Latest / Karl and Crew / What Men Need to Grow Spiritually with Dr. Robert Lewis & How to Rekindle Your Love for the Lord

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What Men Need to Grow Spiritually with Dr. Robert Lewis & How to Rekindle Your Love for the Lord · 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.
• 0:14
  S1: Start your morning with a laugh.
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  S2: Cold spaghetti is great. Okay.
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  S3: Okay, I disagree. I guess not. No, I guess certainly
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  S3: it is not. No. Okay. Well, man, I'm going back.
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  S2: To my bachelor days, I guess. I like cold spaghetti
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  S2: was universally loved.
• 0:31
  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: You might have heard it, but today and Friday we're
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  S2: going to really soak this announcement out there. And then
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  S2: we're going to give it a break, a little breather,
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  S2: because it's a year away. But we'd love to give
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  S2: you a heads up so that you can get on board.
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  S2: It's called the Alaskan Cruise or we've rebranded this thing,
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  S2: haven't we, Allie?
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  S4: Well, the discipleship cruise or the discipleship.
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  S2: That was so good. We had a listener that said that.
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  S3: I can't believe we didn't think of that.
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  S2: I didn't think of that at all. It was so
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  S2: far removed and that popped up and I'm like, yeah.
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  S4: I love a good wordplay. That's really, really strong.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: So good. So June 5th. We depart Seattle next year,
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  S2: obviously a year from now for a week long inside
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  S2: passage cruise on a on a ship. We're not taking
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  S2: rafts and tying them together and rowing. I tried to
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  S2: talk Mark Jobe into that. He wasn't up for it.
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  S2: But we're going to take a bona fide ship, a
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  S2: real one, and we're going to take the inside passage.
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  S2: We're going to see sights that are going to be
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  S2: mind blowing. I have not been on the inside passage,
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  S2: and I am thrilled. This is a portion of Alaska,
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  S2: at least from sea, that I haven't seen before. We're
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  S2: going to touch down in the capital, the only landlocked capital,
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  S2: by the way, in the United States, capital of Juneau
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  S2: and Sitka. I don't know if we're going to Skagway
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  S2: or not. I looked at that itinerary just a little bit,
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  S2: going to Glacier Bay, and then on the way back,
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  S2: even Victoria, B.C., it's going to be an incredible, incredible trip.
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  S2: But here's the best part. We're going to be open
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  S2: in the word together and worshiping God together. We're going
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  S2: to be opening the word, we're going to be inviting
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  S2: you to apply the truths that we discover. And I
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  S2: believe we can walk away from this week with a
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  S2: robust change trajectory in our relationship with God. And some
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  S2: of you might be growing strong. I believe you're going
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  S2: to be growing stronger, I really do. It's going to
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  S2: be one of those intensive weeks that are going to
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  S2: really be transformational. Ali, I am fired up.
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  S4: Yeah. I mean, this is going to be a trip
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  S4: of a lifetime. I mean, I'm looking at this itinerary.
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  S4: It is packed. The different stops, the days at sea,
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  S4: being able to just relax. And all through this all
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  S4: throughout the trip, you're going to be taking in great
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  S4: teaching from Doctor Michael Ryan who's going to be on board. Carl.
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  S4: Of course, this is his home state. He couldn't miss
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  S4: out on this one. Micah Tyler's going to be providing worship.
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  S4: So if you want to be a part of this,
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  S4: it is a year out, almost to the day. Moody
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  S4: Radio Alaska Cruise 2027. Just text cruise to 800 555, 7898.
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  S4: Just that one word. Cruz. Leave off any emojis because
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  S4: that'll keep you from getting the link that you want.
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  S4: Cruz to 805 557898.
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  S2: Yeah, really cool. Looking forward to it. Big time. So
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  S2: take a look at it, do some praying, see if
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  S2: this is something that you or your loved one want
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  S2: to do. By the way, you can come alone on
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  S2: this thing and you won't leave alone. You're going to
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  S2: have some new friends on this trip, right?
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  S4: Oh, yeah. You know, I was FaceTiming with my sister
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  S4: who's on a cruise right now, and she was FaceTiming
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  S4: me from the ship and telling me about all of
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  S4: the fun happenings. And cruise ships can be wild places.
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  S4: Like they were going to watch karaoke, they're going to
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  S4: watch Motown. You know, it's like there's, there's a lot
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  S4: of fun things that happen on every cruise, but I
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  S4: can tell you 100%, not every cruise is going to
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  S4: have the kind of discipleship training that this Alaskan cruise.
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  S2: That's one of the funniest comments ever. Not every cruise
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  S2: is going to have no man. Uh, I've been on him.
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  S2: I have not seen. I've looked all over. I've never
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  S2: seen discipleship training except when I'm. I'm this crazy body
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  S2: clock of mine when I'm going on a couple of
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  S2: cruises with my bride. I am up before anyone. Now,
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  S2: it's usually me and two other dudes and we're all
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  S2: older dudes, man. So we come slogging down there looking
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  S2: for coffee. You know, it was on first cruise. It's
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  S2: like one old timer said, yeah, I don't know why
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  S2: they don't have coffee going. I said, it could be
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  S2: because it's 4 a.m. but.
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  S3: It's.
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  S4: The early risers special. Whether you're an early riser or
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  S4: you want to sleep in, this is going to be
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  S4: a great opportunity for you. So just text cruise. We'll
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  S4: get you set up with all the details. The website
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  S4: is pretty extensive, so a lot of your questions will
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  S4: be answered there. They've got travel agents support by phone
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  S4: so that you can, if you've never taken a cruise,
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  S4: don't really know even where to start with, how to
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  S4: pick some of these different things. Just text cruise to
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  S4: 805 five, five, 78, 98.
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  S2: Yeah, it's going to be great. So we're talking discipleship
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  S2: all week long, and you may feel like a disciple
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  S2: who is derailed. Maybe you did a face plant, you're
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  S2: still on the path, but you don't even know how
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  S2: to lift your head. It's like you're so ashamed. Maybe
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  S2: apathy is set in big time and you feel like, boy,
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  S2: what's going on here? Maybe you don't even know how
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  S2: derailed you are, but God wants to restore that. My
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  S2: heart goes out to you as I've been thinking about
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  S2: this for the last two days, actually, this morning and
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  S2: yesterday I was thinking on this one heavy because of
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  S2: our audience. It's pretty vast, far flung, a lot of
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  S2: different backgrounds. A lot of you are brand new in Jesus.
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  S2: Many of you have been following Christ for 40, 50,
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  S2: some 60, 70 years. Are you kidding me? But for
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  S2: all of us, the risk of becoming a derailed disciple
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  S2: is real. I wish I could say we were immune
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  S2: to it. I always joke that Ali is the only
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  S2: one immune to it in situations like this, but I
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  S2: won't even joke that way because that's just not true.
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  S4: Nobody is immune, and that's always a joke when he
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  S4: says it every other time too.
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  S7: So just so you know, just to clarify, just to clarify.
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  S2: Yeah, but God has more for you. I don't care
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  S2: where you're at today. I don't care how derailed, I
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  S2: don't care what kind of moral failing you have. Our
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  S2: God is a God of do overs. He can wipe
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  S2: the slate clean and put a new song in your heart.
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  S2: We're going to talk about it here this morning.
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  S1: Breaking chains and running free. You're listening to Carl and Crew.
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  S2: How can you not see God? And you might say, well, sometimes, Carl,
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  S2: isn't it possible that you cannot see God even though
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  S2: you are genuinely born again? And the answer is absolutely.
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  S2: There can be desert seasons when the Lord's allowing you
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  S2: to draw near to him in ways that you had
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  S2: never imagined. I mean, that's real. But we find in
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  S2: Scripture that a church was addressed and applauded for the
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  S2: good stuff they were doing, but a dangerous thing. They
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  S2: had left their first love. Take it away, Allie. This
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  S2: is insightful.
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  S4: Yeah. This is to the church in Ephesus. Revelation two,
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  S4: verse four and five. But I have this against you,
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  S4: that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
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  S4: Remember therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do
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  S4: the works you did at first. If not, I will
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  S4: come to you and remove your lampstand from its place
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  S4: unless you repent.
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  S2: Yeah, it's really interesting. I think sometimes we look at
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  S2: repentance as a one and done. We repent from our
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  S2: sins off the broad path. We love to talk about
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  S2: that around here because it's the way of salvation. But
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  S2: on that narrow path, we still have times when we
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  S2: find ourselves turned around going the wrong way. That's why
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  S2: we're called to repent again. Isn't that almost funny?
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  S4: Yeah. I mean, and anybody who's most people who've been
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  S4: in church for any number of years have heard sermons
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  S4: preached about this or have heard the the phrase lost
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  S4: your first love. How have you heard that wrongly presented?
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  S4: And I'm not I'm not looking for.
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  S7: A good question.
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  S4: I'm not looking to take down any any pastors or anything,
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  S4: but I think sometimes this can be used in, in,
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  S4: in ways that maybe aren't truly biblical.
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  S2: Oh yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm certain I can't recall
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  S2: one right now, but often passages like this are a
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  S2: call to start giving more.
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  S3: Oh, man. Yeah.
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  S2: You don't love God, so you got to start giving more.
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  S2: Come on, man, get back to your first love. Let's
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  S2: get your priorities straight.
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  S4: Interesting.
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  S2: Or any other kind of spiritual discipline that a pastor
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  S2: under pressure feels to like, use it to conjure people up, right?
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  S4: So linked to so the love for God kind of
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  S4: proven in a certain action.
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  S3: Yeah. Link to doing more. Yeah.
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  S2: Interestingly enough.
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  S3: Um.
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  S2: I'm going to give you the punchline here. The punchline
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  S2: is this. If you look at the church of Ephesus,
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  S2: even in the book of acts, when it's launched and
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  S2: on from there, it's returning to the basics. I don't
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  S2: care where you at, where you're at, what you've fallen,
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  S2: how you've fallen, how you've become a derailed disciple, just
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  S2: general apathy or some moral failure that you did. The
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  S2: answer is the same. There's a few things. Get back
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  S2: to your passionate love for Jesus and your love for
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  S2: one another. Great commandment. That's what they were noted for
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  S2: in Ephesians 115, and that's what he's asking them to
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  S2: get back to. They were zealous for sharing the gospel
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  S2: we find in acts 19. He says, get back to it.
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  S2: And by the way, in acts 19, they were known
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  S2: for repentance and humility. And he says, get back to it.
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  S2: Their devotion to prayer and worship was a hallmark of
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  S2: this church. They were plotted for sound doctrine and perseverance.
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  S2: In that passage, right before what I read, their discernment, endurance,
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  S2: hatred of false teaching. So they had a lot of things, right.
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  S2: But here they are derailed.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: Isn't that something?
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  S3: You know what I find interesting? And Carl, let me
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  S3: know if I'm right about this because I haven't done
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  S3: a big study, but I'm I'm reading the first part
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  S3: where he says, I know your works, your toil and
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  S3: your patience, endurance and, and how you cannot bear with
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  S3: those who are evil, but have tested those who call
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  S3: themselves apostles and are not and have found them to
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  S3: be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing
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  S3: up for my name's sake, and have not grown weary.
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  S3: That sounds all present tense. It sounds like things they
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  S3: are still doing.
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  S2: Oh yeah, they were doing it. I mean, all seven
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  S2: churches when he. When Jesus is talking to him through
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  S2: John on the island of Patmos, the stuff he's applauding
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  S2: him for. They were doing it.
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  S3: So it's interesting because you said that, you know, an
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  S3: incorrect interpretation that sometimes people get in is you have
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  S3: to get back to doing this and doing that. Well,
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  S3: these people are still doing good works Yet what God
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  S3: has against them is that they weren't loving him.
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  S2: Yeah. Isn't that something?
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  S3: It's very interesting.
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  S2: And you got to imagine that what was going on
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  S2: in Ephesus is the dynamism of life in Christ had
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  S2: been lost. So they're going through the perfunctory things. A
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  S2: guy gets up there and starts dishing up the word
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  S2: and they're going, hey, get him down. That guy's preaching falsehood.
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  S7: Get out of.
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  S2: Here. You know, I mean, they're booting them out of Ephesus. Yeah,
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  S2: but is that what it's all about? And the answer
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  S2: is no.
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  S3: No. The works became just going through the motions rather
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  S3: than them being an act of love.
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  S7: Yeah.
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  S2: You know, I got to kind of guard this a
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  S2: little bit, but I've been talking with a guy that
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  S2: totally stepped in. The kimchi man went out and cheated
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  S2: on his wife. And he's repentant. I'm talking Psalm 516 repentant.
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  S2: That song was written after Nathan busted out David with
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  S2: what he had done. He. He totally sidelined, muzzled him.
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  S2: He gives him a story and David gets incensed. He's
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  S2: like that guy.
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  S7: It's you, it's you.
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  S2: Throw him into hell. And yeah, that's what Nathan said, dude, that's.
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  S2: You remember Bathsheba. Remember how you killed your I o
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  S2: and David broke. Yeah. The interesting thing is you might wonder, well,
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  S2: what's a pastor say to a guy that got caught
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  S2: stealing on his wife? What do you say to a
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  S2: guy like that? Oh, there's a lot of need. First off,
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  S2: to not be a quick fixer, because temptation is I
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  S2: got to fix this thing because he genuinely loves God.
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  S2: There's no doubt about it. I think doing a postmortem
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  S2: on how in the heck did I get here? Super wise,
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  S2: Super wise. But at the end of the day, you
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  S2: know what I've been coaching this brother to do? Sit
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  S2: with God, sit with God, renew your love relationship with him.
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  S2: Don't make any empty promises to your wife. Here's another.
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  S2: Let me give you a few of the coaching things.
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  S2: Don't say please forgive me and then expect the conversation
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  S2: to stop there. She'll have a lot of questions. By
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  S2: the way, let me throw in some more mustard here.
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  S2: Give her all the detail that is needed without giving
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  S2: too much detail, that she's going to shoulder something the
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  S2: rest of her life that she needs to not be shouldering.
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  S2: Own what you can, everything you can. And when she
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  S2: comes back to you for the 29th time saying, what
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  S2: was I. Not that she was. Graciously say the answer.
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  S2: I don't know. I was in a spiritual sick place.
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  S2: I can't even make heads or tails out of it
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  S2: because he can't. All I know is that I'm wanting
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  S2: to restore trust in you and renew that love. When
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  S2: this happened, I told him, you know, this is going
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  S2: to take a long time to walk out of this.
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  S2: He goes, well, I'm blown away, man. My, my, my
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  S2: bride's really forgiven me. And she's like, let's let's move on.
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  S2: I said, listen, bro, that's going to change. We're in
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  S2: shock and awe moment here. And I talked to him
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  S2: yesterday and he said, yeah man, we're going through it now.
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  S2: We're in the long haul. So what do you do?
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  S2: Moral failure. Apathy. You've been doing all the right stuff,
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  S2: but it doesn't feel right. And you feel like your
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  S2: love for God has grown cold. Well, that's what happened.
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  S2: Return to your first love. And you know who it is?
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  S2: It's Jesus. And there's no substitute for just sitting with
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  S2: him and talking with him and saying, how did I
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  S2: get here? And then listening to the spirit. Those postmortems
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  S2: are awesome things to do. They're horrible. We've all had
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  S2: to do them, if we're honest with ourselves, haven't we?
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  S2: We've all had to do them at some level when
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  S2: we find ourselves cold and indifferent.
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  S4: Yeah. And I think I think it's the question of
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  S4: how did how did I get here? And there's the, the,
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  S4: the obvious, like, you know, the affair, you're doing a
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  S4: different kind of postmortem, but you still need to when
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  S4: it's apathy, you still want to sit there and go,
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  S4: how did I get here? How did I get from
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  S4: a place where, man, I don't. I'm struggling to read
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  S4: my Bible, even though I've been walking with the Lord
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  S4: for two decades and I haven't prayed in weeks other
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  S4: than when I prayed it out loud at a prayer
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  S4: meeting when they asked me to pray. And how did
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  S4: I get here? I used to be a person who
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  S4: got up early and, you know, just those simple kind.
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  S4: How did I get here? Was it the busyness of life?
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  S4: Was it the. The cares of the world? Was it distractions?
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  S4: Was it what was it?
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  S3: Yeah. You know, it's it's funny, I because Carl, you're right.
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  S3: You know, sometimes it goes for people in that sense
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  S3: of like an affair. And how did I get here?
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  S3: Sometimes it's a way that everyone can kind of relate to.
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  S3: I remember a couple years ago, I was on vacation
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  S3: with my wife and my daughter, and I was particularly irritable, uh,
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  S3: that weekend and, and things were frustrating me.
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  S7: A real joy to be around.
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  S3: I was a real joy to be around. It was
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  S3: all it was all me too. It just, I just
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  S3: was in a bad place and, and my wife was
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  S3: catching on to it. And after one particular little, you know,
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  S3: bit of attitude or something I gave, I can't remember,
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  S3: she looked at me and she said, you are really
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  S3: irritable right now. You haven't been spending a lot of
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  S3: time with Jesus, have you? And and you know what?
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  S3: She was 100% correct about it. And she said it
• 17:51
  S3: lovingly but convincingly. She was right. Oh, I, I had
• 17:56
  S3: gotten completely away from spending time with Jesus, and I
• 18:01
  S3: had let my spirit grow cold and irritable and frustrated
• 18:05
  S3: and nothing life giving was coming out of me in
• 18:09
  S3: that moment in time. And she could tell it was
• 18:12
  S3: that spirit in me was, was, was so outpouring that
• 18:17
  S3: she knew he hasn't been spending a lot of time
• 18:19
  S3: with Jesus because nothing life giving is pouring out of
• 18:22
  S3: him in these days.
• 18:23
  S2: One thing that comes to mind, man, your bride's courageous.
• 18:26
  S3: She is. She's courageous.
• 18:27
  S2: The second thought is, did you just embrace that immediately? My, my,
• 18:32
  S2: let me tell you what my response is to those
• 18:34
  S2: kind of moments. Yeah. Don't be telling me anything like that.
• 18:41
  S2: You know, and then. And then I go away, get
• 18:43
  S2: sobered up before the Lord and come back and go, yeah,
• 18:46
  S2: that's me.
• 18:47
  S3: Yeah. You know, it was, uh, it was probably a
• 18:49
  S3: little bit of a mixture of two at the same
• 18:51
  S3: time because as soon as she said it, I knew
• 18:53
  S3: it was like, God hit me in the spirit and
• 18:55
  S3: was like, she's right. And I was like, ah. And
• 18:58
  S3: so it was like reluctantly agreeing like, okay, yes, fine.
• 19:03
  S3: I haven't been spending a lot of time with Jesus.
• 19:06
  S2: Why don't you leave me alone? I'm going to go
• 19:07
  S2: spend time with Jesus. I gotta get away from him
• 19:09
  S2: right now.
• 19:09
  S3: And then no, and then you calm down and you're like,
• 19:11
  S3: you know what? You're absolutely right. I'm very sorry that
• 19:13
  S3: I haven't been spending time with Jesus because it's affecting you,
• 19:16
  S3: and I'm sorry about that. And so you get there.
• 19:19
  S3: But yeah, in the first moment, you don't want to
• 19:21
  S3: admit it.
• 19:22
  S2: No way. She's right. You're like, get out of my face.
• 19:25
  S2: Get out of my face.
• 19:27
  S3: Get out of my face.
• 19:28
  S2: Oh.
• 19:29
  S4: That's. I'm so glad you shared that, Jonathan, because there's
• 19:32
  S4: so many people who are listening. I've been there. Yeah,
• 19:35
  S4: we all have been there. But that's the thing that
• 19:38
  S4: that's like the quiet part that people don't want to
• 19:40
  S4: say out loud.
• 19:41
  S3: Of course, but but literally 100% of people that I'm
• 19:44
  S3: talking to right now have experienced some way, shape or
• 19:47
  S3: form of that story, either in a marriage or in
• 19:50
  S3: a friendship or whatever. Uh, you know, it's, it just
• 19:53
  S3: is life. We have all taken part in, in losing
• 19:58
  S3: our first love for a period of time. And it shows.
• 20:01
  S2: Okay, I got a question for you. And this is
• 20:03
  S2: just to get a feel for what's going on. This
• 20:05
  S2: is going to require some honesty. We do not see names.
• 20:08
  S2: We might have one name out of 2000, but that's
• 20:12
  S2: because they self-disclose and said, this is who I am,
• 20:14
  S2: blah blah blah. But all we see is numbers and
• 20:17
  S2: we're not going to call out numbers. But I'm curious,
• 20:19
  S2: how many of you this morning feel like in light
• 20:22
  S2: of this and this, how the Spirit of God works,
• 20:25
  S2: you have left your first love and the Spirit of
• 20:28
  S2: God saying, come on. Come on back. I'm just curious.
• 20:35
  S2: Just just say that's me or yep, or whatever. Just
• 20:39
  S2: in a word. A word or two. That's it. I'm
• 20:42
  S2: just curious what's going on this morning? It gives us
• 20:45
  S2: a feel for what's happening. Have the courage to send
• 20:47
  S2: it in, would you? 805. 557898. 805. 5578. 98. More
• 20:56
  S2: hope from God's Word about this whole issue of becoming
• 21:00
  S2: a derailed disciple, whether it's moral failure to just garden
• 21:04
  S2: variety apathy. God wants to meet you there. Get your
• 21:09
  S2: heart back to home. Hang on.
• 21:13
  S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
• 21:17
  S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
• 21:20
  S2: Okay, got a lot of responses here at ton and
• 21:23
  S2: proud of you guys. And this is an awesome thing.
• 21:25
  S2: Even those that didn't respond via text, but you know
• 21:27
  S2: in your heart that God's calling you back to your
• 21:30
  S2: first love with Jesus. It's just not worth it, man.
• 21:33
  S2: The spiritual apathy is just deadly. And it's, it's we're
• 21:38
  S2: just we're just putting. We're leaving too many chips on
• 21:42
  S2: the table, man. If you just want it straight up,
• 21:44
  S2: we're leaving too much on the table. But we had
• 21:46
  S2: one response here, Ali, that I want to respond to
• 21:48
  S2: this person. Okay. And I can't get away from it.
• 21:50
  S2: I'm not sure I've discovered my first love, but I'm
• 21:54
  S2: seeking it. So I think a lot of us look
• 21:57
  S2: at a relationship with God and we're like, the question becomes,
• 22:01
  S2: who will love me? Some of us look at our
• 22:04
  S2: life and we go, I'm a mess. And I'll just
• 22:07
  S2: quickly tell you about I remind you of a story,
• 22:09
  S2: my husky pup. When I brought him home, we hadn't
• 22:13
  S2: really bonded, but one morning we bonded. Boy, I woke up.
• 22:15
  S2: I was sleeping downstairs. I had to get him out
• 22:18
  S2: middle of the night to go potty, and I got
• 22:20
  S2: woken up by a smell. Oh, boy. And the short
• 22:24
  S2: of it is, I walked around in front of his
• 22:27
  S2: kennel and I looked in the darkness and he's got
• 22:30
  S2: poop and pee every where. I mean everywhere. And I thought,
• 22:35
  S2: this guy does not need scolding. He's got his head down.
• 22:38
  S2: He feels like a total loser. Even as a young pup.
• 22:42
  S2: And I got cross-legged on the floor and I opened
• 22:44
  S2: up the kennel door and I said, come here. I said,
• 22:48
  S2: come here. And he didn't even look up. He takes
• 22:51
  S2: his slow motion, steps toward me, crawls up in my lap,
• 22:55
  S2: and I got that junk all over me. And I
• 23:01
  S2: want to tell you that's a metaphor for the love
• 23:03
  S2: of Jesus. Jesus does not ask you, friend. And you
• 23:06
  S2: others that are listening right now to get cleaned up.
• 23:09
  S2: The best way to experience his love is to bring
• 23:12
  S2: all the sin and all the mess of your life
• 23:14
  S2: and come to him and say, I need a Savior.
• 23:15
  S2: Will you help me? And he will. So I'm inviting
• 23:21
  S2: you right now to admit. Admit you're a mess. And
• 23:28
  S2: admit that there is a door that is being opened
• 23:30
  S2: to you. And the father's calling you. And he's saying,
• 23:32
  S2: come here. Come on up into my arms. I would
• 23:36
  S2: take all the sin in your life, and I want
• 23:38
  S2: to clean you up because you can't yourself. And I
• 23:42
  S2: want to save your soul. And it's about repentance. And
• 23:44
  S2: it's a cry of the soul that says two things.
• 23:46
  S2: Number one, I'm a sinner. I'm a mess. I need
• 23:49
  S2: a Savior. I'm looking for love. Will you love me?
• 23:52
  S2: And he'll say, come on in. And second, it's turning
• 23:55
  S2: around off of this broad path where you've gotten all
• 23:58
  S2: messed and it's turning toward the narrow path that leads
• 24:02
  S2: to life. And you got nothing to prove, nothing to gain,
• 24:05
  S2: nothing to lose. And if that's what you want today,
• 24:07
  S2: we want to help you and your first steps with Jesus.
• 24:10
  S2: It's a cry of the soul. Tell em I'm a sinner.
• 24:12
  S2: I need a savior today. I'm repenting. I'm holding nothing back.
• 24:16
  S2: I want your love. And if that's you, I just
• 24:19
  S2: want you to text the word new right now, wherever
• 24:21
  S2: you are. New to 805 five, five, seven, 898. We're
• 24:26
  S2: going to help you in your first steps with Jesus.
• 24:28
  S2: But God caught you in this moment today, and he says,
• 24:30
  S2: you've never known this love. And you can today just
• 24:34
  S2: text the word new NEW to 805 557898 805 557898.
• 24:46
  S1: A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
• 24:51
  S1: in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody radio.
• 24:54
  S2: We didn't forget. No way, no how. It's bottom of
• 24:57
  S2: the hour. Guess what? It is time.
• 24:59
  S1: Making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's time
• 25:03
  S1: for Ali thinks it's funny.
• 25:06
  S4: 1st June edition of My Word.
• 25:10
  S8: Oh, yeah.
• 25:11
  S4: Yep. Ushering in a new month with some, uh, some
• 25:13
  S4: fresh jokes.
• 25:14
  S3: For.
• 25:14
  S4: You. Yeah, some. Oh, these aren't summer themed, but we'll.
• 25:17
  S4: We'll call them summer.
• 25:18
  S3: Jokes in the summer.
• 25:19
  S4: Jokes in the summer.
• 25:21
  S9: Jonathan. Want some? She's trying so hard. Oh, boy.
• 25:26
  S4: So, um, we're all familiar with Boaz, right? Oh, yes.
• 25:30
  S4: There's a there's there's a couple of jokes floating out there.
• 25:33
  S9: Ruth's husband from the book of Ruth?
• 25:35
  S4: Yes. So what kind of a man was Boaz before
• 25:39
  S4: he got married? If you've read this book. How would
• 25:42
  S4: you describe him? What kind of a man was Boaz
• 25:46
  S4: before he got married?
• 25:48
  S9: His warm feet.
• 25:48
  S2: Until the blanket went.
• 25:50
  S9: Back. Oh, well, I'm going noble. He's going warm.
• 25:53
  S6: Feet.
• 25:53
  S9: Great.
• 25:54
  S3: He's a landowner.
• 25:55
  S4: He was a ruthless man.
• 25:59
  S10: That is really good.
• 26:02
  S3: That's good, I like that.
• 26:03
  S9: No, it's not true. It's good. No, it's.
• 26:05
  S4: Not true at all. He was.
• 26:06
  S9: Actually a very.
• 26:07
  S4: Noble. Would be much more accurate, but not nearly as funny.
• 26:12
  S4: Next up, Darth Vader. We're going from.
• 26:15
  S9: Boaz.
• 26:16
  S4: To Darth Vader.
• 26:17
  S3: Okay.
• 26:18
  S4: What do you call Darth Vader when he's like, uh,
• 26:21
  S4: as my kids like to say, having a big crash out.
• 26:25
  S4: Have you heard this word crashing out?
• 26:27
  S9: Crash. Oh my goodness.
• 26:28
  S4: It's everywhere. Everywhere, everywhere. Oh, so-and-so's crashing out there. Crashing out.
• 26:32
  S4: It just means like somebody freaking out. Oh, okay. Yes.
• 26:35
  S4: Spinning out Darth Vader when he's crashing out. Freaking out.
• 26:39
  S3: I don't know.
• 26:41
  S4: Panickin Skywalker.
• 26:48
  S3: It's good. I like that.
• 26:49
  S2: Somebody has her eyes closed and her head turned to
• 26:52
  S2: the sky.
• 26:53
  S4: I.
• 26:54
  S8: Panicked. Skywalker panicking.
• 26:56
  S3: Skywalker.
• 26:57
  S10: That's good. I love it. It's great.
• 26:59
  S4: Text jokes to 805, five, five, 78, 98. Hopefully at
• 27:04
  S4: least one out of the two made you chuckle this morning.
• 27:07
  S4: Text jokes to 805 557898.
• 27:12
  S1: It's Carl and Crew on Moody Radio.
• 27:15
  S2: Uh, what a treat to have this man with us
• 27:17
  S2: right now. We're talking discipleship all week long and I
• 27:21
  S2: just want to jump right in. Doctor Robert Lewis is
• 27:24
  S2: our guest right now. Uh, Robert, uh, I had the
• 27:27
  S2: privilege of being mentored by him for about five years,
• 27:31
  S2: directly and then indirectly by way of phone calls. For
• 27:35
  S2: many decades since then. Robert, so good to have you
• 27:39
  S2: with us. I want to begin with, uh, Fellowship Bible
• 27:42
  S2: Church in Little Rock. You really had a conviction early
• 27:47
  S2: on when you came to Fellowship Bible Church that you
• 27:51
  S2: wanted to see the church kind of shift from an
• 27:54
  S2: audience only mentality into something much different. What caused that
• 27:59
  S2: in you and what did you do to change that
• 28:02
  S2: whole direction?
• 28:04
  S11: Yeah. When I was in seminary, one of the things
• 28:06
  S11: I got connected with was a church out in California
• 28:09
  S11: Peninsula Bible Church. Ray Stedman led it, and he wanted
• 28:13
  S11: to empower laypeople to do the work of the ministry.
• 28:16
  S11: And of course, that's exactly what Jesus had in mind.
• 28:19
  S11: Ephesians four says, equip the saints to do the work
• 28:23
  S11: of the ministry. So when I came with my first
• 28:26
  S11: church at fellowship, one of the things I wanted to
• 28:28
  S11: do is activate in a deeper, more aggressive way lay
• 28:32
  S11: people to lead the ministry. And one of the ways
• 28:36
  S11: to do that, of course, is to break it down
• 28:39
  S11: out of classrooms like Sunday School, in the homes where
• 28:43
  S11: lay people led small groups that, uh, I got to
• 28:46
  S11: help train the leaders and the leaders invested discipleship wise
• 28:51
  S11: into the lay people. And so we did that. We
• 28:53
  S11: called them community groups. We did away with more of
• 28:56
  S11: the professional lecture podium speakers, classes, and went to home
• 29:02
  S11: groups where we did training and we saw an incredible empowerment.
• 29:07
  S11: And then we went from there.
• 29:09
  S4: Doctor Robert Lewis with us this morning. He's been a pastor, writer, speaker,
• 29:12
  S4: visionary for more than 40 years, founder of men's fraternity ministry.
• 29:17
  S4: He's also the founding partner of Better Man Ministries. We're
• 29:20
  S4: going to give you links coming up. But, you know,
• 29:22
  S4: when you think about the church model, the Western church model,
• 29:25
  S4: there are many churches have small groups, community groups, life groups,
• 29:30
  S4: you name it. They are sometimes named differently, but all
• 29:33
  S4: of the idea of making a a larger church smaller.
• 29:37
  S4: Why does that not always equate to discipleship? Because it
• 29:40
  S4: would be. It would seem like we'd solved something if
• 29:43
  S4: every church that had a small group was also embracing discipleship.
• 29:49
  S4: But one plus one doesn't always equal two. Here.
• 29:51
  S11: You nailed it right there. When we did small groups
• 29:54
  S11: back in the 70s, no one was really doing it.
• 29:57
  S11: But what small groups have evolved into, it's just another
• 30:01
  S11: program of the church where people meet and go through
• 30:05
  S11: a printed lesson or discussion, but it's not really empowering. People,
• 30:11
  S11: especially lay people, to invest in other lay people, to
• 30:15
  S11: reproduce in a discipleship kind of model. And if you
• 30:19
  S11: don't do that, it just becomes another program. And I
• 30:21
  S11: hate to say it, but today in so many churches,
• 30:25
  S11: what we call their small group ministry is basically just
• 30:29
  S11: another form of Sunday school where you have a teacher
• 30:34
  S11: and listeners and just kind of hang around and socialize.
• 30:38
  S11: And that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about
• 30:41
  S11: where you're teaching people to go teach and empower other
• 30:45
  S11: people to do ministry. It's got a next step where
• 30:49
  S11: you invest in people, in evangelism and discipleship and basic studies.
• 30:54
  S11: And if you're not doing that reproductive model, you just
• 30:58
  S11: got a upgraded Sunday school class.
• 31:01
  S2: Yeah. It's interesting, Robert, we've been drilling down on this
• 31:03
  S2: for several years here now. And, uh, the term that
• 31:07
  S2: comes to my mind is we reproduce knowledge brokers, but
• 31:11
  S2: we know that if knowledge brokering could change people, the
• 31:15
  S2: Pharisees would have been aflame for Christ. And we know that.
• 31:18
  S11: That's.
• 31:18
  S2: Right. That Jesus even said, A house that's built on
• 31:21
  S2: a rock is someone who takes the truth and applies it.
• 31:25
  S2: What have you learned that most helps people move from
• 31:30
  S2: knowledge to application.
• 31:32
  S11: If we're speaking church, just thinking of the concept of
• 31:36
  S11: the church, I would say that the leaders of the church,
• 31:40
  S11: the pastors of the church, the influence of the church,
• 31:45
  S11: they don't need another platform. What they need is to
• 31:49
  S11: step off the platform into the lives of the laity
• 31:53
  S11: and do the hard groundwork of investing their lives in
• 31:58
  S11: laypeople and seeing them reproduce. As you know, Carl, in
• 32:02
  S11: the years at fellowship, a lot of pastors, including myself,
• 32:07
  S11: we weren't talking from the podium about being invested in
• 32:12
  S11: small groups. We were the one investing ourselves in small
• 32:16
  S11: group leaders and in small groups to do the work
• 32:19
  S11: of the ministry. We were the ones training the laypeople
• 32:23
  S11: in how to personally evangelize others using some written material
• 32:28
  S11: that they would come in, we would help them think through,
• 32:31
  S11: and then we would all go out and reproduce it
• 32:34
  S11: in other people's lives that we call 1 to 1.
• 32:37
  S11: So a lot of it was hands on leadership, professional quote,
• 32:42
  S11: the professional leadership doing the hard work of grassroots discipleship
• 32:48
  S11: and modeling it for the people through the small group network.
• 32:51
  S2: You know what, Robert? This is so inspiring to me
• 32:54
  S2: because you're taking me back and I want you to
• 32:56
  S2: know something. Boom crew. It was a eye opener for
• 33:00
  S2: me to go down to Fellowship Bible Church and see
• 33:03
  S2: not one lead communicator. Robert was clearly the leader, but
• 33:08
  S2: we had two other guys, Bill Parkinson, Bill Wellens, and
• 33:11
  S2: then on occasion others would step into that. So that Ali,
• 33:15
  S2: this will inspire you. This is going to fire you
• 33:17
  S2: up so that these pastors could spend those off weeks,
• 33:22
  S2: as it were, really training up and equipping the saints
• 33:27
  S2: to do the work of ministry. And it worked, didn't it, Robert?
• 33:32
  S11: Yeah. In fact, it was just interesting hearing what the
• 33:35
  S11: word you used in there off weeks. I considered our
• 33:39
  S11: off weeks when we were in the pulpit, our on
• 33:42
  S11: weeks with the people.
• 33:44
  S2: Wow. Okay, okay, we're going to shift gears here. Let's go.
• 33:48
  S2: Let's do a little bit of a shift toward men.
• 33:52
  S2: Men don't want to go to another knowledge brokering thing.
• 33:56
  S2: What do men want and what do men need to
• 34:00
  S2: really become disciples of Christ?
• 34:03
  S11: Well, if I were going to summarize it from what
• 34:05
  S11: I've seen over 30 something years, they want community. They
• 34:10
  S11: want safety where they can be real, and they want
• 34:13
  S11: action where they can apply in real world ways the
• 34:19
  S11: teachings they have into their families, their marriages, and into
• 34:23
  S11: their friends. And if they have those three components, your
• 34:27
  S11: men's ministry will explode.
• 34:29
  S4: Doctor Robert Lewis with us this morning. You know, I
• 34:31
  S4: had an interesting conversation. I was at a doctor's appointment
• 34:34
  S4: this week. And my doctor, who I don't know her
• 34:37
  S4: to be, she's never professed that she's a believer, but
• 34:40
  S4: she has an interesting perspective, having in contact with a
• 34:43
  S4: lot of different patients. And it somehow came up that,
• 34:45
  S4: you know, she gets wind of how difficult the dating
• 34:48
  S4: scene is in Chicago, but but anywhere. And she said
• 34:51
  S4: she had been talking to a young woman who was
• 34:53
  S4: just saying how for a young woman, how challenging it is.
• 34:57
  S4: And she was like kind of musing my doctor, like,
• 35:00
  S4: I wonder, like, what is it? Why is it that
• 35:02
  S4: men seem to struggle so much now that I've got
• 35:05
  S4: some thoughts here, but I wonder, Doctor Robert Lewis, from
• 35:08
  S4: your perspective, even somebody who doesn't have a christocentric worldview
• 35:13
  S4: can see that, man, men don't really seem like they
• 35:17
  S4: want to commit. It seems like this sort of hook
• 35:20
  S4: up culture that predominates the dating scene. And women are
• 35:25
  S4: frustrated because they'd like to get married, but are finding
• 35:27
  S4: that they don't meet marriageable men. I gave you a
• 35:30
  S4: lot there, but I'm going to sit back and let
• 35:32
  S4: you respond.
• 35:33
  S11: Well, men respond best when they're with men that they
• 35:38
  S11: look up to or admire or want to be like.
• 35:41
  S11: Who challenge them not to the soft, but to the hard.
• 35:46
  S11: And if you challenge them too hard and can explain why,
• 35:50
  S11: they will respond, get involved and cheer for one another
• 35:54
  S11: as they make progress along the way. So if you've
• 35:57
  S11: got a guy who's listless, not performing, kind of idling
• 36:02
  S11: his time away at the workplace or in his home,
• 36:05
  S11: what he needs is another guy that he looks up
• 36:08
  S11: to or admires to call him up and then have
• 36:13
  S11: a group, a community. It could be small, it could
• 36:15
  S11: be a couple other guys, or it could be in
• 36:17
  S11: a larger group led by some guys he admires, but
• 36:20
  S11: they're calling each other to the hard to be guys
• 36:25
  S11: who their families will look up to. Their friends will
• 36:29
  S11: look up to who can make a difference in the world.
• 36:32
  S11: If they can see their courageous sacrifices work. They will
• 36:37
  S11: give you more courageous sacrifice rather than collapse back into
• 36:42
  S11: what so many men are doing today. And that is passivity.
• 36:46
  S11: And just trying to, you know, have a have a
• 36:49
  S11: good time with silliness.
• 36:51
  S2: You know, Robert, you mentioned a word action and then
• 36:54
  S2: you mentioned call up. Are we calling men to too little?
• 37:00
  S2: Is that our problem?
• 37:02
  S11: Yes. It's our big problem. Men need you to answer
• 37:06
  S11: the why question when they come together. They need to
• 37:09
  S11: know what you're saying is important, but they need to
• 37:12
  S11: have that question. Why is this important? And that's why
• 37:16
  S11: the person of Jesus is so magnetic, because he gives
• 37:20
  S11: a eternal perspective. He gives a human perspective. He gives
• 37:26
  S11: a inspirational perspective with proven truth. And with that, if
• 37:31
  S11: somebody can communicate the why in a community of men
• 37:35
  S11: who feel safe and can share their their life, their
• 37:38
  S11: positives or negatives, that creates a mixture, a chemistry like
• 37:43
  S11: a stew where men are called up to courageous action.
• 37:47
  S4: Doctor Robert Lewis with us this morning. He is the
• 37:50
  S4: founder of men's fraternity ministry, also founding partner of Better Man.
• 37:53
  S4: You know, every woman listening right now, if she has
• 37:56
  S4: a guy in her life who she loves, whether it's
• 37:58
  S4: a son or a husband, a brother, you name it.
• 38:02
  S4: I think that the heart of women, every time we
• 38:04
  S4: do a topic like this, we have women who go,
• 38:06
  S4: how can I get this to my husband? How can
• 38:09
  S4: I that I want him to, to lead? I want
• 38:11
  S4: him to do these things as women, how can we
• 38:14
  S4: support without, uh, counteracting the very things that you're talking about?
• 38:18
  S2: That's a good way to put it.
• 38:21
  S11: Yeah, it's an interesting it's an interesting gender dance, isn't it, Ali?
• 38:24
  S4: Yes it is.
• 38:26
  S11: I would say the biggest thing for a wife or
• 38:29
  S11: girlfriend is to encourage her man. And the things that
• 38:34
  S11: he shows initiative, responsibility and courage and use those terms. Man,
• 38:40
  S11: I just so appreciate what you did and those kind
• 38:43
  S11: of things. Those are the kind of things that will
• 38:45
  S11: give him energy. But as far as connecting him to
• 38:50
  S11: a place that will actually call him up and give
• 38:52
  S11: him the practical things we're talking about today, he needs
• 38:55
  S11: to be encouraged to join a group of men who
• 38:59
  S11: are pursuing the same Jesus as you want him to pursue,
• 39:03
  S11: and a men's group that of men who are trying
• 39:06
  S11: to pursue a true biblical masculinity. And there are groups
• 39:10
  S11: like that all over. You just need to find them.
• 39:13
  S11: But what I would tell the woman listening today, you
• 39:17
  S11: cannot do this for him. You cannot do it. You
• 39:20
  S11: can be an arrow that points the way to a
• 39:23
  S11: group of community and good biblical content. But when you
• 39:28
  S11: try to be the community or the biblical content that
• 39:32
  S11: will de-energize your husband or your boyfriend, he needs to
• 39:35
  S11: hear you say what he's good at or what you
• 39:38
  S11: admire in him. Those things are so energetic. But then
• 39:41
  S11: also to say, I heard there's this great group, you
• 39:45
  S11: might want to check this out, or I heard our
• 39:47
  S11: church is starting this because I see you wanting to
• 39:50
  S11: be a man. You need to try that out. But
• 39:53
  S11: if you can get him connected to a group of
• 39:55
  S11: men he admires, or he looks up to and wants
• 39:58
  S11: to be with who are pursuing Jesus, hang on, because
• 40:01
  S11: great things will happen.
• 40:03
  S2: Yeah, this is beautiful. I got some great news for you,
• 40:05
  S2: boom crew. Many of you, thousands of you have already
• 40:09
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• 40:13
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• 40:16
  S2: a total refresher on all their video augmentation. So their
• 40:21
  S2: model is they have video that augments these groups, launches
• 40:24
  S2: these men into discussions. And that's all been freshened up.
• 40:28
  S2: Here's what I want you to do right now. Text
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  S2: the word man. One word man. MAN to 805, five, five, 78, 98.
• 40:37
  S2: And guys, I gotta tell you right now, plan for
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• 40:49
  S2: 555 7898 and you're going to find some phenomenal content
• 40:55
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• 41:00
  S1: Take your next step with Jesus. Today you're listening to
• 41:04
  S1: Carl and crew.
• 41:06
  S2: Iran has been near and dear to our hearts. I
• 41:09
  S2: watch every day to see what's developing geopolitically. I mean,
• 41:13
  S2: you can't you can't keep this off the pages of
• 41:17
  S2: any network or cable news shows or print out. I mean,
• 41:21
  S2: it's everywhere right now. Ali.
• 41:22
  S4: It is. And so we have a special guest who's
• 41:25
  S4: joined us quite frequently to give us updates. Doctor Sherry,
• 41:29
  S4: founder and president of Iran Alive Ministries, they use satellite
• 41:32
  S4: broadcasting and the internet to reach Iranians with the gospel.
• 41:36
  S4: Give us the latest, doctor Hormoz.
• 41:38
  S12: Well, thank you for having me on. There is so
• 41:41
  S12: much happening. What I want to make sure everybody understands
• 41:44
  S12: this is a historical moment in Iran, and it's not
• 41:47
  S12: going to impact just the people of Iran, not just
• 41:49
  S12: the Middle East, but the whole world. Iranian government having
• 41:52
  S12: a nuclear bomb. It's not a small thing. And they
• 41:55
  S12: have shown that they're reckless and they will use it
• 41:57
  S12: against the world. So what's happening? We need to be watchful.
• 42:00
  S12: We need to pray because it's going to impact all
• 42:03
  S12: of our lives. If the government stays or goes, it
• 42:06
  S12: will change the history. Now, the people of Iran, as
• 42:09
  S12: you know, they're oppressed. They're all captives. They're all hostages
• 42:14
  S12: in their own homes, and they cannot even come on
• 42:16
  S12: the streets because they get killed. 40,000 of them were
• 42:19
  S12: killed in January. So the people of Iran right now,
• 42:22
  S12: food is scarce. Fear, hopelessness. And they go up and
• 42:26
  S12: down emotionally with the decisions of Trump when he says,
• 42:31
  S12: we want to negotiate, people of Iran become depressed. Oh, no,
• 42:34
  S12: don't do that. Don't, don't trust this government. Even if
• 42:37
  S12: they sign something, they're not going to follow through with that.
• 42:41
  S12: And when Trump says, oh, we're going to attack people
• 42:43
  S12: of Iran, get hope. Why? Because that's the only way
• 42:47
  S12: that they see they can be freed from the slavery
• 42:50
  S12: of this oppressive, brutal Islamic government of Iran. But at
• 42:55
  S12: the same time, the Lord is working. We hear testimonies
• 42:59
  S12: of many people who are coming to Christ.
• 43:02
  S2: Yeah. Her most cherished. Our guest right now. You know,
• 43:04
  S2: the interesting thing is, when I read Jeremiah 49 or
• 43:07
  S2: other prophecies about modern day Iran, oh, I'm like, oh, Lord,
• 43:12
  S2: break their bow right now. Let it be the time
• 43:14
  S2: right now when their military power is sucked out of them.
• 43:17
  S2: We don't know God's timing. We know he's good. And
• 43:20
  S2: so speak to the goodness of God in the middle
• 43:23
  S2: of peril for a lot of our brothers and sisters there.
• 43:26
  S2: Are you hearing stories?
• 43:28
  S12: I'm definitely yes, internet is on and off, so we
• 43:32
  S12: are in touch with our leaders in Iran. But it's
• 43:35
  S12: it's not consistent. You know, some days it's easier. Sometimes
• 43:38
  S12: it's hard. But we hear a lot of stories and
• 43:41
  S12: we have had. This is another trend. Those who have
• 43:44
  S12: lost their sons and daughters, especially the mothers, we have
• 43:47
  S12: led several of them to the Lord and they are
• 43:50
  S12: on fire. Both of these mothers, there are two of them,
• 43:53
  S12: are just vocal everywhere, not just with us. They're on national,
• 43:57
  S12: you know, other channels sharing their stories. They've become Christians.
• 44:02
  S12: These two are so vocal. And both of them, they
• 44:04
  S12: had lost their daughter. Both of them lost a daughter
• 44:07
  S12: on the streets. And when their daughters were dying, they
• 44:11
  S12: were holding these daughters. They were shot. And they were
• 44:13
  S12: so very similar stories, but they have come to Christ
• 44:17
  S12: and they are everywhere talking about how Jesus can bring
• 44:21
  S12: hope in their lives. One of them actually, I was
• 44:24
  S12: I was interviewing one of them on our satellite channel,
• 44:27
  S12: and I was asking her what happened. And I never
• 44:29
  S12: forget that I oh my gosh, that really touched me.
• 44:33
  S12: She was on our live broadcast. She was crying. She
• 44:37
  S12: was crying. She said, I lost my daughter. Of course
• 44:40
  S12: I'm sad. But at the same time, she started evangelizing,
• 44:43
  S12: telling people, yes, I'm crying because I lost my daughter.
• 44:47
  S12: But do you know what? I have peace in my heart.
• 44:50
  S12: My heart is calm because I have Jesus Christ. Why
• 44:53
  S12: don't you come to Christ? And so there are evangelists,
• 44:58
  S12: even being raised of those who have lost their sons
• 45:00
  S12: and daughters.
• 45:01
  S4: Doctor chariot with us right now. You know your opportunity
• 45:05
  S4: to broadcast the gospel 24 over seven pastoring an online
• 45:10
  S4: church of 1 million. Plus. There's. It's illegal to gather.
• 45:13
  S4: We know, for a Christian church service in Iran. Talk
• 45:17
  S4: a little bit about any any ministry updates you want
• 45:19
  S4: to share.
• 45:20
  S12: It's very hard at this time. I have to tell
• 45:23
  S12: you the challenges we are having. Number one is to
• 45:27
  S12: help the Christians, especially our leaders in Iran, financially go
• 45:31
  S12: through that. That's a challenge. Then we have online school
• 45:34
  S12: that 4300 students, most of them in Iran because of
• 45:38
  S12: the internet problem. Our classes are shut down temporarily for
• 45:42
  S12: now because they cannot come in, come online. So pray
• 45:46
  S12: for Iran alive. Pray for the people of Iran, especially Christians,
• 45:50
  S12: in this time of suffering that they will shine for Jesus.
• 45:52
  S12: Pray for us that the. This critical historical time, that
• 45:56
  S12: grace of God will enable us to establish his kingdom
• 45:59
  S12: on the ground in Iran. People are ready. Are coming
• 46:02
  S12: to Christ and training people is becoming a challenge because
• 46:06
  S12: of internet. But we have many already trained people in Iran.
• 46:11
  S12: Pray for Iran alive. Pray for Iranians in general, their suffering,
• 46:15
  S12: and pray for the leaders, Iranian Christian leaders inside Iran
• 46:19
  S12: to be bold and to be wise.
• 46:22
  S2: He's been named the Billy Graham of Iran and the
• 46:25
  S2: most influential Iranian American by Christianity Today. And we get
• 46:31
  S2: hermias to come in here and give us an update.
• 46:34
  S2: Boom crew. I hope you pray. And, father, we just
• 46:38
  S2: bow our heads right now and we ask for protection
• 46:40
  S2: over these men and women especially. I'm thinking of these
• 46:43
  S2: two women that lost their daughters and now have surrendered
• 46:46
  S2: their lives to Jesus and are experiencing such awakening that
• 46:51
  S2: they cannot stay silent. Oh God, protect them. Comfort them.
• 46:56
  S2: We pray all of these saints in Iran, in Jesus name. Amen.
• 47:01
  S4: Text alive to 805 557898. For more on this ministry.
• 47:08
  S4: Iran alive. Just text alive to 805 557898.