To Stand: Man Camp 2026 Keynote Message w/ Jim Ramos EP 1012

What a strange theme to stand. Tonight I'm going to call you to join the movement. I'm going to call you to repent of your sin of anonymity. I'm going to call you of your repent of having callous behinds. I'm going to call you to stand to join a movement that we have been praying for for 50 years. It's not the critical counts, not the manual points that have the strong man stumbles or whether dual deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man was actually in the arena whose face is marked by dust and sweat and blood. Welcome to the Men of the Arena podcast. Our conviction is to call you into the arena of manhood, call you out of the faceless, nameless bleachers and call you up to be the best version of you because when a man gets it, everyone wins. Enjoy today's episode. We sat down, we had a lot of themes going through our head and Chris is probably the most creative guy in the group and Chris I think said, I think it was Chris, was it Chris? He said, "Hey, how about to stand?" And I thought to stand what? That's a weird, that's a weird name. I mean, why not stand firm? Why not take a stand? Why not stand up? Well, how much is simply stand? Why? Why to stand? And as I process it really hit me the genius of Chris's thought to stand and get into the arena of life, to stand for Jesus, to stand single guys, to stand for your virginity, to stand for your marriage, to stand for your children and grandchildren, to stand for your church, to stand and allow your life to be on display for Jesus, to stand and repent of the sin of anonymity for being in the bleachers of churches and nobody in your church church staff knows your name. We need to take a stand. It's time to stand. And I'll tell you, this is my last ministry of end of the year for the year. From here we're going to go on a hunting trip with some friends. Ken is one of my brother, Ken Walsh. I've been in ministry 36 years in December, I turned 60. All my life I've been praying for revival. And I've never seen it. Stop praying for revival. It's here. It's been here for three to four years. I know there's no name, nobody's putting a name on it. I'm calling it a Gen Z revival. God is doing some work among Gen Z men. And for some reason athletes, all colors, political parties, colleges. God is doing a work in Gen Z men. And it is spreading like wildfire across this country. And tonight I'm going to call you to join the movement. And God is doing something. Fathers of Jesus must decide to stand boldly for Jesus with a goal of making Jesus stand. I'm asking you to stand, I'm going to ask you to stand tonight physically and figuratively because we're calling you to join a movement of masculine strength. This is a movement that for some God always starts with men in the Bible almost every single time and almost every revival we've ever had, I started with young men. And we're asking you to join that movement. I'm witness to Gen Z revival on the level of Acts chapter four verses 29 to 31. In Acts chapter four, Peter and John are walking on the street in my little business. They find a paralytic. He's begging for money. Peter says, "I'm a money. I will not give you but the name of Jesus walk." He walks, creates havoc. Peter and John get thrown into jail. The same Jewish leaders at crucify Jesus are saying, "You will not speak in the name of Jesus." They said, "Hey, listen, we're going to do, we can't stop speaking in the name of Jesus. We refuse to sit. We refuse to be silent. We will stand." And something interesting happens. They released them. They go back and they have a prayer meeting in Acts chapter four verse 39. This is not my teaching passage. Now the Lord took note of their threats and grant that your bondservants are praying right now. Lord, take care of the threats and grant that your bondservants may speak your word with great boldness. Verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken. And there was, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness. And there's something happening in your art society today. It is a movement of a bold proclamation of faith blended with gentleness. It's the strangest thing. These Gen Z guys are very gentle. They're very loving. They're very accepting. But they are boldly and unapologetically preaching to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're seeing radical things happen. I'm telling you, it's here. It's been. It's here. It's here. Will you stand in this bold movement? Will you join the movement of masculine power? Stand for Jesus. Get off the sidelines and stand. We're going to show a video in a second. This is unbelievable. So five years with my son Colton is right here. He was playing football for Linfield University. Nicknamed Sinfield University. Man, rough place. I mean, hey, what's your pronoun? Colton responds on Zoom. I'm a submachine gun. So I trained him well. You know, but I'm the chaplain. I'm the chaplain of this football team. And I'm just kind of showing, I'm listening. Listen, I'm a bobblehead for Jesus. I did nothing. I just showed them, just did nothing. I just showed up. It's all I did. But I got to show and watch God doing this movement among these guys. And God be, I'm like, there's something happening here. I don't know how it's happening. And so I'm like, we got to do a baptisms. We baptized about 12 athletes. One was only three time all American. They ever had in the school history. The next year we said, hey, we're going to just do a baptism before the school years, before the season. So my barbecue team, we took my pit 95 degrees. We had the aprons. We went into the barbecue. 95 boys showed up. The boys, the men, the men, there's one of them. Caleb raised your hands. Caleb was one of the main leaders on that's team main guy driving it. They baptized 12 of their athletes. 12, no, 15, 15 of their brothers. Caleb graduated. Let me hold on. Yep. Caleb graduated. Caleb is anointed. We hired Caleb as our young life high school leader in MacNill, Oregon. He's here. He's a trial by fire washing dishes. If you can't wash dishes, you can't be a minister. He just had surgery. He's doing the one-handed dishwasher. It's like they're all getting clean on one side only. I don't know how the other side's going on. But I showed up. I showed. If you can't handle it, get out of the kitchen. Okay. I showed up before the games. I like to video the boys because three years ago, three years ago, two boys went into the end zone before the game in parade. I don't ask them to pray. It's not my job. It's their job. It's God's job. Man, last year, 30, this year I'm videoing in the end zone. And I came undone. Watch what happens. Listen to the song in the bag. It's a sandman. Metallica. The offense is really orderly. Look at the all line up straight line. Wait till you see the defense. That's 47 right there. Now the defense is getting ready to come down. If you very play football, the defensive guys are like barbarians. The offensive guys are very technical and detailed. Now the barbarians are coming. Watch how they line up here. That's 90 plus football players. [Applause] If you're during the video, I'm just coming undone. It's just so cool to watch God do something and you get to see it. Father, thanks for this time. You're doing something special in our country. We want to be a part of it. Many of us have prayed. I've got Todd Digginley audience. He and I prayed as youth passers 25 years ago for this. We're seeing it. You're calling us to this weird movement. I'm called a Gen Z movement where these Gen Z men athletes are leading our nation in a bold and gentle movement. It's just weird to me. I would never do it that way. I mean they're just Gen Zers. They're different than us busters and boomers and millennials. But God, you're doing something special. God help us to see beyond the physical and the your spirit realm. Help us to be men who make you stand in Jesus' name. In Acts chapter 6, verse 13, this is my passage in item I go through. Acts chapter 6 and 7. But this is the martyrdom of Stephen. They put forward false witnesses, witnesses who said this man, Stephen, incessently speaks against the holy place in the law. For we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus will destroy this place in altar customs which Moses handed down to us. And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting at the council saw his face like the face of an angel. Move down to Acts chapter 7, verse 1. And the high priest said, are these are these things so? And then Stephen from Acts chapter 7, verse 2, The University of University of New York, University of New York. lengthy history of Israel. And we're going to pick up after that. Check out what Stephen with the face like an angel says in verse 51. Watch this. The face like an angel says this. You stiff neck people with uncircumcised hearts. How do you say that and have a face like an angel? Have you, I mean, I, I mean, I don't know. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet? Your fathers did not persecute. They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one. Jesus. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. You have received the law that was put into effect through the angels, but have not obeyed it. When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. Hey, when you decide to stand for Jesus, the religious people around you may take a stand against you. The church is the biggest persecutor of Christians in history. The church doesn't save Jesus does. Shouldn't there be a faith about Jesus? Period. Like, I mess with pocket. We make little, I mess with phany and we make fun of Italians. I'm going to, you know what? But here's the deal. We don't care about, we just laugh that word because what's about Jesus? Period. It's not about Jesus. Plus. It's about Jesus. It's not about the church doesn't save you. Jesus saves you. Here we see what it would be like for our, listen, these would be our pastors and leaders. I'm kind of picking a fight tonight, not on purpose, but it just, let's do this. If you're seeing your pastor stand up tonight, you're the speaker sit down, bro. Crane burns. Where are you from, brother? What church? You're the collective church, guys. Thank you, brother. Sit down. Sit down. Listen to out of 300. It's not going to be like that here ever again. Nashing of teeth. There's a sign of rage. It's not a fruit of the spirit. So I'm 35, 16 like godless gestures of the feast. They gnashed at me with their teeth. Luke 13, 28, inhale. There'll be weeping in the national of T. 3 C Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets of the kingdom of God. But yourselves will be thrown out. Historically, the religious stand against men who take a stand. Almost every major religion and revival in history is vehemently reposed by the religious leaders. They they oppose it because this rebellion, there's it looks like an anti establishment rebellion. These Gen Z guys are going to be persecuted for this because they are not saving their buddies and bringing them into churches. They're saving their buddies and bringing them to churches and small groups and home groups and wherever and bars and restaurants. It's not it doesn't look the same as it looked for us. And us guys are going to be getting church. And they're going to say we are in church. It's hard for me to accept because I'm a big local church fan. I'm in a local church. I have a home church group I'm involved with. I love the local church. It's my paradigm. But we got to realize it's going to be a little different with these guys. There's going to be theological differences. Right? They'll think look at spiritual things different than us. The Gen Z guys are so devoted to the word of God you cannot believe it. They don't care about mega churches. They're care about the word of God these guys. It's a whole different movement guys. They are going to be seen as radicalized. People have been persecuted in history because of radicalization. The birth of the church was via me and a poet via me and a poet by church leadership. The Reformation Movement with Luther. People killed, murdered, martyred. The first great awakened in the 1730s. Martyred for their faith. The second great awakened in the 1800s. Attacked. Persecuted by the church. Martyrd for their faith. This is feel good. I should tell joke right now. Right? Like, hey, there's two Jewish guys went into a bar. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Jesus revolution in the 1970s. They were persecuted. They were hippies. Dirty. Save pot smokers. Love Jesus repent. The Gen Z revival of 2022 to now. Isn't it interesting that the poster children for the Gen Z revival are toxic alpha males? Black, white, brown, doesn't matter the color. The toxic masculinity guys are the ones that God is using for the revival. Isn't that weird? Isn't that strange to you? God takes the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And that's what's happening here, guys. That's what's happening. Let's continue. This is really good. This is really good. It's less depressing too. Okay, verse 55. But Steve Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, he says, I see heaven open up and the Son of man is standing at the right hand of God and they covered their ears, yelling at the top of their faces, la la la la la la la la. Drag them out of the city and began to stone him. When you decide to stand for Jesus, I can't prove this. I can't prove this only one time in scripture. When you take a stand for Jesus, just maybe Jesus is going to stand for you. According to Jewish law, the San Chiedron had no power to put anybody to death, John 1831. Stony was not a Roman form of execution. Did you know this? This stony happened by Jewish leaders. He was illegally killed. He was murdered. He wasn't murdered. He was murdered illegally. Except here in Acts chapter 7 verse 56. Jesus is always seen sitting at the right hand of God. 33 times in the Bible, Jesus sits on the throne. Matthew 2664, Mark 1462, Colossians 31, Revelation 513, Revelation 616, Revelation 710, Revelation 715, and witness stadium. In witness stadium, there's a stadium in heaven. It's not a running stadium because that would be hell for me. I just appeared to pick a fight, I guess. It's not a soccer stadium because you've got to use your hands and sports. I'm just kidding. I think it's, I kind of look at this in a football stadium. Witness stadium. Hebrews 122. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfect of our faiths for who the joy set before him, endured the cross, scoring it shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. Stand in such a way to make Jesus stand. Do you have the courage to do this? Do you have the courage? The Gen Z men have the courage to do this. Do you have the courage to make Jesus stand when everybody else tells you to sit down and shut up? Do you have the guts? Are we going to lay the fate of America, the fate of the world, the feet of a Savior, the feet of a bunch of gutless cowards? Who refused to stand? Who choose anonymity? Who say, I'm 60 years old, I'm tapping out, I'm retired. I'm 70 years old. Let the young people do it. Screw that. I'm not a very good, I would do that on Sunday, right? I'm not a good Sunday guy. Ephesians 6, 13, therefore put on the full army of God so that when the day of evil comes that you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand, stand firm then. Romans 4, 14, 14, 4. To his own master, he stands or falls and he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand. I was 26 years old. I'm working in the local churches of youth pastor. I noticed something so weird. I noticed, okay, I'm a professional Christian. How you doing? I'm a professional Christian. How are you doing? Professional Christian. How are you guys? Hey, brother, brother. Fellow professional Christian. I'm a professional, what does that mean? That means I get paid by the church to pray. Read my Bible, show up on Sunday, not cuss, not drink, not chew, not hang out with people who do. Read my Bible, beat my kids if they're bad. I mean, you know, go to church, you know, I'm paid to be Christian. I have been since 1990, but I noticed something in 1994. The men I respected the most in the church were you guys. They were the laymen in the church. And I thought about why are the laymen the guys that I look up to in admire spiritually? They go to work, they have a job, they're around cussing, drinking, womanizing, comments, am I wrong or right? You trade, guys, am I right? You have to come home after work and go serve the Lord in the body Christ. I'm not saying you're not doing it work. I'm saying you do it at work and you serve in the church, prayer ministry leader. I'm looking, I see church leaders all over the place here, laymen. You have to read your Bible, you pray on your own time. I do it because that's much off. I learned early on as a 26 year old man, so I'm not doing that. I'm gonna live like the layman. I read my Bible every morning, and I write my journal, I did it this morning. Colossians one nine was my verse. I wrote it, I read it to my guys. I'm going through the New Testament in my home group. In a year, BJ, Wade, or how you guys cut up? You guys cut up? All right, do I read my Bible every day? Have I modeled that in the home? I don't do it for them. I do it because I'm a Christian first and a pastor later. I sermon preaching everything I did for this sermon. It was nine to five. My Jesus time is before that. I serve as a young life committee chair. I serve as an NCM board of directors, and I serve as a chaplain for the full team. I serve because I'm a layman at heart. I wanna be like you guys. Are you hearing me guys? Are you tracking? That's why I talked to you, I talked to you. I don't wanna talk to you like a pastor. I wanna talk to you like a layman. 'Cause everybody talks to you like this, but we as pastors are tepid and timid, and we're gonna miss the boat. The call to Christ, it's the call to church. It's the call to death. It's the call to boldness. It's the call to sacrifice. When we must ready, we must be ready to get fired, persecuted, martyred for who we believe in. I'm so sick and tired of Christian teachers and spiritual leaders who are nothing more than wordsmithing, gutless cowards, hiding behind their master's degrees and doctrines. (congregation cheering) Yet they're unwilling to stand for Jesus. They stand silent in our schools and universities are fear of being fired and they're stirring things up. They stand silent in their fragile pulpits and willing to shake the hornet's nest. (congregation cheering) In love, of course. In love, of course. Getting fired and persecuted is a believer's badge of honor. God bless us if we die for Jesus. God bless us if you take a bullet for him. You can't even put 10% in the tide box. Can we take a bullet? I'm here to pick a fight. A gentle one. Loving, totally under control. I'm asking you to do one thing tonight. I'm asking you to do one thing to stand. So I'm asking you to do. To do something some of you have never done. Is this an alter call? No, I'm not calling people to come to Christ. Somebody asked me there, "Well, what about the unsaved?" I go, "20% of men and churches serve, the other 80% sit." I'm calling the 80% out of the audience tonight. To stand and then do so. Maybe you'll make Jesus stand. Don't you want to live in such a way as make Jesus stand? I mean, Peter's getting rocks thrown at him. And all he sees, brother, is Jesus standing. And it was a big deal to Steven. Look, I see Jesus standing because nobody sees him standing. He sits. Oh, not now. He stands. He read that and I thought, "Oh, Lord, I mean, live my life in such a way as make you stand. To make you stand. Watch what happens when a man of God takes a stand. Watch this, Verse 58B. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Steven prayed. Listen to the significance of this. As he's getting killed with rocks, Lord Jesus received my spirit. Then he fell in his knees and cried out, "Lord, He imitated Jesus on the cross. Lord do not hold the sin against them." And when he said this, he fell asleep and Saul, Verse 8, Verse 1, was right there in hearty agreement congratulating the killers according to the message for his paraphrase. When we need to decide to stand for Jesus, you never know who will be holding the coats at your persecution and death. How you suffer for the Savior will impact the unsafe and the safe. Augustine said this, "The Church owes Paul to the prayer of Steven." If you're not Jewish and you're here tonight, you can thank Paul for that. When you get to heaven, you can thank Stephen for that prayer. It's really interesting to me. Luke records the book of Acts. Luke was one of Paul's buddies. He was one of his traveling companions. In fact, in Colossians 4, 14, Paul writes, "Luke the beloved physician sends you his greetings and so does Demos." And chapter four of 2 Timothy, verse 11, Paul, some of Paul's last words, he says this, "Only Luke is with me." Isn't it strange that Luke never records Paul's regret about Stephen? Why doesn't Paul ever mention Stephen? Was he ashamed of this sin? Was he ashamed of his stance against truth? Is ignorant stance against truth? William Barkley writes, "However hard he tried, Saul could never forget the way in which Stephen had died. The blood of the martyrs, even thus early, had begun to be the seed of the church." I believe when Paul wrote, 1 Corinthians 59, he was thinking of Stephen. He said, "I am the least of the apostles. I do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." When you decide to stand, a miracle takes place in those around you. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others stiffen. When you decide to take a stand, the jello around you, heartens, the cartilage forms. Man, I come before you unhindered, maybe a little unhinged, 'cause I want you to see what it looks like to live without apology and not be in a shame for Jesus. Our goal is death. Our goal is death. I want to see Jello joints around me stiff. I want to see Jello joints hardened. Don't you want to see that? I want to see that. This is a short message tonight. But how do you guys have a life verse? Life verses, life verses, life verses. I have life verses, but I thought of something about five years ago that it really ministered to me. I have a death verse. 'Cause we tend to focus everything on life in America, right? How do I have the American dream? But I thought I want to focus on a death, I want a verse that when I get died, killed for my faith or whatever, I want it when I see Jesus face to face, I'm gonna say something to him. And I know I'm gonna see him. It's his nail, scarred hands. He'll reach down and lift me up, you know, crawling and crawling up to heaven. He'll lift me up, he'll pull me up. I'm gonna pretty heavy guys. He'll probably have Peter helping him. Pull me up, like, get me look me in the eye. He's gonna look me in the eye. And I know what he will, I know what he's gonna say. I know what he's gonna say. He's gonna say, well done, my good and faithful servant. He's gonna say that. My life is given to that. But I'm gonna be so afraid, I'm like, you know, fear of God type of thing. I gotta have this verse memorized. So my death verse, when I see Jesus face to face, I'm gonna say Luke 17-10. I am just an unworthy servant. I've only done what I've been asked to do. And all he's asking me to do is to take a stand. It's the easiest thing you'll ever do. And it's the hardest thing you'll ever do. To stand for Jesus. How do you wanna live and die in this earth? Do you wanna live in such a way that your life causes Jesus to stand, witness stadium all around you. The witness as the martyrs are watching us. But right there, there's Jesus. He's at the right hand of God. What is he doing? Like what is he doing as he watches you? Is he going to get popcorn because the race is so boring? Is he grimacing because it's just painful to watch? Is he leaning in because you're starting to get momentum? Is he standing because you're crushing it without apology, with love and the fruits of the spirit, love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, down those faithless self-control? What is Jesus doing in response to your race? To me, that makes every difference in the world. To this verse drives my life. I wanna greet him in heaven. As he sits or stands, the right hand of power. I want him to stand to greet me. This isn't a call to repent of sin. This is not a call to give your life to Jesus. It's kind of a weak sauce call tonight. I'm just asking for one thing. Will you stand for him? Will you stand tonight with me right now? 100% all of you guys, I wanna ask you a couple questions. Stand up with me, please. Will you stand and close your eyes? Your close your eyes, everybody close your eyes. My eyes are closed. You're in witness stadium and you're running your faith race. You're tired or not. You're in the game or you're on the sidelines or you're sitting on the bench. We don't know. Only you can answer that question. But you glimpse up into the press box in witness stadium and you see Jesus and he's looking right at you. He's saying something to you. At first, I was thinking, you can barely hear it. But then you hear it. What's he saying? What's he saying to you? What are you saying? What are you going to say back to that? How are you going to respond? Is he sitting? Is he napping? Is he leaning in? Is he grimacing? Do you leave to buy a kosher? Of course, kosher. Hot dog. Is he standing? He's calling your name tonight. He's calling out to you. What is he saying? Now in your heart, I just want you right now in your heart to say something back to him. What do you need to say to Jesus tonight? There's so much work to do. God, if I have a pulse, you've got a purpose. America tells us to retire. It's never in scripture. We continue to grow and grow till we see you face to face. I pray for these men. I pray for them to stay. Jesus.