Father, we're before you and Lord, Adam and I
are just real guys and we sometimes come to your
throne tired like the warrior's a child sometimes.
And so today we come before you bringing everything
we are, what we have and even what we don't have
to you to lay at your feet. Father, we pray that
these conversations will be meaningful. not only
for us, but for those who hear, those who listen.
Father, our heart is to help people on this journey
of faith, navigate the complexities of culture
and the world. It feels like sometimes things
are aligned against us and against our faith
in this world, and yet, Jesus, you said it was
going to be that way. Even as John Eldridge wrote
in one of his books, we were born into a world
at war. So Lord, we thank you that we get to
do this. And so today we commit our hearts, our
lives, everything we are for your glory in Jesus
name. Amen. Amen. It's Wednesday, October 29th,
2025. We get to do this. This is number eight.
We get to do this. Yo brother, how you doing?
Sleepy this morning. Really? I woke up at like
3 o 'clock. Oh no, this is no good. I got a god
tap. Oh, that is? Well, between 3 and 5 a .m.
That's his time, right? Well, it came in the
form of I need to go to the bathroom. You know,
typical dude stuff when you're my age. This is
God speaking, you need to pee. Your bladder's
expanding. Your bladder's exploding. So I get
up and, you know, you don't take it as a gut.
It's like, okay, you go do what you do. And then
you come back to bed and then you're like, wide
awake. And that does not happen to me often.
So when it happens, I've learned to say, okay,
what's up, Lord? And so it just launched me into
a probably 45 minute time of prayer and fellowship
with Him. Wow. All over the map. I'm sort of
a little in and out. I'm praying and then I was
like, wait, what was I saying? I was running
down some track. That's very scriptural, by the
way. David talks about talking to God in the
night watches. I think one of the reasons why
the Lord taps us in the middle of the night sometimes
is because it's when we're not fully distracted
by what we're doing in the moment. I mean, you're
just laying there, right? You're listening to
Mr. Chevy, my dog, snore, you know? And that's
it. I mean, there's nothing else going on. Got
the whir of the sound machine, you know? And
that's it. And so I think we're more open to
hear his voice. And probably our prayers are
different at that time. Oh, I totally agree.
It's more authentic. You know, again, we're not
on the run. There's no distractions. It's dark.
It's quiet. Absolutely. Yeah. No rush. You know,
it's good. You wrote a daily grind this morning,
which was about intentionality. I think you've
been on this for a couple of days. And that was
my first thing. I'm like, I want to ask Pastor
Jimmy about this. I want to ask about this intentionality.
The way I took it is doing everything intentionally
for God and thinking about that continuously,
which in today's world is one of the hardest
things you can imagine to do because of all the
distractions and noise and everything. So I just
wanted to open it up to you and just hear what
you had to say, because I think it's important
to share this. I appreciate that. I found this
great scripture in Ephesians 5 .17 in the New
Living Translation, which kind of breaks it down
to a little more casual conversation. It says,
don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what
the Lord wants you to do. So I've re -engaged
Sabbath on Mondays. It's not just a day to play.
It's really a day to rest my soul. The word restoration,
to restore, the root of that is rest. You restore
and you experience restoration through rest.
The Lord commands a Sabbath. There are people
who interpret that differently. Well, we're in
New Testament times. Do a little here, do a little
there. That's what I used to do. I did that.
Truly, it always got put on the back burner.
It always got usurped by something else more
important than spending time with God and resting.
And I let it go for a season because church is
growing and kind of all hands on deck. So I quite
literally, and I'm just gonna be very transparent.
I felt guilty for being at home, resting in the
Lord, reading a book, writing in my journal,
playing some music, my worship time. While the
team was up here working and I just I let that
get over on me and truly I believe it was the
enemy and intrusive thought That began to get
in my head that oh man, you're not pulling your
weight, you know There's teams up there working
and you're at home. You know that I think is
something Very of the modern age and very of
the competitive age and ever since we started
working from home I think, you know, rest has
really left us in so many different ways. Having
started and run companies small to big, man,
I know that feeling. And especially when your
employees are working, you feel like, ah, am
I being even a good leader in not being there
every single minute of the day when they're there?
We know the enemy is an opportunist. He leverages.
Pain, trauma, he leverages moments. He leverages
even the tiniest thing. So if you feel a little
bit of that guilt, like, man, here I am, enjoying
just being with the Lord and being restored.
Never mind that I did two meetups, two shows,
two sermons, two services back to back, got up
there, played on the worship team and preached.
I mean, it's a lot. It's a full day's work in
about eight and a half, nine hours. So you come
home totally toasted. But it's not just physical
work. It's emotional and spiritual. There is
spiritual warfare. And unless you've really experienced
that, it's hard to explain to people the toll
that takes on your soul. But any pastor that
ever takes a moment to listen to what we're doing
would go, totally get you, brother. Totally understand.
Yes, I know exactly what that is. So I don't
actually try to talk about that a lot because
I understand there's not a category for that
unless you've walked in the shoes. Well, pastors
and podcasters, it's very similar, brother. It's
very similar. We do the same thing. We do meetups,
we do shows, we cue the mic, we record. A lot
of emails, a lot of people talking to you, a
lot of people who want information or have advice.
A lot of advice. Yeah, a better way to do it.
Build a better mousetrap. So anyway, I reinstituted,
just re -engaged. Sabbath and I actually repented
to the Lord. I said, I'm so sorry. I was disobedient.
I thought I was doing it for noble reasons, but
what I realized is I started getting super tired.
I began to just wind, run down and we were traveling
a lot. We had a lot of things going on. We've
dialed all that back and I just repented. I said,
Lord, I'm so sorry. You've given this to me as
a gift and I pushed it back. I can't imagine
how that feels. I mean, I can't imagine if I
was to do something for somebody that was for
their good, a win for them, and they just push
it back to me and say, no, I'm too busy. So how
do we even manage that? Because weekends, we've
got activities with the kids. I don't anymore,
but we've got all kinds of stuff. And should
it be, from what I understand, how Charlie Kirk
literally put his phone away, I've not been successful
at that. Tina and I haven't even really discussed
it, probably because our wives don't listen to
the podcast. Otherwise, it would have come up.
There's an Easter egg. We're dropping them all
the time, which is not a slight. It's very normal.
How do we do that and what should it constitute?
Should you just be in the Word all day? Should
you just be thinking, meditating? Can you do
things that Bring you joy You know, how do you
see that for? And again is I think it's very
difficult for people it is at this time aside
it is but is it really Well, if it really that
difficult if you look at what we're spending
on time There you go. Yeah, the truth is and
this is this just get to the truth and we can
reverse near that back to Just in compassion.
Yeah. So the truth is is that we all do what
we want to do we can find time and prioritize
time for anything we want to do. Maybe I'm just
talking about myself, but anything that's important
to me, I'll figure out a way to do it. Priority.
It's about prioritization of time. And so, if
you believe God's Word and believe He's called
us to this and believe that it's a gift for us,
then you have to say, I'm going to prioritize
this. And when I didn't, it didn't go well for
me. I found myself fatigued, exhausted, tired,
living for a day that didn't come, a day of rest.
Funerals popped up in the middle on days I thought
I had margined. It was gone. Emergencies, crises.
I was on the phone last night with a crisis and
I thought I had a nice evening and it turned
into having to deal with some really serious
heavy stuff. And that's just the life that we
live. And it's not just a pastor's life, it's
everybody's life. We all have very little margin
in our lives. So back to my statement about truth,
we all do what we really want to do and what
we believe is worthwhile. We'll push everything
away for it. So really it comes down to, do we
believe God has given this to us as a gift? And
if we do, then what are we gonna do to prioritize
that? And the interesting thing is he doesn't
give it to us for himself. He gives it to us
for us. And I think that's hard for us to accept
sometimes. We're all about, as leaders especially,
or whether you're a dad or a mom, you're leading
your home. You may be a boss, you're leading
in a workplace, whatever. We lead at different
levels. But all of us, feel the weight and responsibility
of leadership, so much so that that will prioritize
everybody else's well -being over ours. So then
we do something for us, we feel guilty, or we
feel like we've run off into the other bar ditch
where it's all about us. And that's the thing
is you've got to realize God gave us something.
It's a gift from Him. The best thing I can do
for Him is bless Him by receiving that gift.
When you do something for somebody and they're
just like, yeah, whatever, it's just kind of
like, whoa, okay. I really did that for you.
I did it. It would have been nice to just some
acknowledgement there. By the way, thanks for
the probes, the amazing gift for Pastor Appreciation
Month. I got to highlight this for a moment.
I knew you would. The meter? The meter. The meter
duo pro. Brother. And I'll tell you, it's amazing.
I was gifted this by a friend. Yeah. Right away
I'm like, oh man, oh man, this is too good. And
Tina's like, you got to give that to Pastor Jimmy
for his birthday. When's his birthday? January?
No, that's not going to work. He's going to see
him. This is no good. So I was looking for an
excuse. I'm like, I don't need an excuse to give
my friend something, but it is Pastor Appreciation
Month. So let me say it like this. So you gave
that gift to me. I received it and I got excited
about it. Oh my gosh, this is making. This is
such a great analogy. I go home and pack it.
You know, I read the very bad instructions, by
the way. Not clear. No, it's not clear. I mean,
it's a great product. It took me a while to figure
out you had to have the block of wood next to
the probes. Because you had mentioned that to
me. I did that. That was my trick. Yeah. You
got a Bluetooth, you got to get them on Wi -Fi.
I mean, there's some little steps, but it was
fun because I was excited about it, right? So
something you're excited about, you put energy
into, right? You prioritize it. Wow. It was a
great one. Hey, you need to get that. thing fired
up because we were getting ready to cook some
steaks at K &C. And so all that to say is that
because it meant something to me and it was something
that I saw value in, man, I tore that box open.
I'm getting it all ready. I'm reading the bad
instructions, you know, because it's going, okay,
what's going on? But it was actually easy to
figure out and man was able to get it fired up.
And then I enjoyed the benefit of the gift. But
here's the deal. I didn't want to just enjoy
it. I wanted you to enjoy the benefit of you
knowing how blessed I was to get it. So what
do I do? I screenshot the settings and send them
over to you. Then you screenshot yours and send
them back. All that to say there was this cool
exchange of blessing. You were blessed to give
it to me. I was blessed to receive it. And then
I wanted to bless you back by saying, this is
amazing. So that's the value of the gift. Okay,
hold on right there because of course I got a
lot of joy out of that. I'm not sure, I'm trying
to feel this now, I'm not sure if I always get
that same joyous feeling from my Sabbath and
the gift that God has given me and back and forth.
It's different. I kind of want it to be like
that though. I get it. You know what I mean?
Here's why it's different is because we have
a very real enemy, and it's the devil, Satan,
Lucifer, whatever. I talked about this on Sunday
in the message. But we have a very real enemy
who wants to undermine anything that we're doing
in terms of our relationship with God. So where
we're finding joy in some gift he's giving us,
we get email bombs, some stupid email of somebody
who's angry or critical or mad, and all of a
sudden you make the mistake, Good. Oh, I got
it. Okay. I got outlook. I've got several notifications
I'll just check these real quick and then you
go why did I get that? Yeah, because what does
it do it steals your attention Wow, so maybe
the intentionality has to first come from Realizing
that the enemy is trying to thwart you continuously
throughout Your Sabbath time with God bingo.
Oh, that's good case in point. So Sabbath technically
If you're going to do it in Jewish style, you
start it at Friday. You have the evening before.
And so I do mine on Monday because that just
for work schedule, that works the best and I'm
the most tired after Sunday. So that works good
for me. So, so technically if I would have been
thinking and been more thoughtful and intentional,
it would start Sunday night, Sunday evening while
we're watching NCIS, you know, episode 20, whatever.
Season 21. No, we're in 22 now. So we're about
to catch up. So anyway, we're, you know, doing
our thing. Just, just kind of, you know, brain,
you know, just resting, resting, enjoying it
and enjoying the evening. I noticed a couple
of pop -ups on my phone that's sitting over there.
It lights up. Big mistake. Should have had it
laying like this, but I didn't add it. And I
saw, I said, Oh, got a couple. Oh, I got a text
from a friend. I look it up and it's, it's not
good. It's not terrible, but it's just like,
it's a little bit of drama. And I'm just like,
why did I look at that? Here I am starting into
my, and sure enough, I knew it was the enemy.
I knew it in the moment. It's not that friend.
It's not that person who needed some attention
or needed, you know, some stuff, needed something.
It's not that it's the enemy leveraging the timing
of that. Cause I mean, we need to deal with stuff.
I mean, things happen. You can't just avoid,
you know, life drama. It's, it's like, I told
you this morning, it's job security for me. I
mean, come on, this is why I have a job, right?
Cause we have, cause of life drama. It was one
of the funniest texts. It is what it is. You
know, these, you boil some of this stuff down.
You go, man, let's just be real. So I can laugh
about it and it helps me deal with it too. But
I didn't have to look at it on Sunday night when
we're just resting, we're tired. We've had a
great week, long weekend. This immediacy of life
is, of course, when all of this was written and
when Jesus walked the earth, guess what they
didn't have? internet, cell phones, you know,
there was a lot of time. But there was a very
real devil who was doing the same stuff. Of course,
of course. Just not with the phone. But it would
be so much more obvious, like you're sitting
out there in the middle of the night in the,
you know, tending to your sheep and then, you
know, a lion comes along like, okay, you know,
this is obvious, whereas every... every notification
can be a line for you that's coming to get you.
Or it can be a positive. It could be a very life
-giving, wonderful thing. That's the trickery
of it. Yes. Is for the one bad thing you get,
you get 20 good things. So you just sort of like
a fish, you know, with the bait dangling in front
of you, you take it. And there was a great title
to a book called The Bait of Satan. Yes. By John
Bevere. It's that it's just you took the bait
when nine times out of ten. It's a positive Okay,
so some are summarizing right now in the middle
of this. Yeah, the problem is the phone This
is our biggest problem. I mean seriously, I know
and is it really a phone? No, it's a computer.
I mean this thing is like Unbelievable. It's
it's the enemy's portal into your head is what
it is and And of course, the thing that is in
our minds all the time is, well, what if it's
my kids? What if it's this? What if it's that?
Which is also the enemy working, of course. I'm
just repeating what I'm thinking. I just got
to trust God that everything's going to be okay,
that He's got it and His will is His will. Nothing
I can really change anyway. And this kind of
goes back, I remember before phones, my mom would
always say, no news is good news. So you don't
care if you don't hear, no news is good news.
And maybe that's true. There's some truth to
that. Yeah, but we just didn't have that. Man,
it's just making me, I have not been good at
keeping my phone away. Well, here's why I'm glad
you brought this up. Because I want to always
be open and honest when we're doing podcasting.
I want people to know, man, I'm dealing with
stuff too. I mean, sometimes people look at pastors
or they'll look at you with your life and your
background and think, man, everything's great.
This guy's got it all together. They're podcasting,
they're moving and shaking in the world. But
at the end of the day, you know, We just got
stuff like everybody else. You know, we put our
pants on like everybody else, one leg at a time,
right? Except then we make hit records more cowbell.
Sorry, couldn't help myself. Exactly. So I like
that we talk about things that are hard too and
things that are real because those intrusive
things, it starts me down a line where I get
into a mind war. Because then I start thinking,
man, it's bad. And then it just morphs into,
it's horrible. And then it's catastrophic. And
then you get to the actual situation, which I
did, and it was no big deal. And it was like,
I let that, and I had to fight it all Monday
long. And here's the bad thing. I'm self -aware
enough to know it's happening. And it's almost
worse, because it's like, why can't I push this
over? And I did. I had a wonderful day. Actually,
I told the debt, this is one of my better Sabbaths
I've ever had. So in that sense, it was good.
But then just when I was in a really good place,
I just get this intrusive, yeah, but you need
to take care of this thing. I'm pushing it off
to the next day. When you're taking a Sabbath
day, can you play guitar? Is that okay? Can I
code something on the Godcaster that I just got
an idea? Because I always feel that's one of
the most fun activities I have. Like, oh, I'm
going to make this thing work or that thing work.
I don't consider it to be work. Right. Exactly.
And that is the thing is when we went to the
Sunscape retreat center out in Woodland Park,
Colorado, I've been, we've been twice. We did
it once and we did it one time. Then we did it
11 years later as kind of a reboot. And they
teach you about Sabbath. They teach you about
being quiet. They teach you about being still
and resting and restorative. So it's all being
contemplative. It's all very good. It was life
-saving for us. And one of the things they, they
turned us onto a great book by Mark Buchanan.
I can't remember maybe God's Chosen Rest or something
like that or something like that. I could get
the title because it's worth it. And it's about
how to take a Sabbath. He's a busy pastor and
he writes on these things. Great book. And so
one of the things he said is do things that give
you joy. Do things that bring you joy that maybe
you wouldn't do on a regular work day because
you're thinking, no, that's a luxury or that's
I'm being I'm being extravagant, or I'm being,
there's another word for it I was looking for,
but anyway, I'm being indulgent. That's the word
I was looking for. I'm being indulgent because
this is just frivolous and fun. So when I pick
up one of my guitars, one of my nine guitars
hanging in my room at home, and I plug in the
amp and I turn it up and I put on some backing
tracks that are like just, Some ACGC pastor?
No, not really, but I used to do that. More,
it's just this music, this backing tracks designed
for this jam tracks. And I may play for an hour
or two straight and not even blink. Right. And
I look up and go, whoa, two hours have passed.
I've been playing and playing and playing. That
brings me joy. It's cathartic. It's therapeutic
for me. It restores my soul. And I always think
of that line out of the 23rd Psalm. He restores
my soul. And to me, Sabbath is about the restoration
of your soul. So you find those things. And here's
the beauty of it, to use a well -known phrase,
no agenda. You really lean into the day with
no agenda. And sometimes I know it'll go, so
what are you going to do today on your Sabbath?
I don't know yet. I haven't thought about it.
I'm trying not to think about it. The thing I'm
going to do the most is stay off my screens.
I'm going to put down my screens and pick up
my Bible. I'm going to go scripture before screens.
And boy, I've been leaning into that. It's been
life -giving. So for people who've maybe never
even tried to take a Sabbath or whatever, first
of all, the trick, the hardest part is carving
out the time. Let's be real. Everybody's busy.
Everybody has rhythms and routines that are established.
Some of it just by necessity. You work five days
a week, eight, nine hours a day. When do you
have a time to even do this? And that's where
you got to get creative. And I think that's where
Sabbath moments are possible, where you just
carve out, all right, I've got an hour and a
half right here. Sabbath moments. I like that.
Sabbath moments. That's a good one. You have
to, especially if your job, your situation doesn't
allow for a full day that you can literally take
away. And some people are hardcore on this stuff.
Like, oh no, you got to do it anyway. You got
to figure it. And I'm like, yeah, I think we're
being too legalistic sometimes. So before I learned
and actually sat down with my staff and told
my board of directors, I would really like to
take off a day of the week to have Sabbath. I
need that restoration. Nobody batted an eye.
They're like, yeah, you should be doing that.
I'm, oh, okay. Felt guilty for nothing. So I
get that luxury, but that's part of my part and
parcel with being a pastor. And there's an expectation
there. But for folks that don't have my job,
they've got to find it. And it may be finding
it in blocks of time and moments, but you've
got to build it in on purpose. If you keep a
schedule, which most people do. Maybe that's
the way to do it. Like set a block of time and
I'm going to do Sabbath. Put it on your schedule.
Just like I would do a call or clean the grill,
which I think could be part of my Sabbath. Because
it does bring me joy. This is what I've gone
back to. He picks up his Bible, ladies and gentlemen.
Oh, his agenda. There you go. There it is. There
it is. I've gone back to this because... And
just put it in there. Now, it's going to be on
there because my wife's going to make sure it's
in there electronically so that it's beeping
and loading. So you're on paper now. I feel better.
I've always felt better writing my schedule down.
Wow. Because too, you can write notes and different
things, but... That's hardcore, brother. That's
very analog of you. What can I say? I love it.
Yeah. I love it. Tina's like that too. I'm not.
I mean, I can't do to -do lists, all this stuff.
My to -do list winds up being 8 ,000 pages long.
I'm like, well, I'll put it on the to -do list.
And of course, it never... Everybody's different.
And you got to do what works for you. So for
me, and most people do this, whether it's electronically
or not, you know, I wrote in, what does that
say? I don't have my glasses on. That's Monday,
Sabbath. Sabbath, I see it. Yeah. I wrote it
for the whole day, Sabbath, all the way down.
All the way down the page. Yeah. And because
if I don't schedule it, Something else will get
scheduled. Yeah, if I don't take care of my schedule
somebody else will so I have to Put it in my
schedule. This is what I'm doing Wow, I don't
want to take the whole show for this, but I just
feel like it No, hopefully it's helpful. This
was really this was really good. It's good for
me too because yeah Yeah, the Sabbath moment
and scheduling that time and doing what bring
what what's life -giving? What is really restorative
for you? Mm -hmm. You know, you like to fish
go fishing you like to hike Be outdoors, that's
another thing. I love to get outdoors. And so
it's good for me to get out in the sun. So I'll
do that. I got a prayer flare here for a good
friend of mine. Well, good friend, a friend of
mine. Everyone's passing this clip around. Everyone's
talking about it. Everybody's excited. I want
to play it. And then I wanted to discuss how
we can pray. for this man because everyone's
like, Joe Rogan's going to church. This is fantastic.
But if we really listen to what he's saying,
I think we need to focus a lot of prayer towards
Joe because I'll be real honest, I want Joe in
heaven because that would be fun. And Samson's
waiting for him there to work out and stuff.
So here's the clip that everyone's passing around.
I haven't got there, but I have started going
to church every now and again. Yeah. Yeah. Do
you enjoy it? I love it. Yeah. It's about I do
too. It's a bunch of people that are going to
try to make their lives better They're trying
to be a better person and they're trying to I
mean for me at least the place that I go to they
you know, they read and Analyze passages in the
Bible. I'm really interested in what these people
were trying to say because I don't think it's
nothing There's a lot of like atheists and secular
people that just like to dismiss Christianity
is being foolish. You know, it's just fairy tales.
I hear that amongst, you know, self -professed,
intelligent people. Like, it's a fairy tale.
I don't know if that's true. I think there's
more to it. I think it's history. But I think
it's a confusing history. It's a confusing history
because it was a long... time ago and it's people
telling things in an oral tradition and writing
things down in a language that you don't understand
in the context of a culture that you don't understand
and I think there's something to what they're
saying I don't think it's nothing no no I think
there's something to it and there's a reason
why it resonates with people and Christianity
in particular is the most fascinating to me because
there's this one person that everybody agrees
existed that somehow or another had the best
plan for how a human being should interact with
each other and behave and was the best example
of it and even died in a non -violent way, didn't
even protest, died on the cross supposedly for
our sins. Like it's a fascinating story. What
does it represent though? That's the real thing.
What was that? Like what happened? Who was Jesus
Christ if it was a human being? What was that?
So Joe was very analytical. And I think at the
core, what I'm hearing, and this is consistent
with him, when I professed my faith to him three
years ago now. You said, I'm a Jesus freak? Pretty
much. It's always the same. He is not convinced
that the Word in the Bible is the Word of God
and set, and that that is it. He has huge distrust
of that. And then I think that's where all of
his analytical paths come from. It's like, well,
let me just say that that was probably passed
from an oral form, and then someone wrote it
down, that was translated, he always comes up
with Constantine, and the Bible was changed,
and stuff was left out, and all of this. And
that's actually not an atypical thought even
for believers when you're out there on the internet
and you know things pop up like well This this
was translated wrong and the book of Enoch should
have been in and you know So I and I preface
this by saying I want us to pray for Joe But
maybe you can just give your your thoughts on
what you hear him saying here Well, I mean, it's
obvious that Joe's been on a journey for a long
time. I mean, I remember when Wesley Huff was
on there, somebody put together a, it was actually
fascinating. I mean, when you were on there.
It was a series of all the people have been on.
Well, it was a series of who come on, but also
sort of his evolution to use that word, you know,
his transformation is morphing. And it really
is significant. I mean, he's made huge strides.
to where it wasn't that long ago when he would
not have said anything he just said. I mean,
this is fairly recent. And to me, the way I look
at it is, I don't look at Joe as a project, like,
oh, we got to get Joe Rogan saved. Because if
we do, I don't look at him as a means to an end
and getting the gospel out with somebody who
has a huge following like he does. Which right
there, I'm sorry to interrupt, that's a big one.
Because everyone's like, If Joe Rogan comes to
Christ, then this will be the best thing for
the faith. It's like, no, no, no, no. You're
missing the point. Yes. God is not impressed
with mass crowds. In fact, tonight... It reminds
me what I'm going to talk about. I'm actually
doing a Fields of Faith in For Comfort, Texas.
I'm speaker, the guest speaker. So I get to preach
a sermon to a bunch of teenagers tonight. Excellent.
Nothing more intimidating on the planet than
talking to teenagers, right? You'll be seeing
some looking at their phones. Oh yeah, totally.
But I'm talking about Jesus, fan or follower.
Are you a fan? Are you a follower? I like it.
There's a lot of fans in the world right now.
And even as with the Charlie Kirk thing, with
all this stuff, you know, I am Charlie Kirk,
which I can't stand that phrase. But anyway,
that's just a personal thing. I'm not Charlie
Kirk. I'm Jimmy Pruitt, Jesus follower, Jesus
freak, whatever. So Jesus is very popular right
now. Man, a year ago. He's trending. A year ago,
it was looking bad for Jesus. His numbers were
way down. We've seen a massive shift. I get excited
about that, but let's be real about it. That
does not impress God. He's not looking for likes
and clicks. He's not looking for fans. And even
the word follower, we're talking about biblical
version of that, not the social media version
of that, right? Which has always been a problem
for me, even as a non -believer. I'm like, follow?
That sounds weird. It is weird, yeah. So to follow
Jesus, that's what he's looking for. And so listen
to this scripture in terms of that, because I
think about Joe. Right now, Joe is becoming a
fan. He's not a follower. But he's beginning
to acknowledge there's something to this. There's
more than I thought there was. I mean, even in
his language, you can hear him leaning. It feels
a little bit like he's looking at it as, although
not a bad analog, the instruction manual to his
car. It's like, well, Jesus, he had these concepts,
and if I live my life this way, it'll be better.
Exactly. You nailed that. That's really... That's
really what I heard too. But I'm also happy for
him that he's on the journey, that he's asking
questions. He's asking good questions. He's asking
questions. That's number one. The tricky part
for Joe and people like Joe who are so analytical
and linear in their thinking is that they're
going to struggle with the concept of faith and
trust. Faith, trust, belief. They're all rooted
in the same thing. They're going to struggle
with that. And so it's interesting to me that
I had a guy in my church. He became a lieutenant
colonel. He became a colonel. I mean, this guy
was like rising the ranks in the military, B
-1 bomber pilot, one of the most Harvard graduate
school of war. I mean, this guy was General Petraeus'
right -hand man in the desert, in the sandbox.
I mean, called me from a helicopter one time.
I'm like, I can barely hear you. And you're on
the other side of the world, somewhere hovering
around one of the palaces of Hussein or whatever.
So that guy had a, even though he was so brilliant,
so analytical, the one thing he didn't have an
issue with was trust, belief and faith. He loved
God. He trusted God. Still does to this day,
by the way. He has a ministry now. He retired
out of the military, career military. Now he
has a ministry. So there are people who are brilliant,
intellectual, analytical, linear in their thinking
who have no issue because this isn't an intelligence
issue. Oh, absolutely not. But yes, some people
would think it is. that the more intelligent
you are, the harder time you're going to have
with faith, trust, belief. No, that's not an
intelligent issue. That's a heart issue. It's
not a brain issue. It's a heart issue. And whether
it's Joe Rogan or anybody else, they all have
to come the same way everybody comes. That's
through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. And those who come to
the Father must come by or through me. But he's
not a way, a truth, he's the way, period. It
is very exclusive. People say, so is Christianity
exclusive? Absolutely. There is a way to get
there and it's through Jesus and it's the way,
not a, it's the. There's not multiple ways. And
gosh, that just sounds very exclusive. It is.
I didn't write the book. I didn't create the
world. You know, oh man, that's so good because
you're right. And I remember, because I also,
I went, I approached my faith analytically. And,
you know, for me, it was like, well, once I read,
what was the? Oh, Evidence that Demands a Verdict.
Evidence that Demands a Verdict. And from there
went into Beautiful Outlaw and all these other,
you know, I think just having, and by the way,
Evidence that Demands a Verdict, like a third
of that book is footnotes. you know, um, uh,
location data, you know, this is exactly where
this happened. That happened. Um, wow. I can
just see a guy like Joe trust being one of the
trusting, having faith in something that is not
his own doing because he worked out because he
ate this in a way that's going to be really hard
for him because that his whole persona is kind
of based on that. And Additionally, Joe has a
photographic memory. People don't realize this.
So he has to replace some of those pictures with
new pictures. And that's what I'm praying for,
actually. Well said. Well said. Somebody like
Joe, who's a self -made man, pull yourself up
by your own bootstraps. The hardest thing to
surrender is yourself. And that's the first thing
Jesus asked for. He literally says this. Listen
to how he says it. He says, if any of you wants
to be my follower, you must give up your own
way. There it is. Take up your cross and follow
me. It's Matthew 16, 24 and then LT. So Jesus
said, you have to give up your own way. And that's
the tipping point for everybody. And whether
some people think, well, all the Jews will be
saved because they're God's people. No, they
have to come to Jesus. They have to come to God
through Jesus, just like you and me. They don't
get a past. They don't get special preference.
God wants them. He woos them. He sent Jesus to
the Jews first, and the scripture even says to
the Jew first, then the Gentile. So he came to
them first, and he's still there for them. even
though initially they rejected him, but over
a million Jewish people have professed Jesus
Christ as Savior. Now across the earth, it's
the most in history ever. So God's on the move.
As the land's moving, Jesus is showing up and
it's happening. But every one of them, so the
ground is level at the foot of the cross. There's
no... Passes? No. I love that. The ground is
level at the foot of the cross. That's good.
Nobody gets a special pass because you're popular
or because you have 12 million followers or whatever.
At the end of the day, it comes down to the same
thing. Like a child, you come to God and say,
I can't do this. I got to repent. I need you
in my life. I give up. Max Lucado was his devotional
this morning, which I heard on Hello Fred available
in the Godcast to get the Godcast rap for Android
and iOS. He was saying, I wish I could recall
it precisely, but that it's really in the hard
times that God loves you the most and where you
can really, that's where your faith really comes
out. By the way, that has a flip side. But I
always remind myself, thank you God, thank you
Jesus for this wonderful thing that just happened.
We also have to rejoice in that. Although I didn't,
I think, but going through a crisis is probably
the way a lot of people come to faith. I don't
know. Is that true? No doubt. If you think about
it, a lot of people go into Congress because
of a crisis, right? The pain of staying the same
has to outweigh the pain of change, my old boss
used to say, Dave Ramsey. So think about it.
The pain of staying the same has to outweigh
the pain of change. We don't like change, and
we don't usually change on purpose. We change
because something happens. It's usually a result.
Sadly, it's usually not the result of a good
thing. It's usually the result of pain. So the
pain of staying the same has to outweigh the
pain of change. So change is painful to people.
And so a lot of times, the people that end up
in Congress, unless they were born and raised
into that world, and there are those elitist
oligarchs, we've got those. But a lot of people
that are serving in Congress, when you get behind
the suit or the dress, They have a story. It's
usually tragic. That's a good point. Yes, many
do. It drove them to do something they never
thought they would do to get beyond their comfort
zone. A lot of people that are like that in Congress,
those are the ones I really got my eye on. Kind
of like the old Will Rogers quote, I don't trust
anyone who doesn't walk with a limp. I don't
trust a man who doesn't walk with a limp. They're
walking with a limp and those are the ones who
I think move the needle. at the end of the day,
because they're not playing the political games.
They're there for a reason, for a purpose. Same
way with coming to Christ. A lot of times, we
kind of have to hit the bottom a lot of times
before we can really look up and go, I need help.
I can't do this anymore. That is interesting
because it's still fresh enough for me. I'm reflecting
on my own faith journey. I don't think Tina and
I came to our faith or came to Jesus through
any any crisis per se. It was curiosity. It was
maybe it was looking to fill something that we
both felt we were missing. Not crisis though.
And I don't know if that's atypical. No, I don't
think it is because I didn't come through crisis
either. I came because I thought to myself, there's
got to be more to life than what I'm seeing.
I always think of the song, is that all there
is my friend? And I think of the one by Stephen
Curry's Chapman, more to this life, there's more
to this life than living and dying, more than
just trying to make it through another day. I
love the lines in that song. Also available on
Hello Fred on the Godcaster app. Download it
today. IOS or Android. And you know, it's like,
I'm hesitating because, and that's kind of why
I wanted to do this, you know, maybe someone
will send this to Joe so he can hear it. I don't
want to be telling him what to do. Exactly. You
know, and this is probably the worst thing because
I know people are like, yeah, man, you know,
we're ready for you. Jesus is ready. No. Like
it's a touchdown. Yeah. We're not trying to score
a touchdown. We're trying to see a life transformed.
Yeah. So that he will spend eternity with Jesus,
with God, with us. Yes. And so I learned very
young not to make people projects. First of all,
I learned that I can't talk anybody into coming
to God. If I do, that means somebody else can
talk them out of it. It's got to be a real transformation
of the heart, and I have nothing to do with that.
So as a pastor, I'm more a facilitator than anything.
Even apologists, who that's kind of their thing.
They're brilliant. They're smart. They can talk
you like a Wesley Huff, who can really just break
it all down for you. But at the end of the day,
he can break it down for Joe, and Joe can go,
yeah, those facts, that's interesting. Yeah,
yeah, that Dead Sea Scroll thing and then the
scenes and all that. Yeah, that makes sense.
But at the end of the day, he still has to take
what everybody has to take, and it's a leap of
faith. Just like Indiana Jones stepping out over
that cliff and not knowing if there's going to
be a stepping stone there or not. Yeah. Wow.
That's good, brother. That's good. That's the
real stuff. Yeah. Well, I'm praying for Joe that
way. Yes. Because I really, I really, I really
don't like the, as you say, like, yeah, we're
scoring a touchdown. A notch in your Bible. Let
me notch my Bible. Joe's at the 20 yard line.
You know, it's like, no, no, no, no. Wow. That's
good. So man, I had a whole bunch of clips that
we're not going to get to today. It was about
Tucker Carlson at Turning Point USA. But Charlie
Kirk has been kind of a theme throughout our
episode here. And I wanted to play one clip.
It's about two and a half minutes long. But this
is from one of our friends, Laura Logan. She
went to Moscow to interview Kirill Dmitriev.
And Kirill Dmitriev, when you hear him, you might
recognize his voice. the counterpart to Steve
Witkoff. So a serious guy, he runs the Sovereign
Wealth Fund or investment fund, I think it's
called, of Russia. And it's funny because Laura
went to Moscow and he's been in the US for like
two weeks doing interviews everywhere. I'm not
quite sure. I'm sure she's trying to set up something
with Putin, which would be on brand for her.
And I hope that works out. But it was such an
interesting thing that he discussed. because
I know this is coming and I want our people,
and when I say our people, our spiritual family
here in Fredericksburg and anyone else who listens
to this podcast, I'm most interested in them
because they're our friends and our spiritual
family. What's coming next is we're going to
ramp up more Russia hate. We've already, you
might have noticed that... from the river to
the sea has kind of disappeared and things are,
you know, not the president Trump or his team
will get any credit for that. I don't think they
care either. They just want to make the world
a better place. I truly believe that. So that's
dying down a little bit. Now we're going to,
you know, president Trump is really going to
start working on Russia, Ukraine. And I myself
went to Moscow in 1988 and found immediately
These people are a lot like us. They have a lot
of the same thinking and values, etc. It's true.
And so I wanted to fortify our people here with
some of the thinking, which I believe to be true,
what Dmitriev is saying here. uh, about how similar
we are. And so, and to recognize some of the
things that to this day, many members of Congress
and, you know, the house representatives and
the Senate and leaders will be trying to convince
you that this is the evil, evil Russia. And again,
my mind was blown when I went there. So, you
know, when we talk about Russia. You know, I've
got in my mind that if I step off the plane,
it's going to be in black and white. I mean,
that's how the narrative runs and that they're
all. waiting in lines at grocery stores for a
sack of potatoes. It's powerful imagery, brother.
Powerful. And that's what I've seen for decades
about it. But then the more I've gotten older
and realized it's very westernized. Very colorful,
in fact. Very much so. And just to kind of accentuate
that, when I went, it was still the USSR, but
the wall had not come down. It was for the Moscow
Music Peace Festival. And there was a very black
and white part to it when So we had our big camera
trucks and 24 cameras and this big wire had to
go into the KGB bus, which was literally a gray
bus with curtains. And it was completely black
and white. That's your black and white vision.
But then at 3 a .m. when we were hanging out
in front of the hotel, because there was a bunch
of Western rock guys, and the Moscow Hells Angels
showed up. That was colorful, man. That was like
they're on Java motorcycles. They're popping
wheelies there. And so, you know, that contrast
is so incredibly real, but it's colorful. So
just listen to what and this goes all the way
through what we're just coming out of, of the
Biden administration really. also going back
to Obama and even further back when you think
about it. I think it's just really informative
to listen to this. Let me go back to how traditional
values and other things unite us. Because President
Putin has started talking about focus on traditional
values, not this year, not five years ago, but
when he really became president. So for more
than 20 years ago, he's been focused on really
making sure that, you know, it's not a woke world,
it's a world where there is a man and a woman,
the focus on the family. and Christian values,
and I think that is very, very important. And
he was calling out the fakeness of the Vogue
narrative for a long time. And by the way, I
love - Just like President Trump. Just as President
Trump. And by the way, I loved, I reposted one
of your posts where you had this Vogue vocabulary.
Yes. What people saying what they really mean.
And what they really mean. Yeah. So I think the
honesty and be straightforward, you know, not
political correctness, but calling things the
way they are is important. I would give another,
I think, very poignant example. of Charlie Kirk.
So Charlie Kirk really resonated with the Russian
people. Isn't this fantastic? I really love that
he brought this up. I did not expect to hear
that. I know you'd like it. And when this horrible
tragedy happened, not only President Putin gave
condolences, but Russian church actually did
an article recognizing Charlie Kirk's contributions
to Christianity. So they see him not only as
somebody who is an advocate of family, not only
advocate on campuses, but really as a religious
sort of thinker, a contemporary religious thinker.
Okay, but that's interesting because, of course,
under Marxism, there is no room for religion.
I mean, Karl Marx was an nihilist when it came
to God. I love that Lara does this. She's so
good. Yeah, but Russia is actually quite a religious
country. Yes. So if you go, and I hope you can
go to our Orthodox churches, et cetera, it's
a very religious country and very much focused
on values. So in reality, we see view of the
world very similarly, where we see, for example,
immigration in Europe and what Biden tried to
do in the U .S. is crazy. You know, I actually
have a theory about this. I believe that Biden
wanted Democrats to stay in power forever. So
what he did, he figured out immigrants, criminals
and transgender, they were Democrats. So then
he increased the number of criminals, he increased
the number of immigrants, and there was a huge
transgender spike, which is, by the way, now
coming down, to turn to normalcy during his era.
Turn to reality. All of that was to stay in power.
All of those things that Russia is tough on and
Europe is not tough on. So I think another thing
we see is, for example, Europe was allowing illegal
immigration, was allowing lots of vote policy.
J .D. Vance said it's basically a suicide of
European civilization. And we also see it very
similarly. But to summarize, I think we all care
about our families. We all care about education
of our children. We all care about having good
economy, good growth, and we are much more similar.
And what happened during Biden administration
and actually started with Obama, Russiagate,
is that Russiagate tried to vilify President
Trump, tried to vilify Russia. And from that
time, Russia became like really bad, bad, bad
in the people's minds in the U .S. But more and
more conservatives understand that those were
fake, not true narratives. So I brought this
clip because I wanted everyone to hear this because
when the messaging comes, which is going to come
about how evil, it's going to be more focused
on Putin, but I'm convinced, I have to say I'm
pretty convinced that President Trump and his
team are working on something I call ARC. ARC,
America, Russia, China. Notice that these are
not countries with monarchies. And I truly believe,
and this whole interview, it's on the Godcaster,
at Bridge Church on the Godcaster, you can, and
hello, Fred, as well, you can listen. It's 45
minutes is well worth it. That we are going to
wind up working together. and leaving each other
in our own values. Like China, you want to be
like that, that's fine, but we can still, but
we do a lot of trade. I mean, that's our biggest
trade partner. I mean, this is ridiculous not
to recognize that. And Russia has a lot of what
we need when it comes to resources. But just
listening to that, I'm like, listen, when the
Russian church is thinking about Charlie Kirk,
that blows my mind. So when the messaging comes,
I want people to think about this, that we are
much more similar than the media, the control,
it is completely controlled media, would have
you believe. Man, I'm so glad you brought this
up. You know, I've been doing a pushback on news,
like almost to the point of, wait, did anything
happen today? What's going on? What's going on?
I'm FOMOing a little bit because not even fear
though, it's not fear anymore. I'm just missing
out because I want to. I'm choosing to fear,
choosing. I got to come up with a new thing.
Cho Mo. Cho Mo. Choosing of missing. No, that
didn't work. We'll figure something out. But
you know, I'm choosing to not swim in the cesspool
of media right now. And it has been hugely refreshing,
but it also shifts your perspective. When you're
not being fed this narrative constantly, these
breadcrumbs of a narrative that start to add
up and accumulate. And the algos start to throw
in your face. Exactly. It's like a cumulative
GPA, you know, it just accumulates. And before
you know it, you're toxic and you don't even
know it. It's just a frog in the kettle syndrome,
right? So because I've been pushing back on that
and not swimming in it, the stuff that's coming
my way is almost laughable at this point. But
it's stuff that A few weeks ago, I would have
been like taking the bait. I would have been
going, oh my gosh, did you hear about this? So
when I hear this, I'm not hearing it through
a grid of a narrative that I've been swimming
in. I'm hearing it fresh. where I'm going, I
completely see that. And I've heard that about
Putin, good things. People lose their mind if
you say that. Like you said, this is going to
spin up. For sure. We always need a nemesis.
We need an antagonist. Let the true nemesis be
our nemesis. Come on, there you go. Let the enemy
be our enemy and not this. How can we teach the
church The public, I mean, I can say it till
I'm blue in the face in the pulpit and they all
nod and say, amen, but then they come back next
week full of this narrative. It's like every
week, I feel like I have to deprogram some of
our people in our church. These are people I
love and care about, but they're swimming in
this. How can we help? I'm trying to lead the
way by putting my screens down, picking up my
Bible and talking about it. I think that's it.
I mean, you're doing it. you are doing it. And
how do people learn? Repetition. You just keep
repeating it, and you're very good at coming
up with creative ways of saying the same thing
over and over again. That's pretty much the life
of a pastor. I'm sure that that's what you do
for a living. We have about one message. You
just say it 7 ,000 different ways creatively.
But our friends listening to this, even you and
I are talking, but we're aware that there are
other ears that this is going to land on. How
can we encourage them, Adam Curry, to put down
their screens, as you say, and pick up their
Bibles, so that when these narratives come down
the pike, and they are going to come, we go,
I call BS. This doesn't align with what I think
I know. Well, my rule of thumb is everything
that media brings me, and that means mainstream
media, but also social media, is just by definition
BS. I agree. 99 % of it is going to be that you're
not, there is no benefit. There's also no loss.
We got to come up with a, you're right, we got
to come up with a new acronym for FOMO. Choosing
to miss out. I do this for a living, and I choose
to miss out five of the seven days a week. And
when I jump into it, I'm so fresh because I'm
like, oh, this is all bull crap. I can see all
of it. And a fresh heart. Yes. Because you've
been picking up your Bible, so your heart's getting
re -attuned to that. And it's almost... Well,
I think this podcast maybe, you know, because
we didn't... do a business plan. We didn't sketch
anything out. We said, it's time for us to do
this because we get to do this. And so I think
this is a part of it. And, and I don't think
long and hard and, you know, it comes to me,
you know, the Holy Spirit guides me. I'm like,
oh, this is probably a tag it like, this is probably
good for the podcast. You have your own method.
So I think it's just keep on rejecting the the
corridor to your brain, which is the notifications,
etc. That screens, put down your screens, pick
up your Bible, which is easy to say. I know it's
not the easiest thing. And that in combination
with booking your Sabbath time. And yeah, maybe
it's just an hour. Start with an hour, then do
another hour. I'm saying this for myself, by
the way, because I think it's a really good idea
to put it on your calendar. And then just see
how, just try, it's like, just try it. Try not
looking at your phone for an hour, then try two
hours, then try three. This is the easiest. This
I can do. I can literally not look at my phone
for X amount of time. You'll see the improvement
and just maybe take stock at the end of the day.
Was this really something that was so outrageous
I needed to know this? You know, write down all
the things you learned that are super important.
I guarantee you, you can't forget. You don't
even know all the important things that got y
'all worked up. It's not going to be there. And
ask why. Why do I need to look at it? But also,
why do I need to post? Oh, yeah. This has been
a huge thing for me. And you've helped me with
it. I told Annette, I said, I'm so thankful for
Adam, our friendship. Because you've beat this
drum for a long time with me, not like trying
to get me to do anything. It's just we've been
talking out loud. We just happened to hit record
today, but this conversation would have happened
anyway. It's an ongoing conversation. Dialogue
is here. They're just letting people listen in.
But we've talked about this before and it's helped
me because it got me thinking, why am I posting
this? Am I posting this to be seen? Now, here's
the thing that happens. And anyone who starts
down this road is going to realize it. It changes
your filter. It changes your lens. So you're
going to start noticing friends that they're
posting because they're wanting people to pay
attention to them. That's it. And it's this need
to be seen, need to be noticed, need to be recognized.
And that includes commenting. It even includes
hitting the like button. All of that is... is
narcissism. You know what I found out? When I
just, when I put my screen down and I'm gaining
about an hour a morning right now, because usually
I'll post that I'm just being transparent. And
then I wait to see who, and I've just stopped
doing that. Cause now, because I'm not posting
anything else. I'm not posting my picture of
my steak, picture of my new awesome thermometer,
the meter. Normally, I was thinking about this.
The other day, I'm out there with my meter using
it for the first time and I thought, I should
take a picture of that. And I thought, why? Why?
Why? It's because I want people to go, that's
cool. Yeah. And listen, I know not all of it's
nefarious. I mean, let's just be real. We want
to communicate and be a community with people.
So it's not all bad. Sometimes I think I come
off sounding that way, but it's not. Sometimes
I think it's cool to post your kid's first day
going to school or your kid got an A on a paper.
Because you've got grandparents looking at, you've
got aunts and uncles and cousins looking at your
account. So I don't think it's all bad when it's
actually social media, but it's turned into something
else. It's turned into what I call performance
media. And so I think that's, I love what you
just said there because it really resonated with
me as I'm just starting to ask why am I doing
this? And that stopped about 99 % of me posting
honestly, straight up. And I'm glad you brought
that up because it does your journey. to weaning
off of this starts with not posting. Exactly.
That's really where it starts. And yeah, if you
just ask, why am I actually doing this? And why
am I looking at this newsfeed? I don't know most
of these people, but I'm scrolling, right? Yeah.
Like I said, that gif of the guy scrolling. And
that was one of the big, you know, when we started
news feeds, which actually comes from the blogging
world, RSS. And it was really beautiful, because
you would subscribe to 10, 20. People had Google
Reader. I don't know if you remember Google Reader.
That was basically the early version. That was
podcasting before we had audio files. You subscribed,
and then you would get the updates. And at a
certain point, you'd reach the bottom. And that
would be the end. And there was nothing else
new. That was amazing because then you like put
it down like okay, I'm bored because I've read
everything You're done. I remember that and then
they came up with infinite scroll. Yes, and that's
where the algos start feeding your scroll Exactly
based on what you just did. Yep. So instead of
infinite scroll think of infinite Scripture.
I'm just trying to come up with stuff. What's
interesting, you and I, this is episode eight,
right? Yes, it is. We end up at the same place.
Every single time. We come back to this because
we see that it's such a big issue right now with
people. I think it's stealing. Listen to this.
I stated this on Sunday, if we're ready to land
the plane. There is a spiritual war for the control
of your soul. It's an assault. of the heart,
and it can often manifest in the natural. This
is what's happening. The enemy is like, I can't
kill you. You're a Christian, but I can certainly
control you. I can manipulate you. I can deceive
you. I can take you off your God assignment because
I could get you scrolling for hours, wasting
time, killing time. One of the things I said
I don't negotiate with is wasting time. And so
I'm getting better as I continue to state this
over my life. It's a process. It doesn't happen
overnight. You just make decision after decision.
Brother, you didn't just land the plane. You
put three wheels on the numbers, right there
on the numbers. Can I end on a good scripture?
This is helpful. Please. It's very common, but
most folks have heard this probably. John 10,
10, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and
destroy. I'm glad it doesn't end there. The next
one, Jesus flips the script, I came, Jesus came,
that they may have life and have it abundantly.
That's the heart of God for us, to have an abundant,
full life, not full of this, you know, I'm touching
my phone, but a full life that's life giving.
And when we're all doing that together, it's
amazing how community just happens. Brother,
perfect way to land the plane. Thank you. See
you next week. We get to do this again next week.