Father, we honor you. What a privilege it is
to be before you. And we truly get to do this.
And even as we do, we consecrate it to you, Lord,
that all that we do, all that we say would bring
life, would bring hope, would bring inspiration
and encouragement to our listeners. And we pray
for them and bless them in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. It's Wednesday, July 1st, 2026. We get
to do this. This is episode number 39. Last days
of the vacation, my brother. I know. It's weird,
but it's good because I'm so back in my heart
and my mind. I had an opportunity this week and
got a phone call from the hospital that one of
our church members will go unnamed. went into
the hospitals, had some complications, and she
specifically requested that Annette and I come.
She didn't know we're on vacation or whatever,
and Annette said, let's go right now. We're in
our gym clothes. We're getting ready to go to
the gym. And Annette's like, we got to go. I
was going to bring this up a little bit later
in the podcast because I wanted people to know
that you guys are first responders. I mean you
really are and and I know that you were on your
way because we got the same phone call as what
was going on we're like and we're praying here
and you know you're like well we're turning around
we're going right over there and that is I don't
know if people appreciate that if they ever think
about that but man That was pretty awesome. You
truly are first responders. I so appreciate that.
But it's really our privilege to do it. And she
was so gracious and just shocked that we showed
up. And then when she found out we're on vacation,
she's like, oh no, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is
what we do. And then Annette said, no, this is
who we are. And I just said, absolutely, babe.
This is it. We get to do this. But what it did
it. it rekindled because I've been in vacation
mode. Our church and our staff are so good about
when we're gone, they know not to... I mean,
they're just so gracious. There's no phone calls,
no emails, no nothing. Here and there, they're
tiny friends. But also we're that way with our
team. When we know they're gone, we don't send
them stuff. We don't loop them in unless it's
like an emergency or something. So anyway, She
was so sweet and so gracious and she was just
so shocked that we showed up on our vacay. We're
like, it doesn't matter. But for me, it reignited
my heart. I was like, I'm so ready to be back.
It was a privilege and a pleasure. I'm glad that
you had a little bit of sun on the vacation because,
man, if she saw your leg, she might go into cardiac
arrest. Frightening. Frightening. I'm like, man,
I'm glad I didn't have to show up in my shorts.
That would have been no good. I just think that's
so amazing. Thank you, brother. You want to move
that wire? Is that in the way for you? It's bugging
me. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. We're in the Curry Compound
studio today. Tina and I are getting ready. That
would mean Tina has packed everything up. as
we're leaving here in about, what about two and
a half hours. We're off to Rotterdam. Yeah, man.
I'm excited for you guys Yeah, well, we're hoping
that the baby will have the grandbaby will arrive
when we're there. That would be so nice gift
This is OCD brother. I'm seeing Sorry, I need
this one. I'm a musician some chords stage chords
Actually had to put the other mic arm on there
because the other one broke Oh, it has like a
little wire on the inside and it snapped The
little coil or whatever, the spring? Yeah, that's
a spring mechanism. That's odd. It's a design
flaw. Is this a new one? It's an old one. I'll
catch you. I think it's actually better. You've
got a few spares, so I know. I've got all kinds.
Don't open that closet. No, no, no. Talking about
the closet. No, it has not been cleaned up. So
we're going over there and I don't know if we've
talked about it on the show, but Christina, my
daughter, and Kevin, who are expecting the granddaughter,
they've been doing a reality show for Dutch television.
And in 2003, for a whole bunch of reasons, I
did a reality show with our family called Adam's
Family, and Christina was nine or 10 at the time.
And it really was, there was like a huge legal
issue with cash, and so I literally could not
get money out of the ATM. It was a tax IRS in
Holland and they later had to apologize, which
showed up on page 23 of the newspapers. The Curry's
in trouble is page one. So they literally, they
can do this in Holland. They can freeze everything,
all your accounts. It goes back to the shipping
days where they could block everything if a ship
hadn't paid its dues or whatever. So it's kind
of an interesting law. So I literally could not
get anything out of the ATM. Well, this is a
problem. But any new money, any new money would
be okay. And I just seen the Osbournes, which
an old producer of mine at MTV had done, Greg
Johnson, and he, he literally had one camera,
some extra camera guy time. And he decided to
do this with the Osbournes. Of course, that became
a big hit said, well, we can do that. And so
we ate 13 episodes. And, you know, I locked it
up. It's, you know, that's it. No one can ever
do any re -airs of it. You know, I have all the
rights. And so that's why it was just a one time
thing. And it was actually quite, I thought kind
of, it was fun to do because I produced it with
two other people. We did it all ourselves. So
after that came a lot of family reality shows,
every singer family, everyone had a reality show.
And now 25 years later, they're doing. you know,
fill in the family name 2025, 2026, 25 years
later. And so they offered Kevin and Christina
to do this reality show. And I'm like, you know,
it's not that much of a hassle. It's kind of,
it's annoying, but it would be a great start,
you know, cause you, you know, you have a little
extra cash, you got the baby on the way and Tina
and I will happily participate, which we have
done. Now, as a part of that, We gave them some
rights to some of the old footage, which I have.
Now, to say I have that means I have all the
original tapes, which is useless. You can't give
that to anybody because it's just all raw material.
But I have five DVD sets. And so I needed to
bring those. And for the whole week, I was anxious
because I knew that eventually I'd have to go
locate these five DVD sets. Which is it in the
closet from hell? Is it in a box in the garage
one of the many box? I mean there must be 25
boxes and I was the archives I was yes, and I
was like, oh man, and I did something that usually
I do during the moment of frustration For a whole
day yesterday before I started to search. I said,
holy spirit Would you please help me find this
and dude? It is crazy. I didn't even open the,
I really thought that would be in the hell closet.
I didn't even open it up. The spirit actually
sent me to a box, which I don't even remember.
And the box, it wasn't the box, but it was a
box filled with photos. I can't even recall from
when Christina was a baby and just great. I'm
always looking for something for her birthday
or father's day or something to put, you know,
to send to her. I'm like, oh, this is a great,
my social security card, my birth certificate.
This is a good box. The next box I opened right
there, it almost jumped out at me. I'm like,
thank you, Holy Spirit. I just completely believe
in this stuff, man. That was so helpful. The
helper came through. The helper helped. That's
what he does. And he delights in doing so. And
can you imagine, I mean, think about this, you're
a father. And if your child would reach out to
you to say, I need help doing this. This is important.
Would you help me find my keys? What would you
do? You knock everything down and everybody over
to get to her house to help her find her keys.
I mean, that's the father. And when you ask the
helper, that's his name. He's ready to help.
I mean, it's crazy because this happens all the
time and Annette and I, of course, our little
running thing now is, have you asked the Holy
Spirit? It's a joke with us because it's like,
oh no, okay, hold on. Just do it right now because
you know how it is when you're looking for something.
You're just not thinking about the big cosmic
things. You're just thinking about, I need my
keys or my DVDs, whatever. It's so nice when
you just pause for a second and it just settles
you because you go, okay, he knows where it is
and he will guide me to it. I've done that, but
this was the first time I did it upfront before
I went searching. I have to find this and it's
really important. I was anxious. The whole day
I'm doing things, I got this pain in my stomach,
you know, like, oh man, and I know it's hot in
the garage and I'm going to be sweating, it's
going to be dripping from me. No, not only did
I get the DVDs, I got this great bonus of this
great archive. It was phenomenal. Beautiful.
Just phenomenal. Love it, brother. He's good
that way. So do you have the football fever?
No, I'm much well actually being hanging out
in airports for hours and hours. We did a lot
of, you know, they're on all the TVs. So you
catch yourself watching it. And I count myself
going, yeah, you know, and that goes, I didn't
know you liked soccer. I said, I really don't,
but I'm kind of getting into it. And then laughing
at all the fake falls, you know, the drama, the
theater, I laughed my head off. I'm like, that
guy needs to play some rugby and take a real
hit. Cause man, that was, he didn't even touch
that guy. but it's so fun and it's fun to watch
people in the airport get into it. Everybody's
watching. Well, I've been watching it because
I'm the guy who watches. I'll watch the NBA finals.
I'll watch the Superbowl. I'll watch the World
Series. Stanley Cup, not so much. I just can't
follow the puck. It's like that's not for me.
But I have a couple of teams to root for when
it comes to the football. So Holland, of course,
Italy for my sister, both of them have been knocked
out. I think the USA played last night. I don't
expect, but the Germans were knocked out surprised
because Dermanshaft as they're known, they usually
get into the final. So it's probably going to
be France. But they played a game against a new
team from Curaçao and Curaçao is a Dutch protectorate.
And they qualified amazing above anyone's expectations.
It's a little island. Oh, wow. Right off. Actually,
it's north of what I think Venezuela. Only a
couple of hours from here to fly and very small
island. I've been there. I don't like going there
because everyone's Dutch and they know me. It's
like I don't look at my legs. But they're in
the World Cup. Now they were beaten by Germany,
like severely beaten. But what happened was something
glorious. And I have a clip. Giving the glory
to God any glory that they receive. They're giving
it back to God. So That's what I'm seeing and
I want everybody to be looking for that as well
So two things one, you know when they scored,
you know, we spiked the ball. We do a little
dance. No, they are Throwing their crowns down
on the pitch which is which is football for field
right on the pitch and after the game the teams
are coming together and praying after the game.
And so the Germans came and prayed with the Even
the Germans beat him 7 to 1, I mean it was a
sl - I know. Listen to what it sounded like.
Isn't that awesome? I got goosebumps, bro. That
fired me up. Isn't that fantastic? I love this.
It takes me back to sports days, man. There's
just some adrenaline rush that happens, but to
have that prayer prayed over you, just passionate
and fiery. It changes the tone of the game. I
mean, you're still going to have your idiots
out there who are cocky and narcissistic, but
there's a bunch more. gentlemen beginning to
rise up, and you're seeing sportsmanship, and
you're seeing camaraderie, and you're seeing
them even after a bloodbath on the field, whether
it's football, basketball, whatever it is, and
they're meeting out in center field, out in the
middle. to pray and end it off. Is that starting
the game or after? That I think is from starting
the game. Wow. It sounds like everybody. I had
a German player talk about it, but it was all
in German, so I wasn't going to play that. But
a couple of German players actually went over
and prayed after the game. So we've got not spiking
the ball, but laying down the crowns. That is
so cool. As with all good sports, we have a ministry
in football. A guy who I actually met, Jesse
Bradley, have you ever heard of him? I think
he's in Los Angeles. I think he has a church.
He certainly has a ministry and he was a professional
soccer player and I got a quick clip from him.
There's so much happening on many different levels,
but at the center of it all, it's not really
about soccer, it's about Jesus. And soccer can
unite the world, and in the world, attention
is on the game, but really it's about how God
transformed lives. And last World Cup, well,
four years ago, we had an online outreach and
shared about Jesus and hope, the gospel. The
good news is that Jesus died first, sins is risen,
it's not religion, it's relationship. And we
saw 480 ,000 people. start a relationship with
Jesus, make a first -time decision to follow
the Lord, and then lead them into discipleship
as well. We're still celebrating what God did
four years ago, but now God is moving in this
World Cup. God does beyond what we could ask
or think, and he gets all the glory. Amen. That's
so awesome. Football, who thought? Man, that's
beautiful. Of course, you and I both have laughed
and enjoyed how listening to those who are visiting
our country get overwhelmed, just whelmed over
by everything like Costco. Ranch dressing. All
of that. It's made me take a step back and appreciate
our nation. What a time to think that way, right
as we're stepping into the 250th and to say,
Lord, thank you for our blessings. It's so easy
to get caught up. I'm so pushed back from social
media right now. I've enjoyed not writing a daily
grind, even though I do love doing it. I started
it back today, but I've just been posting scripture
as opposed to writing. It's been very refreshing
for me and it brought me back strong. I just
love what's happening where people are seeing
things in a sense of, I don't know that we're
at what I would call full -blown revival by definition,
but we are definitely at an awakening. You know,
it's interesting. I hadn't even prepared this,
but regarding that, because there's two ways
you can look at it. You know, the the cynical
way is all they care about is, you know, our
fast food and, you know, stuff like that. But
it's just like you said, it's doing something
to us. It's doing something inside of us. I'm
just trying to see if I can find this because
Bill Maher, of all people. Interesting, because
I was actually thinking about that, his little
spot there, because that's who reminded me to
really think about this, of all people. Let's
listen to this. There actually are some good
things about us. There's a whole, he has a whole
setup about, actually the setup is kind of worth
playing, I think. Go ahead, man. And finally,
let's all give it up for soccer being the greatest
sport. No. Not the game itself. That sucks. I
mean, there's more scoring at a Star Trek convention.
But I am loving that the World Cup has brought
to our shores all these people who are doing
Americans the service of Reminding us just when
we needed it on our big 250 birthday But actually
this place is kind of awesome. Yeah Yes, I know
how dare I how privileged when there are so many
problems and threats and people left behind all
true I could give you the statistics where we
are not good enough and have done so many times.
Infant mortality rate, 54th in the world. Women
in government, 85th. Overdose deaths, lack of
health insurance. Yes, many problems. But that's
because the name of our country is America, not
utopia. That was actually a really good line.
I thought it was good. What everyone has done,
what even I did, although it was for early identification
purposes, is look at all these people and what
they're saying. He kind of turned it around and
said, look how happy we should be. How happy
we should be about our country. There actually
are some good things about us. Even with all
the ICE nonsense, we have more immigrants than
the next four countries combined. We have to
fight for it, but still have freedom of speech.
assembly and trial by jury and even if you're
found guilty you can still ask a Kardashian to
get you a pardon other countries struggle just
to have water here we make it put on a show in
the desert We have drive -throughs for both church
and... Yeah, I'm gonna skip a couple of these.
It gets a little launchy. I can't imagine. But
he basically says, hey, you know, this is a great
country. Yeah, we have our problems. But it's
so true. And it kind of comes back to what we
were talking about on the last show. You get
so myopic and so focused on a screen and you
forget everything that's around you. It's so
good. That's what it's doing for me. Beautiful.
For me too. And I get so encouraged by it because
I'm like, if a guy from France, and we visited
France in 2019 and they didn't seem to like us
very much. I'm just straight up, especially the
waiters and waitresses. you know, I was like,
hey, could you bring me my check? They don't
like each other. They don't like each other.
Don't worry about it. Well, okay. So I don't
feel bad. I didn't feel bad. But anyway, to hear
a French guy saying, you know, Costco, I'll give
my right arm for Costco. Revolution. Yeah. Revolution.
I'll start a revolution for Costco. I just, I'm
like, wow. we need to step back and put our screens
down and pick up our Bibles and say, thank you,
God, that we get to live in the most amazing
country in America and forgive those of us who
have complained and who have put this nation
down and who have tried to destroy this nation.
and Father, let us stand up straight again, upright,
righteous before you." And so, that's what it's
doing for me. It's bringing me back to my foundations
as a believer of gratitude and thanksgiving,
which is, the scripture says, is the will of
God. It is the will of God to give thanks. And
so, that's what it's doing for me. And I'm excited
not only about that, but another thing that makes
me thankful is seeing All the sports teams praying.
I mean, these poor commentators, especially down
on the field, they know what's going to happen
when they hand the mic to a football player.
I think Jesus Christ, the gospel, it changes
my life. I mean, it is just happening. It's really
steamrolling right now. Did you see the guy with
the three nails? No, no. I just ordered my first
three nails. Workout shorts. He had like three
long, long nails and he was doing an after show
comp. Gosh, I wish I knew who that was. The American
guy. And he says, you know, these three nails
and he went into the whole story of the crucifixion,
but in graphic detail, passion of the Christ
Mel Gibson movie level detail. Wow. And I just
sat like. And there was, you could have heard
a pin drop in the press room. And he says, and
that's, and that's why I'm grateful. And you
know, just so good. It was, it was like, whoa.
So can I share something from Jeremy Camp? You
don't have to ask me to share anything, brother.
You go for it. It's right in line with all of
this. I love Jeremy Camp because he's a contemporary
Christian music artist. I hear him all the time.
And hello friend. Phenomenal. Yes. And he's got
big guns too. The dude is pumped. He's juiced.
But he's just a great guy. When we lived in Nashville,
they attended our church and his wife, Addie
was on the worship team. He wasn't because I'm
sure he's got clauses where he can't do that.
But she was on the worship team regularly and
it'd be nothing to look down the row and say,
oh, there's Jeremy Camp and his kids. So, really
cool family. But listen to what he writes about
revival. He just wrote a song called Revival.
And he says, throughout scripture, revival begins
with God's people humbling themselves, repenting,
and allowing him to transform their hearts. It's
not simply about counting decisions, it's about
seeing lives changed. It's about forgiveness
replacing bitterness, purity replacing compromise,
humility replacing pride, and the fruit of repentance
becoming evident in everyday life. Real revival
doesn't stop at the altar, it follows us home.
It changes the way we love our spouses, raise
our children, treat our neighbors, serve our
communities and represent Christ in our schools
and workplace. Because revival is not merely
measured by how many people gather, it's ultimately
revealed by how many people are changed. Isn't
that rich? This folds right into our brother,
Rick Green, who spoke at the men's breakfast
on Saturday. I hated to miss that. You would
have loved being there. I'm so glad that we're
expanding the space because it was a hundred
and thirty four men pretty much study room only
one thirty one thirty seven and Crazy and Rick's
message was not dissimilar to Jeremy But he was
saying as men we have an obligation. We can start
this at home Pray with our wives with our children,
you know He actually he did something we've talked
about that you preach from the pulpit going through
the Lord's Prayer and stopping at each piece
and how can I um, you know, what can I pray specifically
about, you know, uh, daily bread or forgive us
of our debts or even our father art in heaven.
And it was so motivating. And it was, and there
was a lot of young men, like eight, nine years
old. And I just have to say Jonah Mandel, pastor
Brian's son, who just turned 15. He was still
14 and he had something to say about something
that he had. learned at the camp because they
were all at camp this past week. So Pastor Brian
invited him to come up there and talk and then
also invited him to do the closing prayer. And
brother, I got to tell you, we got a couple of
generations lined up in our church. but he had
the Mandel shuffle, man. It was awesome. He was
doing left and right and back and forth. And
they say, Ms. Adam, Ms. Adam, I think I'm ready
to get the podcast going again. I'm like, oh
yeah. Okay. Yeah. be able to do it solo without
relying on anybody. He has to get to that barrier
of, I'm talking into a microphone, into a void.
There's no one in the pews. Oh, he can do it.
He's solid. He's so good. I know he can. I know
he can, so I'm excited. Actually, I did a pilot
yesterday for another podcast that will come
out of our church from Windy. Are you familiar
with Windy? It's also with a W. Yeah, Windy Witzhead.
I think you're right. Winstead. Winstead. Winstead.
She's sharp. Winstead, yes. She is sharp. So
she had this idea, which I think she talked to
pastor to Annette about it and to you. And I
think Dame Annette said, Oh yeah, Adam will do
that. Just call him. Here's his number. She was
right. That was, that was a move by the spirit.
And I talked to her on the phone and said, come
on, we'll do a pilot and we'll see how it goes.
It's called, I know a woman and it's essentially
each episode is maybe a 12 to 17 minute nice
testimonial of someone who either can't or doesn't
want to do it herself and so she's written it
out I mean I was choked up man I'm just gonna
all I had to do was just record and it was one
take she said she has a beautiful voice just
went straight through not a single stop not a
single pick up I'm like I'm stunned. I'm like,
all I have to do is just put some stuff at the
beginning and the end and this is a show. I'm
excited to get it on our Godcaster station. Of
course, it'll be everywhere as a podcast, but
oh man, this is so good. She's funny too. She's
great. We sat down with her a while back and
we left that meeting just lifted and encouraged
by her story and just what God's doing in her
life and in and through her, but also others.
But I'm so happy. One of the big wins for me
was that we got to use our studios for somebody
in the church. This is why we built that studio,
as I've told Annette. This is why we did this,
not just for us. It's just to get more voices
out there, more people getting bold, staying
the course. stepping up to the plate and saying,
you know what? I have a voice and I have something
to say. Yeah. Well, we actually have a studio.
You can do that in. We have a studio. We have
a platform. We want that to be a blessing. And
then Doug, Doug, also from our church, Doug,
Doug Brand, Doug Fire, Doug. Spredo? Flames.
We have several Dougs. I love this. Hold on a
second. Let me see. It was Doug. Oh, man. Doug
Burns. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's done radio. Yeah.
And he's like, because I was talking to Matt
Long after the breakfast and he says, Oh, I want
you to meet Doug. You know, Doug's been in radio,
rock and roll radio and doesn't look like anything
like the rock and roll radio guy you'd expect,
but typical also. I said, yeah, I've got this
interview podcast and I've got everything all
set up and I've got the gear and everything good
to go. But I need a host. I said, you need a
host. So what do you mean? Like someone to host
it? He says, no, no, I'm going to do it. I need,
how do I get it into a podcast? I said, oh, hello.
This is exactly what we want to do here at Bridge
Charge. We'll get you up on rss .com because
we have a partnership with them and we'll get
this rolling. So, I mean - He's sharp. I did
an interview with him like nine years ago when
we first came here and when he found out I played
guitar and stuff. he started talking about contemporary
Christian music and he had a show on one of the
local radio stations here where he would do this,
he'd do like old hits like 70s, 80s, 90s Christian
music. It was so good. and he's a great voice.
And so, yeah, he'll be good. So that's another
one. So we're just becoming like a podcast ministry,
man. I'm excited by this. Well, I told you a
while back, I said, you know, every church has
a lane. Yeah. And I feel like our lane is something
that was spoken to me back in the 1990s. And
of all places, Hesperia, California, with an
evangelist named Jojo Sanchez, who stopped me.
And he said, I remember it was the mid -90s.
He says, He says, I want to say something to
you by the spirit. And he said, if you're ready.
I said, yeah. He said, have you ever done anything
with multimedia? Remember multimedia, stacked
projectors? CD -ROMs. Kodak. I mean like thousands
and thousands of slides. And I said, no, but
I'm fascinated. He said, get ready. You're going
to speak to millions. through multimedia. Now,
he had mentioned the internet because I was just
starting to get some traction. Yeah. I mean,
mid -90s. Sure. Yeah. Wow. I mean, I had Juno
at that time, I think, or America Online, one
of those. Prodigy. Prodigy. I've had all of those.
I was an early adopter. Yeah. And so doing what
we're doing right now is so natural to me because
I know this is what the Lord said was going to
happen back in the 90s. So here we are, brother.
And here we are, sitting in the studio. I love
it. So we have a praise report. Come on. Oh,
yes. Which now on the last show, we actually
stopped in the middle of the show and prayed
for Viola. She's Charles's daughter, Charles,
and trying to think what his wife's name is.
I can't remember. Sorry. but they were on their
way and he was keeping us updated on email. And
I just read a little bit of this. I mean, it's
a lot of detail, but the bottom line is, he says,
our God is so good, praise report incoming, Tracy
is her name. And she came out of surgery fine,
a little touch and go with fluids and they had
to intubate her, but then they took her off,
they got her on the CPAP, then the CPAP could
come off. and hoping to move out of the cardiac
ICU today or tomorrow. So, praying for healing
and protection against infection. And I just
love what he says here. Trace and I are so grateful
for our Lord's grace and all the prayers we've
been receiving nationwide. And remember, this
could have gone completely the opposite direction.
And they were more concerned about even deciding
to do the operation to give the go ahead. That
was the big decision. Yeah. Viola is on prayer
list from Virginia to California. Our home church,
New Hope Assembly of God in Urbandale, Iowa has
circled around us with support. Our pastor Brian
even offered to fly to Boston for the surgery.
It's so humbling to be surrounded by such loving
people. I don't know how people go through life
without God's church," says Charles. Wow. And
so thank you all for praying and don't stop.
Don't stop praying for Viola and Charles and
Trace. And I think they have another daughter
as well. Beautiful. So happy to hear that. Thank
you, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you for our
friends here on our podcast who may be paused
and prayed with us when we prayed for her. Maybe
when you listen to this podcast. Pray again.
Through her name up. Yeah. She's a fireball.
I mean, she is Spitfire. Can you imagine what
this kid's going through? What a destiny though.
What a destiny on her life. Right. And Charles
even made a comment. This is a story, a testimony
being built. And so, man, it's a hard way to
build a testimony, but I'm telling you, it's
going to honor God and be a blessing to a lot
of people. I'm always excited when I hear these
stories, kind of like Seamus, who was a kid I
was praying for. I'm excited to see what the
Lord's going to do with these kids, because when
you go through that... What can stop you from
doing anything you need to do? Everything else
is butter after that. Exactly. It's beautiful.
We're so blessed. There's a lot of talk in social
media about the church. The church hurt me. I'm
traumatized from the church. I've been triggered
by going to church. It's kind of like America.
There's so many people saying terrible things
and yet when you peel away the handful of people
that are being critical, judgmental, and negative,
and that's not to say bad things haven't happened.
I would never say that because unfortunately,
there's bad apples everywhere because where there's
people, there's going to be sin, there's going
to be issues. But by and large, Man, the Church
of Jesus Christ doesn't hurt people. People hurt
people. People hurt people. It's the same thing
when I say the Holy Spirit's not weird, people
are weird. Quit blaming the Holy Spirit for the
weirdness of people. Well, quit blaming the Church
for the weirdness of people as well, sadly. There
are people in the church who represent the church
who've made terrible, gross mistakes. Because
they're people and they're, hello, humans. And
God will deal with that. He will have the ultimate
say. But when I hear something like this from
Charles, I'm just so thankful for what he said
there that, thank God for the church. They're
so blessed. And I love our church. I see how
people come around our people. All the time.
Funny thing, and this is a good thing. I'm one
of the last people to get a call when somebody
goes down, sick or whatever. It used to be where,
call the pastor, call the pastor, you've got
to call, you know, that's old school. And one
pastor can't serve us a thousand people. That's
not even, Jesus could only handle 12 and he lost
one. So, he's down to 11, right? So, what makes
us think we can handle more than that realistically?
That's why when the church becomes the church,
I'm the last one to get the call. Their life
group, their connect group leader gets a call.
Their brother they met at the men's breakfast
gets the call. The lady they met, the sister
that she met at the women's ministry luncheon
or breakfast, brunch, they get the call. the
person they sit around in church kind of see
each other on a red, they get the call. That's
the church when the church is healthy and firing
on all eight cylinders and doing what it's supposed
to be doing because we are the church, the people
are the church, not the pastor, the people. And
just like presidents, pastors will come and go.
I'm not announcing my departure. I can't wait
to get back in the saddle. But what I'm saying
is that leadership and pastors and presidents
and cabinets and All these things come and go,
but at the end of the day, it's the people you
do life with every day. That's your family. That's
your church. That's your community. And you're
right. We have a very strong one. I mean, just
the other day, Tina's like, oh, we got to go
bring dinner over to Larry and Jeannie. So what
happened? Jeannie had an operation. Back surgery.
They're 70, I think, close to it. So we're just
making it easy for them. Like, oh, that's so
cool. That's what the church does. But in order
to do that, and you've heard me say this a million
times, connection is protection. You've got to
be connected. And that takes some effort on your
part. To have friends, you have to be a friend.
And to be connected, you have to connect too.
So it's not just waiting for people to come connect
with you. It's you having the heart And the courage
to step out and meet and greet and connect with
other people. So I connected with someone at
the men's breakfast, Cody Sharp. I'm not sure
if you're familiar with Cody. Oh, he is sharp.
I love Cody. And so I'm sitting there, he has
his son Jackson, great kid, eight years old.
And I'm looking at him and I'm like, this guy
has some funky hearing aids. So let me see, hey
man, what's up with the hearing aids? Those are
pretty cool. So I got these, he says, well, they're
actually a cochlear implants. I said, oh, okay.
He says, I pretty much couldn't hear anything
up until two years ago. And so now you have my
attention. I'm like, oh, this is cool. And we're
talking and he said, what's it like to hear?
He said, well, I can hear him. His speaking was
almost undetectable that he had a hearing issue.
He says, Well, birds are kind of a problem for
me because I'd never heard them before and they're
loud and they're kind of freaky. And, you know,
I have three kids at home, two, five and eight.
And it's kind of chaotic. And I hear everything.
He said, I've never heard cymbals before in my
life, only drums. And then I said, Hey man, so,
you know, do you have the Godcast rap? Do you
listen? He says, yeah, I do. I said, well, do
you listen to, so we get to do this? He says,
Two voices is still a problem. Wow. Yeah, two
voices is he's trying to, you know, I guess it
just takes a while. He has to train his brain
to separate. That's exactly right. Yeah, to separate
that. And he says, but music wise, you really
don't, you know, I'm really not playing what
I like or what do you like? He says, death metal.
I'm like death metal. He said, yeah. And he shows,
he gives me a playlist and this is all, these
are Christians. Christian, hardcore, death metal.
It's like vertical worship. I mean, and I'm just
like, holy moly, I never… Brother, send more
to me. I just want to get into this. It's great
for working out. Maybe we'll make a whole different
channel of this stuff. Cody, if you're listening,
bro, stay the course. Keep listening. Your brain
will adjust. Neuroscience tells us it will. So,
be encouraged, brother, and just glad you're
listening. He's a good guy, man. He is a good
guy. Really, really enjoy. that a lot. So, have
you prepared for your next messages? I mean,
have you gotten any… So, here's the deal. I'm
coming back this weekend. I'm on the worship
team and I'm going to introduce Rick. That's
all I get to do. Oh, no. Oh, right. Because he's
going through 4th of July, right? Of course.
Yeah, 4th of July, 250th. You know, it's a big
deal. I thought, gosh, a year ago I asked him
to do this because I thought… How could we not
be more appropriate time to have Rick Green in
the pulpit? Because he's going to be on fire.
And if people don't know Rick Green, you can
listen to Wall Builders on the Godcaster app,
Flashpoint USA, and Patriot Academy. Just go
look at the Patriot Academy. You'll get a good
idea of who Rick Green is. And then the following
week, we have Todd McDowell in the pulpit from
Caleb Global now. It used to be Caleb Company,
but I knew them back in Nashville. and he's a
phenomenal teacher. So, we'll have him on Saturday
for a conference, just an all -day conference
or seminar. Yeah, I'm sad we're missing that
because I really wanted to be a part of that.
And then he'll be in the pulpit. I'll be up on
the guitar again to introduce him. But one treat
we have is Don Finto, Papa Don Finto, who is
just a legend in the Christian world, particularly
missions and ministry to Israel. will be with
us as well. He doesn't usually travel with them
to churches, but he wanted to come meet us. We
stepped in and supported them and brought them
on. We adopted them as one of the ministries
we support, so Don wanted to come and meet us
and get to know us. I think it was the title
of it, What About Israel? It's very clear. This
is not political. This is not anything. It's
really just biblical scripture. It's a whole
day and I really wish I could be there. It's
going to be rich. Yeah, I bet it will be. Yeah.
So that's happening. We need that at this moment.
So I'm not preaching for another three weeks.
I'm about to bust. Nice work if you can get it,
pastor. I know, right? But at least I get to
play guitar and I'm just happy to see our people.
Really looking forward to that. Can I land the
plane with a daily grind? I would love for you
to do that. So today I wrote my first daily grind
in nine days because I took a break and I've
never done that in 22 years. It's the first time
I've ever done it. First of all, you deserve
it. Thank you. Second of all, I love that you
kept it going. I just called it Just Jesus. I
went through the Beatitudes and all I did was
make a slide graphic with those and that's it.
No commentary. I'm a big fan of just doing something.
You know what's crazy? I got more likes and just
as much as I would have ever if I just was writing.
So I got, wow, maybe I should stick with this.
Never take it personally. No, I don't. I actually
appreciated it. So here's today's daily grind,
Just Jesus day nine, because I did the ninth
last. There is a, let me just read that to you
because it's the scripture, let me pull it up,
the graphic. It's in Matthew chapter 5. There
we go. All right. It's Matthew 5, 11, and 12.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute
you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely
for my sake. rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who were before you."
And then the actual daily grind is simply this.
There's a cost to committing your life to following
Jesus. We here in the States have become accustomed
to comfort that real persecution is strange,
so accustomed to comfort, sorry, that Real persecution
is strange and unfamiliar to us. While we should
be thankful, this has also served to soften us
when it comes to going against the grain of culture,
friendships, media, and entertainment. It's easier
to just go with the flow. What if walking in
deeper places with Jesus really does cost us?
Would we still follow, still speak up, still
refuse to go along with the crowd? Jesus bids
us, come and follow me. Now, I want to give a
quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer out of his book,
The Cost of Discipleship, which was published
in 1937, where he was dealing with the Nazi regime
in Germany as Hitler was rising to power. And
he wrote this book called The Cost of Discipleship.
In it, he says this, the cross is laid on every
Christian. When Christ calls a man, he bids him
come and die. I mean, this was a man that was
heading towards his death because he was going
against the grain of culture, of government,
of the evil Nazi regime. In Luke 9 .23, I'll
end with this, then he said to them all, this
is Jesus speaking, if anyone desires to come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow me. My heart on writing
this is that while I'm thrilled and I'm cheering
on the crowds that are coming to Christ, I want
to see real revival. We'll know real revival
is here, not just awakening. When we see those
people that are showing up in masses now at events
and stadiums all around the world, when we see
their lives changed and them willing to stay
the course in the midst of persecution and pain,
and we'll see that's when revival will show up.
And boy, we need each other in order to do that
because it is real. The persecution is real and
it can hurt. Even if it's on social media. It's
like, oh man, that kind of stings. That's beautiful,
brother. Thank you. Thank you so much. So I'm
going to be in Holland next week, but we'll do
the show, obviously. Yes. We're going to do it.
We'll work out the details on the timing of that.
Another transatlantic call. For a few hours difference,
right? It's six or seven. Yeah, seven hours.
I am looking forward to it, man. Thank you, brother.
Have a great trip. Be blessed till Kevin and
Christina plus one. Yes. Send our love from Jimmy
and Annette. Well, if everything goes according
to plan, they'll be here maybe September, October.
Beautiful. And they're bringing the grandbaby
with them. It's going to be beautiful. Very excited.
So would you have a fantastic week and we'll
be back next week because we get to do this.
We get to do this This is a chance we did not
miss This is life We get to do this