Upside Down Kings

Welcome to Upside Down Kings: Faith, Work, and Calling

• Joshua Wilson

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0:00 | 2:36

In this short intro, host Joshua Wilson opens Upside Down Kings with prayer and lays out the belief everything else grows from — that Jesus is the risen King of Kings, that surrender is strength, and that the faithful are quietly raised to stand before kings. This is a show about faith, work, and calling: the Kingdom principles God is showing us about how to live and work in the business world. Joshua reads the show's creed, names the words this podcast will dig into one at a time, and shares why — after years of carrying this on a shelf and a whiteboard — it's finally time to begin.

What we cover:

  • An opening prayer for wisdom and for God's Kingdom to come
  • The creed Upside Down Kings is built on
  • Why surrender, not striving, is the show's foundation
  • The words we'll unpack over time: yield, mandate, calling, purpose, favor, capacity, grace, focus
  • Avodah — the idea that skilled work, done unto God, is its own kind of worship
  • Stewardship and wisdom, and what it means to stand before kings
  • The plan to bring on others living this out in their own work
  • Why this show waited years for the right time to begin

About the show: Upside-Down Kings is a publication of One Iron Network. Learn more at oneironnetwork.com.

Upside-Down Kings is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice.

Joshua Wilson:

Welcome to Upside Down Kings. Let's start with prayer. Father, please give us your wisdom. Let your Kingdom come, in the name of Jesus. Amen. I wanna start out by telling you that this podcast is set on a belief system, a creed. We believe everything else grows out of it. We believe Jesus is the risen King of kings. We live surrendered to His rule. We overcome by His blood and the word of our testimony. We serve, we witness, and we lay down our lives, not for our own name, but for His eternal Kingdom.

Here is our creed:

Jesus is King of kings. He conquered sin, death, and the grave. We overcome because of what He has done, and we testify to His work, His power in our lives. We live yielded. Surrender is our strength. We carry a mandate not of our own making and a calling we did not earn. We walk in favor, the unearned hand of God, who gives the grace to do what He asks and the capacity to bear what He gives. We keep our focus on Him, where the least are the greatest and the faithful are quietly raised to stand before the King. That's the ground this podcast stands on, and here's where we're gonna dig. There are some words that keep coming back to us: yield, mandate, calling, purpose, favor, capacity, grace, focus. Each one is a thread that we'll take them one at a time, and we'll unpack them and dig into them. We'll talk about a concept of avodah, something that I found hidden in the Scriptures. We'll kinda dig into what that is. I hope I'm even pronouncing it right. But it's the idea that skilled work done unto God to serve people is its own kind of worship. We'll sit with stewardship and wisdom and what it means to be skilled in your work and stand before kings. We'll bring on others to the show who are living this out, or at least trying to like I am, in their own work and to share what God is showing them. We've been carrying this show for years, sitting on our shelf, written up on our whiteboard, waiting for the right time. This is the start. Not perfect, but here we are. One last thing, every time Upside Down Kings is shared, this is for education and informational purposes only. This is not financial, investing, or legal advice. Check with your own professionals on this. Thank you for being here. Let's get into it