← All episodes

Preaching Behind Bars: You Can Still Be Free (Ep. 438)

March 9, 2023 51m 33s Full transcript available
Preaching Behind Bars: You Can Still Be Free (Ep. 438)
0:00 / 51m 33s
In this episode, I share my transformative experience preaching behind bars at a federal penitentiary. Despite my throat issues, I delivered powerful messages of hope and freedom through Christ to inmates, witnessing dozens respond to the gospel.
Transcript
1300 segments
0:00 (upbeat music)
0:01 LinkedIn is great at connecting you
0:03 with the world's largest professional network,
0:06 but it can't connect you with motivation
0:08 on a Monday morning.
0:09 LinkedIn can help you get insights
0:10 from your professional community,
0:12 but it can't give you any insight
0:14 into why Dave's is still talking on mute.
0:16 And while it can't stop your boss
0:17 from bringing tuna for lunch,
0:19 LinkedIn can help bring your career to the next level.
0:22 LinkedIn is the network that works for you.
0:25 Visit LinkedIn.com to learn more.
0:30 (upbeat music)
0:32 - This is "On Daunted Life" a man's podcast.
0:51 I'm your host Kyle Thompson.
0:53 Let's get into it.
0:54 Remember those who are in prison,
0:56 as though in prison with them,
0:58 and those who are mistreated,
0:59 since you are also in the body,
1:01 that is Hebrews 13-3.
1:03 Guys, thank you so much for listening to today's show.
1:05 I will tell you right from the jump.
1:07 I normally have throat issues.
1:08 You guys know a lot about that.
1:09 I also have strep throat,
1:11 and I also haven't fully recovered
1:12 from speaking for like three hours over the weekend.
1:14 Okay, so I'll get more into the speaking over three hours,
1:17 but if I'm a little bit more subdued in this episode,
1:20 I'm actually gonna try to be a little bit more subdued
1:22 so I don't have to take 17 breaks
1:23 that I have to edit out later in all that kind of stuff.
1:26 So please pray for me that we can make it through this.
1:28 But also, if you guys have not left a review,
1:30 we've gotten a lot of great five-star reviews here recently.
1:33 I love reading the comments, okay?
1:34 Not the comments and like the comments section
1:36 on my social media and YouTube videos.
1:38 All right, it's already going bad.
1:40 But the comments that you guys leave
1:41 when you leave a five-star review,
1:42 I'm so thankful to hear why exactly you guys
1:45 like the stuff that we do
1:46 and what exactly is speaking to you.
1:48 So please continue to do that.
1:49 And also just a reminder,
1:50 we are affiliated with OriginMain.
1:52 So guys, they make some of the best products
1:54 that are 100% made here in the United States of America.
1:57 So they do jeans, work boots, they've got belts,
2:00 they've got wallets, they've got a whole bunch of stuff.
2:03 If you do jujitsu, they have the best keys and rash guards
2:05 on the planet and they're actually working on
2:07 some new jujitsu shorts that are amazing.
2:10 And on the Jocko Fuel side, they've got energy drinks,
2:12 they've got a lot of supplements.
2:13 And guys, if you go to their website,
2:15 which is in the show notes,
2:16 you can use the promo code undaunted
2:18 to get 10% off your order.
2:20 So go there, get whatever you wanna get,
2:22 use the code undaunted to get 10% off your order.
2:25 And if you're listening this
2:26 and perhaps you're not on our mailing list
2:28 or you're not following us on social media,
2:30 I need to let you know something, okay?
2:32 We have new merch, okay?
2:34 Now, you guys have been bothering me about t-shirts
2:36 for forever and ever and I've told you,
2:37 maybe we'll get with a company later on
2:39 that'll make it more advantageous for us to do t-shirts.
2:41 But right now, it's just so unbelievably expensive
2:44 and time consuming to get them out to you guys
2:46 for not very much profit.
2:47 But we just dropped this.
2:49 A brand new hat, we are calling it the Green Lion,
2:52 classic elite hat.
2:53 Guys, if you're watching this on YouTube or on Rumble,
2:55 it is right there in front of your face.
2:57 But the thing about this hat
2:59 is I'm like a hat junkie, okay?
3:00 And I'm also a hat snob.
3:02 So there's a lot of hats out there that, you know,
3:04 are made for like golf tournaments and random crap
3:06 and they're just junk.
3:07 These are junk hats.
3:08 This hat is unbelievable.
3:10 Okay, so we are selling less than 50 of these
3:13 'cause we didn't make very many of these
3:14 'cause I didn't wanna be spending the next
3:15 like several weeks, you know, sending these out to you guys.
3:18 But this is Brandon Bill's E100 series,
3:20 classic elite hat.
3:21 So it is a snapback.
3:22 But the thing about this is it's the adjustable snapback
3:25 but it's breathable and water resistant.
3:27 So if you can see right there, that's all mesh,
3:29 but not like the crappy mesh material that you'll get
3:31 from like some of these terrible hats
3:33 that you buy at, you know, your local store
3:35 that'll put your logo on it.
3:36 This is like you put,
3:37 if I were to pour water on top of this right now,
3:39 but run right off breathable, water resistant.
3:42 It's got this quad foam cushion
3:44 and these performance panels.
3:46 It's a silk soft front panel.
3:47 And so basically when you put it on your head,
3:49 it just doesn't feel terrible 'cause some hats feel terrible.
3:52 There's thread lock technology.
3:53 It's got our PVC patch there on the front.
3:55 So you guys can see right there,
3:56 we've got the thing there on the front.
3:58 So this is mainly what I wanted
4:00 because I was wanting to do like an early season hunting hat
4:03 and all the camo hats I found at like Cabela's
4:05 and Bass Pro and all that.
4:06 They were kind of like those weird hats
4:07 that just don't fit your head right.
4:09 So I kind of selfishly wanted to make myself
4:11 my own hunting hat and then this is the one that we produce.
4:14 So if you were listening to this on time, okay?
4:17 And if you follow us on Instagram and Facebook,
4:19 you already know about this, these go on sale today.
4:23 So if you're listening to this on time,
4:24 they're on sale today as of noon central standard time.
4:27 So today is March the ninth, okay?
4:30 And again, like I said,
4:31 we have less than 50 of these available, okay?
4:33 That's it.
4:34 And when they're gone, they are gone.
4:36 I mean, unless we get just overwhelmed
4:38 with emails from people and messages like,
4:40 oh yeah, I didn't wasn't able to get a hat.
4:41 I want to order it because again,
4:43 these were very, very expensive hats to make.
4:45 And you know, it's just basically me shipping them out
4:48 to you guys and boxing them up.
4:49 But guys, they go on sale today.
4:52 The only place to get them is at undauntedlife.com
4:56 or sorry, undaunted.life/shop.
4:58 I'm messing up my own links here.
5:00 Undaunted.life/shop.
5:03 Again, as of noon today, if you're listening to this on time
5:06 on the ninth, they are available.
5:08 When they're gone, they're gone.
5:09 The little button basically won't work to order them
5:12 if you get in afterwards.
5:13 But then, I mean, again, if you really wanted to get one
5:15 and you weren't able to get one,
5:17 just go ahead and send us an email.
5:18 And if we get enough of those,
5:19 maybe we'll do another run.
5:20 But again, this hat, this amazing, amazing hat,
5:23 which has already become my favorite hat,
5:25 is available so you guys can go there and check it out.
5:28 So, I'm skipping quick hitters again.
5:30 Now, I know a lot of you guys really grew
5:31 to love the quick hitters
5:32 and we are certainly bringing them back.
5:34 I'm not getting rid.
5:36 See, I'm like coughing all over the place.
5:40 Got to get a drink.
5:40 We're not getting rid of the quick hitter segment.
5:43 But again, with my throat surgery coming up,
5:45 I literally feel like, have you ever had a hoopty?
5:48 Has anyone had a hoopty out there
5:50 where you're literally about to get a new car?
5:53 And as you pull your hoopty up to the dealership
5:56 to pick up your new vehicle,
5:58 then the engine finally explodes
6:00 and there's fire and crap everywhere.
6:03 That's what I feel like is happening with my throat.
6:05 So, April 10th is my surgery,
6:07 but I feel like I'm literally gonna drive this thing
6:10 into the ground and just put all the faith in God
6:13 and the surgeons that they can fix my throat.
6:15 (coughing)
6:16 So guys, you all are just gonna have to deal with it.
6:18 I mean, keep clearing my throat today,
6:19 keep taking treats, you know,
6:21 things to get drinks and little breaks and stuff like that.
6:24 But I promise, I promise, I promise.
6:26 Before my surgery, we will do quick hitters.
6:28 I literally have a list on my phone
6:29 of all these ridiculous stories that I want to talk about.
6:32 And I just haven't had time
6:33 and I certainly don't have the miles on my throat right now.
6:36 But I really, really wanted to come to you and talk today,
6:39 even though I'm sick, even though I got strep,
6:41 even though I probably shouldn't be talking.
6:43 I've got to talk about what I did over the weekend
6:45 and why we're naming this episode,
6:47 preaching behind bars, you can still be free.
6:49 And so, I'm just gonna tell you this story
6:51 because it's a very, very important thing.
6:53 And over the weekend, it was literally,
6:54 I feel like one of the seminal experiences
6:56 that I've had in my life
6:58 and something I feel very, very thankful
7:00 that I was able to experience.
7:01 So follow along with me.
7:02 But last year at some point,
7:04 I meant to go back and look for
7:06 whenever the very first consultation was,
7:08 but I wanna say it was late summer, early fall,
7:10 something like that.
7:11 I was reached out to by a chaplain
7:13 of a federal penitentiary or a prison.
7:16 I'm not sure all the terminology,
7:18 but it's a max security or medium security prison
7:21 in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
7:23 And what he wanted to do is he wanted to invite me
7:25 or he did invite me to come and speak
7:27 to the prisoners there at that penitentiary
7:30 or at that prison.
7:31 And so, the thing about it is
7:33 is you can't actually be paid as far as I understand.
7:35 You can't, sorry, excuse me.
7:39 You can't actually be paid to go and speak at a prison.
7:44 You have to go as an unpaid volunteer,
7:46 but he still wanted me to come out.
7:47 And so basically we worked it out to where it's like,
7:48 okay, I'll speak at the prison,
7:51 but in order to basically take care of the fee
7:53 and the travel expenses and all that,
7:56 that I would also speak at a mens of it while I was there.
7:58 And so, it was kind of one of those things
8:00 where I get reached out to quite often
8:04 about coming and speaking at things,
8:06 but typically it's people that don't have a plan
8:08 in place.
8:09 So typically it'll be some guy at some random church
8:12 that's like, oh, you know,
8:13 what would it cost to get you to come out here?
8:14 But they don't have any decision-making power.
8:16 They don't have money.
8:18 Like they don't have a budget to do an event.
8:20 They don't have an event date picked.
8:22 They don't have, you know, a venue.
8:24 They don't have anything picked.
8:25 They're just curious.
8:27 And so I kind of gotten in this mode of like, okay,
8:29 for every one that actually books there's gonna be 10,
8:31 just kind of look you lose that don't really have
8:34 anything that they're gonna actually get going.
8:36 And with this process of booking me to go out
8:38 and speak at Lewisburg Prison,
8:40 I kind of felt like it was gonna be like that.
8:41 It's like, oh, you know,
8:42 someone was just curious and reached out
8:43 and it's just never actually gonna work out.
8:45 But lo and behold, it did work out.
8:47 And so the chaplain,
8:48 and again, I'm using his name as the chaplain
8:51 'cause I didn't get anyone's permission
8:52 to use their actual name here on the show,
8:54 but he got a group of people together
8:56 and they did some interesting things to raffle
8:58 and raise money and bring attention to me coming out there.
9:01 And then we booked it.
9:02 And so it's like, okay, it's booked.
9:04 You know, we're gonna go out there and march.
9:05 And, you know, we'll see what this is gonna be.
9:07 But it was basically going to be on Lewisburg,
9:10 they've got the big house,
9:11 which is the prison where the, you know,
9:14 they have the guys, they've got MS-13 there.
9:16 That's where murderers, rapists, pedophiles are all,
9:19 you know, locked up in there.
9:20 But then they also have a camp,
9:22 which I didn't know this was actually a thing,
9:23 but there's also a prison camp that these people can go to,
9:27 which it sounds terrible.
9:28 It sounds like Gulag Archipelago.
9:29 But basically these people,
9:31 they're not under lock and key necessarily.
9:33 It's like a camp that's outside the walls,
9:35 a regular prison, but they are still prisoners.
9:37 They have to, they have to come.
9:39 They have to be counted and those types of things,
9:40 but it's like super low security.
9:42 So they wanted me to speak at the camp.
9:45 They wanted me to speak inside the prison.
9:47 And then they wanted me to speak at a men's event.
9:49 And so that was all gonna be happening in less than 24 hours.
9:52 And so obviously as I've detailed for a lot of you guys,
9:54 you're probably tired of hearing about it.
9:55 But I'm like, oh my gosh, my throat and my voice
9:57 have been just awful.
9:59 You know, it's hard enough as evidence right now,
10:02 it's hard enough to get through one podcast
10:04 where I record for 45 minutes, 60 minutes by myself.
10:07 How am I gonna speak for three hours in less than 24 hours?
10:10 And then in addition to that,
10:12 talk to people in between and all that.
10:13 So that was kind of part of my preparation,
10:15 just mentally getting to a space where it's like, okay,
10:17 take care of your voice enough
10:19 to where you can like, you know, with bubble gum and duct tape,
10:21 you know, keep it together long enough to get through this.
10:24 But then as I was preparing, it's like, okay,
10:26 now I need to figure out exactly
10:27 what I wanna talk to these guys about.
10:28 And as you've probably seen on my website
10:30 or heard me talk about before,
10:32 I have some canned speeches that I could go and give tonight.
10:35 Right? And so these aren't speeches that I have to practice.
10:38 These aren't, you know, speeches that I have to like,
10:40 really think about what I'm doing.
10:41 I've already got my notes.
10:42 I already have the stuff, the ideology in my brain.
10:45 So I just go there and just do it, right?
10:47 I just go there and make it happen.
10:49 But something didn't feel right about that approach
10:51 with this opportunity.
10:53 'Cause I've never spoken at a prison before.
10:55 I've never spoken to inmates or any of that type of thing.
10:58 And so it was like, do I just get repackaged
11:01 something that I've done for other crowds before?
11:03 It didn't really feel right.
11:05 And then about four or five days or about a week,
11:09 we'll say a week before I was set to leave,
11:11 to go and go to Lewisburg prison there in Pennsylvania.
11:14 I talked to a couple of guys that I know had spoken
11:17 before prisoners before.
11:19 And that's Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame
11:21 and pastor Joby Martin.
11:23 And so Joby Martin has, they actually have campuses
11:28 of Church of 11, 22 in prisons.
11:29 I know at least two, I think, maybe three.
11:32 And then Phil Robertson has spoken there at Angola prison.
11:35 I think it's a max security prison down there in Louisiana.
11:38 And so I spoke to both guys on the phone
11:40 and kind of got their overall ideas
11:43 about what they would do if they were in my position.
11:45 Some things that they would talk about,
11:47 some things that they would avoid,
11:48 just really picking the brains of these two guys
11:51 that have done so much in the Christian space
11:54 and also in terms of presenting material before,
11:57 whether written or spoken or any of those types of things.
12:00 And after speaking with those two gentlemen,
12:02 I was like, okay, I'm just gonna scrap the entire idea
12:06 of what I was going to even to print this in about
12:08 and just start from scratch
12:10 and present something completely different
12:11 and new to these guys.
12:13 And so thank you to Phil Robertson and pastor Joby Martin
12:15 for all the thoughts and preparation and time you spent
12:18 with me just kind of giving me your overall thoughts.
12:20 But yeah, I did scrap my speech,
12:23 created a brand new speech
12:25 and the entire time I had these prisoners in mind
12:28 because the interesting thing about it is like,
12:30 I don't really think like a prisoner
12:31 'cause I've never been one, right?
12:33 Now I've put myself in the mental space of, okay,
12:38 what would have to happen to one of my family members
12:40 where I would do something
12:41 that could potentially land me in one of these places?
12:43 I've obviously kind of thought through scenarios
12:45 like that before,
12:46 but I've never been under lock and key
12:48 like these men have.
12:50 But I spend quite a bit of time
12:53 and I create some new notes and I get some new ideas
12:56 and I just gotta tell you,
12:57 whenever I felt like I was done with the new speech,
13:00 I was like, this is good.
13:03 And you guys know that feeling,
13:04 like whenever you produce stuff,
13:06 whether it's at work or if you're a content creator
13:07 or something like that,
13:08 there are times when you just create stuff
13:10 like with me on this podcast,
13:11 there are times when I get done recording a podcast
13:13 and I was like, you know, it was fine.
13:15 It's fine, I hope the people think it's fine
13:17 'cause you know, it's just, yeah, it's whatever.
13:18 It's acceptable.
13:20 But then there are times when you do something
13:21 where you're like, nope, I nailed it.
13:24 I hit the target.
13:25 And since I hadn't presented it yet,
13:28 I couldn't know that it would hit the target
13:29 or that it would have any type of impact at all.
13:32 Essentially at that moment, it's like, okay,
13:34 it's good enough for me to feel good,
13:36 good about getting on a plane.
13:38 And if I had to deliver it right at that moment,
13:40 I'd be good to go.
13:41 So I get the speech, good to go, get packed up,
13:44 fly out there.
13:45 By the way, my very first flight,
13:47 'cause I think I flew to Charlotte
13:48 and then from Charlotte to Pennsylvania,
13:50 the very first flight was like the roughest flight
13:52 of my entire life.
13:53 And I was like, I don't know if this is a sign from God
13:55 or if just like the weather gods,
13:57 if doors matter or something like that, guys know,
13:59 I don't believe in Thor, it's just a joke.
14:00 But it was super rough ride,
14:02 but got on the ground on the East Coast
14:04 and then flewin' up to Scranton
14:06 and then was picked up at the airport
14:08 by a great guy who, you know, we were able to chat
14:10 on our way there.
14:11 And, you know, I'm hangin' out the night before, right?
14:16 So it's me and a few of the guys that are, you know,
14:17 that work at the prison and some of the guys
14:19 that were gonna be helping with the men's event.
14:21 And I'm trying to conserve my voice
14:23 because I know the next day I'm speaking twice
14:25 at the prison and so I'm just trying to kind of lay low
14:28 and all that, but then I also start feeling sick
14:31 like the night before.
14:33 And I'm just like, okay, this can't be happening.
14:37 Like it can't be sick.
14:38 Like, 'cause you're already on the road,
14:40 you're not at home, you're not gonna sleep
14:41 in your own bed, so you're feeling, you know,
14:42 like you're gonna be a little bit, you know,
14:44 out of your normal routine, but at the same time,
14:46 you're thinking like, okay, you can make it.
14:48 Then I start feeling sick, start feeling run down.
14:51 And so I go back to the hotel that night,
14:53 I just go to sleep and I wake up in the morning
14:54 and I feel fine.
14:55 So this is the day I'm gonna be speaking, I feel fine.
14:57 That's great.
14:59 But then I automatically, and had been not just that morning,
15:02 but certainly in the days leading up to it,
15:04 feeling the weight of the opportunity.
15:07 Now, for any of you guys that have done prison ministry
15:09 before, perhaps you don't feel this way
15:11 or never felt this way, but I was feeling the weight
15:14 of what I was gonna be doing.
15:16 'Cause I knew that day that I was gonna be talking to men
15:21 that didn't feel like they had any help.
15:24 And I was gonna be talking to men
15:28 who would never be leaving the inside of that prison.
15:32 And even if they did, you know, they would be,
15:37 you know, you know how it is for recidivism
15:39 and all those different things.
15:40 And so it's like, these are people
15:42 that are going a particular direction
15:44 and they literally need to go in the exact opposite direction
15:48 if they want to have any hope.
15:50 And I could feel the weight of that.
15:52 And typically when I speak live anywhere,
15:54 I always feel the weight of it
15:56 because I do some level of a gospel presentation.
15:58 And so I'm constantly feeling the weight of, excuse me,
16:05 of presenting that message.
16:07 But here we are, it's the morning of, you know,
16:11 let's get ready, let's get our game face on.
16:14 And so that morning we go to the museum,
16:17 they have a museum there.
16:18 Oh, and I guess we need to talk about
16:19 when I got my first look at the prison,
16:21 like this is where you get the expression in the big house.
16:23 Guys, I'm really sorry about the cough
16:25 and I'm trying not to do it on the mic.
16:28 But they've got this big smoke stack.
16:30 This is like a hundred year old prison.
16:31 Looks gorgeous from the outside.
16:33 And you're pulling up.
16:35 And the one thing I remember is there's kind of this long drive
16:38 before you get to like the admin building
16:41 to even get into the prison.
16:43 And here I am just being driven up there
16:45 because here I am a guest speaker, right?
16:47 But I think about those guys that are brought up
16:49 that long drive, they're on a bus
16:51 and they're in a jumpsuit and they've got, you know,
16:55 handcuffs and ankle cuffs and all that.
16:57 And it's like, they're going to be in there for decades.
17:00 And they know that and how different that feeling might be.
17:04 But we go to the museum that morning,
17:06 I get a little tour, get to know some of the names,
17:09 some of the famous names of people
17:10 that have come through that prison before Al Capone
17:12 had been in that prison.
17:13 Michael Fransese, who's a podcast interview
17:16 was released the day that I flew out to go out there
17:19 and getting to hear some of those stories,
17:26 they have like this whole like museum
17:28 of like all the different shanks they found over the years.
17:31 And so we're talking about like the sharpened toothbrushes
17:34 and you know, things of sheet metal and like glass
17:38 and all these crazy things.
17:39 And so again, this used to be one of the roughest prisons
17:43 if not the roughest prison in the United States
17:44 and they've kind of changed the culture a little bit there.
17:47 But again, it was just kind of a reminder of like,
17:49 hey, there are people in there
17:51 that don't want to see you walk out, right?
17:53 And that's just kind of the whole deal of it.
17:57 So got to take a little bit of a break, do some lunch
18:00 and then it was basically time for me to speak at the camp.
18:03 And again, the thing about the camp is guys can kind of come
18:05 and go, this is more the, I guess the white collar criminals,
18:09 I guess is how it was described to me.
18:10 So, you know, I can't really think of different white collar
18:13 or crimes or things like that.
18:14 But these are guys that, you know, three months from now
18:16 will probably aren't going to be there.
18:17 A year from now, probably aren't going to be there, okay?
18:20 And so I go in and I speak.
18:22 And we're in kind of this like classroom thing.
18:24 And the thing is, before I even start speaking,
18:27 the guys were so appreciative that I was there
18:30 because as I understand it, this was the very first time
18:33 that in a long time that anyone that wasn't law enforcement
18:36 had spoken to these guys in any capacity.
18:39 And so they were to a degree, they were just thankful,
18:41 like, oh, hey, here's this guy, here's a circus act,
18:43 like let's go and check it out.
18:45 But then there were other people that had been praying for me
18:48 for months and they were so excited to actually see me
18:51 in person and these are people that go to the church there,
18:54 you know, at the camp and, you know, they had been, you know,
18:57 praying for me beforehand, they prayed for me once I got there.
18:59 And so there's some people there that were excited to see me,
19:02 there were other guys that were excited to see me specifically
19:05 because, you know, they were Christians.
19:08 And then there were just kind of looky-loos,
19:09 there were dudes that were bored.
19:11 And so I go in there and I deliver this speech
19:14 and it's funny, I keep calling it a speech,
19:16 but they really were sermons.
19:18 Like I was preaching while I was in there.
19:20 And so I talk about, you know, the masculinity of Christ
19:25 and I talk about based on scripture,
19:27 like what type of guy he was, how he wasn't just Tinder,
19:30 but he was also tough.
19:31 And how, you know, he's a guy that's worthy of following.
19:35 And I read through Luke and I read through the crucifixion
19:38 account and then I do a gospel presentation at the end.
19:42 And, you know, I even kind of made fun of myself.
19:44 I was like, I'm from Oklahoma,
19:45 but I'm not about to be a Southern Baptist here
19:47 because it's normally like, all right, every head bowed
19:49 and every eye closed.
19:51 I was like, every head up and every set eyes open.
19:54 And I said, you know, if you think for the first time
19:57 in your life that when Jesus died on the cross
20:00 that that's somehow counted for you,
20:02 that he blotted out your sins
20:04 and now gives you a pathway to the father
20:07 and you want to put your faith in that today, stand up.
20:09 And I'd say I'm bad at like judging, you know, numbers,
20:13 but about a dozen guys in the room stood up.
20:16 And anytime you give a gospel presentation
20:19 and people respond to it, like it's overwhelming.
20:21 At least it is for me.
20:22 Maybe it's old hat for guys that have been doing it
20:24 for a long time, but it's just, it's so overwhelming.
20:27 And it's such a cool experience.
20:29 And again, I'm not in a place to know if that was legit
20:32 or if these are just guys that stand up every time
20:34 or if they're trying to look good for their parole board
20:36 or all that, like that's not really my concern.
20:38 They stood up and made a response to the gospel call.
20:41 And then I just said, all right, guys, come on up here.
20:43 Like, you know, let's, let's pray together.
20:45 And again, there's nothing magical about the prayer.
20:47 It's not the prayer that saves you.
20:48 But I just wanted to pray with these guys real quick.
20:50 And so we prayed and then, you know, gave some hugs out
20:53 and some handshakes and those things.
20:54 And they all sit down, do a little bit of Q and A.
20:56 There's a guy there named Rocky and, you know, he's very,
21:00 very cynical and skeptical about this whole thing.
21:02 And so he and I had a very fun interaction there quickly.
21:05 And then, you know, the guys needed to go.
21:07 And so we called it and, you know, I interacted
21:09 with a few of the guys and then we got out there.
21:12 And so the feeling was very interesting during the break
21:17 because I was like, okay, I've voice made it, you know,
21:19 I had laws and just ready to go.
21:21 And so I was, I was good to go, but it's like, okay,
21:22 let's just kind of relax and let's kind of, you know,
21:25 get things back going.
21:26 But then the guy was with the chaplain that was, you know,
21:28 taking care of me while I was out there, you know,
21:30 he's like, hey, let's go walk around.
21:32 Let's go show you parts of the prison.
21:33 I was like, yeah, great.
21:34 And the thing about this prison guys is now,
21:36 so we were at the camp.
21:37 Now we go inside Lewisburg, inside the big house.
21:42 And I got to tell you, it was gorgeous.
21:45 Again, this is a 100 year old prison, but it was gorgeous.
21:49 I think it was, the architecture is based off of
21:53 or mimicked like a monastery or something.
21:55 And you just couldn't believe that it was a prison.
21:58 Someone mentioned, I think it was a chaplain like,
22:00 hey, if this place ever shuts down, it needs to be, you know,
22:02 just like a protected historical site
22:05 that people can come and walk through
22:07 'cause I completely agree with that.
22:08 Just absolutely, absolutely amazing.
22:10 I don't know if there's a lot of pictures online
22:12 inside Lewisburg, but just really, really wonderful inside.
22:17 But then, again, guys, excuse me.
22:22 We go in and we start walking around the different cell blocks
22:26 because we were like trying to find a couple of guys
22:28 that were gonna help with the PA system
22:30 that was gonna be in the place where I was speaking.
22:32 And, you know, one point I kind of realized,
22:35 okay, we're just walking around a cell block in a prison.
22:39 And the only guard, if you will,
22:41 was the chaplain that I was with.
22:44 And so again, in this part of the prison,
22:46 that's the murderers, the rapists, the pedophiles,
22:49 the kidnappers, like this serious dudes walking around.
22:53 But again, they were so thankful that I was there.
22:57 They knew I was coming.
22:59 Again, several of these guys,
23:01 one guy specifically, his name was Sojourner,
23:04 he had been praying for me for months.
23:06 And then here I am, I'm there
23:09 and they're just so excited to hear what I have to say.
23:11 And I kept having guys coming up to me,
23:15 saying, "Hey, man, we're so glad you're here.
23:16 "Thanks so much for being here."
23:17 And I'm just chatting with them.
23:19 Like they're just regular dudes,
23:20 because at the end of the day, they are,
23:22 they've crossed some lines that I haven't crossed,
23:25 but they are regular dudes at the end of the day.
23:27 And so walking around the cell block,
23:30 you know, just kind of having fun interacting
23:32 with these guys, I go get a little bit of food
23:36 and they're just gonna go take a break
23:37 in the chaplain's office.
23:39 And then it came time to speak.
23:41 And I'm really feeling the weight.
23:44 Because again, I had three speeches I was gonna deliver,
23:46 one of the camp, one inside, and one at the men's event.
23:49 But the one inside Lewisburg,
23:51 that was the one that I was feeling the most weight of.
23:53 Because again, a lot of these guys are lifers.
23:58 Many of these guys will never,
24:00 ever see the outside of Lewisburg prison.
24:03 And so I really wanted to be on my game.
24:06 As mentally, physically, I wanted to be
24:08 as squared away as possible.
24:10 And so they take me into where I'm speaking
24:12 and I'm trying to describe it.
24:13 It's this huge open room, gorgeous architecture,
24:18 like these pews that are set up.
24:19 Like I can't even like, you know,
24:21 I can't even begin to describe how big it is.
24:23 There's a stage in there where, you know,
24:25 different bands and speakers have performed in.
24:27 But I was like, I don't want to be on the stage.
24:28 I want to be on the floor.
24:30 And the floor, it kind of like ramps up towards the back.
24:33 And you know, I'm just standing there waiting.
24:35 I've got, you know, a couple of inmates behind me.
24:38 And then the inmates start filing in.
24:41 And so they come in and it's just dozens and dozens
24:44 and dozens of these inmates.
24:46 Again, they weren't forced to come.
24:47 They got to choose whether or not to come hear me speak.
24:50 And they kind of spread out,
24:51 but a lot of people came and sat down at the front.
24:54 I introduced myself to a ton of them.
24:56 I wanted to kind of interact with them a little bit.
24:58 And you know, it's kind of like take a little bit of that,
25:00 sting out of it.
25:01 Like, look, I'm not any different than you.
25:03 Like let's just, let's just talk, we're just people.
25:05 And then I gave my speech or my sermon, if you will.
25:09 And it was the same one, at least in terms of the notes I had
25:14 as the one I delivered earlier in the day.
25:16 But everything was elevated, everything was.
25:19 The feeling in the room, the excitement, my nervousness,
25:25 but it wasn't like nervous, like,
25:26 oh my gosh, what's gonna happen?
25:27 But like, just like, hey, you got this,
25:30 but don't mess it up, you idiot.
25:32 Like it was one of those types of things.
25:34 And so I deliver this, I'm getting,
25:38 I'm not getting a whole lot of feedback though,
25:39 inside the prison, which is the opposite of what I thought.
25:42 I thought the dudes at the camp were gonna be more subdued
25:44 and the guys inside were gonna be a little bit more,
25:46 like animated, but it was the exact opposite.
25:48 But same thing comes at the end.
25:51 I talk about the gospel.
25:53 I present the gospel as if they had never heard it
25:55 because you can ever assume that everyone in the room
25:57 has heard it the same way that it would be presented by you.
26:01 And then I say, if you think this counts for you,
26:04 and this is the first time you're making that decision,
26:05 stand up.
26:07 Probably a couple of dozen guys stand up.
26:11 So for the day, we're at about three dozen people
26:14 that are responding to the gospel message.
26:16 And in hindsight, this is kind of funny
26:19 because all of the guards are in the back.
26:23 So it just look at it.
26:24 There's a stage behind me with two inmates behind me
26:27 helping with the PA system.
26:29 There's me on the floor.
26:31 There's lots and lots of inmates, right?
26:34 And rows and rows and rows and rows and rows of pews.
26:37 And then at the very back, there's like three guards.
26:40 So from a security standpoint,
26:42 probably not the greatest set up for me,
26:44 but I wasn't worried about me at all.
26:46 And I say at this point,
26:49 we had all these guys respond to the gospel.
26:51 I say, you guys come up here and get around me.
26:55 Like get gathered up around me,
26:57 which is weird because again,
26:59 murderers, rapists, pedophiles, rough dudes.
27:02 And so they come up and they gather around me.
27:05 And then all the guys sitting down, I was like,
27:06 you know what, these are your brothers.
27:08 Come on up here and lay hands on these guys,
27:11 not like put hands on it, but like, hey,
27:13 we're just gonna lay hands on somebody,
27:14 make sure you're touching somebody and I'm gonna pray.
27:16 Again, nothing magical about the prayer.
27:18 And so I do that.
27:20 I pray and it was,
27:22 I remember in the moment being like,
27:24 it was almost like it wasn't me talking,
27:26 which is weird to say.
27:27 It's almost like, ah, you're being extra poetic.
27:29 But it's like, it was literally like
27:31 the Holy Spirit was speaking through me.
27:33 Like I wasn't even thinking of the words
27:34 that I was gonna say.
27:35 Just kind of like, just coming out of my mouth, right?
27:38 So I say this prayer and we're done.
27:40 And this is a very regimented, right?
27:43 This isn't like the camp where the guys can kind of hang around
27:45 and do whatever they want to do.
27:46 These guys were on a time limit, right?
27:48 They needed to go back.
27:49 And so I think I answered one or two questions
27:51 and then the guys like literally had to balance.
27:53 They had to get out of there.
27:54 And it was just such an overwhelming feeling
27:59 that I went there to give a speech.
28:04 The speeches turned into preaches, right?
28:08 Or preaching, if you will.
28:09 And to have about three dozen guys,
28:13 prisoners, inmates, respond to the gospel call,
28:17 which just overwhelming.
28:19 It was such a unique feeling.
28:22 I literally feel like I kind of, you know,
28:25 ringed or wrung myself out on the proper verb tense
28:28 for these guys while I was there.
28:30 It was like, I'm going to give them everything I've got.
28:34 And I did.
28:35 And, you know, we walk out of there.
28:38 Excuse me.
28:42 Chaplain was very happy with how everything went.
28:45 The, you know, I was happy with how things went.
28:49 We get out of there, it's raining.
28:50 You know, we get out of there.
28:51 We go get some food and I go back to my hotel room
28:53 and it's like, okay, let's go to sleep.
28:55 You know, got to wake up in tomorrow
28:56 and, you know, do it all over again for a group of guys.
28:59 And I wake up the next morning, super sick.
29:03 So that was kind of, I guess the front end
29:05 of what I'm dealing with now, a strap
29:06 and all kinds of other things.
29:08 And so what I was supposed to do
29:10 is I was supposed to go to this venue
29:11 where they're doing this men's event
29:12 that they've been planning for months and months and months
29:14 put a bunch of effort into it.
29:16 And I was supposed to interact with a bunch of people, right?
29:18 Interact with the guys, interact with their families,
29:20 kind of just hang out, be around for a few hours, you know,
29:23 be around for the lunch.
29:24 They, they, you know, smoked up a couple of whole pigs
29:27 and, you know, it was just gonna be a whole whole deal.
29:30 And I just messaged the guy at the morning.
29:32 I was like, look, dude, I feel awful.
29:36 And my voice is like destroyed,
29:37 not just from speaking twice the day before
29:39 and all the other speaking I did,
29:41 but like something's going all with my throat.
29:43 Like I need y'all to pick me up like just in time
29:46 to get me to the venue in time to speak.
29:48 Like that's, that's how bad I feel.
29:50 And so he's like, absolutely.
29:51 And you know, I just kind of rest there in the hotel.
29:55 I try to get some fluids and just try to get a little bit.
29:58 And, you know, I take a shower, I get dressed,
30:00 I assume I'll feel better, you know, after I get food
30:02 and a little bit of an energy drink
30:04 and different things like that.
30:05 But I'm still wiped.
30:07 No energy.
30:08 I've got no pep and it's like, dude, whenever I speak,
30:11 especially when I speak live, like I try to do a lot
30:13 of things off the top of the head.
30:14 I try to be, you know, funny and interact with the crowd.
30:16 And I'm feeling none of that right now.
30:18 And out of nowhere, I think about one of my main Jiu Jitsu
30:22 coaches is named Livingston.
30:24 And so he's one of our black belts.
30:25 He's also done a lot of fighting and different things like that.
30:28 And for whatever reason, I'm like, call Livingston
30:32 and have him give you a pep talk.
30:35 And this is a really busy guy.
30:36 He does a lot of traveling on the weekends.
30:38 And so I'm like, ah, I'm gonna call him.
30:38 He's not gonna answer.
30:39 And what do you know, two rings in?
30:41 Hey man, what's up?
30:42 And so I, I very calmly and a very calm voice.
30:44 I go, hey man, I'm really sick.
30:48 I woke up sick, but I'm here in Pennsylvania.
30:50 I've already done two speeches.
30:51 I have one more to go, but I got nothing in the tank.
30:55 And that night was the night that John Jones
30:57 was gonna be fighting Sir O'Gone for the heavyweight title.
30:59 And I was like, so I need two things from you, Livingston.
31:01 Number one, I need you to tell me
31:02 who you think is gonna win the championship fight.
31:05 And number two, I need you to like be my MMA coach.
31:08 I need you to get me fired up.
31:10 I need you to like, you know, get me ready
31:11 for what I'm about to go do.
31:13 And so he just immediately starts telling me why he thinks,
31:16 you know, John Jones is gonna win the fight,
31:18 but you know, some things are all gone, it's probably gonna do.
31:21 And then he flipped a switch and turned into an MMA coach.
31:24 And I can't remember exactly what he said.
31:28 I can't, but all I remember is sitting there
31:31 in the chair in this hotel room,
31:33 and being like, oh, you know, kind of just slumped over
31:36 like not feeling well.
31:37 And as soon as he went into MMA coach mode,
31:40 I start like, yeah, yeah.
31:43 Like I'm like, you know, pat on the floor, pat my legs.
31:46 He legitimately got me all fired up.
31:48 And he was basically like, you're out there to do a job.
31:50 And that's exactly what you're going to go to.
31:52 Go out, you've got a calling from God, make it happen.
31:55 And I was like trying not to like yell,
31:57 but as soon as he was done, I go,
31:59 that's exactly what I needed.
32:00 Thank you very much.
32:01 I'll talk to you later.
32:02 And then he just hung up and moved on with his day.
32:04 And so I'm feeling a little bit better.
32:06 I get picked up, I go out to the venue
32:08 and I get to interact with the guys.
32:09 The thing that was odd about this event that I found is like,
32:11 from the moment I walked in, it was like,
32:14 I think I finally got to feel like what it felt like
32:15 whenever you're like the hottest girl at prom
32:18 and like everybody's looking at you
32:19 when you walk in the room, that's kind of what I felt like.
32:21 I was like, okay, here I am, I'm wearing all black.
32:23 Like I normally do when I speak.
32:24 And it was like, everyone's looking at me like,
32:26 oh, is that the guy?
32:27 And so that was kind of funny.
32:28 But I introduced myself to a bunch of people
32:30 and we had a good time.
32:32 Now, one of the things they did to help raise money
32:33 for the event was to do a gun raffle.
32:36 And it's really funny, they bought me a ticket
32:38 for the gun raffle like months before.
32:40 And I remember telling them, I was like, yeah, you know,
32:41 I want to get a new 300 win mag or a six, five creed more
32:44 and different things like that.
32:46 And wouldn't you know it, I won the raffle
32:48 for a six, five creed more?
32:50 Like in the whole time, I'm like, surely not.
32:53 Like please don't let me win.
32:55 Like they're doing this like slow lowering of the numbers
32:58 like to where it's like, all right, everybody's standing up
33:00 and then they slowly have people be eliminated
33:01 and it sit down and I'm like, oh my gosh,
33:03 I'm about to win this thing.
33:04 They're going to boo me out of here.
33:05 Like they're going to string me up outside.
33:08 Like you can't be the speaker, you know,
33:10 the center of attention and when one of the guns
33:13 that is going to be given out.
33:14 And so here I am, I win this firearm.
33:17 And I'm like, as I'm walking up there, they're all laughing,
33:19 but I'm like booing myself, throwing two thumbs down
33:21 and all that.
33:22 So that was a cool thing.
33:23 So that'll hopefully get to me before too long.
33:25 But then I get up there and I deliver a speech to those guys
33:29 or you can call it a sermon different than the one
33:31 that was in the prison, some similar elements,
33:33 but again, talking about the masculinity of Christ.
33:36 And I'm getting a lot of responses.
33:37 You know, this is a Christian crowd, a male Christian crowd
33:42 and they were really responding when I was talking
33:43 about the feminization of the church,
33:46 how Jesus is presented in a very effeminate way
33:49 in artwork and music and those things.
33:51 And then at the end, I'm like, okay,
33:54 I'm going to do a gospel call again.
33:56 Because even though you're purportedly
33:58 in a room full of Christians,
33:59 you never know who you're talking to, okay?
34:03 And so I do a gospel call and three guys
34:05 respond to the gospel for the first time.
34:08 Varying ages as well.
34:11 And so I had those guys come up,
34:14 had everybody else in the room gather around them
34:15 and we prayed for them.
34:16 Again, nothing magical about the prayer.
34:18 And that was a really cool moment.
34:20 But I can tell you, as soon as I was done praying
34:25 for those guys, I was like done, done.
34:27 It was like every last bit of energy that, you know,
34:29 I had in my system or that Livingston got me fired up for
34:32 beer, like powered down, big time.
34:35 And so I'm looking at my watch and it's about time
34:38 to get out of there because I had to get to the airport.
34:41 And, you know, I'm doing a little bit interactions,
34:43 but ultimately I get to the airport, I travel home.
34:46 And there was a little bit of delays.
34:48 I had to stay one extra day in Chicago,
34:50 but I eventually got home.
34:52 And so it was such an unbelievable experience.
34:54 I'm very thankful for my time out there in Pennsylvania.
34:58 And specifically, I do want to give some thank yous out.
35:01 Again, I don't know what types of names I can use,
35:03 but to Chaplain Wallace and to his wife.
35:05 Thank you all very much for being such gracious host
35:08 to me while I was out there.
35:09 Chaplain Wallace, you obviously put a lot of time
35:12 and effort into the event and a lot of thought
35:15 into what would go down and that was evident.
35:17 So I'm very, very thankful for y'all.
35:19 Also to everyone that helped with the men's event.
35:22 There were people that were, you know,
35:23 driving Miss Daisy, they were driving me around.
35:25 Making sure I got to where I needed to go.
35:28 The guys that, you know, there were people that drove in
35:30 from like Ohio just to come hear me speak in Pennsylvania.
35:33 So like getting the word out and all the marketing
35:35 that was done in that area was great.
35:37 To everyone that helped with the prism
35:39 that walked me around and showed me different things,
35:41 people that checked me in and out,
35:43 people that kept us safe and made sure
35:44 we were all squared away.
35:45 Thank you so much to them.
35:47 To the inmates of Lewisburg camp.
35:49 So thankful for you guys.
35:51 I hope that I can connect with you guys
35:53 in a different context down the road.
35:55 Also to the inmates of the big house, inside the walls.
35:58 I hope to see you guys again.
36:01 'Cause I know for a lot of you guys,
36:03 you know, the two guys that were helping with the PA system,
36:05 both of them were on like 20 year terms or sentences,
36:08 I guess you could say.
36:09 And you know, they've got like seven, eight years left.
36:12 And they're talking about it, hopefully like, yeah, you know,
36:14 seven or eight more years and we're out of here.
36:16 And it's like, man, that's two undergraduate degrees,
36:19 you know what I mean?
36:20 And they're talking about it like, hey, we're almost there.
36:23 I hope to see you all again.
36:24 Hope that's not the last time I'm out there
36:26 to speak in Lewisburg.
36:27 I would certainly accept an invitation to do that again.
36:29 So if y'all will have me, I'll certainly do that.
36:32 But before we get out of here,
36:33 I do want to kind of give some of my overall thoughts about this,
36:37 but also, you know, bring some things out in scripture
36:40 that I noticed.
36:41 But again, I definitely want to go back speak at Lewisburg.
36:44 I would love to speak at more prisons.
36:46 So I don't think undaunted life is going to shift
36:48 to be a prison ministry necessarily.
36:51 But this podcast can be listened to and viewed
36:56 by just about anybody in the world,
36:58 but I don't think there's really any way for the guys
37:00 in the prisons to hear any of this message.
37:02 So they can't just go to YouTube and watch this.
37:04 They can't just go to Apple Podcast on their phone
37:06 and check me out.
37:08 So being able to take this message directly to them
37:10 is something I'd certainly like to do more of.
37:12 And so interested in doing that,
37:14 so for guys that have connections
37:17 to federal penitentiaries or prisons,
37:19 you know, what these guys did is like,
37:21 okay, they brought me out to speak at the prison,
37:23 but then, you know, I was able to be paid
37:25 through a men's event kind of a deal.
37:26 So there are different ways to do this
37:28 that I think would be very, very interesting.
37:30 And what's funny about this situation
37:32 is just kind of another overall thought.
37:34 Sometimes you just have to say yes,
37:36 and then you have to ask yourself,
37:38 so what's the question?
37:39 Or ask the people, you know, you're talking to,
37:41 so what's the question?
37:43 Because I said yes to the opportunity of speaking
37:46 in the prison before we figured out any of the logistics.
37:49 Before I knew how many times I was going to be talking,
37:53 before I knew the types of guys I was going to be talking to,
37:56 before I knew really anything, I just said yes,
37:59 'cause it just felt like God was saying,
38:01 you need to do this.
38:02 And I was like, all right, yes, Lord, let's figure it out.
38:05 But as I was reflecting on my time there at Lewisburg,
38:09 I was reminded of a couple of things from scripture
38:11 that involved Paul and also involved in prison.
38:13 So there's one time in Paul's life,
38:17 so he's in prison and he's writing a letter to Timothy.
38:20 And so he wrote, he wrote two letters,
38:21 so that's first and second Timothy.
38:23 And I would consider Paul to be,
38:24 excuse me, guys, I know that's annoying.
38:28 I would consider Paul to be a very, very manly man
38:30 for a myriad of reasons.
38:32 But I especially think it's because of how he
38:34 comported himself at the beginning of his second letter
38:37 to his people Timothy.
38:39 So at the time of him writing that second letter,
38:41 Paul is languishing in a Roman prison.
38:43 This is likely a second stint in a Roman prison.
38:46 And he's awaiting his coming execution.
38:48 He does not assume that he is ever going to see
38:50 the outside of this Roman prison.
38:52 So Paul is absolutely up against it,
38:56 spiritually, mentally and physically.
38:58 We always talk about spiritual, mental and physical resilience.
39:00 So spiritually, he knows his execution and death are imminent.
39:04 And for a lot of people, you know,
39:05 perhaps you've noticed this with people in your life
39:06 that were, excuse me, their death was coming
39:11 and they knew their death was coming,
39:14 maybe they were terminal.
39:16 Those people get very, very spiritual
39:18 because they know that there's something on the other side
39:21 and that they need to reckon
39:22 with what exactly that's going to look like for them.
39:25 Mentally, in his letter, you know,
39:27 Paul talks about how several of his supporters
39:29 had abandoned him during this time.
39:30 So imagine being like the guy, you know, Paul, the apostle,
39:33 and then now you're in prison and all your supporters go away.
39:36 Had to be very, very mentally taxing.
39:38 And physically, I mean, he's in an ancient Roman prison.
39:41 Those things weren't exactly known
39:42 for their spa-like qualities, right?
39:45 And at this point, he had been flogged multiple times,
39:48 beaten multiple times, shipwrecked, snakebit,
39:50 like the whole gamut, right?
39:52 So Paul is going through spiritual, mental and physical anguish.
39:57 But then he still manages to show resilience
39:59 to share this unbelievably beautiful message
40:02 with his people, Timothy.
40:03 And specifically, I'm talking about second Timothy one
40:06 versus one through 14, but just to kind of conserve
40:09 my voice, I'll read verses 12 through 14 here.
40:12 But I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed
40:15 and I am convinced that he is able to guard
40:17 until that day what has been entrusted to me.
40:19 Follow the pattern of the sound words
40:21 that you have heard from me in the faith
40:23 and love that are in Christ Jesus.
40:25 And by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us,
40:28 guard the good deposit and trust to you.
40:29 So again, he's languishing in prison,
40:33 knowing he's about to be executed
40:34 and knowing that his supporters are not there for him anymore.
40:37 And he writes that.
40:38 I gotta be honest, I'm a very pessimistic guy.
40:42 And when things aren't going well, I lament.
40:44 And I'm like, "Oh, this sucks.
40:45 "No, no, what I've done deserves this blah, blah."
40:48 And I start to sound really weak in those moments.
40:51 But look at that resilience.
40:53 Look at that resolve.
40:56 But also we see in the book of Acts
40:58 about Paul and Silas being in prison.
41:01 So I'm gonna read from Acts 16 and I'll start in verse 23.
41:05 But just to set it up, they were mobbed, Paul and Silas.
41:09 They were mobbed for preaching the gospel, Jesus Christ.
41:12 They were stripped, they were beaten.
41:14 They were beaten with wooden rods apparently very, very severely.
41:16 And then they're just kind of tossed in prison.
41:18 So Acts 16 starting in verse 23.
41:23 The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape.
41:26 So the jailer put them in the inner dungeon
41:28 and clamped their feet in stocks.
41:30 Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying
41:32 and singing hymns to God
41:33 and the other prisoners were listening.
41:35 Suddenly there was a massive earthquake
41:37 and the prison was shaken to its foundation.
41:39 All the doors immediately flew open
41:41 and the chains of every prisoner fell off.
41:43 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open.
41:46 He assumed the prisoners had escaped
41:49 so he drew his sword to kill himself.
41:51 But Paul shouted to him, "Stop.
41:53 Don't kill yourself.
41:54 We are all here."
41:56 The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon
41:58 and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
42:00 Then he brought them out and asked,
42:02 "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
42:05 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus
42:07 and you will be saved along with everyone in your household."
42:10 And they shared the word of the Lord with him
42:13 and with all who lived in his household.
42:15 Even at that hour of night,
42:16 the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds.
42:19 Then he and everyone in his household
42:21 were immediately baptized.
42:23 He brought them into his house and set a meal before them
42:26 and he and his entire household rejoiced
42:28 because they all believed in God.
42:29 So I'm gonna go back to the main message
42:35 that I gave to the men that were in prison.
42:38 Because again, I wasn't getting a lot of response.
42:41 You know, there's not amends
42:42 and it wasn't a crazy charismatic experience.
42:46 But there was one specific quote
42:48 that I got directly from Phil Roberts
42:50 and I still have the notes sitting here right in front of me
42:52 'cause this is something that he said
42:54 when he's presented in prison.
42:56 And you know, he spoke to me for 10, 15 minutes
42:57 and then he goes, "Kyle, here's the point.
42:59 And this is what you need to tell these guys."
43:02 And so I just basically parroted it directly to these men.
43:05 I told them, "You can be under lock and key,
43:10 but you can still be free."
43:13 And in the three presentations I did when I was out there,
43:18 but especially in the prisons, inside the prison.
43:23 That, it was like, it got everyone woken up.
43:27 That's where you got amends.
43:28 That's where you got the, "Ugh, you can be under lock and key,
43:32 but you can still be free."
43:33 Because I told these men that they had crossed
43:39 the lines of man and certain lines that they had crossed
43:44 came with laws and came with punishments
43:47 and that's why they were in there.
43:48 That's why they were assigned a number
43:52 and assigned to a cell because they crossed the laws of man.
43:55 But I told these men that all of us have crossed
44:00 the lines of God, all of us.
44:03 All of us have fallen short of the glory of God,
44:07 all in all means all.
44:10 So I told these men, there is no difference between you and I.
44:13 In terms of the lines that we've crossed
44:16 that God set forth, we've crossed different lines of man
44:19 but the same lines of God.
44:21 And we must have an intercessor between us and the Father
44:26 for us to be made holy and righteous.
44:29 And so God sent his own son here to him who knew no sin,
44:34 made him to be sin so that we would have
44:37 the righteousness of God, us.
44:39 And that's the sacrifice that counts.
44:43 Not where you reside on this planet,
44:46 geographically inside or geographically outside of prison.
44:50 What matters is where you put your trust
44:52 and where you find your identity.
44:54 And I put my trust in the sacrifice of Jesus,
44:58 a real person that was also part of the triune God
45:03 that was sent here to die
45:06 so that I would have a way to get to the Father.
45:08 And I said, if you put your faith in that,
45:13 you will be saved.
45:14 And if you don't, you will not.
45:18 And that's it.
45:19 You can be under lock and key, but you can still be free.
45:23 You can be freer than any of these people
45:25 walking around outside these doors, if you have Christ.
45:29 And so that's what I told them.
45:31 And that's what they responded to.
45:33 And I'm gonna tell the same thing to you.
45:35 To someone listening to this right now,
45:38 of which there are many, some of you,
45:42 for the first time are feeling like,
45:44 the sacrifice of Jesus, you knew the story.
45:46 You've heard this stuff before.
45:47 Oh yeah, you know, Middle Eastern Jew, you know,
45:49 was arrested and then beaten and flogged.
45:51 And then he was killed on a Roman cross.
45:54 He was crucified and then he was dead
45:56 and he was buried and supposedly he woke up
45:58 and he was resurrected and all these different things.
46:01 But for the first time in your life, for whatever reason,
46:04 you feel like that counted for you.
46:06 That somehow, you can't explain it.
46:09 You don't have a theological degree to explain it in detail,
46:13 but you think that that counted for you.
46:16 That when Jesus was sent here by God
46:18 to die for the sins of humanity,
46:20 that that counted for you.
46:22 And you wanna put your faith in that today.
46:25 And I would tell you, wherever you are right now,
46:28 unless you're driving, don't be dangerous.
46:30 But if that's you, I want you to stand up.
46:32 I want you to stand up.
46:35 I want you to respond to the call of Christ.
46:37 I want you to respond to the gospel
46:39 because that's the good news.
46:41 You are depraved.
46:42 You have no way that you could possibly be good enough
46:47 to be before the Father who cannot have sinned and is present.
46:50 And so Jesus died for you.
46:52 So if that's you, we're not gonna do a prayer
46:55 'cause again, there's nothing magical about a prayer,
46:57 but I do want you to reach out to me.
46:58 Info@Undaunted.life is our email.
47:01 Info@Undaunted.life where you can DM us on Facebook
47:04 or Instagram or something like that.
47:06 I wanna talk to you.
47:07 Wherever you're at, I wanna see if I can help get you
47:09 plugged in at a church.
47:10 I want you to start your discipleship journey.
47:12 If you can't get a Bible,
47:14 we wanna make sure we get one of those in your hands as well.
47:17 But I want you guys to respond to the gospel.
47:19 And to those of you that are already Christians
47:21 listening to this right now,
47:23 I want you to remember that evangelism is required of you.
47:26 You need to share the good news of what Christ has done
47:29 in your life and the good news of the gospel
47:31 and a full gospel.
47:33 Not, you know, Jesus is okay with everything.
47:35 And he came to dialing for certain people
47:36 or for certain sins, no.
47:38 You are so depraved, you have no chance
47:41 of saving yourself.
47:43 And literally thank God that he sent Jesus in your place.
47:46 So, to those of you who have responded to the gospel today,
47:50 I'm so excited for you.
47:52 I wish I could show it more with my voice,
47:53 but I'm just trying to make it through the end here.
47:55 Please, please reach out to us.
47:57 We'd love to talk to you.
47:58 But but guys, before we let you go,
48:00 we are gonna do a quick resilience boost
48:01 at Undaunted Life.
48:02 Our mission is equipping men to push back darkness
48:04 with content that forages spiritual, mental,
48:06 and physical resilience.
48:07 So I've got a link to the Origin website, again, guys,
48:09 keys, jeans, boots, protein, energy, drink supplements,
48:12 all that is at the Origin main website.
48:14 Use the promo code undaunted to get 10% off your order.
48:17 I've got a link to where you can donate
48:18 to keep what we're doing here at Undaunted Life Alive.
48:20 And then I've got a link to the Undaunted Life Shop.
48:22 So at noon on Thursday, if you're listening to this,
48:25 that is Thursday the 9th of March,
48:27 you can check it out and get one of our new green hats.
48:29 Thank you guys for listening to this episode.
48:31 Wherever you're listening to this,
48:32 please subscribe, rate and leave us a positive five star view.
48:35 If you want to come speak live at your event
48:36 or on your podcast, you should me an email
48:38 to info@undaunted.life.
48:40 That's i-n-f-o @undaunted.life.
48:42 Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook
48:44 and check out our website for everything else,
48:45 including how to donate to keep more content
48:47 like this coming your way.
48:48 Just go to www.undaunted.life.
48:51 And as always, we want to thank the band August Burns Red
48:53 for allowing us to use their music for our content.
48:55 The music on this podcast is our song "Cutting the Tides,"
48:58 which is off their 10th anniversary re-recording
49:00 of their album leveler.
49:01 The links are in the description.
49:03 I'm your host, Kyle Thompson.
49:05 Remember, keep pushing back darkness,
49:07 keep forging spiritual, mental and physical resilience,
49:11 keep seeking the lion of Judah.
49:13 (upbeat music)
49:35 (upbeat music)
Key quotes
1
Kyle Thompson
You can be under lock and key, but you can still be free.
Show notes & links

In this episode, Kyle discusses his recent experience preaching at Lewisburg Prison in Pennsylvania and why it was one of the most important things he’s ever done with Undaunted.Life. Let’s get into it…

Go to the ORIGIN website to check out the full line of Origin and Jocko Fuel products:

  • Gis, jeans, boots, protein, energy drinks, supplements, and much more. Get some hunting gear!

  • Use the promo code UNDAUNTED to get 10% off your order!

Quick Resilience Boost suggested materials:

Book Kyle to speak at your event: info@undaunted.life

Follow us:

- Facebook

- Instagram

- Twitter

YouTube:

- Undaunted.Life: A Man’s Podcast channel

Rumble:

- Undaunted.Life: A Man’s Podcast channel

Podcast:

- Apple Podcasts/iTunes

- Google Podcasts

- Spotify

- Audible

- Amazon Music

- Stitcher

- iHeartRadio

Devotionals:

- https://www.undaunted.life/devotionals

Follow the host Kyle Thompson:

- Instagram

- Twitter

Intro/outro music:

Artist: August Burns Red

Track: Cutting the Ties

Album: Leveler - 10th Anniversary Edition

Listen on Apple Music

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Amazon Music

Spotify Music Playlist:

“Undaunted.Life: Christian Metal” playlist

AVAILABLE WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS:

Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Google | Stitcher | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio

Free Resource
31-Day Resilience Reset
If this episode hit, the next 31 days will be the reset. Free PDF, instant download.
START FREE →
Brotherhood
Apply to Dominion
Six pillars. Application only. The men's program Kyle built around the show.
APPLY NOW →
Dig Deeper
Ask the Archive
"Which episodes cover this topic?" Get answers grounded in all 940+ episodes.
START A CHAT →