The Outdoorsman's Mandate
The Outdoorsman's Mandate
Faith, Martyrdom, and Standing for Truth in Troubled Times
The assassination of Charlie Kirk represents more than just a political attack—it symbolizes a deeper spiritual battle raging for the heart and soul of our nation.
• Standing for truth often faces opposition, similar to Stephen in Acts who was killed for speaking truth
• Charlie Kirk exemplified respectful dialogue, taking time to listen while remaining committed to truth
• This battle isn't against flesh and blood but against spiritual darkness
• Light shines brightest in darkness, making this the most strategic time to stand for truth
• Our response to tragedy should be love, not anger or vengeance
• We win this battle through daily acts of love and consistently speaking truth
• The enemy may mean events for evil, but God can turn them for good
• True love sometimes means speaking uncomfortable truth with compassion
• Our trust must be in God, not in our own strength or works
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Welcome back to the Outdoorsman's Mandate podcast. Thank you for tuning in. I'm so excited that you're here and taking the time to listen to me. I just wanna say this right off the bat that it means the world to me. If you're listening to this, I know a lot of you that follow me. We're kind of diverse backgrounds, some are believers, some are non-believers, some are curious, and I just appreciate you for respecting me enough to take the time to listen to what I have to say, and I'm really just again honored that you're here Today.
Speaker 1:We're going to be talking about something that is not really divisive by most and some it is, but more so it's just devastating. I actually wanted to talk about this yesterday. The truth is I, I was just upset. I still am upset, still frustrated, still angry, um, but I was not in a place to put thought together and try to communicate and to speak. So, um, but I am gonna just share my version, my perspective of kind of what happened yesterday and talk about some really awesome stuff. I'm going to talk about truth, and that's what I'm really excited to talk about is truth, because now, in light of the events of what has happened and a life that was lost, a great life that was lost. I feel that myself and many others are now even more inspired to speak and share the truth than ever before, and in fact it's now. It's really just mandatory, it's not even optional. We have to make sure that we're speaking the truth. But what's crazy about yesterday and I'm just going to open the Bible here Yesterday morning, before Charlie Kirk was assassinated, it was just a normal day, probably for everybody.
Speaker 1:I was reading the Bible. I try to read the Bible every morning. I'm not perfect on the day every morning, but it's important to me to give God the first, and that's what I was doing. I was reading. Now, I've been in the Old Testament for a while. What was interesting is, for some reason, I decided to go to the New Testament yesterday and I found my way right on over to Acts. I felt, you know, let's go to Acts. For some reason I was just drawn to that. So I started going through and I'm reading through the chapters and I ended up right around chapter six with where it talks about the first martyr we're talking about Stephen and I just felt led to read that. And I'm actually I'm going to read something here to read that and I'm actually I'm going to read something here.
Speaker 1:This is chapter six, verse eight. Stephen is arrested. Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people, but one day some men from the synagogue of freed slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, alexandria, cilicia and the providence of Asia. None of them could stand against the wisdom of the spirit with which Stephen spoke. It's pretty powerful, right.
Speaker 1:So when they go to debate him, they're losing because he's speaking truth. He's speaking truth. You know so in. So, in a nutshell, basically, if you read on that, he was arrested and then he was basically heard out, so he was able to address the council, and so he goes on and he speaks and essentially is telling the gospel. He's going back to the old testament, telling the story on how and how the old testament points to jesus, and you can read this in chapter seven. It's a basically the whole whole chapter is him speaking to the council and then speaking the truth.
Speaker 1:And here's something else that is interesting, as he was speaking the truth and continuing to tell the truth in verse 57, it says I believe this is chapter 7, verse 57, they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. And so I read that yesterday morning and I continued to read on. I actually read about Saul, who. It was really cool. You know, saul, basically the man who was approving and essentially overseeing this killing of the martyr, of Stephen, the first martyr, ended up converting, which is so beautiful, right, god's grace is so powerful.
Speaker 1:So I read that yesterday and you know, go about the day, go to work like many of us do, doing what we do. And you know, go about the day, go to work like many of us do, doing what we do. And then, around whatever time of day it was middle of the day, somewhere around there, 1 or something like that I'm getting a text that Charlie has been shot, and then you know. After that I kind of was like you know what's going on. It takes a little bit for information to travel and as we get deeper into it, then you see what happened. Obviously, if you've seen the clips, it's devastating to see. That really hurt my heart, made me righteously angry 100%. But I found that it was interesting that I read this. Let me give you another tidbit of information that I thought was interesting.
Speaker 1:I was actually talking to Barton today before I decided to hop on and do this podcast, and he to Barton today before I decided to hop on and do this podcast, and he Barton. If you don't know him, barton Ramsey, I'm sure you do know him. He's my business partner friend. We've known each other for years. We were on the phone, we were talking about how we were so devastated essentially just like in shock and then he's telling me that he's in Acts too. I was like, hey, I'm actually reading Acts. He's like, dude, no way, I'm actually reading Acts. And so we begin this conversation. So I don't think it's an accident that the Holy Spirit led me to be reading Acts, because whether you believe in God or religion or maybe you don't believe or not and when I say this you could be thinking it's coincidence One thing is undeniable, and that's that we're at war.
Speaker 1:We're not in a physical war. We are. You know, we're not going to win this war by killing. This is a war that's ideological. It's a war of thoughts and, as the scripture says, we are not in a battle against flesh and blood, but against rulers and darkness and principalities.
Speaker 1:Now, one thing I just want to honor Charlie for who. The man he is not even talking, politically speaking, but the man he was is how he handled people. How he handled people right. If you look at his videos, what you'll see is that Charlie took the time and was respectful of others and took the time to listen and hear them out. You don't see someone that is cutting people off. You see someone who truly, genuinely cares and was actually engaging in conversation and hearing out the other person while also sharing the truth that he is sharing.
Speaker 1:And you know a lot of us, many, many out there have been on the sidelines and not speaking right. A lot of people just go about life right. A lot of times it's easier just to go about life and, like you see stuff going on. You hear people spewing these lies and these ideas and it's just easier just to move on, to not have conflict and just move on. But we're really at a cross point. If you look at our country, look at what's happened and you look at the world, it's not getting.
Speaker 1:I will say it's rapidly heading towards a destination. No one necessarily knows what the exact destination is, but we're rapidly heading towards a destination. No one necessarily knows what the exact destination is, but we're rapidly heading towards some destination. And I think in your gut, if you're being honest with yourself, you know it's not good. We know it's not good 100%. So as I read that and all these events unfolded which are just devastating, I pray for his family. I bless his family. We want to honor his name, his legacy of caring and loving others.
Speaker 1:But, most importantly, he stood for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He stood for the message of truth. Right, this is truth. And for many that say, what is truth? Even Pilate said well, what is truth? Many of us are asking that same question today what is truth? Well, if you open up your mind and, instead of being defensive and you sit back, just take it all in, logically speaking, you can start looking at everything and realize what the truth is, but also deepen your soul and your heart. But let's go back to the scripture that talks about we are not in a battle against flesh and blood. This is a battle against rulers, principalities and darkness, evil spirits.
Speaker 1:And if you look at Charlie a man of faith, a family man, a man that's keeping his family unit together, that is standing for other families and keeping families together, you're starting to look at everything that is biblical. You start looking at these biblical principles weaved into his life. He's standing on these principles. That's what's at attack. That's, you know, frankly, the beliefs. The truth is under attack and so you know he stood up for truth and did what many probably wouldn't do.
Speaker 1:He actually died for what he believed in, obviously knew the dangers, clearly had been threatened, and all that, at least from what I've heard, even questions online from him as he's speaking. But his allegiance was not to his own body and not to his own life, but his allegiance was to God. I heard an interview where he said you know, my wife, we all understand this, we're a family, but we are really answering to God because we don't want to get up to God and God say well, why didn't you trust me? Why didn't you follow me? And a lot of us, we try to wrap our heads around all these things, these horrific events, and sometimes you can't really wrap your head around it. You have to have that, that eternal perspective. But I can say you know him, you know being assassinated is not just political. It is political in some ways right, because he stands for political, but it's not just political.
Speaker 1:This is the war for the heart of America. This is the war for our beliefs. This is a war that is, again, not going to be won by going out and taking out. The only way to win this war is to stand up for truth and to speak the truth and to live the truth Every day. We wake up with our families. Love one another. When you get back to the root of scripture, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. That is how you win. We're not in a battle against people.
Speaker 1:Even though he physically died yesterday, which, as a Christian, to live is for Christ, to die is to gain. You can't kill a Christian, you can kill their body. But when, instantly, charlie's with the Lord in absolute perfect peace and the word says in, I don't remember exactly what it says, but basically, god is not the God of the dead, he's the God of the living. He's the God of the living. He's the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Obviously, their bodies are long gone by now, but our God is the God of them. He is the living God, and so, as Christians, we believe that when we die, if your trust is in Jesus, you go to heaven. We can go back.
Speaker 1:Actually, I find it interesting I want to use that word trust as I talk about this, because my mind was going in so many different places and I just feel like this is where the Lord was leading me with this. Is that, who is your trust in? That's my question for you as a believer. I'm really in this podcast specifically. I'm going to be talking heavily to believers. If you're a non-believer and you're listening to this, thank you. Please keep listening, and I appreciate you for opening your ears, not being like those that killed Stephen, who shut their ears. Please don't shut your ears. Keep an open heart and just listen. You have the choice. You get to make the choice as you're hearing the truth as it's spoken. You get to make the choice whether you receive or not, but my encouragement for you is don't close your ears. Don't close your ears, keep an open ears and keep listening. But we go back to.
Speaker 1:I was reading a story to my little girl. We were reading just the Gospels and reading through and she's asking about Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. You start looking at him. Who was his trust in? His trust wasn't in Jesus, it wasn't in God. He tried to handle things himself. Even after he betrayed Jesus, he tried to handle things himself. He tries to go give the money back, essentially say, hey, I messed up, let me make this right myself. And well, he obviously couldn't make it right and they told him to keep his money. And then Judas goes and kills himself.
Speaker 1:The ultimate act of continuing to try to make things right in your own strength. There are so many out there that are believing that lie from Satan that you can make things right by being a good person. You can live a good life, you can do enough good and earn your way to heaven. But as a true Christian, someone that live a good life, you can do enough good and earn your way to heaven. But as a true Christian, someone that listens to the word and actually receives what it says, we don't believe that we can do good to get to heaven. In fact, our righteousness is as filthy rags. Even all the good you do, even if you're the best person you do, all the good, it's still filthy rags compared to the greatness of the Almighty God.
Speaker 1:And so when you start looking at that, you start to realize, you know, if you're reading the scripture and you start to be convicted in your heart and you're reading all these things, you know you should not even look at someone lustfully or you've committed adultery with their heart. If you're even angry with someone, that's the same as committing murder. When you start looking like that, everybody has been angry with someone, you know everybody has had a lustful look or they've told a lie, whatever it may be. When you start looking at that, there is no way out. You can't make it to heaven, except for someone has to pay your way. And Jesus, the Messiah, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, god, chose to take your place and pay for it for you. You have the option to choose to receive that or you have the option to choose to pay for it yourself.
Speaker 1:Now, the paying for it yourself. I just said you can't pay for it yourself. Well, you can't pay for it yourself. On this side of heaven, you can, on the backside pay for it yourself on this side of heaven. You can, on the backside, pay for it, but it's eternal and the payment is never ending. It's eternal hell and eternal fire, which is a real place. It's not some mythical deal, it's not some metaphor. It's a legitimate, real place, and so is heaven. You can choose to pay for what you've done because our God is just, or you can choose to receive what he did because our God is just the wrath that was meant for us and for our sins.
Speaker 1:And really, hell was actually created for the angels, by the way. So I had someone ask me that one time. Well, you know, essentially, why is God creating that horrible place? You know, if God loves us and he's a loving father, well, actually, hell was. If you look in the scripture, hell was not created for people. It was actually created for the angels and Satan himself, you know, when he defied God. But that same spirit, that same pride when you look at Judas, who tried to take things in his own hands, it's the same root, the same spirit that was basically involved with Satan making that choice to defy God, while it cost them everything instead of having a humble heart and receiving God. But now when we look at these words here. Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting.
Speaker 1:I find it interesting that a lot of the things that Charlie was standing up for is actually kind of it's really the same spirit when you look at the right to life right, we're talking about pro-life versus pro-choice and you start to see people getting these big arguments about it's my body, my choice, which you're really buying into, the spirit of pride, because you're not receiving that. God is sovereign and God declares that all life is worthy. How did he declare that? He declared that by dying for you, for women and men and children and everyone we get to receive. We get to receive that and so God is faithful.
Speaker 1:Again, after what happened yesterday, I was so upset. I'm still very upset. I know many of you may be upset. Here's my encouragement for you that are believers, that are listening to this, and this is who I really want to speak to in this specific podcast. We are at war and we're not going to win it by getting angry and by going and demolishing and doing things, bad things, to harm anything. We win this daily by how we love. When we are cursed, we turn and we bless others, we do what Jesus says not only love your neighbor, but love your enemies.
Speaker 1:And let's, I want to read a little bit further. And this is this is the mark of Jesus. This is a mark of a Christian. This is the mark of a true believer. As they stoned him, stephen prayed Lord Jesus received my spirit. He fell to his knees, shouting Lord spirit. He fell to his knees shouting Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And with that he died. Not angry at them for killing him, his focus and eyes were on the one that matters. It was on Jesus. In fact, we see beyond this realm and beyond this world. As believers, we see that there's more to life than our body. There's more to life than the body. There's eternity at stake here. So, every day, eternity is at stake when we wake up, when we go about, how we speak to people, and you're not going to get it right. That's why we need Jesus. This isn't a go get it right in your own strength.
Speaker 1:Let me just go ahead and say this for you non-believers listening to this, and maybe you Christians that are struggling when you hear this concept if you're filtering this through your worldly view and through a mindset of you've got to do good. Let me just tell you I've tried to do good. I've seen people try to do good. In fact, there's scripture that talks about it. The more you try to do good, the more evil kind of rises up.
Speaker 1:It's not until you submit, and you actually are submitted to Jesus and you are receiving what he did for you. Instead of trying to make it right in your own strength, you're receiving his grace and his mercy. When you receive that, only then can you live in freedom. Only then can you live in truth. Only then are you going to be able to love your enemies. Only when you're submitted to the one who is above all. His name is Jesus, the King of kings, lord of lords, the Messiah. There is no other way to the Father except through him. All other ways are for the liars and the thieves. And when you try to climb over and when you try to get to heaven by doing good, you're not going to get there. When you try to get to heaven by some other way, some other religion, this isn't even a religious thing. This is relationship, and we can talk more about that in other podcasts.
Speaker 1:But I'm really speaking to you, believer, specifically, but I want to speak to you, non-believer too, for listening to this is you're like this doesn't even make sense. Well, there's a reason it doesn't make sense. If you are dead, right, as Christians, we believe you have to be born again. When you're dead, there's a reason. You're born into sin and you're basically dead. You have to be born again. Only then can you receive life. When you are born again, it's easier to understand because you're living from a spiritual perspective. You're living from a spirit-filled new life, when we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old has gone, the new has come. There's a transformation. When you receive what Jesus did, the transformation isn't oh, go, get yourself cleaned up, go, do good, and then you're transformed. It's a fall to your knees and say God, you're right, I'm wrong, help me. It's realizing your helplessness.
Speaker 1:And there's a story that Jesus talks about, about the prophet man that's so great, about how much you know he's doing, or praying, or putting money in the plate or whatever. Sorry, I'm botching that story pretty bad. But then there's he talks about the other guy that is over there begging God for mercy because he realizes how wretched of a sinner he is. When you realize your need for God and you come to him and you repent. That's what it's about. It's not about you being good. Repentance just means turning the other way. What are you turning to? You're turning away from your ways, your righteousness, your own decrees, your own laws, everything that you set up, your belief system. You're essentially forsaking everything you've ever known and you're turning to the one and you're saying you're right, I'm wrong, please forgive me, please help me. You realize your need for God and so, as a believer, here's my encouragement for you, wherever you're at in the process. Maybe this is an awakening moment for you. Maybe, after everything that has happened, you're waking up and you're realizing look, here's our mission. Let's go fulfill what Jesus told us to do. Go make disciples of all nations. How do you make disciples? It starts, one person at a time, one day at a time, one breath at a time.
Speaker 1:I want to tell a story real quick, because I love stories. I just want to shout out someone I'm so proud of. He's actually a Cornerstone member. For those that don't know, cornerstone is an online course for teaching you how to train your dogs. I am so proud of Darren Paul. I'm really happy to be shouting him out, and I also want to shout out Cody Weiss, another CGA member, these two guys specifically because they came to that place and they recognized their need for God God, I need you. And they repented and they said, god, please come, help me, come live inside of me, come make me new, and they gave their life to Jesus. But I want to tell you a story about how God works in mysterious ways. So this past member weekend so member weekend again, for those that don't know what that is, member weekend is where we have the hub where we basically people come from all over the world, all over the country Well, I say the world too different countries. They come from all over to come train their dogs at what we call member weekend. It's essentially a big family gathering where we are training our dogs together, the same way we train in Cornerstone.
Speaker 1:And Darren Paul came to this and what was crazy is Miss Violet, my dog. Violet, she is kind of the core dog in the videos. She's the one you follow, if you're following our course and you're watching her make mistakes and everything. Well, the night before member weekend or the day before, maybe two days before, she ate something. I didn't realize it. I was busy really getting set up for member weekend, so I just was letting them play out in the yard and she ate something. Well, violet got an impact in her stomach and she stopped eating. I was like this is not good. Sometimes that happens and so I let it go.
Speaker 1:On a day I actually took her to the vet and everything. They just gave her some stuff. I'm like let's just see what happens. Well, it wasn't getting any better. So that evening I go ahead and I have to take her back out to the vet. And so in my mind, here's what I'm thinking this is the worst Number one. I'd never want this to happen, but if it were going to happen, this is the worst time for it to happen.
Speaker 1:People are converging from all different parts of the country in the world to come train their dogs together, and they obviously are going to want to see Violet, because Violet is the dog they followed along with in the videos. But my, you know, as I'm driving out there, I'm thinking this, this I know the seriousness of this, because she hadn't eaten for a couple of days and the vet said to bring her back out after. What they did was not working and I'm starting to realize like this may be it for Violet, this may be it. And so I'm in this turmoil and so, um, I'm driving, you know, I'm driving out. I'm actually we have the leaders, so we have leaders in Cornerstone that are basically going to help, help pull off the event, and so I'm driving out to have a dinner with them.
Speaker 1:This is Thursday evening, remember we can. It's going to start on Friday, and as I'm driving out, it's a beautiful sunset I'm bringing Violet Actually, I'd already brought her out earlier that day and so I'm driving out thinking about Violet, knowing they're about to do surgery on her, and I'm driving along just saying Lord, what do I say, god? What do I do? And as I'm driving along, I look over to my right and there's a truck driving by, and this is an 18-wheeler. When I say a truck, an 18-wheeler, and it said Faith in Transit LLC. And God spoke to me right then and there and said your miracle's in transit, just be patient.
Speaker 1:Now, what's crazy about this? Obviously, when I heard that, I felt total peace, I was like, okay, thank you God. What's crazy about this is, you know, obviously Violet was about to go under the knife, she was about to go into surgery, and I don't know what time of day this was, but it was in the afternoon. They were doing a surgery after hours, so this was gonna be like 7 pm when they were going to do the surgery on Violet. So I'm on my way out and so I listened to God and he said your miracle is in transit. So that was kind of my theme. That's what I was going to be thinking about. I was like, okay, god, you got it.
Speaker 1:So when people were asking where's Violet? Well, hey, and I had some say to me. Actually, when we're out having that dinner, they're like man, if that was my dog, I'd be in shambles, and I'm able to speak with confidence and say, hey, the truth is. Here's where I stand. I'm having this dinner as my dog is getting cut open and potentially going to die, but I have a word from the Lord that says your miracle's in transit and I'm able to speak the truth. The fact is, I trust in God. So here's the deal. When they're saying, well, if that was my dog, I'd be in shambles, it looks like Josh is just hiding it. Well, I actually wasn't hiding anything. I had total peace in my heart because my trust was in God.
Speaker 1:Now, whether Violet made it through or not, even if what I heard was not necessarily what maybe I perceived wrong, I still had my confidence in God, that God is sovereign and he is faithful, and so that was my stance. But I had pretty strong belief, like when I heard God say, hey, your miracle's in transit, I was like, oh, she's going to pull through, even though it's like very unlikely in the surgery, in the circumstances I mean, mean, like she was really sick, it had been a couple days since she'd even really wanted to drink water. It was a bad, bad deal. Like it was just so sad to see her like that. So, and what was crazy is, so we sit down, we're having the dinner, we we pray, and as as someone's saying that, as as we're having that conversation, I see, you know, we see this beautiful sunset and rainbow and just I'm able to just have this peace. I felt this peace like I've never felt before. Well, I actually have felt it before, just in different circumstances, but like I just knew like God's with me. It's almost like when I was a little kid, my dad would just put his hand on me and I would just feel this peace and I felt like that's what God was doing, would just put his hand on me and I would just feel this peace. I felt like that's what God was doing. Well, you know, I get the call literally like 20 minutes later as we're getting ready or as I'm leaving the place, that, hey, she made it through the surgery. So we'll see how it goes from here. You know, basically you know how vets and doctors can be not as optimistic as I would like to be and I said fantastic, so I'm able to say pull through the surgery. But obviously she, Violet, actually got better, she made it through the night. I got to text hey, she made it through the night, we're looking better, we'll see how she does. Then I got a text that she's drinking some water. So we're looking good. But what is so beautiful about this story is how sovereign our God is. He takes what the enemy means for evil and he turns it to good. So Darren happens to drive trucks.
Speaker 1:At the end of member weekend we have an event where I'm going to share people with my faith, and here's how I said it. I was like, hey, look, if you want to know the real reason why Cornerstone is successful and you want to know why all this works. Meet me here at this time and I'm going to tell you, and so we invite everybody in. Have amazing people there, actually a lot of strong believers there. It was really awesome Get to share the faith, get to share how. It's not about works, it's about trust, it's about who you're trusting in and it's about the one, the Messiah, about Jesus. I get to share really the gospel. And so I get to end up having a conversation later with Darren and Darren made the decision that night.
Speaker 1:We talked after I shared my faith with everybody and everybody had gone home. We ended up talking and we just talked about what's important in life, what mattered to him, and he shared with me his heart and I kind of had that same conversation Because a lot of people are having trouble connecting with God, and that was kind of what Darren was saying. He was having trouble connecting with God like he wants to, but it's just not working. And I said, well, that could be because you're dead on the inside If you haven't received him, I asked. I was like, hey, have you ever given your life to Jesus? Have you ever invited him to be Lord of your life and actually surrendered to him, not just, you know, just believed in him.
Speaker 1:There's a difference between believing and actually trusting and following God. Even the enemy, even the devil, knows God exists. Just believing God, you got to actually believe in meaning, you put all of your hope and your trust in him and I said have you ever done that? He said no. So we talked more and then he shares with me, and then he chose to do that right then and there it became a new creation in a moment. And so what's so powerful that wrecks me, that makes me so happy? But what's so powerful about that is God took what the enemy meant for evil. He positioned that truck at the perfect time for me to be passing, just to glance over and see that Speak that word to me, a word that meant a lot to me, but it also meant a lot to someone who needed to hear it, and so to you believers that I'm speaking out there.
Speaker 1:That is what God has called us to do is live everyday life for him. And so if you want to not worry about you know, if you want to know how to respond to the darkness that we have witnessed in this country, it's not by telling people off, it's by loving people. It's by sharing the truth, and the truth can't offend. Why? Because if you're in a dead place and you have a false belief and you believe in lies and then you're confronted with the truth, there's going to sometimes be sparks with that and when you speak the truth, not everybody's going to receive it. Some people are going to close their ears. It's not our job to make someone receive it. It's our job to spread the seed and God does the watering, he does everything else and we pray that their hearts are soft. But I'm just proud of Darren and the man he is and the man who God has made him to be, and I'm proud of every single one of you that are listening to this and I just hope that really, I wanted to do this to encourage and inspire and to number one myself speak truth.
Speaker 1:But I wanted to speak to you specifically, if you're in this place. Like, what do we do now? This is such a dark place. Honestly, this is the best time to be alive. This is the best time to be a Christian. This is the best time to be a believer, why? Because the light shines best in darkness and we are called to spread the gospel. We are called to love people. We are called. The number one thing we're called to do first, though, is to love God. Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and then we love our neighbors, ourself. So, first, love God. Fall in love with God. If you're somewhere out there and you're struggling with God, let's work on that. Let's go pursue God and just be honest with him. Say God, here's where I'm at.
Speaker 1:We talked about being honest earlier and about being real. Be honest with him. This is where I'm at. I'm struggling. I'm struggling to connect to you. I'm struggling to fill you. Maybe you're an unbeliever. Just say I don't even know if I believe. Whatever it is. I promise you this If you get real with God and you tell him where you're really at, and you come with a sincere heart, you will not be disappointed, because he is real, he is faithful, he is true, and his word always delivers and never returns void. Now my call to action for you, believers, is to rise up, speak the truth, love ferociously and be who God created you to be. Don't live in shame. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Don't put your trust in your works. Put your trust in God, put your faith in him and honor him with all that you do. That is our response, that is what we do as believers, and also to honor what Charlie has done, which has stood for the gospel of Jesus. Every go he's teaching the gospel of Jesus and he's also meeting people where they're at and talking to them about their ideals, their thoughts, their beliefs.
Speaker 1:I've heard John Bevere said you know, one of the greatest things you can do is the way to truly love someone is not to worry about offending them. The way to truly love someone is, if someone is blind and they're walking towards a cliff and they're going to fall off, tell them, hey, you're going that way, but it's not going to come from this condemning perspective, it's not going to come from, oh, you're so wrong. It's going to come from meeting someone where they're at. And it's going to come from meeting someone where they're at and it's going to come from opening up your heart and just sometimes it's a smile. That's why I'm saying, hey, when you look at the scripture and you see the number one thing is to know God and then to make him known. You're not going to be able to make him known, unless you know him personally. So just love God. Wake up every morning, read your scripture, worship and share the gospel. Love others. So that's what I feel called to say.
Speaker 1:Again, like I said, it's devastating to see, but it was amazing how I was actually reading this and God had led me to this before this even happened. Sorry, I couldn't put it out earlier Again, I was upset, but Charlie was a martyr. He died for his faith, not just in political views, but he actually died for faith in Jesus, and you maybe have even heard one of the last things he had said before. All that happened is that Jesus is Lord. He talked about the reality of Jesus, not just from the spiritual perspective, but from the worldly perspective. I want to shout out, steve, I've asked it to you I the spiritual perspective, but from the worldly perspective, um, I want to shout out Steve, I've asked it to I love, uh, I love Steve, and I want to shout out a book that he's very passionate about and he would encourage all of you that are struggling with your belief in God.
Speaker 1:Check out, um, the case for Christ. Check it out, but more than anything, us as believers, if we want someone to come to know the Lord, it's going to come with how we love, how we live. The most important thing that we can do is live in submission before God, take our everyday, ordinary life and lay it down in obedience before God and honor him. So thanks for joining me on this podcast and, if you wouldn't mind, if you've enjoyed this episode or if you feel compelled, please share this with someone that you think could find it valuable. Sending this text to a friend or someone that you know, like I feel like they just need to hear that. That could go a long way. That's one thing that you could do. That could go a long way. Liking as well and leaving a review that would mean the world to me.
Speaker 1:But, most importantly, let's actually pray before we close this out, let's say we're going to close this out, I want to pray, we're going to close this out. I want to pray. We're going to talk to God. We're going to go to our Father, the beautiful Father and Lord, I love you. You're a good Father, you're the great Father. God, I just thank you for who you are. I thank you that you're with me now and then, as those that are listening later and they're hearing this, you're with them too. You are a very ever-present help in trouble. You go before us, you go behind us. God, I thank you that you even said in your word that in this world we will experience trouble. But take heart, for I've overcome the world, Lord. You have overcome Jesus, and we put our trust in you.
Speaker 1:God, I pray for the believers that are listening to this, god. I pray that you'll strengthen them, that you'll put a righteous fuel in their hearts, deep in their souls and in their spirits. Number one, a righteousness to love you, to rather than respond to what happened I mean, rather than react to what happened to respond to what happened with worship and praise of you, because the circumstances in this world do not change your goodness. You are always good, you are always good, and so we come before you and we worship you for who you are. We praise you for who you are because you are good.
Speaker 1:And, god, I just pray again over them that you'll just put it draw us to you, lord, help us to be closer to you, help us fall more in love with you. But I also pray that you'll put a fire in us to stand for the truth. Us fall more in love with you, but I also pray that you'll put a fire in us to stand for the truth and thank you, god, that we are more than conquerors and that at the end of the day, we win, no matter what. To live is for Christ, to die is to gain, and so we put our eyes, we fix our eyes, on you, jesus. We honor you above all else. You're the name above all names, and we thank you that your truth is powerful and that darkness cannot stand against it and the gates of hell will not be able to withstand your church.
Speaker 1:God, I just pray that over the whole church as a whole, right now, that you know, as your word says, that it's not just we're not on the defensive, we're on the offensive. So I just pray that you'll just fuel us up as warriors for Christ to do your will, to love others ferociously and to see your name be made known. In Jesus' name, bless everyone that's listening to this. And for the nonbelievers that are listening, I just pray right now, lord, that they'll just have this understanding that they can at least come seek you and just ask who are you? Will you reveal yourself to me and we just declare that in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:And if you are an unbeliever and you're wondering about all this, and maybe you don't even believe it all. Look, thank you for listening. Welcome, come listen all you want. You're welcome here. My encouragement for you is I would encourage you to actually just ask God. Hey, god, you know. If you're real, will you reveal yourself to me, reveal you who are you? If you're willing to take that little leap of faith and just say that prayer and then just watch and see what happens, god will meet you where you're at.