Culture & Christianity: The Allen Jackson Podcast - Why a Diagnosis Doesn't Define You [Featuring Rachel Bunn]

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Instead of surrendering to the fear and discouragement of living with a life-threatening condition, Pastor Allen's good friend, Rachel Bunn, chose to trust in God's plan for her life. "I had to step back and say, 'Lord, you have my days numbered, and I know You are going to keep me on the earth for however long You want me to be here," Rachel told Pastor Allen during the podcast. Her faith and God's guidance have helped her endure numerous challenges, no matter the medical odds. Rachel's testimony is a powerful reminder of the sanctity of human life, the dangers of falling into self-pity, and how God can bring joy to our lives despite our circumstances. If you know someone who needs encouragement or may be navigating a difficult diagnosis, share this episode with them so they can hear a story of the Lord's intervention and how He can help us overcome every obstacle.__ It’s up to us to bring God’s truth back into our culture. It may feel like an impossible assignment, but there’s much we can do. Join Pastor Allen Jackson as he discusses today’s issues from a biblical perspective. Find thought-provoking insight from Pastor Allen and his guests, equipping you to lead with your faith in your home, your school, your community, and wherever God takes you. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3JsyO6ysUVGOIV70xAjtcm?si=6805fe488cf64a6d Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-christianity-the-allen-jackson-podcast/id1729435597

I had to make a decision when I was much younger, that I was not going to pay attention to what Google says about my life expectancy. Thank you. I couldn't. That is so fearful. And I would lose hope for what could happen in the future if I did. So I had to step back and say, okay, Lord, you have my days numbered. You have all of our days numbered.

Well, welcome to culture and Christianity. I am really excited about this particular episode. You know, I meet people a lot, and they ask me if I believe in miracles. And I say I do. I've been a part of or know people who've experienced them for many years. But today is a miracle story. And it's one that I have been aware of from the beginning. So I know it is going to be a strength to you.

It's a little different for a couple of reasons. We did this podcast in front of a live studio audience. So you'll probably hear some of the audience's responses to what's being said. And it turned out we also did it in the middle of a thunderstorm in Middle Tennessee. So you'll probably get to hear a little bit of God's opinion while we're walking through that with the rain echoing on the roof of our little temporary studio space. But in the midst of it all, there's a God story that I think will be a blessing to use. So I hope you enjoy this episode.

I'd like to give you a personal invitation to join us in becoming a monthly ministry partner. The faithful partnership of many people enabled us this year to expand our ministry, which included Alan Jackson now in the beginning of a new podcast on Culture and Christianity. We believe God has yet new things for us in the new year. It'll be made possible by your joining us as a monthly partner. Let me thank you in advance for your sacrificial investment in what God is doing through our ministry. It's an honor to stand with you in this most unique season. Our ministry partners help us deliver trustworthy biblical content like Alan Jackson Now,

the Culture and Christianity podcast and Pastor Allen's sermons. Sign up now to become a ministry partner and we'll send our 2025 calendar with a daily Bible reading plan, monthly prayers, and holidays. You'll also gain access to exclusive content and events. Learn more at Alanjaxon.com or call 800-8805102. Well, welcome to our culture and Christianity podcast. You know, I am often asked, if not reprimanded, for talking about things that are a part of a political discussion. And that was really the purpose of this podcast. So many discussion points, topics that are shaping our culture these days,

in my opinion, aren't really political issues. They're biblical worldview issues. They were biblical issues long before people running for office in our nation were having any discussions around those things. It doesn't seem very long ago that of the nature of marriage and who should be engaged in marriage, it had no place in a political discussion. That was a biblical discussion. It was God's idea, after all. And that list of things goes on and on and on. And I think it is not only important, I think it is absolutely necessary that people of faith engage in conversations around these cultural issues. If we fail to do that,

we fail in our assignment as salt and light. And so oftentimes I think we're shut down by people who hold up their hands and say, you can't talk about that. It's political. And if it's a biblical issue, we can talk about it whether the politicians are talking about it or not.

It may create some consternation. I think the reason we hide from it is we know within the Christian community there's tremendous division that we call ourselves Christians and we sit in church buildings, but we don't really hold the biblical worldview. And it's confusing. And oftentimes the issues are not simple. They're not straightforward. And because of that, we don't talk about it.

Folks, we can survive disagreement. We will not survive censorship. If we tolerate censorship and it is growing amongst us day upon day, it leads always. I earned a degree in history. Censorship will lead us to authoritarianism, to the elimination of freedom of speech, and we will forfeit our civil liberties and freedom. So it's okay when we disagree. We can survive that, but we can't just be quiet. I give you one issue. Our open border. We've been afraid to talk about that in churches, in our Sunday school classes, with our friends. It's not political. That is a worldview issue. When we stop behaving as a sovereign nation and we invite whomever from wherever across our border, they argue about the numbers. It's well north of 20 million for more than 160 countries. People say it's about compassion.

Well, you're entitled to that opinion, but I don't believe it's an informed opinion. There are more than 400,000 children that have come across our southern border that are unaccounted for. And I've talked to many of the experts, and they tell me that it's a high degree of probability. They have been trafficked little boys and little girls. The current administration stopped DNA testing so that if a 12-year-old girl shows up at the border with some man and she's terrified, and he says, I'm her uncle. There's no longer any DNA testing. They're given a notice to appear at some point two years in the future

that they will never arrive at, and they're released into our country. So I don't think it's compassion to allow hundreds of thousands of children to be trafficked. And I think there's been more children sold on our border in the last four years than any time, the number of people that have been sold in the last 200 years. then that's our watch. That is not a political issue. That is a biblical issue about the degree that we hold human life to be sacred.

And so with that background, I am very excited to introduce our guest today. I have known her a while. I would like to tell you we were both children together, but that would not be true. Her mother and I, her mom has been my friend since we were teenagers. Rachel's four, her mom's 19.

You can do the math on that. But Rachel Bunn, welcome. Thank you. It is an honor to have you here. You're actually a part of the Allen Jackson Ministries team. I am. Yes. So you have talked to a lot of these folks.

I have. What's your job? I take care of the folks who live out of state, who support the ministry, pray for the ministry, and I guess I'm the contact between, you know, them and the ministry. And it's such a blessing for me because I get to love on them. I get to pray for them. I get to encourage them and make them feel apart because they are apart.

They're just our church family extended in a different state. You were one of the most genuinely kind people, I know. I have practiced kindness. I can do it occasionally. But it's authentic. you. You are a blessing to us. From time to time on our podcast, I will, I'll introduce people whose lives are involved with a miracle story. And then that's really, I think, what initiated this conversation for us today is you are a miracle. In an age where human life is not valued

as highly as we would like it to be, I certainly don't think in a God-honoring way. You are, you go against that grain. When your mom was pregnant, it was was an at-risk pregnancy. And when you were born, you had a disease that today would probably have caused them to suggest pregnancy be terminated in current world. Tell the people what that diagnosis was. Probably so. I was born with cystic fibrosis.

And I was three months premature. And cystic fibrosis affects primarily the lungs and the digestive system, but eventually it affects the whole body. and when I was born, I was born three months premature, but I also was born with an intestinal blockage, so they had to do emergency surgery. The doctors told my family I wouldn't live through the night, and thankfully the Lord had different plans.

And then I was in the hospital for about five to six months after I was born before I was able to come home. And then after that, the doctors told my family, maybe two years old and then maybe it was going to be nine years old and then maybe 18 my life expectancy and in 1981 the life expectancy at Vanderbilt or pretty much nationwide was your teenage years there was not an adult CF clinic because there was no need for one and I have battled a lot of sickness my whole life. multiple surgeries, multiple hospitalizations, lots and lots of IV antibiotics, weeks of pick lines.

And when you battle that constantly, you have to learn to trust the Lord because you can't get through it if you don't. And with CF, it's primarily an invisible disease. You really can't look at me until that I'm sick, unless I'm hooked up to an IV. So therefore, a lot goes on in our bodies without, you know, it being noticeable sometimes. But your attitude is typically much better than mine. and I know you've done a lot of work with people in the CF community encouraging them and talking to them, talking to parents. Tell us a little about me.

What do you have to say to parents who have a child and the doctors say your child has a really challenging physical future? What do you say to those parents? Well, you can't downplay the reality. It's hard. There's going to be very tough days ahead for them. It's going to be draining emotionally, financially, physically. But at the end of the day, who gives you life? God does.

And you have to realize the importance of that. Life is a gift. And we do not have the authority to take that away. And when someone goes through a challenging diagnosis, a chronic illness, There's no cure for CF. And when those, yeah, that's right. And when those parents are struggling and they're fearful for what's next, they don't know what's going to happen. They don't want to see their child stay sick and have challenges all their life. But you have to get to a point where your trust is in the Lord.

You pray for the doctors. You pray for the nurses. you ask God's wisdom for them, that they will be directed by the Lord. And I am so thankful for the medical community. I'm thankful for however the Lord wants to heal me in whichever way. But it's crucial and it's critical that we have to rely on the Lord. He is our only strength. I'll come back to that medical piece in a minute because I want to talk with you about that in a little more detail.

But right now we're in the midst of a national debate on really the sanctity of human life or whether it's just a choice. It's just a massive protoplasm. And if it's inconvenient right now, you should just vacuum it out and ignore it or take a pill, let your body flush it out. Biblically, that's reprehensible. But when I talked to somebody, I was there when the call came and that you were going to be in the hospital and pray, because they say Rachel is going to need surgery. And it's not just a random choice about some something. It's a person. What would you say to the women?

Because I think the sea change in this discussion will come when the women stand up and say no more. You're manipulating me as a political tool. What would you say to women who were facing the challenges, maybe a difficult pregnancy or an at-risk pregnancy? I had a mom, a woman stopped me in the lobby a couple weeks. me in the lobby a couple weekends ago and thanked me for speaking up for the babies. She said, I was the victim of incest. And she said, the greatest joy in my life is my daughter. And if I had

took the current counsel, she said, I would have lost the greatest gift God has ever given me. And there was such a sincerity around her. And when she told me that I immediately thought, your family have been dear friends, and I thought of the great gift you have been. in your family and in the lives of so many others. So if you were going to talk to those women, what would you say to them today? Did not live in fear. You know, and that's easier said than done.

But if we allow fear to control our life, we live under that every day. And fear isn't from the Lord. Not that you're not going to have challenges in horrible days ahead. We do. But we've got to learn tanking how to trust the Lord. And I think if we make each day choose those little steps each day,

therefore when something really big happens and you really have to trust the Lord, it's going to be a little bit easier for you. Absolutely. And the Lord created life. The Lord created. It's the author of life. Absolutely. And we don't have the right to take away a life. We did not create life. We did not create. We cannot, out of convenience, take away life.

And I'm afraid that we do not, we do not take God seriously anymore. I don't think we, we don't stand on His Word. We treat it very casual. And we don't, we don't take it serious. And this is not,

a joke. This is not a game. When the Lord says not to do something, he means it. And I want to encourage those mothers to not live in fear, to trust the Lord. The Lord gave you this gift of this child. Acknowledge that and thank the Lord for that child and ask the Lord to help you through it, because he will. He will show you how to get through it. He will walk with you through it. He will not leave you. Absolutely. There's another piece of this. This has been a part of our culture for a long time now, decades and decades, more than 60 million children, and that's probably a conservative number.

So abortion has touched everybody directly or indirectly. So I think when the topic comes up, there's an enormous amount of guilt and shame, which sometimes causes us to react with anger or hurt. And there's always circumstances. There are always circumstances. but there's a lot of healing that is needed. And I know how many people you have helped with tremendous compassion when they haven't always met the standards they've held for themselves. So for the people listening that say, yeah, you know,

I would agree with you. It wasn't a great choice, but it's a choice that has impacted my life. Can you give them a little coaching to help them through that place? I would probably say to remember how merciful the Lord is. He is so merciful, and he loves us so much. He wants us to come to him and ask for his help. Absolutely. He will forgive.

He will forgive. He knows your heart. He knows your situation better than you do. And when we take it upon ourselves to make decisions that we think are the best decisions, but may not be in his eyes, if we come to the Lord in humility, he will meet us right there where we are. And he will give you a new, not only a new relationship with him, but courage to keep going through. And you don't have to live in that past. You don't have to live with that guilt and that shame. He takes it away from you. And, you know, sometimes when

Satan tries to attack in any situation, physically, emotionally, you know, everyone, struggles with something. It might not be physical. It might be emotional, relational. But you have to stand firm against the enemy. You have to. He has no authority. The only authority the enemy has is what you give him. Well, there are no perfect Christians. No. You know, we needed a savior. That's the reason we are Christ followers. And we all come with that need for forgiveness. But if we stand and say, I haven't done anything wrong, there's nothing inappropriate, it was legal, not everything legal is godly. You know, we have all of these defense mechanisms, or it was a very difficult place, or I didn't know what to do, or I was desperate.

We think we can make an argument that will cause God to agree with us in our ungodliness. And there's always a tone of desperation in that, but the devil, I think, tries to convince us that we can justify our ungodliness. Godliness, no matter what it is, no matter what the topic is. And the pathway to a better place is always coming in that humility and say, God, I'm sorry. You know, in Hebrews, it says we can come boldly before the throne of grace and find mercy to help us in our time of need. It's always struck me as a paradox. I think of coming boldly before God's throne in my best moment, you know, when everything is just perfect. But it says, I can come boldly before the throne when I'm I'm in a time of great need.

And I think that's our message. We don't want to double down on the wrong thing just because we carry guilt and shame. We can be free of our guilt, free of our shame, we can be forgiven, and then we become a message of hope to a whole new generation. Does that seem close to right?

Absolutely. The Lord is faithful. He is so faithful. And at every junction in your life, if you, it's not easy. But if you try to intentionally thank the Lord for his faithfulness, even when you don't feel like it, there's been so many times I've been in the hospital, so sick, and I don't even want to feel like I want to thank the Lord for anything, just because I'm so physically sick. if I intentionally put that aside and I say,

Lord, I thank you that you are in control. I thank you, that you have my life in your hands, that you are in control. Lord, give me the strength. Help me through this. He will. Amen. He wants us to come to him.

He loves us so much. Well, I said you were a miracle. And I know when most of us think about miracles, we want an immediate answer to a problem. You knew my mom pretty well. Yes. And she was a miracle story. When I was a little boy, God healed her.

And initially, without having to go through surgery or medical treatment. Now, some years later, she had to face some things. But that's probably my favorite miracle. I like the miracle when I say, God, it hurts and he takes the hurt away. But I think it's just as much God's supernatural involvement when we realize that our life breaks all of the predictable patterns. that there really is no explanation other than God's help. And I think your life is a beautiful example of that. Not easy.

You have participated with the medical community. You've taken their advice. People say to me, do you believe in healing or medicine? Yes. You know, that's like saying, do you believe in putting gas in your car or trusting God? Yes. So you haven't done this absent the medical community. In fact, as the medicines have gotten better,

all kinds of new freedom. Oh, it's been amazing. Amazing. The life expectancy now, you know, is now in the 50s, 60s, 70s. And you know, you look good for 90. I'm just going to say, I'm going to get it out there. Thanks. You know, I think it's, I had to make a decision when I was much younger that I was not going to pay attention to, you know, I was not going to pay attention to, to what Google says about my life expectancy. Thank you. I couldn't. That is so fearful.

And I would lose hope for what could happen in the future if I did. So I had to step back and say, okay, Lord, you have my days numbered. You have all of our days numbered. And I know that you are going to keep me on earth for a reason for your plan, however long you won't need to be here. and my prayer is he's been so faithful to me and he has taken such great care of me. I want to honor him and I want my life to reflect his goodness because he is good. We're going to go through hard times, painful times.

But overall, we have to have a close relationship with him and he will get us through it. He will. Absolutely. Well, one of the invitations were given in Scripture, assignments were given, is to be overcomers. It says, we have to overcome evil with good. And I think of sickness and disease as an expression of evil. And then we get to the book of Revelation, and all those seven churches are told to be overcomers. And at the end of the book of Revelation, the ones invited into the kingdom of God are the ones who overcome.

But when I think, I was taught overcoming as a little kid by a lady that my parents got to know. We called Aunt Mary. but when I think about you, you're like the portrait of an overcomer. I have watched you. You've talked a little bit about saying yes to the Lord, but there's things you've said no to. I mean, I've watched you. You've said no to things like self-pity.

You haven't given yourself license. Sometimes when we don't like the hand we're dealt, we take a license to be more ungodly. You know, we think, well, if God's not going to do what I want him to do, I'll just go do what I want to do. And I've watched you say no, things as much as you've said yes to the Lord. You used to run a lot. If I'm running that far, something's chasing me. I mean, tell us a little. I mean, how did you make that choice? And I know

your mom, I mean, I know you had people around you that loved you, but you still have chosen to honor the Lord and say no to stuff. I'm not making that up, right? I have tried my best to honor him just because I'm so thankful for what he has done for me. And I have been blessed with an amazing family who has stood on the power of prayer, literally. And I have a wonderful brother who also has CF. He's five years younger than me. And I've watched him as well stand on the Lord and trust him for his health. But, you know, what else would I do?

I'm not going to let Satan take away my life. It's not his to take away. Come on. And sure, there's definitely times that I have struggled. And it's been hard to say yes and no to things. So when there's a battle in your mind, you know, I don't like what the doctor just said to me. He wants to put in a pick line. They want me to start another round of antibiotics.

And you're tempted to go, what do you say? You've got to talk to yourself, right? You do. What's your pathway? Talk to somebody else that just got something they don't want to hear. I think start to be thankful that you have the treatment. What if I didn't have antibiotics? What if I couldn't get a pick line?

What would happen? After having 38 pick lines in my life, when they say you need another one, I don't want another one. But what's going to happen if I don't? so really if you if you choose to try to be thankful for what you are receiving and that's so hard because you do not feel good on two and three weeks of antibiotics at all but if you say thank you lord for this medicine thank you that you are healing me through this if you try to do that I think it helps your perspective.

And it helps. Satan can't enter when you're in the middle of praising the Lord. So you have to guard your thoughts on a daily basis? Yes. Yes. I mean, with the same kind of attention, you get your hair ready to go out in public. You've got to get your mind ready to go out in public. Right.

Right. Okay. We've got a couple of minutes. We've got a little bit left. We're going to do a little. there'll be a lot of people listening to this whose life isn't perfect. Their circumstances aren't the way they wanted them to be.

They don't have two children, half a dog, and a picket fence. And there's a temptation to be frustrated. You compare yourself to someone else. You're mad at God because he didn't do what you wanted them to do. You prayed and he didn't give you the answer you wanted. Maybe you lost somebody you loved. I mean, lots of things.

And on top of that is there's a spiritual force, of evil, the Bible says, that then they try to completely dissuade us from saying yes to the Lord. So we're going to talk to those people for just a minute. If they could pull a chair up and sit at the desk with us, maybe there's a young person sitting here and they're facing some challenges. Maybe their parents divorced. Maybe they can get to go to the school they want to. Maybe it's a physical challenge.

And they're tempted to pick up the self-pity hat and put it on. What would you say to them? Don't give up. and it can always be worse. It can always be worse. And when you live in that self-pity, when you live in that, it takes away your life. It drains you.

And you can't do that. You can't live in that. So that's the opposite of being entitled. Because the entitlement says, I deserve. Anytime that line starts out of my heart, I know I'm in trouble. I deserve. You know, and I got a whole list of things I think I deserve. I said, wait a minute.

If I get what I deserve, I'm dust. So we don't want to start with what we deserve. We want to thank God that he's put us in a place. And I like the Psalm. It says that he leads us through the shadowed valley. We don't have to stay there. Yes. There's been times in my life apart.

from my health. You know, I lost my dad at a young age, and that was so painful. You know, thankfully, the Lord has brought an amazing, godly man into my life who is not fearful of what my health will be in the future. He trusts the Lord, and I'm thankful for that support. I've got an amazing family, but also... You work at an amazing church. I do. Yeah, don't leave that out. And I work for an amazing pastor too.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking right there. But, you know, I've had to face some disappointment in my life, and I might not announce it to everybody. But, you know, the pain of not being able to have children is very real. And I had to get to a point where I didn't let that consume me or change who I was. And that took years. I had to get to a point where I said, Lord, I don't know why you took my father

when I was in my early 20s. But you know, and I have to trust that his plan is better than mine because it is. Sometimes we don't want to admit it, and we don't want to acknowledge that, but it's true. And we have to just trust him. We have to trust him.

We do. We've had that conversation. Abraham, God asked Abraham to offer his son. And Abraham said yes. I mean, to the point that he took Isaac and bound him, built an altar, laid him on the altar. And God said he would make from him a mighty nation. And we've had that conversation about having to take the future that you would have preferred and offer it to the Lord. And put it on an altar and say, God, I will trust you with that.

In Hebrews it says he's the author and the completer of our story. And I want to be the completer of my story. You know, I know how I want it to end. And I know how I want every chapter to read. But that doesn't, if I'm doing that, I'm not following the Lord. And I have watched you and Josh be willing to say, Lord, we'll trust you. We will follow you. And he's writing an amazing story.

He is. If we'd written it all down on a piece of paper five or ten years ago, we wouldn't have believed it. It's impossible. No. So if you have the courage to say, Lord, I'll follow you, he'll give you something better back. He really will. He really will.

You know, the people listening to this, if they interact with you on your daily routine, all of this is opaque. It isn't, you don't lead with this. You don't have a T-shirt you wear around that says, my life's been difficult. Give me a hug. You're one of the most joyful, kind, compassionate people that I have the best. privilege of interacting with. And I think it's important for the people listening to know that the attitude that you engage the world with is not a reflection that everything's easy. It's a choice. It is a choice. But it's all built on the foundation that you put your faith in play.

There is a God. You really believe that stuff, right? I'm not making this up. I do. And if I would not be so outspoken about this, if I had not experienced it for myself. And I want to encourage everyone, it doesn't matter if you've been brought up in the church. It doesn't matter that you've been baptized or you hadn't been baptized. If you come to the Lord with the most sincere heart and you say, I need to get to know you better, I want to get to know you better. he will meet you and he will give you joy when your life is not joyful and it's hard he will feel you with that i've seen it in my life and he will and we cannot give up and we have to keep standing for

his word we have to keep we have to take god as his word we do we don't have to but we get to yes what would we do without the lord i don't know it'd be a desperate place i i'd be a desperate place i could not get through what I go through without the Lord. There's no way. That's why we have to talk about culture and Christianity, because if we allow the conversation to be dominated by a secular perspective, God gets left out of the equation. And people are desperate to know the truth. They are desperate to know the truth. I'm going to ask you to say a prayer. We're going to wrap this up, but there's people listening. Maybe they have children that are struggling. Or they've been given a diagnosis they don't like.

And they think God did that for you, but he won't do that for them. I wonder if you'd pray for them. I know you will because I've asked you to pray for lots and lots of people than you always have. Will you pray one of those Rachel prayers for them? I will. You know, Miss Betty's listening. So if we get it wrong, she'll show up and slap us both. And a God-honoring Jesus-loving sort of way, right?

And your mom was really instrumental in teaching me how to pray and believe, not just pray, not just say the words, but in my heart, believe and stand knowing that he will answer our prayers. He might not answer him in the exact way we want him to, but he's faithful and he will. She didn't tolerate much whining, did she? No, which is good. Sometimes. You know, she gave my mom some advice the night I was born and said, you have to give Rachel up to the Lord. you have to she's not yours she's his well that that's an essential point we might as well pick it up

for just a second but you know it's not my life it's not in my time in my calendar it's not my money it's not my plans as a christ follower i'm a servant i serve at the pleasure of the king and i will serve where he asks me to serve when he asks me to serve how it's he asks me to serve, and I will learn to do it joyfully. Now, that is not the typical cultural message, but it's the message that the church has for the world, because then we can participate in the eternal kingdom of an almighty God. Yes. And that's the best way to fly.

Absolutely. And when you realize truly what the Lord has done for you, you want to serve him. You want to. It's an honor to get to come before him and serve. him. Okay, you're going to pray for all those folks with thunder rumbling in the background. I arrange sound effects. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for your faithfulness, Lord. You are so good to us, Lord. Help us to realize that you are in every detail in our life,

Lord. Even when we do not see you or feel you, Lord, you are. And Father, I just pray, Lord, that you will send your Holy Spirit, Lord, and your encouragement to those who are desperate, Lord, who are hopeless, who are fearful, Lord. I pray that you will give them, Lord, your strength to get through the days ahead, Lord. Father, remind them of what you have done for us in the past, Lord, and what you will continue to do, Lord.

Father, I pray for those who don't really care anything about you, Father, I pray for the ones that have lost interest in you, Lord, and have gone their own way and decide to do their own things, Lord. I pray, Father, that by your mercy, you will bring them back to you, Lord. Father, you are so good and you love us, Lord. And I pray, Father, that we will continue, Lord, to honor you and to worship you, Lord, the rest of our days. Lord, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Rachel, thank you for being willing to share your story. Thank you for asking me. You were alight to a lot of people. You know, it's culture and Christianity. Our culture will crumble if the people of faith don't have the courage to take their faith into the public square.

It's so important. In the book of Revelation, it says that the believers on earth overcome Satan by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. And Rachel had the courage to tell you her story, and it takes courage to tell your God's story. We all have one.

There are places where God's involvement in your life has made a difference. And there's powerful voices telling us that you shouldn't bring that story to work. You shouldn't take that story to the public square. Those stories don't belong in our public schools. I could not disagree more completely. We have to take our faith back into all of those places. If we separate our faith from all those expressions of our culture around us,

our children and grandchildren will not know freedom and liberty. We can't huddle in our churches and do polite Bible studies and then hide our God stories. we've got to go live as if Jesus in our lives is the most important characteristic of who we are as individuals. Maybe your story is not as dramatic as Rachel's, but it's as dramatic to you. So take your God's story this week and share it with the people you work with, the people who live in your neighborhood while you're at the ballfields watching the kids. If we'll take our Christianity back into our culture, I believe we'll see God bless America again. Hey, thanks for joining me today. Before you go, please like the podcast and leave a comment so more people can hear about this topic too. If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe

to Alan Jackson Ministries YouTube channel and follow the Culture and Christianity podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Together, let's learn how to lead with our faith and change our culture. I'll see you next time.