This is Jimmy and Annette and we want to welcome
you to Living Up and Down World. This is our
podcast that we've been doing. We're on like
episode 98 or 9. I think we're 99. Wait, are
you sure we're not at over 100? No, we're at
99 right now. So we want to welcome you. Glad
that you're with us today. We're going to be
short to the point, but we want to talk about
something that's really important to us. And
it started with a trip out to Colorado. Where
do we go? Went to Colorado Springs, Colorado
to a Flashpoint live event, which was our first
one that we've attended. And we've watched it
on TV on streaming. But this was. And boy, when
you can go to a place and be in the atmosphere
that we were in, it changes everything. It's
like church. You can watch it online or you can
go to church and you will feel the presence of
God. Not that you can't at home, but there is
a collective presence that you feel with others
that is amazing. So it was a wonderful trip.
Great trip. Flashpoint Live. That's Gene Bailey
and his team, Lance Wallnau, Rick Green. Hank
Kudeman. Yeah, several different. And then they
have different guests that they bring in. Amazing
commentary from a biblical worldview on what's
going on in our world. And we call that cultural
engagement. And one of the things we've come
to learn really over the last few years is how
much the entire Bible is cultural engagement.
It's 100 percent. It's taking the gospel, the
good news of Jesus Christ. into culture, every
arena of culture and being salt and light. Can
I read a scripture? Yes, absolutely. All right,
check this out. This is out of Matthew chapter
five, part of the Sermon on the Mount. And it's
a teaching about salt and light. And this is
what the scripture says. This is Jesus teaching.
He says, you are the salt of the earth, but what
good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you
make it salty again? It will be thrown out and
trampled underfoot or as worthless. You are the
light of the world, like a city on a hilltop
that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp,
then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp
is placed on a stand where it gives light to
everyone in the house. In the same way, let your
good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone
will praise your heavenly Father. So this idea
that Jesus was teaching that, you know, we know
from the Great Commission in Matthew 28 that
we're to go and as we're going, we're to make
disciples of all the nations. It's called discipling
the nations. This was pre. Great commission.
This is when Jesus started his ministry. And
he's addressing in this Sermon on the Mount out
on the Lake of Galilee, beautiful place. And
he's telling them that we have a responsibility
to be salt and to be light. And here's what we
know about salt and light. Whatever is touched
or exposed to salt and light changes. Right.
Nothing can stay the same when it's exposed.
That's why we can't eat steak without salt. No
doubt. We can't even drink water without salt
these days. Lots of sodium. Right. Stay salty,
right? And so being salt and light in this culture,
again, we call it cultural engagement. And it
is where we go out into the world as salt, as
light. The light exposes. It illuminates. It
shows the way. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the light. And so it shows the way to Christ.
And then the salty part, salt preserves, salt
flavors, salt enhances. It brings out. So there's
so many impact moments when you talk about salt
and light. So we go out to the Flashpoint. It
was out at Karis Bible College up in Woodland
Park, Colorado. Beautiful, beautiful area. Stunning
campus. Stunning campus, yes. Major. And Pastor
Brian and Naomi, his wife, got to go with us.
So we go out there. There's roughly, I would
guess, around 2 ,500 people. Probably so. Around
2 ,500, maybe 3 ,000. A lot of people. Huge.
Amazing place. And Lance Wallnau was one of the
speakers of the group, and he talks about this
thing that he calls the Seven Mountain Mandate.
Yes. So let's talk a little bit about that. Do
you have the Seven Mountains written down there?
I do. Show what those are. The Seven Mountains
are media, family, arts and entertainment, economy,
religion, education, and government. So those
are seven mountains that represent our culture.
This is what society is made up of. And this
has been talked about in sociological classes,
sociology, social studies. I had a teacher come
to me on Sunday morning after the service and
say, this is something that I've taught to my
students. So sometimes you'll hear it called
the seven pillars or the seven spheres. Lance
Wall now came out about 30 years ago and he.
taking from a scripture out of the Old Testament,
it's a prophetic scripture, I don't have it in
front of me, talking about the mountains. And
so he likens these to a seven mountain strategy
or seven mountain mandate. And I'm doing a Bible
study right now called Restore Seven, I believe
it is what it's called. But they talk about the
demonic strategy on the mountains. of these particular
mountains. There's a demonic strategy to tear
down all seven of these mountains, which is very
interesting because God has his own strategy,
but the enemy has his strategy as well. And somebody's
going to win. It's all going to depend on who.
And if we know our identity in Christ, we can
win over these strategies. But if we don't, we
will succumb to the enemy's strategy of taking
us down. That's very well said. One of the things
that I say a lot is, is that we have got to get
our voice back in the public square. Absolutely.
And I say our voice, I mean, as Christians. Yes.
Here in America, as the Church of Jesus Christ.
And not put our head in the sand. Right. And
not capitulate and give over to what the culture
is doing. And I talk to so many people, pastors,
individuals who say things like, yeah, but we're
here to teach the Bible. And yet the Bible is,
the Bible hits all seven of these mountains on
an ongoing basis. You read the Old Testament
cover to cover and the New Testament, and everything
was about engaging the kings, engaging government,
engaging civil government, local government,
religious government. Yes. Everything has to
do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you think
of it in terms of a flood. When there's a flood
that happens, a flash flood, anything that's
in the path of water will be touched. Absolutely.
It's the same way. The gospel is to flood the
earth. And we don't live in a synagogue with
Jesus and the Holy Spirit God right there. We
live out in the world where we are to be salt
and light. And so we have to know how to navigate
the world, the culture that we live in. recognize
that these seven mountains exist. And that, I
don't know why pastors will not go there on this.
So I heard this statistic while we're at the
conference. I think it was Jean Bailey who said
this, said that only 10 % of churches. in America
are actually engaged in cultural engagement,
in actually impacting these mountains, impacting
the mountains of media, family, all these different
government, all these different areas. Only 10
% are doing it, which is unconscionable. It's
criminal. Yes. And pastors and churches, people
are going to have to stand before God one day
and give an account when he says, why did you
not do what I told you to do? That was to go
into all the world, preach the gospel, baptize
people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. But why did you not go out and be the
salt and light that I called you to be? Why did
you just hover in one area and not get outside
of the church? Case in point, which is why we
started the Life Enrichment Center. Back in 2000,
I think it was 10 or 6, no, it was 6, 7. Because
we wanted to get outside of the walls of the
church. You were preaching, and I was preaching
a little bit, teaching and preaching in the church.
But we were like, how are we going to affect
people and get the gospel out without them knowing
we're getting the gospel out? outside of the
walls of the church to people that will never
step into a church. And thus we started the Life
Enrichment Center and went into the schools,
taught abstinence education from a biblical standpoint,
but they didn't even, we didn't use, okay, go
to chapter three in Roman. You know, we didn't
do that. We just gave them what is. biblical,
what's the biblical worldview, and just couched
it in a pill that they could handle. And we saw
a massive fruit from that. Oh my goodness. It
was unbelievable. We taught that to anywhere
between 11 ,000 and 13 ,000 students in the Central
Texas area. Pastor Brian Mandel was with us.
He was a part of that. Our kids were with us.
But that many students, we were able to go in
and impact in the public school system, bringing
the gospel. The way I like to say it is putting
the go. In the gospel, the first two letters
of gospel are go. Jesus said, go. And that's
the education mountain right there. We were educating
these kids into what God's word says about how
they're to live their life and how they will
have freedom in their life. So let me read to
you the basic definition of seven mountain mandate.
Seven mountain prayer strategy or mandate identifies
seven key spheres or pillars or mountains. Of
influence and culture that we must move or impact.
Jesus spoke, if you say to this mountain, be
moved, it shall be moved or impact in order to
transform our nation and shape the culture. God
has called us to be culture shapers. Yes. Difference
makers, world changers. This is who we're called
to be. We're not called to come here, sit for
60, 70, 80 years, twiddle our thumbs, waiting
for Jesus either to come back for a second coming
or. We're just waiting for the end to come for
us. So I can die and be with Jesus in heaven.
He's given us orders. He's given us marching
orders. And it's the B -I -B -L -E, right? The
Bible, basic instructions before leaving earth.
Yes. This is what we're supposed to do. I love
that. Who came up with that? I don't know. I
heard it in a song. Oh, you did? Yeah. I heard
that when I was a child. Heard it in a song.
So anyway, that's our call. It's our mission.
So we have a mission and we call it a mandate
or a commission. The commission means like if
an officer commissions you. That's sending you
out on a mission. That's what it is. We call
it being missional in the church. But really,
it's a mandate. It's an order that we're getting
from God to go out. And so when people say things
like that, man, pastor, and I remember back when
I first started speaking up on this, somebody
said, oh, you've got to be careful, but I'm worried
about you getting political. And I'm like. Getting
political. We live in this world. The Bible is
all political. Well, think about what politics
touches. All these areas that we just listed,
plus your food, your medical care, everything.
Everything. Everything is touched by that. So
it's not getting political. We live in a political
world. So if we're going to be salt and light
to the culture, to society. to the world, then
that means we have to engage politics, which
means we should be pushing for, arbitrating for,
debating for, voting for policies and platforms
that support a biblical worldview, a Christian
worldview. And if you look at the laws today
that man has made that go against God's word
and we were silent, we didn't vote. According
to what the Bible says, we didn't vote at all.
They just became policies. And we allowed the
people outside of the church to make the laws
and vote. And we just sat on our blessed assurance
and let things happen. Yeah. And now look what
happened. And now look. And it's because we let
things happen. We have become. We didn't speak
up. Yes, we have become a Sodom and Gomorrah.
And you know what happened there. But here's
what's tragic. Now that some of us, our eyes
are open, we've had an awakening of sorts, and
we're beginning to speak out. Now we're being
told by other Christians, you shouldn't do that.
And I remember somebody patting me on the shoulder
real condescending. Oh, you're that patriot pastor.
And I'm like, you bet I am. Call me a Christian
nationalist. I don't care. The point is, is that
I'm here to put the go in gospel, which means
I'm here to impact church, family, education,
government, media, arts, entertainment, business.
I'm here to impact those with the gospel of Jesus
Christ and take those mountains. Exactly. We
need to move mountains. I know this sounds like
real 30 ,000 foot level stuff. This is big picture
stuff. But how does it now we got to boil it
down to where people live. Right. First of all,
we need to be educated. We need to know what's
going on. I would encourage everyone to go watch,
start watching Flashpoint. It's easy to find.
You just Google Flashpoint USA. It'll take you
right to their website, and you'll see the platforms.
Or fparmy .com now. fparmy .com is actually the
website. Yes. And it's on now Monday, Tuesday,
and Thursday nights. And it's Rick Green, who's
a dear friend of ours, part of our church. One
hour. And it will tell you what's going on this
week in the news. And what God says about this.
Exactly. From a biblical worldview and from a
scriptural worldview. It's really informative.
So that's a good way to get informed on kind
of what's going on. And they all kind of chime
in with their various expertise. Rick Green is
considered America's constitutional coach. With
David Barton and Tim. Yeah, those guys are amazing.
And so anyway, they chime in and they let you
know what's going on. Now, what that boils down
to is. What is our role in this? And we have
to ask the question, God, what would you have
me do? And one of the things I've been saying
lately is, first of all, say yes to Jesus before
you even know what the question is. Just start
saying yes to Jesus. He will begin to order your
steps, arrange your situations, and actually
put you in scenarios where you go, wait, I'm
supposed to be here. Wait, I'm supposed to say
something. Okay. But if you can't. do anything
that, and physically. So let's start with number
one. Okay. Number one is prayer. That was probably
my takeaway going to this conference this week,
last weekend was. That should be number one.
We need to pray for this nation. We need to pray
for the leaders. You do this every Sunday. But
in our private prayer life, that needs to be
one of the first things we pray for because the
laws that are being made and the steps that are
being made that are taking us away from the Constitution,
away from... The Bible are so important that
we need to pray against those things and know
our authority as believers in how to pray for
God's will to be done. And so to me, that should
be a given because people always go, well, I
don't. I can't run for city council. I don't
live in my city. Like for us, we don't live in
Fredericksburg proper. We live in comfort. We
don't know much about what's going on in Kerrville
and Bernie and those areas. We know Fred, but
we can't vote here. So what do we do? We can
pray. So let me give just a real helpful thing
on that because I want to give everyone an action
point because you're thinking, wow, that's real
30 ,000 foot level stuff. That's really great.
We've got to move mountains. How do we do that?
Well, here's how you do it. I want to read this
to you. This is something I shared on Sunday.
Remember to pray for wisdom, discernment, and
godly strategies to bring our nation back to
God's intended foundations of faith, family,
and freedom. And here's how you can do that.
You can take these points, these seven mountain
points, and I'll put them on. I'll pop them into
the newsletter. So you'll have those. So if you
don't have our newsletter, go to it and subscribe
at living up in a down world dot com and subscribe
to our newsletter. I'm going to put those in
the newsletter. So you'll have that and and go
there. And then you just read those, just literally
put those before the Lord. You can pull them
up like on your phone or however you keep yours.
You may have them written down. And you say,
Lord, in the name of Jesus, I am praying into
these mountains. And I pray into the mountain
of religion or church. I pray into the mountain
of family. I pray into the mountain of education.
You can begin as simple as that. Pray through
those seven mountains for what I just said, for
wisdom and strategy on how to move those mountains.
Now listen, you don't have to have all the details
to pray. That's the thing that sometimes stops
us from praying. We don't know what to say. You
don't have to say a bunch of stuff. Bring it
before the Lord. Just say, Lord, I'm bringing
this before you. We want God's wisdom in it,
not man's anyway. So I don't want to pray my
wisdom. I want to pray his wisdom into these
situations. So that's what we're inviting you
to do. I hate to say homework assignment because
that'll knock about half of you out already because
you resisted in high school. But I'm going to
say. This is your assignment. I want you to pray
into these seven mountains and begin to ask the
Lord and then ask him a simple question. Say,
Lord, what does that mean for me? What is my
responsibility? Okay, I will receive the mandate
to pray. I'm going to do that. I'll pray. And
that's your starting point. And then the second
thing I would ask for you to do is just say yes
to Jesus. No matter what the, don't worry about
the question. Oh, but there, people are afraid
of that. He's going to make me go to Zimbabwe.
I just know it. But if he does, you're supposed
to go there and it would be blessed and you'll
be the greatest. People are afraid that God's
going to put them in a situation that they're
not ready for. This is the misnomer is God won't
put us into anything that he doesn't get us ready
for. That's right. So don't be afraid to say
yes, because he's going to lead you into things
that he's already equipped you. to engage. It
won't be like he's just, you know, you know,
one of those nose rings that the bulls had. It's
not that at all. He will lead you and you'll
be in a situation. You won't even realize you're
there until you're there and you're like, wait,
I'm supposed to be here or wait, maybe I should
say something in this conversation or maybe I
have something to bring. All that happens. But
we do that by trusting him, walking by faith
and not by sight. So number one, pray into the
seven mountains. Number two, say yes to Jesus.
Just give him your yes. That's it. That's how
simple it is. And when you do that, he'll show
you what to do. And it could be that you, you
know, go into city council or, you know, get
on the school board or it may be just show up.
Maybe you're just supposed to be there or you're
just supposed to pray. You know, that's the thing.
We always think God's going to call us to some
big thing, and it may be just to pray. When I
was in Abilene, Pastor Rich and I. would go to
the city council meetings. Sometimes I would
open those meetings up in prayer. They would
invite me to do that. But even when I didn't,
if I had time, I went anyway. And I would just
sit there and pray. Because you wanted to know
what was going on. Well, it was informative.
It let me know what's going on in the city. And
it informed my prayers because I was able to
pray. But I would pray while I was there. In
the atmosphere, just say, Lord, I just pray for
the—I wouldn't say it out loud. Nobody even knew
I was praying. Inside, I'd say, Lord, thank you
for these city council people that are up there.
Bless them. Give them wisdom. Give them strategic
thinking. Father, we have issues our city needs
to address. Would you lace this atmosphere with
your presence so that the decisions that are
made in this room are made in the context? And
the milieu of the Holy Spirit. I mean, it's super
simple. And then God put it on your heart to
go meet with the mayor, which you had never done.
Which I started doing. And you said yes. Yeah,
I just said yes. And it ended up being beautiful.
Oh, it was an amazing relationship. Beautiful
relationship. Yeah, God thing. Total God thing.
Because the mayor, when you said I wanted to
set up an appointment, automatically the first
response was, what are you going to complain
about? Yeah, he thought he was in trouble. Grady,
I am not complaining. I want to come pray with
you. How can I bless you? He was blown away.
That's all I said. When he ended up retiring
later on, he called you to be there for his retirement
and to pray. And that was beautiful. And he introduced
me as his pastor. Yes, even though he didn't
come to our church, although we had him once
come in and speak. But it was a beautiful relationship,
and it got you involved in politics there. But
all that happened, the only thing I did was show
up. There was nothing I didn't like. insert myself
in anything. I didn't ask somebody to nominate
me for a position. I just showed up. And when
you show up, you're bringing Christ with you.
You're bringing the Holy Spirit with you. You're
bringing the one who created the earth with you
into that presence and he can use that. And so
just show up. Yeah. Yeah. It was beautiful. How's
that? I saw you blossom. Yeah. It brought life
to me. It took you to new places spiritually
because you stepped out of your comfort zone.
And it became your comfort zone. It's happening
again. And it's happening. And I think that's
the precedent for today, for you stepping out
now and being comfortable and going, you know
what? I'm doing what God's called me to do, regardless
of what could happen to our church, what happens
with people and leaving or whatever. You're like,
no, God's going to take care of us no matter
what, because I'm stepping into the things that
God wants me to. So let me talk to just normal
people like us. Average Joes, right? You think
we're normal? We're normal, whatever normal is,
right? Just normal people who maybe are not feel
like I'm called to politics or I'm called to
preach from a pulpit or any of those kinds of
things or lead a church. I work a job. I'm a
housewife. I'm a mom, whatever. I'm a dad. So
to you, I would say this. The thing that you
can do and is the most important thing you could
ever do, and that is to pray and to pray into
these seven mountains. Pray over your city. Pray
over it. It wouldn't even hurt to go on your
city website and look at your city council members.
The pictures are there. And pray for them. Their
names and pray for them by name. Pray for salvation
first. Yes, pray they come to Jesus. We don't
know that everyone that's... Oh, no, of course.
So that's the most important thing you can do.
And the other thing you can do is simply just
ask the Lord, Lord, what is my role? What is
my part in this? And just listen. And then obey
when he tells you to do something. It's not complicated
to follow Jesus. And you may not hear anything
right away, but here's the thing we do know we're
supposed to do is we're supposed to pray and
we're supposed to be salt and light. So we want
to invite you into this. This is a great adventure.
I've been saying this over and over. I'm beating
this drum. This is the greatest adventure ever.
And I even said it kind of strongly one Sunday.
I said, I was kind of nervous about what you
said. If Jesus is boring to you and following
Jesus is boring to you and the Bible is boring
to you, I don't even know if you're a Christian.
Because following Jesus is the most exciting
thing there is on the planet. It's not just religion.
It's not just something we do to get our card
punched. It's literally Christ is our life. And
I want to encourage you in that today. And I
think we should pray. On the way out. Go ahead.
And so we kind of made this one to the point.
I do want to encourage you to watch our friends'
podcast, Adam and Tina Curry, Curry and the Keeper,
two of our dearest friends. And really the reason
why we're even doing podcasts is because of Adam
and Tina inviting us into this space. Definitely
want to give them credit. So we hope you're encouraged
today. Salt and light. Say yes to Jesus and pray.
Want to pray on the way out? Yeah, go ahead.
All right, let's pray right now. Father, in Jesus'
name, what a privilege it is. We just say yes
to you. We just say yes. And we invite you into
our life to fill us so that our buckets are full
and overflowing, that everywhere we go, we're
leaking out this life that is in us. I pray for
our friends that are watching or listening to
this podcast and that you would inspire them,
first of all, to pray, second of all, to say
yes, and third, show up and just be ready. That's
it. It's super simple. And I'm asking for your
grace for them. Father, I know there'll be people
who are watching this who feel like they're unworthy
or unable to do these things. And yet, Lord,
you make us worthy. You make us righteous according
to your word. We are the righteousness of God
in Christ Jesus. So thank you for making us right,
even when we don't feel like we're right. And
Father, for any of our friends that listen and
they've never taken the step to go all in with
Jesus, I would ask for that by your grace and
your mercy and your power. that you would draw
them closer to yourself so that they can take
that step to become a follower of Jesus and surrender
to the greatest adventure and journey they'll
ever be on in their life. We pray these things
in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thanks for joining
us today. Any last words on the way out? I just
want to thank people that have been giving lately,
James Barron, Steve and Wise. Just we really
appreciate your gifts. So many. Adam Curry, others.
Oh, yeah. Thank you. That's a big deal. Yeah.
Thank you guys for supporting us and hope you're
encouraged today. Let's go out and make a difference
this week on purpose.