go through. 260 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:07,880 You look up scriptures, you answer questions. 261 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:09,880 And so I had sent that to him. 262 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:10,880 He'd spent some time with that. 263 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:12,880 And so it was really special. 264 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:14,880 And so what a weekend. 265 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:16,880 I mean, we did that on we did the big party on Friday night. 266 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:20,880 And we met so many amazing friends of Adam and Tina. 267 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:26,880 And they've they've walked with them in various seasons and circles of their life. 268 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:33,880 And I mean, from a New York banker to another dude that's on major carnivore, 269 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:37,880 which is Christina Pearl's husband, Charlie. 270 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:38,880 I think so. 271 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:39,880 I think it's Charlie. 272 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:41,880 I'm going to get his info because me and him need to stay connected. 273 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:43,880 We really hit it off there. 274 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:44,880 He's lost 50 pounds. 275 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:46,880 And that was amazing. 276 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:47,880 Amazing. 277 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:48,880 He's in phenomenal shape. 278 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:49,880 So yay, carnivore. 279 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:52,880 So we just got to meet a ton of just amazing people. 280 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:54,880 So anyway, so fun. 281 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:55,880 So happy for them. 282 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:00,880 And now they and then on Sunday night, we went to one of our favorite little restaurants with them. 283 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:06,880 This is becoming a little tradition on Sunday nights, and that's to go to Friedhelm's in Fredericksburg, 284 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:13,880 which is this total Bavarian old school like from when you step into this restaurant, 285 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:15,880 it's like stepping into a time warp for sure. 286 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,880 The time machine taking you back about 40, 50 years. 287 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:19,880 And I love it. 288 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:20,880 And we love it. 289 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:22,880 It's always fun to go there and just enjoy it. 290 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:23,880 And we're all tired. 291 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,880 I mean, he does his no agenda show. 292 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:28,880 He comes to church on Sunday morning. 293 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:29,880 I've done my two shows. 294 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:30,880 He calls them shows. 295 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:32,880 My service is back to back. 296 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:34,880 So I'm always tired. 297 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:35,880 And we're just all wore out. 298 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:40,880 And we just show up all just come as you are kind of moment like doesn't matter. 299 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:44,880 Throw your hair up, you know, for you, for the girls and me put a ball cap on. 300 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:46,880 We go and we just always have a sweet time. 301 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:47,880 It's just wonderful. 302 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:49,880 So yeah, a lot going on. 303 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:55,880 But we were off on Monday for Labor Day and didn't do anything because it rained all day. 304 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:56,880 Awesome. 305 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:57,880 Full day of rain. 306 00:12:57,880 --> 00:12:59,880 I think I had five cups of coffee. 307 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:01,880 Oh, yeah, I'm sure I did too. 308 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:02,880 And you did too. 309 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:03,880 We both did. 310 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:04,880 But it was a nice. 311 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,880 I needed the break because with the last couple of weeks. 312 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:10,880 Every day we've had something going. 313 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:12,880 So it was really a nice break. 314 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,880 But then we went back to work yesterday. 315 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:16,880 It was like, oh, wow. 316 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:17,880 Here we are. 317 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:18,880 Yeah. 318 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:19,880 We're back in it. 319 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:20,880 Here we go. 320 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:22,880 We do a lot of what I call CBI's, casual but intentional meetings. 321 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:23,880 Yeah, a lot of those. 322 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,880 Every time we walk down the hall, go to the bathroom. 323 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,880 You end up running into somebody, oh, we just had a meeting. 324 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:30,880 But it's all good. 325 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:32,880 And God's moving and we're getting things. 326 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:34,880 We're moving the needle on this thing. 327 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,880 So again, welcome to our podcast. 328 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:41,880 Go check out our website, livingupinadownworld.com. 329 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:44,880 And on that website, you can leave a review. 330 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:49,880 You can subscribe to our newsletter, which we put out usually on the same day or right around the same time. 331 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,880 That way it lets you know that we've got an episode out. 332 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:54,880 You can leave. 333 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:56,880 I think I said leave a review, but you can also write us. 334 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,880 So I got a really cool, really cool email from Dave Foley. 335 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,880 He and his wife, Lisa, we had a great time with them. 336 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:15,880 We ended up going out to Augusta Vin with them and just enjoying just an afternoon of relaxation and getting to know them with Adam and Tina as well and their daughter, one of their daughters. 337 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:16,880 So we had a great time with that. 338 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:21,880 And so here's a big way you can help us here at Living Up and Down World. 339 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:28,880 Again, Jimmy and Annette is you can share this podcast with someone you think would be blessed by, might be encouraged by. 340 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:34,880 We always kind of upfront talk about what's going on, but then my favorite part is when we start talking about what God's up to. 341 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:36,880 And that's where we're going right now. 342 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:43,880 So this morning I had a real eye-opener, I don't even know how to put it, conversation with the Lord. 343 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:50,880 I was thinking about some things that are going on right now in our world and in our orbit. 344 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:55,880 And I just sometimes God drops a heavy Reve on you in the middle of doing something. 345 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:56,880 We were getting ready. 346 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:05,880 And what came to my mind was Dr. Henry Blackaby and his study experiencing God. 347 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:12,880 A number of years ago, actually back when I was in seminary, someone had that workbook, it had just been released. 348 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:18,880 So this would have been, wow, 1989, something like that. 349 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,880 And it had just been released and it looked interesting on the outside. 350 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,880 And I said, is this for one of your classes, seminary? 351 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,880 He goes, oh, no, no, this is a Bible study that's just been released by this guy. 352 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:31,880 And he said, I can't put it down. 353 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:39,880 So I went right straight over to the bookstore, bought one of the workbooks, not the book book, but the workbook. 354 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:41,880 Cover to cover, didn't stop. 355 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:43,880 You know me, I don't do cover to cover, right? 356 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:45,880 And I did, I couldn't put it. 357 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:53,880 And that's in the middle of seminary with all the papers I'm writing and stuff I was having to do, working a job, was a youth pastor back then. 358 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:58,880 And I literally, it so arrested my heart and it literally changed my life. 359 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:01,880 And to this day, it still impacts me. 360 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:03,880 Do you remember what the premise of experiencing God is? 361 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:05,880 I don't want to put you on the spot. 362 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:06,880 You do remember. 363 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:10,880 Look for, look where God is working and joining, join him in his work. 364 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:11,880 That, that is it. 365 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:13,880 That's the basic premise. 366 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:20,880 You look to see where God is working and then you realign yourself to him and you join him in his work. 367 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:25,880 That sounds simple, but if you stop and think about that for a minute, it's a game changer. 368 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:27,880 It is a massive game changer. 369 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:38,880 Whenever I'm up against things, for example, when we have decisions that have to be made or we're praying into or about something, I go back to that. 370 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:40,880 I go, okay, where is God working? 371 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:47,880 And whenever you see the activity of God, that's his message to you that he's at work. 372 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:53,880 So for those of you listening today, I mean, you may be in a situation, you're like, I just feel like God's not speaking. 373 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:55,880 I just feel like I'm not hearing anything. 374 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,880 I feel like, I feel like my prayers aren't getting above the ceiling. 375 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:01,880 Have you ever been there? 376 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:02,880 Oh, yeah. 377 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:05,880 You just feel like your prayers aren't getting above the ceiling. 378 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,880 And one of the things you can do is pull back and you should write this down. 379 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:10,880 You should see where God's working. 380 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:12,880 Where is he working? 381 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:13,880 Start to look around. 382 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:14,880 Be observant. 383 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:15,880 Be a watcher. 384 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:16,880 Be a noticer. 385 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:17,880 And start to look. 386 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:23,880 And then when you see God at work, you'll get that aha moment, that this is that moment. 387 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:29,880 And when you see him at work, that's his invitation to you to join him in that work. 388 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:31,880 So let me share a scripture. 389 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,880 And then, Annette, I want you to riff on this in a minute because you're giving me that look. 390 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:41,880 Verse 17, John 5, 17, that look of I'm about to go to sleep because it's raining outside. 391 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:42,880 And it's overcast. 392 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:43,880 That look. 393 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:47,880 So John, chapter 5, verse 17, this is Jesus speaking. 394 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:55,880 And it says, but Jesus answered them, my father has been working until now, and I have been working. 395 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,880 So he's talking about the fact that his father's always, he never stops working. 396 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:01,880 He's always doing something. 397 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:02,880 He's always up to something. 398 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:04,880 And Jesus says, and I've been working. 399 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:14,880 Then on down in verse 19, it says, then Jesus answered and said to them, and it was to these Jews that were trying to trap him. 400 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,880 He said, most assuredly, I say to you, now listen, here's the key point. 401 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:24,880 The son of man can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do. 402 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:29,880 For whatever he, the father does, the son also does in like manner. 403 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:34,880 And that's really the premise of experiencing God is you look to see he's been working. 404 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:39,880 He's working right now, but we've got to begin to see what he's doing. 405 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:41,880 So we want to become observant. 406 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:46,880 We want to begin to be able to recognize his activity in our lives. 407 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:48,880 I think of the song Waymaker. 408 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:49,880 Oh, wow. 409 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,880 Probably one of my all time favorite songs. 410 00:18:52,880 --> 00:19:01,880 And it says there's a line in there about we might not see where he's working, but he's always working. 411 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:03,880 How does it go? 412 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:05,880 I have to sing it and I don't want to sing it out loud. 413 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:06,880 I'm not going to sing it out loud either. 414 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:08,880 But he's always working. 415 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:15,880 And I think that's a lot of times he's working in the background and we don't know it. 416 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:22,880 A lot of decisions that we make that might not be the best decisions. 417 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,880 He's already working because he already knew we were going to make those. 418 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:31,880 He's already working to get us out of that or whatever into what he wants us into. 419 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:33,880 But we have to be in tune to him. 420 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:38,880 And that's the thing is we need to stay in tune. 421 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,880 It's like you said, a transistor radio. 422 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,880 Remember those back in the day? 423 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:46,880 Definitely. 424 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:53,880 Oh, I remember how it would hurt my ears when you would twist the knob and it was just all the static. 425 00:19:53,880 --> 00:20:00,880 But once you got it totally in tune to that station, man, it becomes clear. 426 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:01,880 Oh, that's good. 427 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:09,880 I love K-Love radio and in my car, for some reason, as we're driving from Comfort to Fredericksburg, 428 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:16,880 it goes in and out and it'll go to a Hispanic station, which I don't know what they're saying at all, 429 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:21,880 or to a country station, but it's very convoluted. 430 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:31,880 But once it gets back to the K-Love, to what I know and am familiar with, then it's just beautiful to my ears. 431 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,880 And that's kind of how we are with God. 432 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:40,880 And we, you know, a lot of times when we think he's not moving, it's because we've moved away. 433 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,880 And it's not because he's moved away. 434 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:44,880 We've moved away. 435 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:49,880 Maybe we quit doing the things that we used to do, or maybe we've allowed, you know, 436 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:57,880 I was reading in the Word about how the sower sows the word and how it can be sown on different ground. 437 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:04,880 And sometimes it just gets taken away, the seed that was sown because it was not sown in good crown. 438 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:07,880 And we have to stay in tune. 439 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:12,880 And it's so important, especially in times that we're in right now, 440 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:21,880 where we're so caught off guard by the things of the world every day, something going on, 441 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:31,880 whether it's with Israel, whether it's with our upcoming election or the economy, going to the grocery store. 442 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:33,880 Oh my gosh, you go to the grocery store. 443 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:35,880 It's cost of groceries. It's ridiculous. 444 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:40,880 I could fill up a basket. It used to be $40 an ounce, $300. 445 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:48,880 But the economy is so good, you know, is what our administration says. 446 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:54,880 But I don't know who thinks that. I don't know where they're getting that information. 447 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:55,880 It's delusional. 448 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,880 It's very delusional. But we can get caught up in the things of the world. 449 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:10,880 And then when things come our way, it can taint our ears 450 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,880 and not be able to hear what God is really doing behind the scenes. 451 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,880 And so I think it's really important to stay in tune with Him. 452 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:21,880 Because how do you know if He's working if you're not in tune? 453 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:26,880 That's right. That's a great metaphor. I looked up that lyric you were talking about. 454 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:27,880 And what does it say? 455 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:33,880 Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. 456 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,880 You never stop. You never stop working. You never stop. You never stop working. 457 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:40,880 I love that song. When I heard that song for the first time, 458 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,880 I think it was Michael W. Smith and another woman were singing it. 459 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:52,880 And I was like, what? Oh my gosh. This song was so impactful. 460 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,880 And it still is to this day. And I probably heard it for the first time, 461 00:22:55,880 --> 00:23:02,880 what, three years ago maybe, four years ago. But man, it's right. 462 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:03,880 It's always working. 463 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:05,880 Yeah, it really nails the heart of that. 464 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:10,880 Going back to where we started with this, you look to see where God is working. 465 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:14,880 And He says, Jesus said, my Father's been working even up until now, 466 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,880 and I'm working too. So I mean, He's always working. 467 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,880 That's not the question. The question is, can we see it? 468 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,880 Can we hear it? Can we know it? His activity. 469 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,880 And I love what Henry Blackby says. And this has really so changed my life. 470 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,880 Even today it impacts me. He said, you look to see where God's working. 471 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,880 You realign yourself. But when you see the activity of God, 472 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:39,880 that's God's invitation. 473 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:40,880 Right, to join Him. 474 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:43,880 So He's actually allowing you to see Him at work. 475 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:44,880 So what does that look like? 476 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:50,880 Practically speaking. So for me, in terms of a decision that needs to be made, 477 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,880 let's say I'm trying to decide on which way am I going to go with this? 478 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,880 I've got choices A and B, and they're both good choices. 479 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,880 But I don't want a good choice. I want a God choice. 480 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,880 I don't want a good idea. I want a God idea. 481 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:07,880 I don't want to do something good and ask Him to bless it. 482 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,880 I want to do what He's already blessed and what He's already done. 483 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,880 Does that make sense? I want to get in with Him. 484 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,880 And so depending on... So then what do you do? 485 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,880 Well, you pray about it. Father, thank you that you show the way. 486 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,880 You make clear the path. You make straight the path. 487 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:25,880 One of my favorite verses, Lord, you order my steps, 488 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:27,880 and you delight in the details of my life. 489 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:28,880 That's Psalm 37.23. 490 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:29,880 And then He brings confirmation. 491 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,880 He starts to bring it, and it could... 492 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,880 It can come in a thousand ways, but for me, 493 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,880 sometimes it'll be a scripture I'm reading that gets highlighted 494 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:40,880 or daylighted by the Holy Spirit, and I go, 495 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:42,880 wait, oh, wait, that's a clue. 496 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:44,880 Or it may be a conversation I'm in with anybody. 497 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:46,880 It could be anybody random. It could be a stranger. 498 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,880 It could be somebody in the hallway of this church. 499 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:51,880 It could be with you. It could be with anybody. 500 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:57,880 And they say something right in line with that situation. 501 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:00,880 I call it multiples. You'll hear the same thing multiple times, 502 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,880 maybe the same phrase, maybe the same principle. 503 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:05,880 Maybe they were thinking about something, 504 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,880 maybe the same Bible verse, but you'll hear it. 505 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:13,880 Other times, it may be where you actually see God working 506 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,880 in that scenario. You see it that it's blessed. 507 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,880 You see that it has grace on it. You see that it has favor on it, 508 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,880 because you see it working. You see God at work in it. 509 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:29,880 And when you see it, that's his invitation for you to join him. 510 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,880 Now, you've got to be careful with the simplistic metaphor, 511 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,880 because you may say, well, my marriage isn't going very good, 512 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,880 and I seem to have this really good relationship with this lady 513 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,880 at work, you know what I'm saying? 514 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,880 And people could take that and turn it into something it's not. 515 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,880 And God will never bless something that is outside of his. 516 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,880 That's not God at work. That's not God. 517 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:51,880 It's your flesh at work. And you've got to determine. 518 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:54,880 I don't want to just overstate the obvious, 519 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:56,880 but I kind of do. 520 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:58,880 But there are people that do that. 521 00:25:58,880 --> 00:25:59,880 Oh, my gosh. 522 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:08,880 We heard of someone recently who left their family, their wife, 523 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:13,880 to go to a new area, a new town, and left them because God said 524 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:19,880 to go do it by faith, and left the wife because God said to do it. 525 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:21,880 And I'm like, no, God did not tell you to do that. 526 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:27,880 God would not tell you to leave your family to go do something for him. 527 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,880 You either take your family or He didn't tell you that. 528 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:32,880 God would never. 529 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:34,880 That's a spirit, but not the Holy Spirit. 530 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:35,880 No. 531 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:37,880 But we hear that a lot. 532 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:38,880 You're insane. 533 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:39,880 Yes. 534 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:45,880 And this person didn't leave for a person left by faith like Abraham, 535 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,880 but Abraham, he didn't leave his family. 536 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:49,880 He took his family with him. 537 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:54,880 He said, we're going to go, and his wife is like, well, where are we going to go? 538 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:56,880 Well, wherever God tells us. 539 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:58,880 Yeah, there is a rule of thumb for this. 540 00:26:58,880 --> 00:26:59,880 He will show us. 541 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:01,880 But you don't leave your family. 542 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:03,880 It just doesn't make sense. 543 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,880 So a lot of people will use Scripture for their benefit. 544 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:11,880 And that's where you've got to make sure when you're interpreting Scripture 545 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,880 and making sure something lines up with Scripture. 546 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:15,880 So you ask, how do you know? 547 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:18,880 Well, you know because it lines up with the Word of God. 548 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:19,880 Exactly. 549 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:20,880 It's not contrary. 550 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,880 It's not something that takes you down the path of sin and destruction. 551 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:29,880 It's something that brings life and hope, and it aligns with God's heart. 552 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:31,880 It aligns with God's Spirit. 553 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:33,880 It aligns with God's Word. 554 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:38,880 And so there's the real key to that, making sure that whatever you're looking at 555 00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:43,880 that looks to have favor on it, make sure it's lining up with God's Word. 556 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,880 It's marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 557 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,880 gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. 558 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:50,880 It's marked by humility. 559 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:52,880 It's marked by hope. 560 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,880 It's marked by His presence. 561 00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:00,880 Now those are all strong indicators, and they are a part of this. 562 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:02,880 And so that was a game changer for me. 563 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,880 And then when you and I got married, I introduced you to that study. 564 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:08,880 It was one of the first things I took you through. 565 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,880 And I was terrified of the study because it's extremely in depth. 566 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:19,880 And it's very...it causes you to think deeply, 567 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:25,880 and I don't know that I had ever thought that deeply about faith as I did. 568 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:30,880 I think my faith was honestly more of a shallow faith, 569 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,880 and this took me into a deep relationship with Christ. 570 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:41,880 And I was intimidated because I wanted to impress you. 571 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:42,880 I was going to say... 572 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:47,880 It was not about...and I felt like...because this was 32 years ago. 573 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:49,880 But you asked me to walk you through this. 574 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:50,880 I did. 575 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:51,880 You said teach me. 576 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:52,880 But I didn't know what I was getting myself into. 577 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,880 And then as we were doing it, you were writing all this information 578 00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,880 in the discipleship book, and I had to think. 579 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:01,880 I had to put my thinking cap on. 580 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:02,880 And really think about your faith. 581 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,880 And I had to think about my faith and what it says and what it means. 582 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:10,880 And now I look at it and I go, oh, well, that's a piece of cake. 583 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,880 I could do that because I've grown up in the Lord. 584 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:20,880 But even though I was a Christian, I wasn't a deep, faithful Christian. 585 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:22,880 I loved God. 586 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:28,880 I wanted to do right, but I didn't know Him intimately until I did that book with you. 587 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,880 When we did Experiencing God Together, 588 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:36,880 for one, it showed me how deep of a relationship you had with God. 589 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:42,880 And we have since taken our church through that. 590 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:44,880 We took our church in Abilene and many churches. 591 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:45,880 I've talked the principles. 592 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:46,880 Yeah. 593 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:47,880 Sometimes just pieces of it. 594 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:49,880 Not like you go through the book. 595 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:51,880 But yeah, taking the heart of it. 596 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,880 But in Abilene, we went through a lot of the book together with the church. 597 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:55,880 We did. 598 00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:57,880 Not so much here. 599 00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:58,880 Maybe a little bit of the principles here. 600 00:29:58,880 --> 00:29:59,880 I've given the principles here. 601 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:01,880 You're off and on, and I'll bring it up. 602 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:02,880 It keeps coming up. 603 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,880 But it really solidifies your faith, I think, with God, 604 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:13,880 because it causes you to really become a deep thinker and not so shallow. 605 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,880 And I think that's where the maturity comes. 606 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:22,880 That's where when the tornadoes come, you're still standing, 607 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:24,880 because you're not blown away. 608 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,880 Yeah, we call it bent, but not broken. 609 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:34,880 And I feel like that study was an integral part of my walk with the Lord, for sure. 610 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:35,880 I love that. 611 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,880 And I love that it impacted your life that way. 612 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,880 Almost anyone I've ever shared this with, 613 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:45,880 and even to spend a little time talking about it, it's been a big help to them. 614 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,880 And so for you that are with us today and you're hearing this, 615 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:50,880 we want you to be encouraged. 616 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,880 Our heart is for you to live up in a down world. 617 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:55,880 That is what we're about. 618 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:01,880 And it's to learn how to see the world in which you live through a biblical worldview, 619 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:06,880 a biblical lens, so that you're not just interpreting events based on your own experiences. 620 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,880 You're interpreting events based on God's Word. 621 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,880 And so we want to invite you to get into God's Word. 622 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:15,880 You have to get the Word in you. 623 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,880 The Word works, but you have to learn how to work the Word. 624 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,880 But you can't work the Word unless you know the Word. 625 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,880 And so it's a matter of, man, if you're not connected, 626 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:32,880 I sound very 70s, man, if you're not connected in a local church community 627 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:36,880 and you're not sitting under the teaching of God's Word, 628 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:41,880 or if you're in a church that doesn't teach the Bible, you need to run like Forrest Gump. 629 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:45,880 You need to find a church that's teaching the Bible, teaching Scripture, 630 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,880 where you can get taught, you can get discipled, 631 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:50,880 and get raised up in the things of God's Word. 632 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:54,880 Because once you have that, that starts to get inside of you, 633 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:58,880 I'm not talking about 20 years study, I'm talking about you just hungry for it, 634 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,880 and it starts to get in you, God will use it, 635 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:06,880 and he'll help you actually be able to tell and recognize his activity. 636 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,880 That's really what it's about. 637 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,880 When we see what he's doing, we get in line with him, 638 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,880 and we start doing, you join him in that work. Amen? 639 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:16,880 Amen. 640 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:19,880 Hey, want to say thank you to all of you, those of you that write in, 641 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:20,880 those that you encourage. 642 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:22,880 We got two donations. 643 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:23,880 Got some donations from? 644 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,880 One from Martha, and one from James Barron. 645 00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:28,880 Thank you guys. 646 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:31,880 Also, Adam Curry is always faithful. 647 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:36,880 He and I, we just love to bless each other, and just encourage each other in terms of what we do. 648 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:42,880 That's through Boostergrams, and we do that on Fountain Platform. 649 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,880 He boosted 77,700. 650 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:50,880 There it is, Striper Boost. 651 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,880 Thank you, Adam Curry, for that. 652 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:53,880 I always appreciate that. 653 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:55,880 Martha, and who else? 654 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:56,880 Martha and James. 655 00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:57,880 And James. 656 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,880 Guys, thank you so much for blessing us. 657 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:04,880 Our heart is for this to bless you. 658 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:06,880 Hey, it's been fun. 659 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:07,880 We got a lot going on. 660 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,880 We got a biblical citizenship class tonight. 661 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:11,880 We do. 662 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:12,880 I'm super stoked about that. 663 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:14,880 We need to go home and rest up and get ready for the class. 664 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:17,880 We missed last week's session because our water was out. 665 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:18,880 Yes. 666 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:19,880 That was a joy, wasn't it? 667 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:20,880 Yes. 668 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:21,880 We love you guys. 669 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:22,880 Thanks for being with us. 670 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:23,880 We are so thankful. 671 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,880 Have an amazing week on purpose. 672 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:28,880 Hey, gorgeous over there. 673 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:30,880 Have an amazing week. 674 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:32,880 I'm already having an amazing week. 675 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:33,880 You already are. 676 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:34,880 Why? 677 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:35,880 Because you're here with me. 678 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:36,880 Why? 679 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:37,880 And you. 680 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:38,880 Living up in a down world. 681 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:39,880 We love you guys. 682 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:40,880 Be blessed. 683 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:45,880 We love you.