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Equipped with Chris Brooks - The Enduring Love of God · Disciple Radio

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S1: Today's programme has been pre-recorded so our phone lines are
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S1: not open. Well hey there friends, welcome to another exciting
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S1: edition of equipped with Chris Brooks. I am so thrilled
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S1: that you've joined me today. Do me a favor. Strap
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S1: on your seatbelt. We're going to navigate through the contours
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S1: of culture, as always, with the lens of the biblical
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S1: worldview on. But before we do that, let me remind you,
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S1: this is the day that the Lord has made. He
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S1: is giving it as a gift so that you and
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S1: I can rejoice and be glad in it. So let's
0:35
S1: do just that. Let's follow the words of the Apostle Paul.
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S1: Let's rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice.
0:43
S1: I love it when two of my favorite things come
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S1: together peanut butter and jelly, Mac and cheese. I think
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S1: you know what I'm talking about. Well, such is the
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S1: case in today's resource and conversation. I am a huge
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S1: lover of biblical theology. I hope you do as well.
1:02
S1: The story of Scripture, the story of redemption, the story
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S1: of God's love as it unfolds through the pages of
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S1: Scripture and throughout the days of eternity. But I'm also
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S1: a huge lover of poetry storytelling. I love it when
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S1: those who have creative giftings are able to package together
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S1: through the use and the tools of words. These wonderful containers,
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S1: the stories of God's love in a way that penetrates
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S1: our heart. I actually think it's pretty awesome that Jesus
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S1: comes into the world as our Savior, as our Redeemer.
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S1: And he leaves us a book. We call it the
1:47
S1: Bible to really explain his love and to preserve for
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S1: generations the story of the great lengths he has gone
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S1: through to redeem you and me. But yet, let's be honest,
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S1: sometimes that love can feel distant. There are so many
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S1: people who feel disconnected. Some who feel unlovable, unforgivable. Some
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S1: who feel like my life is so messy and so
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S1: messed up that I can't see God in it. And
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S1: I can't imagine God wanting to be in it. Well,
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S1: that's why I'm really excited about today's conversation. Today's conversation
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S1: is really designed to do two things. Number one, remind
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S1: you of the story arc of the love of God.
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S1: And then secondly, to help you to find your place
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S1: in that story and to feel secure in God's love
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S1: for you. I'm really excited about the resource I have
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S1: in my hand. It's entitled Love Has a Story. It's
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S1: 100 meditations on the Enduring Love of God. King of
2:53
S1: Aragon is the author of it. Now, a little bit
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S1: about her. She's an author and editor, spoken word artist
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S1: living in beautiful Orlando, Florida with her husband John, and
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S1: her daughter. She has written children's books. Her spoken word
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S1: and poetry ministry has really impact the hearts of many.
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S1: And she joins me today to talk about her newest resource.
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S1: Love has the story. Kenna, how are you?
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S2: Oh, doing well. Thank you so much for the kind intro.
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S2: Super happy to be here.
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S1: Well, let's talk about it a little bit about your ministry.
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S1: For those who don't know, you share a little bit
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S1: about what you do and and what connects all the
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S1: various things you do.
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S2: Oh, I love that the in short, I think the
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S2: ministry that God's given me is to help people go, oh,
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S2: there's words for that. That's basically it. You know, that's
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S2: I work with words. I'm I'm a poet at heart.
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S2: That's how I started God. When God saved me at 16.
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S2: I began to journal. As I'm learning about the Bible,
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S2: as I'm learning about God, as I'm praying. I didn't
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S2: know how to pray out loud. So I'm writing in
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S2: my journal and things are just coming out poetically. And
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S2: I had never been inclined to that creative writing in
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S2: any way before that. And so I saw it as
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S2: a gift from God and thank God for the body
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S2: of Christ and encouraged me to, um, to perform some
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S2: of them, to memorize some of them. And, you know,
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S2: over time have improved in my craft, but that's led
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S2: to other opportunities that I love, like editing other books,
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S2: editing articles, as well as writing books and articles. So it's,
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S2: it's just really a ministry of words. Um, I see
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S2: it in a sort of priestly way, in the sense
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S2: that I want to connect people to their own hearts,
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S2: to their own, uh, interior world. Uh, and in doing so,
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S2: find that connection to God's heart.
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S1: All right, so you don't know this, but what you
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S1: just did is has helped a whole lot of moms
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S1: and dads who have kids going off to college saying, mom, dad,
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S1: I'm majoring in creative writing. And the parents are like,
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S1: what can you do with that? Right? So I just
5:04
S1: want some moms and dads out there to know there's
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S1: actually a redemptive way to use all of those creative
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S1: writing skills. I got a couple of those in my
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S1: home right now, and I'm praying that God will use
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S1: them mightily. Typically, though, when you think about ministries like yours,
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S1: when we think about the poets of our day, and
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S1: I really do want to speak to the creative hearts
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S1: that are listening to us right now, or even pastors
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S1: and leaders who want to minister effectively to that segment
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S1: of your church, not exclusively, but I want to say
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S1: some things I think specifically to them. Typically, when you
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S1: think about poetry or storytelling, it's very rarely connected to
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S1: biblical theology. So talk about those two loves for you
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S1: and how that connects in love. Has the story.
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S2: Absolutely. I think the, the thing that I've noticed and,
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S2: you know, over the last what is it like 20
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S2: years of walking with Jesus? Is that the the Bible,
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S2: as you said earlier, is ultimately a diverse collection of writings,
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S2: over a thousand what is it, 1500 years, 40 different authors,
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S2: three different continents. And yet there's this unifying thread, this
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S2: storyline that's happening from beginning to end, that is telling
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S2: something about the glory of God and God's plan to
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S2: redeem all things under His Son, to unify all things
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S2: under His Son, Jesus Christ. And so to see the
6:42
S2: diversity of writings, the diversity of, of very human, the
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S2: human touch of each of these writings, right? Each of
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S2: these books. And then yet to see the unification of
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S2: all of it under the Spirit of God. The guidance
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S2: of the Spirit of God is one. This is the
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S2: best story, the greatest story ever told. As. As it's
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S2: often said, it truly is the greatest story ever told
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S2: I have. I like books, I like reading, I have
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S2: never found a story as good as this one. And
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S2: so I'm always compelled, even in my darkest moments, to
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S2: buy the story. It's like there's nothing quite like it.
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S2: I'm mad at you, God, right now I'm confused at you. God,
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S2: like I'm super, um, being traumatized in some way. And
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S2: yet this story is the thing that keeps bringing me back.
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S2: For some reason. I just, I'm compelled by this story.
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S2: And so I want people to realize that the diversity
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S2: of their experiences of their story, which are each of
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S2: our stories are unique.
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S1: Yes.
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S2: And yet there is something embedded, I think, of in Ephesians.
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S2: It talks about how Christ fills all things. There's something
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S2: embedded in our DNA, in our in our personal stories, right,
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S2: that have an echo of the great story of the
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S2: scriptures story. And so I want to help people connect,
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S2: maybe even ask questions about their own life story that
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S2: they've never thought to ask before, and they never put
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S2: it that way. So I want there's this reflection in
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S2: the book, there's constant reflection of what is my story
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S2: asking the reader to, to engage their story in that way.
8:14
S2: Because we believe that in Christ fills all things, that
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S2: there is something in your story. There are many things
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S2: in your story, more than you could ever imagine, that
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S2: reflect and are meant to reflect the great story. That's good.
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S2: And so I want to connect the biblical theology. But
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S2: if you don't know the great story, then it's like, well,
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S2: how am I supposed to make that connection?
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S1: Yeah.
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S2: If you don't know your story, then how are you
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S2: supposed to make that connection?
8:38
S1: So, you know, let me let me do two things
8:40
S1: real quickly. Let me define some terms like, so when
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S1: we use the term biblical theology, people may be thinking like,
8:46
S1: what are you talking about? What does that mean? So
8:48
S1: there's different types of theology. Maybe you've heard of like
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S1: systematic theology, which is really the thought of explaining what
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S1: does the Bible teach or what does God think about
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S1: any particular subject? Because systematic theology is just thinking about
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S1: various subjects like love or grace or faith or whatever.
9:07
S1: And what does the Bible teach about this particular subject?
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S1: A historical theology, on the other hand, may say, what
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S1: is the church thought about these in various periods of
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S1: time or throughout church age? Biblical theology is really. What
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S1: is the story of redemption and how is that told
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S1: throughout the arc of the Bible as it unfolds progressively?
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S1: So what I'm saying is Akina does a really good
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S1: job at poetically story using storytelling to explain the redemptive
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S1: work of God, his love and redeeming and restoring broken
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S1: creation and our broken lives through Jesus Christ and His
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S1: salvation and the grace that he offers. Now, one of
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S1: the other things I want to do throughout this conversation
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S1: is to talk about groups that I think your book
10:01
S1: is very useful for. One of those groups are. I
10:05
S1: was just sharing with you that here at our church,
10:07
S1: we were talking about using your book for the worship
10:10
S1: leaders in our, in, in our church, the creatives in
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S1: our church to say, we want all that you do
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S1: to be massively creative, but we also want it to
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S1: be rich and deep with biblical content, right? So we
10:26
S1: want like the Psalms, the Psalms are these theological songs
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S1: that tell the story of God's redemptive love for Israel
10:33
S1: and all the work that he had done. And, and
10:36
S1: we want that in our day and age. So we
10:38
S1: plan on using it for them. But another group that
10:41
S1: I think really could thrive in this book, and really
10:44
S1: it's for everybody. So about 8 billion people on the planet.
10:48
S1: But another group that I think could thrive with this
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S1: book are teenagers. So let's go back to your teen years.
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S1: You come to Christ at 16. I think what most
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S1: people expect is that when we come to Christ, everything's
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S1: going to be great, right? It's all going to be
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S1: rainbows and roses, all going to be smooth and easy.
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S1: That wasn't your story. You went through a lot of
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S1: trauma after you came to Christ. Talk a little bit
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S1: about that.
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S2: Oh yeah. It was it was a lot. I mean,
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S2: I thank God that the family that shared the gospel
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S2: with me at the first really did show me those,
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S2: those passages and those teachings, as Jesus said, that in
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S2: this world you will have trouble. So I was aware
11:24
S2: that there was a cross to carry. Um, obviously you
11:27
S2: can never know exactly what what that looks like for you,
11:31
S2: but for me, it was like night and day. It
11:33
S2: was a true like when you talk about those testimonies
11:36
S2: where it was like I was blind, but now I
11:38
S2: see it was a genuine moment for me that was like,
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S2: I want Jesus and that's it. And so I was hungry.
11:46
S2: You know, the new new disciple, you know, endorphin state
11:50
S2: of just like, give me Jesus. I want to learn everything.
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S2: Did you guys know that he died on a cross?
11:56
S2: Did you, you know, like this is a chapter and
11:58
S2: this is a verse like very, very excited about I
12:01
S2: would preach the gospel to, you know, a rock if
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S2: I could. But at the same time as I was
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S2: growing up, I was dealing with, you know, the death
12:09
S2: of a father figure coach in my life, the death
12:12
S2: of a friend from my basketball team. Um, you know,
12:16
S2: dealing with addiction of a loved one, dealing with sexual
12:20
S2: abuse and dealing. I wouldn't have called it at that
12:23
S2: at the time. But, you know, years later, here I
12:25
S2: am processing it. And so all of these things are
12:29
S2: happening all at once. And so I'm growing. And yet
12:32
S2: I'm also dealing with massive narratives of shame and trauma that, again,
12:38
S2: I wouldn't have even named as that back then. And
12:41
S2: so it was such a mix, but what I. When
12:45
S2: I meet with teenagers, when I. I have the privilege
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S2: of mentoring one right now. I'm like, you're, I understand the,
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S2: the trauma and the pain and all the things that
12:55
S2: you guys are going through. I don't fully understand because
12:58
S2: I'm not you, but I do know what it was
13:00
S2: like for me. And I know that I didn't have
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S2: the theological, you know, little bows and categories to understand things.
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S2: There was a lot of misunderstanding. There was a lot
13:09
S2: of bad teaching as well. But what I did know
13:12
S2: is how to get on my knees. What I did
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S2: know is to get on my face, and this is
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S2: how I endured to seek God, you know? And so.
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S1: So how do you process through all of that? Kina
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S1: talks about it in these 100 meditations on the enduring
13:27
S1: love of God. I love what Ray Ortlund says about
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S1: Keenan's book. He says, let's admit it. The love of
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S1: God can often feel distant or unreal. We might even wonder,
13:37
S1: as I myself have. My life is a disaster. Does
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S1: God hate me? Does he love me? Kenna has written
13:44
S1: this book for people just like us. I want to
13:48
S1: encourage you to find out more at our website. Equip
13:50
S1: radio dot ORG equip radio.org. One of the ways you
13:55
S1: can describe biblical theology is holding together grief and gratitude.
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S1: They both visit our lives, and they are part of
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S1: God's story. How do we bridge those two? We'll talk
14:07
S1: about that on the other side of this break. Next
14:10
S1: up on equip. As your spiritual fire fizzle, you're not alone.
14:17
S1: Life's ups and downs can leave even faithful believers feeling
14:21
S1: like their passion for God has cooled. That's why I
14:24
S1: want to sing you a book called Three Kindled Heart
14:27
S1: by doctor Mark Yarbrough, president of Dallas Theological Seminary. It
14:32
S1: offers six essentials to help you fang your faith back
14:35
S1: into flame. We'll send you this valuable tool with your
14:39
S1: donation of any amount to equip, call 8886444144 or visit
14:46
S1: equip radio.org. Chris Brooks here reminding you that today's program
14:54
S1: is pre-recorded and we won't be taking your calls. Tina
15:02
S1: Aragon is my guest today in her book, Love Has
15:05
S1: a Story. She says these words, love has no birthday.
15:09
S1: God is eternal. He has no beginning and no end.
15:13
S1: And the Apostle Paul tells us God is love. She
15:17
S1: starts her book with the bold, audacious doctrine of the Trinity.
15:23
S1: And explaining how God forever existed in three persons and
15:27
S1: is something that we can't possibly fully comprehend, but offers
15:32
S1: us so much understanding into the love of God. I'm
15:38
S1: grateful for this book. I'm grateful for the reflections, how
15:41
S1: it helps us to grow in our understanding of God's Word.
15:44
S1: One of the other things that I'm grateful for is
15:46
S1: the ability every day to be a prayer partner with you.
15:50
S1: These topics that we get a chance to talk about
15:52
S1: every day. The resources aren't haphazardly chosen. They really come
15:56
S1: out of my pastoral ministry as I interact with so
16:01
S1: many people and hear common themes. And one of the
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S1: common themes that I hear are people who are struggling
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S1: with two things connecting to God's Word, the story of Scripture,
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S1: and connecting to God's love. And so maybe you're listening
16:14
S1: to us right now and you're struggling in one of
16:17
S1: those areas. Either it is connecting with Scripture and you say, Chris,
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S1: I love Jesus, but I'm having a hard time connecting
16:24
S1: with Scripture, understanding God's word, studying God's word. I want
16:29
S1: to pray for you today. Uh, judgment free zone. You
16:32
S1: don't have to feel guilty about it. Maybe every time
16:36
S1: you open your scriptures, you get tired, fall asleep. I
16:39
S1: remember going through seasons like that. Maybe you've had a
16:42
S1: hard time really getting revved up about studying God's Word,
16:47
S1: and you want that. You desire that. I think praying
16:50
S1: for an appetite for Scripture is a great prayer request.
16:53
S1: On the other hand, maybe you're struggling with connecting to
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S1: God's love. Maybe you're bitter and wounded and angry towards God.
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S1: Or maybe you feel so disconnected, so unlovable because of
17:04
S1: mistakes that you've made. I want to pray with you
17:07
S1: as well. One of the things that I think you
17:10
S1: do really well is hold two things that feel to
17:14
S1: be paradoxical and attention with one another together, and that
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S1: is grief and gratitude. Those two words don't feel like
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S1: they go in the same sentence, let alone go together
17:28
S1: in the same heart. How do you hold those two together?
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S1: And why is it important that Christians hold grief and
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S1: gratitude together as they process their story?
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S2: That's good. The immediate scripture that came to mind was
17:41
S2: Philippians three, where Paul says that I want to know
17:44
S2: Christ and the power of his resurrection. And then he says,
17:48
S2: in the fellowship of his suffering. And so within each
17:52
S2: of us, if we are Christ followers, we are experiencing
17:56
S2: both death and resurrection. And we will experience the ultimate
18:00
S2: resurrection one day. But right now, we are experiencing aspects
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S2: of death, grief, and resurrection gratitude. And so we must
18:12
S2: dive into the the process of lamenting. We must dive
18:17
S2: into the process of naming our griefs, throwing them funerals,
18:21
S2: so to speak. You know what? In what way has
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S2: your humanity been assaulted? In what way? Whether that was
18:27
S2: through your own actions or the actions of others, it's
18:29
S2: always a mix of both. In what way have you
18:32
S2: experienced the death of a dream? The death of childhood innocence,
18:36
S2: the death of, you know, whatever it may be, God
18:40
S2: is always inviting us to embrace that cross. Sometimes we
18:45
S2: can think of, you know, where Jesus says to take
18:47
S2: up your cross daily. We might think of like sort
18:49
S2: of white knuckling our way through. I'm not going to
18:52
S2: do that sin anymore. And or, or going out into
18:57
S2: a hard place, a missionary field, and, and giving your
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S2: life for the gospel. And although that absolutely is bearing
19:04
S2: your cross, there is a cross that a lot of
19:06
S2: us do not want to bear. And that is engaging
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S2: the the grief and the woundedness, the traumas of our
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S2: own story, the hard and embarrassing and just absolutely horrible
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S2: chapters of our story that we would rather not engage.
19:22
S2: And Jesus is like, if you go down that path,
19:25
S2: which feels a lot like death, doesn't it, to have
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S2: to engage that grief. If you go down that path,
19:31
S2: there is a resurrection on the other side. We are
19:33
S2: resurrection people. So because of the resurrection of Jesus, we are,
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S2: as Paul said elsewhere, that we are always sorrowful and
19:41
S2: yet always rejoicing, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.
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S1: It's interesting because I don't think that many of us
19:48
S1: often consider the fact that we couldn't have a resurrection
19:51
S1: without death, like Christ had to die for us to
19:55
S1: have the resurrection, that hope of Sunday morning that we
19:59
S1: rejoice about, that we gather to celebrate. Um, I don't
20:03
S1: think we often make that connection. And I know for
20:06
S1: a long time, just speaking personally, I felt like I
20:10
S1: had to deny maybe is the right word my griefs. Uh,
20:16
S1: to not make the gospel look bad. You know, but
20:21
S1: but when I read scripture, what's really interesting are the
20:24
S1: parts I come to where I'm like, God, if I
20:27
S1: was writing this book, I would have left that out.
20:29
S1: Like that's, that's a pretty, you know, that's a pretty
20:33
S1: Embarrassing thing, you know, when you think about Jesus is
20:38
S1: even genealogy and the people that was in his family
20:42
S1: tree and, you know, coming from you, think about Peter's
20:45
S1: denial of the faith and his weakness of the flesh.
20:49
S1: When you think, you know, Peter had so many moments
20:51
S1: when he was acting hypocritically in Galatians two and with
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S1: the Gentile believers in Christ and stuff. It's just like, man,
21:00
S1: the Bible is so honest. And that's one of the
21:03
S1: reasons why I trust it. It's because it's so honest.
21:07
S1: And the inconvenient parts and the parts where if this
21:11
S1: was just if these were just fan letters that were
21:15
S1: make believe or that were all written just persuasively, but
21:21
S1: not with integrity, those ugly parts would be covered up. Well.
21:25
S1: So it is with our story that our story. We
21:28
S1: don't have to be ashamed to admit the grief, the lament.
21:31
S1: Like you said, the losses. Um, you know, my wife
21:35
S1: and I lost our oldest son who passed away in 2019,
21:40
S1: and it was the first time that I experienced something
21:43
S1: so gut wrenching, heartbreaking. And I realized I'm not going
21:49
S1: to be able to survive this playing make believe and pretend.
21:53
S1: I got to be honest about the woundedness to hurt
21:56
S1: the heartache, the questioning, the wondering. But like David, the psalmist,
22:02
S1: he was able to say, yea, though I walk through
22:05
S1: the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
22:07
S1: no evil because you're with me. The only way that
22:09
S1: you know that he is the God that's with us
22:12
S1: in the valley of the shadow of death is when
22:15
S1: you have walked through that and not denied it and
22:18
S1: and experienced his presence. Let's go to the phone lines. Uh,
22:22
S1: Joe is calling from Chicago. Hey, Joe, thank you so
22:26
S1: much for listening to equip. How can we pray for
22:28
S1: you today, brother?
22:31
S3: Uh, thank you for taking my call. If you can
22:33
S3: pray for me and my family. We. My daughter. My
22:37
S3: granddaughter committed suicide two weeks ago. Um, it was totally surprising. Um,
22:45
S3: did not see it coming. We had me and my
22:47
S3: granddaughter had a, have a, had a very good relationship, um,
22:52
S3: a very good bond. And I did not see it coming.
22:56
S1: And I'm so sorry.
22:59
S3: Looking at looking at God's hand prior to this happening,
23:05
S3: God's hand was all over it. He allowed us to
23:08
S3: spend some time together, um, now being a man. And, uh,
23:13
S3: it's kind of hard to share my feelings with others
23:17
S3: about it because I really feel like I should be
23:19
S3: able to hold this, but I'm really not. I'm not.
23:22
S3: I'm not handling it well.
23:24
S1: Yeah. Well, first off, first off, we we we weren't
23:27
S1: meant for death. You need to know that, Joe. We
23:30
S1: were made for life and to lose a grandchild, a child. Um, is, uh,
23:37
S1: is one of the most painful things any one of
23:39
S1: us could ever experience. And so, brother, uh, you you're
23:42
S1: doing well just to be able to hold on to
23:45
S1: your faith in Jesus. I don't want you to be
23:48
S1: ashamed at all. And it's okay to lament and to say, God,
23:52
S1: this is not the way that things ought to be.
23:56
S1: But I do want to be a voice to remind
23:58
S1: you of what I believe you know, and that is
24:01
S1: that he is with you, that he loves you, and
24:04
S1: that he's faithful even through this. And I'm going to
24:08
S1: do two things. I'm going to remind you of the
24:09
S1: importance of community. It's really important right now that you
24:14
S1: do connect. This is where a local church becomes amazingly important.
24:19
S1: And if you don't have one, I would encourage you
24:21
S1: to to get one. If you do, I would encourage
24:23
S1: you to really meet with your pastor, your leaders, and
24:27
S1: let them know what you're going through. You're not meant
24:29
S1: to travel through this alone. And then secondly, I want
24:34
S1: to bless you with a copy of Keenan's book. I
24:37
S1: just believe you need resources like this to kind of
24:39
S1: help you to navigate through moments where the love of
24:42
S1: God and even the actions of life don't make sense.
24:48
S1: What I have learned through everything is that when you
24:51
S1: cannot track his actions, you can trust his heart and
24:56
S1: his character. Father, I just pray right now for Joe.
25:00
S1: I pray for every parent and grandparent who's experienced the
25:03
S1: death or the loss of a child or grandchild. Lord,
25:07
S1: hold us together when we can't hold ourselves together. May
25:10
S1: the mercy of God, through death and difficulty be seen. Lord,
25:16
S1: magnify yourself in Joe's life, and may he know you
25:21
S1: as the God of the valley, that you walk with
25:24
S1: us through valleys of the shadow of death. Show your
25:28
S1: faithfulness to Joe. I pray in Jesus name. Amen and Amen. Joe,
25:33
S1: you said on the line, our producer gets your information
25:36
S1: and send the book over to you. What do you
25:38
S1: do when you feel like your life's a mess and
25:41
S1: you're unlovable? We'll talk about that. Next up on equip.
26:00
S1: Chris Brooks here reminding you that today's program is prerecorded
26:03
S1: while we won't be taking calls. We do want to
26:06
S1: connect with you on social media. Welcome back to equip
26:12
S1: with Chris Brooks, one of the friends of the program.
26:15
S1: K a Ellis, director of the Edmundson Center, endorsed Keenan's book.
26:19
S1: She says Keenan's lyrical writing weaves poetry and scripture to
26:24
S1: push our thoughts beyond our suffering. Her words, drawn from
26:28
S1: God's great love story, linger in the soul and heal.
26:33
S1: I love that I want to encourage you to get
26:35
S1: your copy of Love Has a Story. It's a daily devotional.
26:41
S1: It's poetic. It's rich in biblical theology. And you can
26:45
S1: find out more at our website, equip radio.org. That's equip
26:48
S1: radio dot ORG. Also today, we'd love to be your
26:52
S1: prayer partner. Come alongside of you to be an encourager today.
26:57
S1: If you're struggling with connecting either to the love of
27:01
S1: God or just struggling to connect with Scripture and understand
27:05
S1: the Bible and really have a passion for knowing and
27:09
S1: growing in God's Word. This is a safe place. This
27:12
S1: is a place where we can gather and pray about
27:15
S1: these things and get help from the Holy Spirit. What
27:19
S1: do you say to a person Kena who feels like, man,
27:23
S1: my life is a disaster. I've messed up more, more
27:26
S1: times than I care to admit. There's no way God
27:30
S1: loves me.
27:32
S2: Mhm. First thing I would say is. Welcome to the club.
27:37
S2: Welcome to the church. I thought of Isaiah 53 that
27:42
S2: your Lord, your Savior person who thinks that and feels
27:46
S2: that as I have and do at times. It says
27:49
S2: in Isaiah 53 that he was despised and rejected by men,
27:54
S2: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Acquainted with grief.
27:59
S2: Friends with grief. So in that same passage, it talks
28:05
S2: about how he is the one who is pierced for
28:08
S2: our transgressions. For all of our faults, like the worst
28:12
S2: of the worst. And he also bore our griefs. And
28:17
S2: so both the ways that you have been harmed, the
28:20
S2: ways that you have harmed, the ways that you've been
28:22
S2: sinned against the ways that you have sinned. All of
28:26
S2: those things used in the hands of the kingdom of
28:29
S2: darkness are are meant for evil. As Joseph said at
28:33
S2: the end of the book of Genesis, meant for evil.
28:36
S2: And yet, in God's hand, the ultimate storyteller who loves
28:40
S2: to write with a redemptive arc.
28:42
S1: Yeah.
28:43
S2: In his hand, it is used for your good and
28:45
S2: his glory.
28:47
S1: That's so good. You know, I was thinking about my
28:49
S1: grandmother used to say that God knows how to make
28:52
S1: straight lines for crooked sticks, right? He knows. He knows
28:55
S1: how to take the brokenness of our our lives and
28:59
S1: do something beautiful with it. Let's talk about a little
29:02
S1: a little more about theology. I talked about you opening
29:06
S1: your your book with the doctrine of the Trinity. You
29:10
S1: talk about the story of creation. How do these doctrines
29:14
S1: play into us better understanding God's love? So let's just
29:18
S1: briefly talk about the Trinity. How does me Understanding the Trinity.
29:24
S1: Help me to understand God's love better.
29:29
S2: Yeah. Oh man, I love talking about this. All three
29:31
S2: of my children's books are about this as well as
29:33
S2: this book. Um, so at the center of the universe,
29:37
S2: the one who created all things was already in community,
29:42
S2: a perfectly unified and yet diverse community, three persons eternally
29:49
S2: existing and yet one God that again, as you said earlier,
29:55
S2: not something we can put into a math formula and
29:57
S2: perfectly understand in our finite minds. However, it gives us
30:02
S2: the foundation of love in multiple ways because God has
30:06
S2: already existed in a perfectly unified. He is the community
30:10
S2: of love, father, son, and spirit. All one right? He
30:13
S2: is the community of love. And so everything he has
30:16
S2: made has not been out of necessity or out of. Ah,
30:21
S2: I need creation in order for me to feel love. No,
30:25
S2: he's already been enjoying himself for all eternity past. Before
30:29
S2: there was anything Jesus said in John 17 that, father,
30:34
S2: you have loved me since before the foundation of the world.
30:38
S2: That is the like the Trinity is the foundation of love,
30:42
S2: whether you want to call it the Trinity, the community
30:45
S2: of love. But it is. It is that right? That
30:48
S2: is the foundation. And out of the overflow of God's
30:51
S2: joy within himself came creation. And so now the title
30:55
S2: of our story, or at least the introduction to each
30:58
S2: of our stories, is not that we're a mistake, no
31:01
S2: matter what our parents told us. It's not that we
31:04
S2: are a smudge on society. No matter what society tells us,
31:09
S2: the title or the introduction of our story becomes we
31:13
S2: are wanted. God wanted you unwaveringly.
31:20
S1: Yeah, I think that as we consider that truth, allowing
31:25
S1: that to sink into our hearts, and I love that
31:28
S1: you connected it back to your children's books, which again,
31:31
S1: we're going to talk about a little bit more in
31:33
S1: just a moment. I think it's really easy for us
31:37
S1: to approach Scripture only from the perspective of duty, that
31:42
S1: God is a taskmaster. There are things that he demands
31:47
S1: of me. And if I don't do these things, uh,
31:51
S1: I haven't merited his love. And yet, when I hear
31:55
S1: the doctrine of the Trinity, I hear grace. I hear
31:59
S1: more than duty. I hear desire and. And it helps
32:03
S1: me to be able to really understand the gospel and
32:08
S1: not just the culture that we're in. That is very
32:12
S1: much works based love. Like, what have you done for
32:15
S1: me lately? You got to earn this. And. And yet
32:19
S1: God loves us and invites us. Yes, he invites us
32:23
S1: to join into his redemptive work. But we do that
32:26
S1: because he's loved us, not to earn his love. Again,
32:31
S1: I want to encourage you. Go to our website, equip radio.org.
32:34
S1: That's equip radio.org. You can find out more. I want
32:38
S1: you to get a copy of his book, Love Has
32:43
S1: a Story. I promise you, it will enliven your hearts.
32:47
S1: Before we talk about this next group that I think
32:49
S1: this book is great for. Let's go back to the
32:51
S1: phone lines. Anna is listening in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Hey Anna,
32:56
S1: thank you so much for listening to equip and for calling.
33:00
S1: How can we pray for you today, Anna?
33:02
S4: Uh, I grew up in a Catholic church. Um, and, uh,
33:08
S4: we used to go because we had to go and, uh,
33:11
S4: I grew up and I did a few things when
33:14
S4: I was younger that were not good. And I know
33:17
S4: I'm ashamed of it. And I read the Bible every
33:21
S4: single day. I get up and read the Bible, listen
33:23
S4: to you, listen to the pastors. But I don't feel
33:27
S4: anything on my heart. And I feel like, oh God,
33:30
S4: I left me and that's it.
33:33
S5: Yeah. Yeah.
33:35
S4: Pardon me. So that's why I'm calling. And I'm sick.
33:41
S4: And and I don't know. And I have a cousin
33:45
S4: that had cancer and.
33:47
S5: Sure.
33:48
S4: And I had so many problems.
33:50
S1: Well, Anna, first off, I'm so grateful you called. And obviously,
33:55
S1: I hear the heartache. I think we all can. The
33:58
S1: pain in your heart. The tears in your voice. I
34:02
S1: want to pray for you. But first, I want to
34:03
S1: give Kenan an opportunity to share anything that's on your
34:08
S1: heart for for Anna again, saying, you know, she's reading
34:12
S1: the Bible, not feeling anything. Um, maybe ashamed of the
34:17
S1: things of the past. What would you say to her?
34:20
S2: Mhm. Ooh. First and foremost, thank you for sharing your heart.
34:24
S2: Thank you for your honesty. Um, I want to tell
34:28
S2: you really, really good news. That is genuinely hard to
34:32
S2: believe at times, but is still true whether or not
34:35
S2: we feel it. And that is that every single one
34:40
S2: of your sins has been paid for, has been crucified
34:46
S2: with Christ, and that in his resurrection you are unified
34:51
S2: with him as well as in his death. And therefore,
34:54
S2: when God looks at you right now, he is overjoyed,
34:59
S2: delighted in you just as much as he loves his son,
35:03
S2: so does he love you. And there is nothing the
35:07
S2: Scripture says that can separate you from the love of
35:10
S2: God that is in Christ Jesus.
35:13
S1: Yes, you know, I want to encourage you, Anna, um,
35:17
S1: to adopt one scripture as a life verse. All of us,
35:22
S1: all of scripture is God breathed. It is all inspired
35:26
S1: and errand infallible. But there are certain verses that speak
35:30
S1: to our heart in such a special and unique way.
35:33
S1: And I just want to give you a verse of
35:34
S1: Scripture that I want you to hold on, to read
35:37
S1: it every day, read it as often as it comes
35:41
S1: to mind. But the Scripture is first John three 21st
35:46
S1: John chapter three, verse number 20. I want you to
35:51
S1: read this every day, and it simply says this if
35:54
S1: our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater
35:59
S1: than our hearts and he knows everything. I love that
36:04
S1: because I need to be reminded that my emotions sometimes
36:08
S1: can lie to me. Uh. There. We live in a
36:12
S1: culture that says, follow your heart. And, uh, and a
36:15
S1: lot of people, uh, the way they feel their feelings
36:18
S1: are their masters feelings are important. They're a part of
36:21
S1: how we are created. But I like to think of
36:24
S1: it this way. Feelings make great servants, but very poor masters.
36:28
S1: And so when you say, man, I don't feel anything
36:33
S1: or I don't feel loved or I don't feel accepted,
36:37
S1: I want you to know that God is greater than
36:40
S1: our hearts. God is greater than our feelings. And so
36:43
S1: when you are confronted with those feelings of rejection or
36:48
S1: that God is far from you, or he's left you
36:51
S1: or abandoned you, what you got to know is that
36:53
S1: God is greater and His Word has the final verdict
36:57
S1: on you, not the way you feel. It's his word
37:00
S1: and His kingdom has just said, God loves you with
37:03
S1: an everlasting love, and he promises you that he will
37:07
S1: never leave you. He will never forsake you. So keep
37:11
S1: reading His word because it's doing something powerful, even if
37:14
S1: you don't feel like it's doing anything good for you.
37:17
S1: I like to think of it this way, Anna, is
37:19
S1: that I take vitamins, and when you take vitamins, sometimes
37:22
S1: you don't feel that it's improving you. But trust me,
37:26
S1: those vitamins are doing a good work in your body.
37:29
S1: Sometimes it's like that with the scriptures where you're reading
37:31
S1: and you're not sure how it's helping you, but it is.
37:34
S1: It is transforming, renewing your mind and helping you to
37:38
S1: be conformed to the image of Christ. Father, I pray
37:41
S1: for my sister. I pray for her physical healing. Pray
37:45
S1: for her cousin who's also sick, that you would touch
37:48
S1: her physical body. But even greater Lord, I pray that
37:52
S1: you will heal her heart, that you would draw her
37:56
S1: to yourself, that she would know the eternal love of
38:00
S1: God in Christ Jesus, her Savior, her Redeemer, her Lord.
38:07
S1: Bless Anna. In Jesus name I pray. and she know
38:12
S1: your nearness. Oh God. Thank you that Psalm 3418 tells
38:16
S1: us that you are near to the brokenhearted and you
38:19
S1: rescue the crushed in spirit. We thank you for Anna.
38:23
S1: In Jesus name. Amen. Anna, you stay on the line.
38:26
S1: We're going to give you a gift. Anna. We're going
38:28
S1: to send you a complimentary copy of Keenan's book. For
38:32
S1: the rest of you. Go to our website today. Go
38:36
S1: to equip radio.org. That's equip radio dot ORG. Whatever you do,
38:42
S1: stick and stay. There is so much left on equipped
38:46
S1: with Chris Brooks. We'll be right back right after this.
38:54
S1: Here on equip, we're committed to walking alongside families facing
38:57
S1: the toughest challenges of our day, wherever they live, whatever
39:01
S1: their household looks like. When you become an Equipper, your
39:04
S1: monthly support helps us bring biblical hope and practical help
39:07
S1: to listeners just like you, month after month on your
39:11
S1: station and beyond. Become an equipper today, call (888) 644-4144 or
39:18
S1: visit us online at equip radio.org. We all go through
39:24
S1: seasons where our walk with God feels more like smoldering
39:28
S1: coals than a roaring fire and the rekindled heart. Doctor
39:31
S1: Mark Yarbrough offers six essentials to help you reignite your
39:36
S1: passion for Jesus. If you're spending more time scrolling than
39:40
S1: you do in Scripture, this book will help you to
39:42
S1: get your priorities back in order. Request your copy with
39:46
S1: the donation of any amount, call (888) 644-4144 or visit equip radio.org.
39:59
S1: Welcome back to equip with Chris Brooks. If you've not
40:03
S1: gone to gone to our website yet, I encourage you
40:06
S1: to do so. Don't wait. I promise you, you'll find
40:09
S1: so much there. Not only will you find encouragement, our
40:14
S1: archived programs, all of our wonderful guests, you'll also see
40:17
S1: our resource of the month. And you'll also be able
40:20
S1: to find out about today's guests, Tina Argon and her
40:24
S1: wonderful book, Love Has a Story and so much more.
40:28
S1: So go to equip.org. That's equip radio dot ORG. Kina.
40:33
S1: All right, I want to have you guess what do
40:35
S1: you think my favorite page of your book is?
40:38
S2: Oh my goodness.
40:40
S1: Uh all right, I'll take you off the hot seat.
40:43
S1: I'll take you off the hot seat. My absolute favorite
40:46
S1: page of your book is the dedication page. And I
40:49
S1: want to talk about JL I want to talk a
40:52
S1: little bit about why this book is so good for
40:56
S1: parents with their kids, but just share a little bit
40:59
S1: about her and why and your hope for this book
41:03
S1: and the next generation.
41:05
S2: Yeah. Oh, thank you for caring about that. That means
41:08
S2: oh my goodness. Okay, so you're gonna have me talking
41:10
S2: for two more hours. All right. Here. My JL is
41:13
S2: our lovely nine year old daughter, uh, who was and
41:18
S2: is the miracle baby that we did that we didn't
41:21
S2: even know we need a miracle for. And I say
41:23
S2: that as you you'll read my book, but, uh, we've
41:27
S2: dealt with my husband and I. Secondary infertility. And so
41:31
S2: I am no longer able to, uh, have a baby.
41:34
S2: And so my dreams of being a mom of a
41:37
S2: bunch of kids, I love kids, uh, that, that went away.
41:41
S2: And so JL was somebody was, you know, our, is
41:45
S2: our child that came before we even knew we needed
41:49
S2: a miracle. And so, um, I don't have much to
41:52
S2: offer her in terms of earthly wealth. I, you know, writers,
41:57
S2: we and artists, we don't necessarily get, get paid the
42:00
S2: big bucks. And so I don't have some cozy, you know,
42:03
S2: nest egg for her. But what I do have is
42:06
S2: a spiritual legacy. What my husband has for her is
42:09
S2: also a spiritual legacy, um, of following after Christ. And so, uh,
42:16
S2: anything I do, I do always have her in mind, um,
42:19
S2: and thinking of her as the next generation, as a
42:22
S2: scripture says, one generation will declare your works to the next.
42:25
S2: And so I dedicated this book to her. The where
42:29
S2: I say in the dedication, remember, mommy loves you, poppy
42:31
S2: loves you. But guess what? Jesus loves you even more.
42:34
S2: I just began saying that to her in her bedtime.
42:36
S1: Routine.
42:36
S2: Since she was a baby. And so now she says
42:38
S2: it back. She says it to me. Now, of course,
42:40
S2: she's nine years old now. So I'm like, yes. Um,
42:44
S2: and then I say.
42:45
S1: But when you think of parents, I mean, so much
42:49
S1: of your, your, your writing ministry has been towards children.
42:56
S1: Why is that so important? And just talk about this
42:59
S1: ministry of parenting and really how resources like love has
43:03
S1: a story can really help us as parents looking for
43:07
S1: ways to tell the the biblical story of God's love
43:12
S1: to our children.
43:13
S2: Absolutely. Jesus said that you must become like children to
43:17
S2: enter into the kingdom. And so just that in and
43:21
S2: of itself means that we need to have a posture of,
43:24
S2: I'm not just declaring the works of God to you
43:27
S2: and passing on this good news and training you up,
43:30
S2: as the scriptures also say. But I'm also taking a
43:33
S2: posture of learning. Student. I need to learn from my
43:36
S2: daughter when she was little, the way that she would
43:39
S2: just dance for joy over like a blade of grass
43:42
S2: and how green it was. I need I need to
43:44
S2: learn something about that. There's something about my faith that
43:47
S2: needs to be instructed by the children in my life.
43:50
S2: And so that's always been important for me. Uh, and
43:53
S2: there's a lot of ways in which we grow old
43:56
S2: to grow young. Um, you know, Paul even talks about
43:59
S2: like being renewed inwardly day by day, even though outwardly
44:02
S2: we're wasting away. Um, and so there is something about
44:07
S2: children that, uh, we have to become like in order
44:10
S2: to know God. And it's, and it's a part of
44:13
S2: his redeeming our story, allowing us and our, our, uh,
44:18
S2: our own inner child, so to speak, to experience his healing,
44:22
S2: not just our present tense self.
44:24
S1: Yeah. And I think that one of the things that
44:26
S1: I want people to know is not only is the
44:28
S1: Bible a great, masterfully written love story, but it's very understandable,
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S1: very approachable. And you can as a parent, I needed
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S1: to hear this. You can disciple your child. You know,
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S1: so many people feel intimidated by that thought that, man,
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S1: you need a pastor to do that or a youth
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S1: group to do that. And certainly a youth group is
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S1: great and they're supplemental. But ultimately, the primary faith trainer
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S1: for your child is you. The primary discipler for your
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S1: child is you. And resources like this man, read it
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S1: with them. Share with them. Hey, mommy, daddy, daddy read
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S1: something today that really was a blessing to me. I
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S1: want to share it with you and watch God use
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S1: it as you walk along the way with them. Sit
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S1: down at home. Lie down at night as you are
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S1: sharing God's Word with them and it becomes a guide
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S1: for their lives. All right, final question. What's your hope
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S1: for those who pick up a copy of Love Has
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S1: the story?
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S2: Oh, yeah. I mean, the same thing that the rest
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S2: of the dedication says that this offering would just grant
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S2: you greater clarity of the love story that God has
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S2: written and is currently writing through you. I want you
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S2: to connect God's story to your story and even see
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S2: scenes from my own story the good, the bad, and
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S2: the ugly, and know that all of it, all of
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S2: it is under the the writing pen of God who
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S2: is love.
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S1: Well, God bless you and John and. JL thank you
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S1: for the gift of love has a story. You are
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S1: officially off to Hot seat Kina. Uh, we we appreciate you.
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S1: For all of my friends that are listening right now. Again,
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S1: if you're looking for a book that connects the best
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S1: of storytelling, poetry, creative writing with biblical theology and the
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S1: doctrines of our faith. What a great gift love has.
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S1: A story is. I want to encourage you to get it.
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S1: It's not an overwhelming book. 100 meditations. These daily devotionals.
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S1: They are accessible, approachable, and it will enliven your faith.
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S1: Go to radio.org. And until we're together again next time.
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S1: As always, remember equipped with Chris Brooks is a production
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S1: of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.