Latest / Karl and Crew / Finding Refuge in God’s Goodness with Dr. Bill Thrasher & Reaching Ukraine’s Children with the Gospel with Valentyn Lupashko

Transcript

Finding Refuge in God’s Goodness with Dr. Bill Thrasher & Reaching Ukraine’s Children with the Gospel with Valentyn Lupashko · 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.
0:21
S2: And you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
0:25
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. Can you see spiritual fruit through a video clip? Ali.
0:55
S5: Oh, wow. Um, I'm not sure that's. I'm not sure.
1:01
S1: Well, do you think it's possible?
1:03
S2: Sure.
1:04
S1: Yeah, I think it would be possible. Especially if it's
1:07
S1: long enough.
1:07
S5: What kind of. What kind of video clip are you
1:09
S5: talking about?
1:10
S1: I'm talking about a video clip of this young kid
1:12
S1: who is my new young hero. Jackson. Corwin. What a kid.
1:19
S1: He won his first PGA tournament of his career, and
1:24
S1: his career has spanned, I think, a whopping 30 days.
1:29
S1: I think he's been on the tour and he beat
1:32
S1: Scottie Scheffler yesterday at the three M open.
1:35
S5: Oh, I did not see that.
1:36
S1: This kid is a player. Now he did something that
1:40
S1: hasn't been done nearly a hundred years in golf. He
1:44
S1: beat the next guy by more than one stroke for
1:47
S1: the first time in 94 years.
1:49
S5: Really?
1:50
S1: Yeah. And I love this kid. Now, I didn't get
1:53
S1: to watch any of his live play, but I've watched
1:56
S1: a couple of clips, and after I watched one clip,
1:59
S1: I thought, I wonder if this kid's born again. Just
2:04
S1: the way he carried himself and his humility and some
2:09
S1: of the just his vibe. And sure enough, he's an
2:12
S1: outspoken Jesus follower. His name is Jackson Corbin. He's a
2:17
S1: whopping 21 years old and he made his retirement yesterday.
2:21
S1: All of his retirements put away.
2:23
S5: Wow.
2:24
S1: It's it's just a great story.
2:27
S5: So what did you find out? What did you. Because
2:29
S5: I'm just now just now checking it. Yeah.
2:31
S1: I knew I was hitting you cold here this hour,
2:33
S1: but he's, uh, what's what's really cool about Jackson Corbin
2:37
S1: is he stayed on an extra year. He could have
2:40
S1: gone pro a year earlier. He's like three years running
2:44
S1: best golfer in collegiate or something like that. Top SEC
2:48
S1: player and SEC dominates, I guess, the golf world. And
2:54
S1: he's been very outspoken about his faith, very involved in
2:58
S1: Athletes in Action and other campus ministries at Auburn. And
3:03
S1: just a cool kid. And the composure. Come on. Can
3:08
S1: we all go back to when we were 21 for Ali?
3:11
S1: That's just a few years ago. But can we go
3:13
S1: back to when we were 21 and funny and and
3:17
S1: remember 21 and you're out there in a pro league
3:23
S1: against guys that you've admired since your childhood, right?
3:28
S5: I mean, 21 years old is, is the older you get,
3:32
S5: the younger that feels.
3:33
S1: I know.
3:34
S5: You know, I remember being 21 and feeling like I
3:36
S5: had a lot of life figured out at 21. Yeah,
3:39
S5: I got this. Yeah. Oh yeah. Right. But wow. That's
3:43
S5: that is impressive.
3:44
S1: It's so heartwarming to me. And I just prayed a
3:49
S1: prayer protection over him because don't you know Satan's just
3:52
S1: going to be gunning for this kid? But we don't
3:54
S1: have to fear Satan. Satan is a toothless dog. He
3:58
S1: has a lot of growl and providentially, God is in
4:01
S1: control over all things spiritual. I always want to put
4:04
S1: that note out there. But Jackson Colvin, what a what
4:09
S1: a cool story. I just love it when these young
4:13
S1: athletes who love Jesus, Scottie Scheffler, all in with Jesus
4:16
S1: as well. And it's just it's just great. I saw
4:20
S1: a clip you you'd love this. Ali. Uh, Scottie Scheffler
4:24
S1: was being interviewed on a podcast. This has been some
4:27
S1: time ago about can Christians be really competitive? And he
4:34
S1: built a good theological grid for why we should be.
4:37
S1: And what I was thinking about is the apostle Paul,
4:42
S1: who uses competition sports metaphors for the spiritual life, right?
4:47
S5: Mhm.
4:48
S1: And, and Scotty was saying, he says, yeah, when, when
4:53
S1: God made me, he gave me like an extra dose
4:56
S1: of competitiveness, he says. I've competed in everything since my
5:00
S1: earliest remembrance in life, like everything. And it was it
5:05
S1: was cool to hear him break it down and wrestle
5:08
S1: with sometimes the frustration of not doing well on any
5:12
S1: given day. Even though he's world's number one golfer, number
5:15
S1: one ranked golfer, and that's not going to go down
5:17
S1: because he placed second in that three m open yesterday.
5:21
S1: But I just I just love these Jesus followers who
5:28
S1: are just radiating. No one's perfect but radiating the fruit
5:35
S1: of the spirit. And I just had a hunch this
5:39
S1: Jackson Cuban kid was watching one clip, watching one clip.
5:44
S1: I just went out and did a search and I go,
5:46
S1: Is Jackson Cuban a born again follower of Christ? And
5:50
S1: it came back, yes, he would fall into that category because,
5:54
S1: you know, AI doesn't want to cheer too much for
5:57
S1: the born agains out there, but it came back with yes,
6:00
S1: he affiliates with and it goes through all this stuff
6:02
S1: and gives you clips. It's it's just, it's just really cool.
6:05
S1: So I just want to take a moment this morning
6:07
S1: to cheer for a 21 year old golf phenom who,
6:12
S1: you know, they're now everybody's projecting how many wins this
6:17
S1: guy's going to get in his career. And I guess
6:19
S1: he told his dad before the final round, he told
6:22
S1: his dad, I wish all this uproar around me would
6:25
S1: just chill out.
6:26
S5: Yeah. And the.
6:27
S1: Problem is.
6:28
S5: Starting.
6:29
S1: It's just that's what that's what commentators said. It's just starting.
6:34
S1: So 21 year old Jackson Corbin just love this kid.
6:38
S1: Oh I don't why do I get all giddy about
6:41
S1: these young guys?
6:42
S5: I know I think that there's something hardwired in you
6:44
S5: as a, like as a man in at your stage
6:47
S5: of life. Yeah. That cheers for you, the younger men
6:50
S5: who you see really taking the charge. I think that
6:53
S5: that's part of how you're wired is to you're part
6:56
S5: of your mission. So I think it's not surprising that
6:58
S5: when you see young men who are serving the Lord
7:01
S5: and doing things with excellence, that you get a little excited.
7:05
S1: I'm beyond excited and I'm beyond excited about a new
7:09
S1: pastor at our downtown campus named Steven. This kid is
7:13
S1: so humble and on fire for God and obviously my
7:20
S1: right hand man a git. Now he's getting older. Goodness sakes,
7:23
S1: he just had a birthday. He's in his late 30s,
7:25
S1: for crying out loud.
7:26
S5: Oh, well. We're late 30s. Wow.
7:33
S4: Oh, okay. If you're listening, you know, he's he's.
7:36
S1: He's he's getting up there right now. He's getting up
7:38
S1: there right now. But. Oh, there's so much to give
7:41
S1: God praise for, isn't there, Ali?
7:44
S5: Absolutely. I mean, when you just think about all of
7:47
S5: the reasons this morning and maybe it doesn't feel like
7:50
S5: you're getting wins right now, But can you find one
7:54
S5: reason to thank God? I mean, when you wake up
7:56
S5: and you've got breath in your lungs and you get
7:58
S5: to see a new day. That alone is reason.
8:01
S1: You got it and you set it up. We're asking
8:04
S1: you to flood the phone lines right now and just
8:07
S1: give us the answer to this one. What can you
8:11
S1: see in your life that you say, that's the goodness
8:15
S1: of God, the goodness of God. And you might it
8:19
S1: might be one sentence, but you can flood the zone.
8:22
S1: Let's go boom crew, do what you do. 805, five, five, 78, 98, 805, five, five, 78, 98.
8:34
S1: Let's give God praise for his goodness today.
8:37
S6: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
8:40
S6: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
8:44
S6: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
8:48
S1: You know, it's, uh. I just got some news that
8:51
S1: rattled me here a little bit. This happens. We're live
8:54
S1: radio here. It just happens. Um, life is short. That's
9:00
S1: all I'm going to say. Life is short, guys. And
9:02
S1: we need to remember that sometimes you get reminded in
9:05
S1: the most shocking ways, right? I mean, come on, it happens.
9:09
S1: And I don't want to get into details right now.
9:11
S1: I don't feel the liberty. But boy, just remember this
9:14
S1: life is short. And so the question is, what do
9:19
S1: we do with our time that we have? Right? Because
9:22
S1: we've got an opportunity and every day to live as
9:26
S1: if the Lord may come tomorrow. This afternoon? Yeah. It
9:31
S1: would change the way we live in this moment, wouldn't it?
9:33
S7: Oh, absolutely. And, you know, we always think we have
9:37
S7: more time than we actually do. Oh, boy. It's the
9:40
S7: that's the plight of the human condition.
9:44
S1: Yeah.
9:45
S7: We always put off what we think we will have
9:49
S7: more time to do. And we don't always.
9:53
S1: Yeah, I fancy myself a get or dinner. But I
9:56
S1: gotta tell you, there's plenty of things that get pushed.
9:59
S1: It's the proverbial kick the can down the road thing.
10:03
S1: You know, we can look at government and go, man,
10:05
S1: you guys keep kicking the can down the road on
10:07
S1: Social Security or any number of issues that are out there,
10:10
S1: but it is a human nature thing to kick the
10:13
S1: can down the road.
10:14
S7: Yeah. Tomorrow I'll get to it tomorrow.
10:17
S1: I'll get it, I'll get it. But in the middle
10:20
S1: of it all, and could it be that one of
10:22
S1: the greatest catalysts to do what really does need to
10:27
S1: be done? Because I will tell you this. Some of
10:29
S1: the things that we kick down the road, we find
10:31
S1: out later that wasn't that big a deal anyway, right?
10:36
S5: Yeah. Feels good when you get it done.
10:38
S1: Yeah. I got to get on this. And then it's like, well,
10:40
S1: that was a nothing burger. But one of the great
10:44
S1: catalysts to keeping in step with the spirit to being
10:49
S1: filled with the Holy Spirit, to making right decisions. I
10:55
S1: don't think this is a reach at all when you're
10:57
S1: enamored with the goodness of God. There is something that
11:00
S1: gives you boom vertical focus on him. It just does.
11:05
S1: And so why look around for the goodness of God?
11:10
S1: I think that when you're standing face to face with
11:13
S1: the goodness of God, there is less chance you're going
11:17
S1: to get your tookie in the squisher of some kind
11:20
S1: of sin in that moment. You know what I mean?
11:21
S1: It's not like you're staring at the goodness of God
11:24
S1: and yeah, let me go make this spiritual compromise right now.
11:28
S1: That isn't going to happen. There's something about aligning our
11:31
S1: lives and being fixated on the goodness of God that
11:35
S1: has a great discipleship element to it. So let's do
11:39
S1: some discipleship in a very unique way.
11:42
S5: Ali, we want to hear from you this morning. What
11:45
S5: is one thing in your life that is evidence of
11:48
S5: the goodness of God. Just pick one thing. You're waking
11:51
S5: up this morning, man. Maybe you feel great. Maybe you
11:55
S5: don't feel great. Maybe things are going well, maybe they're not.
11:58
S5: But is there one thing that you can point to
12:00
S5: that says that right there? That's evidence of God's goodness.
12:04
S5: Tell us about it. 805 557898. Calls or texts. Great.
12:10
S5: 805 557898 Carl's just knocking things around.
12:16
S4: He's so excited.
12:17
S8: Caller I actually, I actually am excited. So I instead.
12:22
S1: Of reaching my hand out to the side.
12:24
S8: I hands flying microphones shaking straight up.
12:27
S5: 805, five, five, 78, 98. One thing in your life
12:31
S5: that is evidence of the goodness of God. How about
12:33
S5: unexpected laughter?
12:35
S8: How about how about that? How about Ali busted me
12:37
S8: out live on air.
12:38
S5: I mean.
12:40
S8: You could have said a raccoon in here.
12:42
S4: No!
12:43
S5: Get that raccoon out of here.
12:45
S1: Oh, what is it, guys? Come on, light em up.
12:47
S1: Phone lines jammed. What's one thing in your life that
12:51
S1: is evidence of the goodness of God? 805. Five. Five, 78. 98.
12:58
S6: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
13:01
S6: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
13:04
S1: Okay, Cory. First time caller. Birmingham, Alabama. What do you say?
13:10
S9: Hi. I want to thank you all for the encouragement.
13:14
S9: I'm always encouraged every day when I listen to your
13:16
S9: radio station. Thank you. I want to talk about the
13:19
S9: goodness of God. I have seen my mother pray my
13:23
S9: entire life, and her prayers of intercession have just broken
13:29
S9: through the ceiling of our house. As I was growing
13:31
S9: up and penetrated my heart and grew my faith and
13:37
S9: my brothers, my mom and I prayed for my dad
13:39
S9: to join us in church all those years and just
13:44
S9: waited on God and I would see my mom sitting
13:47
S9: alone in church or, you know, when we were teenagers
13:51
S9: sitting with our group of friends and, um, just wanted
13:55
S9: to see my dad there and longed for it. And
13:59
S9: I was in Alabama again from Tennessee as I was
14:04
S9: in college one weekend, and I was able to see
14:08
S9: my dad walk down the aisle to surrender his life
14:11
S9: to the Lord. And I just want to talk about
14:14
S9: the faithfulness of God. Not only did he answer our prayers,
14:19
S9: but he timed it just where I would be, there
14:22
S9: to witness it in person. And my father has not
14:26
S9: left the faith. He is there opening the doors for
14:31
S9: the church every time it's open. And I know it's
14:33
S9: more than just being in church, but it's that walk.
14:36
S9: It's that commitment to the Lord. And I want to say,
14:40
S9: don't give up on those prayers. He is good, God
14:44
S9: is good, and he is faithful.
14:46
S1: Amen. Kari. That is a beautiful story because it's more
14:50
S1: than your daddy walking an aisle. He is walking the
14:52
S1: walk of faith. The evidence is. And you know what?
14:55
S1: There is good evidence. And you have a a man
14:58
S1: that's been independent cuss his whole life long. And then
15:02
S1: he's not only walking an aisle, he's walking out his faith,
15:06
S1: showing up early to get those doors opened up, get
15:08
S1: the heat on, get things cooking. That'll warm a daughter's heart,
15:12
S1: won't it?
15:12
S5: Oh, yeah. Yes.
15:15
S1: Oh my goodness. What do you say? The goodness of God.
15:18
S1: You see it. Let's go to Shelley in Bradenton, Florida.
15:22
S1: Line five. They're super nice. Shelley, what's your story?
15:27
S10: So I've been sober almost 26 years, and I should
15:32
S10: have died many times when I was out there. In fact,
15:35
S10: I was flatlined once from a suicide attempt. And I
15:41
S10: cursed the guy who brought me back. But that's what
15:44
S10: led to me getting saved was the fact that I.
15:48
S10: My mom said, you're going to go in God's time,
15:51
S10: not your time.
15:53
S1: Shelly. The goodness of God. Sister.
15:56
S5: Wow.
15:58
S1: The goodness of God. I don't know what it is.
16:02
S1: Thank you. Shelly from Bradenton, Florida. I don't know what
16:05
S1: it is you can thank God for. But. But give
16:09
S1: him praise today. Look around you. Watch what God has done.
16:15
S1: You don't want those rocks outside to be shouting praise
16:17
S1: when you have a chance to right now. What a.
16:21
S1: What a beautiful picture of God's grace today in so
16:24
S1: many ways. Ali.
16:25
S5: Such a beautiful. I mean these stories that doesn't fire
16:29
S5: you up, as Carl likes to say.
16:33
S6: Take your next step with Jesus today. You're listening to
16:37
S6: Carl and crew.
16:39
S1: Ah, man, it's so sobering to hear these stories, man.
16:42
S1: I saw that on the headlines. And it's like, oh,
16:44
S1: people go to a food festival to have some fun
16:48
S1: and kind of take the family there and bang! And
16:52
S1: we have this outbreak of violence. Ah, it's a tough thing,
16:56
S1: but our God is able. Our God is good and
16:58
S1: we are celebrating the goodness of God even in the
17:01
S1: midst of challenges. Our God is good. Is it hard
17:04
S1: to see at times? Certainly it is. But our God
17:06
S1: is faithful. You know, it's a big week for us here.
17:09
S1: Tomorrow's a big day, Ali. We've been asking folks to
17:12
S1: jump in and share their stories, and we've got a
17:15
S1: pipeline to do it, don't we?
17:17
S5: We do. There's a dedicated website at Moody Radio for
17:21
S5: you to share your story, and also take in all
17:24
S5: of the history of Moody Radio. There's stories already there.
17:27
S5: There's a timeline. There's a chance to relisten to some
17:31
S5: of these anniversary episodes that you've been hearing throughout all
17:34
S5: of Moody radio programming for the whole month, including on
17:37
S5: Carl and Crew, Just Sex, birthday to 805 five five, 78. 98.
17:43
S5: Birthday to 805 557898. There's a lot to check out here,
17:48
S5: but do not miss that tab that says share your story.
17:52
S5: Because those testimonies that come in, you have no idea
17:56
S5: how much those fuel not just us, but as we're
17:58
S5: able to share those with other people. The impact that
18:01
S5: Moody Radio has made on your life over these last
18:04
S5: however many years you've been listening. Text birthday to 800 555, 78, 98.
18:10
S1: Next time you hear the term yada yada yada, let
18:14
S1: it stop you dead in your tracks and recapture what
18:18
S1: was going on with that. Three little licks that are said,
18:22
S1: yada yada yada used most often for what?
18:26
S5: Ali like if somebody it's kind of like a filler
18:29
S5: word and like they were talking and they said this
18:31
S5: and yada, yada, yada babbling on. Yeah, it's usually kind
18:35
S5: of just the filler, the stuff that you feel like
18:38
S5: doesn't really matter as much.
18:40
S1: Oh, it ain't no filler. If you go to Nahum
18:42
S1: one seven, why don't you read that one?
18:44
S5: Yeah. Nahum one seven. The Lord is good. A stronghold
18:47
S5: in the day of trouble. He knows those who take
18:50
S5: refuge in him.
18:52
S1: He knows those. And then you go over to Psalm
18:55
S1: 348 and this is what we find. Oh, taste and
18:58
S1: see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man
19:01
S1: who takes refuge in him. We're talking about the goodness
19:04
S1: of God, and both of those verses capture it. But
19:06
S1: the cool thing about Nahum one seven that I've been
19:09
S1: blown away by is the word. The Hebrew word for
19:12
S1: knows is yadah. So we don't know for certain, but
19:18
S1: it's it's suggested that there were Jewish comedians who knew
19:22
S1: the word yadah from their language. And it is I know,
19:27
S1: I know, I know, yada yada yada, I know, I know,
19:31
S1: I know. Fascinating, huh?
19:33
S5: That's interesting.
19:34
S1: And so what you want to do when you hear
19:37
S1: the word, yada, yada, yada, is take your mind right
19:40
S1: to Nahum one seven because God knows us. And that
19:45
S1: word knows is not just knows of us. He knows
19:49
S1: us intimately. Those who run to God, he knows. He sees.
19:57
S1: He's aware. He's active. It's a verb. He knows he's
20:03
S1: on the move, so yada yada yada. Not a dismissive
20:07
S1: oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I know,
20:09
S1: know he knows, he knows, he knows total reclaiming of
20:15
S1: that term that we use in our society even to
20:18
S1: this day.
20:18
S5: I love that that's so interesting. And even and if
20:21
S5: you think about it, even used in kind of the
20:22
S5: cavalier way of I know, I know, I know.
20:24
S1: I wasn't going to go there, but you're right. That's
20:26
S1: how it's used.
20:27
S5: But imagine being so taken that you've heard so much
20:32
S5: about the goodness of God that maybe it's said in
20:35
S5: a cavalier way, but that it's so familiar to you
20:39
S5: that That's like, yes, I know, I know, I know,
20:41
S5: God is good like that. You've been told that and
20:43
S5: reminded of it so many times.
20:46
S1: It changes the whole inflection from yada yada yada to
20:49
S1: yada yada yada.
20:52
S5: I know, I know, I know, I know that he's good.
20:55
S1: Yeah. So cool. Oh my goodness. What a morning. No
21:00
S1: taste and see that the Lord is good. Know that
21:02
S1: he knows you. That's how good our God is.
21:07
S6: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
21:11
S6: You're listening to Carl and crew.
21:14
S1: Today and all this week we are celebrating the goodness
21:18
S1: of God. I want to go to an obscure minor
21:21
S1: prophet named Nahum. He's speaking about Nineveh. And there's one
21:28
S1: little verse here about the goodness of God that is
21:31
S1: very intriguing to me. And I had this highlighted in
21:34
S1: my Bible, but I hadn't seen this in a while.
21:39
S1: Ali and our special guest. I think you will love this.
21:44
S1: The Lord is good. A stronghold in the day of trouble.
21:50
S1: He knows those who take refuge in him. Now, I'll
21:56
S1: tell you why that strikes me. We talk about taking
22:00
S1: refuge in the Lord, and he's the strong tower. What
22:04
S1: I love about this prophet speaking this out here is
22:08
S1: that he knows those who take refuge in him. There's
22:14
S1: something different about us taking refuge but the goodness of God.
22:19
S1: I get an image of this great loving father who
22:23
S1: looks down and nods and says, way to go, kid!
22:28
S1: Isn't that a great picture, Bill Thrasher?
22:31
S11: It certainly is. You know, and I think the very beginning,
22:35
S11: the way Mankind was plunged into sin was an unbelief
22:40
S11: in the goodness of God, that if we fully obey God,
22:43
S11: somehow he's going to keep something from us. That was
22:46
S11: the lie in the garden. And that's the lie. Every
22:48
S11: time we sin, we would never sin unless we thought
22:50
S11: something good was going to come out of it. Uh,
22:53
S11: sin has withheld good from you. But God says we
22:56
S11: have to exhort one another exactly like we're trying to
22:59
S11: do this week. Exhort one another day after day, no
23:02
S11: matter how good yesterday was, we need it today, lest
23:05
S11: we be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is deceitful.
23:09
S11: I give sometimes my students to write down this phrase
23:12
S11: God is better than the best of men. He's better
23:15
S11: than your most ideal thought of any other delightful thing.
23:19
S11: He's better than any idol. So when you're tempted like
23:23
S11: David had been tempted. And then he falls into sin
23:26
S11: with Bathsheba and covers it up with murder, and he
23:28
S11: covers that sin up and and God sends Nathan to
23:31
S11: him and says, David, I did this for you. I
23:34
S11: did this for you. I gave you this, I gave
23:36
S11: you this. I have many more things like this to
23:37
S11: give you. David, I understand what you are feeling when
23:40
S11: you had those wrong thoughts about Bathsheba. I understand that
23:43
S11: I made a man, made a woman understand that I
23:45
S11: understand the fear you had when you covered it up
23:47
S11: with murder. But why didn't you come to me? Why
23:50
S11: didn't you come to me? And that is such a
23:52
S11: wonderful invitation. You're coming. Like your name says, take refuge
23:56
S11: in a good God, in a good God that we
24:00
S11: can trust. So it's a precious verse there in man.
24:03
S5: Doctor Bill Thrasher with us this morning. He served on
24:05
S5: the faculty of the Moody Bible Institute since 1980. He's
24:09
S5: the lead professor in the master's program of spiritual formation
24:12
S5: and discipleship. I wrote down what you said because I
24:15
S5: thought that that was such a powerful quote. We would
24:17
S5: never sin unless we thought something good could come out
24:20
S5: of it. It is our human nature to seek good,
24:24
S5: to seek pleasure, to seek things that are going to
24:28
S5: make us happy or fulfilled. But we go about it
24:32
S5: all the wrong way. I mean, you talk a little
24:34
S5: bit more about that because every single person wants good
24:37
S5: for their life.
24:38
S11: Exactly. And so doubt really is the underlying motivation of sin. Now,
24:44
S11: when we talk about the goodness of God, we must
24:47
S11: somehow put this in the equation. Some of God's good gifts,
24:51
S11: every good and perfect gift comes from him. Some of
24:53
S11: God's good gifts will come in some very strange packages.
24:56
S11: You know, it's not often that you're in a prayer
24:59
S11: meeting and somebody says, cries out to God, God, would
25:01
S11: you give me the good gift of loneliness tonight? But
25:04
S11: you see, if loneliness causes us to seek God and
25:08
S11: develop his companionship and his fellowship, it is good. As
25:12
S11: long as he sought the Lord, he prospered him. Second
25:14
S11: Chronicles 265. So anything that causes you to seek God
25:18
S11: is a good gift. God works all things together for good,
25:21
S11: and he defines good as conforming us to the image
25:23
S11: of Jesus. So God is good. Uh. It may feel
25:27
S11: different sometimes in a moment in time, but God is
25:31
S11: on unadulterated good. And so we have to battle that deceit.
25:36
S11: And when we're grumbling and complaining, we're not focusing upon his.
25:40
S11: We've forgotten his past goodness. We're not focusing on his
25:42
S11: present goodness. And we're not anticipating his future goodness.
25:46
S1: How do we grow to the point where we recognize
25:50
S1: his goodness in what wouldn't appear at face value? A
25:55
S1: good thing?
25:57
S11: Well, you know, God tells us, you know, in the
25:59
S11: midst of a trial, ask God for wisdom. And I think,
26:02
S11: you know, God, let me see this from your point
26:04
S11: of view. What good do you want to work out
26:06
S11: of this? That's not good in and of itself. That's painful.
26:09
S11: That's wicked. But God, how do you want. And sometimes
26:12
S11: I know I need the intercession of other people, and
26:15
S11: sometimes through the intercession of other people, without God changing
26:18
S11: the circumstances, I'm able to what? Rejoice in that and
26:23
S11: joy having a different kind of emotion. But I'm able
26:26
S11: to rejoice in that in a way that I couldn't.
26:28
S11: So we do need the body of Christ. We do
26:30
S11: need perspective when we move too fast and we don't
26:34
S11: stop and reflect. We get in trouble. But we do
26:37
S11: need God's perspective. We need God's wisdom. We need to
26:40
S11: cry out to him. We need other people crying out
26:42
S11: to God for us.
26:43
S5: How do we cultivate habits that allow us to experience
26:48
S5: the goodness of God through every season of life? Seasons
26:51
S5: where it feels like we're getting wins. Seasons that feel
26:54
S5: like we're taking losses? How do we cultivate a posture
26:58
S5: and even practical disciplines to position us rightly?
27:01
S11: Well, certainly, I think, you know, that's interesting verse there.
27:05
S11: In Second Chronicles, it says he did evil because he
27:09
S11: did not set his heart to seek the Lord. That's
27:13
S11: an incredible verse. In other words, my program response, there's
27:16
S11: a part of me that's programmed to go in the
27:18
S11: wrong direction. And so I have to decide to seek God,
27:22
S11: to seek him. Whatever it takes. I hesitate in making
27:25
S11: rules for somebody. It's like a how it's going to
27:28
S11: work out. It maybe works out different ways in my
27:29
S11: own life. I know I start the day with an
27:32
S11: attribute of God. This morning I felt great spiritual attack
27:35
S11: before I got out of bed. But you know, I
27:37
S11: focus on one attribute of God each day. And today
27:40
S11: was that God was omnipotent. And as I claim that
27:43
S11: omnipotence and I prayed that over these battles that were
27:46
S11: going on in my mind, that gave me a good start.
27:49
S11: I need that not just one day, not just today,
27:52
S11: but I'll need it tomorrow. So certainly the key is
27:55
S11: focusing on God. Whatever helps you focus on God. I
27:59
S11: also remind myself, and I pray that for myself and
28:01
S11: countless others, the idea that the eyes of their heart
28:04
S11: would be enlightened, that they would know, knowing their experience.
28:07
S11: I like those three things out of Ephesians prayer. They
28:10
S11: would know hope and they would know inheritance, that they
28:13
S11: are God's inheritance, their treasured by him. And they know
28:16
S11: the power that can raise Jesus from the dead and
28:18
S11: see the. See them above all principalities and powers. So
28:21
S11: reminding you of God's blessing, reminding him who he is
28:24
S11: and what he's done for us. Asking him for a
28:27
S11: fresh filling of the spirit. There is no Christian life
28:29
S11: apart from that, and also recognizing I'm in a battle,
28:33
S11: but I'm seated with Christ and I can put on
28:35
S11: the armor of God. So those things are great reminders
28:38
S11: to me.
28:40
S1: You know, doctor Bill Thrasher is our guest right now.
28:43
S1: And we bring him on here often to talk about prayer.
28:46
S1: And that's part and parcel of this. It's conversing with God,
28:50
S1: hearing his voice, talking with him, appealing to him, praising him,
28:55
S1: crying out to him. What struck me as you were
28:59
S1: sharing is that Jesus is the Messiah, the Messiah, which
29:05
S1: means deliverer. And what's interesting about that is that it
29:14
S1: implies we're getting delivered from something that ain't good. And
29:20
S1: it's not just one and done. He's the deliverer. Over
29:24
S1: and over again. And so the goodness of God can
29:30
S1: never be realized until we really need that deliverance at
29:37
S1: that point of crisis. What do you say, doc?
29:41
S11: Well, you know, it's like I remember I think it
29:43
S11: was doctor Lewis said, we all want to be overcomers,
29:45
S11: but we resent it when he gives us something to overcome.
29:49
S5: Yeah.
29:50
S11: I think that's exactly what you just said there. You know,
29:54
S11: the idea of the goodness of God cast all your
29:57
S11: cares upon him because he cares for you. When I
30:00
S11: doubt his goodness and care toward me, I carry the
30:03
S11: cares on my shoulders. Sometimes we don't even realize what
30:06
S11: we're carrying. Sometimes the little things trip us up more
30:09
S11: than the big things. When we say, I can handle that.
30:11
S11: No you can't. You know we're really fragile. Casting all
30:15
S11: your cares about him. And that's our prayer for all
30:17
S11: the ones that would be listening to us all over
30:19
S11: the world and all over the nation at this moment.
30:21
S11: Whatever care you're having, God wants to carry that he's
30:24
S11: a good God. Cast all your cares upon him because
30:27
S11: he cares for you. Even the thing that's hardest to
30:29
S11: trust God with your. Isaac. It was hard, but God brought.
30:34
S11: It says his faith was perfected when he offered up
30:37
S11: Isaac on the altar the most precious thing to you.
30:39
S11: The thing that is so hard that you want to
30:42
S11: control yourself. God says, no, it's in better hands if
30:44
S11: you put it in my hands. Yeah, I'm able to
30:46
S11: guard what you entrust to me.
30:48
S5: Doctor Bill Thrasher, our guest. He's got a number of resources.
30:51
S5: He keeps a a website with articles and weekly video encouragement.
30:56
S5: Just text, pray. We'll get you connected. Text, pray to
30:59
S5: 805 557898. Pray to (800) 555-7898.
31:07
S6: Your shot of hope to get you through the day.
31:10
S4: You are so, so loved. God does not want you
31:13
S4: to stay in your past, and I want you to
31:15
S4: know and believe that today.
31:16
S6: You're listening to Carl and crew.
31:19
S1: All you gotta do is go to the sticky pages
31:21
S1: of Nahum chapter one, verse seven. The Lord is good,
31:25
S1: a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those
31:29
S1: who take refuge in him. Not only is he good,
31:33
S1: he knows those who take refuge in him. I've been
31:37
S1: in awe for about 4 or 5 days over that verse,
31:40
S1: just in awe. The fact that, you know, you run
31:43
S1: into the strong tower, the righteous, you know, they find
31:47
S1: shelter there. That's great. But what about the fact that
31:51
S1: our God knows when you show up and he cares,
31:55
S1: he knows you intimately and he's active. It's a verb.
32:00
S1: Hebrew word is yada. He knows you. It's encouraging, man. Okay,
32:04
S1: speaking of the goodness of God in the middle of
32:08
S1: a war zone. Wow.
32:09
S5: Ali, how do you help kids who their whole life,
32:13
S5: all they've known is a war zone. How do you
32:15
S5: help them see the goodness of God? How about a
32:18
S5: Christian summer camp? We'll tell you about it coming up.
32:22
S6: Start your day moving closer to Jesus. You're listening to
32:26
S6: Carl and crew.
32:28
S1: Today we are celebrating the goodness of God in. My
32:33
S1: heart is so warm to know that there is a
32:37
S1: ministry like we are about to celebrate going on in Ukraine.
32:42
S1: What a tragedy that we are. So news cycled up
32:46
S1: for a month or two and then poof, only on
32:50
S1: occasion does it come back to our conscious mind. But
32:53
S1: there are millions of people in harm's way that are
32:58
S1: at risk for life and limb every day. And yet,
33:02
S1: there are some who are leaning in with the gospel
33:05
S1: of Jesus Christ in Ukraine right now. And boy, we've
33:09
S1: got one of those guests with us today.
33:11
S5: His name is Pastor Valentin Lupasco. He is a senior
33:15
S5: pastor in Ukraine. He's joining us this morning to talk
33:19
S5: about a really surprising thing. Summer camp in the middle
33:23
S5: of a war zone. I mean, that is a surprising.
33:27
S5: You wouldn't think that summer camp, something that simple, would
33:30
S5: be happening under the threat that Ukraine faces every single day.
33:34
S5: Talk a little bit about the heart behind this ministry effort.
33:38
S12: Yes. So we are in Ukraine. The location is the
33:42
S12: south of Ukraine. This is not close to the front line,
33:46
S12: but still a lot of threats and missiles and attacks
33:52
S12: every week. And this is why we do this ministry.
33:57
S12: We invite kids to our summer camps to provide them
34:02
S12: opportunity to have some relief, you know, to have some
34:06
S12: rest among this, this tragedy that is around us, because
34:11
S12: our town is very often under attack of drones and missiles,
34:15
S12: and we have a lot of traumatized people and children,
34:18
S12: and we are church serving this community and especially children
34:22
S12: and provide them an opportunity to come to to church,
34:26
S12: to hear the gospel, to get some healing and rest
34:29
S12: and hear the good news of Jesus.
34:32
S1: Pastor Valentin Pasco is with us right now and he's
34:36
S1: doing a great work in Ukraine. How is the response
34:40
S1: to the gospel? Uh, are people more responsive because of
34:45
S1: the threats, constant threats from Russian bombardment?
34:50
S12: Absolutely, yes. You know, during this time of war, it's
34:54
S12: a big tragedy. But at the same time, for our church,
34:57
S12: it's a big blessing because people are going to church
35:00
S12: looking for, for hope, for, for faith. And our church
35:04
S12: actually doubled its size during this several years of war.
35:09
S12: And the same with children and camps. Like we had
35:13
S12: 300 children at our church at the same time, and
35:18
S12: we shared the gospel. And we didn't expect that children
35:22
S12: like teenagers and even middle school children. They will receive
35:26
S12: it so much. They came to the front, to the
35:30
S12: altar call. They repented. They prayed with us. And that
35:33
S12: was really amazing time. And because of the work, people
35:37
S12: really need Jesus and look for Jesus.
35:41
S5: Now, more than 80,000 children are expected to attend summer
35:45
S5: Bible camps across Ukraine in the former Soviet Union this year.
35:49
S5: These camps provide similar to what you'd see in a
35:52
S5: summer camp here meals, games, friendships, Bible teaching, practical support
35:56
S5: for children who obviously are affected every day by war,
36:00
S5: by displacement, by loss, by hunger. Talk about the moment recently,
36:05
S5: a powerful moment at one of these camps where 100
36:09
S5: children knelt in prayer together. Tell us about that.
36:13
S12: Our camp program. It is a lot of, you know,
36:15
S12: getting freedom from sins and from fears that children have.
36:20
S12: And this is why we built all this program about that,
36:24
S12: and explain to children that these fears and sins and
36:28
S12: problems and mistakes they make, they need to be free
36:31
S12: from that. And there's the only way is Jesus. And
36:35
S12: we have this, you know, final day at this camp
36:38
S12: when when we provided the opportunity to write a sticker
36:43
S12: where children could write down their sins or fears or something,
36:48
S12: they want to be released and live on the cross
36:51
S12: and get freedom from that. And that was a really
36:55
S12: special moment because we just asked, if anybody wants to
36:58
S12: do that, please do. And all these hundreds of children
37:02
S12: did it and put stickers on cross, and we prayed together.
37:06
S12: And I asked if somebody wants to pray. And the
37:10
S12: children came in the front and prayed. And those stickers
37:13
S12: touched our hearts because they were about fathers who are
37:17
S12: on the front line, and they are afraid of them
37:20
S12: being killed there. That was a fierce about drones and
37:25
S12: bombs that comes very often to our town. That were
37:29
S12: a request to God to release them from some addictions
37:34
S12: and some some really bad stuff in their life. And
37:39
S12: so children responded so much. We saw tears in their hearts,
37:44
S12: like this little girl should write down that she is
37:48
S12: afraid of her father on the front line, and she's
37:51
S12: afraid of bomb hit her house. And because this bomb
37:55
S12: already hit and damaged her house. And so she asked
37:59
S12: God if she could be free from that fear. And
38:03
S12: then she came in the front and prayed with us.
38:06
S12: You know, that's that's something really amazing and touching, Pastor Valentin.
38:11
S1: This is such a heartwarming moment that we're having with
38:14
S1: you here. How many years have you been a pastor
38:18
S1: and what changed four years ago. How is pastoring changed
38:22
S1: in the Ukraine for you right now?
38:25
S12: I was elected as a pastor in my church in 2019,
38:32
S12: and if I know what's what's going to happen, I'm
38:36
S12: not sure if I would be ready to step forward.
38:40
S12: But praise God, he he has his, you know, plan.
38:44
S12: And yeah, this war changed everything. Everything, you know, our
38:50
S12: life completely changed. Our philosophy about life completely changed because
38:55
S12: now we live just today we plan just one day
38:58
S12: after day because this is what we clearly understand. All
39:02
S12: we have is today, and this is what we want
39:05
S12: to do. We just want to be focused on gospel
39:09
S12: and evangelism. So our church and a lot of churches
39:13
S12: in Ukraine and spirits in big blessing and, and they
39:17
S12: are all Very active, gospel focused and outreach focused churches.
39:23
S12: The same is our church.
39:26
S5: How do you help people see both the children in
39:29
S5: the camp and then the congregation that you're pastoring? How
39:32
S5: do you help people to continue to see the goodness
39:35
S5: of God in spite of really, really difficult circumstances?
39:40
S12: Well, first of all, the biggest weapon I have is
39:43
S12: my smile. I'm always trying to stay positive and smile.
39:49
S12: You know, when the war started in 2022, the very
39:53
S12: first day of the war, I went up on the
39:55
S12: stage and the whole church gathered together, scared, panicked everything.
39:59
S12: And I was thinking like, God, what am I gonna say?
40:03
S12: And I just went up on the stage and just
40:05
S12: smiled and said that God is still good. God is
40:08
S12: still under control. And this is what we do. We
40:12
S12: just preach the pure gospel and Bible and call everybody
40:18
S12: around to come to Jesus despite of everything, all this
40:22
S12: chaos that is around. And it works. We experience a
40:27
S12: lot of seeing a lot of people coming to church
40:30
S12: and finding their faith in Christ.
40:33
S5: Wow.
40:33
S1: This is so encouraging. Pastor, I'm going to pray for
40:36
S1: you and all of your teams of volunteers, all those
40:41
S1: gifted saints that are helping these kids hear the good
40:45
S1: news of Jesus, children and adults alike. And then we're
40:49
S1: going to have a link here. Boom crew. We are
40:52
S1: unapologetically giving you a link to a site where you
40:57
S1: can be a shareholder in one of the coolest ministries
41:01
S1: going right now in this world.
41:03
S5: And I also want to mention a bit of a
41:05
S5: local connection for our Illinois listeners. Uh, sponsoring these camps.
41:09
S5: There's the Slavic Gospel Association based here in Illinois. So
41:13
S5: they're doing phenomenal work with orphans, widows, and families in
41:17
S5: Ukraine and Russia, including these camps in Ukraine. So I
41:20
S5: want to give just a special shout out to them,
41:22
S5: because they're doing some great work making this possible in Ukraine.
41:26
S1: Yeah. Father, I bow my head in our hearts. We
41:31
S1: lock our hearts across all of the West right now, today.
41:34
S1: And we pray. We pray for Pastor Valentin and the
41:40
S1: many other pastors and workers and the precious people of Ukraine. Oh, Lord,
41:48
S1: this is harvest time and they never would have imagined
41:52
S1: years ago that we would be here. But here we are.
41:56
S1: But Lord, you are mighty still, and you're proving yourself
42:00
S1: to be the harvester of souls. Even in the midst
42:05
S1: of horrific threats and challenges to daily living, everything is changed.
42:10
S1: But you have not God. And I praise you. And
42:13
S1: I thank you for Valentine. I pray your anointing, your unction,
42:17
S1: the spirit of the living God bring revival. Continue to
42:21
S1: stoke the fires of revival in the Ukraine. Lord, we pray,
42:26
S1: we pray believing. We pray with urgency. You say to
42:29
S1: come and ask. And so we ask that there would
42:32
S1: be exponential increase in these summer camps for these children,
42:37
S1: that that increase would ripple through the homes and lives
42:41
S1: of men and women across Ukraine, and that it would
42:44
S1: be a beacon of light of the gospel to the world.
42:48
S1: And we thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
42:51
S5: Amen. Well, if you want more information on the Slavic
42:55
S5: Gospel Association and this camp, just text camp to 805 557898,
43:02
S5: text camp to 805 557898. There's an opportunity for you
43:08
S5: to support this great ministry and the work that they're
43:11
S5: doing abroad. Just text camp to 805 5578, 98.