Latest / Karl and Crew / Why Does a Good God Allow Suffering with Dr. Erwin Lutzer & Finding God’s Goodness in Hardship with Susie Larson

Transcript

Why Does a Good God Allow Suffering with Dr. Erwin Lutzer & Finding God’s Goodness in Hardship with Susie Larson · 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. Come as you are an experienced guide, 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: Oh boy. I got so many things on my heart
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  S5: and mind. I can barely stand it, can barely handle it. Ali.
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  S2: Okay.
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  S5: Okay, so I am so fired up about Jackson and
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  S5: somebody find out for me when he's playing again. Boy,
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  S5: does it start tomorrow. Do we have a golf tournament tomorrow?
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  S5: Of course we do. There's a PGA golf tournament every weekend.
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  S2: Oh, is there pretty.
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  S5: Much almost every weekend of the year? In fact, when
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  S5: they say they're off for the winter or whatever, ain't
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  S5: nobody off. There's there's golf tournaments going forever now. I
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  S5: think coming to some of the big boys take some
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  S5: time off, but there's all kinds of tournaments going on.
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  S5: What say you, young thunder, about Jackson? No. Is there
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  S5: a tournament this weekend?
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  S3: Uh, it looks like.
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  S5: Because I know he'll be in it. He's now in
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  S5: the PGA. For those of you who need backstory here. Uh,
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  S5: I love this kid.
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  S3: Uh, rocket classic on July 30th.
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  S5: Rocket classic.
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  S4: July 30th through August 2nd.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S4: Detroit Golf Club.
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  S5: Okay, this is going to be good, guys. This is
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  S5: going to be good. He's are you going to.
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  S2: Start becoming like, are.
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  S5: You going. Oh, I'm a fan. I'm leading a fan club.
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  S3: What?
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  S5: Well, I can't because it's already lead.
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  S3: I may not have been in the room for this conversation.
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  S3: What's going on with Jackson?
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  S5: Oh, you don't know about Jackson.
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  S3: I know nothing about.
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  S5: Okay. Real quick. 21 year old PGA tour winner last
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  S5: weekend at the three m tour. Okay. He put away
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  S5: his retirement one weekend.
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  S3: Good for.
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  S5: Him. So. But this kid is 21 years old. He's
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  S5: been on the tour now for a whopping 30 days.
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  S3: Oh, wow.
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  S5: And he is. I think he was in the top
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  S5: ten for the open or something crazy or 23rd or something.
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  S5: I forget he's just he's a ball striker and a half. Well,
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  S5: what's even better than that is that kids of all
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  S5: in Jesus follower.
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  S3: Oh that's.
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  S5: Awesome. You love sports. You're going to follow this kid Jackson. Corbin. K0IVUN.
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  S5: Come on, fan clubbers. So you got to follow this kid.
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  S5: And in one of his interviews he said, listen, golf
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  S5: is what I do. It's not who I am. And
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  S5: he was really clear about his identity in Christ.
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  S6: I'm like, man.
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  S2: Chomping at the bit ever since I needed.
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  S5: Between Kevin and Scottie Scheffler, who, by the way, Scottie
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  S5: came in second in the 3 p.m. open. Yes, sirree. Bob. Yeah.
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  S5: Between those two guys.
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  S3: So he won. And he's he's ranked 73rd in the
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  S3: PGA tour.
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  S5: Oh well that's. Well he was probably ranked before that game.
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  S5: He was probably ranked I would imagine 200 and some
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  S5: or something.
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  S3: So that was a big surprise for him to win that.
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  S5: Well yeah except.
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  S2: That well at the amateur level.
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  S5: Right. Well the collegiate level he just killed it at Auburn.
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  S5: He won player of the year I think two years
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  S5: SEC player of the year three years in a row.
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  S5: He could have gone pro a year ago but he
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  S5: came out anyway. Uh or stayed back anyway to help
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  S5: the Tigers win another national championship. That's pretty sacrificial. Of course,
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  S5: the dude probably had NIL money.
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  S3: I'm sure he had money.
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  S5: Significant like that's so I. Anyway, so just a parenthetical thought.
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  S5: Sorry about that, Jackson. Did I say Jackson?
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  S3: You did.
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  S2: I you have. That's right. Jonathan. You were not in Monday.
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  S3: That's correct.
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  S5: I was going on a.
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  S2: Oh, yeah.
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  S5: Major riff on this guy.
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  S2: Really? And I see it has not died down the.
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  S5: No, I'm getting more excited. I'm fired up to see
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  S5: what what God's going to do with this kid. Now
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  S5: the pressure is building the inside scoop. I got some
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  S5: inside scoop, he told his dad on Saturday night before
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  S5: the final round. He said, man, I wish all this
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  S5: uproar would calm down. And I think his dad told him,
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  S5: it ain't going to calm down.
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  S3: Oh no no no no no. If it calms down,
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  S3: it means you're not doing good anymore.
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  S4: It is just starting. Whew!
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  S5: Oh goodness sakes. Guys, we are at 100 years and
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  S5: one day.
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  S1: Here we.
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  S5: Are.
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  S2: Wild.
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  S5: Given the gospel. It changes everything. It's unstoppable. My goodness,
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  S5: what a thrilling birthday party yesterday. We got to go
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  S5: down memory lane.
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  S2: I mean, we had so many voices from the past,
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  S2: from the present. We had people popping in the studio
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  S2: and then once we were off air, we didn't get
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  S2: to be a part of this directly. But we had
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  S2: an entire celebration here on campus with all of the
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  S2: Moody radio staff, but all of the Institute. It felt
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  S2: like everybody who has ever worked at Moody was in
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  S2: that room yesterday.
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  S5: I was blown away.
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  S4: I kept bumping into people.
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  S2: It was wall to.
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  S4: Wall.
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  S2: Worship. Carl, you brought in a great, great encouragement. Devo.
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  S2: There was a time of recommissioning, and then we got
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  S2: to do screen a little documentary.
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  S5: I didn't get to see it.
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  S3: It was excellent.
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  S2: It was. That's coming out.
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  S3: Good. It was really good.
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  S2: It was great.
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  S5: It was everybody going to be able to see that.
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  S5: Our boom crew.
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  S2: Got to find out how people get to see it.
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  S3: I know it's.
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  S2: Going to be a part of Founders Week. So if you.
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  S2: So they're going to be screening it during founders.
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  S3: And that will be streamable online when that comes out.
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  S3: So yes, it will technically at some point be visible
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  S3: to everybody.
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  S5: Good, good. And I don't know how you capture a
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  S5: hundred years in 15 minutes, but, um.
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  S3: They did a good job.
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  S5: I was, I needed to duck out to go guest
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  S5: host for Chris Brooks. Yes. And Phil Shepherd told me
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  S5: they did a really good job capturing 100 years.
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  S2: They 15 minutes. It was, it was great. And it
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  S2: was very well done. And, uh, just capturing 100 years
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  S2: and the kind of our team was in it, which
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  S2: was really humbling. And I was like, wow, we're a
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  S2: part of, of this thing that God's been doing for
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  S2: a hundred years.
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  S5: So that's pretty, I didn't know that we were in that. Yeah,
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  S5: that is humbling.
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  S2: Yeah. So you'll, we will let you know details when it's,
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  S2: when it's actually available for everybody. But it was cool
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  S2: to preview it as a team here. And then I
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  S2: had to run out just. I did not know this.
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  S2: It was going as long as it was, but it was.
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  S2: I could have stayed. I could have stayed longer. And
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  S2: I had an appointment. I was like, oh, man, I
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  S2: got to run.
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  S3: It was a lot of.
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  S2: Fun, but it was great.
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  S5: It's so much fun. The energy in that room be encouraged.
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  S5: Boom crew. The energy of the team here at Moody Radio.
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  S5: And broader than that, the Moody family, the energy around
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  S5: the gospel is so strong, isn't it? Right now?
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  S3: Yes it is. Yeah. That that room was filled with
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  S3: a bunch of people who the main thing they care
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  S3: about is sharing the gospel.
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  S5: Yeah, it was really cool. Okay. Got a question for you,
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  S5: boom crew. Have you seen God's goodness in the brutal times?
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  S5: It's easy to see God's goodness when you're on a mountaintop, right?
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S5: Of course, it's tougher to see the goodness of God
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  S5: when things are coming undone. And yet we've got a
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  S5: word from a prophet that is almost mind boggling. Can't
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  S5: wait to share it with you. We're going to get
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  S5: into this in just a little bit. I want you
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  S5: to keep it pinned right here. Some of you are
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  S5: going through it, man, and you're like, oh, where's the
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  S5: goodness of God in this? This little vantage point from
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  S5: the prophet Jeremiah is getting. I just enliven your heart
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  S5: to look around and see that God is faithful still.
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  S5: He really is. Good morning.
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  S1: You're listening to Girl and Crew on Moody Radio.
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  S5: The problem with this whole thing is that our story
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  S5: can have tough times. They're unavoidable. In fact, we were
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  S5: promised this. We're in a spiritual war, guys. There's going
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  S5: to be affliction that come in three ways the world,
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  S5: the world system that we live in the flesh. That's
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  S5: our own stuff, usually brought to us by family of
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  S5: origin and past memories and all the stuff that we
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  S5: were raised in and around. And then there's demonic warfare. Yippee!
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  S5: Between the world, the flesh, and the devil. Woo hoo!
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  S5: We're in a battle.
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  S2: Um. Why are we putting our hands in the air?
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  S7: I don't know.
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  S3: It doesn't sound so fun.
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  S5: Oh. So young thunder. Yes. Uh, you teach the word?
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  S3: I do.
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  S5: What if God called you to teach the word and
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  S5: he told you? Ain't nobody going to listen to you.
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  S5: As a matter of fact, they're gonna hate you. Nobody.
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  S5: It's not just 1 in 4. It's not the four
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  S5: soil types. It's not the one guy that sits there
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  S5: looking at you going, what an idiot! What an idiot.
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  S5: All the audience is gonna say, you're an idiot, man.
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  S3: That would be probably the most discouraging thing in the
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  S3: entire world. I mean, it would really be like. And
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  S3: and you want it to be this all the time, but, like,
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  S3: you got nothing else but God's approval over your hand,
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  S3: and you're just gonna have to sit there and trust
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  S3: that he is because everyone else is hating you. That
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  S3: would be that would be a really hard call. I
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  S3: don't know how well I'd do with it.
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  S5: Let's go around the horn here. Allie, you do a
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  S5: women's event. You go out there and you prepare your
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  S5: tail off, and all the women look at you and
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  S5: they're like, it's not just kind of bouncing off of them.
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  S5: A few of them stand up and walk out. A
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  S5: few others stand up and go, this. What you're saying
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  S5: is dumb. What you're saying is foolish. We're not listening
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  S5: to you. How about that, Allie?
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  S2: Maybe they even stood up and booed you.
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  S8: Wouldn't that be.
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  S4: Harsh? Oh, wow.
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  S2: No, I think about I remember being at a. And
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  S2: we've all been at a sporting event.
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  S5: Don't tell me.
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  S2: Oh, I know it wasn't me, but but there was
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  S2: this one guy who was really, really upset about something.
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  S2: And so he's standing there just booing his heart out,
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  S2: like making, wanting to make sure that one particular player could, could,
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  S2: could feel his disdain. And so that's what I pictured
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  S2: when I thought like a woman and a women's event
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  S2: like boo, go home.
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  S5: It'd be hard. It'd be hard. What's funny about that is.
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  S5: And that's just five minutes in your talk. You got
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  S5: 20 more to go.
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  S2: If they said boo, go home, I'd probably be like,
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  S2: see ya. Like I'm out.
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  S5: Peace out.
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  S2: Yeah, I think there'd be the discouragement, but I think
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  S2: there'd also be the fleshly like, well, then forget you. Yeah.
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  S2: I'm trying. I'm trying to help you. If you don't
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  S2: want to help, I'm out.
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  S4: I'm going to talk 30 more minutes longer now.
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  S2: Or just leave. Like I would just give up. I mean,
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  S2: I think the fleshy response would be to feel bitter
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  S2: and kind of like, write people off and then leave.
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  S2: You don't want to hear it. I'm out.
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  S5: No. It's great. It's great. How about you? Super nice.
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  S5: Your years in radio. What if, what if, what if?
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  S5: Every time you came on air, the phone lines lit
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  S5: up with people just ripping you going, this is stupid.
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  S5: Management walks in and all your colleagues walk in and
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  S5: they just stand around you going, boo boo.
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  S4: I'd want to crawl under a table. I really would,
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  S4: I'd be like, I wouldn't even know what to say
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  S4: in all honesty. I mean, I'm like, oh, I would no, no,
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  S4: it would, it would absolutely crush me. Crush me.
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  S5: So that was the call of Jeremiah. God. God said,
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  S5: I'm calling you forward. He begins the book of Jeremiah
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  S5: by saying, yeah, I'm I'm too young. God says, I'll
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  S5: give you words. Oh, and by the way, ain't nobody
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  S5: going to listen to you. In fact, they're going to
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  S5: hate you. But welcome to your calling, young man.
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  S3: That's crazy. When when God says, I'll give you the
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  S3: words also. No one's gonna listen. That's crazy.
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  S8: Oh.
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  S5: By the way, so the assurance here, it was totally
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  S5: God breathed what he was going to be sharing. Totally
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  S5: God breathed. And everybody's going to loathe you.
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  S3: And I think that's important that God did that for him.
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  S3: I actually think that it's such a sign of mercy because,
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  S3: you know, when when you're going out there.
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  S5: The sign of mercy.
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  S3: I think that God said, like, I'm gonna give you
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  S3: the words. Also, no one's gonna listen is a sign
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  S3: of mercy. Because when you were receiving that from people,
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  S3: it's so easy to think, what am I doing wrong? Like,
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  S3: I must be the problem here. No. You're right. You're
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  S3: not the problem. I got you.
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  S5: It was mercy, wasn't it, for him to tell him.
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  S5: Nobody's going to listen.
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  S3: I think so.
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  S5: Okay. Coming up here in a moment. We got the
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  S5: back story. Now, I got to take you to 586 BC. And, oh,
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  S5: what you're going to find here is amazing. Hang on.
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  S1: He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
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  S1: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
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  S1: curling crew on Moody radio.
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  S5: Boy, that little bit you just said was spot on.
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  S5: That fit.
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  S3: Good. I'm glad.
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  S5: Yeah. That fit. So the prophet Jeremiah gets his calling
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  S5: as a young man. God says, I want you to
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  S5: speak on my behalf. You are a prophet. He says,
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  S5: I'm young and I can't speak. He says, I'll give
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  S5: you the words. I'll give you everything you need. And oh,
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  S5: by the way, ain't nobody going to listen to you.
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  S5: I just want to let you know. I'm sorry. I'm
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  S5: laughing about that. But listen, man, modern day prophets, they
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  S5: aspire to that office. And it's like guys, prophets of old.
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  S5: It was a bad job calling. It was rough.
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  S2: Most most did not want the call. Right? I mean.
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  S8: No.
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  S5: No, I mean, even the ones that said I'm willing
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  S5: to go there was trembling there because the history proved
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  S5: that people didn't want to hear the truth. And so
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  S5: if you drew a good straw and you happened to
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  S5: hit a generation that was walking with God, that was cool.
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  S5: But a one king dies, his son takes over. And
• 14:19
  S5: guess what? We're back in the soup again, man. So
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  S5: the prophet Jeremiah. Was telling Israel exactly what was going
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  S5: down here. God's children. And then it happened. Babylonian captivity,
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  S5: 586 BC shortly after that happened. We don't know the
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  S5: exact date, but Lamentations was written by Jeremiah and you
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  S5: can imagine what he's saying. I mean, this is tough.
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  S5: This is brutal. But in the middle of all this,
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  S5: you find this little reprise, and we've written a song
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  S5: or two about this very passage. Imagine this talk about
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  S5: a brutal moment. I mean, the temple's burned. Guy's totally sacked.
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  S5: People are hauled away. There's a little remnant hanging on.
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  S5: But basically they were just there to work the land
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  S5: a little bit. I mean, it's a mess. It seems
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  S5: as if God has disappeared. But the prophet man, look
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  S5: at what he says in Lamentations 322 and 23, the
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  S5: steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never
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  S5: come to an end. They are new every morning. He
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  S5: didn't repeat it. We do new every morning. Great is
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  S5: your faithfulness. It even goes on in verse 24. The
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  S5: Lord is my portion, says my soul. See, the soul
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  S5: has to speak here because you look around, you can't say,
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  S5: the Lord is my portion, says my eyes, right?
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  S2: Or my circumstances.
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  S5: Yeah. Therefore I will hope in him and then he
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  S5: qualifies it. The Lord is good to those who wait
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  S5: for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is
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  S5: good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of
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  S5: the Lord. Wow! What a man of God! Isn't that striking?
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  S8: Ali?
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  S2: I mean those words. I mean, maybe you've heard the
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  S2: new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. But just reading
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  S2: that the Lord is my portion. The Lord is good
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  S2: to those who wait for him. I mean, this very
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  S2: much speaks of kind of a a cry of the
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  S2: soul or a reminder to the soul of what's true.
• 16:49
  S2: Because when you're in the valley, when you're in circumstances
• 16:53
  S2: that feel very unfavorable, you have to remind yourself of
• 16:57
  S2: what's true when you don't feel it.
• 17:01
  S8: Yeah.
• 17:05
  S5: I don't, I don't know what God's got you in
• 17:08
  S5: right now. And you might say, God's got me in this. Well,
• 17:13
  S5: if we keep our theology straight, God is sovereign over
• 17:16
  S5: all things. He is not unaware of what we're going through. Now,
• 17:21
  S5: that could get you a little bit wiggy if it
• 17:23
  S5: wasn't for the fact that we're on this path and
• 17:26
  S5: we're going on to glory, and he uses all these
• 17:28
  S5: brutal times, even as refiner's fire in our life. But
• 17:36
  S5: my only word of encouragement to you today is this.
• 17:40
  S5: You got to get your soul so connected with God
• 17:44
  S5: that it can see things that transcend the circumstances around you.
• 17:50
  S5: It's hard, isn't it, guys?
• 17:51
  S8: Man.
• 17:52
  S2: It's really hard.
• 17:55
  S5: And as we speak right now, what are people going through?
• 17:57
  S5: I'll tell you what people are going through. Let's just
• 17:59
  S5: go through them. You got you got heartache over a spouse.
• 18:06
  S5: You got heartache over a business you lost. Well, you know,
• 18:11
  S5: one of the great heartaches that I have in my life.
• 18:13
  S5: No joking. This is one of my heartaches. And my
• 18:15
  S5: bride and I share it together. You see, people that,
• 18:19
  S5: you know have taken every bit of their life savings,
• 18:21
  S5: put it into a restaurant and it can't make it.
• 18:25
  S5: And then you see the door shut after three months
• 18:27
  S5: or four months or six months or a year. And
• 18:30
  S5: you know what? You know, shoot, man, they've got a
• 18:34
  S5: lease on this place. They're probably having to strike a
• 18:37
  S5: deal with the commercial real estate agent that is got
• 18:41
  S5: them hooked up in it. They've got a bunch of
• 18:43
  S5: stainless steel products sitting in there that they can only
• 18:46
  S5: get a dime on the dollar for, and they've got
• 18:50
  S5: their life savings in this thing, and it just got
• 18:52
  S5: gobbled up and spit out. I mean, there's people listening
• 18:55
  S5: right now that have gone are going through that scenario
• 18:59
  S5: right there.
• 18:59
  S2: Oh yeah.
• 19:00
  S5: And then they go on, don't they.
• 19:02
  S8: Ali.
• 19:02
  S2: The heartache of, you know, if you're a parent, the
• 19:05
  S2: stuff that your kids go through. Yeah, the heartache of
• 19:09
  S2: relational stress and health challenges, you know, whenever you go
• 19:15
  S2: into a doctor's office or in a waiting room of
• 19:19
  S2: a hospital and you're regardless of why you're there, whether
• 19:23
  S2: you're visiting someone or you're being checked out or you're,
• 19:26
  S2: you always sit. said it's always sobering because you sit
• 19:28
  S2: there and, you know, every single person in this room
• 19:31
  S2: right now has something that that's concerning them, something that
• 19:36
  S2: they're waiting to to hear, bracing themselves, hoping for the best.
• 19:41
  S2: Not sure.
• 19:44
  S5: And then some get the worst news.
• 19:46
  S2: Some get the worst news.
• 19:48
  S5: Yeah, I've got a dear friend that's going through this
• 19:50
  S5: with his wife right now. Young woman that's going through
• 19:53
  S5: a medical challenge right now that is almost. It's just brutal, man.
• 20:00
  S5: And I see the tears in his eyes and I'm like, bro, man.
• 20:04
  S5: And the crazy thing is, is that. The Lord's going
• 20:11
  S5: to have to be his portion. Because there's no words
• 20:14
  S5: that I can say. There's no words that other people
• 20:18
  S5: can say that can change the circumstances and the reality
• 20:22
  S5: of the situation.
• 20:23
  S8: Mhm.
• 20:26
  S5: Prophet. Jeremiah is quite a guy, isn't he, guys?
• 20:29
  S8: Yeah.
• 20:30
  S3: He's a good man.
• 20:31
  S8: He's a good man.
• 20:32
  S4: Very, very good man.
• 20:33
  S3: I I'm sure it was a good day when he
• 20:36
  S3: entered heaven. Oh, because of the things he just faithfully
• 20:40
  S3: faced here on earth and the pain that he underwent.
• 20:45
  S3: And he knew he was gonna do it. And he
• 20:47
  S3: knew it wasn't going to get any better.
• 20:50
  S8: Yeah.
• 20:51
  S3: He was told ahead of time, this ain't going to
• 20:52
  S3: get any better, but go do it. And and he
• 20:55
  S3: did it still.
• 20:56
  S5: Tradition has it that he. And all we know is tradition.
• 21:00
  S5: But I.
• 21:01
  S8: Suspect.
• 21:01
  S5: It's accurate. But tradition has it that he was buried
• 21:06
  S5: alive in the very broken cisterns that he called Israel
• 21:12
  S5: out for.
• 21:13
  S2: Oh, wow.
• 21:15
  S8: I.
• 21:16
  S2: I hadn't heard that.
• 21:17
  S8: Yeah.
• 21:19
  S5: Isn't that something.
• 21:20
  S8: That's crazy.
• 21:21
  S4: Disturbing? Okay.
• 21:25
  S5: I don't know what you're going through, but I know this.
• 21:27
  S5: Our God is faithful, and you gotta get down to
• 21:29
  S5: a soul level and let God be God there. And
• 21:31
  S5: I don't know how it's going to happen except it. Well,
• 21:35
  S5: we do know we've got a little bit of an
• 21:37
  S5: insight here. The Lord is good to those who wait
• 21:41
  S5: for him, to the soul who seeks him. There's more
• 21:46
  S5: than a mind that seeks him. This is the. The
• 21:48
  S5: soul is the innermost being. It's the totality of who
• 21:51
  S5: we are. Just throwing it all over to God and go, God,
• 21:56
  S5: I need you now and show me your faithfulness and
• 22:00
  S5: God can do it. Indeed.
• 22:03
  S1: Walking closer to Jesus every day, you're listening to Carl
• 22:08
  S1: and crew.
• 22:09
  S5: So we got.
• 22:10
  S1: Susie Larson with us.
• 22:12
  S5: Man.
• 22:12
  S1: She's a pro.
• 22:13
  S5: And I thought we'd start with something fun and different.
• 22:16
  S5: Laughter is a good thing, isn't it, Ali?
• 22:18
  S2: It really is. I mean, people, there's the common expression
• 22:21
  S2: that laughter is the best medicine. Maybe more truth to
• 22:24
  S2: that than we realize.
• 22:25
  S5: Yeah. So, Susie, you got some, uh, hot off the
• 22:28
  S5: presses here. What's the benefit of laughter?
• 22:31
  S9: Well, I'll tell you. I think we'd be amazed to
• 22:34
  S9: know that our bodies are wired for laughter and joy.
• 22:37
  S9: Our brains are wired for laughter and joy. And something
• 22:40
  S9: I've covered on my show in years past is something
• 22:42
  S9: called adrenal fatigue. And it's very, very common when people
• 22:45
  S9: overwork and live in that stress, you know, without rest
• 22:49
  S9: kind of mode where your foot is on the gas,
• 22:51
  S9: everything is a crisis. You drain your adrenals because you're
• 22:54
  S9: constantly using up the cortisol, and then you get to
• 22:56
  S9: this wired, tired place. And one of the ways to
• 22:59
  S9: heal your adrenals is laughter. Another is deep breathing. Another
• 23:03
  S9: is singing. Because literally when you hum and you sing,
• 23:06
  S9: it actually stimulates the vagus nerve, which puts you into
• 23:09
  S9: rest and digest. Wow, is that amazing.
• 23:11
  S5: Well, it's so funny you say that because I was
• 23:13
  S5: just preaching a message on, uh, corporate worship and why
• 23:16
  S5: it's so important. There's like neuroscience has now proven one
• 23:19
  S5: of them is the vagus nerve. Another one is restoration
• 23:21
  S5: of adrenals, but it's the. They've done heart rate monitoring
• 23:26
  S5: on people, and they can. I mean, the science doesn't lie.
• 23:32
  S5: It's got evidence, empirical data, that getting to church on
• 23:37
  S5: time and starting to lift your voices to God. It
• 23:40
  S5: encourages each other in massive ways and does good for
• 23:45
  S5: your own health. So there you go. Beautiful reason to
• 23:47
  S5: get to church on time. Get in there, man. Start
• 23:51
  S5: singing out. Some of you're like, I can't sing. Yeah
• 23:53
  S5: you can. Come on.
• 23:54
  S9: Make a joyful noise.
• 23:55
  S8: Yeah. Amen.
• 23:56
  S5: Lift it up. Okay. Susie. I was talking about this
• 24:00
  S5: with Ali. Funny thing about imagination is you get these
• 24:03
  S5: imaginations for what's going to be with your life and
• 24:06
  S5: all that. And Ali was a collegiate volleyball player, and
• 24:09
  S5: at one point you dreamt, didn't you, Ali? You had
• 24:12
  S5: a pipe dream out there that.
• 24:13
  S2: Oh man, that I would be maybe I could go
• 24:15
  S2: to the Olympics someday. And that was a very far
• 24:18
  S2: fetched dream. There was nothing in my talent base that
• 24:21
  S2: would suggest that that was my course. But in my mind.
• 24:24
  S8: Ripping yourself if you.
• 24:26
  S5: Played.
• 24:26
  S8: Collegiate volleyball.
• 24:27
  S2: But there's these things that you dream of that seem possible.
• 24:31
  S2: And then as life happens, a lot of those things
• 24:34
  S2: start to become impossibilities.
• 24:37
  S8: Yeah.
• 24:37
  S5: I wonder, guys, I wonder if life happening diminishes our
• 24:43
  S5: ability to even see a passage like Susie's written a
• 24:48
  S5: whole book on, on that God wants to do immeasurably
• 24:52
  S5: more than we can ask or imagine. I wonder if
• 24:54
  S5: life experiences diminishes the central passage to your whole book.
• 24:59
  S5: What do you say, Susie?
• 25:00
  S9: I completely agree. And you're referencing Ephesians three 2021 that
• 25:04
  S9: God is able, and I want you to hear the reverberation,
• 25:06
  S9: the expansion of this passage. It just keeps getting bigger.
• 25:10
  S9: God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond
• 25:14
  S9: all you could ever dare to ask or imagine. But
• 25:17
  S9: the clincher is, according to his work within you, it
• 25:21
  S9: means he wants to. He will do. He can do.
• 25:23
  S9: But we will allow him to have access to your story.
• 25:26
  S9: Give him more real estate than the enemy has, or
• 25:28
  S9: that you have. And often trust comes hard in those
• 25:31
  S9: places you're most trying to control. But you and Ali
• 25:33
  S9: do bring up a good point that that the God
• 25:36
  S9: given call, we're not called to everything, and not every
• 25:38
  S9: one of our dreams is God given, but the dreams
• 25:41
  S9: God puts in our heart are over our head, and
• 25:44
  S9: they impact the earth and those things. When you walk
• 25:47
  S9: in step with God, there's just nothing he won't do
• 25:49
  S9: for the heart that's trusting him.
• 25:51
  S5: So let's go back to that. According to this is
• 25:56
  S5: really important, isn't it? It's according to the power at
• 26:00
  S5: work within us. What does that mean? It's not a qualifier.
• 26:04
  S5: It really describes how God's going to do it. How
• 26:07
  S5: does that work?
• 26:08
  S9: Well, the thing is, you know, we're saved by grace
• 26:11
  S9: through faith, not of ourselves. It's a gift from God.
• 26:13
  S9: That's Ephesians 289, and when you're saved, you literally are
• 26:16
  S9: transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
• 26:19
  S9: of God's dear son. And so the two things that
• 26:21
  S9: are so secure are your identity and your eternity. So
• 26:24
  S9: I often say we're all going to have insecure days
• 26:27
  S9: where we feel insecure. But truly, insecurity is an illusion
• 26:31
  S9: for the Christian, because you can't be more secure than
• 26:34
  S9: seated with Christ. So identity, eternity, those are set. What
• 26:37
  S9: the enemy can steal is your joy, your fruit, and
• 26:40
  S9: your future reward by getting you to live constantly in
• 26:44
  S9: reaction to your junk. If I can say it in
• 26:46
  S9: a very, you know, casual way, it's like your fears,
• 26:49
  S9: your insecurities, your competitions, your jealousies. If he can get
• 26:52
  S9: you living in a life of a series of reactions,
• 26:55
  S9: he will be robbing you of your joy, of your
• 26:58
  S9: fruit and your future reward. It's in the abiding life.
• 27:01
  S9: And one of the things I say in the book
• 27:02
  S9: is you are your best, most brilliant self when you're
• 27:05
  S9: walking in the spirit and when you're walking in the spirit,
• 27:08
  S9: you're more postured to get a fresh revelation of who
• 27:10
  S9: God is so that you can get a fresh revelation
• 27:13
  S9: of who you are. When we're in the flesh, we
• 27:15
  S9: are our most bumble headed selves. Where our lives are
• 27:18
  S9: a series of reactions. We get into self protection, self promotion,
• 27:22
  S9: all the self sins. So when you say according to
• 27:25
  S9: his work as you walk intimately, he's going to ask
• 27:29
  S9: for more space in your life. You know that place
• 27:32
  S9: like where you're striving in finances. I want you to
• 27:35
  S9: trust me there, you know? And like I say, often
• 27:37
  S9: there are areas, if you've walked with God long enough,
• 27:39
  S9: there are areas where trust comes easier than others and
• 27:42
  S9: may be easier for you than others. And usually that
• 27:45
  S9: means you've won some victories in your past. And so
• 27:47
  S9: you've gained some ground and you know how to walk
• 27:50
  S9: in that place and space because you've been there before
• 27:53
  S9: and you're with God in that. But there are other
• 27:55
  S9: places for all of us. Trust comes a little more difficult.
• 27:59
  S9: And that's because those are the places where maybe God's
• 28:02
  S9: allowed us to suffer a little longer, go without a breakthrough,
• 28:04
  S9: maybe not hear his voice as much. And it's an
• 28:07
  S9: opportunity to trust God. But what often happens is we
• 28:11
  S9: preempt outcomes, we try to control the narrative. We believe
• 28:15
  S9: the enemy's lies. And so those are the places and
• 28:18
  S9: spaces where that according goes into play. Will I trust
• 28:22
  S9: you here, Lord? Can I hand over the control? And
• 28:25
  S9: in the book, I love this book so much. Every
• 28:27
  S9: chapter I tell a modern day story of someone who
• 28:29
  S9: dared to trust God. And it's so nuanced because sometimes
• 28:32
  S9: trust is rising up. Sometimes it's crawling under his wing,
• 28:35
  S9: sometimes it's resting, sometimes it's running. Every chapter also has
• 28:39
  S9: a parallel corresponding biblical story. So you see the nuanced
• 28:43
  S9: way that trust shows up in our story, but then
• 28:46
  S9: the meticulous and miraculous way that God knows how to
• 28:49
  S9: get involved in your story in a way that only
• 28:51
  S9: he could.
• 28:52
  S2: Suzy Larson, our guest, well-known radio talk show host, national speaker,
• 28:56
  S2: best selling author, the book we're featuring today, more than
• 28:59
  S2: you can imagine what God does when you trust him.
• 29:02
  S2: You know, most people, it's not hard to sell them
• 29:05
  S2: on the idea that God can do something for me
• 29:08
  S2: that I can't do for myself. I hear a lot
• 29:10
  S2: of that, but I think a lot of people link
• 29:13
  S2: that to God, kind of helping me to live my
• 29:15
  S2: best life. God making all my dreams come true. One
• 29:19
  S2: area you speak to so with such anointing is living
• 29:22
  S2: in this tension of believing God for every good thing
• 29:26
  S2: you could possibly imagine waking up to the goodness of God,
• 29:29
  S2: but also living with the reality that really hard, difficult
• 29:33
  S2: things happen to all of us and we want to
• 29:36
  S2: trust God. But sometimes that trust can be eroded when
• 29:40
  S2: his plan looks so much different, and sometimes so much
• 29:43
  S2: more painful than what we thought it could be. Speak
• 29:45
  S2: to that.
• 29:46
  S9: Well, I so love that you brought that up, Ellie,
• 29:48
  S9: because we do. Those of us who communicate do a
• 29:51
  S9: disservice to the body of Christ when we somehow present
• 29:54
  S9: a gospel that is your best life now, because we
• 29:57
  S9: are living behind enemy lines. Jesus himself out of his
• 30:00
  S9: own mouth said, you will have trouble, you know. And Paul,
• 30:04
  S9: you read any of his letters. Suffering is part of
• 30:06
  S9: this journey. But what is absolutely amazing to me is
• 30:10
  S9: that we get to still see the goodness of God
• 30:12
  S9: in the land of the living. You know, there's a C.S.
• 30:14
  S9: Lewis quote, I wish I had it memorized, but the
• 30:16
  S9: paraphrase in essence, goes like this. If you look to
• 30:18
  S9: this life to have everything tied up in a tidy bow,
• 30:21
  S9: you will live in perpetual disappointment. But if you believe
• 30:24
  S9: Jesus words, you're going to have trouble. But also you
• 30:26
  S9: believe the scripture that says you'll see his goodness. You'll
• 30:29
  S9: be perpetually surprised by God's goodness. That is the tension.
• 30:33
  S9: Scripture says, don't be surprised by the things you're walking through.
• 30:36
  S9: Is there something odd were happening to you? Scripture also says,
• 30:40
  S9: what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory
• 30:43
  S9: that will be revealed to us when Christ returns. So
• 30:46
  S9: the way I live in that tension for me, I
• 30:48
  S9: believe this with all my heart. God, you allow, you redeem.
• 30:52
  S9: So there's a purpose for this battle, this storm that
• 30:54
  S9: I'm walking through in your history based on scripture, is
• 30:58
  S9: that when I walk through this trusting you, I will
• 31:01
  S9: come out to a place of abundance. And that abundance
• 31:03
  S9: may look different than I think it may. I might
• 31:05
  S9: be abundant in wisdom, in depth, in a deeper sense
• 31:09
  S9: of my identity, in a prophetic anointing, to be able
• 31:12
  S9: to speak courage to other people. Because I've been there,
• 31:14
  S9: done that, survived it, and that you see it over
• 31:17
  S9: and over again. Those who sow in tears will reap
• 31:19
  S9: with shouts of joy. They weep as they plant their seed.
• 31:22
  S9: They return rejoicing with the harvest in their arms. Another
• 31:26
  S9: psalm says, we walk through the fire and the flood,
• 31:28
  S9: but you brought us to a place of abundance. I
• 31:31
  S9: say you can have an expectancy to say, you know what?
• 31:34
  S9: I'm going to come through this battle richer than I
• 31:37
  S9: was going in. I'm going to come through this battle
• 31:39
  S9: wiser than I was going in. Whatever he allows, he redeems.
• 31:44
  S9: And I know that we walk through unbelievable hardship. But
• 31:47
  S9: God does have the enemy on a leash. He knows
• 31:50
  S9: what will destroy us. He knows what will refine us.
• 31:53
  S9: And if we could look up and know that there's
• 31:54
  S9: an incredible eternity awaiting us, and how we steward blessings
• 31:58
  S9: and battles impacts not only this life, but the life
• 32:01
  S9: to come.
• 32:03
  S5: Susie, explain as C.S. Lewis says in another wonderful quote,
• 32:07
  S5: that we have settled for too little. How can we
• 32:11
  S5: imagine for the wrong stuff that we think from an
• 32:15
  S5: earthly perspective is good, but we're really settling for too little?
• 32:21
  S9: That is a fantastic question, and my best answer would be,
• 32:24
  S9: when you're in the flesh, your dreams are going to
• 32:27
  S9: be to prop yourself up, to promote yourself, to protect yourself.
• 32:31
  S9: It's all about self. When you are in the spirit,
• 32:34
  S9: God is going to give you dreams and visions for
• 32:37
  S9: your life that will make you bring on a little
• 32:39
  S9: bit of nausea. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. He'll say,
• 32:41
  S9: build that battered women's shelter. Start that school in Rwanda.
• 32:45
  S9: He will ask you to do something that's above and
• 32:47
  S9: beyond what your skill set is. That will take faith
• 32:51
  S9: to behold it, and it will impact the greater Kingdom story.
• 32:54
  S9: You know, when you are in the flesh, your dreams
• 32:57
  S9: will take on the likeness of an idol. They just will.
• 33:01
  S9: When you are in the spirit, You will dream dreams
• 33:05
  S9: that God has put in your heart. And the thing is,
• 33:07
  S9: there are people that are such dear, dear saints that
• 33:10
  S9: are so afraid to dream because they don't want to
• 33:13
  S9: be in the flesh that they self-sabotage and they and
• 33:16
  S9: they shut down any hint of dreaming. Like maybe, just maybe,
• 33:19
  S9: someone's listening today and they're like, I know I'm supposed
• 33:21
  S9: to write a book, but they shut it down because
• 33:24
  S9: they're so afraid of self ambition. Well, let me tell you,
• 33:26
  S9: if you're afraid of self ambition, you're probably in a
• 33:28
  S9: good place because if you stay teachable, God will course
• 33:32
  S9: correct you as you go.
• 33:33
  S5: That last little riff you just went on there. You
• 33:36
  S5: with me, Ali? Oh, that that little riff was worth
• 33:40
  S5: everything today. So it begs the question, how do we
• 33:45
  S5: walk in the spirit and not feed the flesh? Let's
• 33:49
  S5: get real practical here, Susie.
• 33:51
  S9: Scripture says the mindset on the spirit is life and peace,
• 33:55
  S9: a mindset on the flesh. And my paraphrase is death
• 33:58
  S9: and destruction. So I would pay attention to your peace
• 34:01
  S9: Because peace is supposed to rule and reign in our
• 34:03
  S9: hearts at all times. So as as you know that
• 34:05
  S9: scripture that says that let peace rule and reign, it translates.
• 34:08
  S9: Let peace be the umpire. Like in a sporting event,
• 34:11
  S9: the umpire blows the whistle when you're out of bounds.
• 34:14
  S9: Peace is your guard and your guide. If you're lacking peace,
• 34:18
  S9: you're off the path. Retrace your steps and you will
• 34:21
  S9: find someone looked at you funny. You rehearsed a thought
• 34:24
  S9: that was self destructive and you got to get back
• 34:27
  S9: to peace. That's for me. That's how I've lived. Because
• 34:29
  S9: life and peace is there. Life on this thought? Is
• 34:31
  S9: there peace on this thought? If there isn't, I retrace
• 34:35
  S9: my steps and I resubmit myself to God and I
• 34:37
  S9: walk accordingly.
• 34:38
  S2: Suzy Larson boy, oh boy, oh boy. I am so
• 34:42
  S2: blessed every time we get to spend 15 minutes with you.
• 34:46
  S2: If you want more on our guest and I know
• 34:48
  S2: you do, we always get questions after these conversations. How
• 34:51
  S2: can I hear from that lady who said, and I'll
• 34:54
  S2: they'll give a quote. And I'm like, oh, that's Susie. Susie,
• 34:56
  S2: text goodness to 805 five, 5557898. Text goodness 805 557898.
• 35:05
  S1: Celebrating the Unstoppable gospel.
• 35:09
  S3: It's not that I've got to fill in these check boxes,
• 35:11
  S3: so he's okay with me, but it's that I get
• 35:13
  S3: to stand close to him so that I can experience
• 35:16
  S3: the life that he has for me.
• 35:18
  S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
• 35:20
  S8: Okay, guys.
• 35:21
  S5: Uh, boy, when we're thinking about the goodness of God, there's.
• 35:27
  S5: There's ample reasons to believe. Maybe he's not good in
• 35:33
  S5: this stuff. There are. I mean, at face value, there
• 35:38
  S5: are plenty of things going on in this world today
• 35:40
  S5: that would cause you to say, is God good?
• 35:43
  S2: I mean, one of the questions that sometimes troubles people
• 35:47
  S2: most often is, If God is so good, why is
• 35:50
  S2: there so much evil and pain in the world?
• 35:53
  S5: And that's that's frankly, that is a good question. There's
• 36:00
  S5: one guy we want to get in to answer that
• 36:02
  S5: one and more. Hang on, Pastor Lutzer. Straight ahead.
• 36:06
  S1: Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Cast and
• 36:09
  S1: Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.
• 36:12
  S5: Well, this whole week we're talking about the goodness of God,
• 36:15
  S5: and we've got Pastor Lutzer here. And you know what
• 36:18
  S5: I love about Pastor Lutzer? He wrestles with the tough issues. Ali.
• 36:22
  S2: He absolutely does. Familiar name and voice to so many
• 36:25
  S2: of you. Pastor emeritus of Moody Church. He also hosts
• 36:29
  S2: the award winning program running to win a daily Bible
• 36:32
  S2: teaching broadcast. Heard right here on Moody Radio.
• 36:35
  S5: So, pastor, the goodness of God is undeniable, but it
• 36:39
  S5: does bring some questions to mind when we see horrific
• 36:44
  S5: events around the world, ayatollahs that seem to want to
• 36:48
  S5: continue to ravage people that are under their leadership, and
• 36:52
  S5: even the globe of it just comes in every shape
• 36:56
  S5: and size. Shootings recently in Seattle. How does the goodness
• 37:01
  S5: of God comport with everyday life?
• 37:04
  S10: Well, that's a very challenging question, actually. I know that
• 37:08
  S10: I've struggled with the goodness of God. I think a
• 37:11
  S10: lot of people have. But I want to point out
• 37:15
  S10: actually three passages of Scripture that are very insightful. And,
• 37:20
  S10: you know, I'm getting older than a lot of people
• 37:23
  S10: who are listening, and I spend quite a bit of
• 37:26
  S10: time contemplating God. And I want to begin by saying
• 37:31
  S10: that God is a very complex being. I mean, on
• 37:35
  S10: the one hand, you have all of his attributes, all
• 37:38
  S10: of them integrated, all of them fitting together, working together.
• 37:44
  S10: But at the same time, you know, I am encouraged
• 37:47
  S10: by the words of the apostle Paul who says that
• 37:50
  S10: God is unsearchable. He doesn't say that if you search
• 37:53
  S10: hard enough, You'll figure it all out. But I think
• 37:57
  S10: that God delights in the fact that we are talking
• 38:00
  S10: about him. All right. The goodness of God. Here's a
• 38:04
  S10: young ruler speaking to Jesus and says, good teacher, what
• 38:10
  S10: must I do to inherit eternal life? This is in
• 38:13
  S10: the 18th chapter of Luke. And Jesus says, why do
• 38:17
  S10: you call me good? There's only one good who is God.
• 38:21
  S10: And of course, Jesus was God. But then Jesus goes
• 38:26
  S10: on to talk about the commandments. And isn't it interesting
• 38:30
  S10: that God is the standard of goodness? He is the
• 38:36
  S10: absolute standard of goodness. And so what we need to
• 38:41
  S10: do is to accept that. Now, if we look at nature,
• 38:45
  S10: we would never conclude that God was good. I mean, tornadoes, hurricanes, Storms, floods.
• 38:55
  S10: So if you look at nature, what we always have
• 38:58
  S10: to do, Carl and Ali, is go to the cross
• 39:02
  S10: and we need to see the goodness of God there.
• 39:06
  S10: Here's a passage of scripture I've often contemplated. This is
• 39:11
  S10: in Nahum chapter one verse six. Who can stand before
• 39:16
  S10: his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger?
• 39:21
  S10: His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks
• 39:25
  S10: are broken into pieces by him. The Lord is good,
• 39:29
  S10: a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those
• 39:33
  S10: who take refuge in him. So here's the point. Nahum
• 39:38
  S10: is giving such a description of the judgment and the
• 39:44
  S10: anger of God. And then he says, the Lord is good. Yeah.
• 39:48
  S10: So you and I have to put those two together,
• 39:52
  S10: even though we struggle with it, and certainly to those
• 39:54
  S10: who are saved. God has been very good. It's just
• 39:59
  S10: when we look beyond that to some of the issues
• 40:01
  S10: that we have problems.
• 40:03
  S5: Quick comment on that, Pastor Lutzer. It's very interesting. Ally
• 40:06
  S5: here was looking across the table at me with eyes
• 40:10
  S5: wide open because I was just in the last few
• 40:13
  S5: days we've been tackling. Nahum one seven. One observation here
• 40:18
  S5: before you go on is that I've been stunned by
• 40:21
  S5: this verse as of late, and that is that he
• 40:23
  S5: knows those who take refuge in him. I think the
• 40:26
  S5: goodness of God is not just that we can find
• 40:28
  S5: refuge in him, but he knows us. And that word
• 40:31
  S5: in the original language is yadah. And it's an intimate knowledge.
• 40:35
  S5: That's a wonderful goodness, isn't it, pastor?
• 40:38
  S10: It really is. And I didn't realize that you had
• 40:41
  S10: been dealing with Nahum one seven.
• 40:43
  S2: So which makes it all the more special that God
• 40:46
  S2: had that on your heart. And that's right where we've been.
• 40:50
  S2: Doctor Lutzer, one of the things that I've heard people
• 40:52
  S2: wrestle with is kind of the difference between does God
• 40:55
  S2: cause or does God allow. When you look at the
• 41:00
  S2: things that happen that are really difficult, I've heard people
• 41:03
  S2: with good intentions kind of attribute everything to the enemy
• 41:07
  S2: as if somehow God couldn't have stopped it. And so
• 41:10
  S2: it's sort of this weird tension of did, did God
• 41:13
  S2: cause that natural disaster? Or is that a work of
• 41:16
  S2: the enemy and God allowed it? Or do we need
• 41:18
  S2: to be clear on that? Or is that one that
• 41:19
  S2: we just kind of can live in the tension of?
• 41:22
  S10: I have to say this, that the Bible does teach
• 41:25
  S10: that God causes these things. And for all those who
• 41:28
  S10: are listening, who get the chills when I say that,
• 41:32
  S10: let me say this if God only permitted it, we
• 41:36
  S10: have to acknowledge that God could choose to not permit it.
• 41:41
  S10: And so ultimately, we have to trace it back to
• 41:46
  S10: God and believe he has hidden purposes which we cannot understand,
• 41:51
  S10: but he is working in through in spite of us.
• 41:56
  S10: He's working out his purpose. And, you know, once we
• 42:00
  S10: grasp that, we will even thank God for the negative
• 42:05
  S10: things in our life, because then we will say, Lord,
• 42:09
  S10: I am really in your hands. I'm not in the
• 42:11
  S10: hands of fate. I'm not in the hands of events
• 42:14
  S10: that can take place without your knowledge and approval. And
• 42:19
  S10: so I've discovered that that truth helps me to give
• 42:26
  S10: thanks in all things.
• 42:28
  S5: Why is it dangerous to be open theists of sort?
• 42:32
  S5: That's a theological bucket of people who say that God
• 42:35
  S5: has spun in motion this fallen world. He's allowing things
• 42:38
  S5: to happen in its brokenness, and they can't reconcile that
• 42:44
  S5: God is both good and has a hand in and
• 42:48
  S5: on these events that are horrific. Why is that dangerous?
• 42:52
  S5: To be an open theist of sorts.
• 42:55
  S10: Imagine how frightening it is that we serve a God
• 42:59
  S10: who doesn't know the future. Absolutely. Therefore, we don't know
• 43:03
  S10: exactly which direction he will take. And why should we,
• 43:07
  S10: when he doesn't even know you know? Open theism was
• 43:11
  S10: something that was very popular, I don't know, maybe ten
• 43:14
  S10: years ago.
• 43:15
  S5: Years ago. Yeah.
• 43:16
  S10: I don't know that I've heard about it much since,
• 43:20
  S10: but this is tragedy. In fact, there were pastors who
• 43:24
  S10: were telling their people that God didn't know in advance
• 43:29
  S10: that their husband was going to commit sin, or God
• 43:32
  S10: didn't know in advance. And so God was trying to
• 43:36
  S10: figure it out too. I remember when, uh, there was
• 43:40
  S10: a tremendous national disaster, a weather disaster. I remember very
• 43:47
  S10: clearly that somebody who should have known better said, well,
• 43:51
  S10: God didn't know that this was going to happen. So
• 43:55
  S10: he's trying to work along with us in this situation.
• 43:59
  S10: How do we worship a God like that?
• 44:02
  S5: Yeah, that's the problem.
• 44:03
  S2: Doctor Erwin Lutzer, our guest this morning, pastor emeritus of
• 44:06
  S2: Moody Church, has authored many books. I appreciate that you
• 44:10
  S2: have tackled this topic. You mentioned the one on natural disasters.
• 44:13
  S2: I have seen and read part of that book. When
• 44:16
  S2: you wrestle with this personally in your own life, as
• 44:19
  S2: you have dealt with the challenges of life as everybody has,
• 44:22
  S2: you've dealt with health, things you've dealt with loss, you've
• 44:25
  S2: dealt with disappointment. Where do you go to in the
• 44:28
  S2: word to remind your heart of God's goodness? Do you
• 44:32
  S2: have a place that you look first?
• 44:35
  S10: You know, Ellie, I have found nothing better than the
• 44:38
  S10: Psalms when it comes to the healing of my heart.
• 44:42
  S10: I mean, David experienced everything that we did. And, you know,
• 44:46
  S10: for those who are angry at God and can't figure
• 44:49
  S10: him out, why don't they just go to Psalm 77
• 44:53
  S10: and read it? I mean, David there is saying, Lord,
• 44:56
  S10: you know, where are you? You're not on my side,
• 44:59
  S10: you're against me. But then when he gets to the end,
• 45:04
  S10: he still worships and believes. And that to me is
• 45:09
  S10: such an encouragement. So people need to, of course, read
• 45:13
  S10: the entire Bible, but stay in the Psalms because they
• 45:18
  S10: are so realistic. They actually deal with issues that are
• 45:23
  S10: very important to us personally loss, tragedy, suicide within the family.
• 45:30
  S10: It's all there in the Psalms, as David and Asaph
• 45:35
  S10: and some of the others wrestle with the big issues
• 45:38
  S10: of life and wrestle with God.
• 45:40
  S5: Uh, Pastor, I've heard you speak on this a number
• 45:44
  S5: of years ago, but you've got great recall. So what's
• 45:47
  S5: the difference between doubt and rebellion? Some people feel like
• 45:51
  S5: they ought not doubt, but there is a line into rebellion.
• 45:56
  S5: What's the difference and why is doubt okay?
• 45:59
  S10: Karl, this is very important. Just imagine this. John the
• 46:04
  S10: Baptist is in prison. He sends a delegation to Jesus
• 46:09
  S10: and says, are you the one that we should look
• 46:11
  S10: for or should we look for another? In other words,
• 46:14
  S10: you're a disappointment. We thought that you were going to
• 46:17
  S10: establish the kingdom. Why am I in jail? And just imagine,
• 46:22
  S10: this is John the Baptist doubting Jesus. And Jesus says,
• 46:28
  S10: you know, to the delegation, you know, go tell John that, um,
• 46:33
  S10: you know, the dead are being raised and miracles are
• 46:36
  S10: being done. And then Jesus said this blessed is he
• 46:43
  S10: who is not offended because of me. What Jesus was
• 46:48
  S10: saying blessed is the person who doesn't give up just
• 46:53
  S10: because I'm not doing what you think I should. And
• 46:56
  S10: then later, a few verses later of those born of women,
• 47:02
  S10: none is greater than John the Baptist. Doubts are perfectly fine.
• 47:08
  S10: What isn't fine is the choice to not believe. No
• 47:13
  S10: matter how much evidence. And that's where you cross the
• 47:16
  S10: line is you say, I will not believe unless I
• 47:20
  S10: see this and this. Well, I can understand where he's
• 47:24
  S10: coming from, too. But there are plenty of people with
• 47:28
  S10: their minds welded shut. And therefore they will not believe.
• 47:34
  S10: No matter what the evidence is. So if you're doubting today,
• 47:39
  S10: come to God with your doubts. Tell him your doubts,
• 47:43
  S10: and he'll accept you and he'll understand.
• 47:47
  S2: Such a powerful reminder. Doctor Erwin Lutzer, our guest this morning.
• 47:50
  S2: If you want more books and sermons, all of it,
• 47:53
  S2: you'll find just text media to 805 557898, text media
• 48:00
  S2: to 805 557898.
• 48:05
  S1: This is Carl and Crew on Moody Radio. It is
• 48:10
  S1: time making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's
• 48:14
  S1: time for. Allie thinks it's funny.
• 48:18
  S4: Have you ever had.
• 48:19
  S2: Cotton candy grapes?
• 48:21
  S3: I have, I have no idea why they taste like
• 48:23
  S3: cotton candy, but they do.
• 48:24
  S2: Strange thing.
• 48:25
  S3: What? They sell them at Costco?
• 48:26
  S2: Yeah, they're grapes, and they taste like cotton candy. It's
• 48:29
  S2: kind of like this weird mash up of flavors.
• 48:31
  S4: Very weird. Sweet. Yeah.
• 48:32
  S2: True story.
• 48:33
  S8: They taste good. Modified.
• 48:34
  S3: They have to be. They have.
• 48:36
  S2: To know. But they taste just like cotton candy.
• 48:38
  S5: They ain't organic, that's for sure.
• 48:40
  S2: Carl. So I've got another. I've got another, uh, mash
• 48:44
  S2: up for you. Okay. This is a mix of broccoli
• 48:47
  S2: and a melon. What do you get when you mix
• 48:51
  S2: broccoli and melon?
• 48:53
  S8: Ah, fruit with.
• 48:54
  S5: A bad.
• 48:54
  S8: Hairdo.
• 48:56
  S2: That's cute. The saddest vegetable known to man. The melancholy.
• 49:07
  S8: That was really good. You guys aren't laughing at that one.
• 49:11
  S3: It's okay, it's okay. I gave it a chuckle. I
• 49:13
  S3: gave it a chuckle.
• 49:14
  S8: No you didn't.
• 49:15
  S3: I did, I was.
• 49:16
  S8: Watching.
• 49:16
  S3: You.
• 49:16
  S8: I went chuckle a lick.
• 49:20
  S3: That's that's what I did.
• 49:21
  S2: That was the fakest laugh ever.
• 49:23
  S8: That was.
• 49:23
  S2: Don't give me fake laugh. Give me silence. Don't give
• 49:26
  S2: me fake laughter.
• 49:27
  S3: Well, that was a repetition of my real laugh.
• 49:29
  S8: Okay, that was hilarious.
• 49:31
  S2: Next up, moving right along. Anyone have a drummer. Anyone
• 49:35
  S2: in their life. Someone they know who's good at drums.
• 49:38
  S8: Yeah.
• 49:38
  S2: Jon. Jon Hammer's good at drums. I can do drums,
• 49:41
  S2: I think. Andrew Wilson.
• 49:43
  S8: Andrew Wilson was a drummer. Drummer.
• 49:45
  S3: He was a professional drummer.
• 49:47
  S2: So sometimes drummers, you know, they they have musical creativity,
• 49:51
  S2: but sometimes they are limited in other areas.
• 49:54
  S8: Okay.
• 49:55
  S2: What did the drummer name his twin daughters. What did
• 49:59
  S2: the drummer name his twin daughters?
• 50:02
  S3: I don't know.
• 50:03
  S2: Well, the first one he named Anna. Second one he
• 50:07
  S2: named Anna. They called them Anna. One and a two.
• 50:12
  S4: He did? Of course he did.
• 50:17
  S2: Text jokes to 805 557898. Text jokes to 805 557898.
• 50:28
  S4: So tickled right now.
• 50:29
  S8: No, those were both so outstanding.
• 50:31
  S3: That was.
• 50:32
  S2: Good. Thank you for that.