Latest / Karl and Crew / Living a Life That Invites Others to Jesus & Living a Spirit-Empowered Life with Dr. Crawford Loritts

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Living a Life That Invites Others to Jesus & Living a Spirit-Empowered Life with Dr. Crawford Loritts · Karl and Crew

0:00
S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
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S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced God, overcome
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S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined delivering
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S1: the truth daily.
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S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
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S2: and you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
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S2: that would make it worth it.
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S3: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
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S3: the life source, which is God.
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S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
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S4: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
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S4: 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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S5: I think about the kindness of God that led us
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S5: to repentance. That's why we can't be angry evangelicals. There
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S5: is no worse a look on this planet than To
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S5: be an angry Christian man. Oh, when you guys were
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S5: newly born again, did you find contagious followers around you?
1:07
S5: What was it like?
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S3: That's a good question. Uh, yeah, I think so, because
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S3: I think one of my biggest benefits here, uh, is
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S3: the fact that I, I've been discipled by you, Carl, specifically.
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S3: I mean, you walked with me through the first couple
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S3: of months of, you know, because I had a lot
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S3: of mess going on in my life when I came
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S3: to Christ that I was trying to clean up.
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S5: I even forget those days. Isn't that weird?
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S3: It's it's been.
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S5: God has really altered you.
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S3: Uh, Monday. Monday was seven years on the day from
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S3: this upcoming Monday, seven years on the day from when
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S3: all the walls crashed around my life.
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S5: Um, and and Jonathan became born again.
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S3: Yeah. And so. Well, born again happened about two weeks after.
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S5: Two weeks.
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S3: After.
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S5: Yeah. Okay. So it crashed. Oh, that's right. You were
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S5: going through that.
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S3: I was going through it. And then. And then it
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S3: really was like, okay, that's, uh, you know, God, I
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S3: agree with you. I'm gonna give my life to you
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S3: and I'm gonna follow you.
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S5: And we got to do a time out here because
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S5: there's some people listening and they're trying to do the
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S5: math and they're going, hold it here, carry the Jonathan's
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S5: been on this radio. He's been on this radio show
2:17
S5: how long? And he went to Moody Bible Institute. So
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S5: back up quickly. Give the quick story because this is
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S5: some people might say, oh, that's a crazy story. I say,
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S5: this is awesome.
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S3: Yeah, yeah, it's a good thing. And, and at first
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S3: there was some shame about it, but there doesn't have
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S3: to be. It's it's my story. It's what God did
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S3: in me. I was a pastor's kid, grew up in church,
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S3: went to church twice a week for 18 years. And,
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S3: you know, I was on ministry trips and went to
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S3: summer camps for, for Christian things and stuff like that.
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S3: I went to Moody Bible Institute and graduated 40 hours
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S3: of Bible classes. I got good grades in my in
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S3: my Bible classes. And then I got a job here
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S3: almost ten years ago, February 6th of 2017.
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S5: Good grief. That was ten years ago.
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S3: Yeah, ten years ago this February. And, uh, and then,
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S3: you know, Carl started preaching the message of Matthew seven,
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S3: the fact that on the Day of Judgment, there will
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S3: be a bunch of people, a bunch, Jesus says, many
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S3: who come to him on that day, and he'll say,
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S3: I never knew you. And they say, what are you
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S3: talking about? We we did all these things. We performed
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S3: miracles and did mighty works in your name. And he says, no,
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S3: I never knew you. I didn't have a relationship with you.
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S3: And that hit me. And God spoke to me that
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S3: I was one of those people, and I'd have that
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S3: conversation with him if I didn't do anything about it.
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S5: But that was a tormenting period of time.
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S3: Oh yeah, 100%. Because I didn't want to, you know,
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S3: come to that reality. So I fought it for about
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S3: two years. Uh, you know, I didn't want anything to
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S3: do with that message. And so, so I was like, no,
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S3: that's not true about me. That's, that's a lie. I'm
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S3: not doing anything with that. And, and so I fought it,
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S3: but then God started putting all the sin in my
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S3: life in front of me and I couldn't fight stuff anymore.
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S3: And I lost £30 just based off of anxiety alone.
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S5: And that's £30 that you couldn't afford to lose.
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S3: Yeah. No. Absolutely not. And and so in August 10th
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S3: of 2019. Wow. God, uh, let the walls come down. And,
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S3: and I crashed in a good way. I remember for
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S3: a good purpose. Yeah. It was hard. And then shortly
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S3: after that, I was reading a Billy Graham devotional. Uh,
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S3: and he was talking about watching, watching Jesus get on
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S3: the flight. And you can believe that he's on it,
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S3: but you got to get on the plane with him
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S3: if you really want to have a relationship with him.
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S3: And so I said, okay, I knew all the things
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S3: I knew about sin. I knew about Jesus existence. I
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S3: wouldn't deny any of that stuff, but I wasn't on
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S3: the journey with him. And, and so I said, Lord, I,
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S3: I believe that you're my Savior. And I said, but
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S3: now I'm making you my Lord and I'm surrendering my
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S3: life to you.
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S5: Was there a clear Your distinction in your mind at
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S5: one point, that's like, yep, I know I have a
4:55
S5: belief in Jesus, almost demonic in nature. They're monotheistic. They
4:59
S5: believe in their future judgment. So they believe a lot
5:02
S5: of true stuff about Jesus. Yeah. But they don't they
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S5: haven't surrendered. Made him the ultimate authority of their life 100%.
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S5: Do you remember feeling like, I know I'm living in
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S5: this tension, but I got to go here anyway?
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S3: Yeah, no, I, I mean, yes, 100%. I was a
5:16
S3: junior in high school at one of those camps I
5:18
S3: was telling you about. And, uh, I was talking with
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S3: a bunch of my friends and youth group, and there
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S3: was no youth pastor around to hear me. So that
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S3: was probably the first problem, uh, is that I felt
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S3: a little too free to, to say this, but it
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S3: was what was going on in my heart. As I said,
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S3: you know, I believe that God exists. And I said,
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S3: but I kind of want to do what I want
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S3: to do right now. And, uh, you know, later in
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S3: my life, basically, I didn't say this, this is kind
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S3: of the attitude of my heart was when it stops
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S3: being fun and when I know that time, my time
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S3: on earth is almost done for me, then I'll get
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S3: right with him and it's fine. Uh, and that's kind
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S3: of where I was at.
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S5: Yeah, it's really interesting. This actually we're late. So let
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S5: me just say this in revelation six, looking at the,
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S5: the seals that are going to be broken open and
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S5: the horsemen that come at us and the third horseman is, uh, pestilence.
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S5: And it's going to come on the world quickly. In fact,
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S5: the quarter of the world. It depends on your eschatology,
6:15
S5: but I happen to believe that we're going to ride
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S5: through that. But it's it's here's what's interesting. There's such
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S5: a suddenness of what's going to happen. And there is
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S5: in life in general. I mean, we don't know how
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S5: much time we have. And that's, by the way, I'm
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S5: not doing that to scare you. When I was in
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S5: youth group growing up, people came with fire just going,
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S5: you don't know if you got tomorrow? No, I mean,
6:38
S5: here's the reality. Let me say it calmly. We don't
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S5: know what we have. Yeah, we just flat don't know.
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S3: Yeah. I was I was foolish to think that I,
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S3: I am still going to make it to the end
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S3: of my life. We have plans and we. We come
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S3: up with things and I have a vision, but at
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S3: the end of the day, I don't know. At the
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S3: end of the day, this could be my last day
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S3: and I don't know it yet. And, and so God
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S3: was gracious to me to give me two years to,
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S3: to get there. Uh, I really do see that as
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S3: God's grace and patience for me. But not everyone's given
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S3: that much amount of time.
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S5: And the danger right now is that you would have
7:14
S5: you look back to what is commonly called Decisionism. It
7:18
S5: was kind of birthed 250 years ago. And you look
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S5: at a decision, and it's not about a decision. There
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S5: are going to be characteristics of your life that are
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S5: consistent with the disciple of Christ. Certainly perfection is not
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S5: one of them. But I want to ask you something.
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S5: Have you seen a relationship with Jesus? More like, I
7:40
S5: hate to use the term fire insurance because I heard
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S5: that growing up as well all the time. But kind
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S5: of the buffer between you and the gods of your world.
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S3: Mhm.
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S5: That's really what it is. It's kind of that buffer. Yeah.
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S5: So I can still walk this broad path. I go
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S5: to church. I believe in Jesus, but really, truth be told,
7:58
S5: you got substitute gods under your arm.
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S3: Yeah. I really like what Abdu Murray says, how he
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S3: phrases it. He calls them vampire Christians only wanting Jesus
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S3: for his blood.
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S5: And that's one of the most powerful statements ever.
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S3: It is. It is. It stuck with me ever since
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S3: he said it.
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S5: Okay, so here's the deal. I need you to hear
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S5: my heart right now. Is it possible that elders, worship leaders, pastors,
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S5: Sunday school teachers that among those people, even as as
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S5: if there's some hierarchy that there's going to be deceived
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S5: people who think they have something with Jesus, but they don't.
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S5: The answer is yes. And I've met them. I guess
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S5: if it's a PK, I was a principal's kid. I
8:40
S5: was one of them. You were a PK, John. You
8:42
S5: were a preacher's kid. I was, and you were one
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S5: of them? Yeah. So here's the deal. And I'm not.
8:48
S5: There's no music playing in the background. Nothing like that.
8:51
S5: We're just saying, would you please surrender your life to
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S5: Jesus today? And this isn't about walking an aisle. This
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S5: is about following Jesus. A lot of people have walked
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S5: down an aisle and never followed Jesus. That's what discipleship is.
9:04
S5: And you might say, well, how does this really happen?
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S5: There's there's one distinct word that Jesus sent his disciples
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S5: out with. It was a gospel of repentance, which means
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S5: the turning of mind turning of your concept, your allegiance, everything.
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S5: Because only with repentance, recognizing I'm a sinner who needs
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S5: a Savior, and only with repentance do we say, I
9:29
S5: confess with my mouth, Jesus is Lord. And you know
9:32
S5: why Jesus. Paul says that it's. It's simply this if
9:37
S5: you can say to anyone on the street when push
9:41
S5: came to shove. Jesus is the highest authority in my
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S5: life and not flinch. That's probably one of the greater
9:49
S5: tests that you're really born again. Confessing with your mouth. Yes,
9:54
S5: Jesus is my highest authority. I had a guy measuring
9:58
S5: windows in my home here yesterday at our home, and
10:03
S5: I told him my story and he kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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S5: And I go, no, listen to me. This isn't some
10:09
S5: magic potion. Jesus radically saved me and I follow him now,
10:14
S5: and he's my leader now. I don't know if he
10:17
S5: got it and he might be listening right now because
10:19
S5: he told me he would be. But I'll tell you this,
10:22
S5: you've got to be born again. This is not about
10:26
S5: mental belief and assent. You got to be born again.
10:29
S5: And today you are surrendering all that you are to Jesus,
10:34
S5: every bit of you to Jesus. You have come to
10:38
S5: the point where you recognize I'm a sinner, I need
10:41
S5: a savior. You're moving from this grain of wheat that's
10:44
S5: alone and isolated and independent, and you're breaking. And here's
10:48
S5: what's happening. You're breaking. God's going to open you up,
10:52
S5: and you're going to multiply in fruit in your life.
10:54
S5: That's the promise. And if today you're saying, you know what, guys,
10:59
S5: I'm a sinner. I need a savior. I've done religion,
11:02
S5: but I have not done relationship with Jesus. He's not
11:07
S5: been the leader of my life. Welcome to the family.
11:12
S5: The cry of the soul that says I'm a sinner
11:14
S5: and need a Savior and repentant. I'm turning around. That
11:17
S5: soul is fit for the kingdom of heaven. And we
11:21
S5: want to help you in these first steps. And this
11:23
S5: is your. There's going to be a hunger for you
11:25
S5: to grow. And we want to connect you with someone.
11:27
S5: You want to get a new Bible into your hand
11:30
S5: and you can do it right now. Text the word
11:32
S5: new to (800) 555-7898 one word new to 805 557898. We're
11:41
S5: going to help you guys and and how sweet because
11:46
S5: the blues are bluer. Greens are greener today. I'm telling you,
11:48
S5: because of what the spirit has done to break through
11:52
S5: this heart of stone and turn it into a heart
11:55
S5: of flesh. Text new to 805 557898. You two are
12:02
S5: stepping with Jesus. You're born again. Coming up, Heather Holloman.
12:08
S5: She's got a real big interest in helping us radiate
12:12
S5: to other people around us and have impact in our world.
12:15
S5: How do we do that? Straight ahead.
12:20
S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
12:23
S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
12:26
S5: If we want to talk about living a life that
12:29
S5: invites others to Jesus, maybe we ought to get someone
12:33
S5: in here who's written a book with that title. How
12:36
S5: about that? Heather Holloman is with us right now. Heather,
12:38
S5: you wrote a book with that title in it, for
12:40
S5: crying out loud. How do we do it, sister?
12:43
S6: That's right. I just have to say, it's just believing
12:45
S6: what God says in His Word about us. That where
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S6: Jesus says in John 2021, As the Father has sent me,
12:52
S6: so I send you, and living a sent life has
12:54
S6: changed everything about how I go through my day. And
12:57
S6: I can tell by listening to you, Carl, you already
12:59
S6: live a life.
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S5: Well, you know, it's interesting, Heather, because we talk a
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S5: lot around here. There's a constant battle. Thomas Aquinas codified it.
13:11
S5: The flesh, the devil, and the world. Three systems that
13:15
S5: we're up against. Right. So there's constant drags getting us
13:19
S5: out of this spirit, walking life into kind of flesh.
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S5: And so I've done stupid people tricks plenty of times
13:26
S5: in my life, but by and large, I'm finding more
13:28
S5: and more of consistency with the Lord. And here's the
13:32
S5: interesting thing that's helped me, Heather, and I want you
13:34
S5: to speak to this. For years, I thought I needed
13:37
S5: to let my light shine. And then I was reminded
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S5: about what my dad said to me before I was
13:43
S5: even born again. And he used to know this woman
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S5: in the school system in Alaska that we worked with,
13:48
S5: and she was a radical follower of Jesus. Her name
13:51
S5: was Effie Rolfe, and he bragged about her all the time.
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S5: But she said, would say to my dad, Joe, they're
13:57
S5: both Christ followers. We don't need to make our light shine.
14:00
S5: We let it shine. So this whole thing of living
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S5: a life that invites others to Jesus, it's really what's
14:07
S5: cool is the pressure's off. It's an overflow of something
14:12
S5: that's bigger than us. Right, Heather?
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S6: That's right. My husband, who co-wrote the book with me,
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S6: says it like this when you live a life, you
14:19
S6: stop doing things for Jesus and you start doing things
14:23
S6: with Jesus. This is like the inevitable happening when you're
14:27
S6: close with Jesus. When you experience friendship with Jesus, he's
14:30
S6: going to send you. I mean, the first thing he
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S6: says when he calls the disciples is, follow me and
14:35
S6: I will send you out to fish for people. And
14:38
S6: it's just changed our life. It's changed how I wake
14:40
S6: up in the morning, I wake up and I'm like, Lord,
14:42
S6: we talk about like the three core principles. I know
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S6: you're at work to draw people to yourself. I know
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S6: you use people to lead others to you. You're continually
14:51
S6: inviting us into that work. You can send me today.
14:54
S6: And sometimes I say, send me to be the answer
14:56
S6: to someone's prayer. Can you imagine if we all said
14:59
S6: that like, okay, send me to be the answer to
15:02
S6: someone's prayer today? It just brings tears to my eyes
15:05
S6: to wake up. I take my eyes off myself. I
15:07
S6: go out into the day. It's really changed everything about
15:10
S6: my marriage, my family, how I live in my neighborhood.
15:13
S6: You're right.
15:13
S5: You mean this, don't you, Heather.
15:14
S6: The pressure's off.
15:15
S5: You mean this? You mean this?
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S6: Seriously, it's been it's it's changed everything. You know, people
15:21
S6: who know me. I'm a professor at Penn State. I
15:23
S6: live here in Pennsylvania, but pretty much all day long.
15:26
S6: I'm looking for opportunities. God, where are you? At work.
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S6: Send me. Send me to bless people, send me to
15:31
S6: talk about you. And I think people are a lot
15:34
S6: more willing to hear about Jesus than we think they are.
15:37
S6: One of the things ash and I teach is just
15:39
S6: go out and form warm connections with people. Share your life.
15:42
S6: When you do that, the gospel never feels like a
15:45
S6: sales pitch or an awkward pivot in the conversation. You're
15:48
S6: just sharing your life and loving people and being available
15:51
S6: for God to use you. And if you look at
15:54
S6: the New Testament, you're going to be overwhelmed with even
15:56
S6: the job descriptions. You're an ambassador. You're a royal priest.
16:00
S6: It's amazing to think about all God is saying about
16:02
S6: you and your scent life.
16:04
S5: Yeah, I mean, I mean, what's really cool is Paul,
16:07
S5: second Corinthians five. Cheers for that whole ambassadorship. We're ambassadors
16:11
S5: for Christ. God's making an appeal through us. There is
16:14
S5: something that I've been kind of thinking on heavily as
16:17
S5: of late, and it's that there's God fearing people who
16:22
S5: need a fair shot at the gospel, and they don't
16:25
S5: have it yet. I'm thinking, Lydia Cornelius, thief on the cross.
16:29
S5: I'm thinking if you go back Old Testament, you can
16:32
S5: find them. Josiah, my favorite king. They just needed. When
16:35
S5: Josiah got a fair shot at the truth, they found
16:38
S5: the lost Torah. All of a sudden, he tore his robes.
16:42
S5: What's beautiful about what you're saying is we. If we
16:45
S5: live sin, living a life that invites others to Jesus,
16:48
S5: we got our radar up and God will providentially connect
16:51
S5: us with these God fearing people that are hungry. And
16:55
S5: that's what you're saying, right? Heather.
16:57
S6: Exactly. And think of acts 14. He never leaves himself
17:00
S6: without a witness. You know, one of my favorite prayers
17:03
S6: is God, send someone. I have a daughter in Colorado
17:05
S6: right now. When I was flying home, I said, God,
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S6: your people are everywhere. Send someone to her to care
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S6: for her, to love her. You know, everyone listening. If
17:14
S6: they came to Christ, it's because of some one else.
17:18
S6: And you can think about that person. It might have
17:20
S6: been a parent. It might have been a neighbor. I
17:21
S6: love Jonathan's story. How you were there for him when
17:24
S6: he needed you. It's so amazing to think, God, this
17:27
S6: is what I made for. A lot of people aren't
17:29
S6: experiencing joy and the kind of supernatural adventure of following Christ,
17:34
S6: and I firmly believe it's because they're missing their scent identity.
17:37
S6: I love second Corinthians five. It's a life changing passage
17:41
S6: to think, okay, God, you're making an appeal through me.
17:44
S6: If you just go a chapter before it says, we're
17:46
S6: the aroma of Christ. So like you said it when
17:49
S6: the interview started, I'm not like forcing this. It's like
17:52
S6: you walk into a room and you're literally radiating the
17:55
S6: aroma of Christ, and then you're kind of just like, God,
17:57
S6: I'm here. I'm available. Help me testify. Help me proclaim.
18:02
S6: Use your Holy Spirit. It kind of makes the Great
18:04
S6: Commission really come alive in your life. And it's easy
18:07
S6: if you're like, I can't do this. It's so easy.
18:10
S6: You've got great questions, great stories. Just tell people what
18:12
S6: God's done in your life. And as much as you
18:15
S6: can bring God's Word into it, that's what really is
18:17
S6: starting to change people when they encounter Jesus through His word.
18:21
S5: Okay? A lot of people freak out over this notion
18:25
S5: that I've got to have I've got to have some
18:28
S5: button down theology. My contention is it would be good
18:32
S5: to be armed with a few central passages of truth,
18:35
S5: but there's nothing like your story. When push comes to
18:39
S5: shove and someone says, that's right, you know, and and
18:42
S5: it invariably happens. I love it when I, I know
18:46
S5: God has something teed up because the question comes and
18:50
S5: it's like, wow, God, okay, you're opening a door here.
18:53
S5: How freeing can this be? Heather. We don't need to
18:56
S5: have the New Testament memorized.
18:57
S6: So freeing. In fact, if you want to start today,
19:00
S6: just I love this question. I actually just learned it
19:03
S6: last week. If you want to talk to your friends,
19:05
S6: you can say, I have a question for you. If
19:08
S6: God existed, if Jesus really did exist, what would you
19:11
S6: want from him? And they're going to talk about the
19:14
S6: deepest need of their soul. And if they say, what
19:16
S6: brought you to Christ, what did you need from him?
19:19
S6: Every person I've asked has had a different answer to that.
19:21
S6: And what it does is it opens up your story
19:24
S6: of transformation. And I always use John 1010. I was
19:27
S6: crying on my dorm room floor at the University of Virginia,
19:30
S6: and I remember opening my Bible and reading where Jesus says,
19:33
S6: I have come, that you may have life and have
19:36
S6: it abundantly. And I tell my friends, look, I didn't
19:39
S6: have life. I needed life. It's kind of like what
19:42
S6: Jonathan was saying. Something wasn't right. Everything was falling apart.
19:45
S6: When I share that, my friends are like, I was like,
19:47
S6: what would you need from Jesus? I needed life. And
19:49
S6: then you're having this warm connection. And if your friends
19:52
S6: say something to you and you can't answer that question,
19:55
S6: you don't need to worry about it. Remember, I'm a professor.
19:57
S6: So a lot of my conversations are deeply apologetic, theological.
20:01
S6: If I can't answer the question, this is what I say.
20:04
S6: That is a really good question. I have no idea.
20:06
S6: Would you be willing to read a book with me
20:08
S6: so we could figure this out together? I never get stuck.
20:11
S6: I mean, people ask me the other day a professor said, why?
20:15
S6: Why do we need a blood sacrifice? Why did God
20:18
S6: set it up that we needed a blood sacrifice? And
20:21
S6: I was like, wait a second. I don't I can't
20:23
S6: think fast enough in this conversation. Can I get back
20:26
S6: to you? So you don't need to worry. I mean,
20:28
S6: even so, I have a PhD and I even get
20:30
S6: stuck when people ask me hard questions. Do not worry.
20:34
S6: You don't need to know a lot. You need to
20:37
S6: know your story. Think of the blind man. He's like, look,
20:39
S6: I don't know. All I know is I was blind
20:42
S6: and now I can see. And then as you read
20:44
S6: passages of Scripture, Romans is probably the best. The book
20:47
S6: of John. Just think about, you know, to all who
20:49
S6: receive him. He gave the right to become children of God.
20:53
S6: That's kind of like a gospel presentation. Have you received him?
20:56
S6: Why do you want to be a child of God?
20:58
S6: How can we receive him? And then I love looking
21:00
S6: at passages in Romans or even what you just said
21:02
S6: in Second Corinthians. He gave him who had no sin
21:06
S6: to be sin for us, so we could become the
21:08
S6: righteousness of God. It's a beautiful gospel presentation, and we
21:11
S6: just talked about it in, what, a 32nd conversation between
21:14
S6: you and me, Carl.
21:15
S5: Yeah. It's so right there. You know my contention is
21:20
S5: if there is we often look at the world and
21:23
S5: we go, oh, man, the world needs. We need a
21:26
S5: spiritual revolution. I my conviction is we need a revolution
21:31
S5: among the saints that overthrow spiritual systems that have left
21:35
S5: us stifled, and a revolution into this realization of who
21:40
S5: I am in Jesus and that I can let my
21:42
S5: light shine. Give me your best thought on that one. Heather.
21:45
S6: I love it, and I agree with you. I think
21:46
S6: prayer is foundational. You're really talking about spiritual warfare. If
21:50
S6: you're going to go into this life. We talk about
21:53
S6: the seven ways to pray. I mean, you walk around
21:56
S6: and say, God, give this person a spirit of revelation. Lord,
21:59
S6: send others to help, you know, help this person. I
22:02
S6: love Psalm 119. I pray this for my students. God
22:05
S6: turn their eyes from worthless things. Let not their heart
22:08
S6: be drawn to what is evil. Because everything around the
22:11
S6: campus of Penn State, I'm like, Lord, the temptations are high.
22:15
S6: I got to battle in prayer for my students, for
22:18
S6: my community. So I agree. I think once you understand
22:22
S6: your identity, things are going to your whole faith is
22:24
S6: going to feel revolutionized. You're going to feel closer to Jesus.
22:27
S6: You're going to feel excited about how you said providentially,
22:31
S6: he's placed you in your neighborhood, your place at work.
22:33
S6: We talk about it as a theology of place. It's
22:36
S6: no accident where you live, where you work. It's no
22:38
S6: accident what's happening to you. You may be in a
22:40
S6: situation that you don't want to be in, but what
22:42
S6: if you said, what if I'm here because someone here
22:46
S6: doesn't yet know Jesus? It'll change how you think about suffering.
22:49
S6: I've been in emergency rooms with kidney stones, and I
22:52
S6: was like, wait, maybe this isn't the story. Maybe I'm
22:54
S6: here because someone here doesn't yet know Jesus. You just
22:58
S6: take your. You just take your eyes off yourself. And
23:00
S6: then again, you're attached to a meaningful supernatural adventure. It's
23:04
S6: helped me deal with a lot of depression and anxiety.
23:07
S6: It's helped me deal with disappointment. It's really transformed my
23:11
S6: entire way. I think about my life and my marriage
23:14
S6: and my parenting.
23:15
S5: You're putting a fire in our belly here? Yes. This
23:20
S5: is awesome, Heather.
23:20
S6: Yes, I love it.
23:22
S5: Okay, guys, I got a link for you, and I
23:25
S5: think this is going to go out like crazy, man.
23:29
S5: She's written a book called scent. I don't often point
23:32
S5: people to go get a book, but I'm telling you,
23:35
S5: go get a book. It's called Scent Living a life
23:38
S5: that invites others to Jesus. She's made reference to even
23:42
S5: how to pray for opportunities and for people that you
23:47
S5: love around you. And we're going to promote the show
23:51
S5: cast too, because this is this is one worth keeping here.
23:54
S5: Text the word Heather. Isn't it good guys?
23:57
S3: So good. What a great conversation.
23:58
S4: I'm on there almost every week.
24:00
S5: Text the word Heather to what's our number here?
24:03
S3: Jonathan 805 55789.
24:07
S5: That's the right one. Give it again.
24:09
S3: 805 78. 98.
24:13
S5: Yeah. Text the word heather to our number, and we
24:17
S5: are going to have a link sent to you that
24:18
S5: will have her. It's going to have her home page,
24:21
S5: but you can find the book sent Living a Life
24:25
S5: that invites others to Jesus. Heather Holloman with us today.
24:28
S5: And what a joy it's been.
24:32
S1: Breaking chains and running free. You're listening to cast and Crew.
24:37
S5: Wow. Coming off that interview with Heather Holloman. Boy, that
24:41
S5: is peel paint time, isn't it?
24:43
S4: No kidding.
24:44
S3: Oh my goodness. I love what she said about starting
24:47
S3: off your morning with, like, God, just send me. I
24:51
S3: just want to be a part. Let me let me
24:52
S3: be an answer to someone's prayer. Today. I thought that
24:55
S3: was such a cool way to start your day with Jesus.
24:58
S5: Yeah. And there's, and, and then the, the other one
25:04
S5: is praying someone into the path of those that we love.
25:08
S3: Yes. Yeah. What a great idea.
25:11
S5: And that comes out of Psalm 119. Um, what a
25:15
S5: what a beautiful thing, man. What a beautiful thing. Boy,
25:18
S5: that's a vision for living right there. You know. The
25:29
S5: grace of God has all the fuel we need to
25:34
S5: not only save us, but to train us to renounce ungodliness,
25:41
S5: worldly passions, to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in
25:45
S5: this present age. And my heart right now is for
25:51
S5: you because you might feel stuck with something. It's like, Carl,
25:58
S5: I can't shine because I'm harboring something here. Something needs
26:04
S5: to go. Something needs to come. Renounce ungodliness, worldly passions.
26:10
S5: We can do that right now. You can you can
26:14
S5: stand up and say, God, by your grace, I want
26:19
S5: to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. God, I am asking
26:25
S5: you to give me the grace to live self-controlled, godly
26:27
S5: life in this present age. Wow. That we can do,
26:34
S5: that we can do. And father, right now, in this moment,
26:39
S5: there's so many that want to radiate you. And they
26:42
S5: feel like there's things that have to be renounced and
26:46
S5: things that have to be taken up. And I thank
26:49
S5: you that it is your grace and your grace alone
26:52
S5: that fuels that. All you say is submit yourself to
26:55
S5: me and we give you thanks for that. You are
26:58
S5: a good God. Lord, Minister powerfully to the heart of
27:03
S5: a person right now who feels like there's something deep
27:05
S5: in the corner of their heart that they don't even
27:08
S5: know why it lingers. But Lord, if you've shown it
27:13
S5: to them, you can deliver them from it. You can. Anxiousness. Addiction.
27:26
S5: Poor choices. Stuck in a death loop of sin. Shame. Repent. Repeat.
27:36
S5: You can break that cycle. You're in the business of
27:38
S5: doing that. And I give you thanks today. In Jesus name, Amen.
27:46
S5: One of the things we want to do is constantly
27:50
S5: feature here the need to walk in the power of
27:52
S5: the Holy Spirit. Right, guys?
27:53
S3: 100%.
27:54
S7: Always.
27:55
S5: We want to get after that because it's all about
27:58
S5: that coming up here in a couple of moments. Doctor
28:03
S5: Crawford Lauritz.
28:05
S1: Your shot of hope to get you through the day.
28:08
S4: You are so, so loved. God does not want you
28:11
S4: to stay in your past, and I want you to
28:13
S4: know and believe that today.
28:14
S1: You're listening to Carl and Crew.
28:17
S5: Have you ever tried to execute anything in your life
28:21
S5: without having the key component? I don't care what it is.
28:26
S5: I think we've tried to do that in Christianity. I
28:31
S5: discovered and fessed up to the reality that the Holy
28:35
S5: Spirit was my lost God, not because I wanted that
28:39
S5: to be the case, but because in this evangelical world,
28:44
S5: for a lot of different reasons, we've not highlighted the
28:47
S5: power of the Holy Spirit. And yet Scripture is loaded
28:50
S5: with this. Crawford Leritz is with me right now. Crawford.
28:55
S5: Why is that so, my friend, I know that's not
28:58
S5: news to you.
28:59
S8: Well, because you know, the devil is not sitting back
29:03
S8: in And a neutral position. While we get great clarity
29:06
S8: about the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit
29:08
S8: is transforming power in our lives. He's going to throw
29:12
S8: in the monkey wrench of confusion. And just as you
29:15
S8: said at setting this all up, you know he's going
29:18
S8: to get us spending so much time correcting error. That
29:22
S8: is important, don't get me wrong, but so much time
29:25
S8: correcting and what's wrong with the overemphasis and this kind
29:28
S8: of thing that it camouflages and covers the beauty and
29:33
S8: the power of the Spirit of God that produces transformation
29:36
S8: in our hearts and lives. And so, you know, it's
29:39
S8: spiritual warfare at its zenith. God wants Christians to settle
29:45
S8: for process rather than for the person of Jesus and
29:48
S8: the power of the Spirit of God to move us
29:50
S8: down the road.
29:51
S5: Yeah. And in what that leads to is what we
29:54
S5: find Paul saying in Galatia, because his letter he says,
29:58
S5: who has bewitched you that you began in the spirit.
30:02
S5: Why are you working out in the flesh? And you
30:04
S5: could almost take that passage and put that over the church.
30:07
S5: And I'm not bashing the church, but we've we've struggled
30:11
S5: with this. We've tried to have a behaviouralism Christianity that
30:16
S5: is void of the power of God. How can we
30:19
S5: turn this around? And in your study of the power
30:22
S5: of the spirit, and we're going to point you boom
30:24
S5: crew to an unbelievable message from Crawford here in just
30:28
S5: a little bit on this very topic. Give us the
30:30
S5: high points. What do we need to reclaim here?
30:33
S8: Crawford leadership is very important. I think the very first
30:37
S8: thing is those of us who have known Christ for
30:40
S8: a while and who are committed to discipleship, which is
30:43
S8: a core of the Great Commission, it's the essence of
30:46
S8: what God's doing in the world. Then we are the
30:49
S8: ones that need to be very clear not only about
30:52
S8: this message, but portraits of the destination at which others
30:56
S8: need to arrive. In other words, we need to model
31:00
S8: a healthy, surrendered life to Jesus, and that needs to
31:05
S8: be the centerpiece of our discipleship. You know, I find
31:08
S8: that many of us who preach and teach unwittingly, we
31:11
S8: gravitate toward the how to's, which is important, but we
31:16
S8: forget that discipleship is not a series of mastering certain
31:20
S8: spiritual disciplines, but rather discipleship is a surrendered life. It's
31:26
S8: all about surrendering to the power of the Spirit of
31:28
S8: God that's inside of us. That makes clear the Word
31:31
S8: of Christ and the Word of God and pushes us
31:34
S8: toward Christ's likeness. And I think the other thing, Carl,
31:37
S8: is that no one will ever instrumentalize themselves in the transformation.
31:43
S8: Decision precedes development. And so you've got to decide to
31:49
S8: surrender to the indwelling spirit in order to be controlled
31:54
S8: by the spirit and realize its importance. And so all
31:57
S8: these other elements. It's the clarity of teaching. It's the
32:01
S8: modeling of our leaders, and it's keeping central the essence
32:05
S8: of what discipleship is all about. And that is Christ likeness.
32:09
S8: Then guess what? You ain't going to be like Jesus
32:11
S8: until you're controlled by the Spirit of God.
32:14
S5: Amen. Doctor Crawford Ritz, our guest right now. And Crawford,
32:18
S5: as I was looking years ago now at Jesus is
32:22
S5: teaching and I love John 14, John 16, Romans eight.
32:26
S5: Those are powerful chapters. You see that Jesus told his disciples,
32:31
S5: and I love to remind our listeners of this. It's
32:34
S5: to your advantage that I go away. I got a
32:37
S5: funny story. I had Ian Thomas way back in the day.
32:40
S5: He was the founder of Torchbearers School. I had him
32:42
S5: up in Alaska and he he was just a funny guy,
32:47
S5: short guy, really committed to Jesus and committed to the
32:50
S5: power of the Holy Spirit. And we're sitting there, we're
32:52
S5: sitting at a sushi joint with about 20 of our
32:54
S5: staff from our church. And this is when the what
32:57
S5: would Jesus do? Bracelets were popular. He looked at me.
32:59
S5: He goes, he's a bracelet. I said, well, what's up Ian?
33:03
S5: And he said, we don't have to ask what Jesus
33:05
S5: would do. Jesus said, it's to your advantage that I go.
33:08
S5: The Holy Spirit's going to come. The Spirit of God
33:11
S5: will remind us of this. And he has a voice,
33:13
S5: and he'll use it. Speak about the voice of the
33:17
S5: spirit to. As Jesus said, the spirit will remind you
33:21
S5: of all that I have given you.
33:23
S8: Well, that's his work, the Spirit of God. His job,
33:27
S8: so to speak, is to glorify Christ, right? Yes, and
33:32
S8: to guide us into all truth. And so his job,
33:36
S8: his job is to guide us and give us clarity,
33:40
S8: to illuminate the Word of God, to make it clear
33:42
S8: to our hearts and minds, to cherish it, but also
33:46
S8: in the cherishing of the word of the written word.
33:50
S8: He wants us to be like the word that became flesh. Yeah,
33:54
S8: that's his job. The job of the Spirit of God is,
33:58
S8: you know, it's not all these, uh, manifestations in this
34:01
S8: kind of thing. I'm not saying that he doesn't do that.
34:03
S8: Understand that the focal point is on Christ likeness. Even
34:08
S8: even the fruit of the spirit in Galatians five, that
34:12
S8: it can be argued that that's a biographical profile of
34:15
S8: the person of Jesus.
34:17
S7: Yeah.
34:17
S8: And so he wants us to look like him.
34:21
S5: Okay. Uh, we touched on this almost, uh, but let's
34:25
S5: go there. We have championed, and I love them, the
34:28
S5: spiritual disciplines of service and of giving and of serving and, uh,
34:34
S5: small group attending and all that. But these spiritual disciplines
34:38
S5: of silence, introspection. I've been drilling down and praying every
34:43
S5: morning now for a number of years. Search me, know me,
34:46
S5: try me. Uh, it's David's prayer at the end of
34:49
S5: Psalm 139, knowing what he learned. And that is we
34:53
S5: don't see ourselves rightly. How can the Spirit of God
34:57
S5: meet with us and direct us when we begin to
35:00
S5: let him cultivate that voice in the inner man? Crawford.
35:04
S8: Well, you know, I think the way you phrased the
35:07
S8: questions and answers, the question itself, when we allow him
35:10
S8: to cultivate that inner voice. And let's be clear about this,
35:15
S8: the Word of God, Genesis to revelation, is the voice
35:19
S8: of God.
35:19
S7: Yes.
35:20
S8: And so when we go into silence and solitude, it's
35:24
S8: not an untethered silence and solitude.
35:26
S5: Amen.
35:27
S8: When we go into silence and the solitude, we're telling
35:30
S8: ourselves to sit down and be quiet so we can
35:33
S8: hear what God has already been saying. It's not like
35:37
S8: we're going to silence and solitude, and we expect the
35:41
S8: clouds to give us this mystical word that comes from
35:45
S8: the 67th book of the Bible, and it's and all that.
35:49
S8: We quiet our hearts. In fact, Carl, I have discovered
35:53
S8: the longer I walk with Jesus, the less volume God
35:57
S8: uses to speak to me. Meaning I'm the one that
36:00
S8: has to turn down all the noise in my head
36:03
S8: in order for me to hear what he's always been saying.
36:06
S5: How does that work for you, Crawford? Um. How does,
36:09
S5: how does that work?
36:11
S8: When I get alone with the Lord, I have to
36:13
S8: declutter my head. So I sit down and, you know,
36:17
S8: sometimes there's some very practical things. I have my journal
36:20
S8: and the Bible open before me. And sometimes I take a.
36:24
S8: I literally just dump all the all the thoughts in
36:28
S8: my mind. Just write it all down. You know, that
36:31
S8: that that might be distracting and push it aside and
36:35
S8: then ask God to speak to me.
36:39
S7: Amen.
36:40
S8: And I first go to his word. I don't go
36:43
S8: to untethered impulses. I go to his word first. And
36:48
S8: and and that word springs my heart and my mind
36:52
S8: and I just listen. I just listen and I pour
36:57
S8: my heart out to God. But then more often than not,
36:59
S8: you know, things are clear, their thoughts and other things
37:04
S8: that come to mind. And I want to say this too,
37:06
S8: and these thoughts that come to mind, I often will
37:10
S8: bounce them off of other brothers in Christ that are
37:13
S8: close to me in this kind of thing. Just to
37:16
S8: make sure that I'm hearing directly from the Lord. And
37:20
S8: it's being it's being confirmed by, by others. But that's
37:24
S8: kind of what I what I do. And sometimes I'll
37:27
S8: take a day with the Lord, I will leave, I
37:30
S8: will leave my phone, I go to a certain place
37:32
S8: and I leave my phone in the car and I
37:35
S8: just take my Bible and journal. There's just too much
37:39
S8: access to us, right?
37:40
S7: Yeah.
37:41
S8: Given my personality, if if first thing in the morning
37:44
S8: I check my email, text messages or whatever, this kind
37:47
S8: of thing. Katy, bar the door.
37:49
S7: Yeah. We're off man.
37:51
S8: Man.
37:51
S7: It's like.
37:53
S5: No, I mean, it's so true. Crawford. And what's interesting,
37:56
S5: what's interesting, my man is, and this is so fascinating
38:01
S5: when I sit alone with the Lord, it it seems
38:03
S5: like what the Spirit of God reminds me of are
38:07
S5: simple truths like, yeah, listen, love your bride as Christ
38:12
S5: loves the church and the Spirit of God will be
38:15
S5: as practical with me as. You know what, Carl? You
38:18
S5: flew a little too fast. Buy something your wife was
38:20
S5: sharing with you yesterday. We got to go back, and
38:23
S5: you got to live with her in an understanding way
38:26
S5: because you don't want your prayers bouncing off ceilings here,
38:29
S5: young man. Yeah, it's it's that practical, isn't it, Crawford.
38:33
S8: It certainly is. And you know, the Spirit of God
38:36
S8: not only deals with the what he deals with the why.
38:39
S8: You know, when you sit down and you're quiet about
38:42
S8: things and you allow the Spirit of God to just
38:45
S8: do his work in your heart and life. It's not only,
38:49
S8: you know. Well, Crawford, you know, you kind of a
38:51
S8: little short with Karen this morning. It also, if you
38:56
S8: if you listen to the Spirit of God will say
38:58
S8: to you, you know, now why do you think you
39:01
S8: did that?
39:03
S7: Uh, you're right about.
39:05
S5: That, Crawford.
39:06
S8: Yeah. Why? Why do you think you did that? You know,
39:10
S8: I know it's popular to say, oh, we don't know
39:12
S8: our motivations and this kind of thing. And, you know,
39:14
S8: nobody knows really why they do it. I don't buy
39:17
S8: that completely. Uh, yeah. We may not, you know, we
39:21
S8: may not specifically know, but if we listen to the
39:24
S8: Spirit of God.
39:25
S7: He'll tell us.
39:26
S8: He'll point and say, yeah, you know, that was because
39:29
S8: of this selfishness inside of you, your own sin here. Yeah.
39:33
S8: And you know why you said that in that meeting?
39:35
S8: You know why you acted that way.
39:38
S5: So listen, I've been on the fly in the middle
39:42
S5: of a message. I don't know if this has happened
39:44
S5: to you. And I'm on the fly in the middle
39:46
S5: of a message and I hear the Spirit of God
39:48
S5: tell me, you tell this like we talked about and
39:54
S5: don't have a don't go this down this route. That
39:57
S5: could be self-aggrandizing or self loathing. You know what I'm saying, Crawford?
40:02
S8: Oh, yeah. Painfully. I know what you're saying.
40:05
S5: That's so beautiful.
40:06
S8: Boom.
40:08
S5: Boom. I gotta tell you something. I don't usually banner
40:10
S5: ad things like this, but I'm going for it. I'm
40:12
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40:14
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40:16
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40:19
S5: Spirit's role in your life, to live in in the
40:22
S5: spirit filled unction of the spirit is with the old
40:26
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40:29
S5: But if you have wondered and you want some solid
40:33
S5: truth to bank on, I want you to go to
40:38
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40:46
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41:06
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41:10
S5: going to change your life.
41:11
S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
41:15
S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
41:18
S5: Yeah we're ready for you guys. We're ready to light
41:21
S5: it up right now. How has Jesus changed you? Give
41:25
S5: us a call 805 557898 805 557898. Jonathan was just
41:33
S5: telling me, man, this is low hanging fruit right here.
41:35
S9: Yeah it is.
41:36
S3: We've all been changed by Jesus. Yeah. every single one
41:40
S3: of us has a story.
41:41
S5: It's radical and it goes on. And you might be
41:43
S5: you might be asking, well, Carl, are you looking for
41:46
S5: salvation stories? Yeah. And sanctification stories, how God's continuing to
41:52
S5: grow you up. And you might have had a breakthrough. (800) 555-7898. Okay,
41:58
S5: I'm going to spin a record here and we're going
42:00
S5: to ask you to fill these phone lines right now. Guys.
42:02
S5: We got ten lines available. We got nine. Now we
42:05
S5: got eight. I'm asking you to load them up. Let's go,
42:08
S5: let's go. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
42:11
S5: How has God so changed you? It could be a
42:16
S5: salvation story. It could be this growth story. We big
42:19
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42:24
S5: How has Jesus changed your life? 800 555, 7898 give
42:31
S5: us a call right now. Light em up. 805 557898.
42:36
S1: You're listening to Colonel and Crew on Moody Radio.
42:39
S5: It's Carl and crew on Freedom Friday asking you a question.
42:42
S5: These phone lines, we've still got five lines available here. 805, five, five, 78, 98.
42:48
S5: It's low hanging fruit, man. How is Jesus changed you?
42:52
S5: It could be salvation. It could be sanctification where you've
42:56
S5: had big breakthrough spiritually. You've renounced ungodliness, worldly passions. You're
43:00
S5: living self-controlled and righteous lives in this present age. And
43:05
S5: that's because of God's power in you. 800 555, 78, 98.
43:10
S5: Taking your calls. Light em up, guys. Julie in Ohio.
43:14
S5: What's your story? Julie.
43:16
S10: Hi. Um, my husband was unfaithful for so many years,
43:20
S10: and I didn't know. And suddenly one day, he, uh,
43:24
S10: packed up all of his stuff and left when I
43:27
S10: was gone with the kids, and, um, he filed for divorce,
43:31
S10: and right away, God told me to stand for my
43:35
S10: marriage and I didn't know why it ended. I mean,
43:39
S10: you know, we had our little fights here and there,
43:41
S10: but nothing that he would have left. And God told
43:45
S10: me to stay in for that marriage. I prayed, I fasted,
43:48
S10: I had others praying, and I had so many. Um,
43:52
S10: I was just so close with God at that time.
43:55
S10: And after three years, um, suddenly my husband came back,
44:00
S10: we were on vacation and he said, hey, I'm ten
44:04
S10: minutes from you. We talked here and there, but nothing,
44:07
S10: nothing at all like getting back together. He said, I'm
44:11
S10: ten minutes from you. He came, we reconciled and months
44:15
S10: later we got remarried. But God totally was transforming him.
44:19
S10: While I was praying and reaching out to God for him.
44:23
S10: And he totally transformed his life. He's back living for God. And, um,
44:30
S10: it was amazing. I mean, there's too much to go into.
44:32
S5: Yeah, but it's beautiful.
44:34
S10: We write in a book that's all the miracles and
44:37
S10: things that was on my end. Spiritually, we don't know
44:40
S10: when we pray what God is doing in the spirit realm.
44:45
S10: And he just. And I didn't know until he came
44:48
S10: back why he left and that he had cheated. I
44:52
S10: am almost glad that I didn't know, because I don't
44:54
S10: know if I could have prayed the way I did
44:56
S10: for him, but he was like the prodigal son that
44:59
S10: just came back one day.
45:01
S5: Yeah, Julie. That's beautiful man. And that's such an encouragement
45:04
S5: to so many people listening right now. Godspeed, sister. Boom.
45:09
S5: That's why we call you the boom crew. Brittany. First
45:12
S5: time caller in Florida. How has Jesus changed you?
45:17
S11: Hi. Good morning. Um, I have been walking with Jesus
45:20
S11: a long time, and I would say that he has
45:23
S11: freed me from being a prisoner of self. And that
45:25
S11: has definitely been the story of my life and sanctification.
45:31
S5: Oh, that is beautiful. Brittany, how did that happen? How
45:35
S5: did how did that happen?
45:38
S11: I would I would say the biggest thing is the
45:41
S11: Word of God, the Word of God. It has delivered
45:44
S11: me from fear, from anger, unforgiveness, all of it. And
45:48
S11: when we get into the Word of God, it is
45:51
S11: alive and active, and it reads me as much as
45:54
S11: I read it, and it has just set me free.
45:59
S5: No, listen, stop right there, Brittany, what you just said
46:01
S5: is so profoundly true. It reads me more than I
46:04
S5: read it. And that hurts a little bit, doesn't it?
46:09
S11: Oh, yeah. Sanctification hurts it definitely, because the flesh is dying.
46:13
S11: And so if anything's dying in debt, it's going to
46:15
S11: not be a you know, it's going to be a
46:17
S11: painful process. But what Jesus does in us as we
46:21
S11: decrease and he increases the spirit. It's so much better
46:25
S11: than self.
46:26
S5: That is so beautiful. Well. Godspeed, Brittany. Way to go, sister.
46:31
S5: How long have you been listening to Moody Radio?
46:34
S11: Um, I would say since I moved to Naples, Florida. Um,
46:37
S11: and yeah, so over the past couple years and you
46:39
S11: guys are always super encouraging and I've never called in.
46:42
S11: So this was just, I think the spirit and a
46:44
S11: leap of faith.
46:45
S5: Yeah. Well, you did it and you did super well
46:47
S5: articulating your story. So guess what? Out of the blue, boom.
46:50
S5: I'm sending you a Carl and Crew prize back. How
46:52
S5: about them apples, Brittany?
46:55
S11: Oh, fun.
46:56
S5: Yeah.
46:57
S11: We're good. Thank you guys for all that you do.
46:59
S5: Thank you. Brittany, you're a blessing. Kathy in Grand Haven, Michigan.
47:04
S5: What do you say, Kathy?
47:06
S12: I say that God transformed our lives and saved our marriage.
47:10
S5: How'd that happen, girl?
47:13
S12: We moved to Alaska in 1980. Our marriage was a
47:16
S12: mess by 1981. And God sent us to a little
47:19
S12: village called Fort Yukon, Alaska, where my husband worked on
47:22
S12: a job there. There was a missionary there. Um, first
47:26
S12: service I went to, there was eight people there and
47:30
S12: my husband started going and they just loved on us.
47:35
S12: And so we moved to Fairbanks and after the job finished,
47:39
S12: got in a good church. I ended up going to. Well,
47:43
S12: my husband was saved. Then in November of 81, we
47:47
S12: moved down to Bible College a few years later and
47:50
S12: ended up going back to Alaska and serving for 15
47:54
S12: years in Inupiat Eskimo Village on the North Slope of Alaska.
47:58
S5: Yeah. What was the name of that village?
48:01
S12: Uh, the village of Wainwright. It's up by Barrow.
48:04
S5: Yeah. I've been to Wainwright.
48:06
S12: Oh. Have you? Yeah, on the slope. So we were there. And, um.
48:10
S12: I just want to say, don't underestimate the impact that
48:13
S12: you have on other people, because if those missionaries wouldn't
48:17
S12: have been there in Alaska, I'm going to cry. It's.
48:20
S12: I don't know where we would be today. I do
48:22
S12: not know where we'd be the day if Jim and
48:25
S12: Dee Keeling weren't at that that little work.
48:28
S5: You know what's amazing about this? Because I was born
48:31
S5: and raised in Alaska. But Cathy, here's what.
48:33
S12: So but I wasn't sure where.
48:35
S5: Yeah. No, I was born in Homer and raised. Raised
48:37
S5: up there. Here's the interesting thing. I know missionaries all
48:40
S5: around that state and a lot of them go there
48:42
S5: and it is a thankless job. It is hard ground.
48:46
S5: The amount of alcoholism, sexual abuse that's going on in
48:50
S5: villages is so staggering. But the the fact that you
48:54
S5: got eight people, most people would say, what's what's eight
48:57
S5: people on a Sunday morning, you know, what are we
49:00
S5: doing here? Right. But you were there. And your story
49:03
S5: is a living legacy that we don't know how impactful
49:08
S5: one life can be. And Cathy, that's that's that's awesome,
49:12
S5: young lady. I'm going to send Cathy a Carl and
49:15
S5: crew prize pack.
49:17
S3: I think we should. That's a good.
49:18
S5: Idea. Postage isn't too bad to Grand Haven, is it? Michigan?
49:21
S3: Grand Haven is not too far away from where we're
49:23
S3: sending these packages.
49:24
S5: Do that good sin went up to Grand Haven.
49:27
S3: You got.
49:27
S5: It. How cool. Hearing these stories have change.
49:30
S3: What a blessing. And I love it, she said. Don't
49:32
S3: underestimate the impact. We've been talking this whole week about impact.
49:36
S3: God does great things even through small little operations sometimes.
49:42
S5: Yeah yeah yeah. Don't underestimate the power that God can
49:49
S5: use in and through your life as a conduit of
49:52
S5: what he wants to do in someone else. Don't underestimate it.
49:55
S5: Don't underestimate the power of prayer to save a marriage.
49:59
S5: I mean, we've heard story after story here of the
50:02
S5: power of God that transcends circumstances to change us, be
50:08
S5: that life for someone else. Today.
50:10
S1: He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
50:13
S1: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
50:18
S1: Carl and crew on Moody radio.
50:20
S5: Doctor Ron Sauer is with me right now, retired professor
50:25
S5: of Bible and Greek from Moody Bible Institute, still investing
50:30
S5: in the lives of men and women. He and his
50:32
S5: bride have a legacy that is long of lives that
50:35
S5: have been impacted. And he's with me right now. Ron,
50:37
S5: good to have you with us this morning.
50:39
S13: Thank you Paul, it's good to be with you.
50:41
S5: I want to begin with, um, the power of the spirit.
50:45
S5: I confessed in a writing here that I did a
50:47
S5: few years ago that the Holy Spirit was my lost
50:50
S5: God for a season. I was raised. My history is,
50:54
S5: you know, Multnomah Bible College, Denver Seminary, um, good Bible preaching.
50:59
S5: And we talked a lot about the Holy Spirit. I
51:02
S5: wrote doctrinal positions on the role of the Holy Spirit.
51:08
S5: And yet it wasn't until I stumbled across a sweet
51:12
S5: little passage in the Gospel of John where Jesus told
51:15
S5: his disciples, it's to your advantage that I go because
51:19
S5: the Holy Spirit will come. And I went on an
51:21
S5: exploration tour of, well, what's this advantage in. AM I
51:26
S5: living it? And I soon found out I. I was
51:31
S5: not listening to the voice of the spirit who wants
51:34
S5: to practically in in a very real way, guide us
51:37
S5: into all truth. Ron, have you always understood the power
51:41
S5: of the Holy Spirit from the day you were born again,
51:43
S5: or has this been a growth curve for you as well?
51:46
S13: It's been the latter. Okay. In fact, after I graduated
51:50
S13: from Dallas Seminary, I realized I knew very little practically
51:54
S13: about the Holy Spirit. I knew about him intellectually. I
51:56
S13: took a whole semester course on pneumatology the study of
51:59
S13: the Holy Spirit. So after I graduated, the first thing
52:01
S13: I did was study the book of Galatians, because it
52:03
S13: has quite a bit to say about the Holy Spirit.
52:06
S13: And that was wonderful. It really helped me catch up
52:10
S13: practically in my knowledge and experience of the Holy Spirit.
52:14
S5: Yeah. And I think a lot of people get freaked
52:16
S5: out and there's been pendulum moves and we talk about
52:19
S5: it a lot around here. They see abuses of the
52:21
S5: Holy Spirit, and then sometimes we can pendulum away from that.
52:25
S5: And pretty quick, we've thrown out the proverbial baby with
52:28
S5: the bathwater. And in this case, the Holy Spirit gets neglected.
52:31
S5: And he is here right now. Okay, I want to
52:34
S5: get to one particular thing we find in John 14
52:37
S5: and John 16 and even Romans eight that he is
52:41
S5: a comforter. Um, he's a friend. He's he convicts regarding sin, righteousness,
52:47
S5: and judgment. But Jesus also says that the Holy Spirit
52:51
S5: will bring to your remembrance all that I have spoken.
52:54
S5: And he's going to guide you in truth. And it
52:56
S5: wasn't until about I'm almost embarrassed to say this. It
53:00
S5: wasn't until about probably eight years ago, really, when it
53:04
S5: began to dawn on me these things that I've called
53:07
S5: kind of promptings or nudges, where the Holy Spirit reminding
53:12
S5: me of truth, how to love my wife and how
53:15
S5: to speak to my radio team and so on and
53:17
S5: so forth. That's not crazy, is it, Ron?
53:20
S13: No it's not. Jesus meant exactly what he said. He
53:23
S13: taught the disciples. He left and went back to heaven.
53:26
S13: They were, in a sense, left without Jesus, but he
53:29
S13: sent the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit would periodically,
53:33
S13: when necessary, remind the disciples of the very truths that
53:36
S13: Jesus taught.
53:37
S5: How do we know we're hearing the Spirit's voice and
53:41
S5: not our own?
53:43
S13: I think the conviction that the Holy Spirit gives us.
53:46
S13: And besides, we are on our own in the sense
53:49
S13: that we can't remember everything that the Bible says. And
53:53
S13: from time to time, the Holy Spirit will bring those
53:56
S13: verses to our memory so that we can hold fast
54:00
S13: to them. The Holy Spirit gives us a conviction that
54:03
S13: this is from him not, not from us.
54:06
S5: You know, I've gotten to a point that I know
54:09
S5: this could sound a little bit bizarre, but I got
54:11
S5: a hunch you're with me on this one. I've. I've
54:14
S5: had the Holy Spirit prompt me in the middle of
54:19
S5: a message. Ron. Not once. Many times or on radio,
54:24
S5: I'll be prompted. Always anchored in truth, the truth of
54:29
S5: God's Word. Not some new wacky revelation, but I mean
54:33
S5: anchored in truth. Oh, let's not go there. I've heard
54:37
S5: while I've been teaching, I have heard these words from.
54:41
S5: I believe them to be God. Don't tell this story
54:44
S5: in a way that's self-aggrandizing. Be careful here. I believe
54:48
S5: that God is that intimate with us. What say you,
54:51
S5: Ron Sauer?
54:52
S13: Yes, yes. One Sunday morning, I was walking to the
54:55
S13: pulpit to deliver the message that I had given. And
54:58
S13: before I got to the pulpit, it was like the
55:00
S13: Holy Spirit said to me, forget that sermon. Here's the
55:03
S13: one I want you to preach. And on the spur
55:05
S13: of the moment, that's exactly what I did. It was
55:07
S13: it was more appropriate. Listen, I have a good friend
55:10
S13: in North Carolina. He was not a Christian. And his
55:14
S13: wife said, today I'm leaving you. And he's very upset
55:16
S13: about it. He was a bread truck driver, so he
55:18
S13: got into his truck. He was going to work. He
55:20
S13: was very angry. And he said to himself, I don't
55:24
S13: blame my wife for leaving me. But if anybody looks
55:27
S13: to me today with a frown on his face, I'm
55:29
S13: going to hit him in the face as hard as
55:31
S13: I can. He was a mean man and he was
55:33
S13: driving his truck. The Holy Spirit brought to his memory
55:37
S13: a verse that he had memorized as a kid in
55:40
S13: Sunday School. That verse convicted him. He pulled his bread
55:43
S13: truck over to the side, went to the back, knelt a,
55:46
S13: repented of his sin and asked Christ to come into
55:48
S13: his life. Wow. He became an incredible Christian. And where
55:52
S13: did that come from? Well, it began with Sunday school
55:54
S13: is a. Is a boy 12 years old? The Lord
55:57
S13: planted a seed in his heart. Decades later, that seed
56:00
S13: came to fruition. The Holy Spirit reminded him of it,
56:03
S13: convicting him of his sin. He was born again.
56:06
S5: Man. Doctor Ron Sauer, my guest right now. Ron. Why?
56:10
S5: Why did we fall into this malaise in in great
56:15
S5: Bible preaching, scholarly institutions? How did we get into this,
56:20
S5: where we ignored the power of the Holy Spirit as
56:23
S5: described and prescribed by Jesus himself?
56:26
S13: You know, I think one reason and I can't remember
56:31
S13: the British scholar, very fine British scholar who calls the
56:35
S13: Holy Spirit the shiye SHY the Shai sovereign. What a
56:43
S13: wonderful expression. And that is these John 14, where Jesus said, me,
56:48
S13: the Holy Spirit will glorify the Greek me is emphatic.
56:53
S13: In other words, the Holy Spirit is not here to
56:54
S13: glorify himself, but to glorify Christ. And so, you know,
57:00
S13: in Christianity, and rightly so, our focus is on our
57:04
S13: Savior Jesus Christ. And that's okay with the Holy Spirit
57:08
S13: because he sent to glorify Christ. And I think that
57:12
S13: sometimes that may contribute to our forgetting about the Holy Spirit.
57:17
S13: But think about Galatians 516. Walk by the spirit and
57:21
S13: you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
57:23
S5: That's a promise.
57:24
S13: Either we live our life by that standard or ever.
57:29
S13: How we're living the Christian life is inaccurate.
57:32
S5: Yeah. And then you've got to conclude run to walk
57:35
S5: by the spirit. And by the way, he goes on
57:37
S5: to say, if you live in the spirit, keep in
57:39
S5: step with the spirit. It implies that the Spirit of
57:41
S5: God is living and active, moving, wielding the word. And
57:45
S5: by the way, comforting, encouraging, convicting, correcting, guiding. Oh my goodness,
57:51
S5: we need to be more attentive to. I think we
57:54
S5: live very well. We live very horizontally on a knowledge basis.
58:02
S5: And the sensitivity to the spirit. I know for some
58:05
S5: it could sound mystical. I think it's solidly biblical. We
58:09
S5: need to keep our sails high so that the Spirit
58:12
S5: of God can direct our life according to the word.
58:15
S5: Final thought on that one, Ron.
58:17
S13: Yes, you're right, the Holy Spirit has a multifaceted ministry.
58:21
S13: And so this morning when I got up, just in
58:24
S13: my own prayer time, I just said, Lord, Holy Spirit,
58:28
S13: Jesus said, you're with me. I believe that now. I
58:30
S13: need you today, and you are here to cultivate in
58:35
S13: me your wonderful graces and virtues, the character and the
58:38
S13: conduct of Jesus you want to bring about and deepen
58:41
S13: and mature in me the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience.
58:44
S13: Oh Lord, I want that. Today I'm going to make
58:48
S13: a commitment to you for just 24 hours. I will
58:50
S13: be submissive to you. I will lean on you, and
58:54
S13: I will depend on you to empower me to live
58:57
S13: today the way God wants me to. And I'm anticipating
59:01
S13: seeing the effects of your presence in my life. You know,
59:04
S13: when I got married, my wife moved in with me
59:06
S13: and started living with me. Her presence made huge differences
59:10
S13: in my life, mostly for good. Now she's only a
59:12
S13: human being. But what about when the divine spirit moves
59:15
S13: in with me and he's a permanent guest in my life?
59:19
S13: There's bound to be differences all for the better. And
59:22
S13: so Faith expects. Faith anticipates that.
59:26
S5: Okay, I got to do this. We've covered some ground today.
59:29
S5: Really quick question here. There's a lot of parents right now.
59:32
S5: We live in this wild new age where kids that
59:34
S5: were raised in church by imperfect, but really good moms
59:38
S5: and dads who cry a lot of tears and have
59:41
S5: even gone to their kids and say, forgive me for
59:43
S5: being wrong here. And in iterating what that is. There's
59:49
S5: a cry of the soul. It's like, God, what do
59:51
S5: we do? What do you say to the parent with
59:53
S5: regard to their own discipleship? What do they need to
59:58
S5: be alert to and active in so that they can
1:00:03
S5: still radiate brightly for their children, that they love, that
1:00:07
S5: they could be a part of their story that brings
1:00:09
S5: them to Jesus.
1:00:11
S13: I want to point those people to Romans 1513. What
1:00:16
S13: a verse. Now may the God of hope fill you
1:00:19
S13: with all joy and peace as you trust him, so
1:00:24
S13: you will overflow in hope by the power of the
1:00:28
S13: Holy Spirit.
1:00:29
S5: There we go again.
1:00:31
S13: So the Lord, the Holy Spirit, wants to give us
1:00:33
S13: three wonderful blessings, joy, peace, and hope and keep praying
1:00:40
S13: for our rebellious child. Listen, we have a wonderful son, Geoffrey, today.
1:00:47
S13: He is 44 years old and we raised him correctly.
1:00:52
S13: And he calls himself a former prodigal. We kept praying
1:00:56
S13: for him and he was, according to him, he found
1:00:59
S13: Christ in the back of a police car. Wow. They
1:01:02
S13: arrested him. They were taking him to jail. And that's
1:01:05
S13: where he found Christ. And today he's walking with the Lord.
1:01:07
S13: He's hungry and passionate for the word, and he's serving
1:01:10
S13: the Lord.
1:01:12
S5: You know, as a dad, there must have been some
1:01:14
S5: tears shed over when he was out there sowing some wild,
1:01:17
S5: crazy oats.
1:01:18
S13: Many, many.
1:01:20
S5: Did you ever get to the point where you wondered what.
1:01:23
S5: What's it going to take?
1:01:24
S13: Oh, yeah.
1:01:25
S5: Yeah, yeah. It's beautiful Ron. And yet God can do it.
1:01:28
S5: So hold on to that hope. Ron Sauer, everybody. And
1:01:32
S5: by the way, I want to point you to some
1:01:34
S5: resources that Ron has. Just text the word quiet. One
1:01:39
S5: word quiet to 805 five, five, 78, 98. One word
1:01:43
S5: quiet to 800 555, 78, 98. He's the host of
1:01:50
S5: a podcast called Quiet Time, and there's a lot of
1:01:53
S5: other resources there. Check it out. Text quiet to our
1:01:56
S5: number here 805 557898.