Rhett: 0:00

Okay, justin, so many people who listen to this podcast may or may not know that we pre-record everything we do and then we release them. And so last week we released an episode that we previously recorded and when it dropped, it dropped in the middle of a lot of tragedy in our nation. And so by the time this releases, it'll be a week and a half since the horrible incident in Utah with Charlie Kirk's assassination. And so, while this podcast has always been designed to be fun, uplifting, encouraging, inspiring, helping people at any level of life, from young to old, single to married, young adult, college student, high schooler it's always been our hope to help you and to come alongside you and just to encourage you. And so, while the nature of this conversation is going to be a little bit different, our hope is still that somehow, some way, we can find comfort and encouragement through this conversation.

Rhett: 1:17

But, justin, you and I talked right before we hit record and we spent a good hour and a half just kind of processing how we're both processing this tragic news of what happened in our country, and we both felt like there's something. Well, I say we, I at least shared how I'm processing things with this whole event with Charlie Kirk's assassination, and so, armchair authentic. It's about being authentic, and so what you're going to get today is authenticity from both of us, and what you're going to get from me is really where I am today, and it's been a few days since those horrific events.

Justin: 2:16

Yeah, we're closing on a week, yeah.

Rhett: 2:19

And you could probably hear it at even my breath, just a little bit of the I don't know, it's not nervousness, but just this You're just weighing your words, Weighing each and every word that comes out of my mouth, knowing that it has impact.

Justin: 2:33

Well, and knowing, too, that we're not just doing this for weekly releases of episodes. The primary reason and we said this early episodes that we're creating this. It's like a time capsule, exactly that. When we close this up, our boys, our family, our closest friends will always have something to go back to yeah and understand who we were and who we are, and so we don't even talking about yeah, philly's, karen, yeah, you know, two weeks ago, I mean obviously we were having fun, but our whole point there was compassion because you don't know what's weeks ago.

Justin: 3:03

I mean, obviously we were having fun, but our whole point there was compassion because you don't know what's going on the other side, absolutely. So we try to let our words be fun but also have a little bit of weight to them, and so I guess, for the audience to know we do feel a sense of weight anytime we record, yeah, but when you have events that unfold, like we had the past six days, it feels a bit weighty.

Rhett: 3:28

So, in all honesty and transparency even knowing how to start this, because I'm still processing Now the beautiful thing about our friendship if I can speak to this for a minute before we dive into this is while we have a lot of unique likeness yeah um, there are some major differences in our lives and how we process.

Justin: 3:52

We're very unified, but we are extremely unique from one another Beautifully, beautifully said.

Rhett: 3:58

And so, if you've listened to this for any length of time, you realize, or if you hung out with me, I do a lot of talking because I'm a verbal processor. It's so weird. But like I'll go to marriage conferences or whatever, and they're always, you know, dissing the guys from like man guys, you don't have any words to speak. And the women have all these words and for some reason I'm good if I just hear a hundred words, you know like I'm good.

Justin: 4:25

Yeah, I would.

Rhett: 4:25

I would actually say that's where you and I are alike. Yeah, yeah.

Justin: 4:34

We have grown up, we are verbal processors. I've never understood the marriage conferences when they talk about you know guys don't like to talk. I'll look at Summer and I think wow, do they not know me Right?

Rhett: 4:48

And so're unified in that. But as far as processing, I'm a verbal processor. I like to talk things out loud, which means I have to have the right people around me that know who I am, so that I can have the freedom to speak, with the grace to know that the words that are coming out aren't always going to be truly representative, maybe, of what I'm thinking, but I just got to get all of it out of my system, no one that's going to hold you to something and say but I thought you said 10 minutes.

Justin: 5:10

They're trying to get you Exactly and when you're, when you got that close soul friend connection, you don't have to worry about that.

Rhett: 5:17

And that's what I have with you, and that's what I have with a very few people, very few.

Justin: 5:21

Same to me.

Rhett: 5:22

And so I've. I've had some time to process out loud. I've had some time and and so I know, in the culture we live in today, um, there is, everybody is expecting a rapid fire response the moment something happens whether good, bad, ugly, tragic. And I was so close to jumping in with everybody the day of and I was like no, I felt the Lord was like you need to process this because you're grieving. You don't know why you're grieving, you're just going through some things. And I will be honest, like I could not believe the amount of grief I was dealing with on a man that I've never known yeah.

Rhett: 6:02

Personally, yeah, outside of what I've seen. Yeah, so what happened on Wednesday, september the 10th and I responded on social media on Thursday, september the 11th, and this was just my honest truth and I want to read this so that I capture this from my family and my friends who go back and listen to this, but also just to capture, maybe, the leadership and the thought process that I was going through and then maybe we can speak on where we are today. But I said this, there are no words that can fully capture what I'm still processing from yesterday's horrific news. The shock, anger, disgust, grief and heartbreak have impacted me deeply. Even though I never had the privilege of personally knowing Charlie or his family First. My heart is broken for Charlie's beautiful family, for his wife and kids. My prayers are with them in this unimaginable and devastatingly painful moment. I'm asking the Father of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ, to pour out his comfort, his strength and his abundant grace in this tragic time. While my heart grieves for his family, my mind also turns to what this loss means for our nation.

Rhett: 7:21

President Trump called this a dark moment for America. Mourning the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk has not just an attack on a man, but on the freedoms and values that make this nation great, and I could not agree more. Charlie stood for life, liberty, justice for all and, above all, for Jesus Christ. He spoke truth with love, with grace, with courage and with dignity. He stood boldly even in the face of relentless mockery from those who disagreed with him, and while he was not perfect, he modeled how to disagree respectfully and carried himself with as much wisdom as any man or woman could, all while valuing humanity. Make no mistake, this wicked crime was an all-out assault on the essential freedoms of life, liberty and the right to speak and believe without fear. Friends, when a nation reaches the point where its people can no longer speak their convictions without fear, it surrenders the very principles that have secured America's strength and freedom for generations. Where its people can no longer speak their convictions without fear, it surrenders the very principles that have secured America's strength and freedom for generations. I refuse to be silent in the face of this evil and I will not allow this moment to fade without making a firm decision in my heart and calling on others to take a stand, to act with conviction and to carry forward what must be defended. This is a turning point. We must rise, not with hate or revenge, but with courage, with faith and with a hope rooted in the power, authority and love of Jesus. Let us be found faithful in this moment, as Charlie was in his, for in the end, it is not politics that will carry us through, but faith in Jesus Christ, our only true hope. Now, this was my response.

Rhett: 9:23

As I mentioned before, I could not believe how this impacted me. The more that I've thought about it, the more that I've processed it, the more that I realized that what deeply upsets me more than anything, murder is murder, and I hate it when it happens to anybody. I hate death period. It's wrong, it's vicious, it's demonic. So why has this person's death made me feel different, made me grieve different? It's for what he stood for.

Rhett: 9:55

When I look at the overall picture and arc of his very short 31 years of life, what I see and what I've seen and what I hear from people close to him, is that he loved God with all his heart, all his mind, all his soul, all his strength. He believed that God, the Father, sent God, the Son in Jesus Christ, to take on the wrath and take on sin, so that you and I didn't have to take it on. He believed in the death of a very perfect Savior who is the very perfect sacrifice for God's rescue mission for humanity. He believed not only in his death, his burial, but also his resurrection, based off the biblical standards, biblical principles, archaeological evidence, witnesses, eyewitnesses, all the different conceptual, contextual, cultural things that were happening in that day. Based off history and facts alone, he put his faith in the Savior and in that faith he experienced a transformation. And that transformation happens when you profess and you accept the greatest gift given to mankind Jesus Christ. Upon accepting that, he believed that the Holy Spirit then fills and dwells in your heart and your life. He began to experience the power of God and the wisdom of God. According to scripture, that happens through faith in Jesus Christ.

Rhett: 11:20

Make no mistake, he was not a perfect human, nor are any of us. He was a young man who loved God, who was growing, who had the grace to hopefully learn from his mistakes along the way. But when I think about and I look through the lens of this person who loved God, who wasn't perfect but who believed in the Christian faith, in biblical Christianity death, burial, resurrection, jesus Christ not just a Savior, but the Savior in the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes unto the Father who loves us so much, except through him. While that truth may seem so hard and so wrong to our community and to our culture and it goes against the grain, it is the truth and the truth is loving at its deepest sense, because the truth is what sets us free. And he believed that and I've seen that and I could see that from the fruit of his family, from his kids, from those closest to him. You can't fake that and you cannot fake that kind of courage.

Rhett: 12:23

I have spent limitless time since this, going through, going through, going through social media posts after social media post of things that he said, things that he's done and the way that he, respectfully, could disagree with somebody, but yet still value their humanity yeah, but yet still value their humanity. What stands out to me about Charlie Kirk, for me, and why it means so much to my heart that I've had a chance to process this, is not just a political assassination. This was a martyr of a man of God who was imperfect but yet who chose to still in his imperfectness, put himself out there and to be courageous and bold in the face of mockery, to stand for what he believed in, even if you did not believe it. He standed for the biblical principles. Whether you agree or disagree, it doesn't matter. The truth is, america was founded on biblical principles. It is written all over, all over DC, it's on money, it's on everything. Our country was founded on biblical principles and because of that, whether you like it, love it, hate it, believe in it. The reason we've had our freedoms is because of that foundation and those principles. And the moment we take away that foundation, just like a house built on a foundation, if you remove those foundations, that house will crumble and fall. Charlie knew that. Anybody knows that that's what happens, and he fought for what he believed in for life, liberty and justice for all, even if that meant that we disagreed.

Rhett: 13:58

Charlie fought for freedom. He fought for freedom of speech is what makes America great. He did not fight for freedom for us to come together and to always agree. He fought for the freedom for us to be able to express our ideas, our thoughts and everything that we are as humanity. He fought for the freedom to be able to speak from both angles and to agree to disagree in a respectful, humane, dignified way. To disagree in a respectful, humane, dignified way. And so what hurts me so much is what he stood for, in his faith, in his courage for Christ and his boldness to put himself out there, because his last message, his last words, was the gospel of Jesus, before a trigger was pulled and his life was taken.

Rhett: 14:44

And so, while I mourn everybody's loss, I mourn this loss a little bit differently, because of what he stood for and how he stood for it, and how courageous he was and how bold he was. And this man wasn't just a politician. He was a husband, he was a father and he was a brother in the Lord who gave his life above all, for the gospel of Jesus, and it's the gospel of Jesus that runs its integrals through every part of our constitution and a part of who we are in this great nation. He knew that and he fought for that and he was willing to lay his life down for it, and I think it's so powerful. When he was asked what does he want to be remembered for, he said he wanted to be remembered for his courage, for his faith. Not the Constitution, not anything else Like it was literally. I want to be remembered for the courage, for my faith. He and I share the same faith. How we go about demonstrating that is different, because there's only one, charlie Kirk. I'm going to demonstrate that differently because there's only one, red Pardon, but man. So I mourn the loss of a brother who was killed on behalf of his faith and fighting for the freedom of speech, life, liberty and justice for all, and that's what I've been processing and that's what I just wanted to share is like I've had some time to really reflect and the way I feel today I'm going to constantly grow and I appreciate the grace to get better. But, justin, when I think about this moment in American history and I hate it but I look at it. And I go in American history and I hate it but I look at it and I go. Man, my heart grieves the loss of a husband, for sure, and a father, but I'm grieving the loss of a brother who put his life out there on the line.

Rhett: 16:37

We were at our men's small group the other day and one person just happened to mention how many disciples laid their lives down for the gospel All of them but one. Ultimately he died, but anything of greatness for the gospel. Like I told you earlier, I said, man, I hope this doesn't happen. I really don't wish this upon myself, but really there's no greater way to die than to know that your last words were preaching the good news of Jesus, than to know that your last words were preaching the good news of Jesus, god's rescue plan for humanity, to bring us into his love, to experience reconciliation, restoration, healing, hope that transcends all understanding and that transforms something so deep within us that we all long for, and we've been longing for it. We've just been looking for it in all the wrong places.

Rhett: 17:27

And so, for me, when I think of Charlie Kirk, I don't think of politics. I think of a man who imperfect because we all are was courageous, was bold and was willing to go into the hell and to fight mockery and to try to gain an understanding, in a respectful way, of why people believed what they believed, listen to quote their version of their truth and why and how they could substantiate it, and then to allow a dialogue for him to share why he believes what he believes and present so many facts, so much evidence, and do it in a way where they could still disagree. There's not very many people, though, that I saw on the other end, unfortunately, be able to respond with as much respect as he did for them, and, yeah, that's a whole other conversation. So my heart goes out to Erica and his kids and watching her speech the other day, but I'll stop with that, cause I know I just said a lot and I'll give you a chance to either talk or respond, but that that's there you go.

Justin: 18:37

Yeah, um well, I know you as much as anybody does. I know you as much as anybody does, and so I know, when I hear authenticity from you and that is just for our audience listening too, I mean it's moving and it's very, very I mean I hear your heartbeat on it Like that's a real rep that you guys just got. Yeah, I mean it is interesting how you don't something you said that you know I resonated, with which a whole lot of that I did, but just how it caught you off guard. You really didn't know him, yeah, and I would think you know I'm trying to keep it more personal now, but I have seen that a lot of people have echoed that same thing, cause I remember telling that to summer I was like like man, this is uh, I'm grieving this in a way that it did. It kind of caught me off guard. Yeah, you know, and I think you did such a great job talking about him with charlie kirk, so I won't go into the detail of him. You know, really, to undo what you did, that was wonderful. But also the way I'll describe him more is I think it was because of the symbol that he is. There was a symbol there that he represented, that I don't know that we knew until you know this. You know tragic event happened and you know, I remember from my end, I was at work, actually working on some curriculum that I was developing for our college and you know, when I got the news, it just, it was just yeah, it's like, oh, just, I mean that was my first thought.

Justin: 20:13

I'm sitting there thinking, oh man, oh ow, yeah, but honestly, you know, authentically, here I also thought, hmm, that stinks, yeah, but then I'll move on with my day because people die, right and we have to move on, yeah, and I noticed that man, it's still just kind of weighing on me, and so my first thing was I shut my computer cause I didn't want to taint whatever I'm curriculum I'm developing, because my mind was offline on a creating mindset. Um, you know, I try to help people with this a lot. So here I am having a chance to do my own homework that I give, and I go ahead and go into what I think is going to be grieving mode and like let's take, take this in. What's what, lord, what, what's going on right now? Yeah, and I ended up making my way home. My first thought was I want to be with summer. Yeah, I want to. I so does my youngest Ben, and so I've become quite the quarterback right yeah, I think you'd be impressed.

Rhett: 21:35

Yeah, my arm.

Justin: 21:36

You know I still can't help when I throw a little touchdown pass to him. You know you have that thought like yeah. I might go walk on somewhere.

Rhett: 21:44

Oh yeah, I still got it. You'd be like that guy, that kicker that walked on to. Was it the Buffalo Bill game?

Justin: 21:49

the other night. Yeah, oh my gosh 41 years old.

Rhett: 21:53

I mean, caught a plane real quick. That's so crazy, isn't that crazy?

Justin: 21:58

But it is that mindset of the story of throwing football with my son. But it was a way of just. It was also I throwing football with my son, but it was a way of just. It was also I realized I'm processing and I'm grieving.

Justin: 22:10

So I'm throwing and having a great time with him, but we threw a couple hours till it got dark and um, and I'm taking my boys to my, my two oldest to their student night, motion night, I mean just all these things. So I'm doing the things that hopefully a good dad does and it really is a ministry to me to minister to my boys that way from football to my two youngest to take my oldest to church. I really am, I'm grateful and these moments I remember in the on that night I can't say. I'm just always thinking like wow, isn't this great? But it reminded me of this is very anonymous, obscure, but this is an amazing role I'm getting to play right now.

Justin: 22:56

So when tragedy hits, it usually unlocks a fresh moment, much like I've shared in our previous episodes, when me and Summer went through our first miscarriage, like that was very tragic. It was that grieving sense and we had to grieve it and we had to walk through that. But what came out of it? I remember being a different person on the other side and that was 2006, december. I've never been the same since then and here I was a disciple of Christ.

Justin: 23:29

But we go through our peeling the onion phases and you grow in your faith and that was a very big deal for me and it has shaped what ministry has been to this day and it's we don't have the time to go into.

Justin: 23:44

There's been those other moments, whether it's just shaped me or it's shaped even like a. Maybe it's a personal deal or it's a what feels more like a community feel this, what we're experiencing right now. I began to understand what I was internalizing, was thinking it was more just me and a little bit of background, for that is when I will jump on something like YouTube. Just like everybody who's listening, you can jump on some shorts and you're going to see, especially at the height of any kind of election season, which we've been in the past two, three years, you begin to see things and you see things from your viewpoint and those that are not your viewpoint, yeah, and you naturally just will kind of listen in and I think that's one of the earlier ways that I was introduced really to Charlie Kirk would be a lot of these YouTube things yeah, and.

Justin: 24:45

I do think that I have pretty an even kill when it comes to like a temperament. I try not to judge, like I try not to go in and calling something a villain if it doesn't believe the same way I believe, right. So I have a pretty big grace when I divide parts. But I wouldn't notice that when I would see things from him I would think, wow, that was, that was a wow. I didn't know what a believer.

Justin: 25:13

I was kind of expecting the political rants that you would hear and of course he has his political beliefs. That's a huge part of what he did. But what would stand out as a pastor, I would feel a connection of. I know the scriptures and what he just said. That was so well said and I've not heard a lot of people say it was such grace and truth. And when I hear that just like I would with any and there are those out there that I feel the same way about and it draws me in. So I do think that there's that perspective that maybe I was grieving the fact of all those little things that will pop on.

Justin: 25:53

I'm going to miss seeing them, because I really enjoyed when he would make a point of scripture and he had a gift to verbalize something that I thought, wow, that echoed the sentiment I was feeling. I didn't know how to say it that way. Wow, he said, that was such love. And so those were the highlights that I would begin to look and say, man, maybe that's why I'm grieving. But then, as I began to talk with my wife and as I began to talk with you and some friends, I realized, oh, my goodness, I'm not alone, we're grieving. And then, as you know and our audience knows, I'm not on the Internet a lot, but I clicked on to see, really, for me, we talked about this before, I wonder. I like to rightly divide. I try to go to Fox News.

Rhett: 26:45

Yeah, I try to go to CNN.

Justin: 26:47

I'll try to go to BBC, MSNBC and somewhere in the middle there is hopefully the truth Somewhere in the middle. But one of those of all that I just named is kind of being ganged up on yeah yeah.

Justin: 27:02

But I make myself so that I don't become like a Homer, if you will, to a certain. I'm not talking scripture here. I'm Homer all day long but on our preferences, that we all have, and we're lying if we say we don't. I might have a bent, but as accountability, I try to go to them all to at least get a picture, because ultimately I'm taking everything to scripture. And there are things when I'm talking to you now and I think you said it so well I'm not aware of everything that's going on in this world. And if you call me on it and confront me about it and you make me aware, I will have, I hope, the humility to hear you out and say, wow, I didn't know that was going on, okay, so let me make that clear. But what I do know is going on is what we're facing over these past, at the day of this drop date, 12 days that you're listening to this.

Justin: 27:59

But I began to realize, man, it wasn't Charlie Kirk, it was the symbol that he was and, yes, he's very special in how he did what he did, and you loved or hated him, right, but he was a symbol of expression that I think that people realize. That's what I want to say and it it sparked something in people and it sparks something in people and it makes me think back to the pressure that someone who's ready to go step into that front line must feel to step out of a comfort zone. I remember not long after I surrendered my life to Christ so this would have been 90eties, mid nineties and I'm going down to in the city we live in, birmingham. I go down to the fountain, it's five points. I just felt like that's where I wanted to go. It's just kind of that, I don't know, hipster kind of just.

Rhett: 29:06

Is that still a thing? I don't, I don't know. Hipster kind of just. Is that still a thing? I don't even know. No offense to those two, but you're in a mix it was like.

Justin: 29:12

But you also you had kind of your goth crew, you had homeless.

Rhett: 29:18

You just had really an interesting hodgepodge of very much. Yeah, you have Hispanic, that was the only spot. You have people who love Jesus, people who don't love. Jesus, you have a mix of everything in that spot.

Justin: 29:30

Well, in those days too. That is where you would have gay trans, I mean, I guess trans. I mean you didn't hear as much on that, but that is where you had it. If it was happening, it was there. And I remember going there and I brought my guitar and I'm just singing, making music and people are they? People are down for an acoustic guitar making music.

Justin: 29:56

Yeah, because I was making music and I'm sitting there and and really just something hit my spirit. I feel like it was the Holy spirit and I just had this compassion for everybody sitting around the fountain and I don't know why. Don't know if it was a good move or not, honestly, rhett, but I think it was. I know it was scary because I just remember sitting there and I just thought, man, I was saved not long ago in his grace, and maybe I didn't know too many songs on the guitar but I just started singing. And maybe I didn't know too many songs on the guitar but I just started singing amazing grace, how sweet the sound. And I'm singing amazing grace on the guitar. And you know, when you have a moment and you're thinking like I'm picturing this is about to hit everybody and they're gonna understand the grace of Christ.

Rhett: 30:44

Like these are real feelings.

Justin: 30:47

Real feelings. I'm there leaning against the fountain and all of a sudden these people probably 20, 30 people they were on my side making music Like they were just loving the dude sitting at the fountain. At once I begin hearing just hisses, boos. I mean it wasn't a multitude, but it was like 30 people. I can't make out what they're saying because I just triggered something.

Rhett: 31:21

You awoken something in the spirit realm that nobody talks about these days as much as they should.

Justin: 31:26

It's real in the spirit realm that nobody talks about these days as much as they should. Brother, I'm sitting there and I feel like. I'm on my assignment.

Rhett: 31:30

Yeah.

Justin: 31:31

And I'm all of a sudden, I'm starting to get scared.

Rhett: 31:35

You're pissing off demons. Yeah, let's just call it what it is. Yeah, and you don't have to say that I'm with you, bro.

Justin: 31:40

I don't hold back saying that. I'm fully aware that it was spiritual warfare going on. Yeah, and I'm sitting there and it reminds me of when Paul was preaching the gospel and he had the little girl who was like here he is the most high God, telling about the most high God, but she's got like a gift of, like she's psychic, yeah, and he finally gets tired of it, yeah, and he's like be gone.

Rhett: 32:07

In the name of Jesus. In Jesus' name, yeah, cast his spirit out of her and cast his spirit out.

Justin: 32:11

I would love to say that's what happened. But I had the form of that little girl. It was in the version of some young guy who was kind of like the. He reminded me of, kind of like the Joker in the sense of in a kingdom. He just was the goof of the group, you could tell, probably loved by everybody, respected by no one Let me say funny to everybody but respected by no one. And he runs up to me. He's like oh, you're in trouble now, you're in trouble now. And I'm still kind of I turn it into a guitar solo as I'm talking to him. He's like you see that guy. And there is a guy who's walking towards me, his shirts off, and he's a strong dude and he's like same thing, he just put this guy in the hospital last week, messed him up. Good for doing the same thing, he's about to get you.

Justin: 33:01

And it was just like he's grinning and laughing at me, rhett, and I'm nervous and inside I'm like dear God, like I don't, I don't want it to end this way. I was nervous, but I also had this thought in me, like I got to just stand. He finally makes his way up, rhett, and I know it's. I'm outnumbered big time. I'm being booed. This guy walks up to me and all I say is like Lord, I love you.

Rhett: 33:28

You're outnumbered in the natural, but not in the supernatural man.

Justin: 33:31

Brett he, he looks at me and I'm kind of ready to go ahead and just take the shot, because I just don't know what to do yeah, he said, let me see your guitar.

Justin: 33:44

And I'm like great, he's gonna bash it over the fountain. And I'm like, okay, yeah, man, hand it to him. And he starts playing some chords. He's like show me that thing. And next thing, you know, I don't know, but there was a grace over that moment and I began to understand like the harm is no longer here, like whatever happened, god has delivered. In this moment there is a peace here and because he was cool with me, the little crowd of the jeers and the frustrated people calmed down. Because he was kind of the alpha male and he played and I'm starting to show him some stuff and he hands it back to me. He's like man, nice guitar bro. I was like, thanks.

Rhett: 34:22

Well.

Justin: 34:23

I kind of slid it into my bag after that moment Like I'm ready to go home. I had already kind of taken a lot mentally. Yeah, I was like you were young, I was young. I was feeling like, well, I hope that ministered to somebody, but I'm ready to pack it up and head on home.

Rhett: 34:37

I came out ahead of the game. Yeah, and you're thinking next time I'm bringing Rhett down here with least, yeah.

Justin: 34:44

And it's so true, and I walked away and I started playing that in my mind this week because it doesn't always go the way. I've been in many a situation, just like you read, where we are in our walls and we present a gospel, the wonderful, truthful gospel, and the masses are giving their life to Jesus, and it's a beautiful expression, but it's much less frequent of and it can still happen, but you're in a room where you're kind of in control of it for the most part.

Justin: 35:22

Yeah there's something when you step outside and the retaliation is a lot different because, as you said a while ago, it's opening up. You are, you're opening up a new level of spiritual warfare, yeah, and so the part that you know, not even just grieving, but now even talking about what's happened after the fact and as people begin to listen to this. Over the next five, 10 years we'll see how it sits with history, but one thing that will stand the test of time is the gospel, and the gospel is right now. Because of this, I'm watching it do something in people. For some reason, it's messing with a lot of people in a good way. Yeah, I agree, where there's a lot of comfort, it's making people uncomfortable, maybe because they saw Our Nation, which has been about freedom of speech. Maybe they watched live. They really got to in. These days you can watch it. Yeah, real time In high def.

Rhett: 36:27

Yeah, I high def yeah.

Justin: 36:29

And honestly, by the way, I've only seen a distant video and I will not let myself watch the up close.

Rhett: 36:36

I do not recommend anybody seeing. We were never. This is another conversation.

Justin: 36:40

Yeah.

Rhett: 36:41

We were never meant to see what we're seeing now. Yeah, I agree, and that's so. Our humanity is not.

Justin: 36:46

I've kept my mind from that. I can already. I got a great imagination.

Rhett: 36:49

My heart goes out to kids.

Justin: 36:52

Yeah For having to see, to having to see this, but because people have seen this, it it has at least made people say, okay, here is someone. Whether you agreed politically, there was fruit. If you're a believer, I can't talk to our unbelievers. I know we have people who are unbelievers listening and you know how we feel about you.

Rhett: 37:14

We love you so much, jesus loves you.

Justin: 37:17

You know, we have nothing but grace and truth.

Rhett: 37:20

And we can agree to disagree. That's right and that's the beauty of this wonderful country.

Justin: 37:25

That's right.

Justin: 37:26

But I am talking to our believers right now, people who've professed Jesus and made him Lord of their life.

Justin: 37:32

I'm seeing a wake up call in people like that not on the political side, even though that's happening as well, I would say on both sides but I'm talking about what will endure, which is our belief in Christ, and there are men and women and young people who are making a fresh declaration of their boldness in Christ and their commitment to Christ, realizing, hey, there is stuff going on in the world we probably don't know that we're sheltered from, hence what I said earlier. There's stuff that people could call me out on. I don't even know, so it's a terrible world. We probably don't know that we're sheltered from, hence what I said earlier. There's stuff that people could call me out on I don't even know, so it's a terrible world we live in. But this hit close to home in a way that people are recognizing. There's a chance that, if I back up the teachings of Jesus and the scriptures that he grew up learning from Genesis, you know and then of course, for us all the way to revelation.

Justin: 38:32

But for Jesus, the stuff we believe the same thing. And when you call out things that are, according to God, wrong yeah, Just like it happened. If you read the same Bible, as you said earlier, 11 of the 12 were killed for their beliefs it awakens something in people to realize wow, there was a profession I made on a Sunday to make Jesus my Lord. But if I'm going to continue growing in my walk and the goal to win people to Jesus, wow, there could be a cost.

Rhett: 39:07

Christianity was never meant to be comfortable. I'm going to say that again. Christianity, according to the word of God, if you read it, was never a comfort type religion. It was always uncomfortable, it was always Drawing you into the uncomfortable on this side of the planet. And then, when you breathe your last breath into eternal comfort, yeah, we are called. Christ said if you want to follow me, take up your cross daily. Yeah, sacrifice yourself, lay your own life down and get ready for, like, you're going to experience some trouble in this world. Yeah, take heart. I've overcome it. Yeah, I didn't say you weren't going to not experience things.

Rhett: 39:46

This goes right in the face and this spurs me up for the. You know, I don't know if we got enough time here. We might just have to carry this on to another conversation due to time, but, like, it spurs me not to interrupt you into a courage that we need, in a fresh understanding that this is no longer about three points. And make me feel good and give me my little TED talk and let me go home and get back to my little world and come back next Sunday. Give my little TED talk, encourage me and tell me I can live my best life. Keep moving, don't make no mistake.

Rhett: 40:16

God wants you to prosper, for sure, that is his word. But he also like nothing. Perseverance creates what character? Character oh yeah Produces hope, oh yeah. Perseverance creates what character? Character, oh yeah produces hope, oh yeah. And so, man, I don't mean to interrupt you because I'm I'm fired up over here too, on the other end, for zeal for the lord, yeah, in righteous anger, but also wanting to encourage those fellow believers to stand up. So I'm almost like I'm, I'm fired up and ready to go, but at the same time I want you to finish your thought, because I don't want to interrupt it.

Justin: 40:48

Yeah, no, I love your thought, I have high respect for it and I'm in. I'll wrap it up. I'm in process. Yeah, I was. You know the week, literally. You know if you're talking six days into this. So far there's stuff that you already know, listening to that we don't know at this moment, but we're listening back to this, knowing it with you.

Rhett: 41:11

So who knows what's going to change?

Justin: 41:14

But my, you know, my first six days, you know we were talking about, you know, as friends, we're checking on each other and it was literally it's been a mix of know. Life has to go on. Yeah, for the land of the course, there's commitments I have right now, as I said, yeah, I, I took this, I'm grieving it. I had to resume creating my curriculum for a place that I'm deeply, I deeply, love and feel called to, which is highlands college. At the same time, and feel called to, which is Highlands College At the same time, I'm also developing stuff which is my primary, which is Church of the Highlands, yeah, and being effective as I can for really our team and the people who are a part of it, our congregation, and there's things that are being created. And obviously there's things that are being created and obviously I've, you know, there's things we're preparing and life moves on all to say that you have to agree and you have to live life.

Justin: 42:15

I'm living life and grieving. But I have found, you know, in six days, is I'm trying to prioritize, but also I don't want to miss out on the work that I know the Holy spirit can do when you're at a fresh sensitivity, right. So you don't want to miss out on the work that I know the Holy Spirit can do when you're at a fresh sensitivity Right. So you don't want to miss that Right. So there's been, as I was sharing with you, there's been a lot of walks in the garden. There's been a lot of walks in the woods. I've sat down on rocks just kind of staring off and processing.

Rhett: 42:45

Yeah.

Justin: 42:46

And for me it is, yes, what happened, but it is this stuff with Charlie Kirk, but it's really, yeah, yeah, I'm processing it with Justin, like what's the calling that I'm living in? That God is the assignments God has given me. I'm using that emotion, yes, but I'm assessing me and my family and what I'm a part of. And, lord, how can I steward where you have me right now that I will look back to know, no matter what I do we're not talking numbers here, I could care less about that but what God's assignment is for me? How can I look back if the Lord hasn't come back 10 years, 15 years from now and say, wow, 47 year old Justin left nothing on the field, exactly, and so good.

Rhett: 43:36

Now, 47-year-old Justin left nothing on the field, exactly.

Justin: 43:38

That's so good and that's the processing I've been doing. Where you allow yourself to weep, I allow myself to work, I allow myself to throw football, I allow myself to hug my wife, I allow myself to hang out with my best friend here before this recording button started. But here I am six days in, at the time of me talking, knowing that God is at work. He was already at work, but God is at work and he uses all things. All things. They work to His good, I mean for those who love the Lord they work for us oh it all works and everything will bring glory to Him.

Justin: 44:24

And, as believers, my final remarks would be, before turning it back over to you, would just be I pray for my brothers and sisters who are in the faith that something like this can be a moment of reflection and sensitivity where the Holy Spirit, who's always been saying something to us, it just creates a new little outlet that we might open up and that he would pierce our heart to awaken to the assignment that he has uniquely crafted everybody listening to this to accomplish.

Rhett: 45:01

Well said, I love you. Thank you for processing that with your brother with the record button on. You know so many different ways I could take this and I am really honestly weighing my words and asking the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the God, to help me with my words as I express my heart. There are a lot of people in our country who are hurting and who are grieving. And if you're grieving, here's the beauty of Scripture and what Christ does for us, for those who believe.

Rhett: 45:37

We grieve, but we don for us for those who believe. We grieve, but we don't grieve as those who have no hope. So we still grieve, but we have hope. And so for our brother, we know he's in the presence of the living God. The moment that he breathed his last breath, jesus caught him in his arms and said Welcome home, good and faithful servant, not because of what you did politically, but the way you loved your wife, the way you loved your kids and the way you loved my son, jesus. Because, make no mistake, every single person listening to this, including myself and you in the room I speak this to myself, but the truth is, every single one of us, including every demon in hell, will stand before the presence of the living God, they will bow.

Rhett: 46:19

Every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the living Lamb of God. It's the truth.

Justin: 46:27

And the truth will be known by everybody who disagreed to the end. Yeah, will be.

Rhett: 46:34

And a side note to that theologically speaking, the power of Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection gave him the authority over hell. By the power of the Holy Spirit living in every Christian, we have the authority not in ourselves, but in Christ Jesus, because his name is greater and God has given him authority over everything. So we have authority over every demon in hell, in this realm, through Christ Jesus. That is the truth of Scripture. I saw one video where this Satanist came up and was talking to Charlie and he didn't really talk. He had this garb on and he started just mumbo-jumbo, spellcasting type thing. Charlie looked, he said in the name of Jesus, I cast you out. And the guy stopped speaking, stood still, turned to his right and started walking off, not because of who Charlie Kirk was, but because of the power and authority of Jesus' name over that demonic force. Real time. And Charlie, he spoke, he didn't get loud. He said in the name of Jesus, I cast you out, demonic spirit. And he came under the authority and submission of Christ. And so there's power in his name.

Rhett: 47:46

Every single one of us will stand before our God and the one thing that will separate us from everything is God's going to say what did you do with my son? Oh, he was my savior, he was my Lord. God, I thank you for everything you did to rescue me. You gave everything for me and I love Jesus Well done, good and faithful. It's not about what we accomplish in our doing. It's about our being with Christ, and that's the beauty of grace. It's a free gift, we cannot earn it. It's beautiful and it's amazing, and that's the beauty of grace. It's a free gift, we cannot earn it. It's beautiful and it's amazing, and we welcome everything. God welcomes everyone into this and you don't have to accept it. That's fine. But there is a consequence to not accepting his truth.

Rhett: 48:29

So there's that, and I want to say that, and I say that in the most loving, kind, truthful way. One way to heaven, jesus is the way, he is the truth and he is the life. No one comes under the Father except for him. That can sound very in our American culture. Well, that's not loving. No, that is. The best love somebody could ever give you is to tell you the truth, because they're trying to save you for all eternity, so that you can experience a love of a Father who cares so deeply for you. So there's that, and I'm looking at the clock because I know we've got appointments and other things going on today but I want to at least share that nugget of truth.

Rhett: 49:04

And I do want to say this what inspires me more than anything is that this man decided to do something with his life and to take a stand and to be courageous with his faith and to be courageous with his faith. And what I'm seeing is that what the enemy tried to silence through that demonic spirit, to try to silence this man's faith, and how that, tied into the biblical worldview of our government, our nation and what has made us free the devil tried to silence by taking this man out has actually spurred the light of Christ in a way. Here we have the widow, miss Precious Erica, sharing her faith with much grace, preaching the gospel to. I don't know what the numbers were, but I guarantee you it was at least half. The world was watching and seeing a woman grieving with hope, filled with the love of God grace, but also grit in the face of the enemy will not be silenced, will continue to stand courageous for the faith that Charlie had and what he believed in in his Father, son and the Holy Spirit. And we saw the gospel being preached in a life-giving way, in a loving way.

Rhett: 50:14

I've been to a lot of funerals and I've been to ones where there's no hope. It is the most heartbreaking and heart-wrenching thing to see somebody grieving the loss of a loved one who has zero hope. And I've been to funerals where they're filled with hope through Christ Jesus and the decisions that that man or that woman made in that casket, and it's filled with love, it's filled with celebration. Yes, tears, they're tears of joy, but at the same time they're tears of the sorrow we experience on this side of humanity. So you're literally getting a live glimpse on live TV of a woman who's grieving with grace and beautiful, sad hurt, like all the emotions right. And so I just want to. I do want to say this. You know I had this thought, but I love this thought, that comfort. I've always preached this. I still believe it from the context. But I think I'm going to. I think I'm going to change the way that I put the language around it and I hope this helps somebody.

Rhett: 51:15

Leadership wise I love excellence and I love giving our best. In other words, I love stewarding things well for sure, but I've always used the language, that excellence? What does it do? It adds value to people. So the way we do that is we want to make things as comfortable as we can, because comfort adds value right, and it does, like creating a place or a space for people to come adds value to people. You want to make them comfortable so that they can receive what you have to say, so that you can love them in a way that they're like hey, man, you thought of me, you took care of me. Man, that means a lot, thank you.

Rhett: 51:48

But what I see has happened over the past 15, 20, 25 years in church and I could speak to that lane because I've been in it I've led as a leader, planted a church, you know, and what I could tell you is what I've seen, spiritually speaking, is we've created so much comfort that we've created cowards in our faith. We've created people that come in, sit in their little lazy boys, get lulled to sleep. We have capital C church. I'm not picking on a church, by the way. We are the church, you and I, not a building, not a name, not a logo, not a brand. We are the church, you and I, and every other person that professes faith in the one and only son of God, jesus Christ. We are the church. So make no mistake, I'm talking about the capital C church all across the country.

Rhett: 52:36

Now, how we do it in America, it's comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort. And it's created cowards because none of us have been, not none of us. I shouldn't say that in such a blank statement, help me, lord. Many of us have been lulled to sleep in our little comfort zone, expecting just the pastor to come up, preach his little word and let's go about our own little lives and live comfortably. And what we saw with Charlie was like he got out of his comfort zone and he was courageous. And so I think discomfort needs to enter the four walls of the building of the church again.

Rhett: 53:07

I think discomfort needs to be taught. I think discomfort nothing good comes from comfort. It lures us to sleep. I'm not saying we shouldn't do things well. We should continue to do things well. We should continue to steward things at the highest capacity, because Christ deserves that for all he's given us, and God deserves the best. But when it comes to what we teach, what we speak, what we sing about, I think we've got to get a lot more comfortable with discomfort, because comfort creates cowards a little bit comfortable, a lot more comfortable with discomfort, because comfort creates cowards. Discomfort creates courage, and that's exactly the environments that Charlie and many others are now starting to walk into.

Rhett: 53:46

Realizing I need to be a little bit uncomfortable in this whole situation is uncomfortable. So what are we going to do in the uncomfortable? Are we going to wish away this uncomfort, to get back in the comfort zone and go about how things used to be? Are we going to make a decision to rise up, to stand up, be courageous, what we believe in and to speak truth with love and grace? Truth hurts, grace healing Right, and I just think it's time for us to start speaking the truth and love with grace in a way that honestly makes us a little uncomfortable, because comfort is not where we need to be.

Rhett: 54:31

There's nothing in Scripture that I can read that has anything to do with comfort, and I'm not saying we should just be uncomfortable for uncomfortable sake, but we've got to get comfortable with. This is what I loved about Charlie, looking at it from the outside in. I mean, like he was comfortable in the uncomfort of the conflict and being willing to have very difficult conversations in a loving, dignified, humanity type way you know, loving and respecting that person enough to tell them the truth and grace and be able to disagree and agree in that disagreement. And for me, I think that I think I know that's what God's spurring in me is. I'm not going to change who I am. I'm going to continue to be the best rep Barden I'm called to be. I'm not called to be Charlie Kirk. I will never be able to speak from every angle like he did so profoundly, and that was a gift of the Lord.

Rhett: 55:22

But what I can do in the assignment God's given me is I can make the most of every moment when I'm at Starbucks, or make the most of every moment when I'm at the grocery store, make the most of every moment when I'm driving in traffic. Or I can make the most of every moment with every Facebook marketplace interaction that I have with people. I can make the most of every moment with my family, with my kids. I can make the most of every moment building relationship with somebody. Enough to say I love you, enough to say, man, jesus loves you, but more than he loves you, man, what are your thoughts about Jesus? Talk to me. What do you even know? Can I tell you who he is, how much he loves you? So I'm going to continue to do that. And how that all plays out, I don't know.

Rhett: 56:01

But I know one thing I've been more spurred and more fired up, as I should be, in the discomfort of knowing okay, it's always been real, but knowing that a man was shot and killed for his faith and his courage and his faith, and the fact that the devil would like to come in and to try to stir up so much fear in us that we would shrink back and not stand up. No, I'm saying no, we ain't shrinking back, I'm moving forward. There's nothing greater in this world to die for than that, because of what Christ did for me, and I don't want to go out that way. Nobody does if I'm being real, but at the end of the day, there's nowhere greater to go. There isn't a greater way to die than that, and so, god forbid, I die that way. But I'm telling you right now, as a friend and as people who are listening, my heart. Where I'm stirred in this moment and I will continue to be, is this love for Jesus and just passion that I have, because the real world is we live in, a world that where we don't fight against flesh and blood.

Rhett: 56:56

What you're seeing is not some humanitarian effort of hate. It's demonic. There's a heaven, there's a hell. There are demons the fallen one-third of the angels that kicked out of heaven, for that prideful spirit turned into demonic forces. It's real.

Rhett: 57:11

We have power and authority over it. It comes through Christ Jesus and all that he did with his death, burial and resurrection and the finished work of the cross. It comes through Christ Jesus and all that he did with his death, burial and resurrection and the finished work of the cross, and you have that power, so it's nothing to be afraid of. But we do have to open our eyes and realize that what we're experiencing right now is a demonic attack on God's creation, is what it is, and when you're seeing people and you're watching people who are celebrating over any type of death period, that is purely demonic and it is purely hatred at the very thing that God created. God loves you, loves me. We're created in his image. What does the devil hate? He hates God, so he hates what God made. He hates us and I'd say what we're on the winning side of this thing.

Justin: 57:49

I remember 2019, somewhere in there, hearing about the fastest growing church, and it's the Iranian church. Come on, hearing about the fastest growing church and it's the Iranian church. Come on, who's under a lot of you know they're under a lot of persecution is actually being led by these women or the primary leaders, which is so cool to see that and somehow one of the leaders of this movement, this church, and her and her husband actually got access to go to America where they could live, and the husband got a job. She's now in this home that they probably never dreamed of living in because it's the Iranian church is an underground church.

Justin: 58:31

You have to be careful when you're meeting. You never know when you're going to get attacked. And so her and her husband are living their new life and she's got her new Bible studies with the ladies. They're going to get attacked, and so her and her husband are living their new life and she's got her new Bible studies with the ladies. They're going to different houses having Bible studies and she tells her husband after they had been there for a while. She said we have to go back, and he said why would you ever want to go back? We have what we've always dreamed about. We've got amazing comforts that we could have only drawn up. And she said there is a satanic lullaby being sung over this country and I'm getting sleepy. Wow, I think we're in a moment right now where there is an awakening happening. God can use, by his grace, anything to awaken his church, and this could be one of those moments to wake up.

Rhett: 59:31

I know we talked about this and this wasn't something that we just kind of let fly. We were very intentional. So thank you, as a friend, for allowing me to continue to process this and to do it, hopefully, in a healthy way. That's helping people, but also being real and just letting people understand that, man, we're in this with you. We're trying to figure this out. I know everybody's looking for leaders who will maybe have the magic answer to everything, and none of us do, but Jesus is. I implore you to be, even if it's from a heart of hatred at this moment, to turn and to just have a real conversation with God through Christ Jesus, and invite him and talk to him. He's listening. He's there wide open.

Justin: 1:00:11

Your world will be transformed.