Live Free with Josh Howerton - You’ve Been LIED TO About Trump’s POLICIES Being “Un-Christian” | Live Free with Josh Howerton

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

Are you running the Christian race well—and will the next generation be ready to carry the baton? In this episode of LIVE FREE, Pastors Carlos Erazo and Josh Howerton unpack what it means to build a faith that lasts. From using culture to communicate biblical truth and seeing Jesus proclaimed across the nations, to removing the weights slowing you down and intentionally passing your faith to your kids, this conversation gets practical about lifelong discipleship. In this episode you'll discover: • Why the Christian life is more than a marathon—it's a relay race • How to identify the weights slowing down your faith • Practical principles for passing faith to the next generation • Why authentic faith at home matters more than perfect faith • How the gospel continues to advance across the world Your faith doesn't have to be perfect—but it does have to be real. Stand firm. Think biblically. Live free. 🍿Join us in person for At the Movies, our annual four-week series using scenes from popular films to bring biblical truths to life! Learn more and find a campus at https://lakepointe.church/at-the-movies/ ✝️ Find out what DID make it into the sermon: Join us in-person for At The Movies!  💬 This week’s giveaway: Comment HAT 🧢 Want a Live Free hat of your own? Visit LiveFree.shop 📲 Looking to grow deeper in your faith? Check out the Lakepointe App to access our Discipleship Guide, daily Bible reading plan, and more. Text APP to 20411 to download

The entire increase in abortions after the overturning row happened before Trump took office under Biden. Literally all of them. Media outlets are actually calling it the most openly religious World Cup in recent history. Some people are even calling it the World Cup of Faith. The world is constantly telling your kids stories. But watch, whoever tells the best stories wins. Well, hey, Lifree Nation, before we jump into the episode, this podcast is recorded right here at Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. but the live free nation is spread all over the country and all around the world.

So if you've been watching and thinking, man, I wish I could be part of something like this. We want to invite you to take a simple next step and that is join us for church online. Every weekend we stream our services live on YouTube, Facebook, and our church online platform and it's more than just watching a service. There are a live host in the chat, prayer teams ready to stand with you, and people all around the world worshiping together in real time. And so whether you're exploring the faith, coming back to church, coming back to church or just looking for a place to start.

Church online is a great way to jump in and experience what God is doing here at Lake Point. We would love to see you in the chat this weekend. And now, enjoy the podcast. Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Live Free Podcast. My name is Carlos Arazzo, and today I am here with the one and only pastor Josh Howardton. Hey, and our friend Paul Cunningham, who is here wearing this shirt that says, someday I will go to Israel. Oh my gosh. I can't believe

y'all did that. That's a team right here. That was definitely the team. Shout out, Paul. You're here in spirit, my friend. Paul, love that you're here. Thank you for joining us today. Bro, that's hysterical right there. Hey, so here's what we're going to do in the next few minutes, by the way. I'm just going to be a heads up.

We're going to we're going to speed run this thing. We're going to try to speed run this thing because we have, I'm pretty geeked out about it. We have like one of my favorite authors period coming in, Raymond I think it'll probably end up being a bonus episode if I'd guess. Very likely.

Talking about some Islam stuff. Dude, do you know who this guy is? I've seen it, but I've just heard you talk about his books. Okay, so like, I'm, dude, so a little backstory, I sleep terrible. I wake up from like usually two to four a.m. like, so what I do is to try, I read myself back to sleep. I read military history. So a few years ago, dude,

I pick up this book, Sword and Cimitar, and it's Raymond Ibrahim. He's an Egyptian Coptic Christian who's, I don't want to, I don't have to spoil anything. That he studied, he did Arabic studies at Georgetown. During 9-11, he's in the back stacks of, he gets a job of the Library of Congress. He's in the back stacks. I remember when this happened. Like, I remember him first made the news. He's in the backstacks of the Library of Congress where he's got access to stuff,

nobody else got access to. So then bin Laden back in the day, do you know who that is? I do. You're like 19 years old. No, I was there. Okay, good, all right. Like alive, I mean.

Oh, good, all right. How old were you in 2001? I'm pretty sure I was in fourth grade. That's awesome. Yeah, you? I was like 37. Okay, so bin Laden. Okay, we gotta get past this,

but I do want to set this up because I'm pretty gaked out about it. Bin Laden was sending communication to like, you know, some pretty progressive media. outlets throughout the world, BBC American news outlets, about like, hey, these attacks are because of American colonialism and your racist genocide. And dude, honestly, a bunch of media outlets just ran with it. So this dude, Raymond Ibrahim, Arabic studies, Egyptian-Coptic Christian, he stumbles across in the backstacks of Library of Congress the actual Arabic communication that bin Laden was sending to other Muslim groups. And it's the exact opposite of what he's sending to all these

media outlets, it's essentially like, hey, we're doing this because we're supposed to kill the infidels. That's crazy. So then he comes on the scene, Ibrahim did, because he wrote a book called the Al-Qaeda reader where he was like, hey guys, here's what they're actually doing. And he, because he read he, he translated all of it. So then he blows up on the scene. So then he, so he's in America. So for podcast listeners, I promise, we're going to get to the podcast here in a second. I'm just geeking out that we get a half him on the pot. he's in America and he starts noticing that all these, he would never say this, but like all these dumb Americans,

they're teaching all their kids that the Crusades were just evil, racist, genocidal Christians that just attacked a bunch of Muslims for no reason because they're evil racist genocide or colonized. And because his whole thing is, I think he did his senior dissertation on the Battle of Yarmouk or something like that that was the first Muslim conquest. So anyway,

His whole thing is knowing the first five centuries. And he's like, he noticed this is what America is telling all their kids. And he writes this book going, hey, everybody, everything you're being taught about the Crusades is a lie. Here's what actually happened. So I read this guy. It's about the first five centuries of Muslim conquest leading up to the Crusades. And then Defenders of the West, and this is a hardcore book, dude. That's crazy.

It's just, it's 10 little vignettes of these guys that were essentially the Christian men that defended. the Christian West against Muslim Congress. So anyway, I'm pretty geeky. We've got to speed around this thing. That's right. That's right. Man, we're going to have a great episode today. We're going to go Hebrews chapter 12 because we're coming off of week, one,

at the movies, we're going to be asking, hey, Pastor Josh, how do you run the Christian race faithfully? What are some watch out pitfalls and temptations? You have a lot of wisdom here to share in just a second. I want to ask you as well, why do some Christian leaders make it and then others fail very publicly? And then at some point also, I think you will be exposing some mega church pastors today in this episode. And you're going to be sharing some things that most people don't know. There are some guys that need exposing. That's right.

We also have an Air War segment where we're going to be reacting to a video where we have vice president, J.D. Van, sit down with Ross. Douth. Yeah, we debated on how to pronounce this. I've been watching and reading Ross for a long time. I've actually read his book a long time ago. Douthis? Yeah, something about religion being inheritics. Yeah, I appreciate him.

He's a Catholic guy Works for New York Times. Yeah. So the reason I want to talk about this is he honestly, he makes some good points. And he, so I'm going to pull our punch. He did this interview with Jady Vance. It was like super interesting where he went,

hey man, I know that you guys are like saying that you're legislating like some Christian things. Thank you, you know, because Ross is a Catholic Christian. But he went, there's three ways. I'm just going to tell you where he's going because it's actually really interesting. Because when he said it, I watched it. I was like, I wonder what's true and what's not about that.

Because he said three things. He said, there are three things you're doing. They're explicit, not Christian. And he said, you just gutted USAID, so, you know, foreign aid, welfare and humanitarian aid. He said, you're distancing yourself in some ways from the abortion thing, pro-life cause. And then he said, your tone. He's like, and I'm, we'll show it to you in a second. It's going to be interesting. Yeah. And I, like, dude, I did some pretty, I did some pretty deep dive research on this thing. So it's kind of interesting. That's right. It's going to be great.

Man, we just came from week one of At the Movies. Bro, this is, if you're new here, this is a very unique sermon series we do once a year where we... Whoa. Bro, you know what? You hit it so hard that it, like, shook the whole room. I know. That's anoint thing I've got over you. It's the recent armwork out.

Oh, there you go. Okay. We go and Add the Movies. We had the movie F1 with Brad Pitt. Yeah. And it was great, man. That's a good movie. I will just say, if you're in Live Free Nation, you've never made it to Lake Point.

These are not online. It's in person only. That's right. And if you're ever going to come hang, this is when you want to come hang. That's right. Make it to a campus you want to come. And come early because we have literally like thousands and thousands of people coming in here. Dude, this week, I haven't gotten the numbers yet.

Well over 30,000 people in person. It was stupid. Great first week. I also want to ask you, though, because this is a little bit of a different sermon series, Pastor Josh, and I got some questions for you. I will have. Okay. Well, here's my first one.

Pastor Josh. What are these questions? Are you like... These are objections slash coming from a place of skepticism, perhaps out in the internet where people are hearing about this sermon series and they're like, man, I'm curious, but at the same time, I'm not sure about some things. People don't do that on the internet, Carlos. That's right.

They're uniformly encouraging and approving. Especially an ex. That never happens. And so here's the first one. Pastor Josh, churches shouldn't be preaching worldly movies. Why are you doing this? Okay, so first of all, let me take away the worldly. You read those questions like I told you to.

Wait, you know what? You're absolutely right. Let me just point this out. What people say is. Churches shouldn't be preaching movies, Pastor Josh. There you go. So here's my point is what, first of all, that's not what this is. So what I want to make, for people who have never done this,

this is not preaching movies. It's using movies to illustrate biblical truths. And here's what I would say is literally, here's all this is. What Jesus did in it, we call them parables. Like all it is, a parable is two Greek words mashed up into one, parra, which means alongside Bale means to throw. So literally Jesus, the vast majority of Jesus teaching ministry, all he's doing is he's taking stories, some of which, by the way, dude, this is really interesting.

We should actually have Chad Gipal C tell us which ones. Some of Jesus parables were modern day stories. that were already popular in culture. So we're like fables, things, you know, kind of thing. And then Jesus would take them and either twist them or change the ending to intentionally illustrate a biblical truth. That's literally all we're doing.

That's right. We're taking popular stories in our culture and then throwing them alongside of the spirit's truth and then using it to illustrate those things. So what I'm saying, I just want to say this, it drives me nuts when people are like, you're preaching movies? No, dude, we preach a Bible.

That's right. We use little clips from the movies for these four weeks to illustrate the biblical truth. and you may the thing is dumb, and I don't care. Okay, so a lot of people come, obviously. Yeah, yeah. Don't try to be holier than Jesus.

There's a lot of Christians like, they're constantly trying to be holier than Jesus, you know. Don't try to be holier in Jesus. If Jesus is really good, making like a whole sermon, a story, don't try to be holier than Jesus. That's a good word.

Yeah, but, sure, okay, movies, fine, but Pastor Josh, what you win them with is what you win them too. Yeah, I've heard that said before by all my reform brothers on X. Yeah, all the people are going to come for the movies, and then, you know, like, now you've got to use movies, like literally every single weekend for the rest of the year. And so, so, dude, this is, you know, that little phrase, which you win them with, you win them to. That's something that, I will say, it drives me just a little bit crazy. Because here's what I would just say, just because a phrase rhymes doesn't mean it's true.

So, like, I will say, you all notice that. I looked this up last year. it's something called the Eaton Rosen effect. And it's basically this little psychological effect that people have where when something rhymes or is like really catchy, they're just like, oh. And so like, here's what I would say, roses are red, violets are blue.

If you make something rhyme, people think it's true. Okay, wow. And I would just say like, that must be true. It's not true. Okay. Like the whole thing of what you win them with, you wish what you win them to. I would just say, well, great, man.

If you're going to say that, I look forward to your church taking away all of its AC units and microphones and screens because brother, what you win them with, you win them too. And I will just point out, dude, like, the Bible, like, explicitly tells the New Testament, huge crowds start following Jesus because he's healing people and feeding people. I was like, hey man, that's not how it. He didn't just win them to healings and meals. That's why they initially came.

And then they met Jesus and they were converted to Jesus. That's right. He met them where they're at. Okay, this is probably more from a Catholic or Catholic friends kind of asking this question. Man, there's a, why does it have to be such a lack of reverence for holy things in church? It's too entertainment. Yeah, it's too entertainment. Yeah, it's church.

What I would just say. So here's, the biggest thing I would say is here's what's really holy to God. People getting saved. That's what's really, you want to know what's holy God? People getting saved. So that's the whole thing of there's more rejoicing in heaven. when one person repents, than when 99 people stay really righteous.

That's right, man. And dude, whenever I feel, like, we'll probably see in the next few weeks, I mean, no joke, thousands of people in some way indicate a first time decision to follow Christ. Now, we've got to disciple them. We've got to help them evaluate those things.

But that's very holy. That's right. On that note, we just finished week one. We got three more weeks left. Boom. We'll see you here. Hey, every single week, we do a giveaway. So if you're on YouTube or Spotify,

which, by the way, Our platforms are growing every single week quite a bit. Comment hat, and we love to pick some of you for a giveaway. Also, if you want some of this merch as well, this shirt from Paul that says someday I will go to Israel, we might be a merch. And Paul Coneyhump can actually sign it for you as well. Hey, we're going to send one to Nick Flennis. There you go, and some other people online as well. There you go.

So also subscribe, follow us, like all the things. You are here also. I want to invite you to download the Lake Point app if you want to find the show notes for this, the daily babber reading plan, an early release of this episode as well. Text the word app to 20411 or go to Apple or Google Play Store.

Hey, Pastor Josh, have you been watching the World Club? Dude, so I hate... Are you a fan of soccer? Not at all, man. It's like just not my thing. Okay. So no games. Dude, it's like, so watching soccer...

So I'm going to build up to this real quick. watching soccer most of the time. It's like, how many people are on the field of the time? Is it 11 per team? I think so, honestly. It's like watching 22, like, NBA flop artists at the exact same time. I can't do it, dude. I can't do it.

I think we got a little softer and softer over the years. Yeah. And then it's hard to watch, like, 90 minutes and stuff, and they score, like, twice. That's right. If at all. All right. So that said, but for every four years where the World Cup comes around, all of a sudden I'm like, I'm the biggest soccer man.

It's just like my inner patriotism comes out. And I'm like, I'm all in. So yes, I have been. Did you watch the last USA game? I did. Okay, okay. It crushed myself. Me too.

It was a little painful. Bro, but I would say it is something is happening in this World Cup that a lot of people are asking, man, there's something very different and unique about this World Cup. And media outlets are actually calling it the most openly religious World Cup in recent history. Some people are even calling it the World Cup of Faith. And the reason is because you see this all the time, more than any other World Cup, you see all these players and coaches and people

publicly proclaiming their faith in Jesus or whenever they're asked, they're like glorifying God, they're praying together. Literally, I want to show you some examples. So this right here is a photo of the USA Team Prayer Huddle in the middle of the field. And literally, this became like a tradition before and after the game,

whether they lost or whether they wand, they're like, hey, we're going to give God glory. That's super public. Here's another example. This is right here is two teams. It's Germany and Curacao after Germany beat Curacao. They came together and they started praying together. And people were asking them, hey, why are you, like,

why are you guys praying together? You're supposed to be on the opposite sides of each other. And what Felix Mecha, one of the German players said, he said, man, in the game we are opponents, but after the game, we're all Christian brothers and sisters. And Jesus is glorified when we do this. And then another video right here, this is Felix Mecha. He's doing out before we play it.

He does a gesture where he literally like falls on his knees. He takes his crown symbolically and he puts it in front of Jesus. This is the video. I want to see it. Who is this? Incept it into my veins. Germany, Felix Mecha.

And so here's what's interesting. This right here, what you're seeing is so unique in history. Like the speed and the scale at which the name of Jesus is being proclaimed. We've never seen this before. And what people don't know this, actually the Bible actually prophesies this

literally like 2,000 years ago. If you think about this right now, we don't think about this often, but the World Cup is actually the most watch sporting event like on the planet. Every single game, literally, there has like 175 million people watching. Last World Cup in 2022, we've had over like 5 billion people tune in. People are expecting already for this World Cup to break more records and maybe 5 or 6 billion people listening and tuning in to what's going on.

And it's interesting, somebody could be asking, how is it possible that 2,000 years ago, Jesus said in Matthew 2414, he said in this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Acts chapter 1, verse 8, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, where? To the ends of the earth. Revelation chapter 7, John sees his vision, and he says, after this, I looked and behold a great multitude from every nation, from all tribes, all peoples, and language is standing before the throne

crying, salvation belongs to our God. And so if somebody's asking, how is it possible that 2,000 years ago, we heard about this, here's how it's possible. The Bible is true. Jesus is who he said he is. And there is not a single country, a single culture, a single territory, a single group of people that Jesus doesn't look at. And he doesn't say mine. That's right. And one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is king of king and lord of Lord.

It's not just of your heart, but of every single nation. Boom. Come on, man. we see a man dude you know like so this is one thing it's like sometimes you're so familiar with something that's right that like the uh the magnificence of it is lost on you so like when christians see people they read about like every tribe tongue nation you know among all nations i will say dude christians a lot of times we're so used to seeing stuff like that dude dude when those prophecies were made you're talking about like there was a hundred and some of these

prophets. There was 120 Christians. Yep. Like in the whole world, disciples who were following Jesus. And the entire area in which all of the, you know, basically the entire Bible takes place is in an area of the size of New Jersey. So it's like, dude, when you start seeing like literally every tribe tongue nation doing that, and then you remember those prophecies took place, they took place when there was like fewer people than some of our life groups at Lake Point. That's right. And now that's happening. Why?

The Bible's true. The Bible's true. Jesus is what we say he is. Hey, I want to ask you a question. I will allow it. What did it make it to the sermon? A lot. Okay, a whole lot, because on these, at the movies, we're like, so here's what we did.

One of the passages that we really hit, I'm just going to read it because one of my favorite passages in the Bible. This is Hebrew chapter 12. Now remember Hebrews chapter 12 comes after Hebrews chapter 11. You're really welcome for this. This is such a great podcast, bro. incredible exegetical insights. Man, we don't need Paul anymore.

We got you. We got this. Wow. That's it. He's on vacation. He's on vacation. He is. Yeah.

Here's what says, Therefore, since we are surrounded. Not in Israel. Sorry. Not in Israel. I'm so sorry. Go ahead. Therefore, since we are surrounded

by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Here for the joy. set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and his seat at the right hand of the throne

of God. Now, a lot of, like, what we're talking about, obviously, F-1, is kind of using F-1 to illustrate kind of race dynamics. So let me just say a few things. First of all, what I love about this passage, when it says, so again, here's why I pointed out Hebrews 11 before Hebrews 12. Hebrews, 11, obviously, is that chapter a lot of Bible scholars will call the Hall of Faith, or the Hall of Fame of Faith. and it's just rifts through, you know, 20 or so of the great people of the faith throughout the ages. Here's what I love. When you get to Hebrews chapter 12 and it says, we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Obviously, the image that is kind of, you know, that it's given us this like, all these guys that I just wrote about in Hebrews 11, they're in the stands watching you cheering you on.

I will say, dude, Bible scholars have pointed out, this passage is one of a few that make it at least seem like, Like your dead relatives that were in Christ or the dead saints that went before us, that in some way they might actually be able to see us. And, dude, I'll be honest. That, like, deposits a weight inside of me where it's like, hey, man, like Moses and Noah and Abraham. Like, man, these guys are watching Carlos Zarazzo. And they may be watching Josh Howard and watching going, hey, we'll keep going. Like, every sacrifice is worth it.

you know, give it everything you got, you know, to the very end. So one, it's a comforting and encouraging thought to me. There's at least a hint and a possibility here that all your dead loved ones who knew Jesus, they're watching and they're cheering you on in your holiness. Okay, number two, there's a couple things that are super interesting here. It says lay aside every weight. Now, this is kind of, we'll probably have to actually censor this when we do the pod. So what a lot of people don't know is in the Greco-Roman Empire when they did their races. Obviously, athletics were a big deal this olympics originated in this culture uh go ahead and toss that up trini this is like an actual uh it's a roman pottery deal that was very well preserved of the you know of the

races and athletics and you guys it's kind of awkward but they're they're naked yeah it's like um and that that's legit how they did all their athletics so what what he's doing here is that was their mentality like literally the phrase that they would use is hey man before you run a race you got to lay aside every weight. And what they're doing is they're trying to strip away anything that's not going to make them run faster, okay? So what I will say, this is just a little side note is it says not just lay aside the sin that clings so closely.

It says lay aside every weight. There are some things in our lives as disciples where it's like, hey, man, that's not sin. It's just stupid. And man, if I'm trying to fix my eyes on Jesus and run a really good race, man, it's not sin, but it is stupid. And there's some things that are not sinful that you still need to. to discard.

There you go. You know, man, it's just little stuff. Like I've noticed in my life, here's what I don't want to deep dive on this specific thing. We can maybe talk about later how to run a good way. Like I've noticed in my life that the more time I spend in front of a screen, the less time my soul spends meditating on the things of God.

Yeah, is it a sin? No, is it stupid? Yeah. Like there have been seasons in my life where I've never been drunk in my whole life, you know, but I will, you know, this is a whole, you guys already covered this on a podcast. Like every now and then, man, you know, I've, again, never been drunk in my whole life. I like a bourbon.

I do. I like a bourbon. Never been drunk in my whole life. There are some little seasons where it's like I've been, you know, under more pressure, whatever. And Jan will be like, hey, man, instead of just having one this week, you had three. And it's like on three different nights. And we're talking about one drives again, never been drunk in my life. There's some little seasons, but is that a sin?

No. Might it be stupid? Yeah. Yeah. So I will just say, I wish I'd had time to talk about that. Like examine the areas of your life and go, man. I'm not just asking, is this a sin? I'm asking, does this help me run my race well?

No. And if it's not, let me get rid of it. Now, one of the thing I want to point out here, so when it says in Hebrews 12, it says, you know, to run the race. So this is really, just let, I want to riff on this for a second, because there's something here.

So this is a super dominant analogy in the New Testament. In fact, right after at the movies, we're going into a fight the good fight series. We're just preaching verse by verse through second timid. It's going to be awesome. One of the analogies he uses is race running.

You get the same thing in First Corinthians. It's over and over in the scriptures. It's run to race, run a race, run to race, run. Okay. What's really interesting, especially in Hebrews, the word that gets translated race is the Greek word agon or agon. That literally is the root word from which we get our word agony.

Okay, so here's what it's doing. What is really clear in the text is not talking about like, dude, it's like, you know, if Hudson's like, man, let me erase you down the driveway. It's like a literally. really a 10-second race, there's no agony. This is talking about a sustained, long-term struggle type of race.

It's like Eugene Peterson, dude it wrote a message. Yeah. By the way, I also had a, like, Discipled Bono. There's a little thing there. We should tell that story someday. He wrote this book,

I love the title. He just called the Christian life a long obedience in the same direction. Right. Okay. So what it's saying is, now here's, let me go a later deeper on this. So it's making really clear in a text, it's going, hey, man, the Christian life, it's not a sprint.

But what some Christians do this, I go, hey, man, it's, like I was told this, hey, man, it's, like I was told this, hey, it's not a sprint. It's a, marathon. That's what you'll say. It's not a sprint. That's right. It's not a sprint. I honestly think if you zoom out and look at the entire scriptures, it's really, it's not a sprint. It's actually not also a marathon.

The advance of the gospel throughout the ages, it's not a sprint. It's not a marathon. It's a relay race. Okay. Here's why I say this. Judges 210, so bro, this is the kind of thing that will keep you up at night. So you get the whole book of Joshua. You got all the miracles God does.

You know, he's marching around walls seven times and they're falling down and, you know, every battle that God gives them and, you know, all the things. They spend, this is the generation that sees all of the miracles of God for the conquest of Canaan. Literally in the first part of the book of judges comes right after. through Joshua. I'm going to read you this verse that it'll keep you up at night. It says in all that generation that saw all that stuff, all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And then do this is the verse to keep you up. And then there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work he had done for Israel. So bro, what happened is that generation they did

fine. Wow. They ran their quote unquote race. They ran their marathon. But they, this really, it really bugs me as a dad. But they only thought of their Christian life as a marathon, and they did not think of it as a relay race, and they dropped the baton of faith. They did not pass it to their children. And so the kids of the same people who, they, their dads walked seven times around a wall and blue trumpets,

and the thing fell down, and God gave them everything, that generation's kids didn't know the Lord, and they didn't know any of the stories of what he'd done. Now, how's that happen? All right, I want to connect some dots, people we usually don't connect. Okay, there's this verse in 2 Timothy 3, and hey, man, we don't know the dates or times when Christ is going to return. We're going to know the times in the seasons, so it tells us something about that.

And it says, in the last days, it says there will be terrible times. And what it says is, so there's going to be a great falling away, there's going to be an apostasy. People who used to say they were on Team Jesus, now they're not on Team Jesus anymore. That's an apostasy. It says, in that time, people will, watch this. They will have a form of godliness,

but denying its power. So, dude, here's what I've seen. And this is for, like, all the moms and dads, and actually, if we want to talk about this, I'd like to talk about it for just a quick second. But for all the moms and dads and all the grandparents and the people who are going to have kids someday, here's the thing.

What I've seen is, Okay, it said, form of Godliness, but denying his power. That's why they fell away. Here's the three-generation slide from a generation of people who are all out walking with Jesus to their grandkids don't know the Lord or the things he'd done. The first generation, they know God and they see his power. The second generation, you know, anytime there's like the power of God,

move of the spirit, all that stuff, there's some weird stuff. That's how it always works. Any move of the spirit, this is a little takeaway. in any revival or move of the spirit, it's going to be 80% God, 10% man, and 10% Satan. They're going to try to get up in there and do some weird stuff and make people. So the second generation, they'll see some weird things done in the name of the power of God, in the name of the Holy Spirit.

And so they'll know God, but then they'll reject the power. They're like, yeah, I want God, but don't do the, the weird stuff happens when you need the power. I don't want the power. But then the third generation, they reject God because they saw no power. Wow. Three-generation slide, okay? That is why, and I got a whole little thing on this, in my opinion, charismatic Christians,

like people who, you know, high belief in the power of the spirit, relationship with Holy Spirit. In my opinion, bro, just watching over the years, charismatic Christians don't deconstruct their faith as much. In my opinion, the reason I say that, dude, is my little thing is if an argument got you into it, to the faith, then a better argument can get you out. Yeah.

But nobody can argue you out of an encounter with a living God. Yeah, I see that. I mean, I came from obviously charismatic Pentecostal background, but I've seen some things and experienced some things that I like at some point, like I will never forget this. Same. And I was zero explanation unless the Lord is real. I'm not going anywhere.

Same dude. Same dude. Exact same thing. Yeah. So I just like when this passage is talking about a race, like, as a dad, when I open my Bible and I read those verses, I got to have a bigger vision than

just my race. My job is to make sure that the next generation, to the best of my ability, is running their race. That's good. It's funny, this morning, so I'm reading the Bible in order, and so literally, I'm just in an Old Testament right now, and I finished reading... Are you doing chronological order?

Are you just reading, like... Oh, just my Bible. Like, literally... Just like straight through Genesis. I started, like, I go slowly, so I started like two years ago in the New Testament, and literally just like read it in order, and I'm in, like, the prophets right now in the Old Testament, I just finished reading Jonah. And we all know the Jonah's story. He goes to Nineveh, preaches the gospel, and basically everybody repents. It was like a whole revival. And a very, quote, wicked city. Then, now, I just started today, the book of Neum, which, you know, nobody, that's, it doesn't

get a lot of, it's not a very popular book. Not a lot of people woke up this morning. You know, I'm hoping they talk about Neatham today on the podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there you go, Nehom. So I just started the book of Nehum, and the first, like the title, is like a condemnation over the people of Nineveh. And I'm like, wait, Jonah already preached repentance. And it was revival happening all over. And then I'm like, and then I'm researching a little bit. And it's like, oh, that was a different generation.

So revival happened. And then over time, what you said happened happened, the baton was not passed. And then here comes Neum. And he's preaching basically, hey, God will judge you for your behavior because you fell away from basically your parents. That's right. And so anyways, I want to ask you this. A generation arose that knew not the Lord nor his mighty acts.

Right. That's what happened. Chaos happened. And then Pastor Josh, this is not a parenting podcast. But I do want to ask you, man. I feel like you, you know a lot about this. How do you pass the baton to your kids? Like, give me something practical for people to know, man, as a parent, this is what I need

to keep in mind and this is what I need to do for my kids. Yeah. Well, let me just say, I feel. like honestly dude i feel like we need to talk about this more on the pod i should the reason i say that is you know by the way i'm just going to shout out shout out live free nation these guys all these these kids like carlos and everybody over here uh we did that we so we did a little swat analysis the pod this week and these guys are giving me data i didn't know this stuff dude i just kind of walk in and do my thing in here i think there were a couple but last couple months to spend like almost

six million downloads of this the dumb little podcast sure so and what our data shows is is a whole bunch of like younger guys and dads. So honestly, heads up, we probably need to hit this more often. We might. So let me say a few things here. Because right now, there's like nothing more important in my life. First of all, let me tell you a mentality shift that I've had. When I was a younger pastor, and maybe there's nothing wrong with this, dude, I would travel over land and sea if there was a pastor whose church was blown up and he was faithfully preaching the gospel and seen a move of God. Like, dude, I would, for real, I've, I've slept in parking lots. I've driven 16 hours in a day for a 30-minute meeting, you know, all the things, if you guys doing that. I'll be honest, dude,

at this point in my life, I don't care if your church is 50,000 people. Honestly, I don't care. if there's a pastor who his kids are grown and they love him and they love the Lord and they love each other I'll be honest I'll plan entire vacations to spend time with that guy in fact just shout out Jan and I twice have taken vacate and some people by the way if you're listening please understand like I'm not this is not bragging I'm trying to put things in perspective you know it's like Lake Point we'll have I don't know I bet when the numbers come in we'll have almost 35,000 people here this last week twice,

Jan and I have flown to this remote corner that's nearly impossible to get to of Wanatchee, Washington. Shut up. Yeah, the People's Republic of Washington to spend time vacationing in the home of a guy named Josh McPherson, whose church is, I don't know, I don't know, 2,000 guys, which is, by the way, that's an amazing church. Let me just say that. Washington.

Yeah, in Washington, man. But I think a lot of people will go like, well, why would you, where your church is that size, go over there? Well, you know why, man? Because, dude, honestly, great, cool, man, your church is 50,000 people. That's so cool. When I'm an old man, it drooling on myself in a rocking chair and hold my wife's hand on the back porch, do you know what I'm not going to care about a whole lot if my church made it a 50,000?

You know what I am going to care a lot about? Are my three kids, do they love Jesus and do they love me? And so now, dude, I'll travel over land and sea. So I'm right now, I'll just shoot you real straight. It's a weird, honestly, dude, we didn't plan to maybe talk about this part. It's a weird part of my life where like all these opportunities are opening to me. Honestly, when I was a little kid and God called me in ministry, it's like all the stuff that I was like, man, someday. What if, Lord, do it in my agenda, you know.

And honestly, dude, I'm saying no. to like seriously i'm not joking like i see it i see it yes and uh and you know why uh is because uh i got three kids who are um 15 11 and 7 and uh what god has given me a responsibility for those three kids that is different than the responsibility i have for anybody else and so like right now the thing that I'm focused on is running this race, the relay race. Not just my part of the race, the relay race. The race that has been set before you,

not that race or some other race out there. Bingo. So like, let me just, all right, for the dads, I'm just going to like, first of all, I'm in it with you, I'm failing forward with you, all the things, I need all the grace you have. And I always want to give a quick caveat

that there are, I do not think, I do not see in the Bible a promise that is a math formula. If you do this, God promises this will happen for your kids. There's a whole little thing that I could do, I'm not going to deep dive up, but if you go back to the Garden of Eden, you have a perfect father, like God's literally the father.

You have a perfect environment, Eden. There's not even any sin in Eden. You have perfect children with no innate sin nature. And yet, perfect father, Perfect father, perfect environment, perfect children, still equaled rebellion. Oh, wow. So I just want to point out if there's a parent that like maybe, or a grandparent and maybe your age starts with a five, six, seven, and your kid isn't, it's not like you wish it was, I just want to lift a little shame on you. The hey man, kids got their own, they make their own decisions.

That said, that's good. That said, our job is to do everything we got to do. to transfer the thing. So I'm going to give you three little hacks. Please. Right now, Lord willing, oh Lord, make this be true for the text till I'm dead, till all my kids are dead.

Right now, all three of my kids, Hudson just gave his life to Christ. I have not announced that on the podcast. That's amazing. That's amazing. He went to the new Christian's classes last week. It's been so awesome, dude. Bro, can I tell you story?

Please. I know this is getting obvious belaboring this thing. We want to know. It was the best, dude. So Hudson, this was the best, dude. Hudson's seven, praise on the back porch with Janna to trust Christ. All right. So he tells you about it.

He's all excited. So the next week, we fly over to high school camp and we take Hudson. And just to let all the Christian families in on how it works, Hudson is, he doesn't have the natural disposition to just like church. He's a seven-year-old boy that wants to run around and pee in the yard and throw sticks at things. So, like, is like, you know, so far, we're doing the thing that you got to. do as a parent where it's like, well, we don't care if you like it or not. We're a Christian family. And so, yeah. And so we just are constantly like, oh, buddy, we get to go to church. So we're doing that. So we're going to high school camp. And we're getting ready to bring him

to worship. This is one week after we became a Christian. And he says at high school camp, do I have to go to worship? Dad, do I have to go to worship? And I do the thing I've always been doing. Oh, buddy, we get to go to worship. It's going to be so fun. You know, that kind of stuff. So we get there in the middle of the deal. Actually, Chad G. Paul C is sitting next to Hudson. Okay. At high school camp.

And he texts me this picture. This has never happened before. I wish I'd have had it. Dadgum it. He texted me this picture of Hudson is in the front row of the balcony, hands in the air, singing. I saw that. Yeah. It was an IG story.

So he's singing. So then we get done. And I ask Hudson the same question I've asked him every day for seven years. Buddy, how was worship? And usually he's like, I was ready to get home. Are we going to play Mario Card Dad? You know, whatever. So this time, for the first time ever, Hudson goes, it was so fun.

Okay, so here's what I did. I stopped and I'm like, hey, buddy, can I explain something to you? So Hudson, here's what happened. Do you know why worship was never fun for you? And then this week it was fun for you for the first time. You see where I'm going. Well, here's why, buddy, because you just became a Christian. And when you gave your life to Jesus, God filled you with his spirit.

and the Holy Spirit inside of you, buddy, he likes to worship Jesus, and now he lives in you. And that's why you like to worship Jesus for the first time in your life. And he's like, you're right, dad. You're a seven-year-old. You're right, dad. And then he said this. This is the best. Chadji Paul C.

We didn't plan to talk about it. I'm just telling you. So if you're a dad or a parent, hopefully what you're doing is you're like, let's hear the story. This is what it looks like to do this stuff with your kids. So Chad Cee Paul C is up there. and it was the night Clayton King gives the invitation and 170 students get their life of Christ at the same time. All the students for Wang Mac and Hudson,

after the service, Paul asked him, what did you think of all the students of their lives to Christ? And Hudson tells Paul, man, I got a whole bunch of new brothers in Christ, but then he said this, but my favorite one's my dad. Oh, he actually said that.

He actually said that. And I was like, you know, I'm like, you know, I'm not a big emotional guy. My eyes are sweating. I'm like, this is the greatest thing ever. Wow. So anyway. And that speaks to you living out your faith at home.

And he gets a first, he gets to see that first hack. So let me give, on that note, let me give three little parenting hacks. Okay. So I'm a third generation pastor's kid. I grew up, you know, 80, baby 90s made me. When I was in high school, it was like, it was like sort of the edgy, cool thing. for pastor's kids to rebel. That was like, oh, that's cool, man.

I'm going to bronze my hair and go emo and rebel against, you know, that was kind of like the vibe when I was in high school. Yes. I'll be honest, I never understood that. Well, it made no sense to me because I stinking loved being Pastor Rick's son. Wow. It was like the greatest thing ever. I love being a pastor's kid.

I love being Pastor Rick Howard and son. So, dude, here's what I give you. I'm not surprised, by the way. I said, you know my dad. I had breakfast with my day right before this. There you go. Wow. So there are three things that when I look back, I'm like,

my dad did those three things, and that hooked me, and I didn't even know it hooked me when it happened. Okay, so I'm a rapid fire these. Number one, and I'm doing these with my kids. Number one, your faith doesn't got to be, let me start. Number one, your faith doesn't got to be perfect. It does got to be real. So here's what I mean by this, dude.

My dad's a pastor growing up. So I'm watching him growing up. He's in the front row of every service. all the time and we you know we're forced to fit the front row as a result so like dude this is this was a normal occurrence for me as a kid you know I'd look over and my dad's getting ready to do something in the service it's in the middle of worship and I look over and my dad who's also not a naturally super emotional guy there's just little tears coming while he's singing the hymn or whatever the thing is okay okay well here's a deal I'm watching him and what I'm seeing is he's not leading a service

he's worshiping a savior. And as a little kid, what I'm thinking is, man, I really want to know who he knows. So here's a thing. Did my dad seem perfect? Nope. And I guarantee, my kids were looking at me as a dead perfect. Nope, capital in with a nope. Your faith doesn't go to be perfect.

It does got to be real. Okay, number two. And dude, this is super counterintuitive, all right? So, you know, you're a young dad. So internalize these, Carlos. Sure. I'm receiving it. So this is, okay, so here's that one. All right.

So what everybody tells you when you're a younger dad, and the grandparents, you need to think about this too, is, hey, man, here's the secret. You got to get down into your kid's worlds. Yes. Carlos, are they into Coca-melon? You need to get into Coca-Mellon. We're not, but, yeah, yeah.

Carlos, are they into, you know, Mario, whatever the thing is. Okay. Now, let me just say, there may be some truth to that, maybe a good strategy until they're like six, seven, somewhere around there. But what I'd say is, hey, listen, there comes a point where you don't need to get down into their world. Here's what you're going to do. You need to pull them up into your world.

Here's why I say this, dude, this is, we got Bible verses for this. Kids, I listen, if your kids, you're listening to this, I love you, but you are a fool. And that's not even mean. That's literally a Bible verse. Like literally the book of Proverbs says, foolishness. is bound up in the heart of a child. And if you disagree or you get offended, it proves the point. It proves the point. All right. So here's the deal, man. All right. Dude, this is like total parenting hack, okay? So kids worlds are full of rebellion and foolishness. That's so you don't want to get down into their

world. You need to pull them up into your world. So in fact, Carlos, this is, and Miles is over there, all the dads, everybody's over here, okay. This is like, whenever you see, one of your kids that they start getting a little wobble in the wheel okay this is so important dude this is really really important little parenting axiom if you want to change the outputs you got to change the inputs if you want to change the outcomes you got to change the inputs so anytime you see one of your kids it's like bro they got a little wobble on a wheel okay here's what's going on if you want to change your outcomes look at their inputs what kind of music are they listening to what kind of tv shows are they watching here's a big one who are their friends

honestly that's like literally the biggest one you determine your kids friends okay ah but they're kids and they have their own no no you're the parent you're the authority okay so it's like so so now let's apply this to this concept if you want to run the race well you want to run run the relay race well pass the baton well what you want to do is they get older is you don't get down into their world you pull them up in your world here's what my dad did when i turned like 13 and I started being a little interested in ministry. Like dad would have church staff lunches and he would like sometimes like literally pull me out of other stuff and be like, hey Josh, do you want to come?

The whole church staff is going out to lunch. You want to come with us? So here's what I'm doing. I'm growing up. Watch. Who am I surrounded by? Not evil, foolish idiots. He's pulling me up into a world of wisdom and righteousness.

So now I'm looking at wise, righteous people. And what that does when you're 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, is you're going, hmm, what, I'm like looking up to these people. What type of life do I need to live to fit? This is how 13-year-old thinks, to fit in with the people that I respect the most. And it's not foolish, rebellious idiots. It's wise, righteous, godly people. Listen, bro, that right there changes everything.

So I'll just, let me just say one last thing on this, and I'll do the third one. Hillary Clinton wrote that book years ago is like about parenting. It takes a village. Yeah. Okay. It's totally wrong. It's totally, and here's why I say this, man. People, it takes a village.

I just need to get them around people. Okay. Well, here's a deal, Carlos. We didn't plan to talk about this. No, let's go. Okay. Here's a deal, Carlos. If the village is full of pagans, then pagan villages result in pagan children.

So check this out. It doesn't take a village. Do you know what it takes? It takes a redeemed village. Okay. The Bible calls that a church. Okay. So what you need is, hey man, as your kids get older, you're not getting down in their world.

You're pulling them up into your world of righteousness and wisdom. You want your kids when they're around their peers. You're a leader. Your friends are righteous adults. You want to try to construct that world. Okay, last one. Last one. who I got this from Joshua McPherson,

these little things, good little highlights. Whoever tells the best stories wins. So brother, this is super interesting. You go back to Joshua and say, man, I wonder how in the world did a generation arise

who didn't know the Lord or the mighty works thereof? Well, a generation failed to tell the stories. If you go, dude, this is interesting. If you go read, go read, this is actually very interesting. What I'll do a lot of, of times when I read the Bible every year is I'll almost walk into it with a lens that I'm reading

through. So, like, there was one year where I was like, I'm reading the whole thing through the lens of being a dad. There was one year where I was like, you know what, I just want to, I'm going to read kind of the whole thing and think about how does this apply to governance and civilizations. And, you know, that's kind of thing. Okay. What's the lens right now in this season? It's the second one. Right now, I'm right now, I just, I'm halfway through Exodus and I'm watching how God in his wisdom constructs a nation. Wow. So it's actually very,

it may turn into a sermon series someday, but we'll get there. So, but here's this interesting, Carl, okay, the year, it was like three years ago where I read the whole thing through the lens, like the dad lens, bro, if you go read the Old Testament constantly, God will do something awesome.

And do you remember, okay, you know that hymn, come thou found. Yeah. And one of the lyrics is, here I raise my, am I remember? Ebenezer.

So the word Ebenezer, it's an English transliteration of a, I think it's a Hebrew word, Evan Azar, it means stone of help. So every time you see in the Old Testament, God will do something awesome, he'll be like, hey guys, oh, whoa, before you go anywhere, will you please pile up a bunch of rocks right here? And then the Hebrew that it says is these rocks, they're going to be your Ebenezer, your Evan Azar, your stone of hell. And this is literally what it says.

I love talking about it. This is literal what it says. It says, hey, I want you to do this. So that every single time you and your kids pass by this spot, you remember what God did here. And what it's doing is it's acknowledging forgetfulness is the greatest enemy of faith because when we forget what God did, we stop believing what it'll do. Okay, so let's check this out. Say that one more time.

Yeah, this is really important, dude. This is okay. Forgetfulness is the greatest enemy of faith because when we forget what God did, we stop believing what it'll do. So God literally constructs in the family systems of the nation. that he establishes all of these little piles of rocks all over the country so that every time you as a dad, Carlos, walk past that little spot, you tell your son, this, hey, buddy, this is where Joshua walked around the wall seven times, and they blew the trumpets, and the Lord fought for us, and we didn't have to do anything.

Hey, buddy, did you know that when you're in trouble, the Lord will fight for you, too? You see what he's doing? So when you read Deuteronomy, Exodus, you know, numbers, all these things, it's literally telling them over and over and over and over tell all the stories to your kids. Wow. Tell all this. Now here's a big idea.

The world is constantly telling your kids stories, but watch, whoever tells the best stories wins. When I was growing up, dude, and I didn't realize it was making this an effect on me when I was growing up. Again, here's what we're done. We're just talking, how do you apply Hebrews 12?

that's all we're doing right now. I didn't realize this was making an effect on me when I was a kid. My whole childhood was sitting around the dinner table and just to brag on my mom and dad, and them sitting down and them going, hey guys, there's this widow in our church that is in need and she just lost her job. And we're not going to tell her that it was from us,

but what would you guys think if we secretly gave her $1,000? And do I just be honest, in the family I grew up in, $1,000 was a big, dagum deal. A lot? Big deal. What would it be like if, would you guys, what if we gave her $1,000? And he just heads up, guys. If we do that, there might be a couple things we can't buy this month.

But do you know what a blessing would be to be able to drop this check off and she'll never know it was us? Wow. Or like hearing the stories of like my mom and dad. That happened growing up for you? Oh, dude, constantly stuff like that. Okay. My mom and dad, stuff like this. My mom and dad, they got married in college.

My dad, like, pretty brand new Christian, got pretty radically saved out of, you know, some alcohol stuff and all this stuff. And so neither, you know, they don't got any money. They qualified for government assistance. This is the type of guy my dad was. But my dad was like, I'm not taking it because I, you know, I need it. And I'm saying there's anything wrong with it. I'm talking, I'm dignifying my dad. I'm not downgrading you if you are, if you do receive something like.

that. My dad was like, no, man, I'm going to be responsible for my own family. So that's just the financial situation around. But my dad decided, you know, like, hey, we're a Christian family. We're going to tithe. And so even though they couldn't afford it, they're like given their first tenth to the Lord. And growing up, dude, around the dinner, we're constantly hearing stories like, and then, hey, Josh, hey Lee, do you know what happened? Somebody slid a check into our mailbox with exactly what we needed for rent. Somebody dropped off groceries at the exact time. Dude, I've heard those stories. hundred times, dude. Or we would hear stories about that dad was a pastor.

That addict got freed and, you know, and that marriage got healed and that kind of thing. And watch this, man. Whoever told the best stories won. And the word stories they were telling were better to me than the world's stories I was hearing. So now listen, here's what I'm saying. Your faith doesn't got to be perfect. It has got to be real. Don't get down in your kids' worlds.

Pull them up into your world. whoever tells the best stories wins okay but listen listen parents the most significant thing you do with your life it may not be something you accomplish it may be some one you race run your relay race well past abaton that's really good that's amazing that's extremely we need to talk about stuff like that for we probably need to do more deep vibes on parenting that's extremely helpful um speaking on running that race faithfully. Let's do this before we jump into the J.D. Vance video. Well, hey, before we get back to the episode, I want to tell you about something coming up at Lake Point that we're really excited about this summer. We're hosting at the movies,

a four-week sermon series where we'll use movie clips and stories to illustrate powerful biblical truths. It's one of the most fun and creative experiences we do all year here at Lake Point, and it's designed for the entire family. And so every weekend at our physical locations will feature unique movie-themed experiences, fun characters in the lobby for both kids and adults, incredible worship and practical teaching from the Word of God, and of course, popcorn and drinks for everyone. So whether you are here,

and maybe you're a longtime churchgoer, someone who's been away from church for a while, or maybe you're looking for an easy way to invite a friend, neighbor, or coworker to church, this right here is the perfect series for you. At the Movies is an in-person-only event and begins July 11 and 12th and continues through August 1 and 2. And so if you're in the Dallas area, we love for you to join us at one of our campuses.

You can find service times, locations, and more information by texting the word ATM to 20411. Now let's get back to the conversation. Let's do, let's share one thing just to, hey, this if you're, let's talk to the younger folks joining right now and then to the older folks. There's one thing to keep in mind. This is how you go to distance, especially today because, you know, when it comes to running a race, it seems like we see, and we might not have time to deep dive this, but basically like there's a lot of people

that we've seen run the race, and then at some point they don't make it, or they fail. It's fact. And so... The number of people that finish well is small. It's not about starting the race, it's about finishing the race, right?

And so let's help people finish the race well, or at least be set up so that they can go for long obedience in the same direction. Young people, old people, I got a thing for young people, but I'm going to let you start with maybe with where we want. Why don't you start? Okay.

Okay. You do younger and then actually, wait. Let me do, yeah, yeah, all right. Okay, sure. You do younger and I'll do older. So, first of all, I'm 34. That is so adorable. 34 is not old, but I will say this, Josh.

When you're 34 and you hang out with somebody that's like 21, then you don't feel young. It's like, you know, you know you're not, you're young, but then you're like, okay, I feel very old. Can I say so funny. Yes. I've noticed, so when I first started preaching, a lot of times would be like, hey man, you know, if you're older, and then I would be like, if your age starts with a three or up. It's like every year when I do that at a sermon, hey man, raise your hand if you're, whatever it is, every year it creeps up. So like now I'm like, hey man, raise your hand if you're under 35. I've heard somebody said that 30s is the freshman year of adulthood.

So here's what I want to say. Here's what I want to share. I honestly just want to share for people that are listening because they're kind of in their 30s and even younger. This is probably the most impactful thing in my life that I think

I've experienced recently and I just want to share it. So here's would be my advice. Especially in the culture that we live in today with like, bro, we have so many more opportunities than I think any other generation to build stuff, to create something worthy,

to have influence, to do something that's worth doing. With digital, all the things. AI, I'm sure there's going be more honestly a lot of people this is probably a take a lot of people complain about like with a i this yes there's going to be some change but that this means there's going to be even more opportunities than ever i'm positive on it you net positive on it there you go so that that would be for especially the younger generation now that are kind of leaving college and hey opportunities

are like 10x tripled anyways um here's what i would say if you are a younger christian or in your 30s or below um probably the the biggest advice that i would give you is find someone or a few group of people that are older, wiser, and more godly than you, and submit to their authority. So this is probably not what people were expecting to hear. But this could be, again, a mentor or a group of people or your small group, whatever, that they're older and younger and ahead of you, and literally have a mindset of, I will be open to submit to your authority. And here's what this does not mean.

This does not mean that you're now shy. This is not mean that you have to ask permission for literally everything you do. It means that in one way, it literally means to go build whatever. you need to build, run your race, go dream big, do whatever God has called you to do, and in one way or another, still be under the authority of somebody else. And here's why. Somebody might hear that and say, that sounds inhibiting. It's actually empowering and it protects you. Because submission, if you think about that word submission, it's submission. It just literally means being under the mission of somebody else. And the reason why this matters is,

the reason why this matters is because submission under the mission of somebody else. The reason why this matters is because if you're younger, you are probably very gifted. You probably have a lot of drive, but you don't have a lot of wisdom. And you need to be around people that love you enough that at some point, if they see you going in a specific direction, they can call you out. And they can be like, bro, that is not it. You need to stop. You need to change. You need to take that thing down.

And the problem with people that are like, well, I don't want anybody telling me what to do. I don't want anybody stopping me. I don't want to be asking for anybody is that if you think you know best, you're like, at some point, if you keep going, you're not only going to hurt yourself, you're also a very dangerous person to other people. And by the way, the idea of submission, it's not just a Christian husband and wife thing. It is, by the way. It's a Christian thing.

If you look at the Bible, you literally see every single person that God uses mightily. They are under the authority of somebody else. Moses was under the authority of Jethro, Joshua under the authority of Moses. Samuel was under the authority of Eli, Ruth, under Naomi, David under Saul. Timothy was under Paul. Jesus, the Bible literally says that at some point in his life, he was submissive to his parents, and then all throughout his ministry, you see him being submissive to the will of the father. Not my will, but your will be done.

And so, again, when you see all these people in Scripture, what you find that they have in common is that the more humble and submissive they were to the authority of somebody else, the more blessing they found, and the more God elevated them in influence. And so again, it protects you, it empowers you, run your race, build your thing, do what God has called you to do, dream big, do not limit what God wants to do in your life, and still be under the authority of somebody else. And I'm going to brag on you and you're going to hate it. Of maybe every 34-year-old I've ever met, Carlos Arazo is running the best race. Like you are a good man, you're a good disciple, you're a good friend. That's been really fun. you're a good friend and man it's like Carlos Arazo loves Jesus he's a man of integrity he's a

great husband father all the things so I'm gonna say something Carlos is not gonna like me to say but this is an example what he's saying when I met Carlos he if you don't know anything about Carlos you're like oh Carlos you know people if anybody knows who Carlos is it's because he hosts live free now Carlos uh my little joke that Carlos hates is he's like the Hispanic Logan Paul except he's a Christian pastor. Shout it to Logan Paul, by the way. Shout to Logan Paul. We'd love to have you on live free.

We'd love to hang out. Carlos, when I met you, I think you had like 800,000 YouTube subscribers and I think some around 6 or 7 billion Instagram followers. And dude, I literally, when I got to Lake Point, somebody told me like,

dude, there's this guy. He's like a part-time Lake Point N. Españo youth guy over at our Mesquite campus. Got like 14 kids. And I said, dude, I was like, there ain't no way. And I looked at you. I was like, this guy's like actually a big deal.

And then you were just like humbly, faithfully behind the scenes, submitting to the leadership of other people, serving where no one could see you. Pastor and you're a little heart out for 15, 20 kids. It's like, why? Because you did. I love those kids. That's right. Yeah. Why?

Because you did what you just said. That's it. And those who humble himself, the Lord will lift up. And that's what happened. Appreciate it. Yeah. Well, it is a joy to be here. And that's God's grace.

And my designated talk to the older people and then we'll talk about Jayvance. Because you have a lot more wisdom. I'll do this. And then we'll speed run this thing. Let's do it. Yeah, we'll call some balls and strikes on Trump administration. That's be fun. Yeah, if somebody's like, here's what I've seen.

First of all, I am not equipped to speak from experience to quote unquote old people. You know, I'm 43, just turned 43. Here's what I will say that is an undefeated principle. You do not rise to the level of your aspirations. You fall to the level of your habits. That nobody beats that. There's a reason that the Bible calls your relationship with Jesus a quote-unquote walk. Well, what is it walk?

It's just putting one foot in front of the other, in front of the other, front of the other. So here's what I would say, and it's like it's not sexy, it's not glamorous, it's reality. And reality is undefeated. I think what I would say, the longer somebody walks the Lord. It's going to sound a little weird when I start. Just stick with me. Understand this. There is nothing special about reading your Bible.

There is nothing powerful about praying. There is nothing super special about worshiping. There is nothing incredible about discipleship, doing discipleship, meet with some guys. There's nothing amazing about fasting. You know what's amazing? You know it's powerful? You know what's special?

Doing them every day. Doing it every single day. So do like the guy who wakes up and he reads his Bible one time every three weeks. Or he's like, man, every now and then he's traveling. And he's like, you know what? I'm alone. I thought about God today. I'm a thank the Lord for this meal real quick.

And he prays like once every three weeks. I'm just going to shoot you. straight man that guy is not going to have a long obedience in the same direction you know who will the guy that wakes up every day reads a chapter of the bible every day prays every day and then he acts like it that guy's going to go that's going to go real good so you do not rise to the level of your aspirations you fall to the level of your goals and obviously i'll just throw this in obviously there is something powerful about reading your bible and praying in fact that's the point i'm trying to make is you do not rise to the level of your aspirations throughout the decades you will

to the level of your habits. There it is. That's great, man. Okay, on that note, let's talk about JD events. All right, let's do this. Here's why I want to do this, man. This is actually,

so here's my quick caveat, let me set up while I'm doing this. We say, same, this is, let me just disciple us when we're talking about politics and culture. So there's the thing, you've got to decide, every Christian has decided.

Are you a conservative Christian or Christian, conservative. Those are really your two choices. It is simple. Listen, I'm just a huge straight and some people hate it. Not get in trouble with this. Right now, there is simply no other way, given the publicly stated policy proposals of the two parties, you know, neither of them are perfect. But when you translate a Christian theory of governance and morality into policy, it's simply, if you just, let's just be honest, man, it is simply true that that is going to look and code conservative in our culture more than it's going to code liberal progressive. It just is. I'll talk about that here in a second. People hate that.

I get crushed by all the time. It's just reality. Just straight. But then you got to decide, hey, ma'am, does my Christian come first or does my conservative come first? If your conservatives here and your Christians here, then when whatever seems conservative contradicts West Christian, the conservative will win and it'll trump the Christian. Okay, bad. Nope, we're out on that. What we want to be is Christian conservative. That's how it kind of maps. So man, my Christian is over the conservative thing. So anytime the two are in disagreement, I'm Christian first, conservative second. So that's how that works. That's helpful. So what happens is then Christian's like, okay, well, dude, you know, maybe this is a politician

that I voted for I supported. And they're doing, and you hear stuff like this, that, oh my gosh, how could any Christian support that, that sort of thing? And what you're getting ready to hear, the reason I want to do this is these are very frequent. very common sort of things that get lobbed at Christians that are conservative, especially right now. And what you're seeing here, Ross Douthit, I've been reading him for years. Again, New York Times, Catholic Christian, kind of generally conservative, sort of like center right, I might say, how you might say it.

What he did, that was interesting in this interview with Vance is he said, hey man, there's three things that, so you're saying you're trying to govern in a explicit Christian way, there's three things that, hey, you're not. And some of this stuff is, hey, I'm going to just tell you right now. Some of the things he acknowledges, as I'll point out, are true. Some of them are not and are extremely deceptive things that get thrown at you. So we're going to call some balls and strikes. Now, by listener request, we're going to, play the whole clip because people are like play the whole dang clip and then respond to it so we know what you're talking about so we're going to do trinity we're going to play most of the clip all the way through so people know what i'm getting ready to respond to then we're going to go back and then i'm

going to have you pause if you is it makes sense all right so this is ross out of it interviewing jd vance right after the release of his book communion this about his catholic faith and all that stuff here we we can have a longer argument about the economics but i just want to let's let's stipulate that the Trump administration has in some way a kind of vision of rebuilding the working class that's connected to Christianity. Was that hard to say wrong? I'm stipulate. For the sake of arguments and the fact that you have not given us three hours to have this discussion, we're stipulating it. It also seems to me like the administration has distanced itself in different ways from some other.

of obvious expressions of Christian influence on politics. Some of them more sort of liberal coded, some of them more conservative coded. Like what do you? Like the administration has been more hostile than any prior Republican administration, to say nothing of Democrats in the last 20 years to the way we do humanitarian aid. That's number one. It has kept religious conservatives, pro-life organizations especially at arm's length in a way that has led to a lot of criticism. And then, you know, let's be honest, the tone of the administration is not consistently a Christian tone.

There is a tone of aggressive uncharity to people who aren't on board with the administration's policies. So I would describe those as three areas where the administration has felt functionally post-Christian to me. Post-Christian? And I'm curious what you say. Bookmark that. All right. Now, pause. Okay, so we did it. We're going to try this. Tell us in the comments if you like me playing the whole clip through and then going back and responding,

or if you like me to respond as it comes and then we'll use that as a future for that. I have a theory of who likes what. I feel like people that are on YouTube and are watching it, like the pause, pause, pause, pause, and comment. People that are listening only, they prefer to listen to the whole thing. I could be wrong, but I think that's my theory. All right, well, comment. Yeah, yeah. Let us know.

So now, Trinney, go back to the beginning. And then, so I'm going to just pause throughout the thing. And then we're going to do the thing. And you tell us in the comments, play it through or do the pause thing. Yeah. And if you're listening on up, you're going to jump to the comments because you're not even in the comments. Yeah, jump to the comments. Tell us on YouTube.

All right. So here we go. All right. Do it, Trini. We could have a longer argument about the economics. Sure. But I just want to. Feels redundant.

I'll be honest. I'll be honest. It feels redundant. That the Trump administration has in some way. I don't like this. I'm going to do it. A kind of vision of rebuilding the working class that's connected to Christianity. Was that hard to say, was that hard to say, Ross?

I'm stipulate. For the sake of argument and the fact that you have not given us three hours to have this discussion, we're stipulating it. It also seems to me like the administration has distanced itself in different ways from some other sort of obvious expressions of Christian influence on politics. Some of them more sort of liberal coded, some of them more conservative coding. Like the administration has been more hostile. at least one of them. The administration has been more hostile than any prior Republican administration, to say nothing of Democrats in the last 20 years to the way we do humanitarian aid. Pause. Okay. So this is he says it's obvious. So here's what he's referring to in 2025. Obviously, Elon Musk and Doge took a famously took a chainsaw to what is referred to as USAID. So by the way, let me just begin with a public misperception. according to, we did some deep dive research on this, on this stuff is really helpful.

Public perception, people were assuming that somewhere around 24 to 26% of the United States budget was going to things like humanitarian aid and they just chopped all this. In reality, it's one point, it's been 1.2%. Okay. If I'm understanding this correctly, 1.2%. Now, USAID, bro, this, let me just say, this is going to blow some of your minds. Carlos knows a little bit of where I'm going and it affects some of the region that you come from. Yeah.

Okay. So this is really, this will also. And I care about. And just to care about. This honestly, when I started to understand how this worked, bro, it honestly was a little enraging. Okay.

So what it's talking about is the thing called USAID, USAID, that was foreign aid purportedly, this is how it was packaged, as this is like mercy and humanitarian aid to other nations. Now let me begin right here with a little axiom. Because sometimes this is like a difference between conservatives and progressives, is progressives,

will judge policies by their intentions, and conservatives will tend to judge policies by their outcomes. That's actually really important, okay? We should not judge policies by their intentions. Well, we were trying to help the poor. Interesting. You don't judge, well, if you were trying to help the poor, or that was your heart, but you actually just created more poverty, that's actually not good. It doesn't matter what your intention was. So we don't judge policies by intentions, we judge them by outcomes, okay? I'll just cut to the chase. The actual outcome of a significant part of USAID was just a taxpayer-funded way to export radical progressive ideology and left-wing politics to the nations. Okay. Now, bro, dude, this is, this was like a

scales fall off your eye. It was a little radicalizing to start realizing what was actually happening here. And I'm going to give you, like, actual data. This is not conspiracy stuff. This is like, I'm going to read you actual government documents, actual data, okay? So here's how it started. It started with the story. I won't say, you know the guy's name. I'm not going to say his name. Was it Peru? Peru.

Peru. Okay. So we had a well-known pastor from Peru who came and preached at Lake Point Español. I'm sure he listens, by the way. So shout out. Shout out, dude. We love you.

Come again. Come again. Who came. And, dude, we're sitting, bro, this, this blew my mind. We're sitting around dinner. And I start asking him about how they're thinking about the election down there. Dude, he starts telling me that, man, honest, He's like, man, honestly, we're really passionate about the election in America going a certain way.

And I won't make this feel awkward for him, so I want him to say which way you can probably figure it out. And he said, he said, dude, here's why. And he starts explaining that in the public schools in Peru, in the last few years, they had started teaching in the public schools, like LGBTQ queer theory and doing all the things and guidance counselors and all the classes. And bro, he start, and then he starts going, hey man, and here's a deal. families in Peru very traditional. Like nobody's into that stuff down there. And then he asked me, he honestly, it was very, like, I love my country a lot. This was like hard to swallow.

He goes, do you know why? And I'm like, what are you talking about? Why? And this is before any of this USAID stuff happened, he said, well, here's why. It's the first time I ever heard about USAID. He goes, well, here's why. Because your government gives our nation a significant amount of U.S. USAID that we quote unquote need, or some people feel like we need. And he said, and the United States

government has made our reception of USAID money contingent upon us aligning with some of the policy proposals of the previous administration, Biden administration. And part of that was to advance LGBTQ representation and ideology. So bro, literally down in Peru, they're four. forcing this stuff into government schools, and this story is telling me, because they're like, well, we're going to stop getting the money unless we teach this stuff,

even though none of the families want it. And, dude, I'll be honest, I'm sitting there at dinner at standard service, like one of my favorite spots. I'm sitting there at dinner at standard service, and you know that little meme? There's a little meme that's like, are we the baddies?

It's like, honestly, dude, it was one of the first times in my life. I was like, wait, are we the bad guys now? Okay, now, let me go a layer deeper. Okay, so I'm going to read something to you. Let me find this real quick. Yeah, okay, so here's an example.

So millions of dollars, I'm literally reading this. This is read verbatim from our government's own award record that they put on verbatim. millions of dollars, for instance, were given to Guatemala via USAID to grant, how do I say that? Say that for me. Association Lamauga. Marvellous.

I give you the American accent too. Association Lamauda. That's how I was going to say. There you go. Association Lama. Okay. So millions of dollars, USAID money, given to Guatemala.

See, I'm going to read what our government said about this to quote, strengthen transled organizations to deliver gender affirming health care and provide economic empowerment opportunities from those people, for those people. So, bro, what was literally happening is that they were incentivizing nations to teach overtly wicked and evil things. And the little carrot was, you're going to get our USAID money. So, Carla, you tell me, is that humanitarian aid? Nope. Nope. Nope. But you can take something evil,

and call it humanitarian aid, and then anybody that opposes it, they look like the batty. That's the play that's going to run now. Bro, this is, so again, we're doing deep dive research on this stuff. This is going to stink them blow your mind, and then I'm going to go to the next thing.

So what people have figured out in the last like six months is before USAID money got pulled back, in general, left-wing politicians, progressive politicians who aligned with all this, these stuff I just read, had been winning the elections in South America, Latin America. Okay. Dude, here's what people are noticing is that once USAID money got pulled, now for the first time in ages, conservative candidates have won elections in the following countries in Latin America.

Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica. For the first time. Now. Okay, so dude. And it's new. This is new. Okay. So we looked all this up before the podcast. Is it Chile or Chile? Both. Chile if you're here and Chile, if you're Latin America. Well, in Kentucky, we just said Chile. There you go. Okay. You're good. You're good. You're good. All right. So for the last five elections in Chile, Chile, okay. The political alignment of the person that won left, center. left. Yes. Socialist Party of Chile and a socialist. So there's one of them that won twice. That's the last five.

USAID money removed. All of a sudden for the first time, conservative candidate wins. Yeah. In Bolivia, the previous 20 years, a candidate had won under a socialist, an overtly socialist movement. USAID money pulled in 2025 for the first time in 25 in 20 years, a conservative pause, Paz, I don't know how to pronounce. POS, yes. Wins, okay? Peru.

The free Peru party that is an overtly Marxist socialist party had won three out of the last five elections, USAID money pulled, all of a sudden conservative candidate wins. Now Carlos, let me ask you this question. This will blow your mind. Now, remember, what Douthit is saying

is, hey man, a Christian would really want this humanitarian aid to go out, and it's actually non-Christian for you to oppose this humanitarian. What I'm showing you is that according to the data, vast swathes of this money was not humanitarian aid at all. At all. It was gasoline funding overtly wicked ideologies

among the nations to export them. Okay, so here's a question, Carlos. You may be going, what is saying, dude? What does USAID money have anything to do with elections? Okay, well, dude, check this out. I'm reading this straight from the USAID's own fact sheet. So this is not, this isn't like Breitbart. This is like the USAID's, the government's own fact sheet.

Okay, listen. In 2023, USAID funded and trained, bro, watch this. 6,200 journalists in Latin America, bankrolled 707 media outlets in Latin America, and backed 279 media NGOs across 303,000. countries, so not just in Latin America, to the tune of Carlos Arazo, $270 million per year. Okay. Now, check this out, dude. So think about this.

Okay, let's go back to the first story. What the schools started figuring out is, huh, we're probably not going to keep getting the money if we don't teach stuff that aligns with the ideologies that they're wanting to advance. Well, hey, bro, what do you think the journalists were probably thinking? that, my friend, is how this money, according to this research, was getting used to, it was actually radically influencing elections to swing them progressive in Latin American countries, which, as you know, Latin American countries are not by default mode very progressive. Nope. And we don't want it. Not so much, my friend. In fact, bro, this will blow your mind.

This fact's like I was sitting in my office like dying. from 2020 to 2004 USAID money was 75% of all donor funding to the Latin American media Wow

I'm going to say that one more time From 2020 to 2024 USAID money 75% of all donor funding to the Latin American media and then you wonder huh I wonder why a region

that's not very progressive was constantly screaming progressive. Okay. Now, let me just do one last thing that's theological for Christians on this because this trips people up and then I want to do the other two much quicker than this. But this is really important, okay? If you're a Christian, you're going to get thrown at this at you a lot. And doubt that does it here.

But what people will do is they go, hey man, Jesus fed the poor and cared for the hurting and, you know, helped the homeless or whatever it is. and so you not voting for the government to do those things, you know, maybe like socialist light or, you know, wealth redistributive policies, that kind of thing, high welfare concepts. If you're not voting for that, you don't care for the poor. And so, man, actually, that's unchristian. That's kind of what doubt that's doing here, okay?

Dude, Christians have to get, you got to really internalize this. in the Bible, I'm going to do my little riff that I do it all the time because I need Christians to understand this. In the Bible, God created three institutions that when working in the right way result in human flourishing, the family of the church and the state. All three of the institutions, they have different roles. The family has a role, the church has a role, the state has a role, okay. Poverty care, welfare, caring for the poor. In the Bible, that's primarily the job of Christians and churches. It is not primarily the job of the government. So when people are like, Jesus said to feed the poor, my response is, Jesus did not command governments to do that.

Don't throw that at me. So when widows needed feeding in Act 6, Paul appoints deacons, he doesn't send an activist to Rome. Okay. So in the Bible, this is really important. In the Bible, the commands to, and by the way, Christians must not, you're not allowed. to let your heart harden towards the poor and stop caring about those things. Just because we have the sphere sovereign, you're not allowed to just go, ah, I'm hardened to it.

No, that's our job as Christians, families, and churches. We're all in on that. Okay. But here's what you're going to get. Romans 13, roll of the state, the primary role of the state is to, quote, bear the sword, incentivize doing good, penalized doing evil.

That's the government's job. Other than that, just kind of stay out of our way. That's kind of the job of the government. So the reason for that is with governments, you tend to get more of what you incentivize and less of what you penalize. That's really important. With governments, you tend to get more of what you incentivize and less of what you penalize. That is why, Carlos, you'll notice this. Just watch. You're going to see all of the place. That's why cities and states that tend to throw the most money at homelessness, they do not end up solving homelessness.

Do you know what they do? They create more homelessness. Why? Because with governments, you tend to get more of what you incentivize and less of what you penalize, which is why God designed individual Christians, families, and churches to be the ones who are like, dude, we're the ones who step into the gap and we care for the poor. We do charity, that kind of thing. So I go back to this all the time.

Data shows this literally came out like two weeks ago. as an organization called Giving Pulse, conservative Christians, so what people throw at you, like the kind of this, doubt that's not doing this, but it's a vibe you'll get. If you're a Christian,

that's a little more conservative, theological, culturally, what people throw at you is like, oh, man, you're not generous to the poor because you vote this certain way. Bro. The data literally, this is Giving Pulse just came out.

The data literally shows conservative Christians give 75% more. Some studies show up to three times more. Wow. than progressives to the poor. They actually just give their money away to charity, 75% to three times more. So you just got to get this in your head.

When conservatives use the word generosity, they mean generosity with their own money. When progressives use the word generosity, they mean vote for somebody to take somebody else's money away from them and give it away. So they mean generosity with somebody else's money. So anyway, I just want to boil all this down, the bottom line. When Douth is like, hey man, you're a person.

you're opposing USAID, you're opposing humanitarian aid, that kind of thing. Okay, opposing USAID, large swath of it, that's not opposing mercy and humanitarian aid. It's refusing to call a progressive political slush fund humanitarian aid, and it's refusing to let Caesar eat the role of the church. Does that make sense? That makes sense. And honestly, by the way, by the grace of God, we are a church that we partner with literally churches all over the world, including Latin America. and we want to empower the local church

to be the people that have helped literally and bless the city. And so even with the Venezuela thing happening recently, like again, man, we give to our church because our church is giving continually and we have the right partners and the right people on the ground. And so it's a, how can I give?

That's right. How can I be generous? That's right. Yeah, dude, yeah. I mean, our mission's budget is over $8 million a year. I drive up with the church yesterday. There's the food pantry line is literally wrapped around the pier.

That's right. Because everyone in this area knows if our family's struggling, the people of Lake Point will help us. We want to be a blessing to the city and to other people. That's right. As a church. All right. Let me do the other two much quicker because these do get thrown. Do you do the next one.

It has kept religious conservatives, pro-life organizations especially at arm's length in a way that has led to a lot of criticism. Awesome. Okay. So that's the second accusation is, hey man, Trump administration. kept religious organizations and pro-life organizations at bay. I even, like, I heard this a well-meaning but misinformed pastor on a podcast this week. You know, Trump is actually a pro-choice.

And, you know, he's approving the abortion pill to get mailed all over the place. And abortions have gone up since Dobbs. Okay. This kind of thing people throw out you. So let me just, if you're a Christian, let me help me understand what's going on. First of all, let me concede some things that are true that I wish were different. This is where my Christian is over my quote-unquote conservative, okay? Number one, honestly, dude, I was disappointed.

Like, during the campaign, the term of administration, they declined to endorse the possibility of a national ban on abortion. Like, to me, actually not to me, to God, murder is murder. And it's like, yeah, like we should be able to ten toes down, it doesn't matter if anybody freaks out, yes, we want a national ban on killing people. Yeah, we do, okay? that disappointed me. Number two, they dropped in 2024, they dropped the national ban plank from the publicly stated policy proposals. So until 2024, it'd be like, yep, we're trying

to push for a national ban. This is a little weedsy. When they overturned Dobbs, kind of at the Supreme Court, they overturned Roe, V-Wed. The mentality was, hey, we're pushing the decisions back to the states. I will say, if you want a history nerd out, the federalist system, this is my little inner history, the federalist system was originally designed for states to really almost function like many nations with significantly more autonomy.

So, you know, whatever. But in 2024, they did drop the national ban plank from the proposals. I don't like it. I was disappointed. Number three, they did the thing of wanting to support IVF funding. And we don't have time to talk about this.

Not all, there are ways from what I understand, there are ways to do IVF that, honest, I will say, are rare and can be carefully done that will avoid the destruction of fertilized embryos that, you know, life begins at conception, all the scriptures. So I didn't like that. So I'm just conceding some things. Don't like it. I don't like it at all, okay? But it is insane for people to characterize the Trump administration as quote-unquote pro-choice. They actually haven't done anything. You know, actually, there's really no difference between, you know, the Democratic Party and the, you know.

It's insane. But let me just rattle some things off. Peace. So one thing that you'll hear, again, well-meaning but misinformed or naive people. Oh, Trump approved the abortion pill. No, that's not true. Trump and the Trump FDA and RFK ordered a safety review of, if I'm pronouncing this correctly. Mifapristone. It's an abortion pill. They ordered a safety review, which they were legally required to do. So they just, all that is, there's a legal requirement. I read up on this this week for the FDA to order a safety review if a generic drug that is the same thing or almost the same thing as a drug that's already been made, they have to order a safety review. It's legally required. So that's what Miffa Pristone.

was, it's a generic, just they had to do it. Number two, the FDA has not restricted the pill. Okay, that's it. Now, dude, here's the thing that people understand this is going on. Wait, I said that wrong. Yeah, yeah, actually not I said it right. Here's the other thing people don't know that's happening that's going to lead me to the next thing. What a lot of people are unaware it's happening is progressive states, blue states,

they're enacting what are called shield laws. This is New York and California, states like this. They pass laws. Bro, this is insane. Promising doctors doing abortions. Hey, if you guys, remember, the claim is, man, I'm a Trump administration. They're just approving, mailing abortion pills over the place.

And that's why abortions are actually up since stops. No, no, here's what's actually happening. Blue states, like New York and California, are passing shield laws. promising doctors in their states, if you mail abortion pills to states that have banned them, we in our state will refuse to extradite you, will refuse to honor their subpoenas, and we will protect your license. So actually what's happening is democratic leaders are enacting these laws.

The progressive states are the ones that are max boosting and doing the mail-in thing. Now, the other thing people say is abortions, they're like, oh, nothing he's done matters. Abortions actually went up after the overturned row because of Dobbs. Okay, well, that's extremely misleading. Toss that graph up there real quick, Trinney. The entire increase in abortions after the overturning row happened before Trump took office under Biden. It's like literally all of them. Look at, you can see, you can see Dobbs overturn right there.

June, June, 2020. I see that. So literally all, all, so it's one of those things that's like, hey, technically what you're saying is true, all of it happened under Biden guys. And then, so then you go, well, then how is it happening? You're like, how is it, how is it happening? Go to the next graph. Well, here's how it's happening. What's happening is all the blue states, they're doing things like the shield laws and max boosting abortion in response to these things.

So what's happening is abortions have fallen, sometimes very precipitously, in states that have enacted more restrictive loss appropriately. And then the other states, the blue states are max boosting it. So let me just finish this real quick. If you're going, hey, dude, Trump's actually functionally pro-choice. This is not actually doing anything. Here's some data. Number one, obviously he appointed three Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe. That's a big deal.

Since then, 41 states have enacted abortion limits. They were not able to do it before then. 13 of those 41 states protect life from conception. That's amazing. Wow. Appointed 234 judges just in his first term. Bro, that's a stinking big deal. That starts working its way through the entire.

That's a big deal. They overturned something called the Mexico City policy, where essentially foreign organizations that take U.S. health money, they can't perform or promote abortions overseas. Wow. That's a big deal. It's kind of the same thing as USA-D thing. The one big beautiful bill, I think, is it was called defunded Planned Parenthood, which barred Medicaid dollars to abortion providers. They sued, and then they lost.

So that stayed in place. And then there was a whole executive order that reinforced something called the Hyde Amendment that was about limiting or restricting government funding. at abortions. Okay, so, dude, that's not, that's a stinking big deal. And then the last thing I'll say is what, what you'll hear some more progressive Christians do. It's like, hey man, you know, now that, you know, they removed the, the ban thing from the, uh, the policy proposals. You know, it's really just, both parties are the same on this issue now. But honestly, dude, you got to like actually lie to yourself to believe that. So the bill that, um, the Democratic Party

said they were going to pass. It's called the Women's Health Protection Act. More extreme than Roe v. ever was. In plain English, it would have done three things. One, brother, this is the thing about this. Forbid any state, any state from restricting abortion before viability. So you wouldn't, no state would legally have been about a day. So no Harvey bill, every 15 week law, every waiting period, all gone.

Number two, after viability, so third trimester, it would have allowed abortion whenever a single provider makes a, quote, good faith, medical judgment that the pregnancy risks the mother's quote unquote health, a term courts have read to include why this is important. So all of us are like, hey man, we don't have time to go into this. Sometimes people will call miscarriages abortions in order to weaponize it against conservatives sometimes. But what they did is they were writing into this bill. good faith medical judgment, the pregnancy risked the mother's quote unquote health, but then they were getting courts

to read emotional health into what, so anybody could walk in and be like, I'm depressed because of this. So can I kill my kid? Yes. You see what I'm saying? The answer would have been yes. So would have done that. And then number three, here's a biggie,

their bill would have overridden every single state pro-life law in the country in one vote. So man, can we Can we please stop pretend? Like, dude, we're either lying to other people intentionally or relying to ourselves to make it sound like. That's right. These are moral equivalents.

Okay, now, let's do the last one. There you are going to shut this thing down so we can talk to Raymond. All right, here we go. And then, you know, let's be honest, the tone of the administration. We pause real quick. Here's what's a little interesting is I get this sometimes about. Oh, you get it. Yeah.

So let's do this real quick. Keep going. is not consistently a Christian tone. There is a tone of aggressive uncharity to people who aren't on board with the administration's policies. So I would describe those as three areas where the administration has felt functionally post-Christian to me. And I'm curious what you think. Well, so on the first point, well, sorry, the third point. You can work backward.

So on the tone thing, this is, it's very hard to rebut this because it's like fundamentally unfalsifiable. Because for every clip that you could show me of me or the president or some cabinet secretary saying something that in your view is unchristian, I could show you another few clips of us doing something or saying something that is like very Christian. The nature of political communication in the era of mass media is that. that sometimes people are going to say jokes that are taken out of context. Pause. You know anything about that? Any jokes out of context? I got a few right now.

But I will say, this is actually a really good point. Like, your normal person doesn't understand this. One thing I will just say very briefly, there are dynamics to mass scale communication that no one is ever going to understand unless you've had to do it. Sure. When you're communicating to, you know, it's like if, you know, I think what do we, if six million people down the, of the podcast last month. Or more. Or, you know, when you're communicating to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people, here's what you're going to learn really fast.

I've learned this, low these many years, is it doesn't matter what you say. There is going to be 5% of people because of their background, their emotional sensibilities, experiences that they've had. They're going to take something that you said. It's going to strike them in the wrong way, and it's going to end. anger them and maybe hurt their feelings. And listen, it is impossible for that not to happen. So, like, the analogy I'll use sometimes is, by the way, I'm not saying,

everything I've ever said is perfect. That's not what I'm saying. But the analogy I'll use sometimes is, man, if I were to walk up to somebody and tap a normal person on the shoulder, you would just turn your head. If I walk up to you, Carlos, and you have a gaping flesh wound on your shoulder, and I tap you on the shoulder, you're going to freak out and you're going to get angry

and you may lash back. Yeah, it'll hurt. When you're doing mass communication, like no matter what you say, if I'm preaching a sermon on marriage and I just read a Bible verse about wives submitting to your husbands, okay, let's say

100,000 people listen to a sermon. There's going to be 5% of them who are in fringe cases or exception scenarios. They've experienced something very painful. We're just reading a Bible verse, it's tapping a gaping wound and they're like, ah, why did you say that? That hurt me. Okay. So this is a principle of mass communication. And bro, I'll just be honest, it's literally impossible. You can't do it.

There's other. That's right. So this is a good point. But keep going on. He says something important here. Sometimes people are going to make mistakes. I'm not saying I make mistakes. I talk about this in the book a little. In my book, Communion, available where books are sold. I talk about the own mistakes that I've made as a Christian leader in America. There is a. There is a. There is a. There is. an apology to childless cat ladies. That's hilarious. We don't need to get sidetracked by that. Go on.

But, but you know, my point is, like, I'm not saying we're perfect because we're not. My point is that the tone argument. Actually, pause. So I want to say something. He acknowledges where he said, we're not perfect. I want to say he's right. Let me just concede something. There are things that sometimes the president will say that I'm like, a Christian man should

never say that. Sure. Like many times. There have been moments where I'm like, that was a. sin. Yeah, even on social media, I will say, I've seen some things, the way, some footage. I'm going to read you one. Okay, go ahead.

I'm going to read you one. Like Rob Reiner died, you know, his son purportedly stabs him to death, you know, and I'm just going to read it, you know, president tweets reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump derangement syndrome. I do not, I'm sorry, like, you know, that's a sin. as a sin. So as Christians, we don't defend things you shouldn't defend.

That doesn't mean that you can't support. Whenever you're voting for somebody, you're voting for, you know, which set of policies will best slow societal decay. So this doesn't mean like, oh, man, they did something wrong. I can't support them. No, you can. But you also need to maintain your integrity and character and go, hey, man, am I generally supportive and really thankful for a whole lot of things?

Yes. that's wrong. And I don't have to defend that. So I like that he acknowledged that. Let's keep going. He says something really interesting and we'll shut this down. Some ways, I think, people see what they want to see. And I also think that tonal arguments are ways of, frankly, policing working class ways of communication. This is a fact. And covering them in elite preferences.

Okay, done. Now, did you hear what he said? He said policing the tone sometimes is a way of, essentially a policing, opposing working class forms of communication. So Ross Douth, it's New York Times, Intelligentsia, he's run Ivy Leaguers all the time. There's a certain way those kind of people talk. And I'll be honest, I'm a rural Kentucky kid who comes from like a formerly truck driving Ozark family. You say things like, let's kick this pig. I say, that's like, yeah, I don't say, let's go, children. I say, let's kick this pig. Let us initiate the podcast today. It's not my vibe.

Okay. So now, what Daltha said there, he's dead on. He's dead on. And what I'll point out is, you mean J.D? Sorry. What J.D. said there. What I'll point out is, give me someone who speaks in a rough way, but advances net good things over somebody who speaks in a dignified way and advances evil. And dude, I will say to Christians can be very naive on this, especially parents, man, like with our kids, what we don't want to do is evaluate everything through the lens of two categories, nice people and mean people. That's where people get caught up. They're like, he says stuff like that about Rob Reiner.

He's mean, and we're supposed to be for nice people. No, no, there's not two categories of people according to the Bible. There's four categories of people who are in the Bible. There's nice people who do good things. There's nice people who do evil things. The Bible literally says that false teachers that will send you to hell, they will flatter you. With smooth talk and flattery, it says. There are nice people who appear.

very nice, who do very evil things, then there are rough people who do good things, and there are rough people who do evil things. In general, if you zoom out, I'm not saying everything's perfect, but man, when I look at what they're advancing in general, I'm like, man, a lot of times that administration, it's like a rough, it's a rough, kind of rough guy advancing net good things. And again, give me a rough guy that does net good over a nice man who does net evil while being really dignified. That's right. Yeah, I'll say there's two things that matter. If you're a Christian, even practically speaking, because people wonder about, does it tone matter?

Can you say something to me? Like kind of a jerk. But it's true. Two things that matters. One, tone matters. Ephesians 415, speak truth in love. Colossians 4-6, let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt.

Tone matters. And that is true. And at the same time, do you know what matters to? Truth matters. That's right. Tone matters, 2 Timothy 4-2 says, Preach the word, Reprove, rebuke, exord, Titus 1.

Paul tells Titus, to rebuke false teachers sharply and with all authority. All the authority. Tone matters, truth matters. We want both. Yes. By the way, Jesus used some pretty rough, rough dang language.

That's right. Rough language. So let me close with, every now and then, you know, I kind of, what I kind of try to do when I'm preaching is I kind of try to talk like just a normal guy. That's the kind of guy I grew up with, kind of my family I came from, you know, normal, little gritty, little blue collar, the kind of thing, without sinning. I will say there was another pastor that is a hero of mine that was constantly accused of, you know, bad humor and vulgar language. It was Charles Spurgeon.

This is a fun little homework assignment. That's not who I thought you were going to say. Charles Spurgeon. You do you think of Martin Luther maybe? Charles Spurgeon. So it's a fun little homework assignment. If you go Google, like Charles Spurgeon vulgar language, there is, like he was getting newspaper articles written about him constantly. about this, you know.

He was heavily criticized by the media. Heavily, heavily criticized, heavily for his language and his humor. Now, dude, I don't, I'm not a, I'm not a profanity guy. I'm not talking about telling dirty jazz. It's not I'm talking about. But it's like, you know, I don't know, just word of normal gritty language. And by the way, vulgar back in the day, that word just means like of the people, like normal people.

Oh, really? It doesn't necessarily mean that it was perverted necessarily. Okay. Yeah. It's good enough. There you go. I'm going to read you two Charles Spurgeon quotes that make, make him one of my favorite preachers. Okay. The first one is Charles Spurgeon on effeminate pastors. Okay. This is Charles Spurgeon.

There are silly young ladies who are in raptures with a dear young man whose main thought is his precious person. These, it is to be hoped, are becoming fewer every day, but as for sensible men, and especially the sturdy workmen of our great cities, they utterly abhor, foppery in a ministry. I don't know what that means. I got a feeling it might mean something. I don't, but that's what he said. Interesting. wherever you see affectation you find it once a barrier between that man and the common sense multitudes. Basically what he's saying is, hey man, preach like normal blue-collar dudes are going to understand. That's really what he's saying.

Few ears are as delighted. Few ears are delighted with the voices of peacocks. It is a pity that we cannot persuade all ministers to be men, for it is hard to see how otherwise they will be truly men of God. It is equally to be deplored that we cannot induce preachers to speak and judge. gesticulate. There's a word for you. Like other sensible persons for it is impossible that they should grasp the masses until they do. All foreign matters of attitude, tone, or dress are barricades between us and the people. We must talk like men if we would win men. Charles Peres and one, now here's a second one. In response to some of the newspaper articles, and this is to J.D. Vance's

point of like, man, sometimes sort of intelligentsia, well, you know, it's, it's Stop being rough and abrasive and, you know, sort of thing. Be dignified while you advance evil things and will like you more. That's kind of can be the vibe. So Charles Spurge is getting lit up for his sort of blue-collar, gritty language by newspapers. This is how he responds. I am perhaps vulgar, but it is not intentional,

save that I must and I will make the people listen. Now, I'm going, the quote he's gone, I feel this in my bones. Like, when I read this, I was like, that he's put in words to exactly how it feels a preacher. My firm conviction is that we have had quite enough polite preachers, and many require a change. God has owned me among the most degraded and offcasts.

Let others serve their class. These are mine, and to them, I must keep. I love it, dude. I love it. He had a specific race set before him. He had it. He ran his race, my friend. And he had to run it.

So let me put a bow on it like this. what doubt that does is he's like your tone and you know you you chopping you know USAID these are post-Christian things and dude I just want to keep in a blunt straightforward way reminding us okay you're saying that's post-Christian let me tell you here's what's post-Christian a a political movement that redefines marriage erases gender mutilates children passes laws that take children from Christian families who will not affirm their child's quote unquote gender, cheer and max boost mass infant slaughter, open borders, jail abortion protesters praying outside of clinics,

sprint towards Islamic socialism, and then use the government school system to indoctrinate everybody's kids into believing those things. My friends, that's post-Christian. Straightforward way, there you go. Thank you, Pastor Josh. Would you pray for us? Yeah, sure. Lord, thank you. Thank you for a chance to open. open up the word and look at both the word and the world. And Father, would you make us men and women with clear vision to see the world through the lens of the word? God, would you make us good Christian men and women? Would you make us good familymen, churchmen, statesmen?

And will we do that as we bend our knee to Jesus Christ? Father, thank you for the great harvest of salvation that we got to see. Lake Point this week. And Lord, I pray that in the next three weeks, you would do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine. And I pray that you do it in some of the lives of the people who are listening right now to God be the glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. My free brother.