Latest / Karl and Crew / The Heart of True Discipleship with Dr. Crawford Loritts & Finding Your Purpose in Christ with Steve DeWitt

Transcript

The Heart of True Discipleship with Dr. Crawford Loritts & Finding Your Purpose in Christ with Steve DeWitt · Karl and Crew

• 0:00
  S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
• 0:06
  S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome
• 0:10
  S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined delivering
• 0:16
  S1: the truth daily.
• 0:17
  S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
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  S2: and you're forfeiting your soul, there's no amount of gain
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  S2: that would make it worth it.
• 0:26
  S3: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
• 0:29
  S3: the life source, which is God.
• 0:32
  S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
• 0:36
  S4: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
• 0:39
  S4: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
• 0:44
  S1: Now, from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
• 0:48
  S1: and crew. Hard to believe there's just one more day here.
• 0:51
  S1: But here we are.
• 0:52
  S4: Super day. It went so fast. I know excitement and tremendous.
• 0:58
  S1: We're hearing great words. I talked to a lot of
• 1:01
  S1: people on campus yesterday, and the amount of excitement over
• 1:05
  S1: what God is doing in hearts is really thrilling. And
• 1:08
  S1: people from all around the world.
• 1:14
  S2: The.
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  S4: World, exactly. The globe. I mean, amazing people have traveled in.
• 1:17
  S4: It's just beautiful, I think.
• 1:20
  S1: So let me go through some of them. Papua New Guinea, Virginia, Florida, uh, Cleveland, Tennessee, um,
• 1:29
  S1: New York.
• 1:30
  S4: Spokane.
• 1:31
  S1: Spokane. Now, what I'm mentioning right there are that's just
• 1:36
  S1: the tour groups that came through our radio studio yesterday,
• 1:40
  S1: and they'll have tour groups again today. In fact, I
• 1:42
  S1: need to get all those states written down before we
• 1:46
  S1: get in a distant past memory here, because that that
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  S1: was just absolutely awesome, wasn't it?
• 1:54
  S4: It was heartwarming. And like you said, it was just
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  S4: the groups coming through. Could you imagine the entire auditorium? Yeah.
• 2:00
  S4: Oh my.
• 2:00
  S1: Goodness. Yeah, it's it's astounding. So what? What a thrill.
• 2:05
  S1: What a thrill. And we're going to have some clips
• 2:08
  S1: here in a little bit. But it's not too late
• 2:11
  S1: today at 9:30 a.m.. If you've not taken in any
• 2:16
  S1: of Founder's Week, we're going to be starting in earnest again.
• 2:19
  S1: 9:30 a.m. central time, I should say. Uh, we're going
• 2:23
  S1: to be starting in earnest again. So really, uh, get
• 2:27
  S1: this link because you can watch it live. All the
• 2:30
  S1: sessions from your phone, from your laptop, from your iPad,
• 2:34
  S1: you name it. You can have it all right there.
• 2:37
  S4: And if you think you've missed some of the past days,
• 2:39
  S4: they will all have that past audio up as well.
• 2:42
  S4: So you really do want to get this link. It's
• 2:45
  S4: just text the word founders and we'll send it to you.
• 2:47
  S4: We'll get you all set up. Text the word founders
• 2:50
  S4: to 805 five, five, 78, 98. That's founders to 805 557898. Yes,
• 2:59
  S4: both past audio and what's coming up even for today?
• 3:02
  S1: Yeah. Thrilling, man. And it was fun to have a
• 3:05
  S1: studio audience yesterday. That was a that was a great joy.
• 3:10
  S1: And the joy for me was the quality of these people.
• 3:15
  S1: They are just rich in faith.
• 3:17
  S4: Some just teary eyed, emotional to be here, to be
• 3:21
  S4: part of it, to be part of Founders Week, what
• 3:23
  S4: they were hearing, what they were looking forward to. I mean,
• 3:26
  S4: they really prayed and came through into this Founders Week
• 3:29
  S4: with open hearts. It was just wonderful.
• 3:31
  S1: Yeah, it's it's absolutely beautiful. So be sure to get
• 3:34
  S1: this link. Boom. Crew founders is the word founders text
• 3:39
  S1: that word to 805 5578, 981 word founders to 800 555, 78, 98.
• 3:49
  S1: Everything you need is going to be right there. It's,
• 3:53
  S1: I think, one of the most thrilling things about Founder's Week,
• 3:58
  S1: or any event kind of like this, is that you
• 4:02
  S1: get this high density of people that are all in it.
• 4:06
  S1: If you know what I mean.
• 4:07
  S4: Oh, all in deep end and all committed highly. Yes.
• 4:11
  S1: It's just, it's just a beautiful thing to watch. So
• 4:14
  S1: you can be a part wherever you are and take
• 4:17
  S1: it in. I think you'll get a sense of what
• 4:18
  S1: God's doing here. So be sure to get that link,
• 4:21
  S1: log in and get ready to roll a little heads up.
• 4:25
  S1: November 14th. We're going to start taking registrations next week,
• 4:30
  S1: but I'm really thrilled, man. The Unstoppable Gospel conference we're
• 4:34
  S1: going to be talking about just some of the heartache
• 4:39
  S1: for some of you. Maybe you got a wayward kid
• 4:42
  S1: or 2 or 3 or more. When we've opened up
• 4:45
  S1: phone lines here, it's been it's.
• 4:47
  S4: Been a big topic.
• 4:48
  S1: It's been a big topic. Every time we open up
• 4:51
  S1: phone lines and put in the first name of your kid.
• 4:53
  S1: That's far from God. You want them to come home.
• 4:57
  S1: The amount of names that come in here. Super day.
• 5:00
  S4: It's just so hard to fathom. I mean, it just
• 5:02
  S4: scrolls through your heart. Just pains for that. So I'm
• 5:04
  S4: so glad you're doing that. Yeah, I'm addressing that.
• 5:07
  S1: Yeah. And in the third session on November 14th, just
• 5:10
  S1: put a pin in it. We'll have the registration for
• 5:12
  S1: you next week. But on the third session, seven surprising
• 5:16
  S1: ways God saves those we love. And this is going
• 5:20
  S1: to give you things that you can act on in
• 5:22
  S1: the power of the Holy Spirit that might surprise you.
• 5:26
  S1: So we're going to have just an incredible time. There's
• 5:28
  S1: some of you listening. And very candidly, because of the
• 5:33
  S1: number of stand blogs that we've had that have gone out,
• 5:38
  S1: nine ways to Know you stand with God and he
• 5:40
  S1: stands with you. You've had great question marks about this,
• 5:43
  S1: and that is, why doesn't the Christian faith work for me?
• 5:47
  S1: Why does it not work? And there's a lot of
• 5:51
  S1: you that wonder why is the abundant life elusive for me?
• 5:56
  S1: And in many cases it is a cultural Christianity. It's
• 6:00
  S1: a churchianity. It has become very. It's an interesting gig.
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  S1: You can keep the gods of this age even hidden
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  S1: from yourself, but still tucked under your arm and claim
• 6:15
  S1: the name of Jesus and not be born again.
• 6:19
  S4: Yeah. You know, you did mention that. So I do
• 6:21
  S4: want to draw attention to is people going, what, what, what,
• 6:23
  S4: what resource? It's called nine ways to know that you
• 6:27
  S4: stand with God and that God stands with you. A
• 6:29
  S4: phenomenal resource that Carl had put together. So if you
• 6:32
  S4: do text the word stand, we gotcha. So text the
• 6:36
  S4: word stand to 805 five, five, 78, 98. Uh, and
• 6:41
  S4: would be the key word for that 805 557898.
• 6:45
  S1: Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff guys. So, um, yeah, just put
• 6:49
  S1: a pin in it for November 14th. 8:30 a.m. till
• 6:52
  S1: 12:30 p.m. central time. And we'll give you details starting
• 6:56
  S1: next week for that. Nice. Yeah. Guys, I got to
• 7:00
  S1: tell you, God is good.
• 7:01
  S5: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 7:05
  S1: By the way. I just heard it. Uh, this this
• 7:08
  S1: is the time for planning, and I haven't pitched it
• 7:10
  S1: this way to you, but this is a fun idea.
• 7:13
  S1: We've got a cruise coming up next June, and Michael
• 7:16
  S1: Riedel and myself and Micah Tyler is going to be
• 7:19
  S1: leading worship. No, but it's the inside passage out of Seattle,
• 7:24
  S1: and it's going to be an incredible week long cruise.
• 7:26
  S1: It's going to be one of the most breathtaking experiences
• 7:29
  S1: you've ever had, and we're going to be breaking open
• 7:33
  S1: the word. And you put together not only being in
• 7:37
  S1: the Word of God, but being in God's creation like that.
• 7:41
  S1: And you got a lethal combination. So this is what
• 7:43
  S1: I want you to think about. Think about some of
• 7:47
  S1: you need to really think about saving your shekels and
• 7:53
  S1: making this a Christmas gift to each other. Yeah, it's.
• 7:59
  S4: Nice.
• 8:00
  S1: If you're married or making it a Christmas gift to
• 8:02
  S1: yourself if you're a single adult.
• 8:04
  S4: True for parents.
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  S1: Yeah.
• 8:06
  S4: Yeah.
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  S1: I mean, this is something you can get your parents
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  S1: on to.
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  S4: Absolutely.
• 8:12
  S1: Maybe they would be absolutely blown away by that. But
• 8:16
  S1: whatever the case, it's a golden opportunity. So think about it.
• 8:22
  S1: Text Cruz to 800 550 578, 98. That would be
• 8:27
  S1: a fun Christmas gift to open up, wouldn't it?
• 8:29
  S4: It would. Then I'm thinking like adult children say, hey,
• 8:31
  S4: we'll take the kids. You guys go get refreshed, get renewed.
• 8:35
  S4: Come on.
• 8:36
  S1: Yeah, this is this is really cool. Text Cruz to
• 8:40
  S1: 800 555, 78, 98. And we've got many hundreds of
• 8:45
  S1: you already booked, which is really cool. We can't. I'm
• 8:48
  S1: just looking so forward to meeting all, all of you
• 8:50
  S1: who are going to be on this cruise. It's going
• 8:52
  S1: to be an incredible time. I talked to Michael about
• 8:54
  S1: this yesterday. He's fired up.
• 8:56
  S4: Oh he is.
• 8:56
  S1: Yeah he is fired up.
• 8:58
  S4: He is pumped.
• 8:59
  S1: He's really thrilled. So Tex cruise to 805 557898. Now
• 9:06
  S1: it's time to start thinking about his Christmas gift. And
• 9:09
  S1: the reason I love this gift is you give it,
• 9:12
  S1: you get the anticipation of it. And then it the
• 9:16
  S1: gift drops in June, which is really cool.
• 9:18
  S4: Exactly. And it comes through and it's like, how exciting. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
• 9:23
  S1: It's awesome man. So yeah. Text cruise to 805 five, 578, 98. Well,
• 9:30
  S1: last night we want to give you some little snippets here.
• 9:34
  S1: Tony Evans kind of kicking off the final plenary session.
• 9:37
  S1: Take a listen to this.
• 9:39
  S6: This is the 100th year of Moody Radio. And some
• 9:44
  S6: of you may not know this, but during the early
• 9:48
  S6: days of our ministry, most of the radio stations in
• 9:52
  S6: America would not accept a African American broadcaster. Moody radio
• 10:00
  S6: was the first network that opened their doors to me.
• 10:06
  S6: That allowed me to be on radio. And so over
• 10:18
  S6: all of these years, you have helped the Word of
• 10:20
  S6: God to go forth now worldwide under George Sweeting. And
• 10:26
  S6: I am very grateful for that, beginning with you and the.
• 10:31
  S6: We find reasons to celebrate.
• 10:35
  S1: Yeah. What a beautiful word that is.
• 10:38
  S4: How powerful. I mean, right off the legacy of D.L. Moody.
• 10:41
  S4: That's what he was about.
• 10:42
  S1: Yeah, that's exactly what it was about. There's a document
• 10:45
  S1: in Kroll Hall that speaks to every nation, tribe and
• 10:49
  S1: tongue can come here.
• 10:50
  S4: And by the way, the alternative does air weekday nights,
• 10:53
  S4: 9 p.m. central here on Moody Radio.
• 10:55
  S1: Yeah, really good stuff. Well, let's get into the meat
• 10:59
  S1: of it a little bit. Tony was dishing it up,
• 11:01
  S1: and let's give you a little a little longer taste
• 11:05
  S1: of what he was dishing up last night. Take a
• 11:07
  S1: listen to this.
• 11:10
  S6: This is the 100th year of Moody Radio. I thought
• 11:14
  S6: we would celebrate by looking at Psalm 100. Because Psalm 100,
• 11:20
  S6: in this 100th year is a Psalm of celebration. Because
• 11:26
  S6: our God is worth celebrating. He goes into the first
• 11:31
  S6: two verses and he makes the call to celebrate. He says,
• 11:36
  S6: shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the
• 11:40
  S6: Lord with gladness. come before him with joyful singing. In
• 11:46
  S6: other words, it's time to celebrate. He says, I want
• 11:50
  S6: you to shout joyfully to the Lord. In other words,
• 11:54
  S6: I want your voices to be heard. This is not
• 11:58
  S6: time for a quiet, private celebration, although there are times
• 12:02
  S6: for that. He says, I'm calling you to a public
• 12:06
  S6: display and everybody ought to hear it. He says, I
• 12:11
  S6: want you to shout joyfully to the Lord. Now the
• 12:15
  S6: reason why you ought to shout and you ought to
• 12:18
  S6: get excited about God is because he is worthy to
• 12:24
  S6: be celebrated. He is worthy for you to shout about.
• 12:30
  S6: If you've not shouted about God lately, you haven't celebrated
• 12:34
  S6: God fully. Because until your worship becomes a shout, You're
• 12:40
  S6: not finished worshipping yet. He says, I want you to
• 12:44
  S6: shout to the Lord. You know, back in the day
• 12:47
  S6: when we ran across people that had accomplished a lot
• 12:50
  S6: when I was growing up, we would say something like,
• 12:54
  S6: that dude is heavy. In other words, that athlete or
• 12:57
  S6: that intellect had some juice on them. They had some
• 13:00
  S6: weight on them and we would say that person was heavy.
• 13:04
  S6: Then we graduated to he or she was awesome. We
• 13:09
  S6: went from heavy to awesome. Then we move from heavy
• 13:13
  S6: to that dude is bad. That means good for your
• 13:16
  S6: white folk who don't know that that dude is bad.
• 13:20
  S6: We went from heavy to awesome. Too bad. Then we
• 13:24
  S6: graduated from bad to beast. We went from the person
• 13:29
  S6: being heavy to them being awesome, to them being bad,
• 13:33
  S6: to them being a beast. That means that they are
• 13:36
  S6: operating at a whole nother level. Then we graduated from
• 13:40
  S6: beast to being a goat, the greatest of all times.
• 13:43
  S6: So we went from heavy to awesome to bad, to beast,
• 13:49
  S6: to goat. In other words, you have reached the top
• 13:53
  S6: of the pyramid when you become the goat. Well, the
• 13:57
  S6: reason why you ought to shout about God is that
• 14:02
  S6: he's all that and a bag of chips. He's the goat.
• 14:06
  S6: And when you run across the goat. Now, the reason
• 14:11
  S6: why God is the goat the greatest of all times.
• 14:15
  S6: If he was looking for somebody greater, he'd have to
• 14:18
  S6: come back to himself because he couldn't find what he
• 14:21
  S6: was looking for, because he's in a class all by himself.
• 14:25
  S6: And when you think about a God like that, it
• 14:29
  S6: ought to make you want to shout. He says, I
• 14:32
  S6: want you to shout joyfully to the Lord.
• 14:40
  S1: I have always believed that Psalm 100 is one of
• 14:45
  S1: the greatest chapters in the Psalm that really describes appropriate
• 14:50
  S1: response to God in worship. Shout to the Lord!
• 14:55
  S7: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
• 14:58
  S7: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
• 15:01
  S1: Well, there is a party going on here and it's
• 15:04
  S1: called Founder's Week.
• 15:05
  S2: Ali, have you heard? Kicked off on Wednesday night and
• 15:09
  S2: it continues Friday night. It wraps with doctor Rick Nelson
• 15:12
  S2: is going to be closing us out as the keynote.
• 15:14
  S2: So many great things already happening but continue today.
• 15:18
  S1: Oh my goodness. And I got to tell you we're
• 15:20
  S1: going to have something today that is epic. It's a
• 15:24
  S1: live taping of Open Line with the man, the myth,
• 15:28
  S1: the legend, Michael Ray Dylan. Nick, how you doing, doc?
• 15:32
  S8: I'm doing great. It's great talking with you. Thanks for
• 15:34
  S8: having me. Yeah. We're going to do a live taping.
• 15:37
  S8: That means the audience will be there. They're the ones
• 15:40
  S8: asking the questions. We're going to record it and then
• 15:43
  S8: air it later on. Open line.
• 15:44
  S1: Dynamite. We are so looking forward to that.
• 15:47
  S2: Doctor Michael Riedel Nick, if you're not familiar, professor emeritus
• 15:50
  S2: of Jewish studies and Bible here at Moody Bible Institute,
• 15:52
  S2: host of Open Line. Normally you hear Saturday mornings right
• 15:56
  S2: here on Moody Radio. So this live taping, an opportunity
• 15:59
  S2: for folks to be in person, asking some questions. I'm
• 16:03
  S2: curious if you had to categorize some of your most
• 16:06
  S2: commonly asked questions, maybe as of late, maybe the last
• 16:10
  S2: couple months, is there a top 2 or 3 that
• 16:13
  S2: come to mind as far as big buckets that people
• 16:15
  S2: are wanting to know about?
• 16:16
  S8: Sure. People often ask about Genesis six, who are the Nephilim,
• 16:21
  S8: and are these angels or fallen angels that mated with
• 16:26
  S8: human beings? That is, I think every week we would
• 16:29
  S8: have that on the air, except we limit the number
• 16:32
  S8: of times we'll take that question. I don't understand why
• 16:35
  S8: that's such a popular question, but it sure is. The
• 16:38
  S8: program is about questions about the Bible, God, and the
• 16:42
  S8: spiritual life. However, I get a lot of questions about Israel,
• 16:46
  S8: sometimes hostile questions about Israel. That's true. And I'm not
• 16:50
  S8: afraid to answer hostile questions. I've been doing that my
• 16:53
  S8: whole life.
• 16:54
  S1: Yeah. Michael, what do you attribute the anti-Semitism? The latest
• 16:59
  S1: stats that we have are 800 to 900% increase of
• 17:04
  S1: hate attacks. Jewish hatred is what you're calling it now.
• 17:07
  S1: And I'm hearing that, by the way, more mainstreamed. Yeah, yeah.
• 17:10
  S1: What do you look, we have talked about this a lot.
• 17:14
  S1: This is, at the end of the day, the God
• 17:16
  S1: of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving
• 17:18
  S1: people are not the enemy. Our battle is not against
• 17:21
  S1: flesh and blood. Oh, sure, there's a warfare. There's warfare
• 17:24
  S1: going on here, my man. Speak to that.
• 17:26
  S8: Well, I think it's spiritual warfare. It says in Psalm
• 17:30
  S8: 83 that those who hate the people of Israel are
• 17:33
  S8: the Jewish people. Are those who hate the God of Israel?
• 17:36
  S8: That's the true hatred. Is there opposed to God? They.
• 17:40
  S8: They are resentful of him choosing this one people group
• 17:44
  S8: to represent him. And so I think that's where it is.
• 17:47
  S8: I do think that, you know, some people have said
• 17:50
  S8: in the past that, you know, this is a new hatred.
• 17:53
  S8: I don't think it's new. I there was a physician
• 17:57
  S8: by the name of Arthur Kac, who wrote a book
• 17:59
  S8: about hatred of the Jewish people. He was a Messianic Jew,
• 18:03
  S8: and he talked about how hatred of the Jewish people
• 18:06
  S8: is endemic. That means it's an illness that resides under
• 18:11
  S8: the surface all the time. And then periodically it explodes
• 18:15
  S8: in epidemic proportions. And but it's always there. And I,
• 18:19
  S8: I believe that's what's going on right now, that this
• 18:22
  S8: was there all along. But because of the war that
• 18:25
  S8: broke out three years ago, people have used that as
• 18:28
  S8: an excuse to justify their hatred of Jewish people. And
• 18:33
  S8: there are all kinds of lies being said about Israel.
• 18:35
  S8: And so what's happened is what was lying under the
• 18:38
  S8: surface has come out there. There are famous media people
• 18:42
  S8: who have come out quite hateful of Jewish people. And
• 18:46
  S8: people say, oh, he's changed. No, he's not changed. It
• 18:50
  S8: was always there. Now he just feels the liberty to
• 18:52
  S8: express the opinion.
• 18:54
  S1: Yeah, it's both sides of the aisle, so to speak.
• 18:56
  S1: Coming up here in just a moment. Michael, you know,
• 18:59
  S1: you and I have spoken a lot for a lot
• 19:01
  S1: of years, and you were very slow to speak of man.
• 19:04
  S1: We might be near the end. You say, look, history
• 19:06
  S1: repeats itself and it does. And I mean, my goodness,
• 19:10
  S1: the early disciples, when Jesus was going away and he
• 19:13
  S1: gave them the comforter, the Holy Spirit, they were still thinking.
• 19:17
  S1: They weren't thinking 2000 years and beyond. But Michael, when
• 19:21
  S1: we get back, I got a I got a great
• 19:23
  S1: little article from Chosen People Ministries at my home the
• 19:26
  S1: other day, and I'm looking through this. I'm going, boy,
• 19:28
  S1: there are some prophecies that are lining up here. I'm
• 19:31
  S1: not saying the end is right around the corner, but
• 19:33
  S1: it is nearing and we're going to pitch you some
• 19:36
  S1: questions just about prophecy. Okay, what do we see and
• 19:40
  S1: how close might we be?
• 19:42
  S2: Make sure you get that link. If you want to
• 19:44
  S2: take part in the live stream or the live event,
• 19:46
  S2: the Open Line live taping this afternoon right here at
• 19:50
  S2: the campus of Moody Bible Institute for Founder's Week. Just
• 19:52
  S2: text founders to 800 555, 78, 98 founders to 805 five, five, 78, 98.
• 20:00
  S1: More with Michael Riddell straight ahead.
• 20:03
  S7: Breaking chains and running free. You're listening to Carl and Crew.
• 20:08
  S1: Hey, it's Carl and crew, and we've got a special
• 20:10
  S1: guest with us right now, doctor Michael Ryder, professor emeritus
• 20:14
  S1: of Jewish Studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute. And
• 20:18
  S1: he is going strong. By the way, Michael and I
• 20:20
  S1: are going to be teaching on a cruise in June
• 20:25
  S1: of 27 if you have not gotten your ticket. Michael,
• 20:29
  S1: I don't know that I've done one of these promos
• 20:31
  S1: with you.
• 20:31
  S8: No, I don't know if we have. But I'm looking
• 20:33
  S8: forward to it.
• 20:34
  S1: Oh, this is tremendous. Be sure to get signed up,
• 20:37
  S1: look for details and incredible cruise departing Seattle, going through
• 20:42
  S1: the inside passage of Alaska. And you're going to take
• 20:46
  S1: in incredible sights. And then we're going to be sharing
• 20:48
  S1: some sessions, teaching through the Beatitudes. And we are we
• 20:53
  S1: are really looking forward to this text. The word cruise
• 20:57
  S1: to 800 555, 7898. Get all the information, get signed up.
• 21:02
  S1: It is over half filled. And I think we're going
• 21:05
  S1: to have all 800 seats filled on this thing. 805, five, five, 78, 98.
• 21:12
  S1: That's going to be a trip of a lifetime, isn't it, friend?
• 21:15
  S8: For me, I especially am excited about it because I've
• 21:17
  S8: always wanted to go to. You're from Alaska, but I've
• 21:20
  S8: never been. I'm really looking forward to.
• 21:22
  S1: Well, I've never been on the inside passage. I've heard
• 21:24
  S1: that this is the most sought after cruise of all cruises.
• 21:28
  S1: So yeah, we're looking forward to it. Well, Michael, I
• 21:32
  S1: want to talk prophecy. I did get this thing from
• 21:34
  S1: chosen People, and they had five reasons from the scriptures
• 21:38
  S1: that they believe the end is drawing nearer. Well, you know,
• 21:41
  S1: every day we're closer to the return of Christ. What
• 21:45
  S1: are you seeing that's changed a little bit of your
• 21:48
  S1: perspective on the times that we live in? Obviously, the
• 21:53
  S1: Middle East, I had a hunch that we weren't going
• 21:56
  S1: to take out the mullahs from Iran, mainly because even
• 22:00
  S1: if we are near the end, those mullahs have to
• 22:02
  S1: be in full hatred mode toward Israel in order to
• 22:06
  S1: fulfill prophecy. But what are you seeing, Michael?
• 22:09
  S8: Well, first of all, the New Testament teaches that we're
• 22:11
  S8: in the last days since the ascension of the Lord Jesus.
• 22:14
  S8: We've been in the last days for 2000 years. So
• 22:16
  S8: when people say, are we in the last days? Yes.
• 22:18
  S8: And then people say, are we in the day of
• 22:20
  S8: the Lord? Are we in the tribulation period? Not yet.
• 22:22
  S8: So the answer is no. So when people say, are
• 22:25
  S8: we in the last days, I say the answer is yes, no.
• 22:28
  S8: And then kinda. And the kinda is the part that
• 22:32
  S8: we're talking about ever since the rebirth of Israel, I
• 22:35
  S8: think that puts us so much closer because there needed
• 22:38
  S8: to be a reborn state of Israel for many of
• 22:41
  S8: the end time events to happen. And that's since 1948.
• 22:44
  S8: A reborn Israel is a very important factor. A couple
• 22:47
  S8: other things that I've seen. And of course, this is
• 22:50
  S8: important to remember. There's always been anti-Semitism. It always explodes
• 22:54
  S8: at different times. But one of the aspects of the
• 22:57
  S8: end of days is a great deal of hatred of
• 22:59
  S8: the Jewish people. And what we're seeing today is once,
• 23:02
  S8: just like we saw in the 1930s in Europe, we're
• 23:04
  S8: seeing it again in an epic proportion. And so that says, oh,
• 23:09
  S8: this could be those days. Of course, it could go
• 23:12
  S8: away and or become subdued and then come out again later.
• 23:15
  S8: But that's something that's important. Another factor for me is
• 23:19
  S8: seeing some things from the book of Ezekiel. This is
• 23:23
  S8: kind of interesting. The Gog Magog, Gog Magog. Now, people
• 23:28
  S8: used to think that was Russia. I never thought it
• 23:30
  S8: was Russia. When you look at that, it's.
• 23:33
  S1: The stands, right?
• 23:34
  S8: It's the eastern stands. It's an Islamic invasion of Israel.
• 23:39
  S8: That's what it looks like. It's the eastern stands of
• 23:41
  S8: the former Soviet Union, former Islamic republics of the former
• 23:45
  S8: Soviet Union, and also eastern Turkey. Turkey. When I wrote
• 23:50
  S8: my book about the Arab-Israeli conflict 20 some years ago,
• 23:54
  S8: Turkey was still an ally of Israel. Today, it's one
• 23:56
  S8: of the most hostile nations, and they are listed among
• 23:59
  S8: those nations that will invade Israel. Also, there's mention of Libya, Persia,
• 24:06
  S8: which is Iran. So it does look like that is
• 24:09
  S8: coming closer to fruition. Of course, I never speculate because
• 24:13
  S8: things could quiet down. Yeah.
• 24:15
  S1: So that's a lot of dominoes, Michael.
• 24:17
  S8: Yeah. That's that's important. And also what I think is
• 24:20
  S8: interesting when you read Ezekiel 38, it leaves out some
• 24:24
  S8: countries that you would expect from the Persian Gulf, from
• 24:28
  S8: the the Gulf states which have become part of.
• 24:31
  S1: The Abraham Accords.
• 24:32
  S8: The Abraham Accords. And so they're not they don't take
• 24:34
  S8: part in the the Islamic invasion. I find that interesting.
• 24:38
  S8: So there are some factors that you see Turkey becoming
• 24:41
  S8: a rabid enemy of Israel, seeing Persia growing in their
• 24:45
  S8: enmity of Israel and this growing Islamic hatred of Israel
• 24:50
  S8: that's there too. And so I think that's another factor
• 24:52
  S8: that tells me, yeah, this could happen. We could be
• 24:55
  S8: closer than ever. But again, I never want to speculate.
• 24:58
  S8: I think we need to be faithful every day to
• 25:01
  S8: the Lord, as if he's going to return, but keep
• 25:04
  S8: working and serving him as if he's not.
• 25:07
  S1: We can get excited about it, can't we, Ali? I mean, I'm,
• 25:10
  S1: I am genuinely excited. Maybe call me getting old, but
• 25:14
  S1: I'm genuinely excited about the return of our Lord, I am.
• 25:17
  S1: I genuinely am I'm excited.
• 25:20
  S2: Doctor, do you think that's the attitude that most people have?
• 25:23
  S2: I mean, Carl expresses being genuinely excited about the return
• 25:26
  S2: of the Lord for for a lot of people, including
• 25:29
  S2: very sincere Christians. The mystery, the uncertainty of kind of
• 25:33
  S2: the timing can bring some fear and a little bit
• 25:36
  S2: of anxiety. What do you say to that?
• 25:38
  S8: I think that there's always a little bit of anxiety,
• 25:41
  S8: but here's what I see. It's kind of interesting. Periodically
• 25:44
  S8: there are books that come out late, great planet earth
• 25:46
  S8: in the 70s and in the 90s, the Left Behind series.
• 25:50
  S8: And people become anticipatory. They get excited about the rapture,
• 25:54
  S8: and they're looking for the Lord's return. And then it
• 25:57
  S8: doesn't happen. And so now, 30 years after Left behind,
• 26:01
  S8: what are people doing? They're becoming cynical about it and
• 26:06
  S8: they're saying, oh, you know, these people who are prophecy geeks,
• 26:09
  S8: they're they're finding things that aren't there. That's part of
• 26:13
  S8: what the scriptures teach is that it's going to happen
• 26:15
  S8: when we least expect it. And so those of us
• 26:18
  S8: who love the Lord, what we need to do is
• 26:20
  S8: expect it every day. Yeah. Say even so, come, Lord Jesus,
• 26:23
  S8: look for that rapture every day, but remain faithful whether
• 26:26
  S8: he returns or not. You know, what we're going to
• 26:30
  S8: do is serve him every day. And I think that's
• 26:32
  S8: I call it Matthew 25. That's what I point to
• 26:35
  S8: the parable where they they bury their wealth that the
• 26:39
  S8: or the what the Lord has given them, and they
• 26:41
  S8: don't increase it. There are some who do increase it.
• 26:44
  S8: I call that the Mister Rogers principle. Think of something
• 26:47
  S8: to do while you're waiting for the Lord to return.
• 26:50
  S8: Mister Rogers used to saying, think of something to do
• 26:52
  S8: while you're waiting. We have to think to serve him
• 26:54
  S8: every day while we're waiting. Looking for his return every day.
• 26:57
  S2: Doctor Michael Riddick, our guest this morning, I want to
• 27:00
  S2: remind you of this special open line live taping this afternoon,
• 27:04
  S2: 4:15 p.m. Central time. You can get here in person.
• 27:08
  S2: You can ask a question or you can watch the
• 27:11
  S2: live stream. Just text founders to 800 555, 78, 7898
• 27:16
  S2: founders to 805. 5578.
• 27:19
  S7: 98 a basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali
• 27:25
  S7: is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 27:29
  S1: It's Carl and crew on this Freedom Friday. You know,
• 27:32
  S1: I want to quickly, uh, take a look at second Corinthians.
• 27:36
  S1: And there's someone here that needs this today. And if
• 27:39
  S1: it's just one that is dynamite, I'm sure there's more.
• 27:43
  S1: We find this call in second Corinthians seven. Since we
• 27:47
  S1: have these promises, these promises of a relationship with Jesus Christ. Beloved,
• 27:52
  S1: let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit,
• 27:56
  S1: bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Now,
• 28:02
  S1: for some of you that could feel super encouraging for me,
• 28:07
  S1: it does. It's like, no. Jesus Christ has breathed life
• 28:12
  S1: into me. So then the call is to walk in
• 28:15
  S1: the power of the Holy Spirit, to cleanse ourselves from
• 28:18
  S1: every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion
• 28:22
  S1: in the fear of God. So we walk in agreement
• 28:25
  S1: with the Spirit of God to get to live out
• 28:29
  S1: this reconciliation that he's done. Now, here's the struggle. Some
• 28:33
  S1: of you have wondered, why is Christianity as I know
• 28:37
  S1: it so. Tiresome, so impossible. If you were really honest
• 28:46
  S1: with yourself, you'd have to say, Carl, the abundant life
• 28:51
  S1: feels elusive. You try to measure it through like moments
• 28:55
  S1: of happiness. Uh, little moments of maybe percolating elation and
• 29:02
  S1: hope springing up, but it soon goes out. There's a
• 29:07
  S1: reason for that. And the reason is this. There's a
• 29:12
  S1: big difference from knowing about God to being reconciled with God.
• 29:20
  S1: Let me be very clear with you right now. We
• 29:22
  S1: have been given those of us that are born again
• 29:25
  S1: a minister, ministry of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ,
• 29:30
  S1: making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf
• 29:33
  S1: of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he
• 29:41
  S1: made him to be sin. That's Jesus who knew no sin,
• 29:45
  S1: so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
• 29:50
  S1: So here's the tough news. There are millions of people
• 29:54
  S1: in America who consider themselves Christians and are anything but.
• 30:01
  S1: Because to become a born again Christ follower, you have
• 30:07
  S1: to be reconciled to God. And here's what this means.
• 30:10
  S1: You are totally estranged from God and you are born
• 30:15
  S1: that way. Some of you have thought, well, I was,
• 30:17
  S1: I was, you know, as long as I can remember,
• 30:21
  S1: I've been in, you know, in Christ. No, that's that's
• 30:24
  S1: not that's not the way the born again experience happens.
• 30:30
  S1: Nicodemus came to Jesus and he goes, how do I
• 30:32
  S1: get this life? And Jesus said, you must be born again.
• 30:37
  S1: And it'll manifest in something so strong that you will
• 30:40
  S1: be able to say, I'm a new creation. The old
• 30:45
  S1: is gone, the new has come. Second Corinthians five, verse 17.
• 30:52
  S1: So what is the problem? Everyone is born with their
• 30:56
  S1: backs to God and they are estranged from the father.
• 31:03
  S1: Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, became sin and died
• 31:07
  S1: on the cross. His shed blood made a way for
• 31:12
  S1: you to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. So just
• 31:17
  S1: to get rid of all this idea that I'm I'm
• 31:20
  S1: religiously active. I go to church. I was raised in
• 31:24
  S1: a Christian home. There's no coattail religion in authentic Christianity. None.
• 31:33
  S1: It's all about you standing before God in answering this question.
• 31:38
  S1: Have you allowed the shed blood of a. Of Jesus
• 31:43
  S1: Christ to be the atoning sacrifice for your sin? Have
• 31:51
  S1: you allowed Jesus to restore you to relationship with God
• 31:56
  S1: that he intended to have with you? And how does
• 32:00
  S1: this happen? By admitting to God I'm a sinner, I
• 32:05
  S1: need Jesus. This is so much more than cultural Christianity.
• 32:10
  S1: I need a Savior who can wash away my sin. Because, friend,
• 32:16
  S1: the reason that the abundant life in Christ is so
• 32:19
  S1: elusive for so many of you today. You have a
• 32:22
  S1: cultural Christianity. But when you get to the end, you're
• 32:27
  S1: going to hear I never knew you. And you can say,
• 32:30
  S1: all day long I attended brand X church. I did
• 32:35
  S1: these things. I was spiritually active here and there. I
• 32:40
  S1: was involved, I was a small group leader. I was
• 32:43
  S1: an elder. I was a member of a church. And
• 32:46
  S1: he's going to say, you were never a member of
• 32:49
  S1: my family. I don't know you. The only way to
• 32:56
  S1: salvation is not lifting a hand in the air. That
• 32:59
  S1: could signify what needs to be going on, but it
• 33:02
  S1: may not at all. It's not even walking an aisle.
• 33:07
  S1: It's surrendering all you are to Jesus, giving your life
• 33:12
  S1: to him totally and completely full surrender. There's no salvation
• 33:19
  S1: apart from lordship. How do I know this? Some have
• 33:22
  S1: have the notion. Well, I can pray this prayer. No.
• 33:25
  S1: If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, meaning
• 33:29
  S1: he is the highest, greatest authority in my life, I am.
• 33:36
  S1: I'm no longer going to do this. Add Jesus on he.
• 33:42
  S1: He is everything to me. I'm ordering my finances, my time,
• 33:47
  S1: everything in my life to him. I'm surrendering all I
• 33:51
  S1: am to him. Only then are you fit for the
• 33:53
  S1: kingdom of God. You say, what do I bring? Surrender.
• 33:59
  S1: Full surrender of everything that you are. But count the cost.
• 34:03
  S1: You can't say to God, oh yeah, you got my
• 34:06
  S1: 401 K. You got mine, by the way. Does he
• 34:09
  S1: want it? Yeah. Is he going to take it? Probably not.
• 34:12
  S1: But does he want you to make everything available to him?
• 34:16
  S1: Your dreams, your aspirations, your resources, your talent, your time. Everything, friend.
• 34:24
  S1: This notion of easy believism is utter rubbish. And some
• 34:30
  S1: of you have been here a long time, and you've
• 34:32
  S1: never been reconciled to God. Your back is still to him.
• 34:37
  S1: You're busy being religious. You're busy trying to do good,
• 34:42
  S1: but you're lost as can be. And today is your
• 34:46
  S1: day of salvation. On this Freedom Friday, I'm asking you,
• 34:49
  S1: is the Spirit of God convicting you that you're a sinner?
• 34:52
  S1: You need a Savior, and you've never surrendered all you
• 34:55
  S1: are to Jesus. If today is that day. Praise be
• 34:58
  S1: to God.
• 34:59
  S4: Yeah.
• 35:02
  S1: So it's like this, you say, Carl? Well, what do
• 35:04
  S1: I do? Well, blessed are the poor in spirit, for
• 35:07
  S1: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And if you're spiritually
• 35:10
  S1: bankrupt this morning and you realize I'm not reconciled with God,
• 35:15
  S1: my back has been to him. I've been doing things
• 35:18
  S1: to try to do this in the name of Jesus,
• 35:22
  S1: but I've never had the embrace of Jesus who says,
• 35:27
  S1: come to me, all who are weary, busy doing religious
• 35:31
  S1: stuff and heavy laden, and you got the weight of
• 35:34
  S1: sin on your shoulders and you'll find rest. But today's
• 35:40
  S1: the day. What is it? Carl, I'll tell you what
• 35:45
  S1: it is. It's just crying out to God. God, I'm
• 35:48
  S1: a sinner. I've not been reconciled with you. I've been
• 35:51
  S1: walking a broad path, thinking I can add Jesus to
• 35:53
  S1: my life, and I admit I can't. And you're just
• 35:59
  S1: saying I'm done. I realized today I'm faking it. I've
• 36:06
  S1: been trying to fool myself, and some of you have
• 36:10
  S1: been better at fooling yourself. Than you've ever imagined. But today,
• 36:19
  S1: the blinders are coming down. And you see that you
• 36:22
  S1: are ready to be what Paul calls you. A fool
• 36:25
  S1: for Christ. Despised by some, but loved by God. And
• 36:35
  S1: if that's you right now, the cry of your soul
• 36:37
  S1: is I'm a sinner. I need a Savior. His name
• 36:40
  S1: is Jesus. I'm turning around. I've had my back to God.
• 36:43
  S1: I've repent but count the cost. I leave everything that
• 36:48
  S1: I've aspired to achieved. All the image that I've been
• 36:52
  S1: trying to protect. I'm laying it all on that broad
• 36:55
  S1: path and I'm turning around. I'm leaving it behind. And
• 37:00
  S1: I'm giving Jesus with my mouth and say it right
• 37:03
  S1: now you are Lord. You are my supreme authority for
• 37:08
  S1: the first time in my life. And if that's you,
• 37:13
  S1: I want you right now to take a resource I'm
• 37:16
  S1: going to send you that's going to help you in
• 37:18
  S1: your first steps with Jesus. And I want you to
• 37:20
  S1: follow this link and use it. I'm asking you to
• 37:22
  S1: use every portion of this link. We're going to send you.
• 37:25
  S1: The ball's in your court, but if you're born again,
• 37:28
  S1: there's going to be a motivation to say, whatever you've got,
• 37:31
  S1: I want it. If that's the cry of your soul today,
• 37:35
  S1: just text new right now. New one word new to
• 37:38
  S1: 805 five, five, 78, 98. Right now. Get to the
• 37:44
  S1: side of the road. Grab that phone. Today is a
• 37:47
  S1: brand new day. Today is your Freedom Friday. Friend text
• 37:51
  S1: new to 805 557898. Eternity is at stake. What does
• 37:58
  S1: it profit a man or a woman to gain the
• 38:00
  S1: whole world and lose their soul? You know what the
• 38:02
  S1: answer is? Nothing. But today, the Spirit of God is
• 38:09
  S1: calling you out of the dark, out of the shadows,
• 38:13
  S1: off that broad path that leads to destruction. You're finally
• 38:17
  S1: getting honest with yourself, and you see what God has
• 38:21
  S1: seen before you were born, that you need a Savior.
• 38:27
  S1: Text new right now. Wherever you are, you must be
• 38:32
  S1: born again. Stop playing games with God and stop playing
• 38:37
  S1: games with yourself. Swallow your pride. Pride caused Satan to fall.
• 38:44
  S1: Pride will keep you on a broad path that leads
• 38:47
  S1: to death. If today you're confessing with your mouth. Jesus
• 38:55
  S1: is my Lord. He is the supreme leader of my
• 38:58
  S1: life and I repent and I turn everything. I am
• 39:02
  S1: over to him and I'm no longer playing games. Text
• 39:05
  S1: new to 805 557898. Come on. All around the world.
• 39:11
  S1: Text new to 805 557898. Right now, wherever you are
• 39:18
  S1: today is your freedom Friday.
• 39:21
  S7: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
• 39:24
  S7: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 39:27
  S2: Well, if you're old enough to remember, back in the day,
• 39:30
  S2: there was this ad campaign where the founder and president
• 39:34
  S2: of the Hair Club for men. Do you remember what
• 39:37
  S2: he famously said? I know.
• 39:39
  S4: I don't.
• 39:40
  S2: I'm sorry. He says, I'm not just the president. I'm
• 39:43
  S2: also a client. Do you remember this famous ad campaign?
• 39:47
  S2: And it was brilliant because you thought, oh, this guy
• 39:51
  S2: doesn't just lead the company. He actually uses the product.
• 39:54
  S2: So Founders Week, that brings me to Founders Week. Funny
• 39:57
  S2: set up for it. I know we've got a guy here.
• 40:00
  S2: He's not just speaking at Founders Week this year. He's
• 40:03
  S2: actually attended, I don't know. Steve DeWitt, how do you
• 40:06
  S2: feel about that setup? The hair club for men president?
• 40:09
  S2: I'm not just the founder. I'm a client. Is that
• 40:12
  S2: a good setup for Founders Week? You're not just a speaker.
• 40:14
  S2: You've actually been and attended.
• 40:16
  S9: Well, if you came up with that off the cuff. Ali,
• 40:19
  S9: that was brilliant.
• 40:21
  S2: Brilliant.
• 40:22
  S9: Yes.
• 40:23
  S2: We'll go with it. We'll go with it. Now. Tell
• 40:25
  S2: us about your experience attending Founders Week first, before we
• 40:29
  S2: get to you as a speaker this year.
• 40:31
  S9: Well, I have attended many Founders weeks and have profited
• 40:35
  S9: greatly from them. In fact, if you were to say
• 40:38
  S9: what is the coldest you've ever been in your life,
• 40:41
  S9: I think the coldest I remember was one night walking
• 40:45
  S9: from a restaurant to Moody Church for Founders Week. Might
• 40:50
  S9: have been the coldest I've ever been, no doubt. One
• 40:53
  S9: reason they moved it to October.
• 40:55
  S2: And yes, yes. Fun fact. Founders Week used to be
• 40:59
  S2: in February and it was always the coldest, snowiest week
• 41:03
  S2: of the year. So you were probably out on one
• 41:06
  S2: of those evenings.
• 41:07
  S9: I think I was, but it was always worth it.
• 41:10
  S9: You know, the, the buzz and the music and just
• 41:14
  S9: the speakers and the sense of God's blessing. On the
• 41:18
  S9: gathering for Founders Week. I think it's really one of
• 41:22
  S9: the most special Christian conferences that is held every year,
• 41:27
  S9: and I'm delighted to be able to be a part
• 41:29
  S9: of it this year.
• 41:29
  S2: Yeah. You're going to be doing one of the morning sessions.
• 41:33
  S2: Give us a little preview of what the Lord has
• 41:35
  S2: given you for the Founders Week attendees this year.
• 41:38
  S9: Well, I am going to speak on the supremacy of
• 41:42
  S9: Jesus Christ from Colossians 118. It's a powerful passage. A
• 41:48
  S9: purpose statement for why everything that God has done, why
• 41:52
  S9: he's done it. And it's so that in everything he,
• 41:55
  S9: Jesus might have the preeminence. And so it's going to
• 42:01
  S9: be a kind of a big picture, macro redemptive message
• 42:07
  S9: that applies to everyday life as well. What is the
• 42:10
  S9: purpose of my life? Why am I here? What is
• 42:13
  S9: the purpose of my family, my church, my faith? Walk
• 42:16
  S9: so that in everything he might have the supremacy. So
• 42:19
  S9: it's a theme that I treasure. I, I read Jonathan
• 42:24
  S9: Edwards sermon, the purpose for which God created the world
• 42:27
  S9: many years ago. And in some ways, this message is
• 42:31
  S9: a dim reflection of his brilliant sermon. But I think
• 42:35
  S9: it'll be a blessing. It's one of my most cherished
• 42:38
  S9: personal theological beliefs, and I hope that personal passion about
• 42:44
  S9: it comes across in the message. I think it will.
• 42:46
  S2: Yeah, I'd love to hear more about the personal passion,
• 42:49
  S2: because when you think about if you slow down long enough,
• 42:53
  S2: those are the questions that hit all of us. And
• 42:55
  S2: it's easy to just rush through the day going from
• 42:58
  S2: one thing to the next, checking things off your to
• 43:00
  S2: do list, and letting your head hit the pillow at
• 43:02
  S2: night in exhaustion. And you can go like that for
• 43:06
  S2: a time. But then something stops you and you're forced
• 43:10
  S2: to confront those bigger existential type questions. Why am I here?
• 43:15
  S2: What's the purpose? What's the meaning of all of this?
• 43:17
  S2: How does that hit you? Personally?
• 43:19
  S9: I think it's exactly correct. And part of the role
• 43:23
  S9: of a faithful pastor is to help his people connect
• 43:26
  S9: the dots between their lives and what God is doing
• 43:30
  S9: in the world. And I think this is partly what
• 43:33
  S9: makes Christianity so, you know, so special. I often quote C.S.
• 43:37
  S9: Lewis my favorite quote from him, it's on the on
• 43:40
  S9: the tile on the floor of Westminster Abbey that they
• 43:43
  S9: dedicated to C.S. Lewis. I believe in Christianity like I
• 43:46
  S9: believe the sun has risen. Not just that I see it,
• 43:49
  S9: but by it I see everything else. And that kind
• 43:53
  S9: of redemptive lens through which we read the news and
• 43:58
  S9: do our daily lives is, I think, partly what enriches
• 44:03
  S9: the Christian experience is that we see what we're doing
• 44:07
  S9: as a very small part of the greatest thing that
• 44:11
  S9: is happening in the universe. And I think it it
• 44:15
  S9: can certainly bring meaning. And that's true in the good
• 44:19
  S9: and the suffering and the with the kids and with
• 44:21
  S9: the cancer and everything else that life brings, that God
• 44:24
  S9: is working everything to display the glory of Jesus, and
• 44:29
  S9: that we are part of that blessed plan. I think
• 44:33
  S9: it's going to be a hopefully a sermon the Lord
• 44:35
  S9: blesses and uses. I'm going to be praying for that.
• 44:37
  S2: Yeah. You know, I don't know that we've asked you
• 44:39
  S2: this before. We've had you on a couple of times,
• 44:41
  S2: but I'd love to hear just a little bit of
• 44:43
  S2: your own testimony of how did, how and when did
• 44:46
  S2: God call you out of darkness? Where you went from,
• 44:49
  S2: you know, just living life to living life with a
• 44:52
  S2: real purpose and at peace with God.
• 44:54
  S9: I'm one of these people blessed to have grown up
• 44:57
  S9: in a Christian home. I can't remember not knowing John 316.
• 45:02
  S9: I would say that I was a childhood conversion. You know,
• 45:05
  S9: even with my own children, to come to faith in
• 45:07
  S9: Christ and to know him your whole life. I went
• 45:10
  S9: to college to play basketball. I got hurt, the Lord
• 45:13
  S9: was working in my heart to point me towards ministry.
• 45:16
  S9: So I've been a pastor for coming on 35 years.
• 45:20
  S9: I've been at Bethel Church in Ministries, a senior pastor
• 45:23
  S9: for 29.
• 45:24
  S2: Wow.
• 45:24
  S9: And it's been a joy for me to know the Lord,
• 45:28
  S9: to serve the Lord, to point people to the gospel
• 45:31
  S9: of Jesus Christ, and to try to be a faithful
• 45:34
  S9: follower of him in my own life. So I have
• 45:37
  S9: much to be thankful for. I'm deeply grateful. And speaking
• 45:41
  S9: at Founders Week is going to be a highlight, and
• 45:44
  S9: I'm very much looking forward to it.
• 45:46
  S2: Yeah. The theme this year, generation to generation, the Unstoppable Gospel,
• 45:51
  S2: we've been pointing you to this all week because we
• 45:54
  S2: want to make sure that you take part to the
• 45:56
  S2: extent that you can. If you can get here, please do.
• 45:58
  S2: There's still opportunities for you. But if you can't, no worries.
• 46:02
  S2: We know that it's it's a bit of a drive
• 46:04
  S2: or a flight for many of you. So just text founders.
• 46:07
  S2: We'll get you the live stream info. Also, the evening
• 46:10
  S2: sessions are on radio. Just text founders to 805 five, five, 78,
• 46:15
  S2: 98 founders to 800 555, 78, 98.
• 46:21
  S7: Standing on the rock each and every day, you're listening
• 46:25
  S7: to Carl and crew.
• 46:26
  S1: One of the great truths that you find in Scripture
• 46:30
  S1: is that when God initiates toward us, not us initiating
• 46:35
  S1: toward God, but when God initiates toward us, it opens
• 46:40
  S1: this door into new life, into abundance, into the fruit
• 46:46
  S1: of the spirit. All that stuff is his doing. It's
• 46:49
  S1: not ours.
• 46:49
  S2: Yes. And there's so many things that are not accessible
• 46:52
  S2: to us any other way. Oh, think about it. Yeah.
• 46:56
  S2: True joy, true peace. Not accessible. Totally inaccessible. Apart from
• 47:03
  S2: the work of Jesus.
• 47:04
  S1: Yeah. It's so beautiful. Doctor Crawford Leritz here, dear friend.
• 47:08
  S1: Great man of God. Going to be speaking of Founder's Week,
• 47:11
  S1: we'll give you a banner ad in a moment, but
• 47:12
  S1: we're going to jump in the deep end here. Crawford.
• 47:15
  S1: So good to have you with us, man.
• 47:17
  S10: It's always good to be with you, my friend.
• 47:19
  S1: Oh, what a joy. Ali and I admire you so
• 47:23
  S1: much and we are so grateful for you. Yeah. All right,
• 47:26
  S1: enough of that. I'm going to jump into it. Let's
• 47:28
  S1: get into the text. I was looking at something early
• 47:31
  S1: this morning and I thought, man, I could camp on
• 47:33
  S1: this verse. I told you a month, right? Yes. This
• 47:35
  S1: will keep me going for a month. One verse keep
• 47:37
  S1: me going for a month since we have these promises
• 47:41
  S1: now he's just iterated. I will make my dwelling among you.
• 47:45
  S1: I will walk among them. I will be their God.
• 47:47
  S1: This is about getting reconciled with God. Since we have
• 47:51
  S1: these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement
• 47:56
  S1: of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the
• 47:59
  S1: fear of God. Here's what's amazing to me since we
• 48:02
  S1: have these promises. So it's. A lot of us live
• 48:06
  S1: in a Western Christianity that we're making promises to God,
• 48:10
  S1: and we're bootstrapping our faith. We're just saying, I'm going
• 48:14
  S1: to do this for you, I got this. What we
• 48:17
  S1: find here, Paul's saying, since we have these promises initiated
• 48:21
  S1: by God.
• 48:22
  S10: Yes.
• 48:23
  S1: Because he's moved toward us, we will move along with him.
• 48:28
  S1: This is an epic verse, isn't it?
• 48:29
  S10: It is an epic verse. But just the way you
• 48:31
  S10: frame that, you know, we make the dastardly assumption that
• 48:35
  S10: we have the power to keep our promises to God.
• 48:39
  S1: Yeah.
• 48:40
  S10: And the point being is that desperation and dependence is
• 48:45
  S10: the draws, the draws his power toward us. When we
• 48:49
  S10: realize that we have nothing to bring to the table,
• 48:52
  S10: and yet we see these magnificent things that he's done
• 48:56
  S10: that forces me to decide to embrace the fear of God,
• 49:00
  S10: to decide to embrace the goodness of God. And that
• 49:04
  S10: produces the transformation.
• 49:05
  S1: Yeah.
• 49:06
  S2: We've got Doctor Crawford Leritz. He's president and founder of
• 49:09
  S2: Beyond Our Generation, committed to helping the next generation of
• 49:12
  S2: Christian leaders, nationally known speaker, author, mentor. As we mentioned
• 49:16
  S2: Founders Day speaker this morning. What is your heart when
• 49:19
  S2: you when you read a verse like this and you
• 49:21
  S2: see how Christianity or I'll even use air quotes. Sometimes
• 49:25
  S2: cultural Christianity is being lived out today. Um, messages that
• 49:29
  S2: are being put forth that maybe you look at and
• 49:32
  S2: go close, but not quite. What is your heart for
• 49:35
  S2: us returning to the true gospel, the true word of God.
• 49:39
  S10: Yeah. And I understand why. Why we preach messages like that.
• 49:44
  S10: And I understand it's out of our love and concern
• 49:47
  S10: for people to identify with them, but identifying with them
• 49:52
  S10: doesn't bring the path to deliverance. And so what we
• 49:57
  S10: need to do is change our thinking. At the end
• 50:00
  S10: of the day, the proclamation of the Word of God
• 50:03
  S10: and Bible teaching, preaching, discipleship, making, the handling of content is,
• 50:10
  S10: is vertical.
• 50:11
  S1: Yeah.
• 50:12
  S10: It's vertical. It's not to enhance and just say, hey, look,
• 50:16
  S10: be incrementally satisfied with a tiny bit of progress today.
• 50:21
  S10: It is the urgency of our lives. And I know
• 50:24
  S10: some of our listeners might think, you know, you're being
• 50:27
  S10: too intense, but but God, God has initiated and and
• 50:31
  S10: institutionalized uncertainty in the human life. Yes. We don't control
• 50:36
  S10: the clock. We don't control the calendar. We don't control
• 50:39
  S10: the next. Why does he do that? He does that
• 50:42
  S10: because of the truth of that old hymn, I need thee, O,
• 50:45
  S10: I need thee every hour I need thee. And it is.
• 50:48
  S10: It is in the embracing of our desperation. Notice I
• 50:52
  S10: didn't say despair. Despair is hopelessness. Desperation is the passionate
• 50:57
  S10: pursuit of our only means of hope. And that is him.
• 51:02
  S10: That is him. And so we need to quit. Quit,
• 51:05
  S10: you know, buttering up people and beefing them up. And,
• 51:09
  S10: you know, I can do it. I can do it,
• 51:10
  S10: I can do it, I can do it. No, you can't.
• 51:13
  S10: But he can. And that's when you become the miracle.
• 51:16
  S10: And that's when you see things happen far beyond anything
• 51:19
  S10: you could ever dream or imagine.
• 51:20
  S1: Embracing our desperation. You know how counterintuitive that is to
• 51:25
  S1: even the ethos of the American dream.
• 51:28
  S10: Yeah, yeah. Because pride is embedded in us. You know,
• 51:34
  S10: pride wears many disguises, including false spirituality. Uh, we take
• 51:39
  S10: pride in being accurate theologically. We take pride in what
• 51:44
  S10: God has produced, and we talk about how smart we were.
• 51:47
  S1: Our 401 KS.
• 51:48
  S10: Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 51:51
  S1: Yeah. It's an elusive thing. Wow. We got a man
• 51:54
  S1: with a seer coming up in just a moment. Uh,
• 51:57
  S1: there was something he said to me before we came
• 51:59
  S1: on air, Ali, that I want us to drill down on.
• 52:01
  S1: I think you're with me. He said, we have we
• 52:05
  S1: have made discipleship a process when it was never intended
• 52:10
  S1: to be that at all. What's the answer to it?
• 52:13
  S1: We'll have it with our guest, Doctor Crawford. Lauritz.
• 52:18
  S7: Start your day moving closer to Jesus. You're listening to
• 52:22
  S7: Carl and Crew.
• 52:23
  S1: Well, Founders Week is. I can't believe it, man. We've
• 52:27
  S1: been talking about it forever. It's almost. Wrap it up.
• 52:29
  S11: Yeah. This is the last full day of Founder's Week.
• 52:31
  S2: So the activities, well, they're already underway. There's an open
• 52:35
  S2: house happening right now. And so we're in a different
• 52:37
  S2: studio with folks who are going to be trickling in to,
• 52:40
  S2: to take part. And then the morning session kicks off
• 52:43
  S2: at 930 central time. So you can get here if
• 52:45
  S2: you are around and can take maybe a little bit
• 52:47
  S2: of a Friday off, but definitely the live stream, just
• 52:50
  S2: text founders to 805, five, five, 78, 98.
• 52:53
  S1: I was certain yesterday that when people walked in here,
• 52:56
  S1: they'd be Chicago folks. No, no, we had Papua New Guinea,
• 53:00
  S1: we had New York, we had Florida, we had Tennessee,
• 53:04
  S1: we had.
• 53:05
  S11: Alaska.
• 53:05
  S1: Alaska, we had Spokane. We had Ohio. Those are among
• 53:11
  S1: the people that came through in this little in studio
• 53:14
  S1: tour Thingamajiggy we're doing.
• 53:15
  S2: Yeah, we were just sitting here totally shocked. I mean,
• 53:18
  S2: this conference, we knew.
• 53:19
  S12: Blowing in my mind, I.
• 53:21
  S2: Mean, I knew that it was a it was a longest,
• 53:23
  S2: obviously free Bible conference in the country, longest running, but
• 53:27
  S2: that so many people came from so far to take
• 53:29
  S2: part in it.
• 53:30
  S1: And, and then just those are the ones that were
• 53:33
  S1: in there in our studio.
• 53:34
  S11: Yes. Out of this. Out of about a group of.
• 53:37
  S2: 15.
• 53:37
  S11: Papua.
• 53:38
  S12: New Guinea.
• 53:38
  S11: 5 to 7 states represented.
• 53:40
  S1: Just awesome. And by the way, there's a quality in
• 53:43
  S1: these saints that is totally compelling. Yeah. You know what
• 53:47
  S1: I'm saying? Yeah. When we talk to him, which brings
• 53:50
  S1: me to this Doctor Crawford. Leritz is going to be
• 53:52
  S1: dishing it up this morning at Founder's Week. And if
• 53:55
  S1: you want to hear something that's going to put fire
• 53:57
  S1: in your belly, walk in agreement with the Holy Spirit.
• 54:01
  S1: Text founder's to 805 557898. You got to listen to
• 54:05
  S1: Crawford this morning.
• 54:06
  S10: No pressure.
• 54:07
  S1: Yeah. No, no. Don't you know what I love to say?
• 54:09
  S1: Don't screw it up now, man. All right. So, Crawford, uh, discipleship.
• 54:14
  S1: We've we've really been like, get to this class, get
• 54:17
  S1: through this book. It's all about process, but it is a.
• 54:21
  S10: Person, person. And, uh, and I want to balance something
• 54:26
  S10: all because process is important.
• 54:29
  S1: Sure.
• 54:30
  S10: But process doesn't get you to the point of discipleship.
• 54:34
  S10: Decision always precedes development. You don't, you don't. You don't
• 54:40
  S10: process yourself into I oh, oh, now I want to be.
• 54:43
  S10: Oh yeah, I want to be. Oh yeah. Well, maybe
• 54:45
  S10: I want to do this. No, you decide on that.
• 54:49
  S10: Jesus drew the line in Luke chapter 14. When you
• 54:53
  S10: read Luke chapter 14, he gives those three universal negatives.
• 54:58
  S10: Unless you hate your mother, father, etc., etc., etc.. Can
• 55:02
  S10: I be my disciple? Unless you pick up your cross
• 55:05
  S10: and follow me? You cannot be my disciple unless you
• 55:08
  S10: relinquish ownership. You cannot be my disciple. What do those
• 55:11
  S10: three things have in common? Decision. I heard a young
• 55:15
  S10: man preaching on that text, and he made what I
• 55:19
  S10: consider to be a classic era. He said, well, Jesus
• 55:23
  S10: is inviting you. I said, no, no, no, no, he's
• 55:25
  S10: not inviting you. He's requiring you.
• 55:29
  S1: To decide.
• 55:30
  S10: To decide. And so we got to be careful in
• 55:33
  S10: our desire not to offend people. And I'm sure certainly
• 55:37
  S10: we shouldn't be bombastic that we don't rebrand the statements
• 55:41
  S10: of scripture. Yeah. No, no. It's a decision. So so
• 55:46
  S10: if and it's not a decision to be perfect, but
• 55:49
  S10: it's a decision that says I am all in. But
• 55:51
  S10: that decision focuses on the person of Jesus. And all
• 55:55
  S10: these processes should not obscure the person of Jesus. You know, yes,
• 56:00
  S10: we need to know how to read the Bible. Yes,
• 56:02
  S10: we need to know how to pray. Yes, we need
• 56:03
  S10: to know how to share our faith. Yes, we need
• 56:05
  S10: to know how to overcome our sin. For what? For what? Well,
• 56:11
  S10: so that Christ is glorified. He is seen. The beauty
• 56:15
  S10: of our Savior is there. Our love is not on
• 56:19
  S10: these things that we pour ourselves into. It's not just
• 56:22
  S10: the disciplines. No, it's the person of Jesus. Yes. And
• 56:27
  S10: we lay all these things down because we love Jesus.
• 56:31
  S10: It's just like any. Carl, you are a one woman man.
• 56:35
  S1: Yeah.
• 56:36
  S10: Yeah. You've made that decision.
• 56:37
  S12: You made it.
• 56:38
  S10: And so so you do certain things as evidence of
• 56:42
  S10: that decision. But the things that you do, they don't
• 56:45
  S10: represent replacing the decision. They come out of that decision.
• 56:49
  S1: That's a profound insight.
• 56:50
  S10: Yeah. And so we've got we've got to be careful.
• 56:54
  S10: All of us have a bent toward legalism.
• 56:57
  S1: Oh we don't.
• 56:58
  S10: Once we master something, we we think that the thing
• 57:03
  S10: that we've mastered has now become the fourth member of
• 57:05
  S10: the Trinity. And so we want to sell that to people.
• 57:09
  S10: You know, this is how I've done this. And and
• 57:11
  S10: I'm saying, okay, write the book on how you did it. Okay.
• 57:15
  S10: But make sure that the spotlight is Jesus and what
• 57:19
  S10: you're doing has extended from Jesus.
• 57:21
  S13: I love it.
• 57:22
  S10: You know, don't replace Jesus. Uh, we get backdoored into
• 57:26
  S10: being 21st century Pharisees. Yeah. And that's the biggest problem
• 57:30
  S10: that I have with ethics. The bottom line in the
• 57:34
  S10: New Testament, Jesus presents discipleship as as being clearly the
• 57:40
  S10: person of who he is and the mission that he
• 57:44
  S10: stood for. And everything else extends from that. It comes
• 57:49
  S10: out of, but don't replace it.
• 57:51
  S2: Doctor Crawford Lauritz with us this morning. You know, I
• 57:53
  S2: think I'm I'm trying to think the person listening right
• 57:55
  S2: now because this can become it can be challenging to
• 57:58
  S2: understand because you you go, okay, I'm I'm I'm reading
• 58:01
  S2: my Bible. I'm praying I'm going to a, a Wednesday
• 58:04
  S2: night Bible study. And I'm, I'm doing these things that
• 58:06
  S2: are supposed to be helping me. But am I becoming
• 58:09
  S2: legalistic with it? Because, you know, when you think about
• 58:12
  S2: a relationship, we have to acknowledge that, you know, Carl,
• 58:15
  S2: you he used the example of you and your bride.
• 58:18
  S2: You can you see her every day. You lock arms
• 58:21
  S2: with her. There's a there's a mystery to the relationship
• 58:25
  S2: with Jesus Christ. That is hard to sometimes pin down.
• 58:30
  S10: Yes, and one of the reasons why it's hard to
• 58:33
  S10: pin down is because we don't want to relinquish control.
• 58:37
  S10: It's wonderful for me to benchmark myself and see improvement.
• 58:41
  S10: I control that, I control how often I pray, I control,
• 58:45
  S10: I control how many chapters of the Bible I'm going
• 58:47
  S10: to read today. I control well, I'm going to I'm
• 58:49
  S10: going to share my faith with, you know, seven people
• 58:52
  S10: this week, I control that.
• 58:54
  S1: Yeah, you're right about that.
• 58:55
  S10: I control that now the to me, the indicator on
• 58:59
  S10: the dashboard is this, um, do, do, do I sense
• 59:06
  S10: the presence of my Savior? Uh, am I, am I,
• 59:11
  S10: am I grateful that I'm, I'm doing this as a
• 59:15
  S10: love offering to him. Um, is my heart being massaged
• 59:21
  S10: and changed? Um is a fruit of the spirit becoming
• 59:27
  S10: organically displayed, not legalistically orchestrated. That's what we need to
• 59:35
  S10: pay attention to.
• 59:36
  S1: Yeah.
• 59:37
  S10: That's what we need to pay attention to. You know,
• 59:41
  S10: I love my wife more now than ever before. Than
• 59:46
  S10: ever before. And one of the reasons why is I
• 59:50
  S10: look back and see her sacrifices for me. Yeah. What
• 59:53
  S10: she's done. It is absolutely incredible. And this is, you know,
• 59:58
  S10: this is it's a horrible comparison. And my wife, if
• 1:00:01
  S10: she was here, she would say, you better think of
• 1:00:03
  S10: a better illustration. But but but this is you read
• 1:00:06
  S10: from second Corinthians seven one.
• 1:00:09
  S1: Yeah.
• 1:00:10
  S10: The reason why we want to cleanse ourselves from defilement
• 1:00:15
  S10: and the reason why we want to pursue holiness. It's
• 1:00:18
  S10: the same thing that Paul said in Romans 121 and two.
• 1:00:21
  S10: I urge you, therefore, what is. What's it there for?
• 1:00:24
  S10: It reaches back all the manifest goodness of God. God's
• 1:00:29
  S10: been good to you. He's been good to you. And
• 1:00:32
  S10: so I do these things not to get clicks, likes,
• 1:00:36
  S10: or people to buy my books or listen to my podcast,
• 1:00:40
  S10: or to see that I'm such, such a great model.
• 1:00:43
  S10: I do this because I love my Savior, and it's
• 1:00:47
  S10: the overflow of these things that produces a tsunami of impact.
• 1:00:53
  S10: And I think, you know, one other quick thing. Yeah,
• 1:00:56
  S10: I think we're too strategic for our own good. I
• 1:01:00
  S10: think we assume that we are expert at strategic planning.
• 1:01:03
  S10: And don't get me wrong, I, I'm a believer in it.
• 1:01:06
  S10: Proverbs in the book and Nehemiah had a strategy. Paul
• 1:01:09
  S10: has I get that. I get that. But what's your passion?
• 1:01:16
  S10: Is it the how or the who?
• 1:01:18
  S2: Ooh that's good.
• 1:01:20
  S1: Yeah. I gotta tell you, Crawford, in a very vulnerable
• 1:01:23
  S1: thing here, I'm gonna tell you haven't haven't been a
• 1:01:25
  S1: lead pastor for a lot of years. I was a
• 1:01:28
  S1: whiteboard fanatic.
• 1:01:29
  S10: Oh, you're looking at me. One.
• 1:01:31
  S1: Yeah, but I gotta tell you, I don't use them anymore.
• 1:01:34
  S12: Mhm.
• 1:01:36
  S1: Doesn't mean we don't have planning.
• 1:01:37
  S12: Mhm.
• 1:01:38
  S1: But we are listening. I'm beginning to finally understand. This
• 1:01:43
  S1: is about a living, breathing relationship with our friend Jesus.
• 1:01:47
  S1: And he's more interested in our impact than we ever
• 1:01:50
  S1: hoped to be.
• 1:01:51
  S10: Absolutely.
• 1:01:51
  S1: And he's got the purest way of going at it.
• 1:01:53
  S10: Yes.
• 1:01:54
  S1: And speaking of that purest way, when we get back,
• 1:01:56
  S1: I want to go after this. We haven't. It's been
• 1:01:58
  S1: a while since we've talked about humility as that birthplace
• 1:02:01
  S1: of all good virtue. It's been a while. Let's go
• 1:02:05
  S1: after that. More with Doctor Crawford. Leritz. Boy, I'll tell
• 1:02:08
  S1: you what. We could sit here for a month of Sundays.
• 1:02:12
  S7: She's a choreographer extraordinaire, and everything is Greek to her.
• 1:02:17
  S7: Super di is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
• 1:02:21
  S7: on Moody Radio.
• 1:02:22
  S1: First, Peter, Philippians two. We find humility championed over and
• 1:02:28
  S1: over again in the scriptures. And we're talking with Doctor
• 1:02:32
  S1: Crawford Lauritz about discipleship, which is a person in a person,
• 1:02:37
  S1: not in a process. Yes, there's decisions that are made. And,
• 1:02:43
  S1: you know, I've often thought here in the last decade
• 1:02:46
  S1: or so that this is not about process. This is
• 1:02:50
  S1: about a person, but it's about our posture before that person.
• 1:02:54
  S12: Yes.
• 1:02:55
  S1: And this posture of humility is a is a wild
• 1:03:01
  S1: thing because when you have a touch point with genuine humility,
• 1:03:05
  S1: you walk differently because now you're not looking for someone
• 1:03:10
  S1: to authenticate me, to affirm me. You've received such holy
• 1:03:18
  S1: friendship from God that you walk around with this weird
• 1:03:24
  S1: bulletproof ness. Yes. That it. It's almost this strange delight
• 1:03:31
  S1: in the power of God. And you're in his hand,
• 1:03:35
  S1: and in due time, he will lift you up and
• 1:03:37
  S1: you're peeking through his fingers at the world, through his fingers,
• 1:03:40
  S1: at the world around you. Crawford. It's that wild, isn't it?
• 1:03:43
  S10: It really is. And but, you know, humility really is
• 1:03:46
  S10: a decision. It's a decision that is informed by a reality.
• 1:03:52
  S12: Yeah.
• 1:03:53
  S10: And the reality is my permanent sense of God neediness.
• 1:03:57
  S10: You cannot be truly humble until you are convinced. You
• 1:04:02
  S10: are terribly convinced that you need him. It is spiritual
• 1:04:08
  S10: desperation that you have to embrace.
• 1:04:11
  S1: Every moment of the day.
• 1:04:13
  S10: That's right. But but but but the next step, though
• 1:04:16
  S10: you can't truly be humble until you're baptized in gratitude.
• 1:04:20
  S10: Gratitude is the expression of neediness.
• 1:04:24
  S12: That's good.
• 1:04:25
  S10: And are you really grateful? Are you grateful? Are you
• 1:04:30
  S10: bragging about, you know, you hit a triple. No, you
• 1:04:34
  S10: didn't hit a triple. You were born on third base.
• 1:04:37
  S10: Are you bragging about that? Uh, there's nothing in your
• 1:04:40
  S10: life that that you have truly orchestrated. Uh, we're not
• 1:04:46
  S10: that smart.
• 1:04:47
  S12: Yeah.
• 1:04:48
  S10: We're really not that smart. And stop assigning sovereignty to yourself.
• 1:04:53
  S10: You know, we can make good decisions. But who gave
• 1:04:57
  S10: you the wisdom for that? Uh, we we take pride
• 1:05:01
  S10: over stuff we have categorically no control over.
• 1:05:03
  S1: Even every good and perfect gift comes.
• 1:05:06
  S12: Down.
• 1:05:06
  S10: Comes from God. I mean, we're sitting around here with
• 1:05:10
  S10: microphones in front of us. You know, we're at this place. Carl,
• 1:05:14
  S10: you've written books, you're influencing people, you're influencing people, all
• 1:05:18
  S10: of that kind of stuff. But when you look at
• 1:05:19
  S10: your life, there's all kinds of stuff you can't explain.
• 1:05:23
  S10: You can't explain to people who believed in you. You
• 1:05:25
  S10: can't explain the doors that were open for you. Yeah,
• 1:05:29
  S10: you can't explain that. And I think we need to
• 1:05:31
  S10: lead with that.
• 1:05:33
  S12: Yes.
• 1:05:34
  S10: Lead with that. It's not a lack of confidence. In fact,
• 1:05:38
  S10: you cannot truly be humble unless you are confident. Humility
• 1:05:43
  S10: is God confidence.
• 1:05:44
  S12: Yeah.
• 1:05:45
  S1: One fully and totally.
• 1:05:47
  S10: That's right. And you can be bold and clear and courageous.
• 1:05:51
  S10: That's evidence of true humility because God takes care of you.
• 1:05:58
  S10: Jesus could lay aside Philippians two. We often preach that
• 1:06:03
  S10: text apart from its context. Paul is using Jesus condescension
• 1:06:09
  S10: as an example of humility.
• 1:06:12
  S1: 100. He humbled himself and became as a man.
• 1:06:15
  S10: But. But it is set up. Say, well, he did
• 1:06:17
  S10: not think equality of God with God was a thing
• 1:06:19
  S10: to be grasped. Or to put it another way, he
• 1:06:22
  S10: knew who he was. He knew who he was. So
• 1:06:26
  S10: he can lay aside those privileges to accomplish something that
• 1:06:30
  S10: was great. And so you can't truly be humble until
• 1:06:35
  S10: you really know who you are. You can't be. You
• 1:06:38
  S10: can't truly be humble until you embrace the reality that
• 1:06:42
  S10: God will always take care of me. So I don't
• 1:06:44
  S10: have to get in spitting contest with people. I don't
• 1:06:46
  S10: have to compare myself with people. I don't have to
• 1:06:49
  S10: compete with anybody because God has taken care of me
• 1:06:52
  S10: in impeccable ways.
• 1:06:54
  S1: And that's the freedom he wants. Yes, because it's freedom.
• 1:06:57
  S14: Yeah, yeah. Crawford. Lawrence. Doctor. Crawford.
• 1:07:00
  S1: Yeah. Crawford, we love you.
• 1:07:02
  S10: I love you, too, my brother.
• 1:07:03
  S1: We love this brother, don't we?
• 1:07:05
  S14: I this has been truly.
• 1:07:07
  S2: An anointed time.
• 1:07:08
  S10: Wow. This has been a great time, Karl.
• 1:07:10
  S1: It's really good.