WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.660 Abba Father, thank you for the privilege of being 00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:05.280 here today that we get to sit at these mics and 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.240 have a conversation. And Father, my heart is 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.099 that it will be a conversation that helps someone 00:00:10.099 --> 00:00:12.839 else in their own conversations, whether it's 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:16.339 with themselves or with others, Lord. So Father, 00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:19.719 we get to do this. It's more than a motto, more 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:22.920 than a slogan, more than a mantra. It is literally 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:25.679 our heart. So Lord, as we step into this and 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:28.640 lean into this today, Holy Spirit, we ask you 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.510 to be our guide. Your Word says that you're the 00:00:31.510 --> 00:00:34.189 Spirit of truth who leads us and guides us into 00:00:34.189 --> 00:00:39.310 all truth. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. It's Wednesday, 00:00:39.390 --> 00:00:43.289 May 20th, 2026. We get to do this. This is episode 00:00:43.289 --> 00:01:02.140 number 33. We get to do this. Well, hello, brother. 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:05.299 Brother. How you doing? We do. We do. We do. 00:01:05.379 --> 00:01:08.480 We do. And thank you for changing your schedule 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.140 around for mine. No worries. You know that I'm 00:01:11.140 --> 00:01:14.140 literally actually on vacation right now. That's 00:01:14.140 --> 00:01:15.920 right. Is this the official start? This year 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:19.579 on an o 'clock at noon today, I tipped a scale. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:22.439 It was like, I'm off. That is so nice. It's a 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:24.480 good feeling. Are you still going to do the show 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:28.129 during your vacation? Absolutely. That's not 00:01:28.129 --> 00:01:31.790 even negotiable. It's not work. No, it's not. 00:01:31.989 --> 00:01:34.209 When you love what you do, it's not work. So 00:01:34.209 --> 00:01:39.510 I had to change the schedule around today. Here's 00:01:39.510 --> 00:01:42.430 the words you never want to hear your phlebotomist 00:01:42.430 --> 00:01:48.590 say. You've got no flow. I mean, this poor woman 00:01:48.590 --> 00:01:50.829 was literally looking at me going like, there 00:01:50.829 --> 00:01:53.519 is nothing coming out of your vein. Oh, that 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.019 is odd. Can I try the other one? Now, as you 00:01:57.019 --> 00:02:01.180 know, I have some odd childhood trauma. Not for 00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:03.840 the needle. It's the actual flow of the blood. 00:02:04.650 --> 00:02:06.450 And I don't know where it's from. We need to 00:02:06.450 --> 00:02:08.870 work through this, brother. I do. I mean, it's 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:11.930 something deep -seated, deeply rooted. I'm over. 00:02:12.789 --> 00:02:14.889 I'm whistling Dixie. I'm like, yeah, come on, 00:02:14.889 --> 00:02:16.509 let's do it. And then she's like, let me pull 00:02:16.509 --> 00:02:18.129 it out a little bit. Let me put it in. I'm like, 00:02:18.349 --> 00:02:21.750 OK, OK, I'm still here. Now my palms are starting 00:02:21.750 --> 00:02:23.389 to sweat. Yeah, because you feel this thing moving 00:02:23.389 --> 00:02:24.389 around inside your body. And they said, oh, let 00:02:24.389 --> 00:02:27.150 me do the other one. There is nothing moving. 00:02:27.349 --> 00:02:28.889 Look, look. I'm like, really? You want me to 00:02:28.889 --> 00:02:30.469 look at this thing? And you can see the blood 00:02:30.469 --> 00:02:33.780 go chook, chook, chook, chook. And I drank water 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:36.259 this morning. I don't know what it was. I said, 00:02:36.379 --> 00:02:39.819 am I technically alive if my blood is not flowing? 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:43.919 Something's wrong here. Houston, we have a problem. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.180 Does that happen? Is that a regular thing? I 00:02:46.180 --> 00:02:48.199 don't know. I've never heard of that, actually. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:50.240 I figure if your blood's not moving, that's... 00:02:50.790 --> 00:02:53.750 That's what I thought. So anyway, we finally 00:02:53.750 --> 00:02:56.090 see it finally started to happen. Do you have 00:02:56.090 --> 00:02:58.849 thick blood? I mean, unusually thick royal blood, 00:02:59.210 --> 00:03:01.729 maybe. I don't know. I don't know if it's thick. 00:03:02.729 --> 00:03:05.830 Well, when you're on the T, sometimes it can 00:03:05.830 --> 00:03:08.889 thicken, you know. Oh, it'll thicken up. That's 00:03:08.889 --> 00:03:11.590 why they want us to give blood like, you know, 00:03:11.610 --> 00:03:14.639 to the Red Cross and give blood. It thins it 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:18.120 out. Oh, I didn't realize that. That helps your 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:20.520 blood flow, brings your blood pressure down. 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:24.520 So maybe I got too much tea now. We'll see when 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:26.099 the results come back. This is all because of 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:29.860 you, Damonette, and Tina. All of this tea stuff 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:34.599 is because of you guys. It's been a game changer 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:39.129 for me and other of my men friends. I feel good. 00:03:39.229 --> 00:03:41.650 Yeah, I always felt good. I guess I feel better. 00:03:41.870 --> 00:03:45.270 I guess you guess. You know, we celebrated our 00:03:45.270 --> 00:03:47.550 seventh wedding anniversary. Congratulations. 00:03:47.770 --> 00:03:50.509 Tea is working. Everything's good. I was quite 00:03:50.509 --> 00:03:53.250 the man at the restaurant. Yeah, it was nice. 00:03:53.310 --> 00:03:55.870 It was real nice. Brother, there's so much going 00:03:55.870 --> 00:04:01.650 on right now. We had just an amazing, really 00:04:01.650 --> 00:04:04.729 weak. If you go Wednesday to Wednesday, I would 00:04:04.729 --> 00:04:09.830 say that was marked For me, just seeing that 00:04:09.830 --> 00:04:12.770 you did the invocation of our brand new mayor 00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:17.149 here in Fredericksburg, which is, you know, we've 00:04:17.149 --> 00:04:21.670 been talking about Randy Briley. We really wanted 00:04:21.670 --> 00:04:26.230 him to become the mayor. Absolutely. He's a believer. 00:04:26.470 --> 00:04:29.689 He's a biblical man. He's a good man. He's a 00:04:29.689 --> 00:04:34.949 smart man. Did a podcast with him. I didn't get 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:37.029 the invite. I didn't know the invocation was 00:04:37.029 --> 00:04:40.790 even taking place. I'm like, okay, no one told 00:04:40.790 --> 00:04:43.829 me it was happening. I'm surprised. He had asked 00:04:43.829 --> 00:04:47.949 me to pray to kick that off. They start all the 00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:50.689 city council meetings with prayer from local 00:04:50.689 --> 00:04:53.569 clergy. So I was honored to do it. What I didn't 00:04:53.569 --> 00:04:57.029 realize, it was a lot of firsts. So they had 00:04:57.029 --> 00:04:59.129 never used this space before. It's brand new. 00:04:59.769 --> 00:05:03.399 So everything's new, which... As you listen to 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:05.439 the recording, you could tell because half the 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:06.920 guys didn't know to keep taking their mics off. 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:09.019 Should I play just a little bit of the beginning? 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:10.939 Oh, if you've got that, go for it. It's pretty 00:05:10.939 --> 00:05:12.879 bad. Because I got it, and I'm like, I can't 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.019 even play this whole thing. But just listen. 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:28.310 I mean, it started off like... As I begin, I 00:05:28.310 --> 00:05:30.129 just want to recall that Dr. Benjamin Franklin 00:05:30.129 --> 00:05:32.529 was the oldest representative of the Constitutional 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:35.889 Convention in June of 1787. The colonies were 00:05:35.889 --> 00:05:38.550 in turmoil and great disarray. Tension filled 00:05:38.550 --> 00:05:40.850 the air as the representatives met together to 00:05:40.850 --> 00:05:45.250 find the war. And now like Chad GPT is talking 00:05:45.250 --> 00:05:49.079 in there and... Oh my gosh. It got better at 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:51.339 a certain point. Fortunately, in the house. It 00:05:51.339 --> 00:05:53.660 was good in the house. It was clear. It was good. 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:56.439 I was mad, brother. I want you to know, first 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:59.379 of all, I texted our brand new mayor and said, 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:02.740 Hey mayor, congratulations. I didn't say, how 00:06:02.740 --> 00:06:07.180 come I didn't get invited? But I said, are you 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:10.040 guys going to stream again? He's like, no, we 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:12.420 stream. You have to go to the website and click 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:15.459 on the camera icon. Brother, this is like eight 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:18.480 levels deep. Wow. You got to go all the way into 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:22.000 the actual agenda of that city council meeting 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:25.540 to find a little camera icon. They need to clean 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:27.199 that up. I'm going to make some suggestions about 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:29.620 that. That needs to be on front page. But they 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:33.360 do it. And so what I immediately did is I turned 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.740 it into a podcast. So now in the Godcaster, every 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:39.019 single time there's a city council meeting, you 00:06:39.019 --> 00:06:43.319 will hear a promo with some piece of what happened. 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:46.579 And you can go right into the Godcaster and it's 00:06:46.579 --> 00:06:48.339 right there. You can listen. I think we have 00:06:48.339 --> 00:06:50.660 20 of the previous ones and whenever there's 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:53.480 a new one. And it's actually good because they 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:55.360 did a whole bunch of stuff after the invocation. 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:57.740 It was a regular city council meeting. It was. 00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:01.589 So the beginning was awards. swearing in of Randy 00:07:01.589 --> 00:07:05.649 Barali as the new mayor and blessing and honoring 00:07:05.649 --> 00:07:08.230 Gerald Hoover. I love that you did that. He's 00:07:08.230 --> 00:07:10.930 a hoot, man. He's a good guy. He's been a good 00:07:10.930 --> 00:07:13.470 mayor for us. He was so funny. I think I told 00:07:13.470 --> 00:07:16.250 you this. He was trying to exit. Everybody stood 00:07:16.250 --> 00:07:18.470 and clapped. It was a really beautiful moment. 00:07:18.889 --> 00:07:21.350 He gets to the door to leave and he doesn't know 00:07:21.350 --> 00:07:24.379 the combination to the lock. And he turns around 00:07:24.379 --> 00:07:26.480 and says, you've already locked me out. That 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:31.720 was so good. I love that. I love the sense of 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:34.519 humor. So this is the new building? Yeah, new 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:38.399 building. The grand opening of the city council 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:44.079 chambers was then. And so I was the first person 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:46.420 to ever pray at that podium. I love that. So 00:07:46.420 --> 00:07:49.420 the first action at that podium ever on that 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:53.209 microphone was prayer. It was a prayer base in 00:07:53.209 --> 00:07:56.370 history and out of historical perspective and 00:07:56.370 --> 00:07:58.930 just a calling back to prayer. Can I share the 00:07:58.930 --> 00:08:02.410 beginning of that? Yes, and I want you to know 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:04.509 that I actually pulled the piece from the movie, 00:08:04.550 --> 00:08:08.209 so why don't you set it up? Oh, very cool. See, 00:08:08.689 --> 00:08:11.050 I come loaded from there, brother. I come prepared 00:08:11.050 --> 00:08:13.069 for you. I'm going to use what I did the other 00:08:13.069 --> 00:08:15.290 day. I just took it and I just kind of morphed 00:08:15.290 --> 00:08:17.129 it because we just watched it the night before. 00:08:17.129 --> 00:08:19.350 I was really stirred about it. A great awakening. 00:08:19.589 --> 00:08:22.740 Oh, man. Dr. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:24.939 representative at the Constitutional Convention 00:08:24.939 --> 00:08:29.040 in June of 1787. The colonies were in turmoil 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:32.159 and great disarray. Tension filled the air as 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:34.820 the representatives met together to find their 00:08:34.820 --> 00:08:37.440 way and solidify the terms of forming the Union. 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:40.860 Dr. Franklin was 80 years old, had been mostly 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:43.279 silent through the prior days of divisive and 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:46.179 contentious deliberations on how to unify our 00:08:46.179 --> 00:08:48.820 nation on the heels of the Revolution. George 00:08:48.820 --> 00:08:51.899 Washington. was presiding over the meeting and 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:54.779 gave the floor to Dr. Franklin. And then you 00:08:54.779 --> 00:08:57.820 went into prayer. Well, no, I went into his quote. 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:01.000 Oh, that's right. Well, so we have to kind of 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.960 step back because Sunday, during your message 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:08.320 from the pulpit, you said, I just watched this 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:10.460 movie, A Great Awakening for the second time, 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:13.080 and I'm sitting there going. How come I haven't 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:14.860 seen this movie? What is this movie? How come 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:16.960 I haven't heard about this? What is it? How old 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.899 is this movie? It's brand new. It just went to 00:09:19.899 --> 00:09:22.100 streaming. Right. Because I had to pay like 10 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:23.879 bucks for it or something. It's been in the theaters. 00:09:23.940 --> 00:09:25.960 And it was really interesting because when it 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:27.700 started off, because I told Tina, like, we got 00:09:27.700 --> 00:09:30.360 to watch this movie. What is it? Say, well, it's 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:32.840 a period piece, but it's based on a true story 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:35.620 of Benjamin Franklin and the Constitutional Convention, 00:09:35.620 --> 00:09:38.600 the Convention of States. And it started off 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:42.620 and she's like, What is this really about? And 00:09:42.620 --> 00:09:45.200 then all of a sudden, the first mention of God 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:48.860 comes in. And it was wonderful to watch her attention 00:09:48.860 --> 00:09:51.840 go from, oh, hold on a second, what is this? 00:09:53.179 --> 00:09:56.580 And it's such a, you know, it comes on the heels 00:09:56.580 --> 00:09:59.480 of us listening to that Glenn Beck episode, which 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:02.340 was about George Whitefield. Because it really 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:05.580 was a lot about George Whitefield. who came over 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:10.519 and really started the Great Awakening by preaching 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:13.200 to everyone in the colonies literally until he 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:18.220 died. 30 plus years. He just died from exposure, 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:22.259 I would say. He was 55 years old. And so Benjamin 00:10:22.259 --> 00:10:27.340 Franklin, I grew up hearing that he was an inventor 00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:32.379 and he flew a kite in a lightning storm. And 00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:36.639 I think I also learned that he created the first 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.320 set of false teeth out of wood for George Washington. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:42.779 And that was pretty much what I knew about him. 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:46.320 And to see this movie, thank you for the recommendation, 00:10:46.980 --> 00:10:51.049 was so good. And so I pulled the clip. Which 00:10:51.049 --> 00:10:53.590 is, it's not the last piece of the movie, I actually 00:10:53.590 --> 00:10:55.710 have that as well, because that's perhaps even 00:10:55.710 --> 00:10:57.610 more powerful. It's about four minutes though, 00:10:57.789 --> 00:10:59.769 but is it okay if we just run this? Because it 00:10:59.769 --> 00:11:02.370 is, so he's at this point, Benjamin Franklin's 00:11:02.370 --> 00:11:06.990 80, and 80 in those days was 80. You know, you're 00:11:06.990 --> 00:11:08.690 like, you're still alive. For real, yeah. And 00:11:08.690 --> 00:11:12.549 he was, and so the convention, was it the 13 00:11:12.549 --> 00:11:15.110 comedies at that point? It was, yeah. They had 00:11:15.110 --> 00:11:19.360 the Revolutionary War. five or six, seven years, 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:21.360 but maybe a little bit longer. Ten years later. 00:11:21.580 --> 00:11:24.320 Yeah. And here they're all arguing. And as you 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:27.320 said during the message, like this is just like 00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:30.139 it is now. Everyone's arguing and yelling. There's 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:32.960 no cameras. There's no sound bites and no little 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:38.360 shots to get on MSNBC. But they're clearly in 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:40.659 disarray. They can't figure it out. And then 00:11:40.659 --> 00:11:44.940 George Washington. gives the floor to Benjamin 00:11:44.940 --> 00:11:49.179 Franklin. This chair recognizes Dr. Benjamin 00:11:49.179 --> 00:12:01.000 Franklin. Mr. President, the small progress we 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.159 have made after four or five weeks close attendance 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:08.820 and continual reasonings with each other are 00:12:08.820 --> 00:12:11.360 different sentiments on almost every question. 00:12:11.789 --> 00:12:14.970 several of the last producing as many nose as 00:12:14.970 --> 00:12:19.429 eyes, is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the 00:12:19.429 --> 00:12:24.269 imperfection of the human understanding. We, 00:12:24.710 --> 00:12:29.049 indeed, seem to feel our own want for political 00:12:29.049 --> 00:12:32.470 wisdom since we've been running about in search 00:12:32.470 --> 00:12:37.990 of it. We have gone back to ancient history for 00:12:37.990 --> 00:12:44.740 models of government. and having examined those 00:12:44.740 --> 00:12:49.059 forms of those republics, which having been formed 00:12:49.059 --> 00:12:52.740 with the seeds of their own disillusion, now 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:58.620 no longer exist. We have viewed modern states 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:01.399 all around Europe. I'd like to, I'm just going 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:03.259 to interrupt it for a second. I didn't know that, 00:13:03.259 --> 00:13:05.559 that they had looked at all the different systems 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:08.500 and forms of government. And they said, well, 00:13:08.700 --> 00:13:11.159 most of these have gone kaput and we can't really 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:13.379 find ourselves in some of these other ones. And 00:13:13.379 --> 00:13:17.120 this, as far as I know, this is a true representation 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.580 of the historical. I did, I did do a little research 00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:24.289 by talking to Matt Long. who is our very own 00:13:24.289 --> 00:13:26.850 Benjamin Franklin. Very much so. He looks like 00:13:26.850 --> 00:13:30.450 him, which is why when he's in costume. You can 00:13:30.450 --> 00:13:34.090 call it uniform. I call it uniform. I mean, he 00:13:34.090 --> 00:13:37.549 pulls it off. Amazing. So I and he's very intelligent 00:13:37.549 --> 00:13:40.570 and articulate and just he knows his history. 00:13:40.570 --> 00:13:43.990 He does. So I asked him while he and I were having 00:13:43.990 --> 00:13:45.990 a meeting about, you know, things going on in 00:13:45.990 --> 00:13:48.669 the world. And I said, I just saw the movie. 00:13:49.019 --> 00:13:51.259 I said, have you seen the movie and what do you 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:54.000 think? He goes, oh, I saw the movie and I loved 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:57.100 it. And he said, it was excellent. It was well 00:13:57.100 --> 00:14:00.519 done. And he said, those speeches are verbatim. 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:04.460 Okay, that's beautiful. But find none of their 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:07.500 constitutions suitable to our circumstances. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:13.220 In this situation of this assembly, groping as 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:17.769 it were in the dark. for political truth and 00:14:17.769 --> 00:14:19.970 scarce able to distinguish it when presented 00:14:19.970 --> 00:14:24.750 to us. How has it happened, sir, that we have 00:14:24.750 --> 00:14:28.529 not hitherto once thought of humbly applying 00:14:28.529 --> 00:14:32.529 to the father of lights to illuminate our understandings? 00:14:34.110 --> 00:14:37.230 In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:41.669 when we were sensible of danger, we had daily 00:14:41.669 --> 00:14:45.350 prayer in this room. for the divine protection. 00:14:46.929 --> 00:14:50.409 Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously 00:14:50.409 --> 00:14:57.389 answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle 00:14:57.389 --> 00:15:02.789 must have observed frequent instances of a superintending 00:15:02.789 --> 00:15:07.570 providence in our favor. To that kind providence, 00:15:07.649 --> 00:15:11.049 we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in 00:15:11.049 --> 00:15:14.830 peace. on the means of establishing our future 00:15:14.830 --> 00:15:21.269 national felicity. And have we now forgotten 00:15:21.269 --> 00:15:28.009 that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we 00:15:28.009 --> 00:15:33.049 no longer need his assistance? I have lived, 00:15:33.669 --> 00:15:38.169 sir, a long time. And the longer I live, the 00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:41.710 more convincing poofs. I have seen of this truth, 00:15:42.929 --> 00:15:48.529 that God governs in the affairs of man. And if 00:15:48.529 --> 00:15:53.230 a sparrow cannot fall without his notice, is 00:15:53.230 --> 00:15:56.649 it probable that an empire can rise without his 00:15:56.649 --> 00:16:01.870 aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred 00:16:01.870 --> 00:16:05.730 scriptures, that unless the Lord build the house, 00:16:06.750 --> 00:16:11.889 they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe 00:16:11.889 --> 00:16:17.029 this. And I also believe that without his concurring 00:16:17.029 --> 00:16:21.169 aid, we shall succeed in this political building 00:16:21.169 --> 00:16:26.070 no better than the builders of Babel. We shall 00:16:26.070 --> 00:16:29.269 be divided by our little partial local interest, 00:16:30.509 --> 00:16:34.409 projects shall be confounded, and we ourselves 00:16:34.409 --> 00:16:37.629 shall become a reproach and a byword down to 00:16:37.629 --> 00:16:43.009 future age. And what is worse, mankind may hear 00:16:43.009 --> 00:16:47.090 after these unfortunate instances, despair of 00:16:47.090 --> 00:16:50.529 establishing governments on human wisdom, and 00:16:50.529 --> 00:17:00.350 leave it to chance, war, and conquest. I therefore 00:17:00.350 --> 00:17:08.509 beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, imploring 00:17:08.269 --> 00:17:11.230 the assistance of heaven and its blessings on 00:17:11.230 --> 00:17:15.049 our deliberations be held in this assembly every 00:17:15.049 --> 00:17:20.390 morning before we proceed to business and that 00:17:20.390 --> 00:17:24.029 one or more of the clergy of this city be requested 00:17:24.029 --> 00:17:28.549 to officiate in that service this wow blew me 00:17:28.549 --> 00:17:31.349 away what piece did you use i think the sparrow 00:17:31.349 --> 00:17:34.170 part i used uh yeah i did i used that he says 00:17:34.170 --> 00:17:37.549 i've lived sir a long time yeah so i used that 00:17:37.690 --> 00:17:40.930 And then on the sparrow, I used that. So I just 00:17:40.930 --> 00:17:43.849 cut it down to four short paragraphs or sentences 00:17:43.849 --> 00:17:47.349 to capture the heart of it, you know. You know, 00:17:47.829 --> 00:17:51.509 just in reflecting on this, because this really, 00:17:53.130 --> 00:17:56.049 there's something going on, whatever. It's construction. 00:17:56.410 --> 00:17:58.210 We're still under construction. Progress, progress, 00:17:58.430 --> 00:18:01.869 progress. What really struck me is that During 00:18:01.869 --> 00:18:04.390 the Revolutionary War, particularly George Washington, 00:18:04.470 --> 00:18:07.210 there was a lot of prayer going on to get through 00:18:07.210 --> 00:18:11.049 that. And clearly, God had His hand on that because 00:18:11.049 --> 00:18:15.049 the sheer numbers of it made no sense that this 00:18:15.049 --> 00:18:20.349 took place. But how quickly they forgot is the 00:18:20.349 --> 00:18:23.410 first thing I was thinking of. Only five, six, 00:18:23.410 --> 00:18:26.109 seven years later, they'd already forgotten about 00:18:26.109 --> 00:18:30.420 that? This was a reminder to me. You know, like 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:32.599 brother, you know, you got to think every single 00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:35.819 day that God is the one who makes things happen. 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:38.599 Yeah, we have to remember and we have to revisit 00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:42.839 often. Yeah. And it's almost like in sports, 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:44.859 you know, you learn the basics, the fundamentals, 00:18:44.859 --> 00:18:47.500 they call it. You learn the fundamentals. But, 00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:51.099 you know, great football coach, Vincent Barty, 00:18:51.380 --> 00:18:54.359 every at the beginning of every when they brought 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:56.259 them all back together for training camp at the 00:18:56.259 --> 00:18:58.359 beginning season, he would hold up a football. 00:18:58.619 --> 00:19:00.759 in front of all these world -class athletes and 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:03.960 say, gentlemen, this is a football. And that's 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:10.140 how he started every season. Gentlemen, this 00:19:10.140 --> 00:19:13.160 is a football. Well, that was exactly what Benjamin 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:15.460 Franklin was doing. And it put him into such 00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:18.380 a different historical perspective for me. And 00:19:18.380 --> 00:19:21.559 honestly, I'm kind of mad at my teachers. You 00:19:21.559 --> 00:19:24.440 know, and the people that claimed he was a deist 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:27.900 or atheist, in his early years he was. He wasn't 00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:31.329 an angry atheist. No, no. He was actually quite 00:19:31.329 --> 00:19:33.769 comical and there were some great exchanges between 00:19:33.769 --> 00:19:36.170 him and George Ritfield. He was saying like, 00:19:36.309 --> 00:19:39.170 yeah, this word is going to sell a lot of papers. 00:19:39.890 --> 00:19:42.130 Coming back to how can I make some money off 00:19:42.130 --> 00:19:44.410 of this? George Ritfield made a comment about 00:19:44.410 --> 00:19:46.950 the deal they struck and he said, yeah, God's 00:19:46.950 --> 00:19:48.930 hand is on this and he goes, or we just made 00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:54.670 a deal in a print shop. He was a realist. I think 00:19:54.670 --> 00:19:57.690 it's remarkable that he used these words. I, 00:19:57.829 --> 00:19:59.390 sir, have lived a long time and the longer I 00:19:59.390 --> 00:20:02.569 live, the more convincing proofs I see of this 00:20:02.569 --> 00:20:05.670 truth. That's right. Because his whole life was 00:20:05.670 --> 00:20:07.730 about being convinced. He considered himself 00:20:07.730 --> 00:20:11.670 a scientist. Right. And so he was all about objective 00:20:11.670 --> 00:20:16.230 proof. And so to be 80 years old and now stand, 00:20:16.269 --> 00:20:18.329 and he was very quiet through most of the proceedings, 00:20:19.029 --> 00:20:21.329 you could tell he was so disturbed in his soul. 00:20:21.529 --> 00:20:23.910 Just watching what was happening and these young 00:20:23.910 --> 00:20:26.329 guys coming in and wanting to fight, you know, 00:20:26.349 --> 00:20:29.490 yeah and you could see it but the fact that That 00:20:29.490 --> 00:20:33.490 he's saying after all of these years I love it 00:20:33.490 --> 00:20:36.190 the more convincing proofs I see of this truth 00:20:36.190 --> 00:20:38.789 that god governs in the affairs of men That is 00:20:38.789 --> 00:20:42.690 a huge statement coming from a deist. Yeah We 00:20:42.690 --> 00:20:45.029 can get over the people calling him deists. I 00:20:45.029 --> 00:20:47.190 know I know it's just not true Well the title 00:20:47.190 --> 00:20:49.730 of the movie I have to say this out loud because 00:20:49.730 --> 00:20:53.220 I think it's important and If I'd recognized 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:54.960 it going into it, I probably would have watched 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:57.519 the movie with a little more different perspective. 00:20:58.119 --> 00:21:00.960 So I was curious when I saw the name of the movie, 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:03.559 A Great Awakening. Instead of The Great Awakening. 00:21:04.279 --> 00:21:06.200 Because that's what it's known for and known 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:08.619 as. It wasn't until the end of the movie that 00:21:08.619 --> 00:21:13.700 I realized A Great Awakening was Benjamin Franklin's 00:21:13.700 --> 00:21:16.200 Great Awakening. And that's what the whole movie, 00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:18.319 I thought the movie was more about Whitefield 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.900 when in fact it was more about them together 00:21:21.900 --> 00:21:24.339 in their relationship, but really I would say 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:28.640 60 -40 on Benjamin Franklin and his great awakening. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:32.380 That blew me away. I didn't see that coming. 00:21:32.460 --> 00:21:37.339 That was a great surprise. For me, when he said 00:21:37.339 --> 00:21:40.839 he was talking about the proof that he is now 00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:44.380 seeing in his living a long time, I related to 00:21:44.380 --> 00:21:47.069 that so much. I thought about you actually. And 00:21:47.069 --> 00:21:50.490 I thought about myself, because that's exactly 00:21:50.490 --> 00:21:54.849 what I went through. I approached it, not scientifically 00:21:54.849 --> 00:21:56.990 because I'm not a scientist, but I approached 00:21:56.990 --> 00:22:00.490 it from my research mentality of conspiracy theories 00:22:00.490 --> 00:22:02.890 and really turned me into a conspiracy therapist. 00:22:04.930 --> 00:22:08.950 And to hear him say that, I'm like, that's exactly 00:22:08.950 --> 00:22:12.190 what I went through. Thank God I didn't take 00:22:12.190 --> 00:22:14.710 80 years. It took me about two weeks before I 00:22:14.710 --> 00:22:17.069 went. All the stuff I believe, how it really 00:22:17.069 --> 00:22:20.470 went down, there's less proof on all of that 00:22:20.470 --> 00:22:24.390 than the existence of God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, 00:22:24.750 --> 00:22:27.650 and how God does govern the affairs of men. And 00:22:27.650 --> 00:22:30.490 then once I started praying and once I started, 00:22:30.890 --> 00:22:34.269 of course, I think it seems like if you're a 00:22:34.269 --> 00:22:37.240 new believer, God, I think he gives you some 00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:39.859 extra points in the beginning. I think he does 00:22:39.859 --> 00:22:41.500 too. Like, you get this one, you get this one, 00:22:41.579 --> 00:22:43.500 you get this one. I agree. And then it's like, 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:46.589 no. No, let's see how you are. Let me see how 00:22:46.589 --> 00:22:49.190 you're doing. Let me see if you really can work 00:22:49.190 --> 00:22:52.430 in my timing. And thank you and Annette, by the 00:22:52.430 --> 00:22:55.109 way, because we have both, Tina and I, have learned 00:22:55.109 --> 00:22:57.890 this from you, you know, in God's perfect timing. 00:22:58.390 --> 00:23:01.509 A delay is not denial. Man, I got them all. And 00:23:01.509 --> 00:23:04.549 he tests his work. Yes, exactly. My grandfather 00:23:04.549 --> 00:23:07.029 was a cabinet builder and I watched him every 00:23:07.029 --> 00:23:09.890 time he constructed anything, a piece of wood, 00:23:09.990 --> 00:23:14.259 a cabinet. Shelving unit or whatever whatever 00:23:14.259 --> 00:23:16.779 he was building and he would always test his 00:23:16.779 --> 00:23:19.460 work and he tested it with pressure Yeah, pressure 00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:22.819 exactly. There was something else. Excuse me 00:23:22.819 --> 00:23:27.819 Benjamin Franklin was talking about Building 00:23:27.819 --> 00:23:30.960 a Tower of Babel kind of struck me. Yeah, you 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:34.019 referred to that because that if you look at 00:23:34.019 --> 00:23:36.920 our halls of Congress and you know Congress as 00:23:36.920 --> 00:23:39.920 a whole in the house and the Senate it is a bit 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:44.900 Like the Tower of Babel everybody is trying to 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:48.160 get up higher and none of them are really speaking 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:53.140 the same language. It's quite remarkable. It's 00:23:53.140 --> 00:23:56.119 amazing we get anything done. Well, our system 00:23:56.119 --> 00:23:58.440 is set up to actually not get anything done, 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:01.960 kind of like that. Unfortunately, we still get 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:05.519 way too much done. Look at our tax code. The 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:09.440 tax code is crazy. The very last part of the 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:13.180 movie, is not this. It's actually George Whitefield 00:24:13.180 --> 00:24:19.359 who is deathly ill and decides to. I think it 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:22.220 was like, do one more sermon from the top of, 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:24.079 what was that, City Hall or whatever it was? 00:24:24.259 --> 00:24:26.940 I think so. I think that's, well, actually, they 00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:29.859 were in Independence Hall. He walked out of there 00:24:29.859 --> 00:24:32.799 to speak. Right, yes. On the swimming nets. Independence 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.420 Hall, yeah, out on the balcony. It's 48 seconds, 00:24:35.500 --> 00:24:38.160 but it was also powerful. The father of lights 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.680 says in his word, for you who honor my name, 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:45.019 the son of righteousness will rise with healing 00:24:45.019 --> 00:24:51.009 in its wings. My friends, do you want to be free? 00:24:52.150 --> 00:24:55.829 Liberty is found in him alone. Do you want to 00:24:55.829 --> 00:25:01.910 live? He alone gives eternal life. Because of 00:25:01.910 --> 00:25:05.410 the tender mercy of our God, the rising sun will 00:25:05.410 --> 00:25:08.190 come to us from heaven to shine on those living 00:25:08.190 --> 00:25:13.950 in darkness. I beseech you, do not reject so 00:25:13.950 --> 00:25:21.890 great a gift. A great awakening has come. Arise, 00:25:22.049 --> 00:25:27.670 O sleeper! Awaken! Arise, O sleeper, awaken. 00:25:27.910 --> 00:25:29.750 Where does that come from? Oh, it's out of the 00:25:29.750 --> 00:25:32.480 scripture. Okay. Yeah, when you look it up. I 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:34.839 want that soundtrack behind my closing from now 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:37.859 on, on my sermon. We've got to tell Cass. Cass, 00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:41.160 I've got a project for you, brother. I want this 00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:44.220 soundtrack at the end of the message. It has 00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:47.460 to build up like that all the way into the crescendo. 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:49.799 As long as I went on Sunday, they'll have to 00:25:49.799 --> 00:25:52.819 build it for a long time. It is fantastic. It's 00:25:52.819 --> 00:25:54.339 so good. Yeah, let me look up that scripture 00:25:54.339 --> 00:26:02.960 because it's a powerful scripture. Take me a 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:06.559 second take your time. Well, yeah, I'm getting 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:10.599 a little tiny distracted by the yeah By the sounds 00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:14.900 of beeping. Oh, it's one of those Those machine 00:26:14.900 --> 00:26:17.839 it's a lift. Oh, so when you're moving it has 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:20.220 to be like backing up a truck basically exactly 00:26:20.220 --> 00:26:22.480 Yeah, I don't hear it anymore. I'm just ignoring 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:31.500 it back on Okay Well, that's great, but they 00:26:31.500 --> 00:26:33.839 didn't tell me the... They didn't tell you? They 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:35.720 didn't give me the reference. They didn't give 00:26:35.720 --> 00:26:38.839 you the... What is it? You gotta be exact. Now 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:40.480 is this your... I'm getting spoiled. Is this 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:44.619 your Logos system? No. Oh, okay. Because that 00:26:44.619 --> 00:26:52.299 probably... Scrocked. Oh. Okay. Here it is. Ephesians 00:26:52.299 --> 00:26:56.900 5. The verse is in a few comments. It says, Therefore 00:26:56.900 --> 00:26:59.339 it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the 00:26:59.339 --> 00:27:01.660 dead, and Christ will shine on you. That's out 00:27:01.660 --> 00:27:07.299 of the ESV. King James, wherefore he saith, Awake 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:10.000 thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, 00:27:10.180 --> 00:27:13.099 and Christ shall give thee light. That's so good. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:16.380 I also love how they talk about the father of 00:27:16.380 --> 00:27:20.980 light. Yes, yeah. That's really good. The whole 00:27:20.980 --> 00:27:24.259 thing, it was just so inspirational. And particularly 00:27:24.259 --> 00:27:26.940 now as we're moving up towards July 4th, we're 00:27:26.940 --> 00:27:33.400 moving towards the 250th anniversary of our country. 00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:38.940 And I loved the, and you promoted this from the 00:27:38.940 --> 00:27:43.440 pulpit and the message. the Freedom 250 Rededication 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:48.779 of America. Rededication 250 is what they call 00:27:48.779 --> 00:27:54.480 it. Right. And so I decided to stream this thing 00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:58.440 live on the Godcaster and it was 10 hours and 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:00.599 there was worship music, there was some gospel 00:28:00.599 --> 00:28:03.279 stuff, it was a lot of different things, a lot 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:07.700 of different speakers, and it was so good. There's 00:28:07.700 --> 00:28:09.220 no way you could listen to the whole thing. So 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:12.440 I'm just restreaming that for a week. Nice. It's 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:15.660 on a nonstop loop. And it's on the Godcaster. 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:17.960 I'll pop in from time to time. Wherever it's 00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:20.900 at. And it's so good. I did pull a couple of 00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:22.920 clips. Oh, good. Did you have a chance to listen 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:26.019 to any of the, or watch any of it? Oh, we watched 00:28:26.019 --> 00:28:28.319 almost, I mean, when we got home from church, 00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:30.519 we just turned it on. So we caught probably four 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:32.559 hours of it, five minutes. Okay, yeah, good. 00:28:33.299 --> 00:28:36.859 I pulled... Marco Rubio was good, but that was 00:28:36.859 --> 00:28:40.420 a pre -recorded that he did. And he actually 00:28:40.420 --> 00:28:44.839 had that music behind him. You're kind of cheating. 00:28:45.299 --> 00:28:47.579 You're cheating Marco Rubio. So I got to ask, 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:50.599 who was your favorite or who stood out for you? 00:28:52.700 --> 00:28:55.900 Tim Scott. Okay. Tim Scott's a rock star. I did 00:28:55.900 --> 00:28:58.400 not get to hear him. Okay. I have a little bit 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:00.559 of Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House. That 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.940 was who stood out to me. And I like that a lot. 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:05.119 That was a history lesson plus prayer. Here we 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:08.240 go. The same devotion of patriots like a Patrick 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:11.380 Henry, for whom liberty was worth any price. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:14.240 The same devotion of President Abraham Lincoln, 00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:17.720 who at Gettysburg charged his countrymen to rededicate 00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:20.660 themselves to the unfinished work of our fathers. 00:29:21.369 --> 00:29:24.109 Lord today, we pray that you grant us that same 00:29:24.109 --> 00:29:28.069 devotion to these United States Give us courage 00:29:28.069 --> 00:29:31.250 Lord make us worthy of all those who devoted 00:29:31.250 --> 00:29:34.390 and sacrificed their lives So that a government 00:29:34.390 --> 00:29:37.730 of the people by the people and for the people 00:29:37.730 --> 00:29:41.710 shall not perish from the earth Almighty God 00:29:41.710 --> 00:29:44.589 we ask that you hear these solemn petitions Just 00:29:44.589 --> 00:29:47.009 as we in the beginning dedicated this land to 00:29:47.009 --> 00:29:52.559 your most holy name today here Lord in this 250th 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:57.480 year of American independence, we hereby rededicate 00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:00.680 the United States of America as one nation under 00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:22.900 God. Look upon us with favor upon your country 00:30:22.900 --> 00:30:25.180 as you celebrate this momentous anniversary and 00:30:25.180 --> 00:30:28.400 let your Holy Spirit descend upon this land So 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:30.660 that future generations will look back at this 00:30:30.660 --> 00:30:33.099 day in this present age and once again see your 00:30:33.099 --> 00:30:37.220 providential hand at work I Asked this today 00:30:37.220 --> 00:30:40.240 Lord. I pray it and I believe it in your holy 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:47.799 name in Jesus name. Amen Wow and you know So 00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:51.160 this is all a combination for me, because I'm 00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:53.240 just as worried about our country as you are, 00:30:53.339 --> 00:30:57.279 as anyone else is. And even when I look at A 00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:00.480 Great Awakening, I think the beauty of it all 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:03.420 is it doesn't take everybody. We don't need to 00:31:03.420 --> 00:31:08.680 have the whole country praying. It's those who 00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:12.059 humble. And I've been making a study of the humble 00:31:12.059 --> 00:31:17.480 yourself before God. I love this Jesus stuff. 00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:20.779 I just got to tell you, brother. Just so you 00:31:20.779 --> 00:31:24.339 know, spoiler alert, it'll take the rest of your 00:31:24.339 --> 00:31:27.740 life to even scratch the surface. That's okay. 00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:29.660 That's not as hard. That's part of the fun of 00:31:29.660 --> 00:31:32.059 it for me. I'm still all these 40 -something 00:31:32.059 --> 00:31:35.380 years later discovering things all the time. 00:31:35.980 --> 00:31:40.490 And the humble yourself before God. I look at 00:31:40.490 --> 00:31:42.329 this event and I said, you know, how many people 00:31:42.329 --> 00:31:44.970 really watched it? I don't know. I didn't do 00:31:44.970 --> 00:31:47.410 a look up, but maybe it was a couple million, 00:31:47.589 --> 00:31:49.450 maybe it was 10 million. I don't really know. 00:31:49.869 --> 00:31:53.990 But that power, the power that these, just like 00:31:53.990 --> 00:31:57.690 that convention of states, that these men and 00:31:57.690 --> 00:32:00.269 women got together and humbled themselves before 00:32:00.269 --> 00:32:02.390 God with whatever audience was there on the mall. 00:32:02.470 --> 00:32:04.089 And there were people from our church who went 00:32:04.089 --> 00:32:07.529 there. To me, it's like, that gives me a lot 00:32:07.529 --> 00:32:11.470 of hope. It really, really does. That is just... 00:32:11.470 --> 00:32:14.890 Me too. It makes it possible. But we all, as 00:32:14.890 --> 00:32:17.670 believers, I really think we all, we got to do 00:32:17.670 --> 00:32:20.430 our part. That's right. We got to be the voice. 00:32:20.609 --> 00:32:23.569 We have to be the hands and the feet. Yeah. And 00:32:23.569 --> 00:32:27.250 we have to open our mouths and speak. Speaking 00:32:27.250 --> 00:32:29.490 of that, just, and I'm not shifting away from 00:32:29.490 --> 00:32:32.210 this, I'm actually, this sort of leads to this. 00:32:33.950 --> 00:32:37.009 I got some questions and a little bit of pushback, 00:32:37.089 --> 00:32:41.970 not bad, wasn't negative. It was just very focused 00:32:41.970 --> 00:32:45.009 questions about why I'm so political in the pulpit. 00:32:45.710 --> 00:32:47.349 Why are you so political pastor? Now obviously 00:32:47.349 --> 00:32:49.910 these are new people to our church. So I talked 00:32:49.910 --> 00:32:53.150 to two people this week, one an 82 year old man, 00:32:53.269 --> 00:32:56.829 I think I briefed you on that, and who's a history 00:32:56.829 --> 00:33:00.009 teacher. And he brought to me a copy of the Lyndon 00:33:00.009 --> 00:33:03.289 B. Johnson in 1954. The amendment. He said, I 00:33:03.289 --> 00:33:04.609 don't know if you've ever heard of it. I said, 00:33:04.609 --> 00:33:08.200 oh, the Lyndon B. Johnson bill. He goes, Oh, 00:33:08.299 --> 00:33:09.740 you already know about that. And I said, Oh, 00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:12.359 I know it probably better than most. And he said, 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:14.140 OK. He said, I was just going to show it to you 00:33:14.140 --> 00:33:17.680 because he said, I'm concerned that by you endorsing 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:20.180 candidates or speaking for the pulpit on politics, 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:24.140 that you could lose your 501 C3. Of course, that 00:33:24.140 --> 00:33:27.380 led me into this year. You're not your non no 00:33:27.380 --> 00:33:30.940 tax nonprofits. Right. Right. I love how Jesus 00:33:30.940 --> 00:33:35.789 works between you and I, brother, because. Would 00:33:35.789 --> 00:33:38.769 you believe it if I told you I had a couple clips 00:33:38.769 --> 00:33:41.829 explaining the Johnson Amendment? No way. I do. 00:33:42.150 --> 00:33:45.289 I do. It was the best I could grab at the last 00:33:45.289 --> 00:33:49.529 minute. So it's a British voice, high AI potential, 00:33:49.529 --> 00:33:53.049 but it's not too irritating. It's a YouTube, 00:33:53.130 --> 00:33:55.470 so I took out most of the sound effects, but 00:33:55.470 --> 00:33:58.849 it explains the reason for the Johnson Amendment. 00:33:59.250 --> 00:34:02.769 Ah, this will be good. Oh, it's talk about political 00:34:02.769 --> 00:34:05.940 and how this came to be. And thank you, Jesus, 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:08.280 for working between Jimmy and I because I think 00:34:08.280 --> 00:34:10.880 this is stuff that people really need to hear. 00:34:11.139 --> 00:34:14.860 On July 7th, 2025, the Internal Revenue Service 00:34:14.860 --> 00:34:17.380 agreed not to enforce a 70 -year -old rule in 00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:21.099 a federal court filing. The rule had barred tax 00:34:21.099 --> 00:34:23.860 -exempt organizations, including churches, from 00:34:23.860 --> 00:34:26.659 endorsing political candidates. Under the new 00:34:26.659 --> 00:34:28.920 agreement, a church can endorse a candidate from 00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:32.980 the pulpit and keep its tax -exempt status. That 00:34:32.980 --> 00:34:36.309 raises a question. If churches can endorse candidates 00:34:36.309 --> 00:34:39.409 while receiving tax -deductible undisclosed donations, 00:34:39.929 --> 00:34:42.469 what starts them from becoming political fundraising 00:34:42.469 --> 00:34:45.909 vehicles? To understand what changed, we have 00:34:45.909 --> 00:34:51.210 to go back to 1954. Act 1. What the Johnson Amendment 00:34:51.210 --> 00:34:55.170 was. Lyndon B. Johnson was not yet president. 00:34:55.670 --> 00:34:59.429 In 1954, he was a U .S. Senator from Texas, and 00:34:59.429 --> 00:35:02.559 he was in trouble. Two tax -exempt non -profit 00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:04.679 organisations had been attacking him during his 00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:08.119 re -election campaign. One was called Facts Forum, 00:35:08.460 --> 00:35:10.679 a group funded by Texas oil billionaire H .L. 00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:13.559 Hunt that promoted a hard anti -communist line. 00:35:13.710 --> 00:35:16.110 The other was the Committee for Constitutional 00:35:16.110 --> 00:35:18.050 Government, which had distributed millions of 00:35:18.050 --> 00:35:19.969 pieces of literature opposing candidates had 00:35:19.969 --> 00:35:22.429 considered too liberal. Both organisations were 00:35:22.429 --> 00:35:25.309 using their tax -exempt status to influence elections. 00:35:25.670 --> 00:35:29.190 And both were targeting Johnson. Johnson contacted 00:35:29.190 --> 00:35:31.510 the IRS to ask whether their activities violated 00:35:31.510 --> 00:35:34.389 the tax code. The answer came back. What they 00:35:34.389 --> 00:35:38.150 were doing was legal. So Johnson found another 00:35:38.150 --> 00:35:41.829 way. On July 2nd, 1954, he appeared on the Senate 00:35:41.829 --> 00:35:44.059 floor and introduced an amendment a massive tax 00:35:44.059 --> 00:35:48.019 code revision bill, HR 8300, which would become 00:35:48.019 --> 00:35:51.500 the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. The amendment 00:35:51.500 --> 00:35:55.380 was just 31 words long. It added a single restriction 00:35:55.380 --> 00:35:59.059 to section 501c3 of the tax code. Any organization 00:35:59.059 --> 00:36:02.099 that wanted tax exempt status could not participate 00:36:02.099 --> 00:36:04.420 in or intervene in, including the publishing 00:36:04.420 --> 00:36:06.820 or distributing of statements, any political 00:36:06.820 --> 00:36:09.579 campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any 00:36:09.579 --> 00:36:12.260 candidate for public office. The amendment was 00:36:12.260 --> 00:36:15.380 agreed to without any discussion or debate. No 00:36:15.380 --> 00:36:18.739 hearings, no committee review, no floor argument. 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:22.360 It was folded into a 929 page tax bill and signed 00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:25.840 by President Eisenhower on August 16th, 1954. 00:36:26.579 --> 00:36:29.179 That restriction became known as the Johnson 00:36:29.179 --> 00:36:32.940 Amendment. So let's just put that into some historical 00:36:32.940 --> 00:36:36.800 perspective, shall we? Isn't that amazing? Slipped 00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:40.460 it in because he wanted to be president and he 00:36:40.460 --> 00:36:43.579 didn't want an H .L. Hunt. If I'm not mistaken, 00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:46.940 I think he owned a lot of radio stations. It 00:36:46.940 --> 00:36:48.860 could have been newspapers, it could have been 00:36:48.860 --> 00:36:51.440 both, but he was a huge publisher and he had 00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:54.800 a lot of influence. And so that's where that 00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:57.940 came from. Now there's a whole second clip which 00:36:57.940 --> 00:37:02.340 I'm going to skip about, there was one time when 00:37:02.340 --> 00:37:06.460 this came before court when a black church in 00:37:06.460 --> 00:37:10.530 New York City, they started taking out full -page 00:37:10.530 --> 00:37:13.230 ads in newspapers saying, don't vote for this 00:37:13.230 --> 00:37:16.010 guy. So that did become a case, but this has 00:37:16.010 --> 00:37:18.650 never been litigated or I don't think it's ever. 00:37:19.230 --> 00:37:22.570 It was two times. It was brought up. I know that 00:37:22.570 --> 00:37:25.570 one African -American church and then another 00:37:25.570 --> 00:37:28.130 time. And I think it was yet another African 00:37:28.130 --> 00:37:30.190 -American church because they've never stopped. 00:37:30.190 --> 00:37:33.150 They never. They didn't listen to that at all. 00:37:33.489 --> 00:37:35.750 Kamala Harris was going there. And I'm completely 00:37:35.750 --> 00:37:37.590 good with that. Yeah, of course. I was saying, 00:37:37.730 --> 00:37:41.269 vote for me. Yeah. But if we can't, then there's 00:37:41.269 --> 00:37:43.110 a problem. And so it's interesting, two people 00:37:43.110 --> 00:37:46.550 approached me this week, again, not in a nefarious 00:37:46.550 --> 00:37:49.650 way, but just concerned like, could you get in 00:37:49.650 --> 00:37:51.429 trouble for this? Of course. And I said, no. 00:37:52.269 --> 00:37:56.730 So this was... rolled back by the IRS under the 00:37:56.730 --> 00:37:59.090 Trump administration worth listening to that 00:37:59.090 --> 00:38:04.610 piece. And then July 7th arrived. Act 3, what 00:38:04.610 --> 00:38:08.570 happened on July 7th, 2025. The turning point 00:38:08.570 --> 00:38:11.829 began with a lawsuit filed in August 2024. The 00:38:11.829 --> 00:38:14.610 plaintiffs included the National Religious Broadcasters, 00:38:14.869 --> 00:38:17.090 an evangelical media organization, Intercessors 00:38:17.090 --> 00:38:20.449 for America, a Christian ministry, Sand Springs 00:38:20.449 --> 00:38:24.039 Church in Athens, Texas, First Baptist Church, 00:38:24.199 --> 00:38:27.920 Wascom, also in Texas. They filed in the U .S. 00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:30.260 District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. 00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:33.400 Their argument was constitutional. The Johnson 00:38:33.400 --> 00:38:35.940 Amendment, they claimed, violated their First 00:38:35.940 --> 00:38:38.920 Amendment rights. Both freedom of speech and 00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:41.440 the free exercise of religion. The plaintiffs 00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:43.679 also raised a comparison that made their case 00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:46.500 harder to dismiss. They pointed out that some 00:38:46.500 --> 00:38:48.760 nonprofit newspapers and publications had been 00:38:48.760 --> 00:38:50.460 allowed to endorse candidates without losing 00:38:50.460 --> 00:38:53.530 their tax -exempt status. If those organisations 00:38:53.530 --> 00:38:57.230 could do it, why couldn't churches? Pastors, 00:38:57.389 --> 00:38:59.429 the plaintiffs argued, should be allowed to speak 00:38:59.429 --> 00:39:01.409 about political candidates as part of religious 00:39:01.409 --> 00:39:04.550 teaching without risking tax penalties. Normally, 00:39:04.590 --> 00:39:06.809 in a case like this, the IRS would defend the 00:39:06.809 --> 00:39:10.250 law in court. But this time, something unusual 00:39:10.250 --> 00:39:12.849 happened. Instead of defending the Johnson Amendment, 00:39:13.070 --> 00:39:15.369 the IRS agreed to a consent judgment with the 00:39:15.369 --> 00:39:18.230 plaintiffs. In that agreement, the IRS stated 00:39:18.230 --> 00:39:20.369 that it would not treat certain speech by churches 00:39:20.369 --> 00:39:22.929 as prohibited political activity. The specific 00:39:22.929 --> 00:39:25.860 language matters. The IRS said that when house 00:39:25.860 --> 00:39:28.719 of worship speaks to its congregation through 00:39:28.719 --> 00:39:31.119 its customary channels of communication during 00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:33.599 religious service about electoral politics viewed 00:39:33.599 --> 00:39:35.920 through the lens of religious faith, the IRS 00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:38.000 would not consider that a violation of the Johnson 00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:41.000 amendment. In practical terms, a pastor can endorse 00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:42.820 a candidate from the pulpit during a worship 00:39:42.820 --> 00:39:44.940 service, and the church will not risk losing 00:39:44.940 --> 00:39:54.670 its tax -exempt status. To me, it's like, oh, 00:39:54.690 --> 00:39:57.670 it's a bunch of old radio dudes. But I have respect 00:39:57.670 --> 00:40:00.530 for them. This is what they do. And I have respect 00:40:00.530 --> 00:40:02.869 for an organization that said, hey, it's time 00:40:02.869 --> 00:40:05.889 to strike. We're going to do it. And they're 00:40:05.889 --> 00:40:08.789 also a nonprofit. They went out, and they spent 00:40:08.789 --> 00:40:10.849 the money, and they got this done. And it is 00:40:10.849 --> 00:40:14.170 so good. And so when you told me about this 82 00:40:14.170 --> 00:40:17.219 -year -old, I'm like, Oh, man. I got to find 00:40:17.219 --> 00:40:19.380 something quick. I'm so glad you did. The Holy 00:40:19.380 --> 00:40:22.260 Spirit, man. And he gave it to me right here. 00:40:22.559 --> 00:40:25.739 He says, it's AI, but it's okay, Adam. Yeah, 00:40:25.739 --> 00:40:28.880 exactly. Well, what I appreciate about him, and 00:40:28.880 --> 00:40:31.179 it was his young man, probably his late 20s, 00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:33.519 early 30s, who approached me on Sunday on one 00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:37.619 of our meetups. And then the builder guy, the 00:40:37.619 --> 00:40:41.320 teacher, he made an appointment. So it was great. 00:40:41.920 --> 00:40:43.699 And I thought, how interesting that I'm getting 00:40:43.699 --> 00:40:46.079 these two questions back to back in a very short 00:40:46.079 --> 00:40:48.360 amount of time. So I always listen to multiples. 00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:51.260 What's God saying? And I was reminded about, 00:40:51.260 --> 00:40:57.159 you know, the first 160 to 170 years, it was 00:40:57.159 --> 00:41:00.320 the pastors who fueled the fires of both the 00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:03.000 Great Awakening and the American Revolution. 00:41:03.019 --> 00:41:05.780 Yes, the Black Row Regiment. Yeah, Reverend Jonas 00:41:05.780 --> 00:41:09.900 Clark, Schulenburg, all these pastors fueled 00:41:09.900 --> 00:41:12.909 the fires. And so it's interesting because we're 00:41:12.909 --> 00:41:15.090 literally standing on the shoulders of giants. 00:41:15.489 --> 00:41:18.789 So when I go into that mode in the pulpit and 00:41:18.789 --> 00:41:21.730 I'm doing it, whether it's a briefing or I'm 00:41:21.730 --> 00:41:25.469 saying something else more direct, I just feel 00:41:25.469 --> 00:41:29.309 very, I feel surrounded. It's the weirdest, it's 00:41:29.309 --> 00:41:32.269 hard to explain. I feel a confidence. I feel 00:41:32.269 --> 00:41:35.070 a calmness when I say those things. I don't sit 00:41:35.070 --> 00:41:36.949 there going, I'm going to get blow back from 00:41:36.949 --> 00:41:39.210 this. I know somebody's going to be angry. I 00:41:39.210 --> 00:41:41.409 know I'm going to hurt somebody's feelings. None 00:41:41.409 --> 00:41:43.469 of that comes into my mind now. I'm not trying 00:41:43.469 --> 00:41:46.429 to be caustic or belligerent or any of that That's 00:41:46.429 --> 00:41:49.230 not the goal. The goal is to be truthful and 00:41:49.230 --> 00:41:52.050 matter -of -fact And so that's how I present 00:41:52.050 --> 00:41:54.670 these things I would say a couple years ago I 00:41:54.670 --> 00:41:56.730 got a little rowdy sometimes because I got caught 00:41:56.730 --> 00:41:59.469 up in the moment, but I but I'm growing and learning 00:41:59.469 --> 00:42:03.170 and I'm trying to be more Clear and direct when 00:42:03.170 --> 00:42:07.050 I say things about politics culture, whatever 00:42:07.050 --> 00:42:09.750 I see called culture and politics. You can't 00:42:09.750 --> 00:42:14.630 separate them The policy drives culture and culture 00:42:14.630 --> 00:42:17.550 drives policy. They work together. So you can't, 00:42:17.550 --> 00:42:19.510 those are things like two pieces of duct tape 00:42:19.510 --> 00:42:22.090 that you stick together. There's a chemical reaction. 00:42:22.730 --> 00:42:24.630 You cannot pull them apart. It's not going to 00:42:24.630 --> 00:42:27.590 happen. So that means we have a responsibility 00:42:27.590 --> 00:42:30.630 to speak into that. And it's my joy to do so. 00:42:31.550 --> 00:42:33.690 But I don't, I don't feel I need to get out on 00:42:33.690 --> 00:42:35.670 social media and do that a lot. I don't feel 00:42:35.670 --> 00:42:38.280 like I've got to. grandstand or take pictures, 00:42:38.500 --> 00:42:40.119 selfies at the Capitol. You know, I don't need 00:42:40.119 --> 00:42:42.360 to do any of that kind of stuff because it's 00:42:42.360 --> 00:42:44.639 not about that. It's about my local church and 00:42:44.639 --> 00:42:47.440 my local community. So there's no grandstanding 00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:51.139 here. There's no pictures of me and Trump together 00:42:51.139 --> 00:42:55.840 or me and whoever because my goal is to fuel 00:42:55.840 --> 00:43:02.039 the fires of revival and the righteous revolution 00:43:02.039 --> 00:43:05.179 within the people. so that it's our people, like 00:43:05.179 --> 00:43:08.699 a Randy, Riley, going and running for mayor and 00:43:08.699 --> 00:43:13.079 winning by 55 votes. That is such a textbook 00:43:13.079 --> 00:43:16.940 moment of what a church can do. They come together 00:43:16.940 --> 00:43:20.139 and say, we have a righteous guy here who will 00:43:20.139 --> 00:43:23.340 serve our community well, not disparaging anybody 00:43:23.340 --> 00:43:26.139 else that's running. That's not the goal, but 00:43:26.139 --> 00:43:30.139 to honor him and get behind him as a church body. 00:43:30.519 --> 00:43:34.940 He's us and he represents us. As you were describing 00:43:34.940 --> 00:43:39.860 how you feel a calm to come over you, all I could 00:43:39.860 --> 00:43:43.679 visualize was the cloud of witnesses of these 00:43:43.679 --> 00:43:47.780 pastors from the Revolution and the Great Awakening 00:43:47.780 --> 00:43:53.099 days coming around you and encouraging you. And 00:43:53.099 --> 00:43:56.340 I love that you do that and I hope so many pastors 00:43:56.340 --> 00:43:59.880 will do this instead of... hitting on other types 00:43:59.880 --> 00:44:02.880 of issues that are out there that are hot buttons 00:44:02.880 --> 00:44:07.900 that do get views and likes and clicks. And I've 00:44:07.900 --> 00:44:09.579 kind of stopped worrying about that because I 00:44:09.579 --> 00:44:12.920 know it could only take one church. Maybe it's 00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:15.440 two churches, maybe it's ten, maybe it's a hundred. 00:44:15.840 --> 00:44:18.440 But if we humble ourselves before God and we 00:44:18.440 --> 00:44:21.989 pray for our country, It's going to make... I've 00:44:21.989 --> 00:44:25.050 got a grandbaby on the way, man, and this kid's 00:44:25.050 --> 00:44:27.090 going to know about my culture here in America. 00:44:27.889 --> 00:44:33.250 It does. It does. And Tina asked Christina, my 00:44:33.250 --> 00:44:36.269 daughter, because I think they're going to come 00:44:36.269 --> 00:44:40.369 over in September. Oh, great. Would you be OK 00:44:40.369 --> 00:44:44.489 if Pastor Jimmy blessed your daughter? She's 00:44:44.489 --> 00:44:49.099 like... Absolutely. I really want Pastor Jimmy 00:44:49.099 --> 00:44:50.880 to bless it. I love Kevin and Christina, and 00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:54.820 I am so excited about this. Yeah. You know, there's 00:44:54.820 --> 00:44:59.119 a couple of things happening here. One is I don't 00:44:59.119 --> 00:45:02.119 feel compelled to get too caught up in the current 00:45:02.119 --> 00:45:04.599 political stuff. That's really, I mean, I want 00:45:04.599 --> 00:45:06.800 to speak to what needs to be spoken to, but that's 00:45:06.800 --> 00:45:09.519 not where I'm putting my energy. My energy is 00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:12.260 getting people and trying to harken them back 00:45:12.260 --> 00:45:14.820 to get them to look back to our foundations. 00:45:15.150 --> 00:45:18.550 look back to where we started. This is why I 00:45:18.550 --> 00:45:21.070 continued. Every time I go into my office, I 00:45:21.070 --> 00:45:24.429 look at the National Monument, you know, my little 00:45:24.429 --> 00:45:27.849 model I have. Monument to the forefathers, yeah. 00:45:27.969 --> 00:45:30.750 A little tiny thing, but I love, and I read through 00:45:30.750 --> 00:45:36.670 that, morality, law, liberty, freedom, faith. 00:45:37.250 --> 00:45:40.809 I mean, I missed one. Education? Thank you, yes. 00:45:41.130 --> 00:45:44.960 Yeah, I made liberty and that's the same. But 00:45:44.960 --> 00:45:48.559 my goal, and I really think this is my call in 00:45:48.559 --> 00:45:52.440 this arena, is to bring people back to our foundations. 00:45:53.519 --> 00:45:57.659 Gentlemen, this is a football. Ladies and gentlemen, 00:45:57.920 --> 00:46:00.480 this is the Geneva Bible, the one they brought 00:46:00.480 --> 00:46:04.460 over. This is where it started. This is the national 00:46:04.460 --> 00:46:07.159 monument to the forefathers. Forget the rock, 00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:10.599 1692. That's true. We saw that rock. The rock 00:46:10.599 --> 00:46:14.840 was very anticlimactic. It's a rock. And the 00:46:14.840 --> 00:46:16.880 best part was there's a sign that says, we don't 00:46:16.880 --> 00:46:19.519 even know if this was the rock, but some dude 00:46:19.519 --> 00:46:23.380 said it was the rock. We laughed so hard. We 00:46:23.380 --> 00:46:25.820 did. Because people were crowding around, pitching 00:46:25.820 --> 00:46:28.280 pennies on it, making wishes. And we're like, 00:46:28.400 --> 00:46:30.920 let's go back over to the monument where nobody's 00:46:30.920 --> 00:46:34.480 at. And yet, this is the most. awesome thing. 00:46:35.179 --> 00:46:37.780 I don't ever want to get that out of mind in 00:46:37.780 --> 00:46:40.880 your vocabulary and conversation because I was 00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:43.159 very imprinted by that short trip that we made. 00:46:43.960 --> 00:46:47.260 I'm still drawing from that. both being at Reverend 00:46:47.260 --> 00:46:49.599 Jonas Clark's house. We didn't even get to go 00:46:49.599 --> 00:46:52.000 inside, but we just walked around and put our 00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:55.780 hands on it. We prayed. We prayed over the house. 00:46:55.900 --> 00:46:57.260 I remember that. We prayed over the house and 00:46:57.260 --> 00:47:00.179 prayed over the statue. Man, look at that. There's 00:47:00.179 --> 00:47:01.960 a real deal right there, brother. It's called 00:47:01.960 --> 00:47:04.360 Goosebumps. My blood is flowing all of a sudden. 00:47:04.619 --> 00:47:07.559 Are you starting to leak? But it's so important. 00:47:07.840 --> 00:47:11.519 I think with pastors, and this is just me, but 00:47:11.519 --> 00:47:14.179 I believe if pastors would spend more time studying 00:47:14.179 --> 00:47:17.590 their history, and understanding the foundations, 00:47:18.130 --> 00:47:21.230 then they would speak more intelligently and 00:47:21.230 --> 00:47:24.210 clearly to the issues of today. Because that's 00:47:24.210 --> 00:47:26.329 where the compare and contrast is where it's 00:47:26.329 --> 00:47:28.230 going to happen. Because if not, you're going 00:47:28.230 --> 00:47:31.170 to get caught up in all of the latest, greatest, 00:47:31.170 --> 00:47:34.269 you know, higher, you know, what's the word, 00:47:34.989 --> 00:47:39.150 spectacular things or epic things and miss the 00:47:39.150 --> 00:47:42.269 forging and formation of young men and women 00:47:42.269 --> 00:47:45.050 through history. And that's what we got to get 00:47:45.050 --> 00:47:47.590 back to as Christians, as believers. And the 00:47:47.590 --> 00:47:50.989 beauty of it is, if we can get back to that foundation 00:47:50.989 --> 00:47:54.210 of just praying for our country, recognizing 00:47:54.210 --> 00:47:57.170 that God is in control, all the other things 00:47:57.170 --> 00:48:01.349 suddenly seem much less important. And it really 00:48:01.349 --> 00:48:03.610 is in the grand scope of things. And when I think 00:48:03.610 --> 00:48:08.469 of 250 years, that's nothing. You can trace back 00:48:08.469 --> 00:48:11.510 your family to the Revolutionary War. I know 00:48:11.510 --> 00:48:17.400 I can. Almost everybody in America can trace 00:48:17.400 --> 00:48:21.340 their roots back. It's not that long. I mean, 00:48:21.559 --> 00:48:25.119 it's just a couple of generations. You know, 00:48:25.539 --> 00:48:28.119 you look at China, they got 5 ,000 years, and 00:48:28.119 --> 00:48:29.800 those guys are sitting their ways. They're not 00:48:29.800 --> 00:48:34.519 going to change. We have a lot of opportunity, 00:48:35.139 --> 00:48:39.059 just like... you know, the Convention of States, 00:48:39.519 --> 00:48:41.739 like that was only six, seven years, and they'd 00:48:41.739 --> 00:48:43.860 already forgotten everything. Right. And all 00:48:43.860 --> 00:48:46.360 it took is one old dude to stand up and say, 00:48:46.460 --> 00:48:49.300 hey, we need to pray. That's all we need to do. 00:48:49.420 --> 00:48:52.820 This is what we did. And it worked. Right. We 00:48:52.820 --> 00:48:55.059 appealed to heaven to our friend. He called him. 00:48:55.119 --> 00:48:58.260 I love that. Yes. Beautiful. Hey, one thing before 00:48:58.260 --> 00:49:01.000 we go. Yes, please. We're going on a trip. I 00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:03.199 am so excited about this. Road tripping. We are 00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:08.480 road tripping. the gruesome foursome. We're going 00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:12.400 to K -Love, the awards fan weekend in Nashville. 00:49:12.539 --> 00:49:15.880 We're very excited about it. This has kind of 00:49:15.880 --> 00:49:19.579 become our retreat, and we get our buckets filled. 00:49:19.860 --> 00:49:23.000 It's really important for you and Damon and Ed 00:49:23.000 --> 00:49:28.780 as pastors to receive. You're always playing 00:49:28.780 --> 00:49:32.179 on the worship team. Annette has always got her 00:49:32.179 --> 00:49:34.500 eye on all things happening. It's because you're 00:49:34.500 --> 00:49:37.119 running a church. It's a business at the same 00:49:37.119 --> 00:49:39.960 time. You've got a lot of moving parts and we 00:49:39.960 --> 00:49:44.619 can all just be. We can just be. And I'm so excited 00:49:44.619 --> 00:49:48.139 about it. And of course, it all culminates with 00:49:48.139 --> 00:49:50.780 Sunday night with the award show, which is in 00:49:50.780 --> 00:49:53.400 telecast. I will tell you, I'm going to do no 00:49:53.400 --> 00:49:55.880 agenda on Sunday. No, go for it. I'm going to 00:49:55.880 --> 00:50:01.159 squeeze it in. We'll be eating. We'll be stuffing 00:50:01.159 --> 00:50:02.639 our face while you're doing that. I'll have a 00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:05.400 sandwich on my way to the award show. But no, 00:50:05.400 --> 00:50:07.539 I'm super excited. Matt Munt has already reached 00:50:07.539 --> 00:50:09.340 out to me. He's like, are you guys coming? You 00:50:09.340 --> 00:50:12.380 know, the Mercy Me boys. Like, yeah, we're performing. 00:50:12.599 --> 00:50:15.840 We got to hook up. Sir Patrick Cobol. He's like, 00:50:16.059 --> 00:50:18.679 we got to have a lunch or something. Love these 00:50:18.679 --> 00:50:20.960 guys. Are you guys going to stay longer and visit 00:50:20.960 --> 00:50:23.400 your family? We are, yeah. Yeah, of course. Our 00:50:23.400 --> 00:50:26.539 grandson, he's growing like a weed. So we get 00:50:26.539 --> 00:50:30.610 to go see them. them. They moved out to Lewisburg, 00:50:31.110 --> 00:50:35.389 which is out south of Franklin, south of Spring 00:50:35.389 --> 00:50:37.150 Hill, Tomsotation, if anybody knows that area. 00:50:37.150 --> 00:50:42.340 No, I have no idea. It's towards Alabama. Alabama, 00:50:42.400 --> 00:50:45.880 the state line's not that far. Anyway, they're 00:50:45.880 --> 00:50:48.000 doing great. We're just going to take a couple 00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:50.980 extra days just to hang out and play with the 00:50:50.980 --> 00:50:54.820 grand boy. I'm super excited. It's also filling 00:50:54.820 --> 00:51:01.210 your buckets. Adam Curry 2 .0 on the air. I mean, 00:51:01.210 --> 00:51:03.489 energizing you for the Godcaster, also giving 00:51:03.489 --> 00:51:05.570 us probably a lot of material. A lot of musical 00:51:05.570 --> 00:51:08.550 ideas. I'll be there with my, oh, write that 00:51:08.550 --> 00:51:10.909 down. We need to get that song on there. So we'll 00:51:10.909 --> 00:51:13.590 get a lot of ideas there and meet people. But 00:51:13.590 --> 00:51:17.929 it is a bucket -filling moment where we're just 00:51:17.929 --> 00:51:21.369 refreshed and washed in a spirit of worship with 00:51:21.369 --> 00:51:23.849 a bunch of other people that we don't know. Thousands. 00:51:24.190 --> 00:51:26.429 And yet we're all there for the same reason, 00:51:26.469 --> 00:51:29.699 and that's to honor God. to celebrate and to 00:51:29.699 --> 00:51:31.760 appreciate those artists too because let them 00:51:31.760 --> 00:51:34.639 know how much we appreciate them. Yes. So yeah, 00:51:34.820 --> 00:51:37.039 I'm excited. In the biodome, that's always fun. 00:51:37.480 --> 00:51:39.980 And that said, it's going to be rainy the whole 00:51:39.980 --> 00:51:42.179 time. Who cares? It doesn't matter. It doesn't 00:51:42.179 --> 00:51:44.539 rain in the biodome. It doesn't matter. We just 00:51:44.539 --> 00:51:47.940 said the same thing. Well, we might be going 00:51:47.940 --> 00:51:51.599 out some, and I'm hardly. OK. All right. Well, 00:51:51.960 --> 00:51:54.039 we might have a... We'll pull up under the cover, 00:51:54.260 --> 00:51:57.239 auditing for you, and pay the guy if he bought 00:51:57.239 --> 00:52:01.440 dollars. Brother, I love doing this show so much 00:52:01.440 --> 00:52:03.300 with you. I can't wait for us to be able to do 00:52:03.300 --> 00:52:06.880 more. You know, I pray to God for opportunity. 00:52:06.829 --> 00:52:10.750 opportunities for us to do more of this. I hope 00:52:10.750 --> 00:52:13.210 it helps people. It sure helps me. Can we just 00:52:13.210 --> 00:52:16.849 thank our listeners once before we go? Just so 00:52:16.849 --> 00:52:20.250 appreciate you guys. I'm getting in touch with 00:52:20.250 --> 00:52:22.269 some of you through Substack and other things 00:52:22.269 --> 00:52:25.489 and X. It's just good to hear from them and hear 00:52:25.489 --> 00:52:29.769 that they're listening. It helps us. It energizes 00:52:29.769 --> 00:52:32.750 us and it makes us go, you know, hey, this is 00:52:32.750 --> 00:52:35.519 helping somebody or This is encouraging somebody. 00:52:35.619 --> 00:52:38.239 And when we get feedback, it encourages us to 00:52:38.239 --> 00:52:40.639 do it more. And so we love hearing from you. 00:52:40.679 --> 00:52:43.739 Give us a shout out. And man, we'll always try 00:52:43.739 --> 00:52:46.360 to respond, you know, best we can. But thank 00:52:46.360 --> 00:52:49.460 you for being on this journey with us. We get 00:52:49.460 --> 00:52:52.260 to do this. All right, everybody, we will be 00:52:52.260 --> 00:52:54.500 back next week and I'm sure we'll have some stories 00:52:54.500 --> 00:52:57.179 from the road. We get to do this again next week. 00:52:57.199 --> 00:52:57.739 See you then.