Father, we honor you today and with everything
we do, everything we say. Father, we know that
we become what we behold, so we want to continue
to behold you. Behold your face, behold your
word, and behold your works, the things that
you do, your works that honor you, glorify you,
and reveal you to a world that needs hope and
needs Jesus. And so Lord, we pray for our friends
that will be joining us today and as they listen
to this podcast wherever and from whenever, when
they do it. and we bless them, Lord. We speak
life and blessing overall. In Jesus' name, we
get to do this. Amen. That never gets old for
me. Where were you? Did you hear me? You were
distant. I was coming through your microphone.
I'd muted myself. Wow, usually mute Tina, the
keeper. I muted myself. You do that to her sometimes.
A self -affliction. I can't believe that actually
came through. I'm like, where's this coming from?
I'm like, I don't care. He left the room. I'm
like, we prayed, Holy Spirit's got this. I'll
figure it out as soon as we're done. Well, I
mean, we're a little out of sorts. We're not
in our normal place. Everything is out of sorts.
I mean, not that people would care that much,
but we had a garage door problem. So, you know,
first world problems. Tried to fix it myself
with Chad GPT and YouTube and called in the big
guns. Oh, man. Had to finally give in. It was
so nice, though, that you recommended this guy
to me. Well, Mark, who owns the company, goes
to our church. He's a brother and a friend. Oh,
there it is. There it is. Perfect. Good folks.
They have two employees. One is Alejandro who
came by today and his son who works after lunch,
after school or something like that. But it was,
it was so refreshing to have something that could
be repaired and not like you need a new unit.
We can't just toss it out. I got a new unit,
but I needed it. You had a real old one, but
I was like, this is so surprising. This is, I
love this. This is good. It's totally good. Nice.
Good people. Oh man. So no sooner have we, talked
about everybody. I know the lamp's in the way
a little bit. Have we talked about everybody
calming down about Iran? I think it was literally
two days later, the president's like, oh, I think
we got this kind of sorted. They're talking.
We're like, oh, no. The Trump algo means we have
to go up or down a couple more times. No kidding.
And you know, Iran's going, what's he talking
about? Well, that's what's being said. There's
a lot of... And this is really the point. There's
a lot of stuff. Being said breaking news. Nobody
knows anything. Everything is Information doesn't
mean it's good information. Exactly. It could
be misinformation It could be disinformation
and I have started to rely less and less on what
We call news feeds because let's be honest, it's
not it's mind pollution feeds It's just feeding
and I can't take it anymore I just can't and
then I so I got to play this clip. It's only
clear. I didn't bring much today. Go for it.
I don't know if you've ever seen Fox News, what's
his name? Jesse Waters. He took over what used
to be the Bill O 'Reilly slot and then I think
was the Tucker slot and he's okay. I mean, I
haven't watched Fox News in years, but he has
this one segment where he sends Johnny out and
Johnny goes out on the street and ask people
stuff and it's always funny. and man on the street
stuff is one of my favorite ways to do television
because you can select whatever you want and
make it super funny and make it sound like everybody's
an idiot or nobody knows what what they're talking
about and and so he did one of those uh a spring
break on the beach and i just got 34 seconds
of it oh wow but it made me think in two different
ways So I'll play this and then we shall discuss.
What have you heard about Venezuela? Venezuela?
Nothing. I'm not sure. I barely know what will
be going on in like Tennessee where I'm from.
That they beat us in the world baseball classic.
Have you heard anything else? No. Nothing. I
haven't heard nothing about Venezuela. Okay.
So obviously funny. First of all, it's spring
break. So I would say there's some adult beverages
have been consumed. It's obvious. I pulled some
of those quotes out, which contained F words
and drunk. But. So the intent of this, of course,
is like, ah, the kids are stupid. And these are
college kids. They're idiots. They don't know
anything. The extended point of this, as this
gets around globally, is Americans are stupid.
And so I had, of course, I had those thoughts
like, oh, that's funny. I've made these myself
and produced them for television. But then I
thought, We could do with a little more of this
and let me explain as I was driving away from
the church the other day Was it the last maybe
it was the last show we did and I I pull out
I turn left on to whatever that is at 87 That's
Tyvedale Lane. Yeah, that is that's all we come
at the big street. Yeah Where Hildes? Right there?
Yeah. No, no. Go past Hildes left. And then that's
- That's highway 16. Yes. What? I have a GPS.
You just turn left when it tells you to. Yes.
Tina's left. Well, I know how to get home. And
I see across the street, I see a vote for Riley,
our guy. Okay. Yeah. Right. Randy. Randy Briley.
Thank you. See, this is how bad it is. Randy
Briley. Future mayor. And I see a sign and it's
the only sign I've seen. I don't get out much.
And I thought if I were to go down Main Street
in Fredericksburg and ask people about Venezuela
or about Iran, I think most people would have
an opinion, but they may not know that Randy
Briley is running. They may not even know there's
a mayoral election. True. And so this is what
social media has done, even to me, I can't remember
Randy Briley's name, he goes to our church, is
it removes us from what is truly important, from
our local, the business of our town, the business
of our community. We keep getting sucked up into
these global national, and I'm, hey, I'm part
of that system to be honest about it, but we
get sucked up into that and Does it really matter?
I mean, yeah, okay, we saw a small, not even
instant, but we saw a change of gas prices. That
would be the main thing that we saw. But that
fluctuates, but that's really it. There's not
that much else, but that dominates the entire
online culture and arguments. And I don't know,
it just, I felt like - Yeah, and you have to
ask. Sorry, I just interrupt you. No, please
go for it. You need to do that more to me. I
feel a buster. Well, it gives you a chance to
drink your coffee. Yes, sir. By the way, thanks
for the black raffle today. That's the best.
Annette and I were talking while we're walking
today. We did a walk this morning and I was saying,
I literally said, how is this affecting us? This
war, yeah, we're frustrated about, yeah, we want
to see it come to an end. Yes, we have interests
in what's happening, but where we live, and we
say it like this, where we live, where we work,
and where we play. So that's just where you do
your life. And she said, it really doesn't, other
than I paid $62 to fill the car up, but it didn't
ruin my day. It wasn't a high impact, not that
there won't be other ripple effects. But I think
what happens is there's a cultural mood, a cultural
milieu, if you will, ethos. And I think it impacts
that more than it impacts most of our real world
situations. Now, there are other things going
on in the government, DHS. That's tragic for
these TSA people who that's their job, their
livelihood. And man, they're taking a beating
right now. And that is affecting people truly
on the ground. Where they live. Of course, that
is a political game. I think most people recognize
it. And some people would say it's the Republicans
or the Democrats, but that should tell you right
there. It's a political game and we should be
disappointed in our elected representatives in
general for that kind of politicking. But yes,
that, that is, but even that has nothing to do
with, well, I guess that is another, that is
another main topic. Yeah. It's a ripple effect.
It impacts things. So I agree with you. The only
place it really affects me other than the gas
pump at this point is in my mindset, my mentality.
I always default back to 1 Samuel that says that
these were David's mighty men, the sons of Issachar,
the men of Issachar, who discerned the times,
understood the times, and knew what to do. I
keep going back to that. It's one of those things
I can't shake over and over. engaging, whether
it's social media or you're listening to podcasts
by your favorite podcasters, hopefully us, but
others. And as you're doing that, though, you're
listening with discernment. You're listening
with wisdom. You're listening with the idea that
I'm going to respond, but I'm not going to react.
And that means you take a mental pause when you
hear these things so that what they're calling
news doesn't land hard all the time. Because
how it lands is how it impacts you. And so anyway,
I'm just totally in alignment with what you're
saying here because in a sense, what's stirring
us up is our own need to think we've got to be
in the know. That's it. Fear of missing out.
Where does that fundamentally come from? Does
Scripture say anything about this? I know. I'm
like, come on, pastor, don't think you roll that
out. I texted you last night. I said, what are
we doing? This just came up. Jimmy JPT. So while
you're looking something up, I mean, well, go
ahead. No, no, no. Go ahead. I want you to clarify
a little bit because give me a little more on
that. Because I'm always looking now to scripture.
That is my default. I'm starting to figure this
out in a way for myself. Like, okay, I get it.
I'm not running the show. I have to listen and
try to do God's will. I kind of have an idea
of what my contribution is to the kingdom. He's
been showing me my whole life. He's been creating
opportunities for me my whole life. I've strayed
from time to time or it may have been adjacent.
And so I'm 61, you know. So what have I got to
lose then to always try and look at everything
through a worldview that is based on scripture.
So, you know, the thing that keeps, this is one
of my favorites, what keeps coming back and back
and back is when the disciples say, hey, yo Jay,
when is this all gonna come to a pass? What will
be the end of the age? And the first thing Jesus
says in Matthew 24, four is, see that no one
deceives you. And there's a lot of that going
on, maybe not intentionally. And then, This is
my favorite. You will hear of wars and reports
of wars. See that you are not alarmed for these
things must happen, but it will not yet be the
end. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom
against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes
from place to place. All of these are the beginning
of the labor pains. So this is it. But this could
just been going on for 2000 years, could be longer
than that. But everyone gets so spun up and I
was like, Everyone was born into war. This is
what it is. It's not great. I wish it was different,
but that's not going to happen until Jesus comes
back. That's right. So that's how I'm starting
to look at things. So when I see, and we all
have it, this incessant need to be in the know.
And when you have that need to be in the know,
it's like your mind is wide open saying, shovel
any manure in here that you want to, because
I'm ready. And you chase it down these roads
and these paths. You're right. You're like wide
open. You're like a big antenna. Remember the
old satellite dishes? You'll see one of those
every once in a while. They're huge. Big fiberglass
dish. We become that. We're literally taking
in everything. I did a daily grind the other
day about guarding your heart because out of
it come the wellsprings of life. As your heart
goes, that's how everything's going to go, your
mindset, your mentality. The scripture is clear.
Guard that. got to fight for that. You've got
to contend for that. So that may mean sometimes
not just pushing totally away from what you're
saying, because we do, but realistically we don't.
We can say it all day long, but at the end of
the day, we're going to find ourselves scrolling
and doing it. But listening with a different
mentality, guarding your heart, keeping your
heart, and literally have this running conversation.
Jesus, is this true? Why not go to the source?
The real source. Sounds easy. Jesus, is this
true? Is this real? Is this really happening?
I heard something today that alarmed me this
morning and I was like, is this true? I mean,
literally just came out like, is this true? Do
you want to share what that was? Trying to remember
what it was. There's so much. It just was this
morning. Oh, okay. This is going to sound dumb.
Now you caught me on this, but I'm going to say
it anyway. I saw where the New Zealand government
was forcing beekeepers to destroy their hives.
This is classic. The world will collapse when
the bees go away. I know. These are the most
important. And I was reading it going, oh no,
because I love New Zealand honey. Because Mark
Harmon addicted me to it. He got me hooked on
it. Mark and Pam are good people. Oh my gosh.
They're amazing people. But every once in a while,
he slips me a bottle of this, let's just say
very expensive honey. Excuse me. I have not been
put... He and I are more in the same age category.
We work out, we talk about health and peptides
and all that stuff. So he goes, I know you're
a carnivore and I'm more like a Ketivore. And
he said, but this is like raw unfiltered. It's
like got some of the highest ratings, you know?
So it's like putting something really amazing.
Well, then I find out this morning, what? They're
getting rid of my favorite honey? Oh, no. I mean,
I literally had a little panic moment, literally.
And I had to go, Lord, is this true? I'm getting
worked up over this. They're killing the bees,
you know? And what came back? That's what I'm
talking about. What came back? I went and got
me some honey out of the closet. It made me hungry
for it. And I just let it go. I'm like, you know
what? That's probably just not even true. It's
just some weird random thing. It may be. I don't
know. If I had to count the number of times.
The bee collapse was upon us, and without bees,
the whole world goes to hell in a handbasket.
I mean, it's probably in the 18 years I've been
doing No Agenda, at least 30, 40 times. It's
always, and the bees, and you get all the YouTube
videos. And of course, once you watch that, you
can't help but seeing all the other stuff that
comes out. Yeah, I was watching it. And the guy
was saying, these bees are perfectly healthy.
Why am I having to destroy them? So that hits
on everything. It's the heartstrings. We're killing
these innocent bees and they produce the best
food in the world. And without them pollinizing
everything, the world collapses, brother. Here
we go. Dystopian future is upon us. Isn't that
wild though? I had to step myself down because
it bothered me. Man, it's Mark Harman's fault
for getting me addicted. Well, no, of course
we blame Mark. Pam is faultless, but we blame
Mark. But isn't that also just another version
of end times talk? Isn't everything ultimately
for non -believers, it doesn't matter who you
are, everything you read will ultimately come
down to, and we're all going to die. Oh, yeah.
Every single time. And that's the thing that
we have to guard our hearts for because it works.
Fear is the best emotion. You can sell people
anything, certainly information. I have a friend
I had lunch with last week. I'm not going to
say his name to protect the guilty. And if he
listens to this, he'll know. But he was telling
me, he said, you know, Pastor Jimmy, I've never
thought about needing to have anything prepared
for survival until now. And I said, what do you
mean by that? He said, man, I've got a generator
out of my shed, no gasoline, it's still in the
box. I said, yeah, that could be a problem. That
might not help you. And he said, and I've been
thinking, do I need to stock up on ammo? I don't
even have extra water around. So I mean, he's
going down this... track. And I said, what's
making that happen? He's, you know, stuff he's
reading, stuff he's hearing about, people that
are around him that are caught up in that. That's
interesting that you say that because I still
have in my closet, a one acre crisis garden,
which comes in a tube. It sees and I bought that
in 2012 listening to Alex Jones. And so, you
know, and I had to think of this yesterday. I
was listening to Victor Davis Hanson, who is
an intellectual guy. He's out there at Stanford,
I want to say, but he has his own institute and
he's a conservative guy, but a very, very intelligent
voice. I'm pretty sure he's a believer. He understands
Greek and old language, classic languages. And
he's doing this podcast and he's deconstructing
you know, the anti -Israel stuff and all that.
And then he has an ad for survival food. I'm
like, this is nuts because, I mean, I have a
box full of MREs, meals ready to eat, you know,
and they're good for 30 years. Brother, in 30
years, we'll be looking at those things. God,
they're finally spoiled and we didn't, we're
still here. There actually is an expiration date
on this. We had that blackout in Austin, the
snowpocalypse. We had no power for five days.
And I told myself, I'm going to make sure I get
a generator. Well, here we are. We've been here
for almost six years. Have we had a blackout?
Maybe a blip, maybe an hour, or the power company
was doing an upgrade. No. So the thing is, and
I'm not saying that you shouldn't do some things
to be prepared just for anything, for another
whiteout or an ice out like we had icepocalypse.
you know, for something like that. But at some
point, in fact, the guy that was telling me this,
I was really surprised he was saying this because
he's probably one of the godliest men I've been
around in a long time. And yet I could see fear
taking him down a path. And I kind of laughed
it off with him. You know, we ended up joking
about it, you know, but I just, I thought, wow,
you know, something has caught him and it's causing
him now to rethink his whole way of life. Yeah.
Am I missing something? Am I going to be in trouble?
I said, well, I live four miles from Patriot
Academy so I can walk there. So I'm good. And
I already got permission. Do not be deceived.
If it goes down. Comes back to do not be deceived.
Listen to this out of James 1 .5. If any of you,
I keep hitting this because it's not mine. I'm
not used to it. You want me to reposition it?
No, it's perfect. I'm just sorry for the bumping.
Oh no, it's all right. James 1 .5, I love this,
if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who
gives generously to all without reproach and
it will be given him. So as we're talking about
fear -mongering, alert, alert, you know, breaking
news, all this stuff that gets us so spun up,
there are biblical answers to these things and
biblical wisdom that we can draw from. For example,
it says this, if you lack wisdom, ask God. And
he'll give it to you. I mean, it's like, it's
so common sense though. And the things that are
simple, you know, Occam's razor, the things that
are simple, we tend to bypass. And they're typically
the best answer. That's cultural. That's cultural.
So Ephesians five, listen to this. Look carefully
then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,
making the best use of the time because the days
are evil. Those was written 2000 years ago and
the days were evil then. And they still are.
And we got air conditioning. Oh, my gosh. And
yours feels good, by the way. This is nice right
here. It's a net heavy power walking today. So,
here's another one that some will recognize.
It's a more popular verse, Proverbs 3, 5, and
6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
do not lean on your own understanding. In all
your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make straight
your paths. I could go on and on because there's
so many scriptures on this. about trusting God,
walking in wisdom, and what is wisdom at the
base? Well, this is a good question because I'm
sure a lot of people would like to know what
is wisdom. Well, wisdom is the application of
acquired knowledge. That's it. It's the heart
that distills all this incoming information into
something that produces life. To me, that's just
a simple simple way of looking at wisdom. There
is a lot of difference between someone who's
just intelligent and spewing information, content,
facts, stats. Yeah, a lot of podcasters like
that. And there's a difference between that and
people who walk in wisdom. When you're in the
presence of someone who carries that, you just
know it and you know Igbok. It's going to be
okay. I've got a handful of people like that
in my life. I count you one of those and others
who, when I'm in their presence and we're talking
about, this guy's falling, chicken little language.
It's like, oh, no, no, no. Okay. Take a pause.
Take a step back. I love to surround myself with
people who are not spun up. Right on brother.
That are walking in wisdom and they are doing
what Proverbs 3 says, trust in the Lord with
all your heart. This morning, John 7 .38 popped
up for me, which I had to, I got it in the, there
might have been on you version, I can't remember,
but someone read the older version. This is the
New Living Translation. Anyone who believes in
me may come and drink. I'm sorry, that's exclamation
mark. Anyone who believes in me may come and
drink. I'm reading Ephesians out loud tonight.
Tina and I will read two or three chapters of
Scripture before we go to sleep. And I'm really
trying to read it. I'm like, oh, there's exclamation
mark. Hold on. Oh, there's a comma there. I'm
really working on my annunciation. So anyway,
anyone who believes in me may come and drink.
For the Scriptures declare, rivers of living
water will flow from his heart. So if you drink
from Jesus, rivers of living water, of healing,
you know, light and whatever will flow from your
heart. That's the way I read that. And man, I
want to be that. I want to be that so much for
everybody. I really, I strive towards that. Well,
I've been thinking about our podcasts too. I
mean, cause when you, it's hard not to compare
yourself to others, right? I mean, all these
podcasts, you know, you listen to a bunch, I
do. And then at times I kind of go into that
little, wow, so what are they doing? What are
they doing that's working? What are they doing
that's not? And you get into that comparison
thing. And we mentioned this last week, but I
think this bears an ongoing conversation, at
least touching on it, is that it feels like and
seems like podcasters are just constantly bringing
things down. They're constantly critical. It's
all about being critical. Simon Cowell back in
the day, he seems a lot nicer now. He's actually
the good guy now. Yeah, he's the good guy now.
Back in the day, he was like the meanie. It's
sort of discipled a generation into being critical.
This is a great observation. People are pushing
back on me. Tina rightly said the other night,
she said, darling, for as long as I've known
you, People have pushed back on you, have hated
you online, have said horrible things and said,
I guess you're right. But this is new and the
thing, cause you know, on no agenda, we deconstruct
media, which is an overall term, you know, but
we do, we do more than that. But what I hear
constantly is you should criticize Trump more.
And this is, and so it's just hitting me now
that you say this. People want criticism. No.
I'm not for that. It feeds some weird fleshly
need in us. It's the old school. It's so common
sense. Back when we were kids, junior high, early,
we would put others down because it somehow lifted
us up. It was our default mechanism to guard
against our own insecurity and our own sense
of inferiority. So if I can press everybody down
around me, that puts me heads above. Wow, we're
back in middle school. Hey, but we're still doing
it. We don't really grow up. We just grow older
and we hide things better. I mean, nobody did
we really ever grow out of this stuff. It's got
to be the ongoing battle of the flesh and the
spirit that Galatians 5 talks about. As you always
say, it's a spiritual problem. It is, brother.
Tell me about Galatians 5. Galatians 5, it talks
about that's the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness. gentleness,
faithfulness, self -control, against such, there
is no law. I mean, those are like, this is the
fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of the flesh.
It even says right before that, that the mind,
the flesh sets itself against the Spirit and
the Spirit sets itself against the flesh. And
these two are in opposition to one another. So
that's the flesh war, mind war, spirit war that
we live every day, just driving down the road.
I mean, this is how just being real I can see
a beat up car and I'll start judging the person
driving it. I'll just think, why don't they take
care of the car? Maybe they don't have money.
Maybe they're broken. You can have a runaway
on stuff from just being human right here. It's
not like I run around doing that with everybody,
but every once in a while I'll just catch myself
or somebody pulls out in front of me and I dissect
the man's life because he pulled out in front
of me and made me mad. So I start to think, dude
must be a jerk, man. How can he do that? I mean,
he must be selfish. I mean, just start down this
road. That's great. But it's the part of the
mind war and the Holy Spirit screaming, stop.
That's it. Okay, so let's deconstruct this because
you're a very thoughtful person. I've mentioned
this before. You do it very quickly, but you'll
think for a split second before you answer anybody
about anything. trying to be better. My boy James,
quick to be listened, slow to speak, and much,
much, much slower before you vomit words out
of your mouth. Slow to be angry. But there's
something about driving that is cutting off that
part of your consciousness or something. And
I'd love to know what that is. Because the preoccupation
with driving, I mean, what could that be? You
know, when we're behind the wheel of a car, that's
our space, right? Yeah. Remember my space, my
page, my space. Blink tags, blink tags. Yeah,
there it is. So when you're in your car, you're
sort of like, this is my space. And you expect
other people to be courteous in driving. And
when they're not, it's just a letdown. It's just
frustrating. I wouldn't do that. I try to think,
okay, how can I make this a better experience
for everybody involved? I mean, I think that
when I'm driving down the road, so I'll try not
to get up on somebody's bumper if they're going
slow. I'll try not to raise my hand up like I'm
frustrated and hopefully they'll move out of
my way. I did that back in the day. how do you
drive in the spirit as opposed to the flesh?
And I'm telling you, you can. Well, that's a
good place to practice it for sure. Absolutely.
That's a great place to practice. Especially
on the 87 and the I -10 out there. I'm talking
to Tina now. You and Tina are the same person
in the car. Easter egg. Actually, I'm doing so
much better. I'm really leaning into, what does
it matter anyway? Yeah. What does it matter?
At the end of the day, what does it matter? I
have my grandfather and my grandmother in me
in both places. And I thought about my grandmother
just about before we started the podcast. So
my grandfather, when he was in his eighties,
he lived to be 98, but maybe late eighties still,
on Saturdays, he would go out and he'd drive
around to the home for the old ladies and they'd
bring everybody flowers. And whenever there was
an intersection or any type of who goes first,
he'd be like beep beep and he'd be waving everybody
on. Well, we'll let this good person go first.
He was always like that. And I took over all
of that from him. That's gracious. And too much
to Tina Chagrim because she says, sometimes you're
confusing traffic because you should be going
and you're confusing traffic by being nice. Did
you know that if you wave somebody in an intersection
where you have the right of way and there's a
wreck, it's my fault. Yeah. Cause you waved him
through. And I'll say, but Jesus. My grandfather.
And my grandmother. And as Tina said, so I can't
believe you're going to have Jimmy come into
that studio. It is disgusting. It's so messy.
I'm like, I think he'll be okay. He's a dude.
And then my grandmother, she had a sign in her
kitchen. call and said, bless this mess. The
whole family always talked about it was a disaster,
just like my studio, but they all would follow
by saying, but great food comes out of it. I'm
like, okay. Yeah. So bless this mess. I do want
to clean it up, but bless this mess, man. Bless
this mess. My grandparents, I know they're looking
down on me. I'm sure they're very happy. Beautiful.
We have a note. Oh, yes. Which is important for
us to share. And I have something to say about
Bo and the pickles. This is my note. It's from
Bo. Go for it. Let's do it. Did you get a note
from Bo as well? I did. I got an email. Well,
I emailed him first. I said, how can I get more
of these pickles? Anyway, I want to read this
because it's such a good note and we've been
talking about these Louisiana sweet and sour
pickles. He says, Adam and Pastor Jimmy, this
is Beau Lacoste, the guy that sent you The Pickles,
aka Cepheus of Ratchet City. Thank you and Pastor
Jimmy so much for your overwhelmingly complimentary
remarks about The Pickles. I'm thrilled that
you guys enjoyed the value for value. I certainly
enjoy the new we get to do this podcast just
as much if not more. Jody White, we've been crediting
with these pickles and I've been friends and
work colleagues for over 20 years. We've both
enjoyed laughing about you guys giving Jody so
much credit for the pickles, especially since
she has absolutely no involvement in the pickle
ministry at all before now. It's a pickle ministry.
I know. I didn't realize this. It's cool. I obviously
created confusion when I asked Jody to email
you to ensure the pickles I emailed were received.
I only asked her to email because she had your
address and you guys had already been corresponding.
Perhaps the mix up has been God's way of keeping
me humble, he says. Yeah, I probably needed that.
But my concern and my reason for this letter
is that you guys may have missed the main point
of the pickles altogether. So I wanted to share
this because this is good. One more paragraph.
When I started making these pickles a few years
ago, everyone who tasted them told me how good
they were, so I decided to dedicate them to the
Lord. I'm not great at a lot of things, but people
sure seem to enjoy these pickles. Amen. What
better way to glorify God, right? I'm not sure
if you and Pastor Jimmy noticed the label on
the jars. I did, but the scriptures listed on
there can be a useful witnessing tool. The concept
of my pickles is that I sell them for a set price
per jar. the price is only enough to cover ingredients
cost for two jars, then for my Christian friends.
I offer them as a BOGO deal, buy one, get one,
where they get a second jar for free as long
as they promise to use the second jar to spread
the good news of Jesus Christ. I don't make pickles
for profit, in fact, I make them at a loss. I
actually invest all my labor for free and that's
why it's so important that would be clear about
the reason I make these pickles. And he keeps
on going. It says, I'm overjoyed you guys like
the pickles. I don't mind if you give out my
name or email address, so it's louisianadillpickles
at gmail .com. That's louisianadillpickles at
gmail .com. I don't even care if Jody officially
gets crowned pickle princess and becomes the
public spokesperson for the ministry. However,
if anyone gets credit with regards to the pickles,
please, please, please make sure that it's Jesus
who is ultimately glorified. May God continue
to bless you and your work, your friend in Christ,
Bo. That is so cool. I love this. And we completely
messed everything up. We're enjoying the pickles
and we kind of missed the whole backstory. So
I really wanted people to know about that. I'm
glad you did that. I wrote him saying, how can
I get more of these pickles? And he's not a guy.
He doesn't have like a shipping department or
anything. But I didn't know that. I didn't know
if it was a company or what. So he wrote me back
and gave me a good heads up about why he does
it and all that. Wonderful, wonderful guy. It's
just interesting how just a simple act of kindness
can just lift. The fact that you and I are laughing
about it, now we're desperate for them. Cut to
the chase. Can we get more of these pickles?
Man, I'll pay for them. I told him, I said, whatever
you need. I'm going to get back with him. He
told me what it costs to do it. He said, We'll
figure it out. Let's chip in, man. Let's get
like a case or something and hand it out to people.
I was thinking eight to 10 jars at least. Easily.
We'll do that. I'd love to do that. We'll reach
out to him and get an order. That's so good.
Oh my gosh. I tried to rash them. They barely
lasted. I got them through about six days, I
think. And then Annette caught me. She's like,
what are you doing? Because she hears me. She's
like Chevy with E -Feed. Move the cheese wrapper.
He's there. What are you doing? Who are you texting?
What are you thinking? Where are you walking?
She said, what are you eating? I said, a pickle.
And then I emphasized the last pickle. I said,
but there's a jalapeno left if you want. Oh man.
Brother. Yeah. Anyway, we laugh about it. It's
all good. Man, this is good stuff. Good people.
We have some of the best listeners. Jeremy Ryan
Slate. I don't know if you ever heard of him.
He has a podcast. Oh, cool. I think he may have
a... a degree in it, but he is a certified Roman
Empire expert. And I should put this in the show
notes, but you were talking about Constantine
and Constantine. I kind of casually said, well,
Constantine made Christianity official religion.
I know you got a letter on that. I got a letter
on that, yes. He says, you talk about this. I
wanted to mention because people say the books
of the Bible were written at the Council of Nicaea.
Incorrect. He goes into this whole thing, but
he at least Constantine did live his life as
a Christian, wasn't baptized until his death.
I didn't realize that. I didn't know that either.
And Christianity became the official religion
of the empire in 3080 after Thedosius the Great.
So Constantine, like stolen valor. No kidding.
I just love this stuff. I love hearing it. It's
fascinating. It really is. It's so incredibly
good. Well, we do appreciate our listeners and
just giving us some time. But what our hope is,
is that it will lift them. The whole point of
this, you're a pilot, you get it. Yes, I do.
We want to put lift under them. We want to put
lift under their wings and encourage them and
hopefully maybe laugh every once in a while.
Even if it's at our expense, that's okay. It
better be. Yeah, please. But some levity in this
world and also looking at the things that are
happening in culture. from a different worldview,
a different viewpoint through a scriptural lens.
It's not all doom and gloom. I mean, there is
good news out there and good people like Bo and
others, the guy you just mentioned. I mean, they're
just Joe who schooled me on some stuff. It's
awesome though. And by the way, Joe, we're hosting
tonight an organization called the Caleb Company.
It's Caleb Global. and they're coming in, and
we're doing a whole evening on Israel. We've
got over 200 people signed up already. Yeah,
we're going. And there'll be more that'll show
up. Thanks to Matt Long having me on the radio.
Good appearance, by the way. I listened to the
whole thing. It was fantastic. It was interrupted
a little bit by our, by Felisa Tos, who was so
happy she got her paperwork in order, you know,
so I'm like listening with one ear, like, I got
to wait for the podcast to come out. But it was
good. I mean, Yeah. Thank you. You guys both
did a really good job. And I think, yeah, there's
no kidding there'll be 200, maybe more. Can people
just walk up if they're... I think there'll be
more. Absolutely. I think so, too. Yeah, we put
it out. So we'll see what happens. But even if
it's that 200 that signed up, it's going to be
great and it's going to give a biblical response.
You know, what should be a Christian's response
to what's happening in Israel? You know, there's
so much confusion out there and it's really not
that confusing, you know, once you boil it down.
to the basics. And I have good news of my own
just because I'm tracking the trends. There is
a blowback happening against this Israel is to
blame for everything in the podcasting space
and online. Please don't go looking for it. Don't
worry. I've got the trend lines. And also when
I really look at the actual numbers going back
to the opening of the show, You'd be surprised
to find that a lot of people are not preoccupied
with these things. They really have lives and
are doing other things. It's a much smaller number
than we think. We are information people. Most
people just go to work, come home, just maybe
want to crack a beer, sit down, hang out with
a family, have dinner, aren't too involved in
this. And every morning I remind myself, you
know, I have all these, we talk about this often,
all these little translations of the Lord's Prayer,
you know, daily bread, guidance and provision,
and lead us not into temptation. It's like, don't
look at it. Just don't look at it. It's not worth
it. And I gotta say, I know a lot of men who
are recovering from porn addiction. This is not
that much different. It really, it's a different
type of pornography. Exactly, because it's that
dopamine bump that we get addicted to. That's
why I've turned off. That's why I leave my phone
now. When we go to a restaurant, I leave it in
my pocket. I love stretchy jeans, man. You couldn't
do that before stretchy jeans. I have a little
life hack that you may want to employ. It only
works for guys like us, because we have the magic
HAs, the hearing aids. So I've set up a separate
notification sound that only comes through when
you're on Do Not Disturb. So I know if that's
you texting me, or Tina texting me, or any of
our daughters texting me, everything else is
muted. So I do not, you know, that bloop, you
know, that's, I have logs, I gotta look at it.
That's nothing. I tried to rig it so I would
actually say, this is Pastor Jimmy texting. Can't
get us to do that. But a different sign, you
put it on, do not disturb. You put the people
you care about in favorites, you assign a different
thing to them and your life changes overnight.
Because you still want to know like, is everything
okay? Are the kids are okay? And it's pretty
much quiet. Well, I turned on my hearing aids,
I turned off the notifications. The only notification
I get is a phone call, which is rare. We don't
use these as phones anymore. So that hardly ever
happens. So that's the only notification that
gets just a little beep. That's truly it, man.
The notifications, that is what does it all.
That's what it does it all. And then you still
got to be strong because Tina has notifications
off, but then Any pause in whatever we're doing
she'll like, okay, just let me check everything
and then the 15th because women I don't know.
I'm sorry. It's a women thing. They got a lot
of text messages. They do they talk. Yeah, conversational
got a lot. So last night we watched I can only
imagine two. Oh, I know right so Good. So good.
I didn't know this story about, this is about
Mercy Me, but really more about Bart Millard
and also Tim Timmons. I didn't know that backstory.
What a great backstory. Man, it's a powerful
show. And for a band tour movie, very well done.
Although I thought the real guys in Mercy Me
are much handsomer than the actors. I totally
agree. And they made Nathan look like some kind
of... I know. Cookie Dope. I'd be a little offended
if I was Nathan. Well, also Barry, all they had
about Barry was, how old are you, Barry? Oh,
yeah. We came from another band, Audio Adrenaline,
which I didn't know. That was good. I loved that
band back in the day. I did know that. I did
know that. But they're always cracking on Barry
being much older than everybody else. I'm like,
come on, man. It's because he doesn't have hair.
That's it. Well, I'm not going to say anything
about Mike. Great. What is there to say about
Mike? We love these guys. That's what we got
to say. We do. We love these guys. Have you seen
Mike's mustache? No. He's got a full on mustache.
He's got a stat? Really? Yeah. He's sporting
a mustache. You got to see it. Where did you
see it? Instagram. I saw it on something. Yeah,
probably Facebook, whatever. Another reason not
to be on these social media things. All right,
brother. I think... Oh, the only other thing
I wanted to just tell you before I forget, because
I wrote it down Sunday. Great message, by the
way. Everybody should go to bridgefbg .com. Look
at the message from Sunday or listen to it in
the Godcaster. It was just so good. And as you
were talking about, and you have to remind me
if you can recall, about standing above, you
are above all of it. Can you can you remind me
what Yeah, the Bible says that in Ephesians 2
that we've been raised up together. That's the
resurrection of Christ. We've been raised up
together in Christ and seated in heavenly realms
or heavenly places. Ephesians chapter 1 says
Paul's praying one of his great prayers and he
says that Jesus Christ has taken the seat at
the right hand of God, which is the place of
honor. It's the place of authority, the place
of favor. but it says, we're seated in Christ
in heavenly realms. Jesus is sitting at the right
hand of the Father. Follow the logic train. That's
it. The logic train, that means that that's where
we are, and that puts us and places us in Christ
far above, I'm just going to quote it, all power,
might, and dominion. All of that stuff, and that's
all demonic stuff. That's all dark. So why I
wrote this down is because I'm always looking
for Dutch sayings Dutch sayings that you know
I love the old saying most classic is you know
when you turn 50 you see Abraham or you see Sarah
But they have all these different sayings and
there's one that finally I understood the origin
of well because it's very these all come from
scripture all these Dutch sayings come from scripture
and it is Be above all of that and the way it's
actually the translation is very literal. The
people are say Ixty or both. I'm above all that
Can often be interpreted if you take it literally
like, you know, I'm better than you but that's
not where it comes from it comes from be above
that battlefield, be above at the right hand
of Christ. And I wrote that down like, oh, I'm
so excited to tell Pastor Jimmy about this. It
hit me. We're going to dissect the whole Dutch
language. Oh, I love those things. Hopefully
in October, you're going to be with us in Amsterdam.
You're going to be speaking Dutch. You'll be
perfect. Come on. It's such an easy language
to learn. Just one more hairball and you'll be
fine. All right, brother, you got anything else
for today's catch up? Well, I just appreciate
so much that we get to do this. I keep saying
it because before it was the title of a podcast,
it just comes out of my mouth naturally. It's
living a grateful life is what that comes down
to. I say we get to do it means we're grateful
that we are even privileged to do these things.
I'm really grateful for people that are listening.
I hope if it's helping and encouraging, you'll
get the word out to friends and family. Let us
know, email. Let us know. We like to get feedback.
We do. We love that a lot. And you're right,
we get to do this. Can you imagine? It's a Wednesday.
Late morning, we get to do a podcast in my home.
I know, right? Thank you, Jesus. This is the
best ever. Love it, brother. All right, everybody.
We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode.
Thank you for joining us. We get to do this next
week again.