Latest / Karl and Crew / Loving Christ with Dr. Erwin Lutzer and Understanding Gen Alpha with Shane Pruitt

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Loving Christ with Dr. Erwin Lutzer and Understanding Gen Alpha with Shane Pruitt · Karl and Crew

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  S1: Coming to you live in studio. It's Carl and crew
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  S1: on Moody radio.
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  S2: Okay, I got a core truth and I got a
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  S2: fun way to illustrate it. A core truth that I
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  S2: am convinced of, and no one can pry this one
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  S2: from my hands, is that if you build a church
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  S2: on a platform of commitment to making disciples in the
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  S2: power of the Holy Spirit, if that's the system, okay,
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  S2: let's just use an earthly word. If that's the system
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  S2: that you are committed to making disciples, thereby meaning that
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  S2: everybody is involved in doing their part, no matter what
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  S2: it may look like. Here's my conviction you don't need
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  S2: super saints. You need all of God's gifts. And there
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  S2: is massive, massive winds that will come as a result
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  S2: of it. When I'm talking super saints, it's I'm using
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  S2: Paul's language. There's no such thing as super saints. But
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  S2: even the early church thought, man, they're super saints here.
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  S2: Paul was debunking that myth by challenging people, go and
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  S2: make disciples, and this is how we do it. Now
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  S2: I'm going to illustrate it kind of back into it.
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  S2: I'm going to give the metaphor after I give that truth.
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  S2: So here's the truth in Chicago. Bear with me. I
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  S2: know you're probably not a bears fan, especially if you're
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  S2: in Florida or Indianapolis. Oh boy, you're not a bears
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  S2: fan at all. But let me give you an illustration.
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  S2: Ben Johnson is a new head coach here in Chicago.
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  S2: They beat Philadelphia with Jalen Hurts, one of the best
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  S2: ranked quarterbacks in the NFL. They beat him last night
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  S2: 27 to 7. Is that right. That's correct 27 to 7.
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  S2: This is what I'm convinced of. I'm convinced that Ben
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  S2: Johnson has built such an offensive system juggernaut that uses
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  S2: every person that it doesn't require a super quarterback to
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  S2: even run the offense. Case Keenum probably had the best
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  S2: football game of his career and he's been in the NFL.
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  S2: He's been on like eight teams. I think.
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  S3: He's undrafted.
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  S2: Undrafted. He's he's not super mobile. Sorry case if you're
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  S2: listening not super mobile. He's not one of these extraordinary athletes.
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  S2: You know what I'm talking about. Ali you see it
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  S2: on the basketball court right? Where guys guy's got this
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  S2: athletic ability. There's no Michael Jordan's on this football team.
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  S2: Now some might say well Caleb Williams is that guy. Well, maybe.
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  S2: But here's what's crazy. A third string quarterback beat Philadelphia
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  S2: 27 to 7 last night on Monday Night Football.
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  S3: That's a good game.
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  S2: So here's my here's my core truth on this one.
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  S2: The beautiful thing about having a disciple making church that
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  S2: you're disciple making by nature requires everybody getting your spot
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  S2: and execute the X's and O's. Stick with the blocking
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  S2: and tackling. We need people with gifts of mercy. We
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  S2: need people with gifts of helps. We need administrators. We
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  S2: need teachers. We need preachers. We need leaders. We need
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  S2: everyone on deck. And here's the beautiful thing we don't
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  S2: need any super saints, baby, because God's plan is going
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  S2: to get her done.
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  S4: So, I mean, certainly the leadership that's part of, I mean,
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  S4: having that kind of system. So great leadership is it
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  S4: would be important.
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  S2: Yeah. And great leadership is going to not create a
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  S2: cul de sac kind of around that gifting, right? It's
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  S2: going to create a conduit where everybody, a leader, actually
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  S2: a good leader, actually steps back and opens wide the
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  S2: door so that everybody can come into this effort. But it.
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  S2: It just struck me because I, I think most pundits
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  S2: thought for sure case Keenum, he hasn't had this storied
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  S2: history of great exploits in football. He's been on eight teams.
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  S2: I think he's been in the league for a long time.
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  S2: How old is.
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  S3: He.
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  S4: I think he's 30.
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  S3: He's 38. He is.
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  S2: He's 38. He's 38 in NFL numbers. That ain't young.
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  S3: No.
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  S2: And I got to believe if you ask Case Keenum
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  S2: in super die and I were talking about it. I
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  S2: went to bed at half time because I actually have
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  S2: a life in the morning here. I've got to get
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  S2: to bed. But the the offensive scheme, if there was
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  S2: an offensive scheme that was akin to making disciples in
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  S2: the church, it's it's what Ben Johnson has done at Chicago.
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  S2: It's got everybody involved. It is it is not two
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  S2: exceptional wideouts that go deep with a quarterback that can
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  S2: just hit a bullet at 40 yards. It's like movement.
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  S2: It's like everybody's got their job and it's so confusing.
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  S2: It caught Philadelphia flat footed, man. And if you're in
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  S2: Philly this morning, I love you. I hope you're okay
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  S2: because you got beat by a third string quarterback. So
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  S2: that's my metaphor for disciple making. And I think it works. Ali.
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  S4: Yeah, I mean, because, I mean, if everything is centered
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  S4: around one person out on the football team or in
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  S4: a church, then that is that's, that's a dangerous place
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  S4: to be, right?
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  S2: Because it rises and falls on how good a day
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  S2: that one guy or gal is having.
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  S4: Yes.
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  S2: Or those few people, how are they doing? But when
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  S2: the church is on the move, these even great leaders
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  S2: can have a down day. But the disciple making juggernaut
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  S2: is moving on, Isn't that cool? Come on now. Okay.
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  S2: Coming up, we're talking core truths, and, uh, you know,
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  S2: let me ask you a question. Give me a text message.
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  S2: What's the core truth of faith that you just hang
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  S2: on to and you know it's true? Text us your
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  S2: answer 805 557898 805 557898. We'll get some, we'll get
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  S2: some response. We'll shout them out. Coming up. It's fun
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  S2: to hear what the crowds say about this.
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  S3: Yes.
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  S2: Always get some response here. Core truths that people hold
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  S2: on to. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior
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  S2: is my core truth. Praise God for that one.
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  S4: That's a good one. How about that? Jesus died on
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  S4: the cross for my sins. That's a really important core truth.
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  S2: Yeah. And they go on to say, if I was
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  S2: the only human on earth that would have still gone.
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  S2: Jesus would have still gone to that cross. Wow. He
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  S2: rose three days later to sanctify me so that I
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  S2: could be more like him every day. Come on now.
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  S2: Come on now. All right, core truth. We got to
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  S2: get the core man in here.
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  S4: Let's get core truth from Doctor Erwin Lutzer. Coming up.
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  S1: Standing on the rock. Each and every day. You're listening
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  S1: to Carl and Crew.
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  S2: So we're talking core truths. And when you have a
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  S2: guest like a doctor. Erwin Lutzer. Don't you know he's
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  S2: taught a lot of truth from the scriptures. The truth
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  S2: will set you free. But are there some things that
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  S2: rise above others? And that's what we're tackling here this week.
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  S2: We've got Doctor Lutzer right now. How are you doing
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  S2: young man?
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  S5: I'm doing quite well. Thank you. Thanks to the grace
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  S5: of God. Yeah. What an opportunity to be on with
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  S5: you and to talk about core truths. Because nothing is
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  S5: more important than core truth.
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  S4: Doctor Erwin Lutzer, pastor emeritus at Moody Church. You hear
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  S4: him on the program running to win daily Bible teaching
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  S4: broadcast right here on Moody Radio. So let's talk about
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  S4: some of the core truths that you hold most dear.
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  S4: You have written so many books. So if you were
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  S4: to identify a core truth on every book you've written,
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  S4: I don't even know if you could list them all.
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  S4: So narrow it down to maybe 3 or 4 core truths.
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  S4: Let's start with one.
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  S5: You know, Ellie, I think the most important core truth
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  S5: for a born again Christian is love for Christ. We
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  S5: love him because he first loved us. I think that's
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  S5: one of the most important signs that somebody actually is
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  S5: born again. Because, you know, being a loving Christ is
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  S5: not something we do naturally. It comes about being birthed
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  S5: in our hearts by the Holy Spirit when we accept
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  S5: the Lord. And if you don't have a love for Christ,
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  S5: that doesn't mean that you don't struggle with sin and
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  S5: everything else that oftentimes crowds out our lives. But there
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  S5: is that love for Christ. The love of Christ constrains us.
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  S5: And it is so important. In fact, I remember a
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  S5: woman who struggled with alcoholism. And every time she fell
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  S5: into alcoholism, not every time, but frequently she would come
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  S5: to me as her pastor and say, you know, I
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  S5: sinned again. And whenever she prayed, the first words out
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  S5: of her mouth were these. She said, Oh, God, you
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  S5: know I do love you. And even in the midst
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  S5: of her struggle, there was a basic love there which
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  S5: should really take over our lives. And I want to
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  S5: ask everyone who's listening, by the way, do you love Christ? That,
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  S5: I think, is one of the most important core truths
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  S5: to show that you are indeed born again.
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  S2: What does that love look like, pastor? Um, because love
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  S2: is a verb. It has movement, it has affection. Love
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  S2: manifests itself in different ways. But at the end of
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  S2: the day, if someone's really wanting to examine their heart
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  S2: and ask the question, do I have the core truth
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  S2: that I love Jesus Christ? What would that look like?
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  S5: Well, you know how I think it looks. It actually
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  S5: changes the way in which you approach life. Yeah. You know,
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  S5: think of it this way, Carl. If somebody asks you,
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  S5: do you love your wife? There's a way in which
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  S5: you can answer that. And then we can prove it
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  S5: by the way in which we serve our mate in
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  S5: the very same way. When you ask the question, do
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  S5: you love Jesus Christ? The first thing that should come
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  S5: to mind is I delight to serve him. I remember
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  S5: when my mother was nearly a hundred years old. Now
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  S5: she lived to 103. But I remember how she just
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  S5: pled with Jesus that she could wipe his feet with
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  S5: her hair. She loved him so much. And so it
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  S5: results in actions. It results in a life that is
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  S5: much lighter. If I might put it that way. Because
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  S5: you're serving someone you love. Now, if you serve someone
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  S5: you hate. Well, life can be very, very difficult. But
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  S5: imagine serving someone whom you love. Even if it's difficult.
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  S5: Even if the level of difficulty is the same. The
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  S5: attitude is entirely different.
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  S4: Pastor Lutzer, I asked Doctor Michael Reidel about this same question.
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  S4: What is a core truth that maybe early on in
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  S4: your walk with the Lord that you thought was very,
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  S4: very important and as you've gone on in your walk
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  S4: with the Lord, doesn't seem so important. What has changed
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  S4: for you over the years?
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  S5: I think performance, the feeling that you have to really, uh,
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  S5: you know, produce to perform or to show love and
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  S5: so forth. Whereas now I love to meditate on Christ. Mhm.
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  S5: As a matter of fact, even as Jonathan Edwards pointed out,
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  S5: that the more we meditate on him, the more we
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  S5: understand his beauty, the more we understand his great love
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  S5: for us. I mean, when you stop to think of it,
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  S5: here is the lily of the valley. Here is the
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  S5: supreme object of love in the whole universe, namely Jesus Christ.
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  S5: And of course, the entire Godhead here is that. And yet,
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  S5: at the same time, we forget the fact that Jesus Christ,
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  S5: the lily of the valley, had the wrath of God
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  S5: poured out on him voluntarily for us. That's something to
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  S5: meditate and to realize that gives an entirely different view
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  S5: of life.
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  S2: Yeah. Pastor Erwin Lutzer is our guest right now. Uh, Ali,
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  S2: I had a conversation with pastor off radio, just called
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  S2: him on my cell phone a few days ago. And
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  S2: I want us to wrestle with this one because the
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  S2: interesting thing about our love for Jesus, if that's a
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  S2: core truth, our love for God, our love for his
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  S2: grace to change us, not our own strength, no need
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  S2: to perform anymore. The strange irony is that Paul's progression
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  S2: of awareness of how far, far we fall short. I
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  S2: share it with him. He began with, I'm the least
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  S2: of the disciples, then I'm the least of the apostles.
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  S2: Then he whittled it down to. In fact, he started
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  S2: with apostles and he went to all disciples. Then he said,
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  S2: I am the chief among sinners. And the strange thing
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  S2: that we were talking about on the phone together is,
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  S2: the closer we grow in our relationship with God, the
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  S2: more we are aware of our love for him and
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  S2: the awareness of sin in our life. Now, I'm not
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  S2: sure that we are slaves to that, but it's peaked
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  S2: for me the longer I walk with Jesus. I will
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  S2: say this the better husband I've become, the better leader
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  S2: I've become. So are there. AM I sinning less? Yes.
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  S2: Do I become sin less? No. But then we're also
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  S2: met with this strange thing, pastor, where we're more aware
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  S2: of our shortcomings than ever. That is a strange irony,
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  S2: isn't it?
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  S5: At the age of 99, a professor at Dallas Seminary
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  S5: just before he died said these words the older I get,
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  S5: the more impressed I am by the wickedness of my
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  S5: own heart and the wonder of God's grace. And I
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  S5: think that's the way every Christian dies, aware of their sin,
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  S5: like they've never been aware of their sin before. But
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  S5: also the wonder of God's grace. You're absolutely right, Carl.
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  S5: I have the same experience as you do getting older,
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  S5: thinking about eternity. So many things that used to matter
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  S5: really don't matter anymore. Isn't that funny? That many more
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  S5: days left when these things are going to be options
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  S5: for me. And so what you do is you whittle
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  S5: it down to that which is most important your relationship
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  S5: with God, the state of your own heart. You're dealing
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  S5: ruthlessly with sin and all of those things. Why? Because
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  S5: you love Christ and that love drives you, and it
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  S5: makes repentance easy. Because after all, you're going to be
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  S5: back in fellowship with the one that you love, the
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  S5: one who loves you even more than you love him.
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  S5: And what could be greater than that?
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  S4: Doctor Erwin Lutzer with us right now. How do we both,
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  S4: as individual Christ followers and more corporately as the church,
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  S4: keep the core truths at the center of everything we do?
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  S4: Because it's been my experience both as an individual and corporately,
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  S4: that it's easy to get pulled into a lot of
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  S4: directions with things that feel very important, but maybe get
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  S4: us away from core truth.
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  S5: You know, if you're going to talk individually, every individual
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  S5: has to make that decision because every ministry easily sucks
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  S5: you into various kinds of ministries. That may not be
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  S5: the core truth for you. It may not be exactly
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  S5: what God wants you to do. It gives you the option,
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  S5: but it's up to you as an individual to decide.
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  S5: Does this enable me to love Christ more. Do I
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  S5: honor him more? Doing A rather than B? Those are
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  S5: individual decisions because look around us right now. Look at
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  S5: the internet with all of the options out there, even
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  S5: options among Christians, everyone vying for attention, everyone wanting to
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  S5: be able to make sure that their ideas are paramount.
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  S5: And so the pressure is everywhere. So just take yourself away.
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  S5: Ask Jesus, what do you want me to do? And
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  S5: whittle it down.
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  S2: Yeah. I was, uh, I'm reminded of what we find
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  S2: in first Thessalonians. I think it's chapter four, verse three.
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  S2: This is the will of God for you, your sanctification.
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  S2: And that's a phenomenal word for growing in this deeper
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  S2: love and obedience to Jesus Christ. And you're right, pastor.
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  S2: There's a lot of things that I believe need to
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  S2: be careful here, but I believe Satan will put some
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  S2: bait on a hook to get us pulled into something
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  S2: that is religiously active, but spiritually, a field from the
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  S2: dynamic of falling closer in love with and serving God
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  S2: from a pure heart. What's your comment on that?
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  S5: Oh, I agree totally. And as a matter of fact,
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  S5: some of those things that you are referring to may
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  S5: not be bad. They may be even good for others. Yes.
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  S5: But they may not necessarily be good for us. So,
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  S5: you know, as you begin to think about eternity, it
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  S5: really does. What was that that Samuel Adams once says?
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  S5: Was it Samuel Adams that says nothing focuses the mind
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  S5: like the knowledge that one is to be hung in
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  S5: a fortnight. Well, once you think, once you think about eternity,
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  S5: you realize that there are very few things that are very,
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  S5: very important.
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  S2: Yeah. So I get a follow up to that because
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  S2: not everybody's in there where I'm at in my 60s,
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  S2: where you're at in your 40s. Pastor, I'm joking there.
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  S2: But no, not everybody's in a season of life that
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  S2: urges that. My intent now is to help people circumvent
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  S2: seasons or years of walking in the deserts of spiritual ambiguity,
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  S2: and really focused on what is most important. I think,
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  S2: with the rise of persecution that I believe is probably
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  S2: coming our way in the West, that's that brings focus
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  S2: to what matters most. But how do you coach someone
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  S2: who's young in the Lord, distracted by a lot of things,
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  S2: doesn't see the urgency of eternity yet? How do you
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  S2: help them see what is most important?
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  S5: Hopefully one sentence will make them stop and think, young person.
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  S5: Live as if you're going to die because that's ultimately
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  S5: where it's going to end. So begin now. Living for
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  S5: what is most important and what is eternally important. I
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  S5: frequently tell people only that which is eternal is really important.
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  S5: So all of the things that we ascribe to, and
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  S5: I could mention sports here and who wins and who
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  S5: loses and on and on. Yeah. That's interesting. But, you know,
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  S5: in eternity it will not matter.
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  S2: Yeah. It's interesting on a practical note, and I don't
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  S2: know where you're at on this one, Ali, but sports
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  S2: used to be a big deal for me. I mean,
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  S2: I was San Francisco 40 niner fan and my dad
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  S2: got me onto that. And then I saw my dad.
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  S2: Even in his latter years, he'd follow the Niners and
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  S2: he was excited about different draft picks, but the things
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  S2: of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his
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  S2: glory and grace.
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  S4: That same I just was looking up the lyrics for
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  S4: that old Christian hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Oh,
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  S4: you were thinking the same thing.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: Yeah. That's.
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  S5: That really is a wonderful conclusion to what we're talking about.
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  S5: I love that song.
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  S2: Yeah. Isn't that a beautiful song? Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
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  S2: Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of
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  S2: earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his
• 21:10
  S2: glory and grace. I gotta believe that wasn't written by
• 21:14
  S2: a 20 year old.
• 21:17
  S5: I honestly don't know who wrote it, but you're probably right.
• 21:22
  S2: Pastor Lutzer, our guest here. And I'll tell you something, guys,
• 21:27
  S2: running to win is core truths. And he even goes
• 21:30
  S2: into the mailbag and interacts with people that send in
• 21:35
  S2: letters and emails dealing with questions of the heart. And
• 21:39
  S2: he always brings people back to the gospel. So we
• 21:43
  S2: got a link for you. Some of you maybe haven't
• 21:46
  S2: listened to Running to Win in a while. Trust me,
• 21:48
  S2: the content here is going to be tremendous for your soul.
• 21:52
  S3: Yeah.
• 21:52
  S4: We're going to link you to the site that has.
• 21:54
  S4: We'll get you both to running to win, but also
• 21:56
  S4: to books and sermons available by Pastor Lutzer. So just
• 22:00
  S4: text media to 805 557898. Media to 805 557898.
• 22:08
  S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 22:12
  S2: Asking you this core truth that God is most using
• 22:15
  S2: in your life today. Naomi. First time caller. Aurora, Illinois.
• 22:19
  S2: That song that we just played is Your core truth,
• 22:21
  S2: isn't it, sister?
• 22:23
  S6: Yes, sir. Jesus was born to conquer the grave. God
• 22:27
  S6: used that song, um, last year when dad died.
• 22:32
  S7: Hold it, hold it, hold it. That song, that song.
• 22:35
  S2: Itself that we just played while you were calling in.
• 22:38
  S3: Here?
• 22:39
  S6: No, no. That same truth that the song is, um,
• 22:43
  S6: Christmas Day. Chris Tomlin.
• 22:46
  S7: Yes, yes, yes.
• 22:47
  S6: The words are, um. He was born to conquer the grave.
• 22:50
  S6: Light of the world. The reason for Christmas Day.
• 22:54
  S7: Wow.
• 22:55
  S6: And because Jesus conquered the grave, we have death. Every
• 23:00
  S6: person is going to die. But because Jesus conquered the grave,
• 23:04
  S6: we can know for sure. I'm going to see my
• 23:06
  S6: dad again. You're going to see your dad again?
• 23:08
  S7: Yeah.
• 23:09
  S6: Most important is today. I'm right with my Savior because
• 23:12
  S6: Jesus conquered the grave.
• 23:15
  S2: Naomi, you are on fire. Sister, don't let go of
• 23:19
  S2: that truth, okay? My friend.
• 23:22
  S6: Thank you so much. Thank you all for what you
• 23:24
  S6: guys do. We love you.
• 23:26
  S2: We love you, Naomi. Thank you. Boom, sister. That's why
• 23:29
  S2: we call you the boom crew. Oh. Oh my goodness. Okay. Uh! Oh!
• 23:36
  S2: We got him back. Wesley chapel, Florida. Where's Wesley chapel, Florida.
• 23:41
  S8: Hey, guys. Little, little north of Tampa.
• 23:45
  S2: Okay, what's your core truth? My man.
• 23:49
  S8: Well, first, bless that sister who just called. And bless
• 23:51
  S8: all you guys. Um, core truth is, since we're never
• 23:55
  S8: going to bring any merit to the equation of what
• 23:58
  S8: Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. Uh, the
• 24:00
  S8: core truth is just to never graduate from. Blessed are
• 24:05
  S8: the poor in spirit.
• 24:07
  S9: Oh. Oh, Mike.
• 24:10
  S2: Don't graduate out of that posture. Right, brother?
• 24:14
  S8: That kind of Rob that from a from a sermon
• 24:16
  S8: from a great local pastor up in Jacksonville. But, uh,
• 24:18
  S8: it just it hit home and it's so true.
• 24:21
  S2: Oh, do me a favor. Get a hold of that pastor,
• 24:24
  S2: give him a call or send him an email. Tell
• 24:26
  S2: him how encouraging that was to you. Okay. My man.
• 24:30
  S8: Yes, sir.
• 24:30
  S2: Boom boom, brother. Boom. That's why we call you the
• 24:34
  S2: boom crew, guys. We will. You to brother, uh, Mike
• 24:38
  S2: in Florida. Wow. Wow. Ali.
• 24:40
  S3: I mean, powerful truth.
• 24:43
  S4: Don't graduate from born spirits.
• 24:45
  S3: Stay there, stay there.
• 24:47
  S2: All right, let's keep going. The phone lines. Who do
• 24:49
  S2: we have? Ali.
• 24:49
  S4: Lisa calling in this morning from Illinois. Lisa, what core
• 24:53
  S4: truth is God most using in your life today?
• 24:56
  S10: Uh, so I have young kids and we've been singing
• 24:59
  S10: the song This Little Light of Mine. I'm going to
• 25:01
  S10: let it shine. And I thought to myself for the
• 25:04
  S10: first time, even though we've been singing it for a
• 25:06
  S10: long time, like, how do I let my light shine
• 25:09
  S10: before men? Um, and I've, I've had a really tough
• 25:12
  S10: class this year that I've had to teach and I've
• 25:16
  S10: noticed I've been complaining a lot. So God brought to
• 25:18
  S10: my mind, uh, Philippians 214, do all things without grumbling
• 25:23
  S10: or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children
• 25:26
  S10: of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked
• 25:29
  S10: and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in
• 25:33
  S10: the world.
• 25:33
  S2: Oh yes, I forgot that. Tags it right there.
• 25:37
  S10: Yeah. So I thought that's how I let my light shine.
• 25:39
  S10: I have to stop complaining.
• 25:42
  S3: That's a that's.
• 25:43
  S4: A powerful connection there.
• 25:45
  S2: Lisa. I'm going to spontaneously combust. That is a great insight.
• 25:49
  S2: And what a link to the sermon on the Mount. Wow. Yeah. Wow.
• 25:54
  S10: It blew me away.
• 25:55
  S2: Yeah, that's mind blowing. That's beautiful. Uh, this old preacher
• 25:59
  S2: is going to rob that from you. I had forgot
• 26:01
  S2: about that connection. That's beautiful. Thank you. Lisa. Boom! Sister.
• 26:05
  S2: That's why we call you the boom crew. Lighten them
• 26:08
  S2: up here. Uh, Jason Anderson, Indiana. What do you say, Jason?
• 26:13
  S11: Uh, yeah, I was going to say that, uh, you know,
• 26:15
  S11: it's been it's been a lot of separation in this country. And, uh,
• 26:20
  S11: you know, like people are, you know, kind of divided and, uh,
• 26:26
  S11: it kind of reminds me, you know, when I was
• 26:28
  S11: in the Marine Corps, you know, it was God, country corps,
• 26:30
  S11: you know, God's important and your your country and family
• 26:34
  S11: is important. And then your fellow troops, you look out
• 26:36
  S11: for their welfare. And, uh, you know, nowadays it's like you're,
• 26:41
  S11: you're in the world and you're, you know, you're identifying
• 26:44
  S11: and you're around other believers and there's unbelievers. Um, and
• 26:48
  S11: they kind of have a different agenda as far as
• 26:50
  S11: what they're trying to do and accomplish and everything. And, uh,
• 26:54
  S11: it's been kind of a core truth for me just
• 26:56
  S11: to be able to, to deal with the separation, but, uh,
• 27:00
  S11: kind of be in the world, but not of the world,
• 27:03
  S11: so to speak.
• 27:04
  S2: Hoorah, man. You're right on, brother. By the way, thanks
• 27:07
  S2: for serving. Once a marine, always a marine. That's a boom, brother.
• 27:11
  S2: Thank you. Jason, you're a man's man. You keep that cooking,
• 27:14
  S2: my friend. Beautiful. Oh my goodness. We got to go
• 27:18
  S2: to spots. But let's get another couple in here. Ellie.
• 27:20
  S4: Candice from Thompson, Ohio. Candice. What core truth is God
• 27:23
  S4: most using in your life today?
• 27:25
  S12: Yeah. God really just put on my heart today the
• 27:28
  S12: word Mard, which we actually see in Jeremiah 18, and
• 27:32
  S12: the potter and the clay, where Jeremiah goes up to
• 27:34
  S12: the potter, and he's got the jar that he's making.
• 27:38
  S12: But it didn't turn out quite as he had hoped.
• 27:40
  S12: So he crushed it and made it over. He started again,
• 27:44
  S12: which really put, um, the core truth of what we
• 27:48
  S12: find in one Peter five, which is that Jesus restores.
• 27:52
  S12: He supports. He strengthens us. So I just thought that
• 27:56
  S12: was such a beautiful message of that God really takes
• 28:00
  S12: something that's broken and misshapen and he remakes it. You know,
• 28:03
  S12: he takes what's broken. He heals it. He takes what's lost,
• 28:07
  S12: and he finds it. What's dead is now alive. So
• 28:11
  S12: it's just a beautiful truth that God makes us into
• 28:13
  S12: something new, which you find in two Corinthians five. You know,
• 28:17
  S12: he creates us into something that's brand new, even though
• 28:19
  S12: we don't turn out to be exactly what we had intended. Um,
• 28:24
  S12: you know, God, Jesus saves, he restores. He strengthens us.
• 28:28
  S3: Yeah.
• 28:29
  S2: I gotta tell you a couple of things. Number one, Candace. Boom, sister,
• 28:32
  S2: you are so spot on. But your ability and everyone
• 28:36
  S2: else's ability to draw links between one passage to another. I'm.
• 28:42
  S2: I'm about to go through the roof here with excitement.
• 28:46
  S4: I mean, you talk about we often see Scripture interpret scripture.
• 28:49
  S2: Yes, they're doing it.
• 28:50
  S4: So seeing that played out.
• 28:53
  S3: Spot on.
• 28:54
  S4: Spot on.
• 28:55
  S2: Goodness boom crew, you guys are outstanding and don't graduate
• 29:01
  S2: from being poor in spirit.
• 29:03
  S3: And let your light.
• 29:03
  S4: Shine.
• 29:04
  S3: Yes.
• 29:07
  S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
• 29:10
  S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
• 29:14
  S2: I don't much care if you got wet wood. This
• 29:17
  S2: is gonna put a fire in your belly. This is
• 29:20
  S2: gonna put a fire in your belly. It's like throwing
• 29:24
  S2: red meat to a junkyard dog again.
• 29:26
  S3: Yes, junkyard.
• 29:27
  S4: Dog is well fed this.
• 29:29
  S3: Show.
• 29:29
  S2: Oh yes, it is junkyard dog gobbling really well.
• 29:34
  S3: Really? By the way, I'm old.
• 29:36
  S2: Enough to remember when they had junkyard dogs. Where there's, like,
• 29:40
  S2: an area where, like, wrecked cars and different stuff.
• 29:42
  S3: That people do, don't they? Maybe.
• 29:44
  S2: Oh, yeah. I don't know if they still have.
• 29:46
  S3: Yeah.
• 29:47
  S2: It might be held liable when that thing takes your
• 29:49
  S2: leg off. But they would have dogs that, you know,
• 29:52
  S2: they were they were somewhat pets but they more had
• 29:55
  S2: a job and that was anybody jumps over the fence
• 29:57
  S2: you're taking them down.
• 29:58
  S3: Yeah.
• 29:59
  S2: That was everybody knew that. So the word on the
• 30:01
  S2: street is man. Oh man. In fact they had movies
• 30:04
  S2: back in the old days and cartoons where they would
• 30:07
  S2: throw red meat to junkyard dogs to divert them, and.
• 30:10
  S3: Then they'd go grab stuff. Exactly. Remember that?
• 30:14
  S4: I'm thinking of The Sandlot, that famous.
• 30:18
  S3: Movie backyard. Yeah.
• 30:20
  S4: Trying to dodge that big old dog.
• 30:22
  S3: Yes, yes, yes.
• 30:23
  S13: All right.
• 30:24
  S2: Who let the dogs howl out there? They're called the
• 30:27
  S2: boom crew. We got some red meat for you, and
• 30:30
  S2: I haven't even seen it yet. But Allie's got me
• 30:32
  S2: convinced it's going to be great.
• 30:34
  S4: Oh. Oh, you want the link here?
• 30:35
  S3: Yes.
• 30:36
  S4: Oh, yes. I mentioned a chapel service that I so enjoyed.
• 30:39
  S4: We have President's Chapel every Tuesday here at Moody Bible Institute.
• 30:42
  S4: And this one breaking down. Why are we evangelical? Why
• 30:46
  S4: are we Protestant evangelical? Maybe you hear those terms. They're
• 30:49
  S4: a little confusing to you. What's the historical the biblical understanding?
• 30:55
  S4: Such a helpful presentation. And so it's if you want
• 30:59
  S4: to watch the chapel, just text chapel to 800 555, 7898.
• 31:04
  S4: It's available on YouTube. So this is the link. Just
• 31:07
  S4: text chapel to 805 557898.
• 31:11
  S2: Ellie cracked me up. She goes, man, that brass at
• 31:14
  S2: Moody Bible Institute is going to be freaked out when
• 31:16
  S2: a rather dormant YouTube channel all of a sudden goes viral.
• 31:22
  S3: Whew!
• 31:22
  S2: This is so cool. And Tucker's, he's a he's a
• 31:27
  S2: spiritual stud muffin. This guy. Yeah. We gotta get Tucker
• 31:31
  S2: back on here. Maybe we have him do a condensed
• 31:34
  S2: version of this bad boy.
• 31:36
  S3: Maybe that'd be nice.
• 31:37
  S2: Hold it.
• 31:37
  S3: Let's get him in here.
• 31:39
  S2: Can you get him in? Yeah, yeah, let's get him.
• 31:41
  S3: In on.
• 31:41
  S2: That. All right, so we got a chapel for you.
• 31:43
  S2: That's probably, what, 30, 40 minutes, max?
• 31:45
  S4: Yeah. I mean, you can watch the worship and the
• 31:48
  S4: I mean, there's there's some in it that you might
• 31:50
  S4: want to you might skip past because you weren't there.
• 31:53
  S4: But the, the actual presentation was probably about 30, 40 minutes.
• 31:57
  S2: All right. What, what are people going to get as
• 31:59
  S2: a result of watching this chapel service?
• 32:01
  S4: You're going to get some real clarity around terms that
• 32:05
  S4: are used, but not often or that are often misunderstood.
• 32:10
  S4: And it's also going to strengthen your faith as you
• 32:12
  S4: understand that it's not just a label that we put
• 32:14
  S4: on to say we're Protestant evangelical. There there's some core
• 32:19
  S4: truths scripturally, like we've been talking about this week, that
• 32:23
  S4: are essential to understanding what that even means and who
• 32:26
  S4: we are. Your identity as a Christ follower. This is
• 32:30
  S4: so helpful.
• 32:32
  S2: Text Chappel to 805 557898. Chappel to 805 557898. So
• 32:42
  S2: how are we going to reach this next generation generation Alpha?
• 32:46
  S2: And what are.
• 32:47
  S3: They? Who are they.
• 32:50
  S2: And what's coming next? The Omega.
• 32:52
  S3: I don't know. I don't.
• 32:54
  S4: Know. Let's ask our guest coming up, Shane Pruitt. He
• 32:57
  S4: is all about reaching Generation Alpha. We'll start by asking
• 33:01
  S4: him who exactly that is.
• 33:03
  S1: Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Carl and
• 33:06
  S1: Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.
• 33:09
  S2: So we got to get this question answered. Let's just
• 33:11
  S2: get the man in here right now. Shane Pruitt, you
• 33:13
  S2: got to answer the question, who is Gen Alpha? Gen
• 33:16
  S2: Alpha is all of those born.
• 33:18
  S14: Between the years 2010 and 2024. So at the time
• 33:23
  S14: of this conversation, thank those between the ages of two
• 33:28
  S14: and 16. So if you think of a local church setting,
• 33:31
  S14: those that are fully in children's ministry, team ministry, middle
• 33:35
  S14: school ministry, and now even in high school ministry, and
• 33:38
  S14: I work with a lot of college ministries as well.
• 33:41
  S14: So I tell collegiate leaders and young adult leaders, if
• 33:43
  S14: you blink too long, they're going to be on your
• 33:45
  S14: front porch as well. Massive generation, over 50 million in
• 33:49
  S14: the United States, nearly 2 billion worldwide. So that's a
• 33:52
  S14: harvest of souls right there.
• 33:54
  S4: Shane Pruitt with us right now. He's the national next
• 33:57
  S4: gen director for the North American Mission Board. He's also
• 34:00
  S4: co-authored a book called Reaching Generation Alpha Ministry Guide for
• 34:04
  S4: Discipling the Church Beyond the Screen. You know, we had
• 34:07
  S4: a guest on recently who talked about how this year
• 34:10
  S4: was the year that everybody in higher ed has been
• 34:13
  S4: waiting for, because this year's freshman class was born in 2008,
• 34:18
  S4: Which was a huge year in terms of the the
• 34:21
  S4: screens and the iPhone. So this was the first freshman
• 34:24
  S4: class that has been raised entirely digitally. And I thought, wow,
• 34:30
  S4: that's a fascinating observation. And so the unique aspect of
• 34:35
  S4: educating class that has only known screens give a thought
• 34:39
  S4: on that.
• 34:40
  S14: It's 100% true. In fact, a lot of times people
• 34:43
  S14: ask me, what is the major difference between Gen Z
• 34:46
  S14: and Gen Alpha? I would say Gen Z was impacted
• 34:50
  S14: by social media, impacted by screens, impacted by tablets. Do
• 34:54
  S14: you think the oldest end of Gen Z are now
• 34:56
  S14: in their mid to late 20s? So if you go
• 34:59
  S14: back almost 30 years, that's when everything kind of came
• 35:01
  S14: on the scene. So they were impacted by it. What's
• 35:04
  S14: different about Gen Alpha is not only are they impacted
• 35:08
  S14: by it, but they're actually shaped and formed by it.
• 35:10
  S14: And that's completely different. And so I know you all
• 35:13
  S14: care about discipleship. You know, when you think of discipleship,
• 35:17
  S14: it totally changes the game because I would say we're
• 35:19
  S14: in the middle of a discipleship war with Generation Alpha
• 35:23
  S14: because they've had tablets, they've had screens. Now, the majority
• 35:26
  S14: of them have smartphones by the time they're teenagers. So
• 35:30
  S14: we used to ask the question, you know, how many
• 35:32
  S14: of our students are being discipled? You know, is it
• 35:34
  S14: a quarter of them? Is it half of them? How
• 35:35
  S14: do we raise that bar? Now, the question is totally different.
• 35:38
  S14: We're not asking is generation being discipled because they are 100%
• 35:43
  S14: of them are being discipled. So now the question is
• 35:46
  S14: who or what is discipling them? Is it algorithms? Is
• 35:50
  S14: it cultural agendas? Is it their favorite social media influencer?
• 35:54
  S14: Is it some kind of entertainer? They're all being discipled
• 35:58
  S14: by something and someone. We want them to be discipled
• 36:01
  S14: by Jesus. We want them to be discipled by truth,
• 36:04
  S14: by the Holy Spirit. So that's where we as church leaders,
• 36:07
  S14: as godly parents, godly grandparents, adults, teachers, coaches got to
• 36:11
  S14: step into that because if we don't disciple Generation Alpha,
• 36:15
  S14: the world is more than happy to do that for us,
• 36:17
  S14: and we're not going to like it. I always say
• 36:19
  S14: I'd rather Gen Alpha be discipled by the Gospels instead,
• 36:22
  S14: the Grammys.
• 36:23
  S2: Yeah. And therein lies the problem. So everybody can do
• 36:26
  S2: a knock on Gen Z. Even millennials got a lot
• 36:30
  S2: of rap for a lot of years. But Gen Alpha,
• 36:32
  S2: you can say this is the ultimate digital soundbite generation
• 36:39
  S2: and we can get poo poo in it. It's fascinating
• 36:42
  S2: to me. I'm old enough to remember when every generation
• 36:44
  S2: has been like, ah, these guys are knuckleheads, even the boomers, right?
• 36:48
  S2: But what what's the upside with Gen Alpha? What's the good?
• 36:54
  S14: It is, and I love that you point that out too,
• 36:56
  S14: because you hear adults all the time go, oh man,
• 36:59
  S14: these kids today are so different than whenever I was
• 37:02
  S14: a kid. They don't know how to work.
• 37:03
  S2: They don't have their attention span stinks.
• 37:06
  S14: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They only care about themselves. They're self-centered.
• 37:10
  S14: In fact, I always love to pull some quotes. In fact,
• 37:13
  S14: one of my favorite quotes, it says the now generation
• 37:16
  S14: has become the me generation, and it sounds like it's
• 37:18
  S14: spoken of today about Gen Alpha. But that quote is
• 37:21
  S14: actually from 1970 talking about baby boomers when they were young. Uh,
• 37:26
  S14: you know, I have another one, uh, that says, yes,
• 37:29
  S14: their attention span is as short as one zap of
• 37:32
  S14: a TV dial. They don't want to work hard. They
• 37:34
  S14: mainly care about themselves. They only want to be entertained.
• 37:37
  S14: They don't want to climb a corporate ladder. And that
• 37:39
  S14: was written in 1990 describing Gen Xers when they were young.
• 37:43
  S14: Always say the same thing said about young people today,
• 37:46
  S14: or said about the previous generations when they were young.
• 37:49
  S14: In fact, if you want to go even further back,
• 37:50
  S14: I have a quote from Socrates saying that kids today
• 37:54
  S14: don't respect their parents.
• 37:55
  S2: So I'm going to give you a chance to cheer
• 37:57
  S2: for Gen Alpha, but time out here. This is one
• 38:00
  S2: of these weird contentions that I've had. Everybody says everything's changing.
• 38:05
  S2: This generation is this. The fact is, I think things
• 38:10
  S2: are way more similar than we ever imagine or give
• 38:15
  S2: ourselves credit or lack of credit for? What do you think?
• 38:19
  S14: Absolutely. I believe in generational studies, obviously. That's why I
• 38:22
  S14: wrote a book. You know, I say we approach it
• 38:24
  S14: like a missionary, just like if you were going to
• 38:26
  S14: go be a missionary in China, you would want to
• 38:28
  S14: learn the language, the people, so that you could be
• 38:30
  S14: an effective tool for the gospel. I'd say you approach
• 38:33
  S14: generation Alpha the same way, learn about them, understand them.
• 38:36
  S14: So you can be a tool for the gospel to
• 38:38
  S14: point them to Jesus. But let me make this very clear.
• 38:41
  S14: I say this all the time. You can read the
• 38:43
  S14: Bible from Genesis through the maps at the back. That's
• 38:46
  S14: what my old pastor used to say. I believe the
• 38:47
  S14: Bible is the Word of God from Genesis through the maps.
• 38:50
  S2: At the back.
• 38:51
  S14: Listen, hey, you can read the Bible and you know what?
• 38:53
  S14: You're not going to find terms like baby boomers, Gen Xers, millennials,
• 38:58
  S14: Gen Z, Generation Alpha. What you're going to find is
• 39:00
  S14: people made in the image of God that desperately need Jesus,
• 39:04
  S14: that need Christian community need to be discipled. That's what
• 39:08
  S14: you're going to see. And that's exactly what Generation Alpha are.
• 39:11
  S14: There are people made in the image of God that
• 39:12
  S14: God loves so much. He sent His Son for that
• 39:14
  S14: desperately need to hear the gospel, desperately need to, you know,
• 39:18
  S14: know about Jesus that need to be discipled, need Christian community. Now,
• 39:21
  S14: here's what's exciting about Gen Alpha, and I kind of
• 39:24
  S14: trace it back to 2020. The pandemic is what that
• 39:27
  S14: did for Generation Alpha is it exposed him them to
• 39:31
  S14: the brokenness of the world and the brokenness of themselves
• 39:35
  S14: at a much earlier age than probably previous generations. I
• 39:37
  S14: think we realized it once we got older. Generation Alpha
• 39:40
  S14: realized at a very early age that the world is broken.
• 39:43
  S14: So what they started doing is they started looking for hope.
• 39:46
  S14: They started looking for answers. They started looking for truth.
• 39:48
  S14: When they didn't find that in the world because they're not.
• 39:50
  S14: And guess what happens? Anxiety rates go up, depression rates
• 39:54
  S14: go up, suicide attempts go up. That's where we have
• 39:57
  S14: had an incredible opportunity as a church to slot in
• 39:59
  S14: and go, hey, you're not looking for something, you're looking
• 40:01
  S14: for someone because hope has a name. Truth has a name.
• 40:04
  S14: The answer has a name. It's the name above every name,
• 40:06
  S14: Jesus Christ. So here's what's exciting. I've seen more young people, kids, teenagers,
• 40:12
  S14: college students, young adults make professions of faith in. Jesus
• 40:14
  S14: Christ has already saved their life in the last six
• 40:16
  S14: years of ministry compared to the previous 20 years of
• 40:19
  S14: ministry combined. I've seen more young people go all in
• 40:22
  S14: on Jesus. Be radical followers of Jesus. And here's also
• 40:25
  S14: what some of our research that we found that we
• 40:28
  S14: put in the book is when Generation Alpha was asked
• 40:31
  S14: by DWI Marketing and research, what's the most important thing
• 40:34
  S14: in life? They said as a generation, by far the
• 40:36
  S14: number one answer was helping other people. So see, a
• 40:39
  S14: lot of people go, oh, they only care about themselves,
• 40:41
  S14: but they're telling you the most important thing in their
• 40:44
  S14: life is to help others. That's where we as the church,
• 40:47
  S14: get to slide in that conversation and go, okay, hey,
• 40:50
  S14: you want to help others? You're a cause oriented generation.
• 40:53
  S14: I tell senior pastors this all the time. Young people today,
• 40:56
  S14: they want more out of church than sitting on padded pews,
• 40:59
  S14: listening to sermons, going to potluck dinners, waiting for the
• 41:01
  S14: rapture bus to swoop down and pick them all up. Right?
• 41:04
  S14: They want to live out their faith. They want to
• 41:05
  S14: activate their faith. And so you get to go, okay,
• 41:08
  S14: you're a cause oriented generation. That's where we as the church,
• 41:11
  S14: we get to go, hey, listen, the greatest cause there is,
• 41:14
  S14: is the Great Commission of Christ. If you want to
• 41:17
  S14: help people, make disciples, if you want to help people,
• 41:20
  S14: point them to Jesus. And so we get to activate that.
• 41:22
  S14: We're in a generation. I love them, I believe in them,
• 41:25
  S14: I'm positive on them.
• 41:26
  S4: Shane Pruitt, uh, he's the national next gen director for
• 41:30
  S4: North American Mission Board. I'm with you. I'm the parent
• 41:33
  S4: of a 14 year old and a 17 year old.
• 41:36
  S4: And so the interesting thing that I've noticed about their
• 41:38
  S4: generation is that they are, as a group, not particularly churched.
• 41:44
  S4: So for both of my kids, the majority of the
• 41:47
  S4: kids that they interact with outside of the church have
• 41:50
  S4: no church background, do not know very much about or
• 41:53
  S4: anything about the Bible. Coming up, let's talk about the
• 41:56
  S4: challenge and the opportunity with this demographic coming up. How
• 42:01
  S4: do we reach these youngins? That's what all of us
• 42:04
  S4: old folks.
• 42:05
  S3: Say, right? Yeah.
• 42:07
  S2: Way to go. That's my.
• 42:07
  S3: Language.
• 42:08
  S4: Reaching Gen Alpha, a ministry guide for discipling the church.
• 42:12
  S4: Beyond the screen. We've got Shane Pruitt with us right now.
• 42:15
  S4: For my kids, friends, their generation, they're the people that
• 42:19
  S4: they're going to school with. There's very limited biblical knowledge,
• 42:23
  S4: very limited church attendance. The majority of the people that
• 42:26
  S4: they interact with on a daily basis have probably never
• 42:30
  S4: set foot in the church, which is much different from
• 42:33
  S4: my generation. Speak to both the challenge and the opportunity there.
• 42:38
  S14: The challenge is there's not a lot of church background.
• 42:41
  S14: You know, I kind of relate it to the difference between, say,
• 42:45
  S14: acts chapter two and acts chapter 17. You know, in
• 42:50
  S14: acts chapter two, Peter is mainly preaching to Jewish people
• 42:55
  S14: that at least have a concept of God. They have
• 42:57
  S14: a concept of scripture, right? So he's building off of
• 43:00
  S14: their concept of God. He's building off of their knowledge
• 43:04
  S14: of Scripture, and he's just showing the Messiah throughout saying, hey,
• 43:08
  S14: that's Jesus, right? So they already have this kind of background.
• 43:11
  S14: You know, I think there was a day where people
• 43:13
  S14: had this kind of church knowledge, whether they were followers
• 43:17
  S14: of Jesus or not. They probably thought they were. So
• 43:20
  S14: you almost had to convince people they were lost before
• 43:22
  S14: you could tell them how to be found. I would
• 43:23
  S14: say with Gen Alpha today, for the most part, they
• 43:26
  S14: know they're lost. So I would say when you're sharing
• 43:28
  S14: the gospel, here's the great opportunity is when you're sharing
• 43:30
  S14: the gospel. Yes. Talk about sin. You know, preach about
• 43:33
  S14: sin because the Bible does. But I'd say get to
• 43:36
  S14: the cross a lot faster. Like tell them how to
• 43:39
  S14: be found. Tell them how to be healed. Tell them
• 43:41
  S14: what it means to know Jesus. Because for the most part,
• 43:44
  S14: a lot of them, they know they're messed up. They
• 43:45
  S14: know they're broken. They're looking for hope already. They're searching
• 43:48
  S14: for answers already. So I'd say get to the cross
• 43:51
  S14: a lot faster.
• 43:53
  S2: Shane Pruitt, our guest right now, I think one of
• 43:55
  S2: the advantages here, and if we look at boomers, Xers,
• 44:00
  S2: even millennials, we did a massive disservice. Here's the core
• 44:04
  S2: conviction we have here. We asked it's called Decisionism. We
• 44:07
  S2: ask people, slip a hand in the air. No one's
• 44:10
  S2: looking around, you know, walk down an aisle, get baptized,
• 44:13
  S2: pray this prayer for which the vast numbers of those
• 44:16
  S2: people have never known what it is to have a
• 44:19
  S2: relationship with Jesus Christ. They haven't talked about sin and
• 44:23
  S2: repentance in what the gospel of Jesus sent his disciples
• 44:26
  S2: out to share. So when you're starting with a clean slate,
• 44:31
  S2: I guess the big upside here is that you don't
• 44:35
  S2: have this littered, anesthetized group of people. You're really working
• 44:41
  S2: with a clean slate. So here's the question. If we
• 44:47
  S2: know that the gospel is about looking at the man
• 44:50
  S2: and woman in the mirror or the teenager and recognizing, whoa,
• 44:56
  S2: that's the problem. I have sin. It separates me from Jesus,
• 45:01
  S2: and then I repent and become a follower of Christ.
• 45:06
  S2: I'm intrigued. Why discipline is the key word in your
• 45:10
  S2: book as opposed to converting. Explain the upside in that distinction.
• 45:17
  S14: Well, you know, there's this thing called the Great Commission.
• 45:20
  S14: You know, it's not the great suggestion. It's not the
• 45:22
  S14: great if you feel like it, the Great Commission doesn't say,
• 45:26
  S14: go and make converts. It says, go and make disciples.
• 45:28
  S14: And I would say, even in giving a gospel invitation,
• 45:31
  S14: you know, I preach and I give it a gospel invitation.
• 45:33
  S14: I call people to repent, believe, respond on the spot.
• 45:36
  S14: You got to make that clear. Even in that moment,
• 45:38
  S14: I make this clear, like, this is an invitation to
• 45:41
  S14: be a follower of Jesus. This is an invitation to
• 45:43
  S14: be a disciple of Jesus and even explain what that is,
• 45:47
  S14: because even the gospel is not about you getting your
• 45:50
  S14: get out of hell free card. It's not about you.
• 45:53
  S14: Repeat this prayer. You join the Jesus Club. This is
• 45:56
  S14: about being a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus,
• 45:59
  S14: where he becomes. I make this very clear to. And
• 46:00
  S14: I think this is what we got to make clear
• 46:02
  S14: in Generation Alpha is, it would be refreshing to him
• 46:06
  S14: to go like Jesus isn't just your Savior. He's also
• 46:08
  S14: your Lord. He's also your boss. He's also your King.
• 46:12
  S14: And I tell people this all the time, you need
• 46:14
  S14: to understand this. The moment you say yes to Jesus
• 46:17
  S14: for salvation, yes is the only answer you can ever
• 46:21
  S14: give him again. Because see how this doesn't work. No, Lord,
• 46:24
  S14: see that? That doesn't work. No, King, that doesn't work.
• 46:27
  S14: Yes is the only answer you can ever give him again.
• 46:29
  S14: In fact, one of the things I've been preaching about
• 46:32
  S14: the last year is I made a list of what
• 46:34
  S14: I call seven of the most false common views of
• 46:38
  S14: salvation that are prevalent in American church today. Hey, give
• 46:41
  S14: your life to Jesus. You'll never be anxious again. Give
• 46:45
  S14: your life to Jesus. You'll never be depressed again. Give
• 46:48
  S14: your life to Jesus. Everything's going to go your way.
• 46:51
  S14: And then the moment it didn't, that's where I think.
• 46:53
  S14: That's where all the deconstructionism we saw over the recent
• 46:57
  S14: years is go, oh man, following Jesus is hard. I'm out. Oh, wait,
• 47:01
  S14: there's still suffering involved. We We don't really give people
• 47:04
  S14: a theology of suffering. Yeah. And so what I found
• 47:06
  S14: when I had a lot of conversations with college students,
• 47:08
  S14: young adults who were quote unquote, deconstructing, it wasn't even
• 47:12
  S14: necessarily that they were just rejecting the faith. Now some were.
• 47:15
  S14: Don't get me wrong. Some were just wanting to live
• 47:18
  S14: in sin. And now they have a word for it.
• 47:20
  S14: That sounds spiritual, but most of them are really deconstructing
• 47:23
  S14: just bad things. They were promised in the gospel or
• 47:26
  S14: bad things. They heard about Jesus, and they were trying
• 47:28
  S14: to figure out what is true and what is right here.
• 47:31
  S14: So I tell people all the time, you need to understand,
• 47:33
  S14: here's what it means about being a follower of Jesus
• 47:35
  S14: is he doesn't promise you an easy life, promise you
• 47:38
  S14: eternal life. And actually, sometimes following Jesus may actually make
• 47:43
  S14: your life more difficult because you're going to be living countercultural.
• 47:46
  S14: You're going to be living upstream. Now, here's what's different
• 47:48
  S14: about Generation Alpha over previous generations. Because they are online,
• 47:53
  S14: because they are on social media, they've heard Christianity be bashed.
• 47:57
  S14: They've heard Christians be made fun of. They've seen Christians
• 48:00
  S14: be persecuted around the world. So it's almost like what
• 48:04
  S14: we're told to do in the Gospels. Watch this. It's
• 48:06
  S14: almost like Gen Alpha. If they are not followers of Jesus,
• 48:09
  S14: they don't have any church background. It's almost like they've
• 48:12
  S14: counted the cost already of what it means to follow
• 48:15
  S14: Jesus before actually going all in on Jesus.
• 48:18
  S3: Wow.
• 48:18
  S14: Because they've seen people being made fun of. They've seen
• 48:20
  S14: people be tortured and killed for it. So when they
• 48:22
  S14: go all in on Jesus, it's almost like this pure
• 48:25
  S14: conversion to be a disciple going, I've already counted the
• 48:28
  S14: cost because I've seen all the nonsense online.
• 48:31
  S3: Yeah.
• 48:31
  S4: Speaking of the nonsense online, I mean, with the prevalence
• 48:34
  S4: of AI videos and realistic video games, this is a
• 48:38
  S4: generation that is a pretty desensitized. It's interesting when I'll,
• 48:43
  S4: you know, I'll be driving my SUV and I got
• 48:45
  S4: kids and friends in the background. And some of the
• 48:48
  S4: things that I hear them talk about, there's a, they're
• 48:50
  S4: desensitized to some of the things that would shock me,
• 48:54
  S4: that would shock you. They're not shocked easily. And they're
• 48:58
  S4: looking for something that's real because the lines have been
• 49:02
  S4: really blurred between the fake and the real. They want
• 49:06
  S4: the real. How do we give them the real?
• 49:08
  S14: That's so true. I call him a very distrusting generation.
• 49:12
  S14: One of the greatest things we can do as really parents, grandparents,
• 49:17
  S14: church leaders, godly teachers, coaches is to build trust with them.
• 49:21
  S14: And I always say trust is spelled T, I'm e time.
• 49:25
  S14: It just takes time because they are distrusting. They're distrusting
• 49:28
  S14: of any kind of organization. They're distrusting. Let's be honest,
• 49:31
  S14: a lot of them are distrusting of the church or religion.
• 49:35
  S14: They're distrusted of everything they see because they've been told
• 49:38
  S14: their whole life. You know, all the news is fake.
• 49:41
  S14: Everything online is filtered, everything is polished and has a spin.
• 49:45
  S14: They're very familiar with artificial intelligence. Let's just be clear.
• 49:49
  S14: You know, I think a lot of times we think
• 49:50
  S14: we got to educate them on AI and we got
• 49:53
  S14: to give them help with AI. But let's just be honest,
• 49:56
  S14: they'll educate us about AI. I never feel so old.
• 50:00
  S14: And when I show my kids a video and my
• 50:03
  S14: 15 year old goes, dad, that's AI.
• 50:05
  S3: That's not real.
• 50:05
  S14: It feels really dumb and old. Yes. And I'm like,
• 50:08
  S14: you mean to tell me that cat can't drive a boat?
• 50:11
  S14: You know what I mean? So like, I feel so old,
• 50:14
  S14: but so, but here's where I found is like, just
• 50:17
  S14: be real and authentic because that's what they're hungry for.
• 50:20
  S14: And I think this is where we can step in
• 50:22
  S14: is what I found with young people. We have a
• 50:25
  S14: whole chapter in the book reaching Generation Alpha called Gen
• 50:28
  S14: Alpha and their Security Blanket. I use Linus as an example.
• 50:31
  S14: If you remember Linus from Charlie.
• 50:33
  S3: Yeah.
• 50:33
  S14: He always had his blue blanket with him. That security blanket,
• 50:36
  S14: we all had that stuffed animals blanket, football, whatever their
• 50:40
  S14: security blanket is a screen.
• 50:42
  S3: Yeah.
• 50:42
  S14: So watch this. You have an entire generation. Their their
• 50:45
  S14: security blanket is a screen. So that means they're comfortable
• 50:48
  S14: on the screen. They're articulate, they're confident. You get that
• 50:51
  S14: same young person off that screen and get them in
• 50:55
  S14: the real world around real people. It gets real awkward. Real.
• 50:58
  S3: Yeah. They look.
• 50:59
  S2: Like a.
• 50:59
  S3: Deer in the.
• 51:00
  S2: Headlights, bro.
• 51:01
  S3: Yeah.
• 51:02
  S14: You're right. Yeah. Think about this. A lot of young
• 51:05
  S14: people now can't even look you in the eye.
• 51:07
  S3: Yes.
• 51:07
  S14: They can't even have a conversation with you. And it's
• 51:10
  S14: the same way with even their friends. You know, I
• 51:12
  S14: kind of joke with, you know, some of the our
• 51:15
  S14: kids and their friends, I'm like, y'all can be on
• 51:17
  S14: FaceTime together for three hours. But if you accidentally run
• 51:21
  S14: into each other, I call it in the wild. You know,
• 51:23
  S14: at Walmart, you act like you don't even know each other.
• 51:27
  S14: Like you will, like, ignore each other.
• 51:29
  S3: It's so weird.
• 51:30
  S14: So here's where I think we get to step in.
• 51:32
  S14: People go, what's the future of ministry or what's the
• 51:34
  S14: future of reaching Generation Alpha? I think a lot of
• 51:37
  S14: people think digitally and all of those things are AI. Listen,
• 51:41
  S14: that generation will teach us about that. But where we
• 51:43
  S14: can teach them is how to have real relationships with
• 51:48
  S14: real people in the real world and know how to
• 51:52
  S14: do that. Because I think if there is a tragedy
• 51:55
  S14: for this generation, it could be Potentially. They miss out
• 51:59
  S14: on the beauty of the real and authentic around them
• 52:02
  S14: because they're obsessed with the fake world online. So we
• 52:05
  S14: gotta help them know how to have real life, real
• 52:07
  S14: conversations with real people in the real world.
• 52:09
  S2: Love it. Shane Pruitt, our guest now, we got a
• 52:11
  S2: link for you. Any one parent, grandparent, pastors. And I'm
• 52:15
  S2: so thrilled we had someone text us the other day said,
• 52:19
  S2: I've been a pastor for 40 years, and I'm learning
• 52:21
  S2: new stuff on the morning show every morning. How cool
• 52:24
  S2: is that?
• 52:24
  S3: We are.
• 52:25
  S4: Too. Every day from guys like Shane Pruitt. Just text Alpha.
• 52:30
  S4: If you want more on this resource, just text Alpha
• 52:33
  S4: to 805 557898, alpha to 805 557898.
• 52:40
  S2: Hey, this is Carl with Carl and crew, and I'm
• 52:42
  S2: so grateful that you listened to this show. Cast. Thank
• 52:45
  S2: you mostly for being part of the boom crew as
• 52:47
  S2: we help you take your next step with Jesus, you're
• 52:50
  S2: a huge encouragement to us. We'll be here again live
• 52:53
  S2: every weekday morning from 5 to 9 a.m.. Godspeed.