Latest / Karl and Crew / Trusting God When Money Is Tight with Rob West & Navigate Pressures at Home with Steve Norman

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Trusting God When Money Is Tight with Rob West & Navigate Pressures at Home with Steve Norman · Karl and Crew

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  S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
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  S1: and crew.
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  S2: Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome what seems
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  S2: impossible and live as you never imagined.
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  S1: Start your morning with a laugh.
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  S2: Cold spaghetti's. Great. Okay.
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  S3: Okay, I disagree. I guess not. No, certainly it is not. No. Okay. Well, man,
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  S3: I'm going back.
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  S2: To my bachelor days. I guess I thought cold spaghetti
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  S2: was universally loved.
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  S4: I've never been known for, like, high levels of coordination.
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  S4: That's just. It feels like.
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  S2: I've never been known for high levels of coordination.
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  S1: Delivering the truth daily.
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  S4: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
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  S4: and you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
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  S4: that would make it worth it.
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  S5: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
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  S5: the life source, which is God.
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  S6: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
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  S6: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
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  S6: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
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  S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
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  S1: and crew.
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  S2: I got some big news for y'all.
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  S3: What is it? Really cool.
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  S2: Alli is hosting Chris Fabry yesterday, today, Wednesday and Thursday.
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  S2: She's the guest host in for Chris. So you're going
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  S2: to want to tune in. She's doing an outstanding job
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  S2: so I hear. I haven't heard you yet, but I'm
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  S2: going to try to tune in today. Oh you go girl.
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  S4: Oh thank you. No I'm such an honor to to
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  S4: sit in that seat. Chris Fabry is one of the
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  S4: long beloved hosts here in the Moody Radio Network. So
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  S4: happy to be able to fill in this week. A
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  S4: lot of fun doing both mornings and afternoons here.
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  S5: What's the what's the experience being in someone else's backyard,
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  S5: to use Chris Fabry's.
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  S3: Analogy.
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  S4: At the backyard fence. Yeah. Radio. Backyard fence.
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  S5: You're in his backyard. I know, how does it feel?
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  S4: I know, well, you know, the funny thing is. I've
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  S4: been working with Carl for almost nine years, believe it
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  S4: or not. So there's so many Carl isms that ring
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  S4: through my mind at all times, day and night.
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  S3: Yeah. Fair, fair. Sorry. But, you know, I'm sorry.
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  S4: I wanted to try to get some of the Chris
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  S4: Fabry isms.
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  S3: Yes.
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  S4: So I, you know, I've been listening to, to some
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  S4: of his past shows to kind of get, get his vibe.
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  S3: Vibe.
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  S4: You know, try to use some of the lingo. So
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  S4: the folks who listen in the afternoon feel at home.
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  S4: So I'm working some of those in as I can, but.
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  S3: Give me.
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  S2: Just give me a favoritism.
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  S4: Uh, what does he say? He says from the heart
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  S4: to the heart for the heart. That's what he says. Um,
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  S4: the radio backyard fence. He just has, he has such
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  S4: a relaxed.
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  S2: It's such a folksy in the right word, but it's chill.
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  S2: It's inviting.
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  S4: I mean, he, he's such a phenomenal I mean, anybody
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  S4: who listens knows that he's a great, great storyteller. And
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  S4: he writes, he he writes. He's a prolific writer. So
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  S4: I don't.
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  S3: Even know.
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  S2: 20 books.
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  S3: Or.
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  S4: Way more than that. Oh, really? Way more than that.
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  S4: He's I want to say he's probably in the 60, 70, 80.
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  S3: Oh, no.
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  S2: Are you kidding.
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  S3: Me?
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  S4: I'm going to double check me on that, Jonathan. Okay.
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  S4: But he has written a ton of books and so
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  S4: he he speaks like an author.
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  S3: I mean.
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  S2: He's telling.
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  S3: A.
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  S4: Story because he. So he brings you in to the story.
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  S4: He helps you, but he paints the picture for you. So. Wow.
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  S4: It's it's really been a joy to get to know
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  S4: him over my years here at Moody Radio and then
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  S4: to get to fill in on the show.
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  S5: So yes, Chris Fabry has written more than 80 books.
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  S2: Oh, for crying out loud.
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  S5: Mhm.
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  S4: He's been a.
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  S3: I don't.
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  S2: Even know how you.
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  S3: Do that.
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  S5: I don't.
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  S3: Either.
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  S4: So if you do want to listen to Chris Fabry
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  S4: live is at 3 p.m. eastern, 2 p.m. Central Time,
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  S4: right here on Moody Radio. I'll be filling in for
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  S4: the next couple of days.
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  S5: He also writes for movies too, right?
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  S3: Doesn't he? Yeah. Yeah.
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  S5: So, man, it's crazy. You think see, I don't I
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  S5: don't know if I could fill one book with the
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  S5: things that are in my head.
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  S4: Come on.
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  S3: Nor should I. Maybe you're.
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  S4: Not giving yourself enough.
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  S3: Credit.
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  S5: But still to write more than 80 books.
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  S2: And that's a big deal.
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  S5: And then have enough to be like. I'm also gonna
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  S5: do a radio show in the afternoon.
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  S2: And let me let me write for some of these.
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  S2: I think he partners up. I don't want to say
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  S2: who it is, but he partners.
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  S3: Up.
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  S2: With some.
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  S3: Movie.
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  S4: Some movie guys.
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  S3: Yeah. So he works movie guys.
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  S4: Guys, movie guys. Yeah. So he has written some of those, uh,
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  S4: those ones that you see become movies.
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  S2: Sweet. Listen to Ali today, tomorrow or Thursday. What time?
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  S4: 2 p.m. Central time, 3 p.m. Eastern time, right here
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  S4: on Moody Radio. Chris Fabry live.
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  S2: That's beautiful, man. Okay. Uh, this is a real thing.
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  S2: You feel like, oh, my goodness. I'm feeling pressure. But
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  S2: what if that pressure God, by his grace and his power,
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  S2: revealed that he's the one sustaining you through it all?
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  S2: And what if you embraced your weakness, embraced your frailty,
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  S2: embraced your imperfections? Could that be the answer for what
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  S2: you're going through today? I believe it can be. And
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  S2: we're going to break it down from you right from
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  S2: second Corinthians chapter four. We got our Bibles open. You
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  S2: can listen along or crack one yourself. Come on.
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  S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
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  S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
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  S2: All right, so let's look at this. We got to
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  S2: break this down. Second Corinthians chapter four. We're coming off
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  S2: this six opening verses. And it's all about man. We've
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  S2: even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those
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  S2: who are perishing. In their case, the God of this
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  S2: world is blinded the minds of the unbelievers. But we
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  S2: keep going out. We proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus Christ
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  S2: as Lord. And he's talking about how we get to
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  S2: be witnesses. Therefore, let light shine out of darkness he
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  S2: has shown in our hearts. He has been showing forth,
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  S2: shown SHONE in our hearts, to give light of the
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  S2: knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
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  S2: Jesus Christ. And then he says this. But we have
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  S2: this treasure in jars of clay, which is awesome. So
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  S2: we've got this incredible message and this message that we're carrying,
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  S2: we are carrying in flawed, imperfect, imbalanced, not perfectly, you know, uh,
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  S2: not equal weights and measures, little dings here and there.
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  S2: It's just jars of clay.
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  S4: Yep. Can be broken kind of easily.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: I mean, come on.
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  S4: Kind of fragile.
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  S2: And then he transitions to to show the surpassing power
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  S2: belongs to God and not to us. This is great, man.
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  S2: This is great. We are afflicted in every way, but
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  S2: not crushed. Perplexed but not driven to despair. Persecuted but
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  S2: not forsaken. Struck down. This is huge here. Struck down
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  S2: but not destroyed. By the way, that's a nod to
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  S2: Stonings that Paul went through. Struck down and not destroyed.
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  S2: Always carrying in the body the death of Christ, so
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  S2: that the life of Christ may also be manifested in
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  S2: our bodies. My goodness. This is powerful. So the way
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  S2: he writes this letter, this portion of his letter, he's like,
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  S2: all right, well, we are witnesses. And yes, some people
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  S2: aren't receiving it, but the God of this age is
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  S2: blinded the minds of the unbelieving. But we go on anyway,
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  S2: and we keep shining, man. The light shone in the
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  S2: darkness and bang! And we've got this treasure in jars
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  S2: of clay so that we know this is not us.
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  S2: This is God. What a passage of scripture, Ali.
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  S4: You know, because it's it's not our power. So this
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  S4: treasure that we have contained in, in our fragile bodies
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  S4: that can break down, there's no so that there can
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  S4: be no mistake where the power actually comes from.
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  S2: Yeah, yeah. It's a, it's a beautiful thing when you,
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  S2: when we, I really believe that one of the greatest
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  S2: evidences of maturity is how we handle victory, not adversity. Really?
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  S4: Huh. Oh, that's a surprising hot take. What do you mean?
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  S2: Oh, I'm convinced of this. I'm convinced that the. The
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  S2: richness of faith is finding God in the. In adversity.
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  S2: No doubt about it. That's when you can find God.
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  S2: When the chips are down and when the barns are
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  S2: not filled, and when the rains are not coming right.
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  S2: When you can find God in that and you really
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  S2: find him in that, then the greatest evidence of maturity
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  S2: is when everything's cooking, the barns are filled, the rains
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  S2: on the crops, and everything's coming in, but you still say,
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  S2: all glory to God. I didn't do that. To me,
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  S2: that's that's the beauty of maturity.
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  S5: Yeah. I mean, I think of, uh, this book I
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  S5: read in my senior year of college, it was American literature,
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  S5: and we were talking. William Bradford was the author, I
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  S5: think it was called.
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  S3: I love that book.
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  S5: I love it. I think it's the it's the perfect
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  S5: analogy for what you're talking about because it was it
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  S5: William Bradford, uh, he recorded these pilgrims journey from the
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  S5: UK to, to the Americas in the 1600s. And as
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  S5: they were going, they had a lot of hardship. The
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  S5: boat was hit with storms and people, you know, there
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  S5: wasn't a lot of food and they were trying to
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  S5: make it and they thought they were going to die
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  S5: all the time. And they made it through these really
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  S5: adverse situations. And he would record and write down, praise
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  S5: be to God. Uh, you know, that he got us
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  S5: through these situations. And then they landed, but they landed
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  S5: in the winter. And so you can't plant and you
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  S5: can't harvest anything and everything's dead. And so that made
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  S5: things really hard too. But praise be to God that
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  S5: he got him through it. But then the next chapter
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  S5: is a year later because he's just writing as he goes.
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  S5: And so the next chapter is a year later, and
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  S5: everything's great and everything's fantastic, and there have been no problems.
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  S5: Crops are coming, people are building houses, they've got their cattle,
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  S5: everything's fantastic. And in that chapter there is zero zero
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  S5: mentions or thanks to God.
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  S4: Wow.
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  S5: It became, oh, look at how God got me through
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  S5: this and got me through this and got me through this.
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  S5: And then when things were great, it was, look at
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  S5: how great all these things are. Look at how good
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  S5: we're doing. And there was no thanks to God in
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  S5: the midst of any of that.
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  S2: Man, that is revealing, isn't it?
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: I don't know what you're going through today, but, I mean,
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  S2: this is for Paul to say this is pretty powerful.
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  S2: We're afflicted in every way. Not in some ways, by
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  S2: the way. Every way, but not crushed. Perplexed. I love that.
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  S2: Perplexed but not driven to despair. That perplexed is like
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  S2: my husky blaze looks at me like, huh.
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  S3: Huh.
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  S2: What's going on here? I was whistling the other day
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  S2: around him for the first time, apparently, and I'm whistling.
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  S2: He's like, huh?
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  S3: What is that noise?
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  S2: What in the world is that? So we get perplexed
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  S2: about what we're going through, but not driven to despair.
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  S2: Persecuted but not forsaken. Hanging on to that one, going.
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  S2: Come on. I thought when you're in persecution, wouldn't the
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  S2: rational takeaway be, oh, he left me. No, not for Paul.
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  S2: Struck down but not destroyed. That one is the kicker
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  S2: to me. Struck down but not destroyed. In other words,
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  S2: stoned and still breathing. Wow, Ali. Oh, to live like that, right?
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  S4: Oh, to live like that. Because that that doesn't happen
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  S4: in our own strength. That doesn't happen by us just
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  S4: picking ourselves up by our bootstraps straps and up off
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  S4: the mat. As Jonathan used the rocky analogy, let me
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  S4: just will myself up to keep on going another day.
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  S4: That's not what's being captured here, that it is us
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  S4: carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that
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  S4: the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
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  S4: Carrying that on to verse ten.
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  S2: The richest people on the planet that I've ever met.
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  S2: And I mean this from the bottom of my heart,
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  S2: the richest people, the people, when you're around them, you're like,
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  S2: could I, could you pray for me? Are the people
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  S2: that have discovered what Paul writes here to be true?
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  S2: Those are the richest people on the planet. And they
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  S2: and it's not loud. It's not fanfare. And there's no
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  S2: common denominator from an earthly perspective, because some might have
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  S2: whopping big 401 S and some have don't even know
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  S2: what a 401 K is because they live in Burundi.
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  S2: And it's it's awesome. All right, guys, how do you
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  S2: think we get there. That's Paul's cheering for this. We
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  S2: have this treasure in jars of clay. And his experience
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  S2: is Wow. Even when we're kicked in the teeth, we
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  S2: can still gum our food. It's okay.
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  S5: Mhm.
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  S2: It's.
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  S3: I mean.
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  S5: I think how we get there, and it's convicting to
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  S5: every one of us, myself included, as I say it.
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  S5: So I don't say it with a, you know, I
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  S5: don't say it with a hard fist or anything like that.
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  S5: I say it with, yeah, I, I gotta learn this
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  S5: to more and more every day is that God has
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  S5: to continue to grow to be the most important thing
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  S5: in our life every single day. Uh, the closer we
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  S5: are to him, the more we treat him like he's first.
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  S5: The more our relationship grows with him, the deeper we
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  S5: go with him. And when we go deeper with him,
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  S5: then these things appear more in our life. Because. Because
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  S5: we can't hold on to the promises of God unless
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  S5: we are following God. And, and I think that that's
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  S5: really important. And so if if this needs to be
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  S5: evident to us. We need to cling to him more
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  S5: today than we did yesterday, more tomorrow than we did today.
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  S2: It seems to me that the more we find God
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  S2: in our greatest moments, and that he's the giver of
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  S2: those things, there's a greater likelihood that we will still
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  S2: find God when we're kicked in the teeth.
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  S5: Absolutely.
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  S2: It's hard to do, Ali.
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  S4: It is. And I think it's the kind of thing
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  S4: that we, in those moments, ask for God's grace. We
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  S4: take him at His word that this is true even
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  S4: when we don't feel it, and trust that he's doing
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  S4: something in those hard seasons because you don't. We know
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  S4: that he's not going to waste the trials and the
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  S4: suffering that we go through. So we lean into the
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  S4: truth of this promise that we're not going to be crushed.
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  S4: We're not going to be driven to despair. We're not forsaken.
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  S4: We're not destroyed. And that he's with us and that
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  S4: he's doing something in us greater than what we can see.
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  S2: I got a crazy question for you, boom crew. This
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  S2: just hit my heart. What is the good stuff in
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  S2: your life that you've not stopped to give God glory for?
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  S2: But today, in light of this one, you're going to say,
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  S2: no way, God gets the glory for this. What's the
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  S2: good stuff? I mean, the great stuff that you've been
• 15:59
  S2: tempted and maybe you haven't touched the glory fully, but
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  S2: you've never given glory to God for it. I mean,
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  S2: the good, the great, the sweet, the blessings that God's
• 16:09
  S2: Spirit has sobering you up right now. And you're going, shoot, man,
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  S2: that that is God. Because flip a coin. I got
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  S2: scant chance of having this. If I was born into
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  S2: any other culture on the planet, possibly whatever that is, what, what,
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  S2: what is good and great in your life that you
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  S2: right now can say I'm sobered up. Carl. Ali. Jonathan.
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  S2: I'm sobered up and I'm. I just want to tell you,
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  S2: this is the good and I give God glory for
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  S2: it because I can see his hand right now. And
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  S2: I couldn't before today. This is this is this is
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  S2: how we get made for the trials and the tough stuff.
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  S2: Just text us. In fact, if you want to call,
• 17:01
  S2: we'll take a call, won't we?
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  S4: Okay. (800) 555-7898. If you have an answer to this question,
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  S4: what is the good stuff? The great stuff. That man
• 17:10
  S4: you haven't really given glory to God for. (800) 555-7898 calls
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  S4: or texts.
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  S1: It's Carl and Crew on Moody Radio.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: Got a fun question. This, you know.
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  S3: Look.
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  S2: 99.99% of you aren't going to pick up a phone call,
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  S2: pick up the phone and make a call. But that's
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  S2: okay because in your heart you can go, man, there
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  S2: is something good or great that that's going on in
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  S2: my life and I've not God given God glory for that.
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  S2: I mean, every heartbeat, every good and perfect gift that
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  S2: comes to us comes from the father of lights. There's
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  S2: no shifting shadow with him, guys. And I know the
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  S2: Western way is to think I did that.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: I did.
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  S3: That.
• 17:59
  S2: And I'm not talking about disavowing yourself of anything, but
• 18:03
  S2: I'm talking about dependence on God combined with diligence in
• 18:07
  S2: the spirit. In fact, go back to First Corinthians, your
• 18:09
  S2: little devo here.
• 18:10
  S3: Yeah.
• 18:11
  S4: Give me a second to find it.
• 18:12
  S2: Yeah. But it's, it's this idea that we find over
• 18:14
  S2: and over again in Scripture. This isn't this doesn't mean
• 18:17
  S2: that we don't praise God or that we don't act
• 18:20
  S2: on anything because God does everything, but we join him
• 18:24
  S2: as we're dependent on him.
• 18:25
  S4: Yeah. First Corinthians 1510, it says, but by the grace
• 18:28
  S4: of God, I am what I am, and his grace
• 18:30
  S4: to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder
• 18:33
  S4: than all of them, yet not I, but the grace
• 18:36
  S4: of God that was with me.
• 18:39
  S3: Yes, I mean.
• 18:41
  S2: That's the Apostle Paul screaming this truism. And here's here's
• 18:45
  S2: my aha moment. We cannot have a second Corinthians four
• 18:49
  S2: life where we are beaten down but still breathing without
• 18:55
  S2: an understanding on the mountaintops that God enabled this to
• 19:00
  S2: happen and that it's counterintuitive. You sometimes think, man, we're
• 19:06
  S2: we're forged in the valley. What if we're refined and
• 19:11
  S2: really forged on the mountaintops with the right thinking of
• 19:15
  S2: who buttered our bread? I mean, that's a powerful concept
• 19:19
  S2: and a first time caller in Cleveland. What he's saying,
• 19:22
  S2: is it Anna or Anna? I've got more of these.
• 19:25
  S2: Anna's and Anna's in my life than you can imagine.
• 19:27
  S2: I don't even know who. Who what? Who are you? Anna.
• 19:32
  S7: I am Anna Cleveland, and I called to say. I'm
• 19:37
  S7: just so thankful for my children. Uh, I was telling them.
• 19:41
  S7: I thank God when they were born that they were
• 19:43
  S7: healthy and all of that. But down through the years,
• 19:47
  S7: I have not thanked God for what a blessing they
• 19:50
  S7: have been to my life. Um, I've never had a
• 19:53
  S7: day of trouble from any of them. And, uh, I just,
• 19:58
  S7: there's so much so helpful to me right now. I'm
• 20:01
  S7: 72 and my three sons and my daughter are just
• 20:06
  S7: such a blessing to me and my husband. And I
• 20:09
  S7: realized that I just don't thank God sometimes for what
• 20:12
  S7: they are doing.
• 20:14
  S2: Well, I'm going to say two things here. Number one, Anna.
• 20:17
  S2: Number one, God graced you with the ability to be
• 20:22
  S2: a great mama and your husband to be a great dad,
• 20:26
  S2: because that doesn't happen in a vacuum. Number one. Number two,
• 20:30
  S2: it is a great thing that we can stop. And
• 20:34
  S2: you've led the way on modeling something profound, thanking God
• 20:39
  S2: and seeing his hand in your great kids, and not
• 20:44
  S2: running out and feeling like you need to write a
• 20:46
  S2: book about everything that Anna and Anna and her husband
• 20:49
  S2: did to make this happen. Wow. Anna. Thank you. You're
• 20:53
  S2: an inspiration, sister.
• 20:55
  S3: Yes.
• 20:55
  S7: Yeah. Just one thing I would have said. In spite
• 20:58
  S7: of me and my husband, my children turned out well
• 21:00
  S7: because God was present. But the other thing is what
• 21:03
  S7: the scripture you're talking about. We were reading Psalm 94
• 21:07
  S7: where David cried out in despair, but before he gets
• 21:11
  S7: to the end, he tells him that God has blessed
• 21:14
  S7: him with peace better than when the vines were ripe
• 21:20
  S7: and the increase was there.
• 21:22
  S3: That's it.
• 21:23
  S2: That's exactly the point. I'm so glad you highlighted that
• 21:27
  S2: song manna.
• 21:28
  S5: That's awesome. I love that.
• 21:31
  S2: And I give your hubby a hug. And by the way,
• 21:33
  S2: stay on the horn. You're getting a call and crew
• 21:35
  S2: prize pack.
• 21:36
  S5: We could do that.
• 21:37
  S2: Yeah, we're doing that. That's what it's all about, isn't it, Ali?
• 21:42
  S4: And you know, she hit on something. It's so tempting,
• 21:45
  S4: like to to want to take the credit for your
• 21:48
  S4: kids doing well or for the job that you got,
• 21:52
  S4: or for the house or the car or any of
• 21:54
  S4: the things that you can think. Well, I worked hard
• 21:57
  S4: for that. I saved money and look at all those
• 22:00
  S4: other people who squandered. That's why they don't have the
• 22:02
  S4: good things that I have. You wouldn't say it out loud,
• 22:05
  S4: but boy, oh boy, the grace of God will take
• 22:08
  S4: you back to that place of going without your grace. God,
• 22:13
  S4: I'm messing these kids up.
• 22:16
  S3: Yeah.
• 22:17
  S2: I mean, I mean, grace upon grace, right, Ellie?
• 22:19
  S4: Absolutely.
• 22:20
  S2: Anna. That's beautiful. Sister. That is humility that's given glory.
• 22:26
  S2: And by the way, enjoying them all the way. And
• 22:30
  S2: her husband are enjoying God so powerfully. What a great
• 22:36
  S2: way to go. Sister, thanks for calling in.
• 22:39
  S1: Take your next step with Jesus today. You're listening to
• 22:43
  S1: Carl and Crew.
• 22:44
  S2: It's Carl and crew here this morning, and we're talking
• 22:47
  S2: about being under pressure. At the end of the day,
• 22:49
  S2: it's God that's lifted us up.
• 22:51
  S4: Yes, yes and amen.
• 22:53
  S3: Oh.
• 22:53
  S2: In anything, one of the ways we feel the most
• 22:55
  S2: pressure in our lives, guys, one of the biggest pressure
• 23:00
  S2: builders is finance more month than there is paycheck. Or
• 23:06
  S2: how does that go? What's that old.
• 23:07
  S3: Saying?
• 23:07
  S5: More month than money.
• 23:09
  S2: More month than money. Yeah. And look, here's what's weird
• 23:13
  S2: about that. Sometimes you can get a trajectory financially where
• 23:19
  S2: you've got way more money than month, but you're still
• 23:22
  S2: twisted around the axle of stress.
• 23:24
  S4: Yes, because it's not like people who have a lot
• 23:27
  S4: of money historically have been at great peace and joy
• 23:32
  S4: and had a lot of joy. I mean, some people
• 23:35
  S4: with a lot of money are some of the most
• 23:37
  S4: stressed out people in the world.
• 23:39
  S2: Yeah, you're right on ally. Rob West with us right now. Rob. Man,
• 23:43
  S2: this is a big topic. Our whole week is under pressure.
• 23:46
  S2: I know you know that, but oh bro dog, you
• 23:49
  S2: do this every day. Your life. People are feeling the
• 23:52
  S2: squeeze with finances, aren't they?
• 23:54
  S8: Oh they are. Carl and Ali, great to be with
• 23:56
  S8: you this morning. Yeah, the pressure is real. I mean,
• 23:58
  S8: I was just looking at some statistics the other day.
• 24:01
  S8: I mean, brand new stuff coming out, talking about 62%
• 24:05
  S8: of Americans saying their primary source of anxiety is finances. Wow.
• 24:10
  S8: Bank rates saying 27% say they couldn't cover one month, uh, of,
• 24:17
  S8: of missed earnings and 62% saying they're very uncomfortable with
• 24:23
  S8: their level of emergency savings. So yeah, we're feeling the
• 24:25
  S8: squeeze at every direction right now. And as you said,
• 24:29
  S8: it can come at both ends of the spectrum in
• 24:32
  S8: terms of net worth. It can be the squeeze because
• 24:35
  S8: I've gotten out of control with credit card debt. It
• 24:37
  S8: can also be the squeeze because I'm trying to control
• 24:40
  S8: what I have, and I have a lot, but it's
• 24:43
  S8: so connected to my heart because money issues at the
• 24:45
  S8: end of the day are hard issues.
• 24:46
  S2: Yeah, they really are. I'm going to pitch you a
• 24:49
  S2: tough one, man. We got a text in here yesterday
• 24:52
  S2: and I prayed for this woman, as well as a
• 24:55
  S2: ton of other people that were just going through a trial,
• 24:58
  S2: and her and hers broke my heart. I think it's
• 25:01
  S2: help me remember this young thunder. I think she was
• 25:04
  S2: like in her 60s and she had no retirement. And
• 25:10
  S2: she's a now a single woman. And she was kind
• 25:14
  S2: of left. I think.
• 25:16
  S3: What happened.
• 25:17
  S2: Was I think her husband passed away and things weren't planned.
• 25:21
  S2: And she's just this is my trial and my heart
• 25:24
  S2: just goes out to people because it ain't cheap to live.
• 25:28
  S2: And then you got a woman that's alone. How in
• 25:31
  S2: the world do you counsel people that are in that situation?
• 25:34
  S2: Because that's real, Rob.
• 25:36
  S8: Mhm. Yeah. You know, I think number one, you've got
• 25:38
  S8: to name the pressure, honestly. And we've got to start
• 25:41
  S8: by bringing our concerns before the Lord without pretending they're small.
• 25:46
  S8: You know, the the Psalm, the Psalms give us language
• 25:49
  S8: for honest prayer. When I'm afraid, I put my trust
• 25:52
  S8: in you. It doesn't say I never feel afraid. You know,
• 25:55
  S8: he says, fear becomes an invitation to trust. And we
• 25:59
  S8: have to remember what's true, Carl, and that is that
• 26:01
  S8: God owns everything. I mean, you all been talking about this.
• 26:04
  S8: God knows our needs. He is our father. He has
• 26:07
  S8: not abandoned us. So rehearsing these truths, I think, helps
• 26:11
  S8: to loosen.
• 26:12
  S3: Get it out right.
• 26:13
  S8: Absolutely. It loosens the grip of financial anxiety. And then.
• 26:16
  S8: And then we take the next faithful step. You know,
• 26:19
  S8: you may not be able to solve every financial challenge
• 26:22
  S8: at once, but you can ask, what is the next
• 26:25
  S8: wise thing? And then resist isolation. And I would say
• 26:29
  S8: that's the key to, to your caller is, you know,
• 26:32
  S8: financial pressure grows in secrecy. You know, shame tells us
• 26:36
  S8: to hide, but wisdom tells us to invite trusted counsel.
• 26:41
  S8: And that's where the body of Christ needs to step
• 26:43
  S8: in and perhaps meet a need and be there in
• 26:46
  S8: a time of distress and come around a widow who's
• 26:50
  S8: all of a sudden has this, this pressure that just
• 26:52
  S8: feels like it's crushing. And yet God sees her. And
• 26:56
  S8: with people surrounding her, she can walk through this and
• 27:01
  S8: lean into God as as her provider.
• 27:03
  S4: Rob West with us this morning. He is the host
• 27:06
  S4: of the nationally syndicated radio program Faith and Finance Live,
• 27:09
  S4: which you hear afternoons right here on Moody, Moody Radio.
• 27:13
  S4: You know, big frustration for many families is that their
• 27:16
  S4: income has stayed largely the same. And yet so many
• 27:21
  S4: of the uncontrolled expenses expenses that you really can't get
• 27:25
  S4: out from under have continue to go up the price
• 27:29
  S4: of gas, the price of groceries, the price to heat
• 27:33
  S4: or to cool your home. And families feel this sense
• 27:37
  S4: of what in the world am I supposed to do?
• 27:39
  S4: I am I supposed to find another way to get
• 27:41
  S4: money because I'm not keeping up with the bills?
• 27:45
  S8: Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly right, Ali. And the Bible calls
• 27:48
  S8: us to wisdom, not worry here. So, you know, the
• 27:51
  S8: Proverbs encourage diligence and planning and saving and wise counsel.
• 27:55
  S8: So I think the biblical response to financial pressure is
• 27:59
  S8: certainly not passivity. It's not pretending the bills are not
• 28:02
  S8: due or ignoring the financial reality in the name of faith.
• 28:06
  S8: Faithful stewardship may involve making a budget, reducing expenses. We've
• 28:11
  S8: got to pay down debt. We've got to build that
• 28:13
  S8: emergency savings, we've got to make hard decisions. But there's
• 28:16
  S8: a difference between carrying responsibility and carrying anxiety. Yeah, responsibility,
• 28:23
  S8: says Lord. What would faithfulness look like with what you've
• 28:27
  S8: entrusted to me right now? Anxiety says everything depends on
• 28:31
  S8: me and I can't afford to fail. And and I
• 28:34
  S8: think that's why, you know, when we think about Matthew six,
• 28:36
  S8: Jesus words, he doesn't say your needs are imaginary. He says,
• 28:41
  S8: your heavenly father knows that you need them all. So
• 28:45
  S8: the antidote to anxiety is not denial. It's really trust
• 28:48
  S8: in the father's knowledge and care and provision. And then
• 28:52
  S8: we do the next faithful thing with what passes through
• 28:55
  S8: our hands.
• 28:56
  S2: Love it. Rob West, our guest here. Coming up. Man, I've.
• 29:02
  S2: It's the equivalent of slapping a verse on someone, but
• 29:05
  S2: I've heard something going around lately that I. I want
• 29:08
  S2: to get you to interact with Rob. It's something that
• 29:11
  S2: I think there's a little truth in. But it can
• 29:13
  S2: be really dangerous. We'll get into that more with Rob
• 29:16
  S2: West straight ahead.
• 29:18
  S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
• 29:22
  S1: You're listening to Carl and Crew.
• 29:24
  S2: Well, perspective can be good. It can also be a
• 29:27
  S2: bat that you hit yourself or someone upside the head,
• 29:30
  S2: and that's not good. Rob West, our guest right now, Rob,
• 29:34
  S2: I've been to Burundi. I've which is one of the
• 29:36
  S2: poorest countries on the planet. And I watched home after
• 29:40
  S2: home after home after home after home, living hand to
• 29:43
  S2: mouth every day. Got back from India not too long ago.
• 29:47
  S2: A lot of those people are in similar conditions, some
• 29:50
  S2: of them even worse. And, you know, I want to
• 29:53
  S2: ask you, when is perspective globally a good thing and
• 29:58
  S2: when is it a bad thing? Because this can be
• 30:01
  S2: the you know, it's the old well, you know, you
• 30:03
  S2: finish your breakfast, there's kids around the globe that don't
• 30:06
  S2: have the when is perspective good and when is it bad?
• 30:10
  S8: Yeah, it's a great question. You know, and I think
• 30:13
  S8: perspective can be a tremendous gift when it leads to
• 30:16
  S8: gratitude and contentment. So seeing how much of the world
• 30:21
  S8: lives with far less, I think, absolutely reminds us of
• 30:25
  S8: God's provision and allows us to then hold our possessions
• 30:30
  S8: more loosely. Uh, but I think it can become unhealthy
• 30:34
  S8: when we minimize the, the real challenges in our own lives,
• 30:40
  S8: or to create guilt rather than gratitude because someone else
• 30:44
  S8: has it worse. That doesn't mean our struggles aren't real.
• 30:48
  S8: And so I think the balance is right. We've got
• 30:50
  S8: to let the global perspective increase our thankfulness and our
• 30:54
  S8: generosity and our trust in God. But we don't dismiss
• 30:58
  S8: legitimate needs or burdens. And ultimately, it should drive us
• 31:02
  S8: toward compassion and to stewardship at the same time.
• 31:06
  S4: Rob West from Faith finance live with us this morning.
• 31:09
  S4: You know, one of the things that many families face
• 31:13
  S4: is that there are so many kind of built in
• 31:15
  S4: expectations around finances of things that you're just sort of
• 31:19
  S4: expected to be able to do, throw a birthday party
• 31:22
  S4: for your kids or to pay for that field trip
• 31:25
  S4: that you hadn't anticipated. And all of these, particularly if
• 31:28
  S4: you have children, there are all these things that kind
• 31:31
  S4: of come with an expectation, and parents can feel this
• 31:34
  S4: pressure of not wanting their kids to be disappointed, not
• 31:37
  S4: wanting to feel like I can't provide the kind of
• 31:40
  S4: experiences that others seem, kids seem to be able to have.
• 31:44
  S4: And so there's this very real stress in this tension
• 31:48
  S4: of I hadn't expected to have to pay, you know,
• 31:51
  S4: an extra hundred bucks for baseball uniforms or for the fundraiser.
• 31:56
  S4: But speak to the families who, who feel that pressure
• 31:59
  S4: right now.
• 32:00
  S8: You know, there's no doubt a lot of families feel
• 32:03
  S8: that pressure today. We love our kids. We don't want
• 32:05
  S8: them to be disappointed. But sometimes we unintentionally, I think,
• 32:09
  S8: let these cultural expectations drive spending decisions instead of our values.
• 32:15
  S8: Because when it comes to how we allocate God's money
• 32:17
  S8: and that's the starting point. It's not ours. It's his.
• 32:20
  S8: So the starting point is to say, what do we
• 32:23
  S8: value as Christ followers? Where is God, God taking us?
• 32:26
  S8: And how can money be used as a tool? And
• 32:28
  S8: I think the question we need to ask is, am
• 32:31
  S8: I trying to create a meaningful memory or meet an
• 32:34
  S8: unrealistic expectation? Because here's the thing. I mean, we know
• 32:38
  S8: this to be true. I've seen it in my own life.
• 32:39
  S8: Kids remember time and attention and relationships far more than
• 32:46
  S8: the size of the party or the amount spent. And
• 32:48
  S8: so it's okay to set limits. In fact, learning that
• 32:52
  S8: we can't always have everything we want is an important
• 32:55
  S8: life lesson. And so as parents, we're not called to
• 32:58
  S8: provide every experience. We're called to faithfully steward what God
• 33:02
  S8: has entrusted to us. So if birthday parties and vacations
• 33:05
  S8: or extracurricular activities are creating financial stress. Give yourself permission
• 33:10
  S8: to scale back. You know a child who grows up
• 33:13
  S8: in a loving home with financially healthy parents modeling faithful stewardship.
• 33:19
  S8: That's a gift far more valuable than any extravagant celebration
• 33:24
  S8: could ever provide.
• 33:25
  S2: I love that I get a funny story here, guys.
• 33:28
  S2: You're going to crack up. Ali, I. So we had
• 33:31
  S2: a a spur of the moment of electrical outage here.
• 33:35
  S2: Power shut down. We got it like two minutes before
• 33:38
  S2: ComEd said you're going to be shut down at like
• 33:41
  S2: 6:30 p.m. this couple of days ago. Sure enough, like clockwork, 630,
• 33:46
  S2: power goes down. They said, we got a problem in
• 33:48
  S2: your area. So we're out. You know, my wife and I,
• 33:50
  S2: we're like, let's go find out where the problem is.
• 33:52
  S2: So we go driving around, looking around, we just go
• 33:55
  S2: a couple blocks away. No joking. They had these inflatables,
• 34:00
  S2: these big blow ups for this big party. We're watching
• 34:02
  S2: people walk away from this? And all these deflated inflatables, right?
• 34:07
  S2: So the party had come to a crushing end, which
• 34:09
  S2: is a great metaphor for stuff like, man, we're creating
• 34:13
  S2: this big event for our kids. Now the party's over, man.
• 34:17
  S2: It's it's just. It's just a kick in the pants.
• 34:19
  S2: All right, so listen, here's the here's the crazy thing.
• 34:23
  S2: Whether you're I mean, you don't have two nickels to
• 34:26
  S2: rub together or you're feeling the pressure and you've got
• 34:29
  S2: a loaded 401k pressure's pressure. Give us the three step.
• 34:35
  S2: And I'm hitting you cold with this because I hadn't
• 34:37
  S2: warmed you up. But give us three steps out of
• 34:39
  S2: this that are universal principles for getting the pressure off
• 34:43
  S2: with regard to finances.
• 34:45
  S3: Mhm.
• 34:45
  S8: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think the first thing is
• 34:49
  S8: you have to recognize financial pressure is real. You know,
• 34:52
  S8: the uncertainty is real, but they're not ultimate right. And
• 34:57
  S8: the Christian life does not promise us, Carl and Ellie,
• 34:59
  S8: that we will never feel pressure. It promises that we
• 35:02
  S8: don't carry pressure alone. And so we belong to a
• 35:06
  S8: father who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies, and
• 35:09
  S8: knows our needs and calls us to seek his kingdom. Yeah.
• 35:13
  S8: And so I think first, you know, the pressure to compare. Let's,
• 35:17
  S8: you know, we're looking at others and what they have
• 35:19
  S8: and we're feeling like we're behind. And then we have
• 35:22
  S8: the pressure to control, believing that we can't. We can
• 35:25
  S8: just accumulate enough money and we'll finally be secure. And
• 35:29
  S8: then the pressure to consume to the constant pull to
• 35:33
  S8: spend more, to upgrade more, to raise our standard of living.
• 35:36
  S8: So what do we do? Well, the first is we've
• 35:38
  S8: got to recognize who owns it. And we've got to say, okay, God,
• 35:41
  S8: I recognize it's yours. My role is that of steward.
• 35:44
  S8: It's that household manager. If you were going away for
• 35:46
  S8: the weekend and somebody said, hey, can you come watch
• 35:48
  S8: my house when you walked in the door, you know,
• 35:50
  S8: you own nothing, right? But you're responsible to manage everything
• 35:54
  S8: for the master who entrusted it to you. That's our posture.
• 35:57
  S8: We've got to accept our role. Second is to live
• 36:01
  S8: within our means. We have to say, God, what have
• 36:03
  S8: you entrusted to me? And how can I be faithful
• 36:06
  S8: with that? And what does faithfulness look like? And so
• 36:09
  S8: that should drive us back to God's Word to say,
• 36:11
  S8: what does the master say? What is on his heart?
• 36:14
  S8: It just so happens that, you know, most of the
• 36:16
  S8: parables have some connection to money, 2300 verses. There's a
• 36:20
  S8: lot on this topic there that we need to look at.
• 36:23
  S8: And then I think third is when we continue to
• 36:26
  S8: give in the midst and we practice generosity as an
• 36:29
  S8: act of trust. It reminds us that it's money is
• 36:33
  S8: not our master.
• 36:34
  S2: Quick note on that, why that is so counterintuitive. And
• 36:37
  S2: some people might be going, are you insane?
• 36:40
  S3: Yeah.
• 36:40
  S2: You aren't crazy though, are you, Rob?
• 36:42
  S8: Well, it trains our hearts, Carl, to release, control and
• 36:45
  S8: participate in God's care for others. It doesn't mean giving
• 36:49
  S8: recklessly or beyond what we have. Remember, Paul said, give
• 36:52
  S8: according to what you have, not what you don't have.
• 36:54
  S8: But in seasons of pressure, I think generosity can help
• 36:59
  S8: recenter our hearts on God's abundance rather than our scarcity.
• 37:03
  S4: Beautiful man Rob West with us. Faith and finance live
• 37:07
  S4: weekday afternoons at 3 p.m. Central Time right here on
• 37:09
  S4: Moody Radio. If you want more resources, there's a book,
• 37:13
  S4: there's an app. Just text money to 805 five, five, 78, 98.
• 37:19
  S4: We'll get you connected. Just text money to (800) 555-7898.
• 37:24
  S1: Your shot of hope to get you through the day.
• 37:27
  S6: You are so, so loved. God does not want you
• 37:31
  S6: to stay in your past. And I want you to
• 37:33
  S6: know and believe that today.
• 37:34
  S1: You're listening to Carl and Crew.
• 37:36
  S2: Well, what is your new normal and who is the
• 37:40
  S2: new norm? Gotta figure out the backstory on this. Steve
• 37:44
  S2: Norman is with us right now. He's from winning at home.
• 37:47
  S2: What's the story on the new norm, man?
• 37:50
  S9: So the long and the short of it is I
• 37:51
  S9: was on staff at a church in the metro Detroit area,
• 37:54
  S9: and there were two pastors on staff. So the senior
• 37:56
  S9: pastor was Steve, And then I was an associate pastor
• 37:58
  S9: and I was also a Steve. So to differentiate us,
• 38:01
  S9: somebody had to be a not Steve. And my nickname
• 38:03
  S9: in high school was Norm because Steve Norman. So I
• 38:05
  S9: became Norm and it's kind of stuck. And that's what
• 38:07
  S9: I've been running with ever since.
• 38:08
  S2: Yeah. That's great. Steve is a pastor, author, speaker, corporate
• 38:14
  S2: wellness coach for winning at home. What in the world
• 38:17
  S2: does a corporate wellness coach do for people winning at home?
• 38:21
  S2: How does that work?
• 38:22
  S9: So a corporate wellness coach effectively functions as a workplace chaplain.
• 38:26
  S9: But some people, especially if they're not Christ followers or
• 38:29
  S9: if they're new to faith, they get spooked by the
• 38:31
  S9: idea of chaplains. So we present ourselves as wellness coaches.
• 38:33
  S9: And if people do want to have spiritual conversations, if
• 38:36
  S9: they are open to praying with somebody, that's certainly something
• 38:38
  S9: that we're willing and available to do.
• 38:40
  S2: How many people take you up on that?
• 38:42
  S9: More than you would think. Uh, I very rarely have
• 38:45
  S9: I had somebody say, you know what? You can pray
• 38:47
  S9: for me privately when you go home, but don't pray
• 38:49
  S9: for me. Now, I've never had somebody say, don't pray.
• 38:51
  S9: I've had some who could say, pray for me when
• 38:53
  S9: I'm not around. And that's okay.
• 38:55
  S2: No, that's really cool. What are the biggest needs that
• 38:59
  S2: people have as as you're functioning as a corporate wellness coach?
• 39:03
  S2: What are the biggest needs?
• 39:05
  S9: Everybody's got stress. People have home stress that they bring
• 39:09
  S9: to work. People have work stress that they bring home.
• 39:12
  S9: And people who cannot manage that stress have it leak
• 39:15
  S9: over into their most critical relationships or their most critical callings.
• 39:19
  S9: And so the greatest gift that we have is helping
• 39:21
  S9: people identify that stress, helping people mitigate the effects of
• 39:24
  S9: that stress, and helping them find anchors that secure them.
• 39:28
  S9: When those kind of emotional or mental storms are swirling
• 39:31
  S9: all around them.
• 39:32
  S2: You must point these people back to God constantly, because
• 39:36
  S2: I'll tell you what, before I found God, I was
• 39:39
  S2: trying cocaine that didn't work. I was trying Crown Royal,
• 39:43
  S2: that didn't work, and I was trying carousing and that
• 39:45
  S2: didn't work. And not everybody's cocaine, Crown royal and carousing,
• 39:49
  S2: but we're trying to medicate that stuff some way, shape
• 39:52
  S2: or form. You must point him back to God all
• 39:54
  S2: the time.
• 39:54
  S9: 100%. And I think most people are self-aware enough to
• 39:58
  S9: be able to say, look, I can doomscroll that doesn't
• 40:01
  S9: give me peace. I can sleep more. That doesn't give
• 40:03
  S9: me peace, I can self-medicate. That doesn't give me peace.
• 40:06
  S9: Everything that I'm trying isn't working. Can you give me
• 40:08
  S9: something else?
• 40:09
  S2: Steve Norman is our guest this morning, and we are
• 40:12
  S2: going to tackle really practically how we are going to
• 40:16
  S2: win at home. My conviction is, is that pressure builds
• 40:21
  S2: in concentric circles, usually from the inside out. Those closest
• 40:25
  S2: to us provide us the greatest joy and the greatest
• 40:28
  S2: heartache at the same time. How do we deal with
• 40:31
  S2: that biblically more with our guest, Steve Norman, straight ahead.
• 40:35
  S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
• 40:38
  S1: This is Carl and Crew on Moody Radio.
• 40:42
  S2: With me right now. Steve Norman, pastor, author, speaker, corporate
• 40:46
  S2: wellness coach right now. And he's working under the banner
• 40:49
  S2: of winning at home. You know, I have this theory.
• 40:52
  S2: that just mentioned it, but I think it's true that
• 40:55
  S2: our stress seems to come in concentric circles. Now, there
• 40:59
  S2: can be stressors that come from the guy that hit
• 41:01
  S2: us on an expressway with his car and those kind
• 41:04
  S2: of things. But most of our stress, it involves people
• 41:08
  S2: that are closest to us. AM I wrong on this one?
• 41:11
  S2: What do you say, brother?
• 41:12
  S9: No, you're dead on there, Carl. I think that when
• 41:14
  S9: our spouse is in stress and our kids are in stress,
• 41:17
  S9: and we feel like we have to save or protect
• 41:20
  S9: or defend, we carry all of their hurts and their
• 41:22
  S9: dreams on our own backs. We try to play Savior, Messiah,
• 41:25
  S9: and King. For those people. We're ended up taking on
• 41:28
  S9: a load that God never asked us to take on,
• 41:30
  S9: and that only makes things worse.
• 41:32
  S2: Okay, so we do. We take on loads, but we're
• 41:35
  S2: also called to bear one another's burdens. How do we
• 41:39
  S2: know when we're when we've stopped bearing burdens and we've
• 41:43
  S2: started playing God?
• 41:45
  S9: I'll never forget that book, boundaries that came out a
• 41:47
  S9: couple decades ago. And they said that line, each person
• 41:50
  S9: should carry their own load and we should carry each
• 41:53
  S9: other's burdens. Both come out of the book of Galatians.
• 41:55
  S9: And they had this great picture. They said, your load
• 41:57
  S9: is like a backpack. It's something that you can carry
• 42:00
  S9: and you should carry. And we're responsible for managing many
• 42:03
  S9: of the issues in our own lives. He goes, however,
• 42:05
  S9: a burden is like a boulder. You need somebody else
• 42:07
  S9: to come alongside you and do that. And I think
• 42:10
  S9: that we get sideways in our homes when we treat
• 42:13
  S9: people's backpacks like burdens, and we try to carry that
• 42:15
  S9: for them when they in fact, should be carrying that
• 42:17
  S9: for themselves. And when we treat boulders like backpacks, we're like, no,
• 42:21
  S9: I got this, or you got that. Everybody carry their
• 42:24
  S9: own thing and our backs start breaking. It's not good
• 42:26
  S9: for us. So part of it is just the self-awareness
• 42:28
  S9: to be able to say like, Lord, is this something
• 42:30
  S9: that I need help with or something that I need
• 42:32
  S9: to help with? Or is this something that I need
• 42:35
  S9: to trust you and that individual on their own to
• 42:38
  S9: figure out and carry through?
• 42:40
  S2: Love this. How do we know we've grabbed someone else's backpack?
• 42:44
  S9: I think part of it is to be able to say,
• 42:46
  S9: when I clean up my kid's room for them, because
• 42:48
  S9: their dirty Room is driving me crazy. My son is
• 42:50
  S9: 17 years old, Carl. I'm picking up his backpack like there's.
• 42:54
  S9: There's a point in his life and maturity development where.
• 42:56
  S2: You got to do.
• 42:57
  S9: This. It drives me crazy. I'm like, bro, you got
• 42:59
  S9: to figure that out. So either I got to let
• 43:00
  S9: it go, or I need to figure out how to
• 43:03
  S9: incentivize him to carry his own backpack. Now, if he
• 43:06
  S9: is struggling with depression or if he's overwhelmed at school,
• 43:09
  S9: that's a burden. And we can figure out how to
• 43:11
  S9: come alongside him and give him the resources that he
• 43:13
  S9: needs to thrive.
• 43:14
  S2: This is really powerful stuff. I love this metaphor because
• 43:18
  S2: it works so beautifully. You know, I get the picture
• 43:22
  S2: of helping someone push a burden, getting that big boulder,
• 43:27
  S2: helping with the weight of that thing. Oh, let me
• 43:31
  S2: give you a scenario. I guess it's the best way
• 43:33
  S2: to do it. Let's say we've got a spouse who
• 43:35
  S2: is struggling with some form of anxiety of some kind,
• 43:39
  S2: and this happens all the time for everyone listening. How
• 43:43
  S2: do we help them get underneath that boulder and not
• 43:48
  S2: take God out of the equation. How do we all
• 43:52
  S2: learn and grow through this process?
• 43:54
  S9: Recently I was reading through first Samuel three, and what
• 43:56
  S9: I love about that passage is God is trying to
• 43:58
  S9: speak to Samuel. Samuel's never heard him speak before, so
• 44:02
  S9: he needs Eli to help him understand how God speaks
• 44:05
  S9: and what God is saying. And I think that all
• 44:08
  S9: of us in any given relationship, we're either a Samuel,
• 44:11
  S9: we need somebody else to help us hear from God,
• 44:13
  S9: or we're the Eli. We need to help somebody else
• 44:15
  S9: know how to hear from God. So if your spouse
• 44:17
  S9: is struggling with anxiety, we get to be the Eli
• 44:20
  S9: and come alongside them and say, hey, you know what?
• 44:22
  S9: The scriptures say that we can be still and know
• 44:26
  S9: that God is God and that he's going to be
• 44:28
  S9: exalted among the nations, he's going to be sovereign and
• 44:30
  S9: lifted up in every situation, even though we can't fully
• 44:33
  S9: anticipate how that's going to net out. So we get
• 44:36
  S9: to come alongside that person and help them put pause
• 44:39
  S9: on maybe a negative channel that they've been running through
• 44:42
  S9: their brains and pivot to something else. One of our
• 44:44
  S9: therapists says, like, we get to choose what we think about.
• 44:48
  S9: And then if I'm come alongside somebody who's struggling with anxiety,
• 44:50
  S9: say like, hey, what if we chose to think about
• 44:52
  S9: the thing that is not the stressor, but think about
• 44:55
  S9: the thing that is the source and the solution?
• 44:57
  S2: Excellent. I think the wisdom portion of bearing one another's
• 45:03
  S2: burdens and helping people out from under a pile really
• 45:08
  S2: becomes at that threshold of, when do I get in?
• 45:12
  S2: When do I get out? And how much should we
• 45:16
  S2: ask for permission to help someone in our family?
• 45:20
  S9: I think that when we're stuck, we can ask to
• 45:23
  S9: be able to say, it seems like this is really
• 45:25
  S9: overwhelming to you. What is the best way for me
• 45:28
  S9: to be helpful right now? And sometimes we'll have a
• 45:31
  S9: spouse or a kid say, I don't need you to
• 45:32
  S9: do anything. I just need you to hear me. Yes.
• 45:35
  S9: I need you to be present with me. I need
• 45:37
  S9: you to validate that the emotion is real. And then
• 45:40
  S9: there will be other times where they say, I need
• 45:43
  S9: help finding a solution. And it's just really important for
• 45:47
  S9: us to be able to say, like, what hat do
• 45:48
  S9: you want me to wear in this moment? Do you
• 45:50
  S9: want me to wear a fixit hat? AM I an
• 45:52
  S9: engineer who's coming up with a blueprint, or am I
• 45:55
  S9: wearing the therapist hat? AM I just sitting, listening gently
• 45:58
  S9: and allowing you to be where you are and giving
• 46:01
  S9: you permission to feel all of your feels, knowing that
• 46:04
  S9: God's not afraid of anything that's going to come out
• 46:06
  S9: of your heart or your mouth in this moment.
• 46:08
  S2: Love it. My guest, Steve Norman, right now. How has
• 46:12
  S2: someone come alongside you in a crisis moment to help
• 46:16
  S2: push a boulder, really bear a burden? And they were
• 46:19
  S2: a big help.
• 46:21
  S9: I had a mentor a few years back when my wife, Kelly,
• 46:24
  S9: and I were trying to discern whether we should leave
• 46:26
  S9: a church that we've been a part of for nine years.
• 46:29
  S9: And we had the dream home, and the kids were
• 46:31
  S9: in a award winning school district, and everything was great,
• 46:33
  S9: but we felt restless. We felt like God was drawing
• 46:36
  S9: us into a new thing. But I was terrified. Carl. Yeah.
• 46:38
  S9: Because I wasn't sure what it was going to mean
• 46:40
  S9: for our kids. Our oldest was in the middle of
• 46:41
  S9: middle school. And that's, that's a really pivotal age for kids.
• 46:44
  S9: And we're like, man, if we uproot them and start over,
• 46:47
  S9: what will that do? And this really wise friend of
• 46:49
  S9: mine said, like, Steve, it seems like you don't trust
• 46:52
  S9: that God loves your kids as much as you do.
• 46:54
  S9: And I'm like, you're right, I don't. He goes, well,
• 46:55
  S9: then you need to tell God that. And I go, well,
• 46:57
  S9: God already knows. He goes, no, you need to say
• 46:59
  S9: it out loud. Yeah. As an act of confession. And Carl,
• 47:02
  S9: I kid you not. We're sitting in the back row
• 47:04
  S9: of the balcony of an empty chapel at church. And
• 47:07
  S9: I said, Lord, I confess that I don't trust that
• 47:10
  S9: you love my kids as much as I do. Wow.
• 47:13
  S9: Those are painful words to say out loud. But they
• 47:15
  S9: were true. And there's a guy by the name of
• 47:18
  S9: Carlisle Barney, who says, you will know the truth, and
• 47:20
  S9: the truth will make you flinch before it sets you free.
• 47:23
  S9: And that that was an uncomfortable truth to say out loud.
• 47:25
  S9: But as soon as the words came out of my mouth,
• 47:27
  S9: it was like the dam broke. Yeah. And God said, okay, Steve,
• 47:30
  S9: now we can have an honest conversation. And once I
• 47:33
  S9: said it, God could get me over the hump.
• 47:35
  S2: Guys, I gotta tell you something. We have got a
• 47:37
  S2: really cool, uh, first off, new guest in Steve Norman.
• 47:42
  S2: Just great guy. Love your heart. You were made for
• 47:45
  S2: commute radio. Let me tell you, bro. You're bringing it
• 47:48
  S2: here today. He's got a simple but profoundly powerful blog
• 47:52
  S2: called The New Norm. And I'm going to get a
• 47:56
  S2: link to you for this. You want to be winning
• 47:58
  S2: at home. You want to be winning anywhere. I'm just
• 48:01
  S2: looking through his episodes, man. Do you want to get well?
• 48:05
  S2: Finishing strong, moving fences, a postcard from Africa. Wisdom in
• 48:11
  S2: an AI world, the joy of sacrifice. These are just
• 48:14
  S2: recent ones that he's done. Every week comes out a
• 48:17
  S2: new little short devo of like 10 to 15 minutes.
• 48:21
  S2: And you're going to gobble this up. The one that's
• 48:23
  S2: on deck right now is do you want to get well,
• 48:26
  S2: I'd love for you to get a taste of this one.
• 48:28
  S2: Text norm to 805 557898. Norm NORM. That's it to
• 48:36
  S2: 805 557898.