286 - 3 Lessons from Charlie Kirk
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Show Notes:
Today I honor the life and death of my brother in Christ, Charlie Kirk. I also admit that I don’t always get it right on this podcast and platform and I share some Scripture and some resources that might help you if you’re confused about what people are saying and are searching for some truth.
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This podcast is not a political podcast and I get that. I also get that some of you are going to see the name of this episode or maybe you'll start listening to it and you will choose to stop listening to me. You might unfollow me for this and you know what? It's okay. I'm good with that. You are welcome to come back anytime you'd like. But I will say this. Before you turn it off, would you just consider listening, not to me, but at least to some of the resources that I share in the podcast notes.
My charge to every person who hears this episode is to do your own research. Do not let anyone tell you what to believe, even me. I want you to search for truth. I believe in you. I know you can. It takes a little bit of time and effort, but I know you can do it. The assassination of Charlie Kirk last week has shifted things in our country, in our culture, definitely in our church and in the spiritual world. It was a horrendous event. It has really affected me personally. I want to explain his legacy in my own life to honor him today.
I first heard about Charlie Kirk when he came to speak at my church five years ago. I'm going to leave a link to that service in my show notes so you can go and listen to it if you'd like. He did a Q&A time and I remember sitting there in the audience and my husband was rapidly typing a question to send to Charlie Kirk on the stage. His question actually got chosen that day and Charlie answered it. He was so well spoken and humble and articulate. He spoke boldly and I had never heard of him before that day. But after that day, I became curious. Like, what is this guy all about? Why did he come to our church and who is he? Like, what does he do?
So I started listening to his podcast and I couldn't keep up. I mean, he was a machine. He put out so much content and so many episodes. But from what I listened to, I knew he was so smart. He was a thought leader. He could really stand on his own two feet and defend his beliefs very well.
What really captivated me about Charlie was how he loved college students and how he founded this movement called Turning Point USA. That's where he goes to these college campuses. I'm sure you've probably seen clips of him talking on college campuses. But the amazing thing about that to me was how dry and lost college campuses are these days. In my college experience… I faithfully followed the Lord throughout all of my years of college, but I did not go to a Christian college. In fact, I went to Elon University one year and then Appalachian State for three years. I'll never forget just feeling so alone and so looked down on for having my beliefs.
I remember there was this one guy in my freshman class at Elon who kind of stood up to my professor and it wasn't anything crazy. It was like about family values and marriage. He just said, “You know, I just kind of have a more traditional view about marriage. I would love for my wife to have the opportunity to work if she wants to, but I'd also love for her to stay home with the kids if she wants.” Everyone in the class, especially all the girls were like, “What?!” They could not believe it. It was just very feminist. They just kind of made fun of him. I remember pulling him aside. I think his name was Chuck. It was so long ago and I remember pulling him aside after that class and being like “Thank you for saying that. I'm with you. I believe what you believe.” We were friends that year before I transferred to Appalachian, but even at Appalachian, I remember seeing things in my classes, like on movies that would play, things that I just wish I could unsee, and I would try to stand up here and there or say, “I don't agree with that”, and I just felt so lonely. Like, I felt so alone in my beliefs. So to see Charlie go on these college campuses and be so bold for these young people who are trying to figure out what they believe. Man would I have loved to have linked arms with that organization when I was in college. Maybe it existed when I was in college. Maybe it didn't. Actually, it probably didn't because Charlie was so much younger. He's a lot younger than me. I think he's like seven years younger than me.
But anyway, I just so admired him going into college campuses. I followed him from a distance, you know? I would tune into his podcast here and there. On election night, I sought him out. I knew I wanted to hear from Charlie Kirk and what he was reporting on. I found that he was on YouTube live the whole night so I hung out with Charlie Kirk and his team all of election night, this last presidential election, and he was just giving live coverage, and it was great. It was great.
He is larger than life. He has a massive following. He doesn't know who I am. I never knew him. But when you spend time with a voice like that, you feel their impact. I've even met some of you who are listening to my podcast in real life and it's so sweet because I love every chance I get to meet someone who listens to my podcast, I love to give them a big hug and say thank you so much because it makes such a difference to see you in real life and hug you versus just seeing like a number that's listening or that's downloaded my podcast that week. Every time I meet someone, they say “I feel like I know you. Like I listen to you all the time. I feel like I know you. It's so fun to meet you.” And that's the same. Like I didn't know Charlie, but in a lot of ways it feels like you kind of know them or you have this understanding of them.
I remember when he announced he was getting married and I felt so genuinely happy for him. His life and legacy were really incredible. If you've never just taken time to listen to his podcast or watch him on YouTube or watch how he interacted with kids on college campuses, I really encourage you to do that. Today, I just want to share three things that I've learned from Charlie and his life and then I want to share something kind of humbling. Then I want to leave you with Scripture. So three things that I have learned from Charlie are this.
1). Be bold and confident as a believer.
Number one, it's so important to be bold and confident as a believer. Joshua 1:9 says, “Yes, be bold and strong. Banish fear and doubt, for remember the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” I feel like Charlie embodied that verse. He was bold and strong and he wasn't afraid.
2). Be able to articulate what you believe and why.
The second thing that I learned from Charlie is really the importance of learning to articulate what you believe and why. I always talk about this with Will and he's the one that kind of introduced me to this. He's like, you know, if you know something really well, you can maybe take a test and score really good on it or understand it in your mind. But you really know it if you can teach it. That's when you know you've kind of mastered something. If you can articulate it and teach it to somebody else. He was so articulate and he taught many people not just what he believes, but why he believes it. That is so inspiring to me. I feel like it's something that I really want to grow in. I want to learn to be articulate in not only what I believe, but why I believe it.
1 Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect.” That's what Charlie did. He was bold as a lion, but he was articulate and he did it with respect.
3). Be unwavering in your faith.
Number three. Charlie showed us what it looks like to be unwavering in your faith. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, be immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, always doing your best and doing more than is needed, being continually aware that your labor, even to the point of exhaustion in the Lord is not futile nor wasted. It is never without purpose.” That's the amplified version and I love that. He was steadfast. Charlie was immovable in his faith. I've seen clips of him getting mocked and cussed at and just treated like trash and he would just smile and he wouldn't waver or he would say, “As a Christian, I'm not going to engage with you because that's not what we do” or “God bless you.” That was his answer. He was unwavering in his faith, even to the end.
You know, this is why when I learned that he was shot, I immediately started pacing my kitchen, praying fervently that God would save his life. I got so emotional just begging God that He would save his life because his voice is so important for the youth today and for college students and for our nation. When I learned that he died, I cried. There was this physical heaviness on my chest. He had taught me in my faith as a brother. He had been an example to me. He helped bring clarity to a lot of political issues that felt muddy and confusing to me. He took the time to articulate it and I benefited from his life and his work and his words.
I really felt like this week I just wanted to honor him. This is a tiny little podcast, like such a small drop in the bucket when it comes to looking at what is happening across America. But I also know that it's really important to speak truth right now and be bold with whatever influence you have. Whether you have a platform or not. Maybe you're just talking with your friend. Like, it doesn't matter. What's important is that you are speaking what's true. Friend, this isn't going to turn into a political podcast, but I will say, this is something that I haven't wanted to talk about for a while. Just politics in general or where I stand. I don't feel really equipped. I don't feel as articulate as Charlie. But I do want to say, you know, me. You know that faith is central to my life. You know, maybe you don't know this, but I'll tell you now. I gave this podcast to the Lord before I ever started it. I hit my knees before I record every episode. This week when I didn't have a podcast episode ready and was praying about what to share, I just wanted the Lord to be the center and get the glory. There's a Bible verse that talks about giving honor where honor is due and I felt like this is the right thing to do this week. This is the only thing to do. I couldn't just move along and do “three tips for a morning routine” kind of podcast after my brother lost his life for the Lord.
It just felt disingenuous to talk about anything else and I just wanted to honor Charlie's life and legacy. You know, I talk about that. Work and play, this is your legacy. The goal of this podcast is to encourage you to have a healthy soul and a fulfilling life. Charlie had a great fulfilling life and he walked in a beautiful relationship with the Lord and had a healthy soul. There's no doubt in my mind to where he is right now. As I was preparing, it's like I was just asking God, like, where do you want me to go with this? What do want me to do? All I could think of, like there was just this picture in my mind of the Lord in Heaven and Charlie was there too. I just was like, I just have to share some encouraging Scripture. I have to be humble and just share what Charlie has meant to my life.
So anyway, I know I'm getting a little repetitive. I'm going to move on. Before I share some encouraging Scriptures with you because I know it's been a heavy week and I do want to leave you with God's word because it is the thing that has really uplifted me and got me through. Before that, I want to share two things. Number one, I feel like there's this shift on social media and podcasts and influencers, whatever. I think that people just want to know where people stand. Like, I feel it. Like, there's this desire for transparency. Like are you in or are you out? Who are you going to be? Can you just share, like, where do you fall right now in our country? I just want to know.
So, in a way, I'm just really tired of not really being forthright with that part of my life. I am a conservative Christian. Those values are so important to me and my family. I love this country. While this isn't a political podcast, I feel like it's just time to be transparent about those things because that's who I am and those beliefs are really important to me. So yeah, that's the first thing is I feel like people just really want that transparency. You want to know where people stand. I'm going to lose listeners for this. I know next week my listenership is going to go down. I'm going to get unfollows on Instagram. I don't really care anymore. I care more about what the Lord wants from me. So I want to be transparent with you and share that. Even though I'm talking about this today and I say it's not a political podcast… Listen, if God puts it on my heart to talk about something else that happens, I will. I will do it. That's me. That's where I am.
The second thing I want to share before I share Scripture is I just want to be humble and admit for a second that I have gotten it wrong before on this podcast. I feel like I've gotten it wrong. I've gotten it wrong on Instagram. When 2020 happened, I jumped in real fast and quickly posted the black square and BLM and a lot of ideology that I no longer agree with. I confess that I did it because I didn't want people to think I was racist because I condemn racism. It is sinful and awful. I wanted people to know that I don't stand for that and I still don't. But I did not take my time to do the research and understand the ideology behind the Black Lives Matter movement. I wanted people to think of me a certain way and so I just posted the stuff. But what happened was after a while, and after some research, and after listening to people who helped me see what was actually going on, I realized I didn't know the facts and statistics. I'm going to leave a link to a podcast episode from Allie Beth Stuckey that really changed it all for me because I was believing the messages all around me
I tend to be a pretty positive person. I have good faith in people. I see people and they tell me things or they push a message and I believe the best in them. I will just say right now, it is one of my greatest faults. It has gotten me into a lot of trouble. I really relate to Eve on this one because if I were in the garden, I will humbly admit that I would have believed Satan. I wish that wasn't true, but I think that I am a very gullible or I just love to believe the best in people.
Anyway, I believed a lot of this ideology and it was so eye opening when I listened to that podcast episode by Allie. I just thought, she is like sharing statistics about police officers and race and things that are like documented and research that's actually been done. This isn't just hearsay or what people think. This is actually research that she's sharing and it's totally different than what was all over social media. I was like, wait, what? I felt like I had been duped in a lot of ways. But I still to this day feel bad that I shared some things that I did because I felt like it was misleading. I think honestly, that's why I don't want to share is because I'm afraid I'm going to get it wrong again or that I'll be misleading and I don't want that. I want to lead people to the truth.
That's why I started out this episode by saying do your own research. Don't even trust me. I'll tell you that right now. Because I've gotten it wrong and I am an imperfect person, don't trust everything that I say. Do your research. Check me on whatever I say on this podcast. As I grow older, I'm really realizing I can't believe everything that everyone says anymore. People are imperfect and I have messed up and I will probably mess up again. At the same time I am here to confess that I'm imperfect and I've messed up here on this podcast, but also to say at the same time, I feel so strongly about just being transparent from here on out and sharing resources that hopefully will help you.
So I am going to add some resources in the show notes of this episode to hopefully lead you to a path where you can really get the full context and the full picture and seek truth for yourself. But guys, today I'm doing this episode because Charlie stood up for truth. He wasn't perfect, but he boldly stood up for truth again and again. After he's dead, people are calling him racist and divisive. I'm just here to encourage you not to believe everything you hear. So listen to his full talks and discussions in context. You can start in my show notes.
These are a couple of things I'm going to leave in my show notes just in case you're interested. First, like I said, I'll leave that link to when he came and spoke at my church. Second, if you have not listened to Erika Kirk's sixteen minute talk after he died, when she addressed the nation, you have got to do that. I mean, who else knew him better than his wife? The things that she said in that talk were incredible. It was a straight gospel presentation. It was so powerful. So if you haven't done that yet, do that. I'll leave a link for that.
Someone I follow on Instagram, her handle is called @EchoUnafraid. She provides full episodes, context. links. She's calling out some large accounts who are posting things that Charlie said without the full context and she's providing the context for you. So again, go listen to all of what he said; not just these hot takes, these one liners. I'll leave you a link to her account and some specific posts, which actually give you QR codes to listen to the actual interviews and the podcast episodes that those quotes are taken from.
Amir Odom is someone I have followed for a while. He is a young black gay conservative and he loved Charlie and he has a YouTube account. He did this almost hour long video on Charlie and why people are getting it wrong about him now. He's also providing a lot of context on specific issues that people are coming after Charlie about. Obviously, he's not a Christian and I don't agree with everything that he says, but what a great resource that he has provided. I really admire him and he is so articulate. He's just a free thinker and a thought leader in the conservative movement.
Then I will put several clips of Charlie himself speaking and interacting with people on college campuses that I have found really encouraging about Charlie's character. Then a few clips of people that I agree with and things that they've shared recently. Okay, so that's what you'll find in my show notes. I am going to leave you with some Scripture.
I hope these encourage you in a really sad, hard time and I just want to encourage you no matter where you are, no matter if you have a platform or not, use this shift in our country to be bold and strong and courageous in your faith. Speak the truth. Point people to truth. Do your own research and know that I'm thankful that you're here. If you've made it this far in this episode, I'm really thankful you're here. If it's been encouraging to you or helpful at all, please share this episode with somebody.
Alright, let's read some Scripture. John 14:6. “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one can get to the father except by means of me.’” John 14:27. “PeaceI leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Alright, this is a passage from 2 Timothy 3. It’'s almost the whole chapter, but I have removed some verses just to keep it a little more concise, but it's so good. “But understand this, that in the last days there will be times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with deceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people. You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings I endured. Yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from who you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Friend, I am so thankful that we have the Word of God to help guide us in these times that feel so dark. I just want to point out a few things in that last passage. If we desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, we're going to be persecuted. While evil people will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived, I just charge you, don't be the one who is deceiving and being deceived. Search for truth and stand for it, that you may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Thanks so much for listening to episode 286 of Work and Play with Nancy Ray. Everything I've mentioned today can be found in the show notes at nancyray.com/podcast/286. You can find me at nancyray.com or follow me @NancyRay on Instagram.
I'm going to close with words from Charlie Kirk.
“I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith.”
Thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time.
